to be with her. But first, he needed to deal with his sister.
“What is wrong with you?” he demanded.
“Where’s supper, Caleb?” his sister shot back.
His eyes opened a bit wider for a moment. Supper! “So, it will be a little late. No one ever died from it.”
Shauna’s green eyes flickered in the light. “They might.”
A knock came at the door. It was little old Emily, one of the seamstresses in Shondravar. She only stayed a moment. She just wanted to stop by and drop off a green bean casserole she made for Caleb as a thank you for bringing them food and helping her move her potted plants today.
Caleb responded to Emily as one would to his grandmother, with affection and politeness.
Lauren, the baker’s wife, brought bread and biscuits for all the help Caleb provided this morning. “Our oxen wouldn’t walk. We couldn’t sow,” Lauren told them. “He came by and gave them water and then walked the beasts over our entire field and sowed all our seed. I wish it was more, lord.”
“This is more than generous, Lauren,” Caleb said, “Give Brandon my thanks. He is still the best baker in all of Shondravar.”
Lauren squealed with delight at him.
Stephanie and Alexandra, two of the village laundresses and friends of Shauna’s visited with sweet potato casserole and an apple pie. Both girls looked disappointed when they saw Willow, and the way he looked at her. Vincent, the butcher brought over a duck his wife had roasted with mushrooms and rice.
People and food kept arriving until Shauna or Caleb wouldn’t have had to cook for a week if Caleb wasn’t already preparing to give the extra food away.
Everyone had a reason for bringing gifts. He’d helped them or fed them, but Shauna teased that it was because they knew it was his turn to cook. People liked to do things for him.
After he and Willow and Shauna picked what they wanted to eat, Caleb sent word to the other families, asking who needed more food. Eight families were chosen to take the extra gifts. Caleb delivered it with the help of Willow, Shauna, and some of his men, including Jonas. They went in pairs in different directions, each carrying a plate or a pot.
“I wanted to thank you for protecting me from Shauna’s bug swatter,” Caleb told Willow on the way to the tanner and his family. He’d wanted a chance to speak to her alone, delivering the food with her was the perfect opportunity. “You surprise me.”
“Really?” she asked with a laugh. “Do I seem mousy to you?”
“No, but I didn’t know I warranted your protection.”
“You warrant much, Caleb,” she told him. “And not just from me.” She held up the sweet potato casserole she carried to prove her point.
“Still,” he smiled with her. “You stood against Shauna.”
“Yes.” Her smile faded a bit and she looked a little ill. “I hadn’t thought at the time about the fact that she was once a Warrior, fighting at your side.” She lifted her hand to her throat.
“Yes, I know,” he told her on a husky sigh. “That’s what makes what you did even more impressive.”
She blushed and then looked up at him. “Caleb, about what you said earlier—you’re wrong. I’m not going back to Beldar, or to Avalaria, or anywhere. I’m staying here with you unless you tell me that you don’t want me. But it has to be what you want, not what you think I want.”
He gave her a confused look and then nodded.
“Deal?” she asked in language he understood.
“Deal.”
“You won’t tell me I need to leave for my own good ever again?” she asked, making sure.
“Well, I don’t know about that.” He laughed when she tried to slip out of his reach but was caught in the curl of his arm.
“What do you think of me giving away the food to these families?” he asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea, and if I am reading your Holy Book correctly, it is how your Yahweh wants you to live.”
“Yes,” he whispered, pulling her close while they walked. She didn’t want to go home. She was reading the Word. He didn’t know what made him happier.
“Good morn to you, Jonas.” Caleb greeted his friend with an exuberant smile when Jonas showed up at his door at the crack of dawn.
“Yes, it is.” Jonas threw him a furtive glance before stepping into the house. “Are you well? You look as if an angel dropped from the heavens and