Free Place Of Her Own by Lynn A. Coleman Page A

grace.
    The conversation shifted to Grandma Mac. Prudence served a delicious apple pie for dessert.
    Stuffed, Katherine pushed back from the table. “I’d better help you with these dishes and get on my way or Grandma Mac might wonder why I was gone so long.”
    “Nonsense. Urias promised to help me in the kitchen.”
    Urias’s eyebrows shot up. “Shelton, would you be so kind as to escort Katherine back to Grandma Mac’s?”
    “Be my pleasure.” Shelton wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin and placed it neatly next to his dish.
    He is such a gentleman
, Katherine thought wistfully. “I can go by myself.”
    “Indulge me,” Urias said. “I saw some bear tracks earlier this morning.”
    “All right.” Katherine knew about Urias’s encounters with bears. His first had occurred when he was thirteen. A smile edged her lips as she remembered the tale of her frightened brother sitting backward on the horse while the bear made itself at home in Mac and Pamela’s wagon. Her smile disappeared when she remembered another occasion. Mac had barely survived the attack from the bear that killed his first wife.
    “Should we secure the livestock?” Shelton asked.
    “You might want to close up the hen house and bring Grandma Mac’s pig into the barn for the night,” Urias suggested.
    “Absolutely. What about Mac and Pam’s place?”
    “I secured it before dinner.” Urias got up and carried some dinnerware to the kitchen. “Good night, Katherine. It was nice having you at our table again.”
    Katherine smiled. “It was good to be here.” They said their good-byes and Shelton escorted Katherine out the front door.

    Shelton placed his hand in the small of Katherine’s back as they walked down the porch stairs together. He felt a slight flinch from her, but she relaxed a moment later. It had been a forward move, but it felt right.
    “Look at all those stars,” she declared with awe and wonder, gazing at the sky.
    “God sure knows how to paint a pretty canvas, doesn’t He?”
    “It’s magnificent.” Katherine tightened her coat a notch. “I’m sorry if I offended you tonight.”
    “I love your straightforward honesty.”
    They continued to walk in the direction of Grandma Mac’s house. “Shelton, there are things you don’t know about me.”
    He weighed whether or not to ask, but decided to wait on her. “There are things you don’t know about me, too, Katherine.”
Like how much I love you. How much I want to wrap you in my arms and protect you. And what happened when I was sent away from you.
    “Name one thing,” she challenged.
    He decided to change the mood. “When I was seven, I ran away from home.”
    “How far did you get?”
    “The neighbors’ house. I didn’t know how to get anywhere else.”
    Katherine laughed. “What did your parents do?”
    “My father tanned my hide. My mother hugged me until I thought I’d break in two. Personally, I preferred my father’s response. It was quick, and over in a minute. My mother kept hugging me for the next three days. At seven a boy doesn’t want to be hugged a lot.”
Unlike the man now standing beside you.
    “I have seen that same reaction in Mac and Pamela’s boys. Didn’t you appreciate the affection?”
    “Of course. But I couldn’t let Mother see that.”
    “Did you ever consider running away from home again?”
    “No, not really.” He slowed the pace. “Remember when I was sent away, right before Urias found you?”
    “Yes.” She stiffened. He kept his hand in the small of her back.
    “If Father hadn’t sent me away, I might have run off then. I was so angry with him. He was being totally unreasonable. But looking back, I think I was being unreasonable as well. I was only sixteen at the time. That was pretty young to …”
    “To what?”
    “I told him I loved you and that I would marry you the next time the parson came around.”
    Katherine stopped in her tracks. “You did what?”
    He gazed at her face, bathed in the