Three days later Charlie rose early, finding Matthew already up and working in his office downstairs. There was no good morning kiss, no smile. Charlie couldn’t take it. A long walk to the homestead of Sheriff Cormac settled her somewhat. Ruth was expecting her, waiting with a quick smile and a spare apron.
“Eli snuck on by yesterday,” Ruth whispered as she kneaded dough. “Had a gash clear across the back of his head.”
“Yeah, I stitched him up,” Charlie murmured, unthinking as she fretted over waking up alone… again.
The slender girl at her side froze. “What do you mean you stitched him up?”
Flushing from the narrowed, almost inhospitable gaze of her friend, Charlie admitted, “He got bashed in the head. I did the stitchin’ a few days ago while his cousins were away.”
“Hmmmm.” Small hands went back to working the dough. “Considering the fact that you’re murdering that dough with your hands and surly as a bear, perhaps you want to explain yourself… and just why my Eli ne
eded to have his scalp sewn back together.”
Jaw tight, Charlie said, “I’m at an impasse with Matthew. And, as for Eli, looks like that boy needs to learn when to duck.”
Ruth suddenly concerned, brushed Eli’s impetuousness aside. “He ain’t getting cold feet, is he?”
What if he was? What if Matthew was so mad over her hunting down Roy that he’d changed his feelings?
Charlie’s eyes grew wet as she thought over the probability. Worry heavy in her voice she blurted, “I… I don’t know. It’s just that he refuses to kiss me until the wedding.”
Ruth looked a bit confused. “Well, isn’t that kinda romantic?”
Taking her hands from the dough, Charlie wiped her forehead. “Considering how much he liked to kiss me before… and how mad he’s been, I’m not sure.”
“Why would he be mad?”
A gusty breath, and Charlie felt her share of the anger rumble deep down. “We had a disagreement on my role as his wife. Matthew dislikes my...” she paused, looking for the right phrasing, “independent nature.”
“Well, far as I can tell he likes you just fine. Whole town been gossipin’ about your upcoming nuptials,” Ruth teased, trying to cheer her. “You’re just having last minute weddin’ jitters. And keep in mind, that carpenter Mr. Emerson hired is from my church. I heard him tell Daddy that your mister commissioned him to build some real fine things, just to please you. That sound like a man who is second guessing his devotion?”
Her friend’s gentle words loosened Charlie’s knots. Charlie took a breath and offered a timid smile. “You’re right… I’m just full of nonsense.”
An impish smirk grew on Ruth’s lips. “But I can understand your frustration. If Eli stopped kissin’ me, it sure would put me in a mood too.”
It was Charlie’s turn to poke fun. “From the look on your face, Miss Ruth, I have a feeling he’s been doing a lot more than kissin’ on you.”
The girl blushed scarlet. Yup, Eli had finally got a hand up her skirt.
Chapter 15
Ruth had worked wonders settling Charlie down. By the time she’d left her friend, arms laden with bread, all seemed much better. The wise girl was right. All Charlie’s worrying was silly, a waste of time.
Back at Devil’s Hollow with a hitch in her step, Charlie slapped a fresh cherry pie down and gave a hunched Nathaniel a grin.
The smile was not returned.
She tried again, teasing, “I haven’t seen you around the last couple of days, Nathaniel. You been avoiding me?”
He was deep in his jar, bleary-eyed and tired. “I ain’t been around is all. Stills needed tendin’.”
Charlie could spot the lie from a mile away and grew immediately suspicious. “First Matthew, now you…” Her attention flew to where Eli swept the floors. “Are you next Eli? Want to join the ‘we’re sore at Charlie club’?”
Staring straight ahead, Nathaniel took a deep gulp from his jar and barked, “You had no right running around wild and alone like you were.”
The calm Ruth had sweetly cultivated vanished. Charlie’s hackles went up. “I have as much a right as you do!”
The jar hit the bar, Nathaniel turning his woolly head to glare. “You should’ve stayed where you could be watched over, not prancing around places like Friendly’s!”