“You see, this is exactly what I mean. Between the past and the future, we’re so bogged down that we’re having trouble looking at what we have in front of us. Yes, we want different things for the future. But we won’t have any chance whatsoever at a future together if we can’t find a way to stop fighting over it right now. So why not set the future aside and work on living as husband and wife today, maybe seeing if we can straighten out some of the past?”
Her forehead knit, and she opened her mouth only to close it again before shaking her head. “I don’t know.”
“We don’t even have to try it for four months. Let’s shoot for three. December is almost here, we’ll go until the beginning of March. Just you and me focusing on our relationship. If there’s hurt from the past or forgiving that needs to happen, then we’ll talk about it, pray over it, and try our best to work through it.At the beginning of March, we’ll stop and reassess, see how far we’ve come, and then talk about where we want to move.”
He was allowed to pray every day that she’d come to Deadwood, right? She might want to go to Chicago, but she wasn’t making dresses for that wedding anymore, and she was the entire reason he’d ended up in Deadwood in the first place. Didn’t she at least owe him a trip to Deadwood to see if she could be happy there?
Surely that was what God intended for them. “Maybe by March, we’ll both be in agreement about where we want to go anyway.”
“Am I allowed to think about it?”
Think about it? She was so close to saying yes, he could almost hear her voice filling the room with the word. He reached out and took her hand, then used it to pull her toward him. “Do you really need time, angel?”
She bit her lip. “There’s so much I don’t know at the moment, like where we’ll live until the harbor opens or?—”
“Right here with me.” She had to say yes. It wasn’t that difficult. He was only asking her to try being something she already was—his wife.
“But this is Isaac’s apartment. You can’t just kick him out and move me and the girls in.”
Or maybe she wasn’t about to say yes at all, not since she was coming up with excuse after excuse not to agree.
He dropped her hand. Was he really that intolerable to her?
Probably. He was, after all, the maimed, good-for-nothing son of a town drunk, the brother of a consummate gambler.
“I bet Isaac would be happy to move out for a few months if he knows it will help us.” If she was actually interested in getting help, that was. “Even if I wasn’t here, I bet he’d still move out and offer to let you use the apartment for as long as you needed.”
She shook her head. “Everything’s happening too fast. I need time to think your offer through.”
“I understand.” In more ways than one. Because while she might say she needed to think, she’d only use the time to do what she’d done ever since he’d arrived—pull farther away from him.
He sat back down on the bed and yanked on his trousers in one swift jerk, then stood and headed for the door. “I’ll make us some breakfast while you dress.”
“Thomas.”
He paused halfway through the door.
“Whatever we decide about this truce, I still…” She cleared her throat and looked down. “I still need you to pay for Olivia’s ear surgery.”
“You need me to pay for it, but you don’t actually want me to pay for it, do you? You’d much rather pay for it yourself, if you were able.”
She swallowed but met his gaze again. “Olivia’s more important than our squabbles.”
That she needed to voice such a thing told him what she’d decide about the truce, even if she’d yet to figure it out for herself. He pulled the door shut behind him. Or maybe she did know what she wanted to tell him, and she thought she was being kind by not giving him her decision right away, but in truth?—
“Um, hello Thomas.”
“Tressa.” He stilled at the sight of Jessalyn’s best friend standing in the apartment holding her babe. Then he looked around the apartment to find the girls at the table busily eating muffins. They’d been so quiet that he’d assumed they were sleeping.
“I’m sorry. I meant to be gone by now. The girls let me in a few minutes ago to drop off food, but they didn’t say you andJessalyn were, ah…” Tressa ran her gaze down him once, then bit the side of her lip. “…busy.”
A flush stole up the back of his neck. They hadn’t been busy in the way she meant, but how to explain without looking like a fool?
“Will you tell Jessalyn to call on me at the lighthouse today? I’d like to see her. Or if it’ll be easier, I can come back later.”
“Tressa?” The door opened behind him, and his wife peeked her head out, her hair still long and free and tangled about her shoulders, though she’d put the purple dress on.
“Jessalyn.” Tressa rushed toward her so quickly Thomas had to step out of the way lest he be trampled by a woman half his size. “I’m so sorry about your building. But how are you feeling? The girls said you were coughing up smoke last night.”
