Regency Romance: A Duchess in Disguise (Historical 19th Century Victorian Romance) (Duke Fantasy Billionaire Romance) (13 page)

Chapter Four

Joe stood in front of the counter cutting potatoes into smaller portions before he set them
in
the stove to cook. When he opened the
stove
, it let out the smell of the roast he was
cooking,
and he breathed it in. His brothers were both sitting at their newly-acquired table, one that was big enough for the six people. He was glad they had gotten rid of the
old scratchy
beat up one they had previously had. It was older than all three of them and needed to
be burned
so that it would never be used again by any unlucky people.

He finished what he was doing and went
to the table
to join in on the conversation between Victor and Ben.

“It
’s obvious you made
a good decision with this, Ben.” Victor was saying. Joe nodded as he sat.

“That is
true,
” He said. “You look like you
really
care for
Joy,
and you have only just met her.”

Ben’s smile revealed his feelings. It made his eyes crinkle. “I do find that I already care quite a lot
for
her,
” He said.

Victor nodded. “That’s wonderful, brother.”

“How about you? What do you think of Robin?” Joe asked, turning to look at Victor.

His brother didn’t answer right away. He
turned
his eyes so that they
were focused
out of the window next to the icebox. “I’m not sure. I think it may take some time to get to know her. She seems
…
very energetic.”

Joe nodded. “I thought so, too. She’s quite
pretty
.”

“They are all
pretty,
” Victor said. “Your Cathy is a nice-looking woman.”

Joe made the same move as his brother, looking out the window to avoid looking at either of them. “I suppose she is. She seems quite reserved.”

“You’ve just met
her,
” Ben said.

“You didn’t seem to have any trouble with
that,
” Joe said with a smile for his younger brother. “I notice that you have already taken to holding her hand wherever you go. And that’s only from seeing you here around the house. That says something, you know.”

“Yes.” Ben nodded. Once again, his cheeks flushed with a light red color. “I am happy Joy is here. I think she’s probably the most beautiful…no, she
is
the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“Someone’s got it bad.” His brothers laughed, teasing him. He just smiled at them.

“Well, I, for one, am happy for you, Ben. I’m sure we will be able to work things out with our
own
future wives.”

“I wonder, Victor…” Joe pursed his lips for a moment and tapped one finger on the table as he thought. “Suppose you end up getting along better with Cathy than I do and I with Robin better than you do. Did you notice that Robin likes to cook? That in itself is more compatible with me than I’ve seen her with you. You don’t like outgoing women. I am that way
myself,
and I appreciate like-minded people. Also, did you notice how Cathy was the one who asked about Minnie? I didn’t get the impression that Robin
was interested
very much. Would you consider switching?”

Victor laughed. “Switching? What a concept. I wonder what the women would think of that. Do you think they would feel rejected and hold resentment to either of us if we tried to do that?”

Joe contemplated the thought for a moment. “I suppose it might stir up a bit of trouble.”

“Let’s give it some time and see what happens.”

“We don’t want to give it too much time.” Joe said. “That will just mess with feelings even more. We should decide tonight.”

“I agree.” Victor nodded. “Especially because the little one will inevitably become attached to the woman who takes the best care of her.”

Joe nodded. “All right, let’s see how dinner goes and we will discuss it later tonight.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Where is Hannah, by the way?” Joe asked. “Did you check on her when we returned?”

“
Of course,
I did. Minnie is asleep and will probably only be up for only about an hour tonight. Hannah said that she is not yet sleeping through the night and takes frequent naps during the day.”

“Will she stay to show Robin how to care for her?”

“I’m assuming she will. She didn’t say anything about leaving right away.”

“Did you notice that Cathy has a limp?” Joe asked them. They both raised their eyebrows at him.

“I hadn’t
noticed,
” Ben said.

“That’s because you weren’t looking at
Cathy,
” Victor said, smiling at Ben. He turned his eyes back to Joe. “Do you have a problem with that, my brother?”

Joe looked uncomfortable. “Not really. I’m just…”

“Are you disappointed she isn’t perfect?” Victor was a little irritated by his brother’s question. Cathy’s limp was barely
noticeable,
and he didn’t think it took away from her attractiveness in the least. “She seems to have a very
affectionate
soul from the little I’ve seen of her.”

Joe nodded. “Yes, she seems very nice. I was just wondering if you had noticed it.”

“I did.” Victor nodded. “Did you see how brash Robin is? You are right that she is outgoing. It makes me wonder how she will be with Minnie. Babies take patience and a lot of love. I wouldn’t want Minnie to grow up with a mother who doesn’t truly love her.”

“I don’t think that Robin wouldn’t love Minnie.” Joe found himself feeling a bit offended and felt the need to stand up for Robin. “I doubt that she would do any harm to the baby.”

“We still don’t know anything about these women, other than what they wrote to us in their
letters,
” Victor said.

“I think you should both stop bickering about the women and just settle yourselves to getting to know them. It already sounds like you want to switch. You’ll be deciding
tonight; I
have no doubt.” Ben said.

Robin,
Cathy,
and Joy took the stairs quietly and followed the smell of the cooking food to find the kitchen and dining room. Robin resisted the urge to knock on the door before pushing it open. If this was going to be her home, she wasn’t going to be knocking
on the door
to go in the kitchen.

She pushed it
open,
and the three women entered the room. The men stood up from the table to greet them.

“Hello!” Victor said, directing his eyes toward Cathy. She felt her heart thump a little bit but moved her eyes from him to Joe and then Ben.

“Hello,
fellows,
” Robin said. “We are ready to eat!”

There were smiles all
around,
and the men showed the ladies where they were to sit.

“I will serve you dinner
tonight
if you’d like.” Joe said. “We are having a roast with potatoes, gravy, peas and biscuits.”

“That sounds delicious!” Cathy said, sitting in the chair Joe pulled out from the table.

“And smells delicious, too.” Joy nodded at
Ben,
who was holding the back of her chair to sit in.

Cathy woke abruptly to the sound of a baby crying. With her eyes half-closed and forgetting where she was, she threw back the cover and slid out of the bed, murmuring, “I’m coming, Lila. It’s okay, little one, I’m coming.”

As soon as she got to the door of her room, opened it and stepped out into the hallway, she remembered that she was not
in
her sister’s house any longer and that it wasn’t baby Lila who was crying. More fully awake and aware that she was not back home, she looked in the direction of the nursery. The sound of the baby crying
was now muffled,
and she could hear whimpering and soft talking. She went to the door of the nursery and pushed it open.

Hannah, whom she had not met the night before, was sitting in a rocking chair, holding a tiny baby, feeding her with a baby bottle. She looked up when Cathy came in and smiled.
“Hello,
” she whispered. “You must be here for little Minnie. I’m glad to help you learn how to care for her.”

“I know how to care for the little
ones,
” Cathy whispered, coming over and leaning down to peer into the tiny baby’s sweet pudgy face. “I took care of my sister’s children for years.”

“I’m so glad to hear that. Would you like to take her now?” When Cathy backed up, Hannah stood and transferred the baby and bottle to her.

Cathy thought about how good it felt to have the child in her arms. “Hello,
little sweet
one,
” She whispered, bouncing the baby lightly in her arms. She moved her upper body from side to side, swinging her.

“Please sit. Your back will get tired very fast.”

Cathy sat.
“Yes, as my sister’s babies got older, it became much more difficult to stand and rock them.
I had to take care of them frequently, as my sister suffered from an illness right after having her second child, Lila. I cared for Lila every night until she was two years old. That’s how old she is now.”

“I do hope your sister is well now.”

“She is, thank you.”

The ladies continued to talk in low tones, whispering to each other about their lives and their pasts and their hopes for the future. Cathy was happy to have Hannah there and felt a little sad that she would be leaving soon to go back to her Amish community.

While they talked, they didn’t notice that Victor was standing just outside the door, watching them through the crack. He watched Cathy, thinking how the moonlight brought out her beauty much more than the day and deciding that he would speak to his brother in the morning about switching brides. During dinner, he had spent more time chatting with Cathy than
Robin,
but Joe hadn’t minded because he spent his time talking to Robin. Ben and Joy were in their
own
world.

He got an idea and moved away from the doors before the women noticed he was there.

The sun had just come
up,
and Joe was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the family. He was cracking eggs when the door
opened,
and Robin came through wearing a long
robe; her  hair
pulled back in
a tail.
She stood at the door and smiled at him.

“Good
morning,
” she said.

“Good morning, Robin. Did you sleep all right?”

“I did, thank you. And you?”

“I did. Would you like to help me prepare breakfast?”

“Yes, I would. I can
prepare
biscuits and fry up some
bacon
if you would like.”

“That sounds wonderful. We also have sausage if you would prefer that, or any of the ladies would like it. I know it is one of Ben’s favorite breakfast items.”

“I’ll make both if you want me to. I’m afraid the girls and I didn’t discuss our breakfast favorites when we met yesterday.”

Joe chuckled. “I guess that might not have come up in the conversation, would it?”

She smiled wider. “No. It’s not a common subject among strangers.”

“Do you think you will get along with all of us all right?”

Robin was already at the icebox, getting out a slab of bacon wrapped in parchment paper and
was bent
over searching for the sausage. Joe came up behind her and bent over next to her, pointing to it. They looked at each
other,
and Robin’s heart jumped. His eyes were kind and loving. She could see that he was much more interested in her than Victor had been. They had talked all the way through dinner. She pulled in a
breath,
and he smiled. “There it
is,
” He said in a gentle tone.

“I think I will get along with everyone.” She breathed softly.

Everyone except Victor
was
seated at the table an hour later. They waited patiently, chatting until he swung the door open and came through. All of them stood up to greet him.

“Good
morning,
” he said.

“Good morning.” They all responded to him.

“Have you been waiting long?” He asked.

“No, it’s only been a few minutes since we all sat
down,
” Cathy responded. The others had all seated themselves again, except for Robin, who had volunteered to serve the family breakfast. Victor’s eyes were directly on her. The room fell silent as they all watched Victor curiously.