Page 91 of A Rugged Beauty
Ben hung her head. She sent a sly look at her adopted mother. "Didja know Abigail and Hollis 're gonna have a baby?"
Abigail grimaced as Felicity's brows rose and she turned inquisitive eyes on her friend. "Is that so?” she murmured.
Abigail tucked her cheek against Molly’s downy head. "In time."
Felicity's eyes narrowed. "Hmm."
Abigail couldn't meet her friend's probing gaze. Everything with Hollis was so new. She hadn't known how to broach the subject with her friend, though Felicity had no doubt seen the change in Hollis herself.
"So it wasn't a farce?" Felicity asked as she passed by with folded laundry from her basket.
"You were right," Abigail admitted. And couldn't help smiling when Felicity expressed her joy with a little squeal.
"About what?" Hollis's voice gave Abigail a start and she straightened as he joined them, coming to stand behind Ben, close to Abigail's side.
"Just women things," Felicity said breezily. Abigail caught the pointed gaze that meant they would talk later.
"Read with me, Hollis?" Ben begged.
"For a minute," he agreed.
Ben sounded out several words, bright and excited under Hollis's attention.
Hollis let his hand clasp Abigail’s, his skin warm and rough against hers. She leaned her shoulder into his side.
This moment was everything she could have dreamed of. Her husband by her side, strong and loving.
He corrected one of Ben's pronunciations and she gusted out a heavy sigh.
"Come and get a snack," Felicity suggested from her nearby wagon.
Ben was all too happy to abandon the primer and scampered off.
"There's coffee in the pot," Abigail said to her husband.
"Thanks." Hollis moved to the still warm coals of the fire, lifted the pot, and poured a cup. When he returned to her, he offered her the cup.
She took a grateful sip and handed it back to him. When he drank from the same place her lips had touched, his eyes met hers above the rim. There was an intimacy to the action, something she'd never shared before.
"I've got to go into the fort. Anything you need? I can probably procure some fabric for a new dress." He'd mentioned yesterday that the dress that had gone into the river with her and spent those difficult days in the wild might need to be replaced.
"Won't it be expensive?" she asked. Everything at the forts seemed priced very dear.
"I've lived years of scrimping and saving—and no one to buy for," he said quietly, his gaze never leaving hers. "It'd bring me joy to provide for you."
How could she say no to that? She let the love rising in her chest show in her face. He came near and brushed a kiss on her forehead, leaving the coffee cup where she could reach it.
"Maddie wants to go into the fort," she told him.
His expression darkened with concern, but he nodded. "I'll find her."
There was only one place to look. With the Miller children. The young nurse had been despondent when the children had lost both mother and father to the typhoid. As the pioneers had needed less care, Maddie had been consumed with caring for the children's needs.
"What will happen to the children?" she asked Hollis now.
"I don't know yet."
She felt the weight of the responsibility on his shoulders. Saw the way he swept his hat off his head and ran his hand through his hair. "Maybe there'll be a family at the fort that can take them in."
