Until I Really Do

Chapter Fifteen

A creaking sound drifted to Sharon, expelling the darkness that held her body bound to the bed. Turning over on her side, she was just in time to watch an older woman make her way into the room.

She expelled a puff of air in surprise, springing to a sitting position as her hands held the covers to her chest. The woman, most likely as shocked as Sharon was, jumped back as well, the laundry basket in her hands emptying its content on the floor.

“Goodness!” The woman gasped, clutching the collar of her blue dress. “Who are you?!”

Sharon sat, tongue tied by the presence of the stranger in her room.

“And is that my night dress?” Thick raven brows pulled together to form a frown.

Glancing down sharply to look at the dress she was clad in, Sharon turned her attention back to the stranger. “Yo—your dress?”

The woman bobbed her head. “Looks like my dress to me.” She raised her brow in question, her fists settling on her rounded hips.

Realizing then who she was, Sharon's gaze settled on the white apron around her waist.

“You must be Nana.” Sharon began after several seconds of silence. The woman's reference to the dress reminded her of what Matthew had said about the dress belonging to his housekeeper and the apron did more than enough to jolt Sharon's memory.

“And you are?” She watched her suspiciously.

“Sharon, Sharon Freelance.”

“That doesn't answer my question, child.”

“I—um— I'm,” Sharon mentally struggled for the right words, but the woman's disapproving gaze on her made it nearly impossible to come up with any.

“Well?” Her brow rose a notch.

“Matthew's wife.” She blurted for a lack of a better term.

“His wife?!” Nana Lois half screeched.

Nodding, Sharon scrambled out of the bed, still clutching the white sheets to herself.

“Well, when did you two get married?”

“While you were away,” Sharon stood nervously by the bed, hoping the woman would take what she wanted and just leave. There was something intimidating about Nana Lois; something that made Sharon feel like a child who was being scolded by her mother for doing something terribly wrong.

“I see,” brown eyes ran down the length of her as Nana Lois began covering the distance between them.

Tightening her hold on the sheets, Sharon watched her approach.

“I should be mad at Matthew for getting married without having the decency to tell me, but I suppose he truly didn't have that much time left,” she said, pausing before Sharon, “seems to me like he also made a great choice. You're a pretty little thing and with just the right amount of care, you'll do just fine raising the young'uns.”

Heat sprang to Sharon's cheek at Nana Lois' reference to children. It was true that as a wife, she was expected to bear children at some point, but her marriage to Matthew wasn't a conventional marriage. They had both gotten married because they needed each other to get what they wanted —for her, to get away from Jenkins, and Matthew, to get his inheritance. But Nana Lois did not know that, nor did she suspect anything to be amiss as she wrapped her arms around Sharon, pulling her into a warm embrace.