Homespun Bride

himself blessed with you for his wife.”
    Dear Henrietta, so loyal and true. She could not understand. Noelle lifted her cloak from the tree, fighting the sorrow. Grief suffocated her. She slipped the wool fabric around her shoulders. “I’m too set in my ways to adjust to marriage. I rather like being a prickly spinster.”
    “That you could never be!” Henrietta sounded deeply amused. “Trust me when I tell you Thad could not take his eyes off you.”
    Suddenly Matilda was at her side. Noelle startled. She had been too upset to hear her cousin’s approach. Everything was wrong, everything was amiss, since Thad had asked her to marry him.
    Since she’d had to say no to him.
    It was for the best. She tied her hood snug beneath her chin and opened the door with determination. She’d done the only thing she could do, and it was the right thing.
    But her life without him was dark. It was like being blind all over again.
    Outside on the doorstep, the wind gusted with a spray of wet. Raindrops fell like striking lead, ricocheting off the earth, making it hard to hear the horse’s progress up the road. Bleakness washed over her like the heart of the storm. She gripped the porch rail, letting the rain strike her. Would Thad be working in this gale anyway? Would he be working on that house of his? Or in the fields turning sod with his brothers?
    Wherever he was, she hoped he was happy. She would gladly give all of her happiness through her lifetime to him.
    Matilda joined her at the rail. “If you married Thad, I could help you. It’s not far at all to his new place at the falls, and I can drive now.”
    “Oh, Tilly. You’re like a sister to me. I don’t want that life for you, always having to help.”
    Noelle hung her head, letting the rain batter her. Why wasn’t Matilda’s offer reassuring her? Why did it only make her feel more panicked?
    Because your blindness isn’t the only reason you can’t marry Thad. She swiped the wet from her face with trembling fingers. She no longer felt safe, no longer sheltered. The storm turned angry, beating against her so hard, it was a surprise it didn’t blow away her fears like last autumn’s leaves.
    “It looks as if it won’t last long. It’s starting to break up to the west.” Matilda moved away from the rail. “Oh, there’s someone at the stables.”
    “Mr. Sims, I hope, coming to bring Cora to visit.” The ache in her soul beat at her like the storm.
    “I don’t think it’s the Sims. There’s no buggy. Just one horse and his rider.”
    Thad. With him came the sweetness of hope. She fought against it, but there was her great love for him and the slide of her heart forever falling. She steeled her spine and reminded herself she could not let herself love this man any more than she already did. She would not.
    And then he said her name.

Chapter Eighteen
    “N oelle.”
    When she held out her hand to him, wet from the rain, feelings came to life within his poor heart unlike anything he’d felt before. True devotion as soft and warm as a prayer lit him up until he felt as hopeful as a spring dawn. He wanted her. Just her.
    Only her.
    “Th-thad. What are you doing here?”
    “It’s your worst fears come true, darlin’.” He wasn’t hurting anymore. He was no longer alone. He was sure beyond all doubt. Rain slanted beneath the porch roof, striking him, and he moved to shadow her from it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the cousin slip into the house and close the door to leave them alone. “I’ve come to change your mind.”
    “About m-marrying you?” Her heart showed on her face, all of her pure longing and sweet love for him so revealed to him. His heart wrenched with hope. Then she turned away, and sorrow crumpled her face. “Thad, you have to leave. I can’t go through this again. I hurts t-too m-much.”
    “I can see that.” He laid her hand over his heart. “I can feel how much it hurts you.”
    “Then why are you here? You have to go.”
    “No.” He stood resolute. “Your pain is my pain. That’s the way it is. I’m not going to walk away from you this time.”
    Her chin shot up, and there, revealed on her lovely face was the truth. He could see it, he could see the hurt and want and other precious emotions on her face. But she could not see his.
    So he lifted her hand to his chin, her fingertips to his cheek. “I want you to feel what’s on my face, since you won’t look in my heart.”
    “Thad, just leave this be.