the one she’d portrayed in her letter.
Seeing the sunny smile on his daughter’s face, he decided it didn’t matter, but if everything Diana had told him was a lie, it made him wonder who she really was. What sort of person was she? Could she be trusted with the care of Amanda and his mother? Or should he send her away?
Doubt stole what little joy he’d been feeling. It made the stew tasteless and even the scent of cooking apples wasn’t enough to push out that nagging voice in the back of his mind. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right about this entire situation. Either Diana lied in her letter in order to secure a marriage or she wasn’t who she said she was and if that was the case, then who was she?
She laughed at something Amanda said and the sound of it made every nerve in his body jolt, more so when she turned those violet eyes on him. He didn’t have a clue who this woman was and was beginning to question if he even cared.
When she smiled at him before lowering her eyes, her cheeks once again turning pink, he decided he didn’t.
The nervous butterflies she’d been experiencing since meeting Caleb were swimming in dizzying circles as he led her away from the house. When Agatha had told her not to bother with supper, that she and Amanda would reheat the stew from the day before, and to go put on her prettiest dress, she’d been terrified she was being sent away. She’d been half sick while throwing all the things she’d pulled from Diana’s trunk back into it.
Then Caleb had come home, washed, and dressed in the same suit he’d been wearing the day he picked her up from the stagecoach station and announced they were going out for supper.
Just the two of them.
Alone.
The butterflies had started swimming a moment later and by the time he’d helped her into her coat and led her outside, it felt as if her guts were shaking loose.
He’d given her a look so intense the day before when Amanda told him she’d filled his pie with extra love that she’d blushed like a schoolgirl. She’d felt silly saying something so bold but Agatha learning she didn’t know how to bake unnerved her. She’d babbled like an idiot to keep the woman from questioning her about it and the words popped out with little thought.
“Have you ever eaten in a restaurant?”
Caleb’s voice drew her from her thoughts. She glanced at him and smiled. “No. I never had the chance to while living in Charleston.”
The bridge creaked when they stepped onto it. The ice-covered rocks below were as lovely now as they had been the first time she’d seen them.
A heavy snow had fallen the night before but someone had shoveled most of it away and in doing so, it left the wood planks slick with ice. One step onto the bridge and Rebecca’s foot slipped, and she gasped as Caleb caught her in his arms. She laughed to cover her embarrassment. “That’s slicker than I thought it would be.”
“It is. Are you all right?”
She nodded, but he didn’t let her go. His arms were tight around her waist and he stood so close, she could smell the shaving tonic he used while getting ready. “I’m fine,” she said. “I’m not used to walking on ice. I didn’t even see it.”
He helped her straighten and get her feet underneath her and much to her delight, kept one hand against her back and one of her hands clasped tightly in his as they crossed the bridge. It was the closest she’d been to him. The first time he’d touched her.
Caleb let go of her when they stepped off the bridge. She smiled to mask her disappointment. When the silence grew, she said, “What happened to your wife? Amanda mentioned she’d died when she was younger.”
He was quiet for a long moment before answering. “A wasting disease. The doctor couldn’t tell us much. Ruth had been full of life but after Amanda was born, she began eating less and less until she started losing flesh. She hurt all the time and dark circles formed under her eyes. It got to where she didn’t have the energy to do much and was confined to the bed for several months. She laid there and wasted away until she died.”
“I’m sorry. It sounds like an awful way to die.”
“It wasn’t easy seeing the