Page 449 of Conveniently Wed
“Then I be honest. Sit.” She pointed to the chair and plunked her large frame in the chair around the table corner from Katie. She spread out the palm of her workworn hands and enclosed them around Katie’s. “You and Mistuh Josiah has not been doin’ good for some time now. Not like in the beginning.”
The understatement almost made Katie laugh. Delilah didn't understand the half of it.
“But I know he loves you.”
She shook her head. “No?—"
“I see more than you think. I see the way he looks at you when you you’re not looking, and I see the way that Colby is looking too.” Clucking like an old hen, she shook her head. “Not like a man should be looking at his best friend’s wife.”
A burst of anger spiked. “It’s not his fault. He at least cares enough to be my friend. He’s around in the evening, unlike Josiah. Look at what time it is, and my husband still hasn’t come in for supper.”
Her excuses sounded lame even to her own ears. How did she explain to this dear soul what she herself could not understand? Where had it all gone wrong? Though the marriage had started out shaky, it had turned better than she’d ever believed possible. She had even thought she was falling for her gentle husband.
And then, he turned cold.
“He avoids me and won’t talk to me. We never…” Her face heated.
“You’re not telling Delilah any secrets she doesn’t already know. But it wasn’t always this way.”
“No, it was good. And then…”
“Find out what went wrong.” She lifted her pudgy soft hands to both of Katie’s cheeks and looked straight in. Her eyes were as soft and warm as melted chocolate. “Ask Josiah for the truth?—”
“But I tried.”
“Try harder. Make him put it into words. Men have a way of thinking we can read their minds.”
She leaned forward and hugged Katie before rising from her chair. “You know I’m praying up a storm for you.”
“Thank you.” Her voice sounded as weak as the rest of her. Did she have the courage to do what Delilah asked?
“Be brave, my girl.” With a final gentle smile, the woman turned and shuffled off down the hall.
Tonight would be the night. She didn’t care how late he came in. Pa and Delilah were right—it was time to sort out this sad thing they called a marriage.
Katie retired to her room and waited. Sooner or later, he’d come to bed, and she aimed to get this conversation over with.
Finally, the faint sound of his door opening and shutting carried through the wall. She was ready. Although she hadn’t prayed in a very long time, she whispered a petition for strength. She stood by the adjoining door for a few minutes until she could summon the courage to knock. Then she entered without waiting for an answer. She wasn’t about to let him scare her off again.
His room had once been her safe place, but now it felt stifling, as if the walls closed in around her. As if his very essence accused her. He’d stripped to the waist, and her eyes fell to his sun-bronzed chest rippling with sinewy muscles.
The sight stole the moisture from her mouth and made her want to run to him. Or maybe run away. She spun. “I’ll come back.”
“Spit it out, Katherine. Then leave me be.”
She turned again and stared against her will at his torso, where glistening drops of water clung to his chest hair. He grabbed his shirt from the back of the chair and worked it on.
The white shirt opened down the front and did the opposite of what she was sure he intended. Instead of covering, it accented the healthy glow of his tanned skin and emphasized the fact that he was half undressed. Her mind flew back to days past—happier times when he still wanted her, when he teased her, when he touched her.
“What do you want?” His voice sounded edgy and hard and brought her back to the present.
“We need to talk.”
He sank into the nearby chair and puffed out a heavy breath. “I know. I was going to wait until I had the… Sit.” He motioned to the bed.
She sat on the edge. This bedroom was not the best place for a serious conversation.
“How about I make this easy for you?” he said. “By the time I’m done, I’ll have saved you the trouble of whatever you wanted to say.” Though his eyes were cold, his Adam’s apple bobbed as if it was difficult for him to say. “You don’t love me, and never will. Colby is the man for you, and we both know it. If I hadn’t run ahead and forced your hand?—"
