Chapter 17 - The Woman He Refused to Lose
“The roads are clear,” Leanne said.
Arthur stared at the case.
“Yes.”
“There is work in Red Creek.”
“Yes.”
“Mrs. Bell offered me a room.”
Arthur nodded.
Every answer felt like cutting rope.
Leanne waited.
Arthur had faced fires.
Armed men.
Death.
Yet telling one woman he wanted her to stay seemed harder than all of them.
“You should go,” he finally said.
Something faded in Leanne’s expression.
“If that is what you want.”
It wasn’t.
But Arthur loved her enough to fear trapping her.
Leanne lifted her case.
She walked toward Jedidiah’s wagon.
Ghost watched from the paddock.
Arthur stood on the porch.
Jedidiah looked at him as if witnessing the stupidity of mankind concentrated into one individual.
“You going to let her leave?”
“It’s her choice.”
“Did you give her another choice?”
Arthur frowned.
Jedidiah climbed onto the wagon.
Leanne sat beside him.
The wagon began moving.
Ghost suddenly galloped along the fence.
Arthur watched.
Then something inside him broke free.
He ran.
“Leanne!”
Jedidiah stopped.
Leanne turned.
Arthur reached the wagon breathing hard.
“I don’t want you to stay because you need shelter.”
She said nothing.
“I don’t want you here because you cook or clean or mend my coat.”
A tiny smile appeared.
“That is fortunate. Your cooking remains terrible.”
Arthur almost laughed.
Then his expression became serious.
“I want you here because when you leave, the house becomes empty again.”
Leanne’s eyes filled.
Arthur continued.
“But if you want Red Creek, I’ll take you there myself.”
“What do you want?”
Arthur looked at her.
“You.”
One word.
Nothing poetic.
Nothing rehearsed.
Leanne stepped down from the wagon.
Then she took Arthur’s hand.
“I was waiting for you to say it.”
Jedidiah muttered, “Thank God.”
Arthur glared at him.
Leanne laughed.
It was the first time Arthur had heard her laugh freely.
May you like
And somehow, that sound reached every empty room in the house before they did.
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