Free You Only Love Twice by Elizabeth Thornton Page A

She told them about her father’s murder and how she had disappeared the same night. The sisters were so sympathetic and so accepting that everything poured out of her as if of its own accord.
    When she had finished speaking, Sister Dolores studied her thoughtfully. She wasn’t a woman to speak without thinking. At length, she nodded, as though satisfied with what she’d heard. “That’s more or less what Lord Dundas told us.”
    Jessica’s head came up. “He told you?”
    Sister Elvira said, “He thinks you should leave this place, Jessica, and start afresh somewhere else.”
    “Oh, he does, does he?” Jessica knew her tone was hostile and she made a conscious effort to soften it. She wasn’t angry at the sisters but at Lucas Wilde for deliberately trying to get them on his side. The offer to place their boys was probably a bribe to persuade the sisters to get rid of her. “And why should I leave this place?”
    “To avoid any unpleasantness. People are bound to gossip. Those were Lord Dundas’s words.”
    “How very kind of him to think of me,” replied Jessica sweetly. “However, I came to Hawkshill to find out …”
    “To find out?” prompted Sister Elvira.
    “To find out about myself,” Jessica went on seamlessly, “and until I do, I’m not going anywhere.”
    She expected an argument and got none. In fact, the sisters approved. It was their conviction that the whole enterprise had been inspired by God, and it was their duty to follow where He led.
    Somewhat chastened by the sisters’ blind faith, Jessica left them to begin preparing the evening meal. She didn’t feel put upon by having to do most of the cooking herself. They had agreed on the division of labor from the beginning. The kitchen was her domain. The sisters did most of the washing and cleaning and were out a good part of the day, knocking on doors to beg or buy whatever was needed to set up for the boys’ arrival. They didn’t have the money to purchase all they wanted, but that didn’t dampen their spirits. They expected the good Lord to provide and, to their way of thinking, He did. They’d already acquired some odds and ends of furniture, one milch cow and her calf and a handful of brood hens.
    It was Joseph’s job to take care of the stock and generally keep the place in good repair. Before he’d become a professional fighter, he’d been a farm laborer. He didn’t say much, but Jessica could tell it suited him very well to be back on the land.
    She donned her apron and stood for a moment or two in the middle of the kitchen floor in silent contemplation. There was so much to think about, so much to worry about. Of all the shocks she’d had today, the one that weighed most heavily on her heart was the brutal murder of her father. “Papa,” she whispered into the silence, trying to think herself into the part of a loving daughter. There was no answering chord in her memory.
    She stayed there for a long while, staring into space, then frowned as she remembered that moment in theBlack Swan when she’d had an impression of herself as a young girl. What had she been feeling? She’d been panicked until Lucas had left his friends and come toward her.
    Was it a memory? What did it mean? And why would she remember Lucas but not her father?
    Scarlet woman . No. It couldn’t be true. Even without her memory, she knew she wasn’t that sort of girl. Then what sort of girl was she?
    Her eye fell on the kitchen table. Gritting her teeth, she picked up her skillet and slammed it down.
    In the breakfast room, the black-robed nuns listened to the rattle of pots and pans that emanated from the kitchen. Sister Dolores’s eloquent eyebrows rose a notch at every clatter; Sister Elvira’s lips were turned up in a complacent smile.
    “She’s not the same girl she was three days ago,” said Sister Dolores.
    “No,” agreed Sister Elvira. “I think we’ll be seeing less and less of Sister Martha as time goes on.”
    Sister Dolores