Page 72 of Wretched Thorns

She didn’t take the pen out of his hand. She just held her hand over his. The tremor eased back into the bone.

Their fingers brushed once when she shifted to give him room.

He didn’t lift his eyes. She didn’t either.

The work resumed.

***

The screen door opened softly behind him.

Bodie stepped into the kitchen, easing the door shut.

Eli looked up automatically.

Bodie nodded once at him before looking past him toward Rowena.

“Rowena.”

“Bodie.”

She didn’t look up from the bowl she was working over at the counter.

“On the porch?” Bodie asked.

Rowena rinsed her hands in the sink and dried them on the towel hanging off the oven handle.

Then she walked past both men and out through the screen door without another word.

Eli watched the door swing shut behind them.

He stayed where he was.

Outside, Bodie leaned against the porch rail while Rowena stood facing him with her arms folded. Their voices stayed low enough that Eli couldn’t make out words through the window over the sink, but he recognized the rhythm of his mother listening.

Bodie ran his fingers through his hair.

Something had happened.

Something Rowena hadn’t shared with the rest of them yet.

After a few minutes, the screen door opened again.

Rowena came back into the kitchen first.

Bodie stayed outside.

She crossed to the counter and picked the cloth back up from beside the bowl, like she’d only stepped away for a second.

Eli watched her hands for a moment.

“Cypress edge?” he asked, eventually.

Rowena glanced at him. Not surprised he’d figured that much out.

“Cypress edge,” she said. “A Beaumont sat on the south line for a good hot minute today. Mel made him. He stayed clear of the new wards I added. He knew they were there.”

Eli sat forward.