Give Me Tonight(14)

The plainest dress she could find was a pink-and-white-striped batiste trimmed with clusters of ribbon loops. It took several minutes of trial and error to get dressed. Surveying herself down to her kid shoes, fas­tened at the sides with straps and buttons, and finished with bows on the toes, she grimaced at the picture she made.

When she finally appeared downstairs, Addie was relieved to discover only Caroline and May were hav­ing breakfast. They were both prim and proper in high­necked cambric dresses similar to hers. Evidently a crowd had just left, and a maid was clearing the dirty dishes from the empty places at the table.

"Good morning, Caroline," she said hesitantly. "Glad to see you slept late. Looks like the extra rest did you a lot of good. "

Addie glanced at the clock on the wall. Slept late? It was only seven o'clock. "I appreciated the extra sleep," she said slowly, and looked at the other woman seated at the table. " 'Morning, May."

"May?" the older woman repeated with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. "When did you decide to start callin' me by my first name? Only your father does that, Adeline." She looked down at the toast she was buttering daintily, her brows knitting together in a slight frown. "Ever since you got home from the young ladies' academy, you've had some odd no­tions."

"I'm sorry." Addie was immediately flustered. "M-Mother."

"Poor Addie," Caroline said gently, giving her a smile and patting the chair next to her. "Come sit by me. You've just got a case of the fidgets, that's all. You're like this every spring."

"Just wait until you get married and have children, Adeline," May said. "You'll be too tired to have the fidgets."

Addie went around the long table and sat next to Caroline, feeling an odd tingle as she noticed the preg­nant swell of Caroline's stomach.

"H-how are you feeling?"

"Much better, Adeline. It's real sweet of you to ask. I'm not having problems keeping my food down any­more." Caroline smiled and patted her stomach. "I know Peter wants a boy this time, but I just have a feelin' it's going to be another girl. That'll be fine for Leah. I think she'll like having a sister."

I met you once before, when I was a little girl and you were an old woman, Addie wanted to blurt out. You're my grandmother. And that baby you're carrying is my mother. She could hardly keep her eyes off Car­oline, and she stared until the other woman frowned curiously.

"Somethin' the matter?"

"I . . . No. I just wanted to know what . . . what you're going to name the baby."

"I'm not sure," Caroline said thoughtfully. "Some­thin' from the Bible. I like Bible names. If it's a boy, David. If it's a girl, Rachel. Maybe Ruth."

Rachel or Ruth. But her mother's name had been Sarah. Addie chewed her lip pensively and listened to Caroline and May talk about other possible names un­til breakfast arrived. Her stomach turned at the sight before her. Ham, fried potatoes, fried eggs, and hot­cakes topped with a lump of melting butter. She'd never seen such an overloaded plate, except for the one she had been served the night before. Could it be that they ate like this all the time? She and Leah had found it difficult to keep their tiny kitchen stocked with ba­sics like butter, sugar, eggs, and coffee. They had eaten meagerly. They had saved the scraps.

"I can't eat all this."

"Ain't no more than you usually have, Miss Ade­line," the maid remarked matter-of-factly, and set down a pitcher of corn syrup beside Addie's plate.

"I'd rather have black coffee."

"You need to have somethin' in your stomach," May said. "You're going to the Double Bar this mornin' to go riding with Jeff Johnson, aren't you?"

Who was Jeff Johnson? Addie frowned slightly.

Something Leah had once told her about Adeline Warner ran through her mind. The men went crazy for her. And 0l' Man Johnson—when he was young, he lost his head over her. . . .

0l' Man Johnson had been fat, unkempt, and very rich. Could that be the same Johnson they were talking about now?

"I don't remember making any plans to see him," Addie said uncomfortably. "I don't feel like going anywhere. I don't think he'd mind, do you? I don't feel well this morning, at least not well enough to go riding with anyone—"

"You told me yesterday you had promised him," May said, and although her voice was soft, there was no mistaking the unyielding note in it. "A lady doesn't go back on her promises, Adeline, and it's not right to change your mind this late. And you know you'll have a good time once you're with him, sugar."

"You and Daddy are just hoping a romance will start up between 'em," Caroline said, laughing.

"I happen to think Jeff might make a good husband.

His mother is a well-bred woman who raised him to be a gentleman—"

"And Daddy likes the thought of a daughter of his married to the man who'll inherit the Double Bar someday."

"That may be," May admitted. "But all the same, Adeline promised him, and she's got to start honoring her promises."

"Did I really tell him yes, or did I just say I would consider his invitation?" Addie asked desperately, hoping to find some way, any way, out of the coming disaster. She was a terrible rider, close to incompe­tent.