Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Alda bobbed her head and left, a smile lingering on her face.
“Is it known what happened to the woman?” Melvin asked.
“From what I could learn from the woman’s intended, the dead woman, Esta, was to meet him in the woods at a spot where they usually went when they wanted to be alone. He was late in getting there and was surprised when she was not there and worried when she never arrived. A search was done but she wasn’t found.”
“Or she got there first and so did someone else,” Melvin suggested.
“You stay quiet, wife, but your thoughts are churning,” Cavell said, seeing the pinch of her brow.
“Did she have reddish blonde hair?” Elsie asked.
“She did,” Cavell confirmed.
“It is only a thought and danger can lurk in the woods—” Elsie stopped, thinking she might be foolish to mention it.
“Say what you think, wife,” Cavell said, for he wondered if her thoughts mirrored his own.
“The dead woman, Esta, had the same color hair as Leora. What if whoever took her was looking for Leora?”
“And when they discovered their mistake, they killed her,” Melvin suggested.
A sudden thought hit Elsie that left her almost speechless, and she took a moment to calm herself before she spoke. “Or their mission was to kill Leora in the first place.”
CHAPTER 15
Cavell took hold of his wife’s arm worried she might faint, she paled so badly.
Her muscles tightened at his touch, a silent response to the burgeoning emotions that her own words had stirred with her suggestion and the possible consequences it could bring.
“Could my da be right?” Elsie asked, thinking her da had spoken the truth all along about keeping his daughters safe. “Could someone wish my sisters and me harm?” She continued not waiting for a response. “What does this mean for my sisters?”
“Something we need to consider and discuss, but not tonight. It is late and we need rest before we tackle such a serious task,” Cavell said and turned to Melvin. “We will talk in the morning.”
Melvin nodded and downed what was left in his tankard as Cavell escorted his wife out of the room and to their bedchamber.
There was much he had wanted to say to his wife, had planned to say to her about their marriage, but now was not the time, not with the worry of her sisters so heavily on her mind.
They were barely through the door of the bedchamber when Elsie flung herself into her husband’s arms. It wasn’t desire he felt emanating from her but rather vulnerability, creating an atmosphere charged with uncertainty. She was seeking from him what her da had depended on him for, his ability to keep her and her sisters safe. She need not worry, he intended to see that no harm would befall her, and he would do whatever it took to keep her sisters from harm as well.
“This is a nightmare,” Elsie said, keeping herself pressed tight against her husband, the strength of his shifting muscles as he hugged her close easing some of her fear. “My da knows something he is not telling us.”
“No more tonight, Elsie. We will discuss this anew tomorrow and determine how to pursue it. Now we sleep.”
While he often thought of coupling with his wife, his only thought now was to hold her close and keep her safe.
“I cannot sleep knowing my sisters’ lives may be in danger.”
“There is nothing we can do right now. Sleep is best so we can wake with fresh thoughts and possibilities,” he advised.
She pulled away from him. “You sleep. I cannot.”
“It does you no good to lose sleep. You will need your strength to deal with this.”
“Strength?” She shook her head as she paced by the bed. “Nay. It is fear that drives me to do what I must just as always.”
“You have nothing to fear. I am here now and as your husband I will handle this.”
She stopped pacing, her face scrunching in question. “My husband? In name but not in heart. You do not care for my sisters as I do. You do not worry that they may be suffering endlessly. You do not love them and would do anything for them,” she argued vehemently.
“You’re right. I do not care for your sisters like you do or worry intensely as you do for them or love them as you do.”
Elsie gasped, shocked when his arm swiftly hooked her around the waist and yanked her against him, barely having seen him move.
“But I love you, wife, more then I should, more than I thought I could. While I have come to care for you, I have only recently realized that I love you, though I believe I have loved you since first meeting you. It was seeing the terrible pain on that young man’s face when he had looked upon the body of the woman he was to wed, the woman he loved, the woman who he planned to build a life with, and I watched him break down in tears that the realization struck me. When he had finally been able to talk, I could not only see the devastating pain in the young man’s eyes but an emptiness as if he had lost part of himself, he had loved Esta that much.