Kizzie looked up into the woman's eyes. Nella's expression held a deeper knowledge and, maybe, hope?
She couldn't imagine God had much for her to do with the mess she'd made of everything so far.
Running away from home for a “better life.”
Becoming pregnant outside of marriage.
Now, penniless and homeless with a little baby in need of much more than she had to give.
Kizzie drew in a breath as her son became more aggressive, his mouth pursing against her blouse.
“Here now.” Nella moved closer. “Your boy is lookin’ for some food, and I can see by your eyes you ain't got no notion ’bout what to do, so let me give you some learnin’.”
Within only a few minutes, the baby quietly drank, his little fingers flexing and opening against Kizzie's blouse in time with the sound of his happy feeding.
Nothing but her son's noises filled the silence for a few seconds. And then a sudden exhaustion swept over Kizzie, tugging at her eyelids. She rested against the pillows.
“I reckon, with you comin’ back to the Morgans’, your daddy and mama sent you away?”
Nella's words held no judgment or pity. Just fact.
“Mama would have had me stay.” Kizzie swallowed through her tightening throat, sliding her fingers over her son's small head. “Daddy was drunk, but I reckon he'd have come to the same decision drunk or sober.” Her eyes warmed with a new wave of tears. “I'm an outcast to them.”
Nella nodded, her dark hair somewhat loosed from the tight braids she usually wore. There was no telling what Kizzie's hair must look like. “Whiskey makes the best of men fools or villains.” She stood and walked to a nearby table where some of the soiled towels waited. “Though, like any mountain man, he's got that pride to nurse, ain't he? Acceptin’ you back in after what you done might make him look weak among his other kin, and I reckon he wonders at what sort of future you'd have.”
She paused by the bed again, those dark eyes of hers holding Kizzie's attention. “You're gonna need to be strong, girl. The world won't treat you or your young'un kindly. You need to press in to the Lord. He'll give you strength and hope.” Nella placed a palm on Kizzie's arm. “He embraces the outcasts. Renews their joy.”
“I can't change what I've done.”
“No, you can't.” Nella shook her head, but the light in her eyes never dimmed. “You'll live with your actions like we all do, but you don't have to live without hope or purpose. You're gonna need Him, Kizzie, ’cause there's a good chance you're gonna be on your own. Few men are keen to marry a woman in your situation.”
Kizzie fought against the thought, despite the tremor in her heart. “Charles says he means to marry me.”
“But you went to your parents?”
The question gnawed at the back of Kizzie's mind, but she rose to the defense. “He can't marry me just yet, but I know he means to. He loves me, and he's gonna love our baby.”
“I ain't sayin’ he don't have a preference for you, girl. I seen it with my own eyes.” Nella sighed and moved toward the door, her lips pressed tight. “But he's a respectable, rich man, Kizzie, and fit to become richer once his mama dies and he inherits his daddy's land as his own. Rich, respectable men don't marry poor, unwed mamas.”
“But hewillmarry me, Nella.” Even though Nella had spoken the words gently, they stung like barbs. “Just you wait and see. He's promised. As soon as his mama dies, he means to make me his wife.”
Nella took a few more steps toward the door, gaze still fixed on Kizzie. “Press into the Lord for your strength, Kizzie McAdams, ’cause there's a real good chance Charles Morgan's mama is gonna live forever.”
Chapter 2
FIVE DAYS ANDCHARLESMORGANhadn't come.
The morning after little Charlie's birth, Joshua had gone to the Morgans’ grand home in the center of their three hundred acres to privately deliver the news. From Joshua's report, Charles took the news with a smile, asked after Kizzie and the baby's welfare, and promised to arrive as soon as he could get away.
Of course, as the son of the prominent Morgan matriarch and heir to his father's property, Charles had responsibilities to attend to. So she shouldn't nurse any disappointment that he failed to arrive.
And of course, the action meant nothing as far as Charles’ real care. Kizzie couldn't expect him to drop everything to visit her when he'd sent her to stay with her parents for the birthing.
Kizzie stared at the sleeping baby wrapped tightly in a sling against her chest, a sliver of hope still entwined with Charles’ last words. Just maybe—she smiled down at her little one—Charles took his time because he was making plans of his own.
Plans for a wedding.
The faintest wish, inspired by the few fairy tales her mama spun to her and her siblings, unraveled within her breast, much like the feeling she'd had the first time she'd seen Charles Morgan.
