Free Mail Order Melody by Kirsten Osbourne Page B

could she let him know just how desperately afraid she was for her sister and nephews?
    "Does your sister know she's been threatened?"
    "No, I never told her. I didn't want her to worry about the boys." She stared at her hands where she was worrying her drawstring purse. "I guess I need to tell her. I sent her a letter through her mother-in-law, telling her to be careful and asking her to respond the same way. I don't want them to be hurt." She couldn't live with herself if her family was hurt because of her career.
    "No, of course not. What about your manager? What would he do if he found you?" Her manager really frightened him more than the man threatening her family. He had never met her family but he knew he needed her in his life.
    Eliza shook her head. "I don't think there's anything he can do. I'm not under contract." She shrugged. "He'd want me back because I made him rich, but I'm not obligated to him in anyway." Sebastian frightened her, but he really wasn't a bad man.
    "Could he help us?" His mind raced to find a way they could get her sister out to them so they could be certain she was safe. He could see on Eliza's face that she wouldn't feel safe until her sister and both nephews were somewhere that she could see them on a daily basis.
    She thought about that for a moment. "He might be able to, but he'd want me to go back on the road with him." She didn't want to have to deal with Sebastian again. He would try to get her to leave Calvin because he wanted the money she would make him.
    Calvin studied her carefully. "Do you want to go back on the road with him?" He hated the idea of losing her, but would she be happier if she were singing again?
    "Not at all. I hated being on the road. And...well, I'm pregnant, so now isn't a good time to go on the road anyway. I can't ever sing on stage again if I don't want my child to spend their life being looked down on." She knew it wasn't the way she should have told him about the baby, but she needed him to understand exactly where she was coming from.
    "Wait...you're pregnant? How long have you known?" He was excited about the baby, of course, but he couldn't understand why he was just now finding out.
    She sighed. "A couple of weeks. I wanted to feel like I could tell you everything before I told you about the baby. Now that I've told you all about my past, I feel comfortable telling you about him." She touched a hand to her slightly swollen belly, wanting to protect the child that lived within her.
    Calvin thought about that for a moment before nodding. "I think I can understand that. I'm thrilled about the baby. I just need you to know that." Thrilled was putting it mildly. He wanted to shout and dance in the streets, but the conversation was too serious for that.
    She smiled. "So am I." She looked down at the letter in his hands. "What are we going to do about that, though?"
    "I'm going to hire an investigator, and we'll go from there." He'd never even tried to hire an investigator, but he'd heard good things about a firm in St. Louis. They'd drive there and talk to them, doing everything they could to keep her family safe.
    "I do have some money. Most of it was kept by Sebastian, but I always carried a little. I have what was in my purse the day I ran from him." She opened her purse to pull out whatever money she had.
    He put his hand on her arm to stop her from getting the money out. "I'll let you know if I need it. For now, keep it safe." He put one finger under her chin, tilting her face up for his kiss. "Now that I know about the problem, we'll solve it together."
    She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder as he turned the wagon around and headed back to the mercantile. "You'll stop asking me to sing 'Yankee Doodle' now that you know I'm an opera singer, right?"
    His eyes were dancing as he looked down on her. "Why would I do that? You have a beautiful voice, and you should put it to good use. That opera stuff is boring. You should sing something worth listening