Gideon opened his notebook.
This room is yours. I will sleep beside the fire.
Rosalie stared at him.
He pointed to the bedroom, then to himself, then to the chair near the hearth.
She wrote carefully.
Why did you marry me?
Gideon read the question and remained still for a long time.
Finally, he answered:
I needed a wife. You needed somewhere safe to live. I believed we could help each other.
Rosalie felt a painful tightness in her throat.
It was not a romantic answer.
But it was honest.
And honesty was something she had rarely received from the men in her family.
That night, Gideon slept beside the fire, just as he had promised.
Rosalie locked the bedroom door out of habit, then lay awake listening to the wind move through the trees.
For the first time in months, nobody shouted at her.
Nobody demanded money.
Nobody threatened to throw her into the cold.
