Read The Romancing of Evangeline Ipswich for Free Online Page B

sniffling and felt her tears on her cheek mingle with her own tears of joy.
    “Oh, you’re just so beautiful!” Jennie breathed as she held Evangeline’s face between her hands and studied her a moment. “More beautiful than even I remember!”
    Evangeline shook her head, however, saying, “But look at you! Your hair is so much darker than when we were girls, and your cheeks are so rosy. Expecting a baby makes you all the more radiant.”
    “And fat!” Jennie giggled. “I swear I feel like an overripe watermelon.”
    “Well, you don’t look like one,” Evangeline assured her friend. She studied Jennie’s dark brown hair, brown eyes, and rosy cheeks. “You look resplendent! And I’m so glad you asked me to come.”
    “I’m glad you came, Evie,” Jennie said, brushing a tear from her cheek. “More glad than you even know. I’ve been having a hard time of it, you see.”
    As more tears ran over Jennie’s cheeks—tears of fear, fatigue, and thankfulness at having a friend close by, Evangeline clasped her hands tightly in her own and said, “Well, I’m here now. And I’m going to take very good care of you, and we’ll talk and reminisce and have a wonderful time while we wait for your little bundle to arrive.”
    “Thank you so much, Evie,” Jennie said as she burst into sobbing. “Thank you!”
    Evangeline gathered her cherished friend into her arms, consoling her by stroking her hair and telling her that all would be well.
    Evangeline was glad she had come. All her anxieties over leaving her family behind washed away in that moment. She knew they would return, but Jennie needed her now—needed her far more than anyone at home did. And if anything in life was certain, it was that Evangeline Ipswich needed to be needed.
CHAPTER FOUR
     
    “Oh, I just keep pinching myself to make sure I’m awake and that you’re really here, Evie!” Jennie exclaimed.
    Red Peak’s doctor, Doctor Swayze, had indeed given Jennie strict instructions for bed rest. However, Jennie explained to Evangeline that she could be out of bed for about an hour or so a day, provided she didn’t stay on her feet too long. Therefore, as Evangeline busily prepared supper that evening, Jennie sat on a kitchen chair visiting with her as she did.
    “Well, I’m just glad I arrived in time to make some supper for you and Calvin tonight,” Evangeline said. “After the stories you’ve told me about Calvin and Hutch feeding you nothing but bacon and eggs three meals a day—goodness sakes! You must be starving for something else!”
    Jennie laughed. “In truth, I never thought a body could get tired of eating bacon. But I am! Still, it was either that or jerky, so I guess I should be thankful that the boys knew how to cook something !”
    Evangeline giggled at the thought of Hutch trying to make supper for his sister. She hadn’t met Jennie’s husband, Calvin, yet, but she figured it must be quite a sight to see two men trying to provide three good meals a day for an ailing woman.
    “I guess you should be, at that,” Evangeline agreed.
    She slid a pan of biscuits into the oven, stirred the chicken stew in the big pot on the stove, and said, “And tomorrow I’ll bake a cake for you, Jennie. You deserve something sweet.”
    “Well, I don’t know if I necessarily deserve it, but it would be heavenly, Evie!” Jennie sighed with excitement. “Just heavenly!”
    Evangeline smiled as she sat down in a chair across the kitchen table from Jennie. She was so glad she was able to help her friend—to give her some much-needed female companionship, not to mention something to eat besides eggs and bacon. And now that they’d said their emotional hellos and had an hour or so to talk before Evangeline had started the stew cooking for supper, Evangeline couldn’t keep from asking the question she’d been wanting to ask Jennie from the moment she’d looked up to see Hutch standing on the platform at the train station.
    “Jennie?” she