“She was just shy of Hannah’s age,” Lara said.
Mitchell nodded. More than once he’d looked at Hannah and thought of Becca, though the two looked nothing alike. “The world would have been a better place with her in it.”
“Did you get along with Calvin, or were you like Belle and me when we were younger, always picking on each other?” Lara asked. She was trying to draw out the happy memories, and oddly, he didn’t mind.
So he told her of Calvin, and of the mischievous twins. And then of his sweet but fiery Mama and his Papa, the man he’d always admired most in the world. She listened and laughed at the funny parts and asked gentle questions.
Not once did she ask how they’d died.
And yet she was the only one he wished to know.
“It was a fever,” he finally said as they passed a stand of browned evergreens. “That’s what took them. I was the only one to survive.” He shifted in the saddle and stopped the horse. “I’ve never spoken of it. I think . . . I felt guilty over it for years.”
She nodded. “I can see how.”
He knew better now, of course. There was no controlling an illness that did as it pleased. But somehow, the simple act of telling her left an ease in his soul. As if that guilt had still clung in tattered threads, and now it had been wiped away.
“Lara, I . . .Thank you.” It was all he could think to say.
Her horse danced next to his. He reached out and laid a hand on her arm. She let go of the reins and turned her arm, letting his hand slide down to hers.
“That’s the first time anyone has thanked me for asking too many questions.” Her smile was sweet, but something sad sat behind it.
Mitchell let go of her hand and reached up to brush a thumb over the corner of her lips.
Her eyes closed. It would be so easy to lean forward, to close the distance between them.
To kiss her.
A small sigh escaped her lips, and Mitchell came undone. He grazed his hand across her cheek and moved forward, just a little, until his lips were less than an inch away from hers. Her breath caressed his face, and he wanted to keep this moment alive forever.
His eyes closed—and a movement sounded from somewhere behind him.
Chapter Thirteen
Lara gasped as Mitchellsnapped around. The moment they’d shared was gone, broken by whatever—or whoever—was rustling through the trees and mostly dead brush beside them.
