She drew in a careful breath as she read it. “Arminius promised that the legalities would soon draw to a close and the estate be proclaimed Benjamin’s. Perhaps we should stay there.”
Titus sighed. “You have not the staff, and it would probably take months to find slaves suitable. They must be selected with care, Abigail, for your life would be in their hands.”
“Then what do I do?” Her tone crossed frustration with a plea. “I am not welcome in your house, Titus, certainly not for an indefinite period of time.”
“Do not be ridiculous.”
Titus turned in surprise to see Caius standing there, a heartless smile on his face. “You are of course welcome in my home. You are Jason’s widow, the mother of his son.” His hard gaze flickered to Titus. “And mine has obviously found pleasure in you, so you may remain just where you are. I will not hear of you taking an unnecessary risk. I will inform the slaves that you are until further notice a part of my household.”
He left again, and Titus followed him out, stopping him with a hand on the elbow a few paces down the corridor. “Father, what is this about? Your motives are never so pure, and I would be a fool not to question them.”
Caius plied his arm away from Titus’s grasp. “I saw how easily she went into your arms, Titus. I will see for myself that she does not go so easily into your heart.”
Titus let him stride away, but he could not move. He could not help but think that his father’s warning was a bit too late; she had taken up residence in his heart long ago.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Abigail finally took pity on Samuel when he tried to hold his eyes open with his fingers and keep looking down at the letters she had written. Laughing, she put an arm around his shoulders. “Enough, my son. You have done well this evening. You should go to bed.”
Samuel dropped his fingers from his eyes and slumped against Abigail. “Sleepy.”
“You played hard today. But you still tried hard on your lessons, and I am proud.” She kissed his brow. “Go get ready. I will be in in a moment.”
Samuel nodded and slid off of the chaise, then shuffled in the direction of the exit, apparently headed to relieve himself. Abigail smiled and let her eyes move over to where Titus was immersed in a book, Benjamin asleep against his chest. Her smile only grew as she walked over to claim her slumbering son.
“You should have put him to bed when he fell asleep.” She lifted the baby, loving the way he snuggled against her.
Titus looked away from the manuscript with a smile. “He seemed happy enough, and he did not bother me.”
She nodded. “Send Samuel in when he returns, please.” She moved to their small room, putting the baby gently into his basket. He nestled in easily, and Abigail stood there a moment just looking at him. Each day he seemed to grow a little more beautiful, and she was beginning to see his personality emerge. The way he would fight sleep if she put him down when still awake, wanting so desperately to stay with her, but the way he clung to it and did not want to wake up when she came to rouse him from a nap.
He was beginning to look more and more like Jason. It made her heart skip now and then when he looked up at her with those innocent eyes and she saw her husband reflected there. She would be lying if she said she did not miss Jason. He had been her life’s axis for the last year. And now his death took that central place, and everything she did revolved around the glaring fact that she was his widow.
Tears surged without warning, and she squeezed her eyes shut against them. She was not a very good widow. It had only been months since he died, and here she was dreaming of another man. She knew it was wrong–more than that, it was pointless. It was certainly good and right that she and Titus had become friends, that they had not only gotten past the mutual disdain they had once had, but had actually come to like one another, to help one another grow in their new faiths. What was not acceptable was the way her heart had begun to flutter whenever he was near, the way it raced when he smiled at her, the way her blood had boiled when he had kissed her earlier that day.