Free Give My Love to Rose by Nicole Sturgill Page B

had her
laughing—Langley was now rendered completely unable to speak.
    ***
    “ Eat with us,” Rose
ordered as she sat a third plate potatoes, cornbread, and beans on
the table that night.
    “ I’m not hungry,” Marston
lied just before his stomach rumbled.
    “ You sure sound hungry to
me,” Langley countered with a grin. “Sit down and have some taters.
Mama makes ‘em better than you do. I promise.”
    “ Langley!” Rose scolded,
but the smile threatening to curve her lips took any harshness from
her voice.
    Rose sat down next to Langley and motioned
for Marston to sit at the other side of the table. Marston stared
down at that chair as if it were a lit stick of dynamite. He had
never in his life been invited to sit down to a family meal. Hell,
he’d never in all his life been a part of a family.
    ‘ You could be now if you
wanted to.’
    “ I don’t want to,” he
growled.
    Rose let out a squeak at his sudden outburst
of temper. “Okay then,” she nodded. “You don’t have to.”
    She reached for his plate, but Marston
quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist gently. “I wasn’t talking
to you.”
    “ Then who were you talking
to?” Rose asked with confusion.
    Marston shook his head. “No one.”
    “ Are you going to eat with
us then?”
    Marston stared down at his dark, calloused
and scarred hand holding on to her tender, pale wrist. “Yeah, I’ll
eat.”
    Marston released his hold on her and sat
down with a wince. Langley was grinning across from him. “He was
talking to himself, mama. He does that when he doesn’t think anyone
is listening.”
    “ Shouldn’t you be shoving
potatoes in that overactive mouth?” Marston grumbling before
shoving a bite in his own. Damn, but the kid had been right. Rose
was one hell of a cook.
    “ You can’t eat yet!”
Langley exclaimed.
    Marston paused mid-chew and fixed Langley
with a stare that had the boy shifting in his seat. “Why not?”
    “ Because we haven’t said
grace yet,” Langley replied, glancing over at Rose for
approval.
    Marston sat his fork down. “Well, you go
ahead and do what you want. I’ll just sit here real quiet and let
you speak, but I don’t take no part in saying grace.”
    Rose smiled at her son. “Go ahead,
Langley.”
    Marston watched Rose as she folded her hands
and bowed her head. She was so soft and gentle. She woke up a
protective urge in him that had long been dead. He wanted to care
for her and for Langley. He wanted to take away that load weighing
down her dainty shoulders.
    Marston’s stomach rolled. He was no one’s
protector and he shouldn’t want to be!
    His attention went to Langley when the boy’s
voice filled the quiet. “Dear Lord, thank You for the food we’re
about to eat. It smells real good. Thank You for making mama such a
good cook. Thank You for keeping Marston safe today against the
coyotes. Thanks for sending him to me and mama cuz we sure needed a
friend. Please watch over my pa up there in heaven with You and
make sure he knows that mama and I will be okay—especially now that
we have Marston. Amen.”
    Langley attacked his food with gusto, but
Marston found that he had suddenly lost his appetite.
    Friend? He wasn’t anybody’s friend. He was a
murderer. A thief. A heartless bastard who took what he wanted and
never regretted it. Marston looked out for himself and no one
else.
    Damn that boy and his diarrhea of the
mouth.
    Marston heard a quiet sniffle and he turned
to see Rose watching him closely. She quickly averted her gaze but
not before Marston saw the emotion and tears shining in her blue
eyes.
    Emotions that caused his heart to feel like
it was being ripped open in his chest. Marston stood from the table
and limped toward the door.
    “ Where are you going?”
Langley asked.
    “ I’m not hungry,” Marston
replied before heading out into the night.
    ***
    Rose stepped out into the darkness of night
a couple of hours later. The kitchen was cleaned and Langley was
tucked into