“This looks very nice,” she said as she took in the exterior.
Merrick thought he might burst with pride. “Thank you,” he managed to say. “It is small, though.” He figured it best to warn her before he opened the door.
“It looks larger than the home I had in West Fork,” she replied.
Encouraged, Merrick reached for the doorknob.
“Merrick,” she said, laying a hand on his arm.
He froze. Between the sound of his name on her lips and the way she gently placed her hand on his arm, he couldn’t think of a thing to say, much less make any other movement.
She must have taken his pause for affirmation that she should continue. Withdrawing her hand, she straightened. She looked oddly nervous, and his heart ached at the thought. That this beautiful woman, who seemed entirely certain of herself, would feel any sort of nerves around him was more than he could comprehend.
“There is something I must tell you,” she said.
Merrick couldn’t think of anything she could say that might cause her to look so worried. But he nodded in response and waited for her to go on.
Chapter Three
ELEANOR DREW IN A DEEPbreath. Merrick Benton was a very handsome man, she’d decided, even though she doubted he thought of himself that way. By the way he kept running his hand over his beard and how his eyes darted away every time she caught his gaze, it was clear she made him nervous. He had no reason to be at all, not with those broad shoulders and bright blue eyes. His dark hair had a tendency to fall across his forehead when he looked down at her, which was a frequent occurrence. Clara had never considered herself to be particularly short in stature, but next to Mr. Benton—Merrick, she corrected herself—she felt as petite as Rebecca.
And now she had to tell him that the sneaking suspicion she’d had just before she and Rebecca left had turned into an absolute certainty on the journey to Colorado. She didn’t dare put the revelation off any longer.
She pressed her shoulders back and began. “This is not something I knew prior to leaving, or I would have written to tell you. You might remember that I mentioned my husband passed away in late August?” Something inside smarted at the words she spoke aloud, but she ignored it.
Merrick nodded, and the expression on his face told her that he had no inkling of what she was about to share with him. Eleanor fought the urge to rest her hands against her stomach, which had only just begun to fit a little too snugly in her clothing.Instead, she pressed her hands against the fabric of the worn coat that hung over her dress and glanced quickly around them. No one was nearby, save for the horses grazing in the livery’s corral next door.
“I was on the train, and it was somewhere west of St. Louis when I—” She paused, thinking that Merrick didn’t need the details of how she’d found herself overcome with a queasy sensation. After the third day of feeling ill and then feeling just fine, she’d shared her suspicions with Rebecca, who had confirmed them. “Well, there’s no delicate way to convey this, but I want you to know that I’m expecting a baby.”
Merrick’s eyes widened slightly. His mouth opened, but he said nothing. Then he abruptly closed his mouth and wrinkled his forehead.
Eleanor’s heart sank. Had she made a mistake in continuing the journey after discovering her pregnancy? She ought to have listened to her intuition back in West Fork, when she’d felt more fatigued than usual and when, with all the chaos after the explosion, she couldn’t remember if she’d had her monthly courses. But it was as if her mind couldn’t comprehend the possibility, not with being on her own, and not with so much responsibility on her shoulders. She’d ignored the tiny thought at the edge of her mind and had pushed forward with Rebecca to find some kind of future for them both.
Merrick lifted a hand and ran it over his neatly trimmed beard as Eleanor’s heart hammered against her ribs. He’d struck her instantly as a compassionate sort of man, kind and gentle despite his size. She’d hoped so much that he would be accepting of her condition, especially after he’d written about wanting a family in his letters. And he’d been more than patient with Rebecca’s children at the depot.
Was she that poor a judge of character?
“I’m sorry,” she forced herself to say. “You needn’t go through with this. I understand it’s too much to ask of you—”
“No.” He spoke so suddenly and so forcefully that Eleanor nearly jumped in surprise. “No. I mean . . . This is unexpected and . . .”
