Page 22 of A Dangerous Heart
“I think it’s time for you to tell me the truth about why you answered that mail-order bride ad,” he said.
She slowly opened her eyes, bracing herself for an onslaught of harsh accusations. But instead, he looked at her with genuine concern.
“I already told you. The boys and I needed a fresh start,” Clare hedged.
His eyes never left her face. “That was pure terror back there.”
She couldn’t hold his gaze. He saw too much.
“The boys are inside the dining room alone,” she said, hoping to distract him. The last time they’d been left alone, Eli had ended up in a fight. “I need to check on them.” She pushed away from the wall, but he boxed her in.
“What are you running from?” he demanded softly.
Another question she couldn’t answer.
“My family has helped you. I think we deserve the truth. What are you running from?”
She didn’t know what to do with this Isaac.
“My pa was a violent man,” she blurted, closing her eyes against the memories. “I spent my childhood trying to appease him. He was not a good man. When he was home, he was mean and lazy. He seemed to delight in punishing every smallinfraction. An accidental spill could get me backhanded. Let the fire get too low? The whole day would be spent finding kindling and splitting logs. My best bet was to stay out of his way. Especially when he was drinking.”
The memories and the constant fear echoed inside her. Tears pooled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She swept a palm over her cheeks to quickly wipe them away.
“I couldn’t watch the boys live like that.” She hiked up her chin. “The truth is, I’m not their mother. I’m their aunt.”
His expression didn’t flicker. She rushed on, knowing she had to just get it all out.
“My brother has a hair-trigger temper and a reputation for cruelty, just like my father. Maybe even worse. He likes to pull his gun to scare people into giving him what he wants—even his family.”
Isaac’s jaw hardened.
The weight of it all settled on her shoulders like an iron yoke, cold and heavy. She shivered. Maybe she should just tell him everything. She was never going to outrun the Barlow name.
Blood will out.
Her father’s words rang in her ears. She tried to believe Anne. That God would make a way. She met Isaac’s intense scrutiny and sighed.
“I promised Anne, the boys’ mother, on her deathbed that I’d keep the boys safe.” She bit her lip, wondering just how much to tell him.
“And the mail-order bride ad?”
“Anne believed it was providential. She’s the one who saw your ad. Prompted me to answer. She died, the boys’ father went off to drink, and I…I needed to get away while the getting was good. I already had one train ticket, so I purchased two more, and here we are.”
“You lied.”
She grimaced.
“But I guess I can see why.” He folded his arms across his chest. “You’re not married?”
She shook her head, wished she could read him. “I need some time to get us on our feet. We can’t go back to the farm. There’s nothing there.” Was he softening? The light in his eyes had changed somehow. “My brother is more dangerous than ever.” She pressed her back against the rough clapboard wall, feeling the wood dig into her skin as she took a steadying breath. “I can’t let Eli become like his father. I made a promise to Anne.”
Isaac put his hands on his hips and looked her full in the face. “People in town are already talking about you and the fact that we didn’t get married when you first arrived.”
“I know.”
His brows rose. She cocked a brow in return. Did he think she hadn’t heard the whispers or seen the knowing looks?
“If you stay on the ranch, they’re gonna talk more.”
