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“That’s all right,” Martha said. “I’ve got a few unpleasant tasks at the store that he can do. Leave it to me.”
For a moment, Nora felt the tiniest bit sorry for Adam. The men were one thing, and they’d done admirably. Infected toes and grave-digging? Sheer brilliance. But Martha…that adorable, bubbly personality hid a cunning and devious mind.
She couldn’t wait to see what her friend had in store for her poor husband.
…
Nora returned from a dress fitting the next day already exhausted from the amount of work that awaited her. Not that she wasn’t grateful for it. Mrs. Talbot, with her four daughters, was one of Nora’s best customers. But she did tend to wait until the last minute to order new dresses and often needed five of them all at once. As she did now, for their annual barn party. The money was much appreciated, but Nora needed a nap just thinking about the hours she’d be putting in on them.
Before she could get started, though, she needed to finish repairing the fence that Lucille had damaged. There were several items in the house that needed fixing as well. The newel post on the staircase rattled every time someone used the stairs. One of the cabinet doors in the kitchen stuck, and there was a drawer she hadn’t been able to pull out for months.
But all that would have to wait, as the laundry was a more pressing matter. After the fence. Despite her destructive ways, Nora actually loved Lucille, but that little harridan needed to stay out of her garden.
Nora was going to take Teddy straight to the barn but frowned when she heard hammering. She tied the horse to the post out front and hurried around back, stopping short at the sight that met her. Her garden was fully enclosed once more behind a slightly crooked fence. Not only had the gate been fixed, but other parts of the fence that she’d been meaning to reinforce for years had been repaired. And freshly painted.
She clapped a hand to her mouth, surveying the work. Who? Who had…
Adam stood from where he’d been squatting in the back corner. The broken crossbar that she’d had leaning against the back post now rested a bit haphazardly, but securely, where it belonged.
He glanced up mid-whistle and broke into a grin when he saw her. “Hey there.”
“You…you fixed my fence?”
“Yeah.” He scratched the back of his neck and looked around at his handiwork. “It’s not the best-looking job in the world, but I guarantee it’s nice and sturdy. I even tested it out myself—”
Before he could finish, she’d strode across the yard and flung herself at him, squeezing him in a tight hug.
“Hey there, darlin’, what’s wrong?” he asked, his arms going around her. “I know it’s a bit of a mess, but I promise I can clean it up once I get a little better swinging that hammer.”
She shook her head with a laugh and stepped back. “It’s not that. It looks wonderful. Thank you for fixing it.”
Her heart sang at what he’d done for her, but she couldn’t help but cringe as well. There shouldn’t have been a need for him to do anything. It was all stuff she should have handled on her own long since. “I really appreciate it, truly. But you didn’t have to. I could have taken care of it.”
He shrugged, though his half grin showed his pleasure at her praise. “It needed doing and I was here. Besides, I picked up a few skills over at the boardinghouse. Before they fired me and took my hammer back. Might as well put them to use.” He chuckled, and she laughed along with him.
“Let’s go inside,” he said. “You’ve got to be hungry. You’ve been gone all day.”
Her jaw dropped. “You cooked?”
“Don’t get too excited,” he said, guiding her into the house with his hand on the small of her back. “It’s just a simple soup recipe that my mother taught me. I basically took a bunch of ingredients I found lying around and threw them into a pot together. Hopefully it won’t kill us. And if we’re real lucky, it might taste halfway decent.”
She laughed and stepped onto the porch. “Oh, wait. I need to put Teddy away first.”
“I’ll take care of him,” Adam said.
“It’s all right, I can do it.”
“Nora, let me help,” he said, giving her a gentle push into the house. “Go on in.”
She frowned slightly. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, go.”
She went, but the frown didn’t leave her face. What was he up to? Was he wanting to negotiate for better sleeping arrangements and trying to soften her up first? Because honestly, it was working. She was hungry, and whatever he’d put in that pot smelled divine. She’d been planning on just slicing up some bread and cheese for her supper, being too tired to think of making anything else. To come home and have it taken care of…
She didn’t know how to feel about it. Though she was embarrassingly close to tears.
Nora walked slowly through the house, putting her sewing supplies away and taking a real look around for the first time in several days. Her father had disappeared again after the incident in the barn. Though she knew he was probably fine, she still couldn’t stop the worry. At the same time, not having him there removed a lot of the stress she’d normally feel when she walked in her door.
