Page 49 of A Secret Heart
Jo rolled her eyes. “It’s almost supper.” Her face lit up. “Are you staying, Miss Rebekah?”
Tillie looked up from where she’d bent to draw something in the sawdust on the floor. “Oh, please say you’re stayin’.”
“She’s staying,” Ed said quickly. Rebekah hadn’t seemed so sure in the marshal’s office, and he didn’t want her getting any ideas about going back to the Boutwells’ place.
Over the girls’ heads, Rebekah held his gaze for a moment that stretched long. “I do need a place to stay. Your uncle protected me today when someone started shooting in town.”
“He did?”
“Someone was shootin’ at you?”
“Uncle Ed?”
“Why’d they shoot?”
The girls’ exclamations tumbled over each other. They stared at Rebekah and Ed expectantly.
“Why don’t you tell them?” Rebekah suggested.
He had to clear his throat. “I don’t want to talk about it.” He didn’t want to remember the terror that had crashed into him when he’d thought he might not be fast enough, strong enough.
Rebekah’s gaze softened as if she’d read his thoughts. He wouldn’t mind it if she always looked at him like that.
And then Tillie tugged on her skirt, demanding, “What happened?”
The story spilled out of her, details he hadn’t considered, like their reflections in the store windows as they’d darted past, the way the wind had ruffled their hair as they’d run through the alleys, even the scents behind each store. She even remembered the place they’d paused to take a breath. How close the side of the building had felt against her back as they’d paused in that alleyway.
“…and your Uncle Ed kept putting himself between me and those bullets flying at us.”
The way she was looking at him…like he was Isaac.
You don’t need to be Isaac. Be yourself. You’re deserving of love.
Kaitlyn’s words from weeks ago replayed in his mind.
“Pa doesn’t have any stories like that.” Jo scowled.
“Yes, he does.” Tillie elbowed her sister, who shot her a glare. “Remember when?—”
The girls began arguing even as Rebekah smiled at him faintly.
Luckily, the dinner bell rang out.
Jo and Tillie scrambled for the door.
He rubbed the back of his neck, all of it descending on him at once. He wanted Rebekah in his life. Wanted a family with her.
He was going to have to tell her everything.
“I need to talk to you.”
But before he could say anything else, Tillie rushed back inside and grabbed Rebekah’s hand. “C’mon! We gotta tell the others about Uncle Ed.”
Rebekah sent an apologetic look over her shoulder. And then she was gone.
Chapter14
The next morning, for the first time in a long time, Ed overslept.
