“No, thank you,” Dalton said, turning to her dad. “Do you have a moment to talk, sir?”
Ella looked up, surprised. Dalton’s voice sounded stiff and dry as paper. And he was calling her fathersiragain.
“Of course, son,” Dad said. “Anytime.”
“I really appreciated being included in your celebration yesterday,” Dalton said.
“Of course,” her father replied, frowning. “Wouldn’t have been Thanksgiving without you.”
“The harvest is done,” Dalton went on without responding, as if he had prepared what he wanted to say in advance. “So I’m ready to get out of your hair now.”
Ella’s stomach dropped.
“What in the world do you mean by that?” Mom asked.
“You’re welcome to go whenever you want to or need to, of course,” Dad said firmly. “We all know you have a life outside this farm that’s waiting on you.”
Dalton nodded once, his jaw clenched tightly. Ella wondered if her parents noticed it. She was pretty sure Dalton was lying. He had told her himself that he didn’t have family waiting, and if he’d found some other work, wouldn’t he have said something?
“But,” her dad went on, “we do have a lot of maintenance that we need to get done this winter. So, if you feellike staying on, we could use the help. And you won’t be bored, I can promise you that.”
Ella waited for a breathless moment.
“You have more work to do?” Dalton asked.
“Yes,” Dad replied. “Plenty of it.”
“Maybe I could stay a bit longer,” Dalton said, his voice still serious.
Relief flooded Ella’s chest, and this time she couldn’t keep herself from smiling.
“I do have one condition,” her dad said sternly.
“What is it?” Dalton asked.
“You have to let me pay you,” her dad replied. “I was planning on bringing someone in for the winter anyway, and I can’t let you continue without giving you a fair wage.”
“I’ll think about it,” Dalton said, frowning again.
“Very good,” her dad said, nodding to him.
At that, Dalton turned on his heel and headed out of the room.
Ella’s eyes went to her father and he gestured for her to follow, then winked at her.
She was frozen in place for a moment. She’d thought she had done such a good job hiding her feelings. But here was Dad, winking at her, and implying that her opinion might have more impact on Dalton’s decision than his did.
It was the first time anyone had even hinted that something might be happening between them, and her heart pounded as she recovered herself and hurried out of the room.
She couldn’t let him leave, of course, not now that sheknew he had no family to go to for the holidays. Her own selfish feelings aside, she would never want anyone to spend Christmas on his own.
And he certainly deserved pay for his hard work. She’d already caught her parents talking worriedly about him refusing payment more than once since his arrival.
“Dalton,” she called after him when she reached the hall.
He paused, and then turned back.
Suddenly, she was reminded of the night he arrived, and the feeling she’d had, being enclosed with the big man on the narrow staircase.
