Page 47 of The Gift of Seeds
“We’re surprisingly alike. Both wounded and shy.”
He leaned closer. “I’m proposing that we?—”
Proposing?Alarm flared through her.We barely know each other. And to tie myself to a man….
Dale must have seen her reaction for, he leaned back and scrutinized the Falabellas and the empty street in front of them. “What I think I’m saying is…I’d like if we allowed ourselves to get to know each other. To grow comfortable in each other’s presence. To continue opening up and confiding in one another and build trust. A collaboration of two lonely souls is what I was about to propose.”
She let out a slow breath.Tortoise steps, I can do. “And also, we can garden together.”
He gave her a fond smile. “That’s a given.
“As excited as I am to have my own garden, one I’ve been dreaming about for years, truth be told, now that I’m here, I’ve been rather overwhelmed by the idea of doing everything on my own.”
“I remember feeling daunted when I started out with only an empty plot.”
“Last night,” Hester said with a shy duck of her head, “you gave me hope.”
“As you did me.” He guided the horses toward the middle of the road to avoid a boy pulling a sleigh. “Now, winter, too, will be a season to be celebrated. And when spring comes, I promise you won’t have to garden alone.”
She let out a happy sigh. “That would be lovely.”
“Over the next few years, I want to build a conservatory on the back of my house, move the greenhouse I currently have to another spot. Grow exotic flowers and fruit trees.”
She sucked in a breath, her eyes wide with admiration. “Ahhh, how wonderful!”
Dale lifted his chin in the direction of the Falabellas. “I scoffed when Andre Bellaire told me these miniature horses are magical.”
“Magical how?”
“That they add a sparkle… to their riders.”
She studied the pair. “I had no idea.”
He couldn’t help chuckling. “Something compelled me to borrow the sleigh today, even though I firmly turned down Andre when he offered.”
“He offered to take me for a ride, too.”
“Well, after you ran away from him?—”
“I didnot.” She blushed and elbowed his side.
“Well… you fled pretty quickly.”
Her cheeks turned even hotter.
He seemed not to notice her discomfort. “Andre hinted to me that I might want to take you for a ride. I thought such an idea was preposterous. At the time, I’d barely spoken to you.”
“I probably would have run away from you, too.”
He chuckled. “How my life has changed in less than forty-eight hours.” Dale halted the Falabellas in front of her house and set the brake, taking the reins in one hand and holding out the other.
Hester took his hand. Even through the leather gloves, the strength and warmth she felt reassured her. “I was nervous when we began this ride. But the more we talked, the safer I felt. You know my worst secrets. I want to build a…a relationship. But more at the speed of a tortoise than that of a hare.”
Dale waited until she met his gaze. “Being a tortoise suits me just fine, Hester. We’ll spend the winter talking and dreaming. In springtime, we’ll plant our gardens. In summer, we’ll watch them grow.”
“And we’ll weed,” she added. “Probably lots of weeding.”
“Weeding makes the plants grow stronger.” Dale released her hand, only to slide off her mitten. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the bare skin, before pulling up her mitten again and looking into her eyes. “And as our flowers bloom, so will we.”
