“Those boys.” Mrs. North sighed, but judging from the tilt of her smile, it was half-hearted exasperation.
Kizzie laughed. “Who's chasing them?”
As if in answer, Noah emerged into view, limping after the boys and pelting them with his own snowballs. Her smile pinched into her cheeks as she watched his ready grin and heard his laughter through the windowpanes.
Mr. Taylor came into view, driving the crippled carriage toward the house.
“The man can barely run, but he's bound and determined to entertain those boys.” Mrs. North sighed.
“He has such a kindness about him, doesn't he?”
Kizzie hadn't meant to voice her words aloud, but after her last meeting with Charles and the memory of her father, kindness and playfulness from men seemed horribly absent, except for Joshua Chappell. The kindness part anyway. Kizzie never saw any of his playfulness.
“Aye. He is kind,” came Mrs. North's slow response as she studied Kizzie.
“You won't find finer in all of The Hollows, I reckon,” added Mrs. Candler, turning back to the cooking.
Both boys braved the snowballs and barreled into Noah, knocking him to the ground. Kizzie pressed her fingers into her grin. The world could certainly use more kind, playful men. Good men. Some good woman waited for the love of such a man.
“Well, I pray his brother recognizes it soon.” Kizzie touched the windowpane, smoothing away the fog her words made on the glass. “Good things should happen to kind people.”
“Aye, they should.” Mrs. North stepped closer, lowering her voice. “But I warn you, don't be setting your sights on Mr. Noah.”
Kizzie flashed the woman a look. “I don't mean to set my sights on anyone for a long while, Mrs. North.” She turned back to the window. “No man wants the burden of my reputation or past. And I wouldn't wish it on him.” She swallowed through her tightening throat, accepting her future. “Besides, my focus needs to be on taking care of Charlie, not learning how to take care of a husband too.”
“Not everyone judges by pasts, but some of the kind ones are controlled by those who do.” Mrs. North's voice lowered even more, drawing Kizzie's attention back to her face. “There are hurts in these walls which cannot be undone. Ones that nearly destroyed Mrs. Lewis.” She held Kizzie's gaze, warning tightening the lines around her eyes. “Keep to your kindness, but guard your heart.”
Chapter 14
MRS. NORTH'S WORDS WEIGHED ONKizzie's mind as she excused herself to check on Charlie. She kept to her room for the next little while, waiting for the dinner bell to ring and giving her heart a much-needed redirection.
She wasn't attracted to Noah. She knew the sense of attraction.
No, she merely appreciated his kindness and care.
Both of those were reasons to keep her distance, because a man like him made attraction grow too easily.
Kizzie squelched the hint of longing. Mrs. North's warnings hit their mark. She knew all too well how social status influenced decisions about hearts and future. She didn't need to nurse a notion of any fancy for Noah Lewis … or anyone else at the moment. She had enough to do with starting her life over.
Charlie cooed beside her on the bed, enjoying the discovery of his fingers, and Kizzie turned her thoughts back to the book she'd taken from the library downstairs.David Copperfield.It had the prettiest cover in the expansive Lewis library, a far cry from the one wall of books in the Morgans’ study. A library in a house! It was beautiful and would dazzle her sister Laurel.
She sighed at the thought. Part of her wished the ache for home could dim a little, and the other part was afraid it would. She carried her family with her wherever she went, fought thoughts about them every day, sometimes every hour.
And now, the only way to reach them was through memory.
She closed her eyes and breathed out a prayer for them, that someday, somehow, she'd see them again.
After a little while, once Charlie slipped back into slumber, Kizzie closed the book and walked downstairs to see if she could relieve Case from watching Marty. But one peek into the room revealed both brothers asleep, Marty in the bed and Case in the nearby chair.
The sight was sweet.
“Mother says Marty ate well for lunch.”
Kizzie spun around at the whispered voice to find Noah nearby, sleeves rolled up and a streak of dirt across his cheek.
Her breath caught, and she stepped away from the doorway to keep from disturbing the brothers’ rest. “I'm glad to hear it. Eating is sure to help with the healing process.”
“Yes, that's what I thought too.” He searched her face before taking a step back. “I didn't mean to startle you. I should have made my presence—”
