Chapter Three
THE SECOND REBECCAsaw the change in Levi’s expression, she wrenched her mouth shut.
“It’s too small,” he said, his voice taking on a dull edge. “I should’ve known, with five children, that it would be too small.”
“No!” The word finally worked its way from Rebecca’s throat. “It’s . . .” She placed a hand against her chest, hardly able to fathom calling this place small. “It’s perfect.”
“It is?”
“Yes. I’m sorry if I made you think otherwise. I’ve never lived in a home like this one, and it caught me by surprise. Even though you described it, I couldn’t have imagined so much room.” As she looked around again, she marveled at the space. The one room was so large, she could’ve held a dance in the middle of it. It made her little home back in West Fork, Kentucky look the size of the interior of a wardrobe.
The smile slowly reappeared on Levi’s face, and he nodded. “I’ve hardly used that stove,” he said, pointing to the back corner of the room. “And Edward built that cabinet to serve as a pantry. After you settle in, make a list of everything you might need, and we’ll ride to town for it in a day or two.”
Rebecca finally moved forward at those words, toward the kitchen. She peered out the window and opened the back door. Then she ran her hand over the countertop Levi had cut from timber last summer. She opened the cabinet door and looked over the meager supplies he kept before crossing the room to explore the parlor and the far rear corner where he imagined the children would sleep.
“I confess I only have this one extra bed. I can work on another at night, though, and it shouldn’t take long. I figured we could hang some curtains. Girls here, where there’s more room, and boys over there.” He pointed at the corner where one neatly made bed sat waiting, and then at the empty area underneath the stairs.
“It would almost be like having their own bedrooms.” Rebecca clasped her hands together at the thought. Her children were used to sleeping piled into one bed or on the floor. Having a little curtained off area to share with only one or two siblings would feel like a luxury to them.
Levi ran a hand through his hair, as if he wasn’t certain what to show her next. “I’ll, uh . . . leave you to explore upstairs while I fetch your things.”
Before Rebecca could say anything else, he was gone. Taking advantage of the quiet moment alone in the house, she moved toward the stairs in the middle of the room. They were narrow and steep, and they led to exactly what Levi had promised—a single small loft room with one large window that overlooked the rear of the house and the frosty ground below. The mountains rose in the distance, and Rebecca was almost certain she’d never seen anything more beautiful in her life.
Rebecca crossed the room and rested a hand against the window. The children’s happy shouts echoed from outside, and she took a deep breath. This place was good for them, with so much room to run and play. There was hard work to do and fresh air to breathe.
All she had to do was learn to love her new husband.
The old ache of grief clenched at her insides, and she allowed one tear to escape before wiping it away and forcing her shoulders back. She’d had plenty of time to mourn her old life and the loss of John. She would always miss him—she knew that with a certainty that was stronger than the wood that held this house up—but she couldn’t dwell on it. Levi had offered her a new, secure home and a life with few worries.
It was time to think about the future.
With that thought in mind, Rebecca turned around to survey the room. There was a large wardrobe tucked into the corner, a wash stand with a lovely white pitcher and bowl, and a single bed with a headboard made of smooth wood.
All of her determined optimism flitted away the second she saw the bed.
“I’ve left the other trunk downstairs. It looked like it held clothing belonging to the children.” Levi appeared at the top of the stairs, her frayed carpetbag slung over his shoulder, and her trunk in his hands. He was a little out of breath, but he held onto the trunk as if it weighed as much as an infant.
He’d caught her off-guard. Rebecca clapped a hand to her chest and yanked her gaze away from the bed. Her face went warm as she realized there was no way he hadn’t seen where her attention had been.
He swallowed, and it might have been her imagination, but she thought he’d gone a bit pink around the collar. A few awkward seconds ticked by, and then he lifted the trunk a little. “Where would you like this?”
“Oh! Under the window, I suppose.” Rebecca stepped aside to let him pass.
Levi set the trunk down and placed her carpetbag on top of it. Her eyes darted to the bed again. She hardly knew him. Hopefully, he wouldn’t—
“If you dislike the blanket or anything else, I won’t take offense if you replace it.” He shoved his hands into his trousers pockets as if he didn’t know what to do with them.
“I don’t dislike it,” Rebecca said quickly. The bedcoverings were plain but serviceable, and Rebecca was hardly one to turn her nose up at anything useful.
“All right. Good.” Levi nodded. He looked so tall in this room. It was a wonder he didn’t need to duck his head. He still wore a gun belt with pistols at his hips, and Rebecca wondered if he ever removed it. She certainly hadn’t seen him without it, even at their wedding ceremony. It made him look as though he was waiting for trouble to make a sudden appearance.
Washe expecting trouble? A shiver ran down Rebecca’s back. They were out here, all by themselves, in the middle of this valley. She couldn’t see their closest neighbor. Anything could happen out here.
“Is something wrong?” Levi tilted his head and studied her with those brown-green eyes. “Are you cold? I’ll get a fire started downstairs.”
“It isn’t that. It’s . . .” Her gaze drifted to those guns at his side. “Is it . . . safe here?”
He stiffened, and she hoped she hadn’t insulted him. But for the sake of her children, she needed to know.
“I wouldn’t have brought you here if I couldn’t protect you,” he said.
Rebecca’s eyes widened. Protect them from what?
“I’m sorry.” Levi closed his eyes briefly and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t mean to imply that there’s anything to be afraid of here. You might see the occasional lone coyote.”
Rebecca pressed her hands into her skirts. A coyote. She’d seen more than one of those back home in Kentucky.
“There are bears and mountain lions, but they don’t usually come into the valley. As far as men, you should be aware of the mining encampment, which is several miles to the northeast. I’ll teach you to shoot, and that should be enough to scare off any man.”
“I know how to shoot,” she replied, swallowing the memory of John teaching her years ago.
Levi held her gaze a moment, as if he was deciding whether he believed her. Then he nodded. “Good.”
If he meant that to set her at ease, he hadn’t entirely succeeded.
“I’ll give you one of my brother’s pistols.” He nodded, more to himself than to her, and then moved forward.
Rebecca stepped back toward the wall to let him through. “Thank you,” she said, even though she wasn’t entirely certain she should be thanking him for bringing her to a place where she needed to have easy access to a firearm.
He paused in front of her. Up close, with the sun streaming through the window, his eyes appeared more of a golden green than brown. Rebecca’s breath caught in her throat as she realized precisely how much she didn’t know about this man.
“I give you my word that I won’t let anything happen to you or any of your children,” he said, his voice low and assured.
Rebecca didn’t know how he could promise such a thing, but she wanted so badly to believe him. So she exhaled and nodded. “Thank you,” she said again.
He held her gaze, as if she intrigued him somehow. She couldn’t look away. There was something magnetic about the way he looked at her. And suddenly, all she could think of was letting him enfold her into his arms, protecting her from everything terrible in the world.
“Mama?” Gwynnie’s voice called up the stairs, interrupting Rebecca’s embarrassing reverie.
Her face went hot as she looked away from Levi toward the stairs. “I’m up here,” she replied. “I’ll be down in a moment.”
When she turned back to Levi, he cut his gaze away from her and stepped to the side to allow her to walk toward the stairs.
He was a curious man, Rebecca decided, casting one last glance back toward him before descending the stairs. Half the time, he appeared entirely certain of himself and the rest of the time he looked as if he were ready to bolt.
She only hoped there was a crack in between those two facets of his personality that would allow her to get to know who he truly was.