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He left.
She saw Anna watching her intently. The girl didn’t say anything but Regan sensed a change in her mood when she resumed whisking the eggs. She knew things weren’t right between her parents and Regan wondered if all six-year-olds were so perceptive. Thinking back on her early years with her mother, Corinne, she supposed they were.
“Your papa and I are a bit at odds, Anna, but we’ll smooth things out. Promise.”
“You won’t leave?”
Regan hugged her waist and gave her a kiss. “No, honey. I won’t leave. That’s a promise, too.”
As they ate breakfast, Regan did her best to be pleasant so Anna wouldn’t worry. “Did you sleep well?” she asked Colt, passing him the bowl of steaming scrambled eggs.
“I did, and you?”
“I did. I think it was my heavenly bath. Nice warm water. New bar of scented soap. Nothing like a new bar of soap, it suds up so well. I felt so good when I finally stepped out. You should try the tub sometime.” It was a dig but an innocent-sounding one.
The way he looked up from his plate made her think the barb hit home. She gave him a sweet smile and turned to Anna. “You enjoyed your bath, too, didn’t you?”
“I did. Papa, the soap Miss Regan got me smells like flowers. I never had flower soap before.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” he said, eyes on Regan.
Regan added, “Mine smells like lavender. Maybe you’ll get a chance to smell it sometime.”
He coughed.
Pleased, she picked up her coffee cup and took a sip. “Are you okay?”
He wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Yes.”
Subtly letting him know what he’d missed last night was a better way of getting his goat than hurling angry thunderbolts, and far more satisfying. She hoped he spent the day imagining her stepping out of the tub nude and wet from the water and what they might have enjoyed had he been there.
He said to her, “I should have asked you first, but I invited Spring to have dinner with us this evening.”
“You don’t need my permission to have your sister join us. It will be great to see her. Don’t you think so, Anna?”
“Yes. She should come every day.”
Amused, Regan replied, “I don’t think she’d want to come every day but she’s welcome if she does.” Regan wondered when he’d issued the invitation and why. Had they patched up their differences? She planned on roasting a chicken for their Sunday meal and adding some vegetables, so she hoped Spring would be content with the simple fare. “Anna, do you know the way to Livy’s house? I need to get a hen from her grandmother and some eggs.” Colt had been supplying their food needs, but Regan thought it time to take on the responsibility herself. She remembered meeting Lucretia Watson at Glenda Cale’s home, and store owner Lacy Miller had touted the items Livy’s grandmother sold.
“Yes. She lives near the school.”
“I can go for you,” Colt replied.
“No, Anna and I will go. I need to begin taking on the household duties and it’ll give her a chance to visit with her friend. I’m sure you’d rather be reading your journals.”
From his expression, she couldn’t tell what he thought of her response. Her plan was to spend time with Anna, so she wasted no time worrying about his take. “Anna, let’s get the table cleared and the dishes washed, and we’ll go.”
Anna hopped up.
Regan left him at the table.
Chapter Twelve
With her rifle on the floor near her feet, Regan guided the wagon over the rutted road. Having reins in her hands for the first time since leaving Arizona flooded her with memories of home, family, and delivering the mail. The leather reins felt good, and even though the two horses weren’t familiar with her, they seemed to sense she knew what she was doing and didn’t put up a fuss, strain, or try and turn around and head back to the Lees’ barn. Anna was her usual silent self, but Regan could see her studying the clouds. “What do you see up there?”
“There’s a lady lying on her side on a sofa.”
“Really?”
