“She does not get under my skin. I just find her…” His words fell away when he failed to come up with the right ones to describe how he felt about Dimity Brown.
“Uncomfortable? Disturbing?” Michael prompted. “A bit like when you have a pebble in your shoe?”
“Neither. Now be quiet and listen.”
“My ears are, as always, yours.”
“Abby said Dimity had not written to her as promised, and she grew worried with her silence. She commissioned me to go and find her and see if all was well.”
“And?” Michael asked.
Gabe told his brother how the night had unfolded, leaving nothing out. When he was done, Michael whistled.
“You found her on the bar dancing with her chest exposed?”
“Out of all I’ve told you, that is the question you ask me?” Gabe shook his head, trying to dislodge the image of the beautiful Dimity’s heaving breasts.
“Miss Brown is a lovely woman,” Michael said slowly, “as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
Gabe said nothing. She was beautiful, disturbing, and a mouthy woman—among other things.
“And you got her out of that place, which is where you received that bruise. You showed her how you fought, Gabe? Was that wise?”
“I needed to defend both of us, Michael. To do that in the quickest and most efficient way, I needed to fight.”
Michael nodded. “She is now sleeping in Abby’s room for the night?”
“Yes. That place was not fit for anyone to live in.”
“And yet people do live there, Gabe.”
He sighed. “Aye, they do. Crammed in small spaces with little food.”
They fell silent briefly, thinking of how many suffered and how lucky they were not to be among them.
“I cannot believe her brother tried to sell her,” Gabe said.
“I would like a word with him.”
“Yes, me too.”
“What do you plan to do with her and the dog?”
“Walter,” Gabe added. “Big brute, but nice enough natured.”
“I’ve always wanted a dog,” Michael mused.
“Since when have you wanted a dog?” Gabe studied his brother. “And how is it I never knew this?”
“I don’t tell you everything, brother. I must be allowed some secrets.”
“And wanting a dog is just one of them?”
Michael smiled.
“I don’t know what to do about her,” Gabe said. “How do I get her to tell me why she was working in that seedy tavern and living in that room?”
“Perhaps you could ask?”
