Page 30 of Chloe's Christmas Escape
“You’ll be back?” She repeated it several more times, as if trying to get the words to sink in. Suddenly, her dinner didn’t look so appealing. He was going to take her to a town she wasn’t familiar with and then leave her. She had no guarantee he’d be coming back for her.
“What are you thinking, Chloe?”
“Nothing important,” she lied.I want to stay with you.
Jackson looked around the kitchen and then back at her. “I want you to make a list of what you’d like to take. We don’t have much room, so it is going to have to go in a trunk. Anything that can wait until spring, leave here. We can take those in a wagon.”
She looked around the room. “Do we need to take our own cooking supplies? Or food?”
“I don’t think so. The boarding house will have those. I’ll take the bedding. Maybe the pillows. You can always use those on the coach to sleep. Extra blankets for warmth. It will be cold at night.”
Chloe reached over and touched his hand. “You should take pictures of your ma and pa and maybe some other things that remind you of them. Like those bath sheets. Those would be a pleasant reminder.”
Her face lit up with happiness as his laughter echoed through the room. She was glad she made him smile. Mama always said laughter was sometimes the best medicine.
“Of course, you want the bath sheets. Ma found those when a traveling salesman came through town. Thought they were the most interesting thing. She’d been complaining that regular towels never covered everything and there was always a puddle of water on the floor.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Maybe we should leave those here.”
“You’re incorrigible,” she laughed. “Eat your dinner. It is going to get cold.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The sounds of spoons scraping against enamel bowls filled the room until Chloe cleared her throat. She looked away from her dinner and up at Jackson, hesitating before she finally broke the silence with a question.
“Why did you kiss me when you came in?”
Jackson dropped his spoon in his bowl and wiped his mouth on the edge of a napkin. “Honestly?”
“Honestly.”
“Mama Holstead told me I should treat you how I really want to treat my wife. I want to come home after a long day, have supper on the table, see the prettiest girl in the world, and be able to kiss her if I want.”
A warmth spread through Chloe at his words. “You think I’m pretty?” she squeaked.
He grabbed her hand. “The prettiest.” Lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed her knuckles and placed it back on the table. “Eat your dinner. We are going to have to pack tonight.”
“I’m afraid of another trip like the one out here. Please, Jackson. I don’t want you to be distant with me.”
“Chloe, I know I didn’t handle it well. Ethan laid into me about that when I went to visit him. I guess his wife gave him an earful.”
“That’s why you didn’t want to talk in the coach.”
“Precisely. You never know who is listening. But I promise it will be better this time. I won’t desert you.”
“What if there is someone horrid riding with us?”
“Then he’ll just have to deal with me.”
“Thank you,” Chloe said, leaning over to give him a quick kiss.
“We better finish up and get packing, or we won’t get anything done.”
She batted her eyes innocently. “Why is that?”
“Because I’ll be keeping you too busy giving me kisses.”
She laughed. “I’d like that.”
When his bowl was clean, Jackson looked at her, a teasing glint in his eyes. “What’s for dessert?”
