Free Before the Dawn (Truly Yours Digital Editions) by Erica Vetsch

movement, and when she passed close, he reached for her, grasping her wrist. Though a sense of dread at her words formed in his chest, guilt pushed to the forefront of his mind. He didn’t want Karen afraid of him, no matter what had happened. “What did you do?”
    Her arm twitched, and he realized she had taken a deep breath. “First, I had a chat with Mrs. Webber, and she mentioned the new school for the blind they’ve just built across town. That’s when it hit me. They would be a wealth of information for us. I went straight to the school to find a tutor. A tutor can help us in so many ways. We can make the house easier to navigate and devise some organizational tactics for your wardrobe and office. So many things to make all of this better.” Her words rushed out, as if once she started, she wanted to finish without giving him a chance to interrupt.
    A protest made it as far as his teeth. He didn’t need a tutor. Accepting a tutor meant accepting his blindness. Though the rational part of him knew his blindness was permanent, an unreasoning, fearful part of his heart held on to a shred of hope that this hadn’t really happened, that he would wake up one morning and it would all be a bad night that evaporated into a glorious dawn. He would see colors and movement, light and life, and not be shackled in darkness.
    “David? Did you hear me?” She knelt before him and placed her hands on his knees.
    The warmth of her palms through his pants legs seared him, reminding him of the closeness they had once shared. He shifted and shook his head. “You had no right to interfere this way. A tutor won’t change anything. I refuse to have a stranger in the house staring at me and pitying me.”
    A giggle escaped her lips, making her sound very young. “David, I can guarantee Rex Collison will not stare. He’s blind, too.”
    His thoughts tumbled like water through a sluice. Accepting yet more help, acknowledging again his need for aid, his inability to do the things he used to do. Every moment since he realized he was blind seemed to be proving he was no longer a man.
    After an eternity of silence she ventured, “Will you meet Mr. Collison? He’s waiting in the parlor. I know he can make things better for you.”
    “Do you think this will change anything? There is no way you can make this ‘all better.’ A sightless tutor. A true case of the blind leading the blind. Why can’t you leave it alone?” Why couldn’t she grasp the fact that his blindness meant the death of her hopes for their future as well? The man she thought to marry, the strong, protecting, professional man she’d fallen in love with didn’t exist anymore. That man had died in the bottom of a mine.
    She removed her hands, and he derided himself for the feeling of loss her action brought. “David, you have nothing to lose. Just as being blind won’t go away, neither will I go away. I won’t stop trying to help you. Where is your faith? Where is your courage?”
    “When you’ve walked a mile in my darkness, Karen, perhaps you will have the right to speak to me in such a manner. You know nothing of what it is like to be blind.”
    “No, I don’t know, but Rex does. I should think you’d be willing to at least speak with him.”
    He could picture her, crossing her arms, her blue eyes, fringed with dark lashes, studying him. The late afternoon sun would caress her hair and a light flush would ride her cheekbones. His feelings for her, carefully leashed, prodded him to acquiesce. “Very well, I will meet him, since nothing else will please you. But remember this. . .I never asked for a tutor. If I so choose, I’ll have him out of here before dinner.”
    She took his arm. “I think you’ll like him. He’s nearly your age, I would think, and very smart.”
    “You don’t have to sell him to me. I reserve the right to make my own judgment.” They navigated the staircase, and David took pains to count the number of steps. Would the shame