“It won’t change how I feel about you.” His voice caught. It was wrong to keep the truth from her. The rationalizations he’d used to lie to her no longer seemed as convincing as they had initially.
She blinked and nodded, and he watched her throat move, as though the emotions of the moment overwhelmed her. “Tilt your head back a little more.” And then she lifted the blade again and silently shaved the hairs off his jaw and his throat.
When she was finished, she placed a cool cloth over his skin and stood quietly by his side. When she removed the cloth, she stared at him intently.
“Anything?” he asked.
“You’re more handsome than I imagined.” She licked her lips.
“Of course I am, but do you remember my face?”
“No. But it doesn’t matter, Rock.” She shook her head. “I’m not as afraid as I was before.”
“Why not?”
“Because nothing can change how I feel about you, either.”
Chapter 16
Freedome
“Don’t go too far. And stay out of the sun!” Mrs. Hettrick instructed as they collected the basket she’d prepared for their outing.
Tabetha strolled outside and gazed around in wonder. Since she couldn’t remember much of anything she’d done before her accident, the experience was more daunting than she’d expected.
But the wind and the sunlight were also refreshing, and she had nothing to worry about with Rock to protect her.
Not in any hurry, the two of them peeked into a few shops and even purchased a small tin of mints and a bow for Archie before arriving at the edge of town.
“Where are we going?” Tabetha asked when Rock didn’t stop, more for an excuse to gaze up at him than anything else.
She was rewarded with one of his real smiles, one that was uninhibited and almost boyish.
“It’s a surprise.”
After leaving the village behind, Rock walked her beyond the last house and along the road until it felt like they were the only two people for miles. “It’s back here.” He guided her into a clearing toward a cluster of trees. As they distanced themselves from the road, the sound of a brook grew louder—babbling and tinkling musically. She caught sight of the stone shelter first, perched in a way that it hovered over the water.
“How did you know this was here?” Tabetha stepped into the cool shade of the hidden folly.
“I can’t tell you all my secrets.” His voice echoed a little in the shelter as he set the basket out on the rugged table and then joined her at the railing to stare down into the water.
“I can see straight through to the bottom. It’s crystal clear.” Tabetha leaned over to appreciate the colorful rocks, ever conscious of his presence beside her, of his hand on her back.
It was a simple moment, and yet it was also magical.
“Like you.”
Her breath caught as she turned to look at him. How did she get so lucky, to have married a man who not only loved her but who noticed these sorts of details about her?
“Did I hide myself from you? Before?” She had no reason to keep anything from him now. “Am I much different than I was a week ago?”
What if she was? Would it be possible to simply go on being the person she was today?
“You are different, in some ways.” He stared down at the water as he answered, presenting her with only his profile. “But not in the ways that matter.”
Tabetha shivered, absorbing his words and then tilting her head and resting it against his shoulder. “I’m not going to ask you to explain all the ways that I was different.” She didn’t want to know. “Because it doesn’t matter. Only today matters.”
Rock slid his arm around her waist. “That’s how I feel when I go home to my father’s house. There’s a lake there where I love to fish. When I can, I just sit by the water, soaking up the sun. And nothing else matters. Nothing but that place in the water where my line disappears beneath the surface. And sometimes not even that.”
