Read Her Dear and Loving Husband for Free Online

got it.”
    Jennifer stood silently, watching Sarah fiddle with the wires connecting the Elmo to the projector. With a point, she directed Sarah’s attention through the window that looked into the hallway. Sarah saw Denise, another librarian, straightening her short red dress and smoothing her hair as she walked past. Denise smiled when she saw she was being watched.
    “She’s leaving for her date with Wendell,” Jennifer said. 
    “That can’t be right. Wendell is a student aide.”
    “Exactly.”
    Sarah put her hand over her mouth to stop her laughter. “That isn’t funny.”
    “I’m surprised none of the students have asked you out, Ms. Alexander.”
    “Please.” Sarah used her hand as a stop sign like a police officer directing traffic. “No one is allowed to ask me out right now. Not for at least a year. I’ve decided. I can’t think about another relationship right now.”
    “Even if you find someone great?”
    Sarah flipped the switch on the Elmo and saw the logo of Salem State College, a blue sketch of the Friendship , on the white screen on the wall. “Not anyone,” Sarah said. “Not now.” 
    The smile slipped from Jennifer’s face. “That’s too bad,” she said. She adjusted the lens on the projector so the logo was clearer. “So I heard you met James the other night. He teaches English here, did you know that? And he’s cute too.”  
    “Cute and scary. Maybe not scary. Intense might be a better word.”
    “Did he really frighten you?”
    Sarah paused, watching the logo on the screen as she considered. “I wasn’t sure if I was more frightened for myself or concerned for him. He seemed more upset than intimidating. He certainly is handsome.” She paused because she wasn’t sure if she wanted to share her next thought. But Jennifer was already her best friend in Salem, so she decided to trust her.
    “I think he looks like the man in my dreams. I’ve never seen the man’s face—it’s always in the shadows—but when James first came out of his house I couldn’t see his face either. I don’t know. Maybe I’m losing my mind. Something about being in Witch City, I guess.”
    Jennifer watched Sarah with the same detective-like concentration her mother had. Then she turned her attention to the desks scattered haphazardly around the room, straightening them into five neat rows.
     Sarah stared at the floor, consumed by thoughts of the other night. Her encounter with James stirred too many emotions at once: fear, concern, sympathy, attraction, but mainly disappointment in herself for finding him alluring at all.
    “He was just confused,” she said.
    How else could she explain his sudden attachment to her? And as for her just as sudden attachment to him? It was not hard to see where her attraction came from. He was a beautiful-looking man, James Wentworth, and though he looked physically strong, there was some vulnerability there too. How else could he have shown his soul to a stranger? Even after he realized she was not who he thought she was, his soul was still out there, visible, and she felt it reach out and touch her with the aura of its warmth. She could feel it touching her even then. 
    When Jennifer finished pushing the desks around, she sat on a chair and gave Sarah her full attention. Sarah felt like she was supposed to say something, as if Jennifer wanted something from her. “He mistook me for someone else,” Sarah said. “Elizabeth, he called her. When he realized he made a mistake he apologized.”
    “Did he tell you who Elizabeth was?”
    Before Sarah could answer, he was there, James, standing outside the door, watching her through the window. His dark eyes were curious, wondering, though less intimidating under his wire-rimmed eyeglasses. She could feel his gaze piercing her as if he were trying to see through her, understand everything about her from the day she was born, through all her years on earth, until that very moment in the library. It was that