I sold you because somebody needed you standing beside him when his heart finally stopped.”
Silence swallowed the kitchen.
My father seemed to realize what he had revealed.
Merrick looked horrified.
I backed toward the door.
“You planned to kill him.”
Silas took a step forward.
“Rosalie, you don’t understand.”
I opened the door.
“For the first time in my life, Father, I think I understand you perfectly.”
He lunged toward me.
I escaped onto the porch, hurried down the steps, and reached my horse before he could follow.
As I rode away, Merrick shouted my name.
I did not turn around.
The wind carried his voice across the snow.
But one sentence stayed with me.
“I didn’t know about the fire!”
I almost pulled the reins.
The fire.
What fire?
There had been no fire at Gideon’s ranch.
Only an old mine accident.
And a terrible memory involving a crying child.
When I returned to Gideon, I was trembling so badly that I could hardly hold the pencil.
He listened with his eyes as I wrote everything down.
He read Merrick’s confession without interruption.
When he reached my father’s statement about his death, his jaw tightened.
Then he took the pencil.
Did your father threaten you?
I nodded.
He wrote:
Are you hurt?
I shook my head.
Only then did he place the notebook aside.
He held out his hand.
I hesitated.
Then I took it.
His palm was rough, warm, and steady.
For a long time, we sat without speaking.
I had entered that marriage believing myself to be a possession.
Now I was discovering that the man who supposedly owned me had been the only person in my family who considered my safety important.
Eventually, I wrote:
Why did you agree to marry me?
Gideon studied the question.
He took longer answering than usual.
Finally, he wrote:
Your mother once helped me when no one else would.
My throat tightened.
“My mother?”
He nodded.
She came to the ranch seven years ago.
Chapter 1: The Creature Beneath His Skin 027
