Page 110 of Conveniently Wed
He walked around the side of the bunkhouse to the wash bucket back behind. He assumed his brothers were working or in the barn, since he hadn’t seen hide nor hair of them yet that morning. Better to shave in privacy.
He dunked his whole head in the bucket. The splash of cold water was bracing. He shook like a dog, droplets slinging through the air.
He worked up a lather with the shaving soap and spread it into his beard.
He took a deep breath and only hesitated briefly before he took the first swipe with the razor.
With every stroke, he thought of Fran. Of the way she’d cut his hair, her tender care for him when he’d been nothing but harsh to her.
Of her in the moonlight, begging him to let her in.
Of kissing her.
He ran his palm over one side of his freshly shaved face and wondered if she had been right when she’d accused him of hiding.
Did he let himself reach such an unkempt state to make sure no eligible girls got close? Was that the real reason he’d always kept distant?
Why had he let himself be so closed off?
Was it too late for him?
“There he is.”
A voice snapped him from his thoughts. He tossed his towel over the side of the barrel and let the straight razor fall to the ground.
He turned to see Davy, Seb, Matty and Fran’s brother waylaying him.
“Whoa!” Seb exclaimed.
“Who is that?” Matty teased. “Don’t recognize ya, pardner.”
He sent a stream of water from the top of the wash barrel splashing toward them. “Morning, boys,” he said. What was going on?
“Dan here wants to talk to ya,” Seb said.
He nodded, facing off with Fran’s brother.
Although Dan was only slightly shorter, Edgar probably had sixty pounds of muscle on the man. Dan was slender and still looked like he could stand to gain some weight after his illness.
“You’ve regained a little color,” Edgar commented.
“It’s been a relief to be reunited with my sisters and to have the accusations against Fran resolved. I wired some business acquaintances back in Tennessee, and it seems the witnesses Underhill claimed could accuse her didn’t exist. There is no case against her.” But instead of looking relieved, Daniel looked serious.
Edgar was glad they’d been reunited. Families should be together. That’s why his responsibility for Ricky and hisbrother’s desertion still weighed heavy on him. But while Ricky was of age, the girls had needed a protector.
“How’s Emma?” he asked.
“Having nightmares nearly twice a night. She wouldn’t tell me—the difference in our ages—but Fran has shared some of it.” The other man looked weighed down by his sister’s situation.
But he seemed to rouse himself from his internal musings. “Fran seems to have developed some affection for you,” Daniel said, and Edgar’s heart thumped wildly.
Did he still have a chance to win Fran?
“And he wants to know what your intentions are,” Seb put in gleefully.
Davy stood looking on, arms crossed and silent.
“I….” Edgar hadn’t even expressed his feelings to Fran yet. He didn’t want to tell her brother he loved her first. “I care about her. I want to make things right for her.”
