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“I’m going to let your grandfather know when I go out to check on him. He knows the family personally, and it might help if they knew. I doubt it, but one can never tell.”
Leah nodded. “I think they should know. They need to understand exactly what this entire situation has done to their daughter.” She glanced up the stairs. “It seems these things always happen when I’m gone from the house.”
“Perhaps in this case, Natasha waited for that, but you can’t hold yourself responsible. It’s not your fault, especially if she decided to throw herself down. She’s in a bad state of mind. She knows she’s going to have to go through labor and delivery and then—”
“And then return home to find herself in the same exact position as before,” Leah interrupted. “This isn’t right, Erik. We have to find a way to help her.” Her voice broke, and tears welled in her eyes. Leah buried her face in her hands.
Erik did the only thing he could. He took her in his arms as he’d long wanted to do.
20
Leah welcomed Erik’s touch. To find herself wrapped in his arms felt so right. Still, she fought to compose herself and raised her head to speak only to find his lips very firmly planted on hers.
She had never known how much she wanted his kiss until that moment. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his affection. It was in that moment that Leah knew without any doubt she’d fallen hopelessly in love with Erik Sjolander.
As if he could read her mind, he pulled away. “Open your eyes, Leah.” She did as he commanded and met his searching gaze. “Are you in love with me?” he asked.
His question caught her so off-guard that she said the only thing that came to mind. “That’s none of your concern.” She smiled, and the look of amusement that spread across his face made her giggle like a little girl.
“Out of all the things in this world that may or may not be my concern, knowing whether or not you’re in love with me is definitely my business.”
Leah sobered and nodded. “I am in love with you.”
“Don’t sound so sad about it. I’m in love with you as well.”
She tried not to look surprised. “I didn’t plan to be. I didn’t figure love and romance were going to be part of my life. Now I have to deal with Randolph’s proposal as well as this.”
“Vanhoutte proposed?”
“Yes, I’m to give him an answer tomorrow at lunch with my family, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to make it a public event. I think I’ll just find a way to meet with him privately and tell him how I feel about everything.” She thought of her concerns about Randolph and what he might be up to. When Erik said nothing, she continued to explain.
“There’s more to it than just the proposal. I think Randolph is doing something illegal regarding the war. I don’t know exactly what that might entail, but I’ve spoken to my Uncle Evan about it, and he’s investigating.”
“Then you need to be rid of him. He can only cause trouble.”
Leah took a step back. Her feelings confused her more than she could explain. “I might be wrong. He might not be doing anything illegal, just sneaky. I think it’s important to know, however. We’ve donated a great deal of money to him and the CRB.”
“Like I said, you need to be rid of him.”
She nodded. “I agree. I’ll make arrangements to speak to him, but I can’t very well have him here. I’ve promised to do everything under my power to keep the identities of our patients unknown. Randolph travels in the kind of circles that might very well have put him in the company of these girls and their parents. I’ll just arrange to meet him somewhere privately.”
“Leah, it could be dangerous if he’s truly up to some sort of espionage.” Erik reached out to take hold of her again.
“Don’t worry. He’s been a part of our family for so long that I don’t believe he would hurt me.”
The front door opened at that moment, and Nurse Foster came into the foyer. “It looks like it may well snow again,” she announced. She noticed Erik. “Dr. Sjolander, is something wrong?”
He released Leah, and she moved away to better steady her thoughts. She wasn’t yet ready to explain her feelings to the older woman when she wasn’t sure about them herself.
“Natasha fell down the stairs,” Erik related. “She’s fine but needs to be watched constantly for a time.”
“Was it an accident?”
Erik shook his head. “I have no way of knowing. She says it was.”
“I see.” Nurse Foster looked to Leah. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to watch over her.”
“I wasn’t either.” Leah could see the regret in the woman’s expression.
