And even this distance soon disappeared. He crossed the room to sit on the corner of the desk next to me. Retrieving a handkerchief from his coat pocket, he tilted my face up and began drying the tears. “I only left for a couple of days.”
His broad shoulders and handsome face filled my view. “Why did you come back?” I asked, still dazed by his sudden reappearance.
He shrugged. “We made a deal. And I don’t care what you say about Nora and William, you still need me.”
“But, your contract is finished. I thought you were going back to England.”
“When you released me the other night, I never intended to leave for good. I just needed some time to think and to write another letter to my father.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was afraid that seeing you again before I left would influence my decision. I wanted to clear my head, so I rode to the inn where we stayed the first night we were married.” He dipped a corner of the handkerchief into my glass of wine. “You have ink on your face,” he said, rubbing at a spot on my forehead.
“Then you should have written it in your letter,” I protested, pulling my face away. Thank you, Selah, I am going away to think, but will return in a few days... “Would it have killed you to add another line explaining your intentions?” As the depression from the past two days wore off, I was experiencing an odd combination of sheer joy mixed with a dash of anger.
“No, it wouldn’t have. I’m sorry for any undue worry you may have suffered on my account.”
“I wouldn’t call it undue worry,” I said, despite my red eyes and a tear-streaked face.
“Why don’t you just admit that you missed me?” His smile had widened, and there was that familiar glint in his eyes.
“Well, what if I did? Is that such a bad thing?”
He put his hand under my chin and rubbed his thumb along my cheek. “No, it’s not a bad thing at all. And I would be a liar if I didn’t admit to missing you, too.”
I smiled without meaning to. “You should at least tell me what decision was so important to make you leave like that.”
“I was deciding what to tell my father. He needed to know that my contract had been cancelled and I was choosing to remain in the Colonies.”
The anger vanished, replaced by a warm tide of happiness that filled every corner of my body. “And did you tell him how long you intended to stay?” I asked. Please, say forever. Please, say you’ll never leave me again.
“For as long as you need me,” he said, holding my gaze with those green eyes. “And, right now it looks like you are in need of some help balancing these ledgers.” Getting up from the desk, he pulled a chair over next to mine. “I’ve not much experience with bookkeeping myself, but those last entries don’t look quite right.”
I glanced down at the paper and laughed. Between dripped ink and tears, they were nothing more than black smudges. Gladly, I pushed the book in his direction along with the stack of invoices and the quill.
He thumbed through the invoices and then handed them back. “Put them in order by date and I’ll do the entering.”
Half grudgingly, I took them back.
We worked together until late into the night. Actually, Henry did most of the work, first writing in the entries, and then dividing the expenditures into subcategories to get a better idea how much was being spent in each area before balancing the various columns. After completing my token job of sorting the invoices by date, I watched him work, answering a question now and again, as I silently marveled at how well things were turning out.
Henry was back. It was all that mattered, and somehow I would make it work.
*
Around midnight we went upstairs to bed, each holding a single candle to light the way. Though it had not been openly discussed while we worked on the ledger, there was something different between us. Our relationship had changed in the two days since Henry had been released from the contract, placing us on untested ground.
I stopped at my door, unsure what to expect. Henry leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, his mouth lingering for a delightful moment. “Goodnight, Selah,” he whispered, his warm breath tickling my ear.
I shivered from his touch. If he were really my husband, our celibacy would have ended tonight. “Goodnight, Henry,” I said, fighting back the urge to wrap my arms around his neck. We needed to go slowly, especially since I had yet to figure out how to control myself. Having just gotten him back, the last thing I wanted was to scare him off with a sudden burst of mysterious power.