Page 20 of Married By Midnight
Ian scrunched up his face. “Nope. Nothing coming to me at all.”
Sarah laughed. “If you had been thinking any harder, smoke would have started coming out of your ears.”
“Have you always lived here?”
Sarah paused. She wasn’t sure how much to tell him. She didn’t want to see pity in his eyes.
“If it is too hard, you don’t need to talk about it. It would be hard to lose your husband and sister.”
“Husband?” Sarah looked at him.
“Dell said you were in mourning.”
“I’m not married, Mr. Poole. My parents and sister were lost in a terrible accident along the road coming back from the theater.”
“I am so sorry, Sarah.”
“It had been raining and the ground was so wet. When they came around a steep part of the road, the road gave out and their wagon fell. It was an unfortunate accident.”
Ian reached out and placed his hand on hers. “Again, I’m sorry Sarah. That is a tragedy.”
“Now I just need to figure out how to tend the field and get the wheat to market.”
“Perhaps I could help. After all, you opened your home to me so I could recover. Opening your home to a stranger must not have been easy.”
“It wasn’t,” she answered honestly. “But it was the right thing to do. My mother was constantly feeding travelers a hot meal and they could sleep in the barn as long as they didn’t cause trouble.”
“Didn’t you have any thieving?”
Sarah shook her head. “Momma and Father said that it was our Christian duty to look after others. So, we asked God to protect the farm. In the fifteen or so years, nothing was ever stolen.”
“May I ask how old you are?”
“I just turned twenty-two.”
Ian let out a whistle. “You are younger than I thought.” He gave her a smile.
“How old are you?”
“I know I’m twenty-eight and that my birthday is in March.”
He was six years older than her. He must have a wife and possibly children waiting for him somewhere. The thought weighed heavy on her heart. She needed to remove herself from the situation as quickly as possible.
“I need to get supper started.”
“Why the hurry?”
“The sun is starting to go down. The boys will be hungry. I’m making fried chicken. Do you like fried chicken?”
“Can’t recall ever having it.”
“Then you are in for a treat.”
She quickly left the room, glancing back over her shoulder at Ian laying in the bed. Yes, she needed to keep her distance. If she didn’t, she’d have more problems than just unpaid taxes.
Chapter 6
“Here you go,” Sarah said walking into Ian’s room. Funny how she now thought of it as Ian’s room instead of Lacey’s. It had been twelve days since Dusty found Ian in the creek. Twelve days where Sarah wasn’t consumed with grief or self-pity.
