Free The Survivor by Shelley Shepard Gray

then, toward Ella’s property.”
    He pointed to a small, thin trail that snaked in between the two oldest oaks. Obediently, Mattie started following him. Because his posture was so stiff, she let him take the lead, choosing to stay a good two paces behind him for a bit. As she watched his forceful steps, not even trying to place her own black boots in his footprints, she began to worry. “Graham, things will get better.”
    “They’d have to, because they’re pretty bad right now.”
    Trying to imagine what would have brought Jenna to tell such lies, Mattie frowned. “Poor Jenna.”
    He turned back his head to glare at her. “Poor Jenna? What about me?”
    “You, Graham, are the innocent here. You have nothing to prove. And besides, even if you did, uh, have sex with her, people would shake their heads at you, call you too impatient . . . but your reputation wouldn’t be ruined.”
    “But hers is.”
    “We both know it is. And we both know you’re not surprised to hear that. I always thought it was something terrible, that the woman carries the baby and all the shame, whereas the strong man can escape that burden.”
    “She’s tried her best to saddle me with it, Mattie.”
    She caught the first glimpse of doubt in his voice. “But?”
    “But now I hear what you are saying.” After a beat, he said, “It would be a difficult thing, to be thrown out of a home.”
    “Her parents never were ones to see anything in shades of gray.”
    “For this, they probably shouldn’t. After all, she’s pregnant out of wedlock and a liar. The babe isn’t mine.”
    “I know. Of course it isn’t.”
    Reaching out, he squeezed her hand. “ Danke, Mattie.”
    “For what? For believing in you?”
    “Of course. I’ve been needing your belief. I’ve needed someone to believe in me.”
    “Well, you definitely have that.”
    Ahead of them, the outline of Ella’s farmhouse and barn loomed bright. Surrounding the buildings were neatly pruned holly bushes and trees. “What do you want to do, Graham? Visit Ella and Loyal or turn back around?”
    “Perhaps we should go see them?”
    She was glad he said that. She loved Ella and Loyal and knew Graham felt the same way. Plus, though they’d been walking at a fairly quick pace, her nose was freezing. “I hope Ella has a kettle on. Some hot tea would taste gut now.”
    “Let’s go then. We’ll see what they’re up to this afternoon.”
    Mattie smiled at him, glad he looked more relaxed. Glad some of the awful tension had eased from his body.
    And because she was glad of that, she kept her last question to herself.
    If Graham was not the father of Jenna’s baby . . . who was?
    And why was Jenna so afraid to tell that man’s name?
    The dirt path widened a bit, making it easier for the two of them to walk side by side. Little by little, he eased her fingers down his arm, finally curving them securely around his palm. Though both their hands were covered in wool, Mattie slowly felt their body heat combine. Warming each other.

Chapter Nine
    “S o I heard you’ve got a heap of trouble on your shoulders,” Uncle John said when Graham entered the Kaffi Haus early on Tuesday morning.
    Inwardly, Graham slumped. Though he’d figured it wasn’t likely, he’d hoped there was still a chance that word of his problems hadn’t reached his uncle’s ears. Though he was very different from his father, Graham respected John’s opinion and didn’t want to do anything to damage it.
    And he’d hoped to push his problems away and pretend they didn’t exist for a while, but he steeled his shoulders and prepared himself for the worst. “Uncle John, what have you heard?”
    For once looking sober, his uncle walked around the counter and pressed his arm on Graham’s shoulders. “Only that a certain girl named Jenna tried unsuccessfully to get you to accept responsibility for her baby.”
    Hearing that, he felt worse than ever, and more angry, too. “It wasn’t like that. John,