“She promised,” Kristin said, agony in her voice.
“I know.”
Actually, that wasn’t entirely accurate.
“Well, she didn’t exactly promise. She told me that she couldn’t promise until the next week, and then I never cornered her after that and made her promise.”
“That’s right,” Kristin said.
“But it’s been four months. I haven’t heard a thing. Surely we would know if she’d been sneaking out regularly.”
“I haven’t heard anything either.”
“I’ve checked several times at night. And for the first month after they moved in, I was up at four o’clock every morning. She was always in bed.”
Maybe he shouldn’t have stopped. Maybe she was listening for him to not be checking up on her anymore. Maybe she was just waiting.
He didn’t know.
“There’s no point in both of us not getting any sleep for the rest of the night. Do you want to go back to bed, and I’ll go out and sit on the porch and wait for her to come back home?”
“What are you going to do when you catch her?”
“I guess I’ll ask her where she was. We’ll see if she’ll tell me. I... I don’t know what else to do.”
“Me, either. If I think of anything, I’ll let you know.” She paused for a moment, then her arms went around him. “Do you mind if I sit with you? I don’t think I can go back to sleep right now.”
“I’d love it if you’d be with me. Everything’s always more fun when you’re beside me.” That was the truth. It was a bit of a surprise to him to find that as much of a loner as what he was, he loved having Kristin with him whatever he was doing. He wouldn’t have thought that. He would have thought that he needed time alone, but he enjoyed being with her far more than what he expected.
Marriage was definitely the best decision he’d ever made.
He took his wife’s hand, and they walked down the steps together.
Chapter 11
The heat from the woodstove made Chi sleepy.