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“Where you going?”
“To fix you somethin’ else.”
“No need to do that. There’s plenty of fried potatoes and biscuits and beans. I’ll just eat them tonight.” At least she had started making larger portions. For that he was grateful.
“You sure? I can cut you off a piece of ham.”
“No, this is fine. Thanks. Now sit down and eat before your food gets cold.” He smiled, and her lips tentatively curled upward as she lowered her small frame onto the chair.
She removed the snake from his plate and heaped more of everything else onto it.
“Thank you, Selina. I really am sorry if I hurt your feelings about the snake. Like I said, I’m just not used to things like that.”
“I reckon you ain’t used to a lot of things I do,” she said while putting food onto her plate. Her portions were still small, but each day they were growing. “I know I’m different, Michael. And I know I ain’t what you’re used to and I understand.”
“You’re right. I’m not used to your ways. But that doesn’t mean I can’t learn.” Did he just say that? He shoved a bite of potatoes into his mouth to keep it from saying anything else equally as stupid.
“You mean that?” Hope sparked in her beautiful brown eyes.
Knowing he’d put that sparkle there made his heart smile. Maybe he needed to open his mouth more often, after all. “I do.” And he found he really meant it, too.
“I’ll try and learn to do things the way you like them. But—” she held up her finger “—some things I ain’t changin’.” She glanced over toward the sofa at the wolf curled up in the old cage Michael had found in one of the sheds.
Her looking over at the pup had him working his jaw. For his sanity’s sake, he hoped bringing strange, dangerous animals into the house was something she would try to change, too, but he had his doubts.
As they finished eating in silence, he was glad he hadn’t given in to the thoughts of sending her back. For her sake, he would do whatever it took to make this work so she would never have to go back to the unimaginable poverty she had endured.
Selina stood. Dishes clanked and silverware rattled as she started clearing the table. He picked up his dishes and was getting ready to take them to the sink but Selina stopped him. “I can get these. You need to go lie down and rest a spell.”
“Thank you, Selina.”
“You’re welcome. Now scoot.” She gave him a light shove toward the living room.
He laid down onto his stomach on the sofa and within minutes felt himself drifting off to the sound of rustling soapy water and dishes quietly clinking.
In his slumbering state, he felt small but strong and gentle hands pressing against his shoulders and up and down his back, working in a circular motion. “Um. That feels nice,” he slurred. The hands worked their way up his neck and massaged his scalp. Warmth spread through him. His eyes darted open and he rolled over onto his side with a start.
“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”
“No. No. Not at all.” A piece of her slipped into his soul. He bolted off the sofa with the need to put distance between them. “Listen, I’m tired. If you don’t mind, I’m going to bed now.”
Hurt flashed through her eyes, and again he felt instant remorse. She had no idea what had been running through his mind, and he had hurt her with his rash actions.
“Thank you, Selina, for working the kinks out of my muscles. They feel much better now.”
She nodded.
“Good night.”
“Night.”
Leaving her standing there, he hurried to his room and closed the door, bracing his back against it. Not only was he starting to respond to Selina emotionally, but now even his heart had responded to her physical touch. Even though the woman was his wife, the whole idea of being connected to her scared him to the core.
Selina took the pup out of her cage and hugged the animal to her chest. She flopped on the sofa and stared at the closed door to Michael’s bedroom. It stung that he had run from her like that.
Rubbing Michael’s broad shoulders and back, running her fingers through his soft hair, had felt right and yet it had been all wrong. She had made her husband afraid of her. And just when they were starting to talk like normal married folk, too.
All she had wanted to do was draw the ache out of his muscles. But that had obviously been a mistake. In the future she’d be careful to keep her hands to herself. That was going to be mighty hard to do. She loved him. Loved how she felt when she touched him, when she was with him. Felt like she belonged to him, and she did, too. But in name only.
