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“Finish eating, Colton,” she encouraged her husband gently. “We’re fine. He can wait.”
She could tell he wanted to have the conversation right then but he grudgingly acquiesced and returned to his food.
After eating, he stayed awake long enough to tuck Anna into bed, and when he and Regan left her bedroom, Regan asked, “Do you want me to run you a bath?”
“No, I’ll probably fall asleep and drown. I just want to lie down, preferably with my wife but I’d sleep through that as well.”
She walked with him to his room and watched as he fell facedown onto the bed.
“After ten days of sleeping on the ground, this feels so good. Too tired to even take my boots off.”
“Here. I’ll help.”
Once they were removed, she asked, “Anything else you need?”
“Besides you?” he mumbled, still facedown and fully dressed.
She was so happy to have him home where he belonged. “I’ll turn out the lamps so you don’t forget and burn the house down.”
The room plunged into darkness. “Good night, doctor man.”
Snoring was his reply.
Chuckling, she left him to his dreams and closed the door softly behind her.
The next morning, while Colt slept like the dead, Regan and Anna were having breakfast when Spring stopped by.
“I’m on my way to town to get feed for the piglets. Wanted to see if Anna would like to go with me.”
Her brown eyes sparkled with excitement. “May I go, Mama, please? I like feeding the piglets.”
Regan said, “Yes, you may, but finish your eggs, then you can get dressed.”
While Anna finished her breakfast, Regan said, “Colt came back yesterday.”
“Good. I was starting to worry.”
“He was so tired, he’ll probably sleep until Christmas.”
Anna took her now clean plate into the kitchen and hurried off to get dressed.
Spring asked, “Shall I tell her those little piggies that she adores will be on her plate as bacon one day soon?”
Regan laughed. “Don’t you dare.”
“I’m just teasing. When my father told me the truth, I was probably just a bit older than she is now. I didn’t eat bacon for months.”
Regan told her about the arrival of the school supplies and the encounter with Dun Bailey.
Spring went still. “If that bastard even looks at Anna when I’m around, I’ll geld him and watch him bleed to death on the ground. How dare he threaten you two that way. Does Colt know?”
“A little of it. I’ll tell him the rest when he gets up.”
Spring was still fuming when Anna appeared, but brightened. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s head out. We’ll be back around suppertime. That okay with you, Anna?”
