I could ride you, girl. We could prance through the Heath and show those racehorses a thing or two.”
“You’ll be on her again soon.” Jonas wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gave a squeeze. “Remember to have patience.”
“You always had more than I did.”
“Good thing I’m the one stuck in a broken house with a horse, then, isn’t it?”
The statement was meant to be a joke, and his tone almost achieved its normal joviality, but there was an underlying bitterness to it.
Or perhaps that was Sophia’s own feelings lingering in her ears.
Jonas gave her another squeeze and returned to his side of the wall.
“How is the stall working?” Sophia asked, more to change the subject than out of real curiosity.
“It keeps her in place. I hate not being able to take her out during the day, but I can’t risk it. Alone, I don’t inspire much curiosity. If I were with her, though . . .” He shrugged again. “I don’t go out often, but unless I want to start breaking into barns, it takes a while to find enough tall grass or hay scraps to feed her.”
“It’s just for a few more weeks,” she said, though she wasn’t sure which of them she was trying to convince. “A few more weeks and we’ll be together. You’ll be better. I’ll have other job offers. We’ll start a riding school and horse farm, just like we had before.”
Jonas looked at her, his face unreadable. Sophia’s chest started to heave, then her chin began to quiver. She clenched her teeth together to keep the vibrations from becoming tears. She had to hold on to this dream, because if she lost it, she didn’t know what she would do.
Jonas leaned one shoulder against the side of the opening between the two rooms. “Are you safe, Soph? Really, truly safe?” He looked down at the ground and then back up at her. “I’m trying not to worry, reading all the passages where God talks about holding us in His hands, but . . .” He sighed. “The circus world accepted a female rider, but racing, well, I just can’t imagine it being the same.”
“They’ve been rather supportive,” she said. If one took a lack of negative comments as encouragement. Everyone had shifted to glaring silently instead, but Jonas didn’t need to know that part. Sophia would win them over before Jonas met them. She would.
Jonas pressed his lips into a thin line. He knew she was lying, and he knew that she knew he knew she was lying, but still he nodded, allowing both of them to believe the comfort of the untruth.
“Come over here,” Jonas said, nodding his head toward the table. “You attended service today, but I didn’t. How about we do our own study like we did when we were traveling?”
Sophia nodded. While she’d physically been to church, she hadn’t gained any spiritual insight there. Bible study with her brother would do her good.
He led them through a passage from the book of Matthew about not fearing. Then they put Rhiannon in her makeshift stall and went for a walk together around the cottage. A close call with another strolling couple was enough to send them scurrying back inside for the remainder of the afternoon.
When it was time for Sophia to return to Meadowland Park to get their dinner, she was grateful for the excuse to leave. After one afternoon stuck in that cottage, she was unbelievably restless, desperate for something to do. How did Jonas manage?
She returned with their evening meal, but the camaraderie was stilted. It was obvious Jonas detested having to rely on her for everything, even though he didn’t say it out loud. It was a shift for them both, but what else could they do? Revealing his presence in town would prove to Mr. Whitworth that he’d been tricked.
It was only delaying his anger, because Jonas would join her once she had a more secure position. The man was hardly all smiles and grins now, but his stoic impassiveness was better than having him frown at her in blatant displeasure.
Or worse, ignore her entirely.
In a mere week she’d become fascinated by him. He wanted to appear simple to the world, but she could tell he wasn’t. There were too many questions, too many secrets. Every time she thought she had him figured out, he would say or do something unexpected, and she was right back where she started.
He probably didn’t mean to be fascinating, but