In Need of a Wife

‘I didn’t say thank you, Sasha.’

‘It’s just my job.’

‘Thank you.’

Curiosity made Sasha ask, ‘Would you mind telling me one last thing?’

‘What is it?’

‘The dates in the bible. I still don’t know how and why they were altered. Was it because your younger brothers wanted to enlist in the army?’

‘Good heavens, no! It was my sister, Isobel. I was with her while she did it.’

‘So you could marry Seagrave?’

‘My parents thought the age difference was too great.’

“But why did you pretend to me that you didn’t know?’

‘My dear, how else could I convince you I needed someone to work for me? If I hadn’t found a job for you, Nathan would have made my life unbearable.’ She gave Sasha a wise look. ‘Take my word for it. When Nathan wants something he always finds a way.’

Sasha smiled. ‘Thank you, Hester.’

On her way home, Sasha pondered the revelations that had answered so many questions in her mind. Nathan, being in the direct line of inheritance from Hester, would eventually become the owner of Seagrave Dunworthy’s house. That was why he had the right to select who could rent rooms. That was why Elizabeth had considered she had a chance of inheriting, if Nathan had married her again.

What she found inconsistent with everything else Nathan had done was leaving it to chance whether she would come to his house and take up the offer of rooms. If she hadn’t done that, and she might not have, they would have missed each other, because he had no way of finding her again. Yet, once she had come, he had gone out of his way to get her a job, as though it was important to him to keep her with him, even though he had already contracted a marriage with Urszula Budna. Somehow it didn’t quite gell to Sasha.

Not that it mattered now. The past was the past. Holding faith with the future she and Nathan would share together was the important thing. When she arrived home and collected Bonnie from Marion’s care, she told Marion that Matt was welcome to come up to the nursery after he got home from his playschool. She could not let the little boy feel unwanted any longer.

An hour later, Matt came pelting up the back stairs. He burst into the nursery, his face alight with pride and pleasure as he held up a big sheet of paper for Sasha and Bonnie to see.

‘We did finger-painting today. This is my picture.’

Sasha regarded the stick figures with the expected interest. ‘I like the colours you used, Matt.’

‘Yes. I did you in pink, Bonnie.’

She obligingly gurgled her approval from the playpen.

‘This is Daddy in blue,’ Matt went on. ‘Harry’s in green for the garden. I made Marion orange ‘cause she gives me orange juice every morning. I’m brown. That’s getting dirty from playing.’

He seemed reluctant to identify the last stick person. ‘And the one in red?’ Sasha prompted.

Matt gave her a shy but hopeful look. ‘That’s my pretend mother.’

‘Well, she looks very nice and warm,’ Sasha said with a smile. ‘Would you like me to pin the picture up on the wall? Then we can look at it whenever we want to.’

Matt eagerly agreed and Sasha invited him to choose the best position for it. He watched her press the thumbtacks in. Then they both stood back to admire the result.

‘The teacher said to paint our family,’ Matt informed her.

‘You did a fine job, Matt.’

It was Nathan’s voice behind them.

‘Daddy!’ Matt ran to his father and Nathan swung him up for a hug. ‘I can play up here now, Daddy.’

Nathan’s eyes met Sasha’s with an oddly tense and urgent look. ‘Well, how about you play with Bonnie while I talk to her mummy, Matt?’ he said, his voice warmly encouraging for his son.