The Widow's Protector. Rachel Lee

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СКАЧАТЬ head. “Sorry, you didn’t need to know all that. I guess it’s too easy to talk to a stranger.”

      “That’s okay.” He suspected she hadn’t talked to anyone about any of this in a long time, if ever. Sometimes you just needed to say things out loud, which was the whole reason he was headed west to see his brother-in-law. To tell Ben the whole story. To get it off his chest with someone else who was grieving. He gathered she didn’t have anyone close at all, so why not talk to a stranger? “You’ve had a rough time of it.”

      “Others have it worse. I’ve still got a roof, thanks to you. The rest I can deal with.”

      “Well, you don’t actually have a roof,” he reminded her. Then he asked, hesitantly, “Are you in any financial shape to have it repaired?”

      “No,” she admitted. “I’ll figure out something some how. Right now, after looking at the hay fields, I’m wondering if the people we leased the land to will be able to pay up at the end of the season.”

      Implied in what she said was that she might be completely broke in a few months.

      “I can’t do anything about the fields,” he said slowly, as feelings warred within him. Part of him was demanding he at least put this woman on a safe footing before he left, and another part of him was demanding he get back on the road before he got tangled up in problems with a size he didn’t know. That could be a recipe for a mess for both of them.

      But then he made the offer anyway. “I can fix your roof.”

      “No! Oh no,” she said, looking horrified. “I couldn’t pay you. I can’t buy the materials. But thank you.”

      He shook his head, wondering if he were losing his mind. Then he remembered how good he’d felt only a few hours ago on her roof, working with his hands again.

      “Money isn’t an issue for me,” he said flatly. “I sold my construction business two months ago. I like working with my hands. In fact, right now I think I need to work with my hands. All I need is a few hot meals and a place to sleep, and I can take care of the roof and maybe a few other things.”

      “I couldn’t ask that.” She looked genuinely distressed.

      “You’re not asking, I’m offering. I’m telling you, Marti, it’s been a long time since I felt as good as I did pounding those nails today to put those tarps up. So humor me. Call it my therapy.”

      “What do you need therapy for?”

      “My wife killed herself eight months ago.” That was the first time he’d said it that bluntly, and he watched as Marti clapped a hand to her mouth, her blue eyes widening.

      “I’m so sorry,” she whispered behind her hand.

      “Me, too. She suffered from chronic depression. All the docs, all the meds, all the psychiatrists …” He paused. “She finally seemed to be getting better. I came home from work and there she was.”

      “I can’t imagine,” she said, her voice thin. She dropped her hand. “I’m so sorry.”

      “So am I. I’ll probably spend the rest of my life wondering how the hell I failed her. But that’s neither here nor there. I have to live with it. But fixing your roof would make me feel better about something. Is that too much to ask?”

      She stared down at her coffee mug for a long time. He felt the endless minutes tick by.

      Finally she looked up at him, her blue eyes damp. “Who’s asking whom?” she asked.

      “Does it matter? We both have needs, and they seem to mesh. Your roof in exchange for a few days of labor that’ll make me feel better. Fair trade?”

      At last she nodded. “Fair enough.”

      Then he forced a smile. “Look out, lady. Construction is my business and my life. I’m going to take over.”

      At that a fragile smile appeared on her lips. “Have at it,” she said. “But only as much as makes you feel good.”

      Dinner felt like a feast after the way she’d been cooking for herself, although it was nothing really special: roast chicken, seasoned wild rice and buttered broccoli.

      She insisted on doing the dishes by herself, even though leaning over the sink now made her back ache a little. Keeping active was getting harder and harder for her as her pregnancy progressed and she had so little she needed to do, living by herself. Yet she knew staying active was essential. She put two kettles on the stove to heat some water for washing and rinsing the dishes, then set to work.

      Ryder took the flashlight and headed up to the attic again.

      Night had closed in on them. Rain still rattled at the window over the sink, and sometimes she heard the house creak a bit as the wind gusted.

      Ryder was going to stay to fix her roof. Amazed that a stranger would make such an offer, her thoughts kept coming back to him. He was a good-looking man, with dark hair and gray eyes and a body that boasted of hard work.

      But that was not what impressed her the most. Picking him up to bring him to shelter from the tornado was a small thing, something she would have done for anyone. It cost her nothing but a few seconds of time.

      But what he was offering astonished her. To pay for materials and do all that labor in exchange for a bed and some meals? That told her more about him than anything he could have said.

      He saw someone in need and stepped up. Not everyone would do that. On the one hand she felt almost guilty for letting him, but on the other she had to admit she needed it, and she hadn’t even asked for it.

      Wouldn’t have dreamed of asking for it.

      She almost wanted to cry as she stood there doing dishes. His generosity made her acutely aware of how little generosity she had known since her marriage to Jeff. How little he had taken care of her or cared about her. It was as if Jeff’s failures had left an aching hole in her heart, one so big that the kindness of a stranger was almost painful.

      She blinked back an unwanted tear, sighed, and kept on washing and scrubbing. Life was what it was. She certainly ought to know that by now. She had plenty of experience of it not being what she wanted, after all.

      Except for the baby. Linda Marie was an unexpected blessing, one she looked forward to with the only joy she had felt in a long, long time. Jeff hadn’t been happy about it, but at least he hadn’t given her hell about being pregnant. Of course, that could have changed with time. She’d only just begun to start showing, really showing, about the time he died. For all she knew, he’d been in denial about the baby.

      Wouldn’t that have been just like him? He’d been in denial about everything. Every single thing from his drinking to the reasons he could no longer find work.

      Yes, she was sorry he was dead, but she didn’t really miss him at all.

      It was an ugly thought, but it was a truth that had burrowed deep into her heart and mind over the past few months. These days she couldn’t even remember if there had ever been any good times with Jeff. Maybe at the beginning. There must have been some back then.

      But she couldn’t remember them. They were layered СКАЧАТЬ