Free You Only Love Twice by Elizabeth Thornton

years younger and was small and chubby. Her domain was the orphanage, and though she never gave up on a child, no matter how hardened, she was no one’s dupe, either. She was an odd mixture of saintliness and worldliness and the novices had dubbed her Sister Solomon. It was Sister Elvira who was in charge of Hawkshill.
    When Jessica entered, the nuns broke off their conversation. In the last few days, ever since the jam incident, there had been many such aborted conversations between Sisters Dolores and Elvira. They were curious, and when Jessica remembered the state of the kitchen when they’d walked in, while she was scraping jam from the ceiling, she wasn’t surprised. She hadn’t told a lie. She’d said she’d inadvertently hit the bowls on the table with the bread paddle and they had let it go at that. But it wasn’t in Sister Martha’s character to be careless, and she’d been aware ever since of the nuns covertly watching her. It wasn’t done in an unkindly way. The Reverend Mother had appointed them to be her guardians, and guard her they would, come what may.
    “How did things go with the attorney?” asked Sister Dolores.
    “Very well. My father left me some money. I’m not an heiress, but I’m not destitute, either. Sister Elvira, you seem very pleased with yourself.”
    Sister Elvira beamed at Jessica. “That’s because our landlord was here earlier this morning. He’s promised to have our lease all properly signed and notarized by theend of the week. Not only that, but—oh, I swear the man is an angel—he also offered to take six of our boys under his wing and apprentice them to his own people. The blacksmith, the farrier, the gamekeeper … I forget who all.”
    “Lord Dundas promised to sign the lease?” asked Jessica incredulously.
    “He did,” replied Sister Dolores, “and we are to have Hawkshill for a nominal sum.” She patted the empty chair beside her and, when Jessica was seated, went on. “He said that he had business in town with his attorney and that if he saw you he would drive you home.”
    “Well, he did,” said Jessica crossly. “I … I suppose he asked a lot of questions when he was here?”
    The nuns exchanged a quick glance. “He was curious about us, about our order and our boys,” replied Sister Dolores.
    He was curious about her , thought Jessica sourly. “And you told him I’d lost my memory?”
    “It came up in the conversation.”
    Sister Elvira said, “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Jessica. And Lord Dundas was very sympathetic to your plight.”
    Sympathetic! He had all but called her a liar. Her brows pulled to a frown. “I’d be careful about taking anything he says too seriously.” When the nuns stared at her in surprise, her cheeks went pink. “I mean, when he speaks to his estate manager, perhaps he’ll change his mind about placing our boys.”
    They were like two alert sparrows watching a worm. Jessica squirmed uncomfortably. There was no getting around it. She had to tell them what she’d learned in town before they heard it from another source.
    But there was something she had to clear up first. Breathing deeply, she said, “I didn’t tell you that my father was murdered.”
    “We understand, Jessica,” said Sister Dolores. “It must have been a great shock to you. We told Lord Dundas that you’d probably heard it from Mrs. Marshal.”
    “Well, it was a shock,” said Jessica, and marveled at her facility with evasions and half-truths, “but there were more shocks waiting for me this morning when I visited the attorney.” And without giving them time to consider or ask her to elaborate, she plunged in.
    “The thing is,” she said, “I’ve learned that Lucas, that is, Lord Dundas and I were not the best of friends when I left here. And it’s no exaggeration to say that he doesn’t want me here now.” She told them about Lucas’s quarrel with her father and how he blamed her for trying to trap him into marriage.