Page 49 of Mail-Order Bride Secret
His finger ran along her jaw line, sending in its wake, little tremors that went straight to her heart. No sense of suffocation. No fear.
When his finger reached her chin, he gently turned her face toward him. She met his eyes. Saw his asking. His caution. His longing. She moved to meet him as he tipped his head to touch his lips to hers. They were warm, firm, claiming. Yet not demanding. He lingered there. Sensations she hadn’t expected flowed sweetly through her. This was nothing like her previous unwanted experience. This was a promise of caring. Of tenderness. Of love.
He lifted his lips from hers but held her next to his heart. “So Otis woke up?”
Otis! She’d plumb forgotten the boy. She sprang to her feet, swayed a little as she pulled herself from the dream he offered. “I need to check on him.” She rushed from the room. Paused in the doorway of the twin’sbedroom to catch her breath. Crossing the short hall did not explain her pounding heart.
She smiled. She blamed that on kissing Wally. The smile lingered, taking up permanent residence. She bent over to check Otis. A touch to his forehead informed her his fever had dropped. His breathing still whistled.
He stirred. “Water?”
She held the glass of water to his lips. He finished and smacked his lips. She turned, intending to refill the cup. Instead, she came face to face with Wally. He’d tiptoed in on stockinged feet.
Their gazes collided. She jerked her attention to the lamplight pooled on the tabletop. Drawn by an emotion greater than anything she had before experienced, her gaze returned to his.
He smiled. “Morning, Mrs. Edwards.” The look in his eyes left her powerless. Erased fears.
“Morning, Mr. Edwards.”
They chuckled then she slipped past him though neither of them moved enough to prevent their bodies from brushing in the doorway.
Again, she was breathless for no reason. She paused at the table to collect her thoughts. But they had developed a mind of their own and ran out of control back to Wally. Since her encounter with Delroy, she’d been terrified of men and any physicalcontact and yet touching Wally, having him touch her, thrilled rather than frightened.
Dare she hope that the past was indeed the past? That it had lost its power to hurt her?
Wally stoodby the bed looking down on Otis who slept. He didn’t need to feel the boy’s brow to know his fever had dropped.
His thoughts followed after Maddie. She’d let him kiss her. Had kissed him back. The smile that caught at his lips since her announcement in their bedroom, took control. Things were progressing nicely. Yes, indeed.
The boy stirred and opened his eyes. He focused on Wally. No confusion as far as Wally could tell which was good news.
Wally released the air he’d been holding until he had a chance to assess for himself the condition of the child.Thank You, God.His grin widened. Both for Otis’s improvement and the growing assurance he’d win Maddie over as his wife.
Otis’s eyes drifted closed.
Jonathan stirred. “Mama.”
Not wanting the boy to disturb the others, Wally carried him to the kitchen where Maddie stood at thestove watching a coffee pot. She turned at his footsteps. Their eyes found each other. His heart caught her smile and planted it firmly in the depths of his being.
Jonathan squirmed to get down and the moment ended as they worked together preparing food. The three of them sat at the table.
Wally said grace. They ate. Conversation was about the weather. Would it rain? Or shine? About the ranch as they watched the Shannon men doing chores. Such simple things to talk about when nothing felt usual in his world. From worry to joy. From fear to hope.
Jonathan finished and was excused.
Maddie refilled Wally’s coffee cup then sat down. She ran a finger round and round over the rim of her cup.
He wrapped his hands around his own cup. “Otis opened his eyes and looked at me. He seems clear.”
She nodded, her attention still focused on something other than him.
“I didn’t want to say anything yesterday, but I remember when measles went through the orphanage. Every year one or two children disappeared from our numbers. One time the toll was six. Another time two girls were left blind. The orphanage didn’t have staff to deal with them. One girl sat in a corner waiting to be led to different things. The other used a cane and learned to make her way from room to room. She learned to do many things on her own. We almostforgot she was blind.” He chuckled, drawing Maddie’s attention to him.
Seeing the surprise on her face and guessing she wondered why he would laugh at a girl’s misfortune, he explained. “Kind of reminds me of you.”
A blink. An audible swallow. “Me?”
“She didn’t intend to let her circumstances defeat her.” He let her digest his statement, watching her expression shift from surprise to pleasure to confusion. The latter disappointed him. She should realize the strengths her life had revealed in her.
