He looked at her for a long time.
Then he wrote:
When I married you, I thought we would only share a house.
Rosalie waited.
He continued.
I did not expect to find someone I wanted to keep beside me.
Her cheeks warmed.
For a moment, she could not find the right words.
Finally, she wrote:
I did not expect to feel safe with my husband.
Gideon reached for her hand.
This time, neither of them pulled away.
Their marriage had begun as a transaction arranged by a desperate father.
It was slowly becoming something no one had been able to buy.
When Gideon was strong enough to travel, he and Rosalie visited the retired clerk in Bell Creek.
His name was Arthur Bell, and he had spent more than forty years maintaining land records and legal documents for the surrounding county.
At first, he was reluctant to discuss Edmund Rook.
