Read Romancing Olive for Free Online

and watched through the grimy glass as Olive Wilkins kissed Mary and sat down. Her nightgown was buttoned to her neck, but as she stretched and rolled her head, Jacob found himself mesmerized with her slow, calculated movements. The brush pulled through volumes of thick hair, reddish in the firelight. It swayed and moved of its own accord and Jacob watched her face. This is her forbidden pleasure, he realized, as he watched her move through the strokes. She sighed and her eyes dropped to half-mast. When she pushed her chair back abruptly, Jacob jumped from his voyeur’s position into the shadow of the porch. He peered in again to watch this strange woman climb into his bed.
    * * *
    Morning came all too soon for Olive, but she rose and moved her neck to work out the kinks. Peg slept the sleep of the innocent, mouth parted, strands of hair bathing her face. Olive opened the door, bucket in hand and found a full bucket on the porch in the gray light just before dawn. Mr. Butler must rise early, she thought, as she rinsed her face and hands and dressed. The firewood nearly beat her in a test of wills, but Olive managed to fill the stove and get a blaze going.
    Jacob Butler materialized in the doorway and Olive jumped as she felt him approach.
    “Good morning,” she whispered. “Where is the bacon and are there eggs to be had?”
    He motioned to a small bucket filled with hay on the table. Large brown eggs were nestled amidst the straw.
    “I keep the bacon and milk in the fruit cellar under the house. I’ll get it,” he said.
    Olive was rooting through dirty pans and filled a pot with the water from her washing when Jacob Butler returned to the kitchen. She filled a second pot with water and turned to the table with a knife to slice the bacon.
    “Don’t cut more bacon than Mary and John and you will eat. I’ll make mush for me and the others,” he said.
    Olive straightened and stared at him. “You would have Mary and John eat bacon in front of Luke and Peg while they eat mush?”
    “I told you yesterday.  I can take care of my family,” he growled in a whisper.
    “Your pantry was nearly bare. I know you are very busy, Mr. Butler. And a trip to town is an inconvenience, but I don’t know how you planned on feeding these children and yourself. A jar of beets and beef jerky will only go so far.”
    “I have a plowing job for a neighbor. It’ll be finished soon. When I get paid I’ll go to town for supplies,” he said, his voicing raising.
    “And what, pray tell,” Olive whispered and sat her fists on her hips, “will you and the children be eating until then?”
    Jacob Butler sputtered and narrowed his eyes and Olive was sure he was about to let out a roar when they looked down to find John and Luke, clinging to the table edge. Moments passed and Luke yanked on his father’s sleeve.
    “Miss Wilkins bought bacon yesterday, Daddy. We can have that for breakfast,” the little boy said.
    Olive looked up to Jacob Butler’s taut face.
    “None for me, Miss Wilkins,” he said.
    “Mark’s awake,” Mary said as she came from behind the curtain dividing the kitchen from the beds.
    Jacob Butler rushed to the crib and Olive’s face reddened as she realized she had forgotten completely about the infant. The man picked up his son and crooned in the babe’s ear, but the child began to moan in an odd fashion.
    “Mark needs his diaper changed first thing in the morning. He has a rash,” Mr. Butler said.
    Olive watched Jacob Butler’s large tan hands unpin the sopping fabric. The child’s head seemed abnormally large for his body. Mark’s strange cries and inability to meet anyone’s eyes made her wonder if he was blind.
    “What is his condition?” Olive asked.
    “His diapers’ wet,” Mr. Butler replied as he wiped the baby’s behind.
    Olive sensed his reluctance but she could not still her tongue. “I know that, Mr. Butler. He seems to have some other problems as well,” she said quietly.
    Olive took an