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“Rena, let me help you,” Josh said, offering her his arm.
For a moment, her stubborn chin tilted upward slightly, then she sighed and placed her hand on his arm for support. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, swallowing back a comment about it not being so terrible to accept, or ask for, help. As she limped toward the door, he glanced down at her. “Does it hurt often?”
“Not usually.” She sighed and met his gaze. “I suppose Theo told you everything.”
“No. He only mentioned you’d had an injury but didn’t go into any detail. I don’t need to know more, Rena, but if you want to talk about it, I’m happy to listen.” A voice in the back of his mind shoutedliar, but he ignored it. No one, especially Rena, would ever know he’d been eavesdropping that day at the Milton’s home.
“I’ll give you the abbreviated version. I was doing laundry outside on a breezy day. My mother and I did that as a source of income. We used a big kettle over an open fire to boil the water. The wind caught my skirt and blew it into the flames. My dress burned so fast, I wasn’t even aware of what had happened until I felt the heat on my leg. My mother tried to save me but ended up burned so badly that she died that night. My right leg and my lower back bear most of the scars.”
Without saying a word, Josh wrapped his arms around Rena and gave her a hug. When he pulled back, tears glistened in her eyes. It was the closest he’d seen her to losing control of her emotions, and it encouraged him that perhaps the fortress she’d erected around her heart wasn’t completely impenetrable.
“I don’t even know words to convey how sorry I am, Rena, that you had to suffer like that. The pain must have been beyond bearing.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t something I’d ever want to repeat. I wasn’t able to see my injuries for a few months, so I have no idea if they looked as terrible as they felt, but I assume they did. The boy I planned to wed came to see me once, then never returned. He married a girl who was much better suited to him, anyway.”
Josh bit his tongue to keep from saying something about George Stafford and his hopes that Henley’s gypsy curse had already begun to plague him.
“I think it was fortunate he left when he did. It left you open to new and better possibilities.”
Rena eyed him and pushed against his chest, stepping out of his embrace. “And I suppose those possibilities might include a certain saddle shop owner?”
Josh waggled his eyebrows at her and grinned. “There are a few of the female persuasion in town who might even say he’s handsome.”
Rena went up the steps to the back porch, then tossed him a saucy smile over her shoulder. “Gabi and old Mrs. Walters don’t count.”
Josh growled. “That old crone doesn’t have a single tooth left in her head. Why, I …”
Rena’s laughter rang around him as he followed her inside the house.
Theo stopped by and ate lunch with them after leaving Gabi with Anne Milton. He and Josh went to the cabin, where they planned to work on tearing down the old corral while Rena stayed at the house and painted. She’d tried to explain what she wanted to paint on the wall that would be behind Gabi’s bed, but he couldn’t quite understand what she had planned.
When he and Theo returned later that afternoon, Rena was in the kitchen, cleaning paintbrushes.
“Did you finish?” he asked as he stepped inside.
“Yes. Want to take a look?”
Josh grinned, unable to hide his interest in seeing her handiwork. Theo had said Rena used to paint often when they were children but had given it up when she’d gotten busy with other pursuits.
“Let’s see what you did, cousin,” Theo said, following as Rena led the way upstairs to Gabi’s room.
She stepped back and swept a hand toward the door with all the theatrics of a circus performer.
Josh walked inside with Theo right behind them. Theo emitted a long, low whistle as they marveled at the scene Rena had painted on the wall.
A border about six inches wide of the pink tint framed the scene. Trees with pink buds seemed to grow out of the corners and spread wispy branches across the top of the wall. Three plump robins rested on the branches. The bottom half of the wall was a mixture of grass and daisies with two rabbits hiding beneath a dark pink and white speckled mushroom. Blue sky with fluffy clouds floating over it completed the picture that was beyond anything Josh could have ever imagined.
Gabi would positively adore every square inch of it.
“Thank you seems inadequate, Rena. This is …” Josh searched for the right word.
“Stupendous,” Theo supplied, resting his hand on Rena’s shoulder. “You did good, cousin.”
“What would you charge to do something like this at my house?” Anne Milton asked the following afternoon as she, Henley, and Cora Lee studied the painting in Gabi’s bedroom.
Rena looked at her friend. “Nothing. You all have been so kind and welcoming to me, I’d be happy to do a painting for you as my thanks for your friendship.”
