“Well, I mean, obviously yes,” she said. “But everyone in Trinity Falls does. I wasn’t any good.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” he teased her. “You can dance for me when we get home and I’ll let you know.”
She laughed, knowing he was only joking. It had been forever since she had danced in any way. Definitely not ballet, but she hadn’t even been out dancing with Lee since before Dove was born, before he got sick.
The weight of the memory of a particular night landed on her chest and she suddenly felt like she couldn’t suck in a breath.
“You okay?” Dalton asked, as if reading her mind.
“I’m fine,” she said, trying to shake it off.
“Come on,” Dalton said softly.
“I feel like all I ever talk about is Andy and Lee,” she said, shaking her head.
“No,” Dalton said, shaking his head. “Mostly you talk about Dove, and the farm, and your parents. And I think it’s wonderful. But I’d be honored for you to talk about Andy and Lee whenever you want.”
“He loved to dance,” she said, unable to hold it in. “Lee did. It was something he hated about being sick, that we couldn’t go out anymore.”
“I bet,” Dalton said. “That must have been awful.”
“I used to put on music at home sometimes,” she said,remembering. “He’d dance me around the living room, for a minute or two.”
“Did he dance with Dove?” Dalton asked.
“No,” Ella said, her heart breaking a little. “By the time she was big enough to enjoy being danced around, he was too weak. And she wouldn’t have remembered it anyway.”
“You talk to her about him, right?” Dalton asked, sounding tentative.
“Of course,” she said. “All the time. She knows how much he would have loved spending time with her.”
“That’s nice,” Dalton said. “I like how you guys talk about Andy all the time.”
“Oh, she knows all his funny stories,” Ella said. “You’ll have to share a few with her.”
He nodded and they drove on in silence for a little while.
“How did you do it?” he asked quietly.
She could have asked what he meant, but she knew.
“I did it for Dove,” she said right away.
“It must have been so hard to have a little one to take care of in the middle of so much loss,” he said, shaking his head.
“There were times when I thought I might never sleep again,” Ella admitted. “But looking back, I know that she made it easier. I couldn’t fold, I couldn’t disappear. I had to show up and put one foot in front of the other for her. She saved me.”
The big man was silent, but when she looked over, he was swallowing hard.
Too soon, he was pulling down the driveway to theold farmhouse. The fields looked so peaceful in the moonlight, it almost took her breath away. A spray of stars twinkled against the dark velvet sky.
Dalton parked the truck and turned the key, cutting the engine and “The Carol of the Bells” at once.
“I know we might have an audience the minute we step out of this truck,” he said, his voice a little gruff. “But I wanted to tell you that I had a great time tonight. I hope you’ll let me take you out again, Ella.”
“That would be nice,” she replied, her voice almost a whisper.
His intense blue gaze flashed over to her, and she was certain she saw deep satisfaction there, as if he had unlocked something precious.
