Restless Heart (25 page)

Sam took Angeline’s cold hand and pressed it to his cheek. “Wake up, Angel. Please wake up.”

Her eyelids fluttered and then slowly opened. Her gaze was unfocused. “Sam?”

“Yes, honey, it’s me. Thank God.” He kissed her forehead, annoyed at himself for shaking like a leaf in a storm. Couldn’t he handle one fainting spell? What if she was pregnant? Was he going to start fainting too?

“What happened?” She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead. “I feel woozy.”

“You fainted in the study. Jane asked me … well, she wondered if maybe you’re pregnant.” The words came out in a rush, tumbling on top of each other.

Her gaze widened. “She wondered what?”

“Well, you fainted, and we have been married a month.” He shrugged, although he felt anything but casual. “It’s possible.”

Angeline licked her lips and stared at him. “A baby?”

“I wouldn’t get my hopes up yet; it might just be exhaustion. I figured I should ask.” He managed a small smile.

“Oh, Sam, you are the first person, okay the second person after me who would know.” She touched his cheek. “I love you.”

“You two are the most amazing couple. Remind me so much of Michael and Sparrow.” Jane appeared at the foot of the bed with a hearty-looking mug of steaming liquid. “I’m glad to see you’re awake, Angeline. I brought you some tea.”

Angeline sat up slowly and then took the mug from Jane. As she sipped, Sam kept sneaking glances at her to see if she
was okay. He’d been worried about her before, but nothing like this.

“Carver Industries is run by my husband. I could have taken over the reins when Mother died, but Dominic had been by her side for thirty years. He knew more about everything, and he loves it.” Jane leaned against the bedpost. “The lawyers would have him step down because he’s nearly sixty. They’re afraid he’s going to drop dead because of his advanced age.”

“You don’t think that at all, do you?” Sam watched his aunt carefully.

“He’s too full of passion for life and for the company to die. Dominic is the heart of the business right now. He wouldn’t know what to do with himself if someone else took over.” Jane smiled at them. “We can talk more tomorrow. You need your rest. I can have a bath drawn for you.” She pointed in the corner toward another doorway. “The bathing room is in there. All you need to do is ring the bell cord near the door and the maid will come upstairs to assist you.”

Sam felt a bit dizzy himself. Aunt Jane talked more than any person he’d ever met. She stepped forward and kissed them both on the cheeks again.

“Good night, darlings.”

With that, and a big whiff of her perfume, she left them alone. Sam shook his head.

“She’s something.”

“She sure is. I like her.” Angeline sipped the tea. “She put lots of honey in the tea too, just the way I wanted it.”

Sam smiled at his wife. “Finish that tea and we’ll get ready for bed.” He yawned widely. “I think we both need a good night’s sleep.”

Angeline nodded and dutifully drank her tea. Sam looked around the room and wondered how he’d gotten there. This place was not his home. He didn’t feel at all comfortable
there. He was thirty years old, much too old to be starting a completely different life.

Even if Jane welcomed him, he didn’t feel comfortable. Bennington had already warned him about the rest of the family, some of whom resented him without even meeting him. No, he didn’t want to stay.

In the morning he’d tell Angeline they would meet his family and then go back to Wyoming, leaving Carver Industries the way they’d found it. Sam wanted to go home.

B
reakfast at the Carver mansion involved copious amounts of food. Sam gaped at the heaping piles of eggs, toast, some kind of dark meat, and many kinds of other food he didn’t recognize. He and Angeline seemed to arrive downstairs first, just past seven. When the two of them sat down, the servants even opened their napkins and put them on their laps.

Sam knew he’d made the right decision. All of this didn’t feel right to him. No wonder his father had left. Sparrow would have suffocated in such a huge place.

“Good morning.” A tall man with graying hair, brown eyes, and an impeccable blue suit walked into the dining room. “I’m Dominic Archer. You must be Samuel and Angeline.”

After he shook hands with them, Dominic helped himself to food, then sat down with a contented grin. “I love breakfast. Favorite meal of the day, don’t you know? Cook makes the eggs extra fluffy.”

“I heard there were people in here eating breakfast already.” Jane walked in wearing a blue morning gown and her hair in a braid. She looked as if she’d just woken up, but it appeared as though the maid had already coiffed her perfectly. “I’m glad you got to meet my Dom before he went to
work. Perhaps Samuel would like to accompany you, darling?”

“Oh, that’d be right fine.” Dominic was busy eating toast and eggs, but at least it was a positive response.

“Actually, we wanted to talk to you about that.” Sam glanced at Angeline and she nodded. “I’ve decided to sign the company over to you.”

Dominic dropped his fork, and eggs went flying across the table into Angeline’s hair.

“What did you say?” Jane gaped at them. “You’ve only just arrived, darlings. Don’t you at least want to stay here a few weeks before you decide? I can’t imagine the lawyers will simply let you give it away.”

“It’s not what we want. Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t want to give up being a part of the family. It’s just, well, I, um—”

“We don’t belong here. Both of us grew up with enough money to survive, and not much else for extras. Each day was a gift and I think it made life that much sweeter for us.” Angeline gestured to the heaps of food. “I was serving food a month ago to strangers in a restaurant. I can’t be served every meal by someone else or have a maid put water in a bathtub for me.” She shook her head. “I already love Jane, but we can’t stay.”

Jane looked genuinely hurt. “Are you sure, darlings?”

“Yep, we’re sure. We’ll stay a few days, but then we need to go home. I’ll tell Mr. Bennington to do what he needs to put the control of the company in your hands, Mr. Archer.” Sam felt a hundred pounds lighter just telling them what he felt. “It seems you’ve been doing a good job up until now. I don’t think it’s right to make any changes.”

“Dom is a genius.” Jane kissed the top of his head. “He turns a profit each and every year. Tell me you’ll visit though. I can’t bear to think I’ll not see you again.”

“We’ll visit each summer,” Angeline announced. “I don’t
have any family of my own, except for my sister, but I don’t know where she is. I’d love to be part of the Carvers.”

“Then you shall.” Jane met Sam’s gaze and he saw his aunt had questions for him. “Now let’s eat breakfast.”

Sam felt relaxed enough to enjoy the meal, but each minute that passed, the food on the buffet grew colder. No doubt it would be used for the pigs or worse, simply thrown in a heap of trash. No, he couldn’t live there, but Angeline was right. He could visit.

Later on, Angeline admitted she was tired and took a nap. Sam went in search of his aunt for a talk. He found her in the parlor, talking with two women. They all got to their feet and he noticed the resemblance immediately. They were all tall with the same silver hair.

Jane smiled and clapped her hands. “How lovely! Samuel, meet your aunts, Gertrude and Alison.”

As Sam accepted their effusive hugs and kisses, he wondered if his mother had ever gotten used to their affectionate ways. It was different from what he was used to.

“Now sit with us. Gertie and Allie want to know your plans.” Jane’s gaze told him it was she who wanted to know.

“We’re going to stay on another few days, to get to know you all and Mr. Bennington. Then we’re headed back to Wyoming. I have a house to build on a lake there.” Sam leaned forward. “I don’t need much, so I’ll only take a hundred dollars a month.”

“For what?” Gertrude asked. “If it’s for a clothing allowance, that’s not nearly enough.”

“Perhaps it’s for books. His Angeline loves books.”

“No, ladies, I mean for us to live on.” He couldn’t imagine spending a hundred dollars a month on clothes. What could they possibly need to purchase that cost twelve hundred dollars a year?

“Ridiculous. You should have at least five thousand a month deposited automatically. You can spend it on your
wife, on your children, on whatever you want. A hundred dollars won’t buy Gertie’s handkerchiefs.” Jane speared him with a gaze that brooked no argument. “There’s no need to scrimp and save for things, Samuel. You can have whatever you want.”

“I’ll tell you what I want. I want a house by the lake with lots of bedrooms for my future children. I want to wake up each morning with my Angel and go to sleep with her kiss on my lips. I want to visit my family each summer in Denver.” He smiled at Jane. “And I want to find my wife’s sister so she can visit her family too.”

“Ah, I knew there was a story there.” Jane leaned forward. “Tell us what we can do.”

Angeline woke slowly, stretching on the soft bed until she felt more awake. She sat up and rubbed her eyes until she spotted Sam watching her in a chair by the window.

He smiled. “Have a good nap?”

“Yes, it was wonderful.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. Suddenly she knew exactly why she was so tired.

Angeline made haste to the bathroom, hoping against hope there were rags in there for her to use. She now knew for certain there was no baby to celebrate. It was simply her monthly courses.

She shut the door before Sam could ask her any questions. After a brief search, she found something suitable in the cabinet in the corner of the bathing room. She took care of herself, then went back out to the bedroom. Sam was standing there watching her with his dark gaze questioning.

“Everything all right?”

She smiled sadly. “Yes, everything’s fine. I’m definitely not pregnant though.”

Sam’s shoulders deflated and disappointment flashed across his face. “Oh, ah, I guess that’s just the way it is then.”
He turned away, but not before she saw a deeper emotion in his gaze.

Angeline took his hand and tugged. “Just because there’s no baby today doesn’t mean we won’t make one in a week or a month.”

“I know.” He kept his eyes averted until she took hold of his chin and forced him to look at her.

“I love you, Sam. This is simply a bump in the road, nothing more.”

“I just wanted, well, I wanted to have a family with you and when I thought you were pregnant, I was overjoyed.” He blew out a breath. “It sounds silly, hmm?”

She pulled him into an embrace, holding him tightly. “No, not silly. I want a family with you too, Sam. When it’s our time, it will happen.”

He kissed her forehead, her nose, then her lips. “My Angel.”

Her stomach picked that moment to rumble noisily. He laughed and she blushed.

“Let’s go find something to eat.”

Downstairs, they made their way to the kitchen and caused a ruckus when they tried to get some food. The cook and somebody with a big ladle chased them out and told them to wait in the dining room. Angeline was embarrassed and Sam was furious.

“I want to go home, Sam. I want to be able to eat when I’m hungry and not wait for someone to make it for me.” She fiddled with the lace tablecloth on the table.

“We’ve only been here two days.”

Angeline sighed. “I know.”

He sat beside her. “Truthfully, I want to go home too. I have to meet with Mr. Bennington later to sign some papers, but then we can catch the train in the morning.”

Angeline felt better just making plans to go back to Wyoming. “Really?”

“Really.” She climbed onto his lap and started kissing him. Soon their kisses turned heated, then molten. She felt his hardness pressing into her hip and wished they could go upstairs and spend the afternoon making love. That, however, wasn’t going to happen for a few days.

“Ahem.”

Angeline looked up to see the aunts all standing in the doorway. She smiled and waved; the three older women laughed.

“I heard we were having tea and cake.” Gertrude, the aunt with the blue eyes, glanced around the dining room. “I don’t see any though.”

“Perhaps they ate it all.” Alison was the youngest, with apple cheeks and a ready smile.

“Or perhaps they were too busy to order it.” Jane raised her brows.

Angeline extricated herself from Sam’s lap and got back into her own chair with a sheepish grin.

“We have something to tell you all.” Sam looked at his aunts, no longer smiling. “We’re going to go back to Wyoming tomorrow.”

Protests immediately ensued and he held up his hands. “We love you all, but we miss home. Angeline and I both agreed we’ll come visit regularly and she is already planning to write to you.”

“We don’t want you to leave so soon, but I guess we can’t stop you.” Gertrude frowned.

“We could hide the carriage,” Alison suggested.

“We could hide the horses,” Jane countered.

“Ladies, we’ll be back, I promise. But for now, we need to go home and start on that house. I want to get it built by the fall so we can be cozy all winter long.” Sam rose and hugged each of his aunts in turn.

Angeline’s eyes teared up as she witnessed the genuine affection that had developed between them so quickly. She
liked the warmth of the Carver family and felt blessed to be a part of it. When the aunts came to hug her, a few tears slid from her eyes.

They were interrupted when the maid arrived with the coffee, tea, and cakes. Angeline gladly sat at the table with her husband and her new family. She enjoyed every second spent with them, secure in the knowledge she was loved.

Sam stood at the door while Angeline hugged each of his aunts for the third time. She was so well liked and apparently liked them so much, it was a very teary, extended good-bye. Their train left in less than an hour, but he didn’t want to rush her. They had the rest of their lives, of course, even if it took her half an hour to bid his family farewell.

“Don’t you forget, Angeline, we’re your family now too. You come visit us anytime you want.” Jane squeezed Ange-line’s hands. The older woman glowed in a brilliant blue dress as the sun shone on them through the open door.