“And that’s why I need your help.” Her lips pressed together, as if she were forcing herself to hold back tears. “I can’t let him remain in that place until we’re old and gray. Ican’t. Not without at least making an effort to prove him innocent. You’ll help me, won’t you, Stuart?”
That look of sorrow in her eyes would be his undoing. Letting her go on wondering would be cruel. It would be far better if she could accept that Jeremy wasn’t the brother she’d known and loved. Then she could move on and try to enjoy life again, as he and everyone else was trying to do.
“Yes,” he said, hoping he wasn’t making a grave mistake. “I’ll help you.”
“Oh, Stuart! I could hug you! But I won’t, or else I’ll find myself joining Sissy Flagler as the town’s favorite topic of gossip.” She gave a laugh and moved back to his side, tucking her arm around his again.
“You could stand on your head in the middle of church and fling piles of horse dung at passersby on the street, and I still don’t think you could edge out Miss Flagler as the talk of the town,” Stuart said with a laugh. Tongues wagged for months over her involvement with the man who’d tried to destroy Nate’s reputation and business last year.
Norah laughed again, and the sound seemed to be just what Stuart needed to hear.
“Thank you,” she said, her eyes shining and her face lit in a glow of hope and happiness.
He couldn’t say anything for a moment. The words stuck in his throat as he wondered how—and when, exactly—little Norah Parker had grown so beautiful.
“You’re welcome,” he said as he forced the thought from his head. She was his sister’s closest friend, and that was all.
As a friend, he would help her. And then he’d be there to help when she learned the truth about her brother.
Chapter Five
“TELL ME, STUART, HOWare you keeping up with the increase in business?” Papa rested his fork on his plate as he turned the topic of the dinner conversation from his latest adventures in doctoring sick horses.
“It’s been difficult, but we’d rather have more business than we can handle than not enough,” Stuart replied.
Charles, who was visiting for dinner with Mary, asked another business-related question, while Mama and Mary discussed plans for making baby clothes. This—thankfully—left Norah alone with her thoughts.
She speared a bite of potato as she thought—yet again—of how oddly Stuart had looked at her as they’d walked home from the prison. He’d eyed her as if he’d never seen her before. It was the strangest thing, and she’d hoped to have some time alone to think it over. Well, that and her plans for uncovering whatever it was that Jeremy was hiding.
But instead, Mama had met them the second Norah stepped inside and insisted Stuart stay for supper. Stuart had heartily accepted the invitation, and for a moment, as they all sat around the table, it had felt like old times.
Only Jeremy was missing.
His absence had been a hole in her heart for so long, and finally—finally—she was going to do something about it. She would figure out what had happened, and she would prove his innocence. He’d be released, all would be forgiven, and their lives could all return to normal.
She smiled down at her potatoes and cabbage and beef as she thought of it. And it was all thanks to Stuart.
