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With shaking hands, she lit the lamp by her bed and undressed

There was a red mark above her breast (Had Rafe done that?) A bruise was already discoloring her jaw, and her hair was a , if that hat it could be called

Even so, she would do it again if she could She would let her father hit her, yell at her, slander her, or disinherit her

She knehat she hadn’t known before, hadn’t even suspected: she would do anything, suffer anything, to be loved, even if it was just for a night

THE NEXT MORNING, ELSA woke to sunlight strea over the closet door The ache in her jaw reered after Rafe’s loving One she wanted to forget; one she wanted to remember

Her iron bed was piled with quilts she hadthe cold winter ly filled with ehtdress and the wedding quilt Elsa had begun when she elve years old, before her unattractiveness had been revealed to be not a phase but a permanence By the time Elsa started herabout Elsa’s wedding and stopped beading scraps of Alençon lace Enough for half a dress lay folded between pieces of tissue

There was a knock at the door

Elsa sat up “Come in”

Ma no sound on the rag rug that covered most of the wooden floor She was a tall woman, with broad shoulders and a no-nonsense demeanor; she lived a life above reproach, chaired church committees, ran the

Beautification League, and kept her voice low even when she was angry Nothing and no one could ruffle Minerva Wolcott She claimed it was a family trait, inherited from ancestors who had come to Texas when no other white face could be seen for a six-day horse ride

Mae of the bed Her hair, dyed black, was drawn back into a chignon that heightened the severity of her sharp features She reached out and touched the tender bruise on Elsa’s jaw “My father would have done much worse to me”

“But—”

“No buts, Elsinore” She leaned forward, tucked a ragged lock of Elsa’s shorn blond hair behind her ear “I suspect I will hear gossip today in town Gossip About one of et into trouble?”

“No, Mama”