Rocky Mountain Match. Pamela Nissen

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СКАЧАТЬ Miss Ellickson placed his hand on the back of a dining chair, he whispered, “Thanks.”

      Bracing his hands on the chair, he willed the trembling to stop. “So, what do we have here?”

      Over a deep sigh, he could hear Boone’s lumbering gait coming toward him. Joseph could just see the dog throwing his tail lazily from side to side as he swaggered across the room.

      “Oh no, Joseph! Are you going to let that horrid animal sit here while you eat? God only knows where she’s been.” No doubt Julia’s pink lips were pursed tight, her small nose wrinkled in disgust. She never did like Boone and wasn’t shy about saying so. “I don’t see how you can stand having Bongo in your house like you do.”

      “Boone,” he corrected, irritated that she could never seem to get his dog’s name right. “And ‘she’s’ a ‘he.’”

      “Boone, Bongo, he, she…it matters not to me. The beast is just so uncouth. Mother would surely faint if she could see it in your house. Why, that creature is nearly a horse.”

      “He’s a dog, and he’s fine. He minds his manners.”

      Lowering himself to the long trestle table, he trailed his fingers along the sturdy walnut’s smooth finish, remembering when he’d crafted the piece. He’d built it, eager for the day when his wife and children would be seated here with him.

      Julia clanged silverware against a plate, jerking him out of his reverie and invoking a fast-building sense of dread. That anxiety multiplied by ten as he realized that this would be the first time since his accident that he’d sat down for a meal.

      “Everything is all set for you, Joseph. You can eat now.”

      He swallowed hard. Clenching his fists in his lap, he wondered what everything was…pork and beans, soup, chicken? He had no idea what she’d laid out or where it was located on the table. Beads of perspiration formed on his brow, his pulse pounded a deafening rhythm in his head.

      “I wasn’t planning on joining you, but maybe—”

      “No, that’s not necessary,” he quickly cut in.

      “Honestly, I did have plans to have tea with Colleen Teller, the senator’s daughter,” she twittered. “Of course, I’d have to go home and change. It would simply be unacceptable if she were to see me wearing my new dress today and then again for the celebration. Don’t you think?”

      He offered a hearty nod, thankful she had other plans.

      “Well, then, by all means let me see you out, Miss Cranston. You won’t want to be late,” Miss Ellickson clipped off.

      “That’s completely unnecessary. I can see myself out.” Julia clutched his hand and leaned closer, her perfume nearly choking him. “Maybe I should stay. What do you think, Joseph?” A whine of regret laced her whispered words. “I suppose I could reschedule with Colleen. Her agenda is busy, but I’m sure—”

      “Please, go. Have your lunch with Colleen. I’d rather eat alone.” He braced his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers under his chin. “Miss Ellickson, you can take a dinner break, too. There’s a good diner just down the road—have them put your bill on my tab.”

      “I’ll be joining you here. Thank you all the same,” she responded quietly.

      Julia’s sharp intake of breath wasn’t lost on Joseph. She grasped his shoulder. “Miss…Miss Ellington—”

      “Ellickson.” Joseph shook his head.

      Her nails bit into his flesh. “Miss Ellickson, perhaps you didn’t hear Joseph. He said he’d rather dine alone. If you—”

      “Julia, I can handle this,” he ground out, disgusted at her steely tone. Although he’d taken her on a few outings in the past two months, he didn’t fancy being treated like some possession of hers. “Miss Ellickson, you’re probably in need of a break. I’m sure I can handle it on my own.”

      “I can understand your hesitance, Mr. Drake. Believe me, I do.” Her voice trembled.

      Tension chorded his body as he wondered why everyone couldn’t just let him make his own decisions. If he wanted to eat alone, shouldn’t he be afforded that one small courtesy?

      “I’m sorry.” Miss Ellickson’s voice was soft and even, coming from the chair to his left. “But I’m here to—to teach you. Not to coddle you.”

      Julia withdrew her hand from his shoulder, mumbling as her booted heels clicked loudly across the floor. When she slammed a plate down on the table, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

      He swallowed hard, trying to control his mounting frustration. “I didn’t ask you to coddle me, Miss Ellickson.”

      With a harrumph, Julia plopped down in a chair across the table from him. “Oh for goodness’s—”

      “You’ve made that quite clear,” Miss Ellickson continued as if oblivious to Julia’s presence. “But as with all my students, I’m here to instruct you in how to get along on your own, and that’s what I’m going to do—starting with dinner.”

      “Joseph has been eating dinner for twenty-seven years, Miss Eberhard,” Julia informed on a nervous laugh. He could hear her dishing something onto her plate. “He can get along just fine. Can’t you, Joseph?”

      “Just drop the subject.” He grasped at his fading calm.

      “Fine, I see the way of things.” Julia gave her napkin a swift snap and a puff of air fluffed over to him. “You have never had a problem doing things on your own,” she reminded him, the shrill sound of her voice contrasting sharply with the delicate chorus of birds outside. “I realize that when you were laid up flat on your back you needed assistance. But now—”

      “But now, with these bandages on, I still can’t see.” Raising his focus to where she sat directly across from him, he wished he could see, but he couldn’t even open his eyes through the thick bandages. “And there’s a slim chance that my vision might not be what it was.”

      He swallowed against the admission. If his sight didn’t fully return, he’d have to find independence as soon as possible or he’d never be able to stomach himself.

      “Oh, Joseph, don’t be silly. You’re going to be fine,” Julia dismissed, then took a bite of something that crunched.

      Awkwardness flooded his resolve. He could hear Miss Ellickson arranging things on the table, even dishing items onto his plate while he sat rigid as a board, every muscle in his body stiff and unyielding to the internal cry to relax. All he wanted was to be left alone, but Julia was being unusually possessive and Miss Ellickson was intent on doing her job.

      A job he didn’t even hire her to do!

      “Your plate is in front of you,” Miss Ellickson began, her voice low and measured. “Now, like numbers on a clock face, there’s a thick wheat roll at nine o’clock, mashed potatoes at twelve o’clock, cooked carrots at three o’clock and roast at six o’clock. If you’ll raise your hands to feel for your plate,” she directed, pausing as if waiting for him to follow her lead, but he couldn’t seem to move his hands from where they were tightly СКАЧАТЬ