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Heat rose in Eden’s cheeks. “You might have begun by asking whether I enjoyed your company.”
“Do you?”
“On occasion.”
“That’s encouraging.”
“Don’t grow overconfident.”
He grinned, and she remembered the man he’d been for a few minutes before the sheriff came with news of Rusk. There was a lively, teasing Jesse beneath the bruises. She wanted more chances to know him.
His thumb brushed her knuckles. The small movement drew her attention back to their joined hands.
Jesse’s eye dropped to her mouth.
A knock at the doorframe spared Eden from discovering whether he meant to do anything about it.
Nate stood in the doorway. “Izzy would like to sing. I told her I’d ask you first, Jess.”
The change in Jesse was immediate. His grip tightened, and the color left his face.
“Not that tune,” he said.
“No piano,” Nate assured him. “A hymn. If you’d rather not hear it, I’ll tell her.”
Eden could hear Izzy shifting in the front room.
Jesse released Eden’s hand to wipe his palm against the blanket.
“Does she know I heard what she said at Marmee’s meeting?”
“Yes,” Eden answered. “She knows you remember warning her.”
“Tell her she did right to keep playing.”
“I will.”
He drew a careful breath. “Let her sing.”
“What would you like to hear?” Nate asked.
Jesse thought for a moment. “Nearer, My God, to Thee.”
Nate nodded and left the door open.
Eden offered her hand again. This time Jesse reached for it himself.
From the front room came Izzy’s first uncertain notes. She stopped, cleared her throat, and began again. Carolina joined her on the second line. Emily followed, and the voices settled into the familiar hymn.
Jesse kept his eye shut. His grip grew tight enough to hurt, but Eden said nothing. When he loosened it, she slipped her fingers more comfortably between his.
Halfway through the hymn, his breathing grew shallow.
“Would you like them to stop?” she whispered.
He shook his head.
The singing continued. The rain eased against the window. Eden knew the hymn well enough to join, but she stayed quiet beside him.
