Page 82 of A Rugged Beauty
He didn't have to see her entire face to know it.
At the sight of her joy, the small sign that she was all right, a minute amount of tension bled from him. She wasn't entirely recovered, but she wasn't on her deathbed.
"You especially push Abigail away," Owen muttered.
Hollis's body jerked. He sent a scathing look at his former captain. "That's none of your business."
"Of course it isn't."
Now Owen lifted the bowl to his lips and took a long slurp. His eyes never left Hollis's.
Emotion rose in Hollis's throat, strong and hot and choking. He wanted to punch the other man. He was spoiling for a fight. But the frustration and grief and anger had no real target—not when Owen was so sick he could barely get up.
At that moment, Alice walked past the wagon, heading for Abigail and the hidden Rachel with her arms full of fabric. She raised her brows. Hollis didn't know if the look was meant for him or her brother.
If only he could walk away, but Owen was watching him with narrowed eyes. Expecting that he'd do just that.
"I'm cursed," he said, voice low so as not to carry to the women. "Are you happy to know it?"
Saying the words aloud made him feel sick.
Owen shook his head in confusion. "What?"
"It's why I lost my wife and child. Why I lost my cousin. I know it." Hollis tapped his chest with his fist. "Here. I don't know why, but I'm cursed."
Owen looked skeptical. "God doesn't curse his children."
"He made an exception for me."
Some emotion moved across Owen's expression. "Show me a Bible verse that says God curses his children," he demanded softly.
Hollis shrugged, shook his head.
"God sent his Son to earth for the business of breaking chains," Owen said softly.
Abigail's lilting laugh traveled to his ear on the breeze, and he couldn't help glancing her way. The blanket had shifted so that he had a full view of her face. A drip of soap suds was sliding down her cheeks.
Breaking chains.
A beat of hope slammed into his chest with the strength of his heartbeat.
But, "How do you explain my wife?"
Losing Dinah had meant Hollis lost a part of himself, too.
"I can't explain it." If Owen had ignored him or made fun, it would have been easy for Hollis to walk away. As it was, his feet felt rooted to the ground by Owen’s serious expression. "Just like I can't explain why Rachel's husband died. Bad things happen. But I know there's a God up there who loves you. He sent his Son to earth to save your eternal soul."
Hollis's ma had taught him that from the time he could talk. Read him the Bible and sang songs he’d never been able to forget.
"God's got a plan for you," Owen said.
Could it be true?
Hollis couldn't understand how losing Dinah was part of that plan. But maybe he didn't have to understand. Maybe he just had to accept it.
Abigail disappeared from sight as the breathless hope grabbed Hollis by the throat.
Had God put Abigail in his life so that Hollis might have a second chance at happiness?
