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Eliza didn’t understand. She just shook her head, unable to conjure up the right words to ask what Lenny meant.
“Garret doesn’t want the Jenningses to have you, Eliza. It would’ve wrecked him. His wolf felt loss just thinking about what could’ve happened, and he snapped. He probably won’t be right for a few days. You want an apology from that man, but you have to understand, him coming back into this house with you after that happened last night, and speaking to you today, and not lashing out? That’s what he can do right now. Pushing him for more will corner him. He’s managing a snapped animal. Best you can do for your husband is offer him kindness and understanding. Do that, and he will settle eventually. Don’t do it, and you will prolong what he’s going through.”
“He told me he was scared last night.”
Lenny’s eyes went wide. “He said those words?”
“Yes. Right before you came in.”
“I’ve never heard him say anything like that before.”
“I saw him without his shirt on. He’s been shot.”
“I know that part. He got between a bullet and you.” Lenny canted her head. “You got a man who took a bullet for you. Are a few words really that important?”
Chills, chills, chills.
Now that Lenny put it that way, she felt a little ashamed at demanding things so quickly after everything that had happened.
“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Eliza admitted.
“No one really knows what they’re doing,” Lenny told her. She set down a parcel wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine. “I made these for you.”
“A present?” Eliza asked. “For what?”
Lenny shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Eliza sat on the bed in her drooping dress and pulled the parcel into her lap, then untied the twine. She pulled out a pair of shoes that would fit low on the ankle, and were lined on the inside with fur.
They were the most comfortable-looking shoes she’d ever seen.
“You can wear them around the house at night, and they will keep your feet warm,” Lenny explained.
Eliza ran her fingertips along the soft leather. “You made these?”
Lenny nodded. “You like them? I have the same ones, cut from the same leather. Do you recognize the fur?”
“Is it the rabbit I skinned?”
Lenny grinned. “Yes. The other half of the fur is lining my shoes.”
“We can match,” Eliza said in awe, touched by this sweet gesture. Each stitch was carefully placed. When had the woman had time to make these?
“I have something for you too,” she said breathlessly as an idea came to her.
She pulled out her jade comb set. There was a smaller comb, and one much bigger. Both had matching green emeralds fastened to the handles. Eliza turned and handed her the bigger one, her favorite. “This one is good for brushing through wet hair.”
Lenny’s smile faded as she laid eyes on it. “Oh, I can’t take that.”
“You can.”
“I don’t…I’ve never had anything that fancy. I couldn’t.”
“You can and you will.” Eliza shoved it into her hand, then reached for the smaller comb and showed it to her. “Now we can match combs, too.”
The smile reappeared, stretching across Lenny’s lips, and when she looked up at Eliza, her eyes had lightened two shades. “I will take care of it.”
“And I’ll think of you every time I wear my slippers.”
