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Hannah stepped closer to Nicole. “Will you please give us a brother?” she asked oh, so innocently.
“A brother?” Nicole repeated, paling at the thought of exactly where this conversation would take her.
She must leave this small and peaceful town of Hope as soon as she could.
That would take a lot of sneaking on her part, but she would never allow him the satisfaction of having her as his third wife.
Never!
“Daddy said he was going to give you time to get settled among our people and then he will tell you his plans,” Tara piped in, her straight perfe
ct teeth shining white in the sunlight coming through the schoolhouse door.
“I hope that won’t be long,” Jane blurted. “We want a brother real bad. Really, really bad.”
“I’m sure you do,” Nicole said tightly.
“Most of the other girls have brothers,” Kathryn said. “We want one, too.”
“I hope Daddy doesn’t wait too long to stand up beside you,” Jane then said. She nudged Kathryn in the ribs. “I think we’d better go and sit down. Everyone else has.”
“Yes, let’s,” Kathryn said anxiously. “It will be such fun, Jane. We will finally learn our numbers!”
Nicole was stunned by what she had discovered. She was so angry, and felt so terribly betrayed, she could not stop trembling.
Nicole turned and looked across the town square at the house where Jeremiah’s two wives stood on the porch. Her insides tightened when she saw how their arms were crossed as their eyes locked on Nicole.
Nicole felt an icy shiver ride her spine at the resentment she saw in the women’s attitude. She thought that if she could read those two women’s thoughts, she would learn that they would do anything to rid themselves of this woman they hated with a passion.
Her heart pounding, suddenly feeling this new threat with every beat of her heart, Nicole turned quickly, placing her back to the women.
She looked at all of the children, who now dutifully sat at their desks, waiting for their new teacher to begin teaching.
How could she carry on as if everything were normal? With all that she knew now, how could she behave as though nothing had happened?
One thing was certain. Her time in this settlement would be very short-lived.
She would never become anyone’s third wife. She most certainly did not want to bear Jeremiah the son he was looking forward to.
Her thoughts went to Eagle Wolf.
Oh, how happy she would be to become his wife.
But she must forget him and think about this situation at hand.
Although she felt safe and protected at this settlement, Nicole knew she must leave Hope, and as soon as possible.
She didn’t want to give Jeremiah one more minute of making plans for her to marry him.
Yet what about Sam Partain? With him out there somewhere, surely still looking for her, she might not survive another night riding alone. She had nowhere to go, and no one to truly care about what happened to her.
No matter how these thoughts frightened her, she knew that she must leave tonight when everyone else was asleep.
She went to a window and gazed toward the mountain. Up there, somewhere, was Eagle Wolf’s stronghold.
Yes, that was where she would go. She would leave Hope tonight and find Eagle Wolf, for he was the only person who cared whether she lived or died.
A tiny voice drew her quickly back to the task at hand. Hannah had left her desk and was staring up at her.
