Smiling, I guide her toward my workspace. I could go get her a chair, but I’d rather have my wife on my lap, so as soon as I sit, I settle her on one knee, and reach around her small frame with both hands to take care of the most urgent emails.
Fifteen
Rebekah
* * *
We’re back in Adam’s cabin before lunch. Our cabin. He keeps correcting me, but it’s hard for me to grasp that I live here now. It’s my home. My mind is blown by all that I’ve learned. I tried to watch what Adam did for the few hours he worked, but it meant nothing to me. So many screens. The only time I’ve seen computers before was when I was occasionally in town as a child. A few times my mother took me to the library. I’ve never used one. I know nothing about them.
Adam told me about spreadsheets and development contracts and patents. I only managed to memorize some key words like those because he used them frequently.
In all the years I knew the Gallants before they left the mountain, I had no idea Adam’s parents were so important. Apparently, they’d developed some important thing, and to this day, they make a lot of money selling it. A GPS application, whatever that is. In addition, the brothers continue to create new things and sell them. I don’t understand what those things are, and I feel ridiculously inept thinking back on it.
Adam has bags of food in his hands. He filled them from the fridge in the main house and now loads everything into our refrigerator. Even the fridge is more modern than anything I’ve ever seen. It already had food in it. I’m not sure why we needed more. So many options.
I didn’t pay close attention to all the electronics in this house yesterday. I was too busy being enamored by my new husband. Now that I look closer, I see that the fridge has a large panel on the front, and Adam occasionally taps on it like it’s a computer. It probably is, but it doesn’t have a keyboard. He had something he called a tablet in his office with a similar screen he tapped on.
He gets water and ice out of the front and hands me a glass before making a giant sandwich from a length of what he calls French bread.
I giggle when he guides me to the table and once again settles me on his lap. Apparently, he’s not joking about feeding me. We’re going to share this long sandwich.
The way he always clasps my hands in one of his makes my heart race. I don’t understand my body’s reaction to him holding me like this, but I don’t question it, either. I feel safe in his arms. Safer than I’ve ever felt.
It’s like being in a cocoon. Nothing can happen to me when Adam’s holding me. Most of the time, he’s touching me—either with an arm around me or my hand in his. It’s rare that we aren’t in contact. I don’t like it when we’re separated even by an inch. I feel nervous and kind of lost when he isn’t grounding me.
I haven’t said anything, and I won’t. He’ll think I have a screw loose. My need to be close to him is irrational. I don’t want him to grow tired of me.
Reminding myself that he’s always the instigator, I try not to let my fears get the better of me. If he didn’t want to touch me, he wouldn’t.
“I know I’ve introduced you to a lot, sweetheart. Your brain is probably flipping upside down. Don’t worry. Anything you need to know, I will explain. Anything you want to understand better, just ask. Anytime I ramble on and you’d rather I just shut up, all you have to do is tell me.”
I gasp. “I would never tell you to shut up.”
He chuckles. “You can, firecracker. I won’t get mad. I promise.”
I shake my head. That’s not going to happen. I’m growing to realize we are from very different worlds. I’m a mostly uneducated mountain girl with a lack of knowledge about the rest of the world. But one thing that was drilled into me from birth was that a woman must obey her husband. My mother did, and my parents reminded me of that often.
After taking another bite of the giant sandwich, I swallow and look at my husband. “I do have a question.”
“What’s that, firecracker?”
“What’s the tall pole in the middle of the property?”
“Ah, that’s a cell tower. It allows us to have our own internet and cell service. Those are what we need to use our phones and computers.”
I nod, sorry I asked. I know he uses a phone. He carries it with him always. I’ve seen them in town before. Lots of people have them. Even people who live up in the mountains and off the grid have them. I understand the concept, but it’s mindboggling that someone can talk to another person who’s far away through a small metal box in their hand.
“I’ll get you a phone and teach you how to use it. They’re like tiny computers nowadays. You could bury yourself in a phone playing games, reading, listening to music, or a million other things. Mmm. On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t get you a phone. You’d never look at me again,” he teases.
I gasp. “That’s not true.”
He chuckles. “I’m kidding. And, for the record, I never want you to stop asking me questions, sweetheart. What else do you want to know?”
I look around the room. “You said you have a saferoom here in the cabin.”
“Ah, yes. That’s an important one.” He sets me on the floor and stands to take our plate to the sink. When he turns back around, he threads his fingers with mine and guides me to our bedroom.
I’m not surprised when we enter the closet. After finding out the entrance to the basement in the main house is through the pantry, I can’t be shocked to find this secret opening in the closet.
