Page 94 of The Prospector's Only Prospect
He was tired and sore and could have used a good night’s sleep, not a wrassle through the night while they all wriggled and kicked and hogged up the covers, but he liked the feel of their limbs across his and the warmth of their bodies curled into him. He liked knowing they were safe.
Was Marigold safe? He didn’t know, and he couldn’t stand the not knowing.
He gave them each a pat and kiss on the forehead, trying to ignore the yawning chasm that opened inside him. Marigold had given him this, he acknowledged. He could hug and kiss his children and tell them he loved them. Instead of fearing him, they looked to him as their protector.
But he’d upended their world again by not bringing her home. Why the hell hadn’t she come home? Because, as nice as Pearl seemed, he didn’t want her. He didn’t know what the hell he was going to do, but he knew he couldn’t marry Pearl. She wasn’t Marigold, and Marigold was the only one he wanted.
“Straight to sleep now,” he warned the children in a voice that was thick with emotion.
He closed the door and glanced to where Marigold had always sat to do her sewing.
Pearl was there now, turning over the wishing stone in her hands.
“Nettie told me one of the men gave this to Marigold. It sounds as though everyone here is very fond of her.”
“They are.” He lowered to the bench across from her, thinking he ought to say,I’m sure they’ll warm to you, too, but his chest felt as though a wishing stone the size of this house sat on it.
“I forgot what it was like to see her happy,” she said wistfully. “When I saw her yesterday morning, that was my first thought.Look how happy she is!I thought it was because she was glad to see me, but it wasn’t just me. She’s been happy here, hasn’t she?”
He grimaced slightly and rubbed his hands on his thigh. “I guess. On and off?”
She made a faint noise of amusement. “Mr. Gristle and Mr. Yeller told me about some of her misadventures. The bear?” She gave a little shudder. “But that’s so like Marigold to give no sense to what danger she’s in.” Her smile turned unutterably sad. “I said I wouldn’t gossip about her, but has she told you about her divorce?”
“Some,” he said gravely. “It sounds as though she was treated very unfairly.”
“Very.” She nodded. “But she was hurt and angry and wouldn’t settle for anything but being right, which was absolutely to her detriment.”
“Marigold?” he asked with feigned surprise.
“Mmm.” Her smile kept turning itself upside down. “Ben wanted to reconcile. It wasn’t fair for me to say she ought to do that, but I could see what fighting him was costing her. She was digging her own grave, risking everything. It didn’t make sense to me that she refused to forgive him, but now…” She swallowed. “Now I understand how scorned she felt. How unwanted.” Her lashes lifted over solemn eyes.
Oh, shit.His stomach tensed, anticipating a blow.
“I can’t marry you, Virgil. Not when you’re in love with my sister.”
Her words stung sharp as that whip of his father’s. The thoughts that followed were each their own lash. He did love Marigold. She had rejected him. He was nothing to her. Pearl knew it. Everyone did. He was nothing.
“I think she loves you, too.”
He negated that with a shake of his head. “She said she didn’t.”
“Exactly like that? She said she didn’t love you?”
“She saidwedidn’t loveeach other. I’m not talking about this anymore.” He rose and turned to the door.
“Virgil!”
Her voice was so like Marigold’s when she was cross, it stopped him in his tracks.
“Did you tell her that you love her?” she asked.
“No.” He was still swallowing the shame of being rejected.
“She thought she was in love once before, you know. Her husband threw her over for another woman and took the home she had made with him. The house our father’s money had paid for. She was broken right in half after that. Do you honestly think she would bare her heart to you before she knew howyoureally felt?”
He had to push the heel of his palm into his chest bone, such a splitting sensation arrived there.
“You maligned her character to this whole valley—”
