“Can you see yourself loving her?”
Adam thought about it. Her beauty was a big factor, because it was difficult not to be attracted to her for that and that alone. But he wanted to do right in the eyes of the Lord. “Yes. She is a good woman, I do believe.”
“Then why are you questioning it? You have prayed about it for so long. Don’t reject the blessings God gave you. It’s true that it wasn’t the best first impression to make, but I do feel they did it with the best intentions. Lilly was trying to protect Angela and Angela did not want to leave Lilly behind. She would probably never have answered the ad on her own.”
Adam agreed.
“Go home and make your intentions known to her, Adam. She is probably still as fearful as you are confused.”
As he rode up to the farm, he saw Lilly and Cody standing by the barn talking. Angelica was nowhere to be seen. They seemed to be having a serious conversation. He didn’t stop at the house but continued on to where they were. They saw him approaching, waved and continued talking. He could hear their conversation as he got closer.
“It’s the worrying. That’s what’s done it to her.” Lilly said, shaking her head. “I don’t know what will make her feel better, but it’s nothing I can do.”
“What are you talking about?” Adam didn’t get down from his horse. He sat in the saddle looking down at them with a worried look.
“Angel is not feeling well. She’s running a temperature and is lying in her bed refusing to get up.”
“You think she is worried about being sent away?” Adam asked bluntly.
Lilly hesitated before answering, looking up at Cody for reassurance. He nodded at her.
“Yes,” she finally answered. “She has tried to be very confident, but she grows more nervous as the days pass and it’s causing her to lose weight and not eat. Have you not noticed?” Lilly’s question was spoken softly and sadly.
Adam realized that Lilly was right. He hadn’t seen Angela eating much of late though he was used to noticing such things. There had never been a woman around to worry about.
Suddenly his heart went out to the woman. He pictured her in his mind and without speaking another word, he turned his horse back around and galloped to the house. He tossed the reins over the hitch and took the steps up on to the porch two at a time.
He went directly to Angelica’s room and pushed open the door. She was, indeed, lying in the bed, her face red, her forehead sweaty.
He walked to her bed and sat on the edge, looking down at her. As ill as she looked, her beauty still shone through.
“You aren’t feeling well.” He didn’t ask it as a question. She nodded at him, her brown eyes reflecting deep sadness. “Do you know why?”
She didn’t answer. She just shook her head and looked away from him.
“Would it make you feel better if I told you that I have decided to keep you on here as my wife?”
Angelica looked at him. He pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“You do not love me,” she said.
He touched her cheek with his fingers, brushing them softly over her lips and through a ringlet of brown hair that had gone astray. “I would like to love you. I would like to have the opportunity to love you. But can you love me? Can you love an old bachelor with no sense of compassion or romance?”
“You have compassion, Adam,” Angelica murmured. She pushed herself up on her elbows and gazed at him. “You would not have taken in two strange women if you didn’t have compassion. I know I can love you. I…” She had closely watched him in the last week. He was kind and gentle to every living thing. She wanted to know him much better. If he married her, she certainly would.
He looked at her for another brief moment before taking her in his arms and holding her to him. Relief flooded through her.
“I think…” he hesitated to confirm it in his mind and heart and pray quickly. “I think I already love you, Angela. I just didn’t know it. God sent you and your friend here. He did.”
Angelica pulled back from him and gave him a loving look, the first of many. “I am sure He did, Adam. I’m sure he did.”
Adam pulled her back into a tight hug and whispered in her ear, “Will you marry me?”
She smiled and whispered back, “Yes. Yes, I will.”
****
THE END
A Sheriff’s Heart – A Clean Western Historical Romance
Chapter One