“That sounds fine for now.” Judith couldn’t imagine that her grandmother had been overly generous, but that could all be figured out later. “As long as Caleb is the one to handle Victoria, I believe I’ll rest better.”
Kenzie sat down beside Mr. Lawrence and began to unwrap the bandage around his lower leg.
“I never ’spected to have somebody like you takin’ care of me,” the old man said, chuckling.
“Well, we all do what we must,” Kenzie replied. “I’m not very good at tending to my own wounds, but I have little trouble when it comes to other people.”
She pulled back the dressing and surveyed the damage. The old man had been injured during the earthquake when he’d been struck by falling debris.
“How is it feeling?”
“Good,” he answered. “Ain’t givin’ me no trouble.”
She nodded and began to gently clean the wound. “Well, Dr. Fisher says that keeping it clean is the most important thing.”
“And Dr. Fisher is happy to learn that you’ve heeded his advice.”
Kenzie turned abruptly to find Micah watching her. She swallowed hard and turned back to Mr. Lawrence. “He’s occasionally right in his thinking.”
Micah laughed and joined her. He examined the wound and nodded. “You’ve done a good job with it, Mr. Lawrence. You should be right as rain in another week or so.”
“I ain’t done nothin’ but let this purdy gal take care of me.”
“She is very pretty, I agree,” Micah said in a conspiratorial manner. “I would very much like having her take care of me.”
Mr. Lawrence roared with laughter. He elbowed Micah. “You ought to marry her before she gets away.”
Micah took the cleaning cloth from Kenzie and finished what she had started. “I have plans to do just that, but she’s kind of strong-willed.”
Kenzie rolled her eyes and started to leave.
“Miss Kenzie,” Mr. Lawrence called out.
She turned back. “What is it, Mr. Lawrence?”
“You could just marry me instead.”
Kenzie couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She hurried to get away before Micah could say or do anything to stop her. Let him rebandage the old man.
She thought maybe she’d escaped Micah’s attention when he still hadn’t found her fifteen minutes later. She felt an odd sense of disappointment and chided herself.
You know he only confuses you. Stay away from him, and you’ll be much happier.
She told herself this over and over as she checked to see if the laundry was dry. She needed to keep herself safe and free of emotional entanglements.
She jumped at the sound of someone behind her but relaxed when she saw that it was only Cousin George with the widowed Mrs. Andrews. Ever since Kenzie had brought George to the warehouse with her, Mrs. Andrews had made him her pet project. Surprisingly enough, Cousin George didn’t seem to mind her attention. Perhaps they would court and marry. Kenzie smiled. But at the thought of courtship and marriage, Micah wormed into her mind once again.
“You are positively radiant when you smile,” Micah said. “Were you thinking of me?”
She turned to find him at her side. A hint of a smile played on his lips. “Yes. I was just thinking of you going away—back to wherever you came from.”
“Ah, but youwerethinking about me.” His grin broadened.
“You are impossible.” She hurried down the laundry line to put distance between them.
Micah didn’t seem to mind, however. He followed her at a leisurely pace. “You did very nicely with Mr. Lawrence’s wound. It gave me an idea.”
Kenzie refused to let him draw her into conversation. She continued to check the clothes, and when she found the third line was dry, she began to remove the pieces.
