Page 128 (1/2)

300

She reached out for hirabbed him by the wrist "Elliot?"

"Yes?"

"Waswas I happy here?"

The question seehtened, but of what, she couldn't iht he wasn't going to Then he yanked down his hat again, shielding his eyes "I reckon"

"What does that mean, 'I reckon'?"

His voice fell to a throaty whisper "It nes"

With that, he turned away fro slowly aboard He sat on the plank seat with a grunt and a thump His massive shoulders rounded, his head tilted so far forward that she could see the untanned strip of neck beneath his cropped gray hair

Without seeing his face, she knehat he would look like right now, defeated and alone and lonely, and she wondered why a return home would affect him so

It nes

She didn't doubt his words, but she had enough brains to know that there was a hiddento the sentence It meant he didn't know if she'd been happy; it meant that perhaps she hadn't been, and perhaps he'd known it

As she stared at his broad back and hunched shoulders, she thought about what he'd said about Shakers, about them

We don't live as man and wife here

Fear settled in the pit of her stomach, cold and hard and sharp She realized suddenly that this man, Elliot, this husband whom she'd known for three days and spoken to for less than an hour, was the only face she'd recognize in this neorld And it was contrary to order for them to speak

She was alone now, more alone than she could ever