Free Annie's Song by Catherine Anderson Page A

settee beside her husband and folded her hands tightly on her lap.
    “But, James, he knows nothing of how to handle her.”
    “Neither would a nurse in another town,” Alex pointed out.
    “At least then I might have exercised some control in matters,” she shot back. “Putting our daughter into inexperienced hands could undo all the years of training I’ve worked so hard to instill in her.”
    Alex rubbed his temple, silently cursing the headache that throbbed behind his eyes. Though he couldn’t understand the woman, her concerns still had to be addressed. “Mrs. Trimble, I’ll happily allow you to confer with the nurse I hire, if that’s your worry. You can instruct her in Annie’s care, just as you would have a nurse elsewhere.”
    Some of the rigidity eased from her slender body. “You truly wouldn’t mind?”
    Alex dredged up a smile, albeit a weak one. “Of course not. It isn’t as if this will be a marriage in fact.
    It’s a convenient arrangement, nothing more. If anything, I’ll be grateful for your input and experience in dealing with Annie.”
    For a long moment, she searched Alex’s gaze. Then she finally returned his smile. “Perhaps this will be a workable situation, after all,” she conceded.
    “I certainly hope so. Otherwise, I wouldn’t offer,” Alex assured her.
    “Annie is a difficult girl,” she hurried to add. “She must be made to follow strict rules, you understand, or she becomes intractable. You may pooh-pooh my worries, but the fact is, if Annie becomes uncontrollable, it will necessitate her being committed to a sanitarium, and as her mother, I want to avoid that at all costs.”
    Finally, Alex began to understand what drove the woman. As upset as she had been about Annie’s being sent away, at least then she would have had some control over her care. Her objections to Alex marrying Annie stemmed from fear, nothing more. “I give you my word that I’ll adopt all your rules for Annie and strictly enforce them,” Alex promised her. “And you can spend as much time as necessary instructing the nurse I hire so she will carry on with Annie exactly as you would if you were there to supervise.”

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    Edie heaved a relieved sigh. “Thank you, Mr. Montgomery. That makes me feel much more at ease with this situation.”
    Hoping that was the end of it, Alex rose from his chair, only to sit back down again when Edie Trimble launched into a long list of instructions regarding her daughter’s care. Annie was never to be taken to town; crowds of people unsettled her. Pencils or pens were taboo; the girl might injure herself with them.
    Never, not under any circumstances, was Annie to be allowed to make sound; once she got started, it was impossible to silence her, and the din she could raise was earsplitting.
    By the time the woman wound down, Alex’s head was swimming and he seriously doubted he would be able to remember anything she had told him. Even so, he promised to observe each and every rule to the letter. Anything to get out of there.
    Before taking his leave, Alex shook hands with the judge on their agreement and promised to begin his search for a live-in nurse immediately. As he left the house, he paused in the foyer to gaze at the second-story landing, wondering which door along the upper hallway led to Annie’s room. As ashamed as it made him feel to admit it, until that moment, Alex hadn’t given much thought to Annie’s reaction to all of this. Recalling her terror of him four months ago, he could only pray she had forgotten all about Douglas and what he had done to her. If not—well, it didn’t bear thinking about.

Chapter Five
    The wedding date was set for one week later, and Alex arrived on the Trimbles’ doorstep at precisely ten o’clock on the appointed morning to make Annie his lawfully wedded wife. The plan sounded simple enough: a quick marriage, a few months of looking