Free A Bride at Last by Melissa Jagears

called.
    How had he gotten three feet away in a blink of an eye?
    “What do you see?” She grimaced at the thought of clambering after him, especially since he’d gone through a deeper section to get to whatever he was pointing at.
    “A ton of fish!”
    Well, she’d seen fish before. Surely she didn’t need to see them again.
    “You’re thinking of not going, aren’t you?” Silas held out his hands. “I could carry you.”
    “On slippery rocks? We’d both end up in the water.”
    “A hand?” He held out one of his.
    And she wanted to put her hand there. And not exactly because she was afraid of slipping. “All right.”
    She shook her head. What was she doing?
    He enfolded her hand and the tension in his arm did indeed make her feel steadier than she had since she first stepped off the bank. Together they made it to the edge of a drop-off in the water where myriad fish swam in darting lines. “What are they?”
    “Not sure.” Silas shrugged.
    Did he realize he was still holding her hand?
    Anthony grabbed up a rock and threw it into the pool, making the fish rapidly change course. “Hey, come look at this.”
    Without bothering to protest, Kate let Silas walk her closer to the edge. “What am I supposed to be looking at? Please don’t tell me a snake. I don’t mind one in a box, but darting between my feet on slippery rocks . . .” A shudder took over her body and seemed to find its way over to Silas.
    “No, look at all the babies.”
    She pressed forward, teetering on an uneven rock. A mass of minnows flickered right below the ledge where Anthony was systematically kicking rocks off with his toes.
    “Why don’t you stop destroying the wall we’re standing on?” She put her foot on another rock that looked more stable, but it teetered as well.
    Anthony picked up a flat rock the size of her hand. “I wonder if I can skip this one?” He chucked it, but it only made a resounding glug in the water, sending the fish back out in rays.
    “Whoops!” She slid a bit but finally got planted.
    They selected rocks from around their feet and competed against each other, Silas winning with five skips before her feet grew numb. “I’m getting hungry now.”
    “Oh, all right.” Anthony whimpered, turned, and just about went face-first into the water.
    Silas caught him. “Be careful there, kid. We don’t have dry clothes for you if you take a dive.”
    Anthony stuck out his arms and walked through the deeper trench.
    Silas turned back for her. “Let me help you.”
    “Thanks.” She grabbed his hand but forgot about the teetering rock and almost plunged in herself.
    Silas’s arm clamped across her torso and righted her. “I don’t have any dry clothes for you either.”
    Just the thought of him bringing her a set of dry clothing made her blush. “I shouldn’t have come out here.”
    “Oh no, don’t think that way. He had a better time with you here than if you’d sat on the bank.” He kept ahold of her hand to keep her in her place and navigated the dip himself before turning. “Let me lift you across.”
    She glanced at his feet buried in the rocks. “Are you sure?”
    “Yes.” He pivoted his feet down deeper. “I’m not going to fall.”
    She put out her hands, but instead of taking them, he grabbed her under her shoulders and lifted her as if she weighed as little as one of the fish that had nipped at her toes. He set her down next to him, but his hands didn’t drop.
    Inches from his chest, she stared up at him.
    “Thank you.” Silas’s voice sounded shakier than normal, or maybe it was the sound of the rushing water around them.
    “For what?”
    “I know you weren’t exactly thrilled, but if you’d chosen to come out for me despite the slimy rocks, you’d have made my day, so I’m sure you made Anthony’s.”
    Did he mean she’d have made his day when he was younger . . . or now? “I wish we had time to come with him again.”
    Silas smiled and let go of her with one