Chapter 10

Weeks passed, marked by the slowly fading bump on John’s head. Things settled into a routine of sorts. John, who used to wake up before the sun, continued to do so. Red helped him to go through his morning routine and get dressed. Then, they walked to the barn, and John listened to the news while his son milked the cows.

When they were done, they went back into the house, where Molly was already up making breakfast. However, that particular morning, Molly wasn’t there.

“Did Molly go out?” Red asked.

“Not that I know,” John answered with a frown. “I’ll check on her.”

Thing was, Molly hadn’t fallen asleep until well past midnight, and then only after she’d cried herself silly. She had been emotional without any particular reason. Her emotions fluctuated all the way across the spectrum lately. To top that off, her room had been so hot she’d woken up several times, heart thundering, mind searching for the reason she was dripping with sweat.

Footsteps sounded on the staircase. Groaning, she pulled the covers over her head. She felt awful. She was hot beneath the covers so she threw them back, sat up, and screamed.

John leaned against the door, staring at her. Her scream didn’t even make him jump. Instead, he regarded her calmly, curiously. She’d always loved the way he looked at her, telling her everything without saying a word. Or so she’d romanticized about him.

“Good morning, Molly. Are you okay?” John asked her.

“I overslept.”

“You?”

The shock in his voice reflected her own. Molly Carter never overslept. She used to wake up with the sun to take care of her chores at the inn. There was too much to do on any given day to waste even a minute snoozing.

“Yes, me. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Stay in bed. I’ll ask Red to make breakfast.”

“No, I’ll do it. I’m awake now.”

Molly prepared a mean bowl of cereal and scrambled eggs with bacon. She had managed to dominate the chickens after that first day. She still nursed several pecks on her hands, and her fingernails were a thing of the past, but she didn’t give up, and the squawking had faded to a minimum.

“We could go grocery shopping,” Molly suggested after Red left.

“No reason to grocery-shop today,” he said twisting the mouth at the idea. “I need to go to town tomorrow and get these casted.” He held up his arms. “You can shop then.”

“Okay.”

The next day, Molly drove John to the hospital and ushered him into the waiting room of the orthopedic surgeon, located in an office building attached to the hospital. Since John had the first appointment of the day, the waiting room was deserted. Molly checked him in, filling out the forms, after asking him the questions.

“You don’t need me here, do you?” she asked biting her lower lip.

John shook his head. “It’s not like you can hold my hand.” He wiggled his splints and winked.

Molly smiled. At that moment, John looked exactly like the young boy she’d been unable to resist. In some ways, John was different, so remote and solemn she couldn’t fathom her continued attraction; then he would say or do something that reminded her of every single reason she had adored him.

Temptation beckoned once more. She could stay, help him pick out colors for his casts, pretend to be his wife, and continue to be seduced by everything she had put behind her. Or she could do what was best for them both.

“I want to go to the inn to check how Laura and Percy are doing. Then I’ll run some errands.”

“Okay. Take your time”

Two hours later, Molly picked John up at the doctor’s office and stuffed him back into her car.

“Modern medicine is unbelievable.” John admired his shiny new casts. “You know with these I can take a shower, go swimming, and even wash a cow if I want to.”

“And why would you want to?”

He grinned and asked, “Because they’re there?”

She didn’t smile. She didn’t even roll her eyes. She had other things on her mind. In fact, she was lost in her own thoughts, but John was too excited about modern medicine to notice at the moment.

“You remember what casts used to be like? Heavy and white. You couldn’t do a damn thing when you had one on.”

“Which might have been the point.”

He ignored her, holding his arms out in front of him and turning them from here to there, while he muttered, “Amazing!”

Some days later, Red and John walked into the kitchen, but Molly wasn’t there as usual.

“Where is Molly?” Red asked his father. “Did she oversleep again?”

“No, she had an appointment with the Ladies doctor.”

“Ladies doctor? Did you knock her up or something?” Red asked with a grin.

“Of course not! What kind of man do you think I am?” John retorted, sounding peeved.

“A healthy man with a healthy sex drive, who haven’t got laid in several years?” Red shot back.

“Molly is a lady, not some cheap slut like your mother.”

Red raised his eyebrows at his father’s outburst. “I’ll make breakfast.”

John regretted his words immediately after sprouting them. “Sorry, Son. That was completely uncalled-for.”

Red placed a hand on his father’s shoulder. “No offense taken, Dad. I know how you feel about Mom, even after all these years. I didn’t go easy on her either.”

John just nodded, and then asked Red out of the blue, “Did you talk with your mother about what she did?”

Red scratched the back of his head. This was so like his dad. No beating around the bush. Straight to the point. He was sure his father had been intending to ask him this question since he met with his mother years ago.