Devlon waved that away like it was nothing. Heather rolled her eyes. God help macho men who thought they were invincible.
“I’ll notify my men of the change. Have you decided on a new second?”
“Yes, the elderwoman Mabel has a spine of steel. I think she’ll be perfect as my second.”
“Should you not…”
She glared at him. “You think I should’ve picked a man?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You thought it, and I know you were going to say it. You have no right to make that kind of judgement.”
He sat on the cot across from her. “You’re right, I’m out of line. I’m sorry.”
She blinked, confused at his admission. She hadn’t expected him to apologize. “Apology accepted. I owe you an apology as well.”
“What for?”
“When you told me that there were people trying to take over tribe leader positions, I didn’t believe you. Now I’m starting to think that Leonard wasn’t acting on his own. He’s not very brave or clever. He knew better than to let those two assholes back in the tribe. I have a really bad feeling about it all.”
“I’m glad he’s gone then.”
“Me too.”
“When will the building of the apartments begin?”
“Tomorrow, as soon as more men arrive with the equipment. I wanted to get a list of the people you’d like to have trained on how to use the equipment.”
“Let me speak with a few people tomorrow morning. I’d rather have volunteers for the work instead of assigning people to it.”
“Very well.”
A silence stretched between them. She could feel Devlon’s eyes on her, but she couldn’t meet his gaze. The whole situation was awkward, and it made her nervous. Then she looked down at her lap and realized she’d forgotten she brought something for him.
“Here, I brought this for you.” She thrust a handmade quilt toward him.
He took it in his hands and stared at it in confusion. “What is it?”
“A quilt. When your people supplied us with new clothes and blankets, some of us had a hard time parting with our old clothes. It was a sentimental thing. They were all we had of our old lives, and we took care to make things last. Throwing things away seemed so wasteful. A couple of our older women had an idea. They requested that everyone bring the worn-out clothes that they wanted to save, and the women made each person a quilt out of pieces of their old clothes, mixed with some of the new sheets that your people gave us. This was mine. I know you have blankets, but I thought just in case you got cold or something…” She felt heat rise to her cheeks.Oh my God, why did I bring him my quilt?
Devlon opened up the quilt and fingered each of the little squares. “It’s unusual, but with all the little squares put together in this intricate pattern, it makes it look beautiful. Thank you.”
She shrugged. “It was nothing.”
He scratched his chin. “Do you think that these talented women would be able to create a quilt for the baby shower?”
“It’s in a few days, right? If you supplied the material, maybe new thread and needles, they could probably get it done.”
“I’ll ask Rachel’s mother for any of her childhood clothing. I can get it here by tomorrow afternoon.”
“It’s cutting it close, but I’m sure some of the other women will pitch in to help get it completed.”
He put the quilt on the bed next to him.
“Well, I’ll go then.” She stood up, and he stood too. His big body was making the tent seem to shrink in size.
“We still need to talk about what happened between us earlier.”
