Free The Soldier's Sweetheart by Deb Kastner Page A

planning their family picnics and loading up with extra supplies, so it had been exceptionally busy in the store. Though she and Will had spent the entire day together, they’d barely spoken, and even then only about impersonal subjects having to do with the shop. By the time the day was over, they’d both been exhausted and had parted without another word to each other.
    But so far, Sunday had been a good day of worship. Samantha loved playing the organ for the service, and today had been no exception. It was her gift to the church and the congregation, and she was always happy to do it, no matter how crazy the day before had been, no matter how many problems continued to plague her. She set it all aside when it came time to offer up to the Lord the music she carried in her heart.
    She was looking forward to spending the afternoon with her family, including Genevieve, who always brightened the dinner table with her sweet smiles and innocent chatter.
    And, if she was being honest with herself, she wanted to see Will.
    He’d said he would be there, and she knew him to be good on his word. If she could sit near him or pull him aside at some point, maybe she’d get a better handle on what had happened at the end of their conversation; although to be honest, she highly doubted it. The man was an enigma. Every time she thought she grasped what he was thinking, he turned the tables on her and went off in a different direction. Now that she’d spent more time with him, though, she was beginning to suspect it was a defense mechanism. She couldn’t blame him for that—not after all he’d been through.
    As soon as she’d arrived at her folks’ house for Sunday dinner, her mother had put her to work laying out place settings for the meal, using their best tableware. It wasn’t fancy china—not out here in the country—but it was Mom’s best set, the one she used when guests were present at their table. She treated Will like a son and Genevieve like a granddaughter, but they were company just the same.
    As she worked, Samantha turned over the conversation in her mind again, hesitating only for a moment when Will and Genevieve arrived and seated themselves at the table. She tried to avoid his gaze, but she couldn’t help but glance at the man from time to time, nor could she help the way her heart leapt as she watched him amusing Genevieve by making animals with his fingers.
    She knew the exact moment he’d shut down their conversation, the moment when she’d pushed him too far. Physically, he’d drawn away and his posture had straightened into rigid lines. His jaw had tightened until she’d been able to see the tendons straining in his neck. But most telling were his deep brown eyes, which had shaded over, fading to black. It was as if someone had dropped a dark curtain over his countenance.
    She might have been distressed by his reaction had the man in question not been Will Davenport, but Will was a complicated man who often shut down when his emotions were tested.
    What she found odd wasn’t so much the fact that he’d pulled away from her but that he’d been willing to open up to her at all. Out of nowhere, he’d trusted her with sensitive information she hadn’t even solicited, much less pushed him on. She knew he wasn’t the kind of man to go all touchy-feely, which was just one more reason she was confused by his forthright admission.
    She had to admit that it was courageous for him to speak on those difficult topics. It couldn’t have been easy for him. Will was a restrained man, preferring to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself, and yet he’d shared a very personal episode of his life with her. She suspected that he didn’t speak of Haley often. Her memory clearly pained him, and Samantha now knew that guilt and bitterness accompanied his tragic story.
    Looking back at it now, it was easy for Samantha to see why Will had suddenly wanted to drop the sensitive subject.
    The question was, where did