Rory moved to the last picture, obviously one of Caddie grown, a handsome man at her side, three children tucked about her skirts.
After Rory had studied it, she replaced the picture. She cast an uneasy glance about the room, feeling she had strayed into apart of Zeke Morrison’s heart not even she had been invited to enter. Reaching for the lamp, Rory prepared to retreat, but it was already too late.
She found Zeke blocking the doorway, watching her. She feared he might be angry at her prying.
“I am sorry,” she began. “I never meant to?—”
“It’s all right.” His voice was a little abrupt as he cut off her explanation. But far from demanding she leave the room at once, he stepped across the threshold himself.
“It’s not exactly as though you stumbled upon some kind of skeleton in my closet.”
No, Rory thought, only that part of his memories that rendered him vulnerable, that part of himself he tried like death to hide.
He stepped over to the rocker, running his hand along the back. “These are only a few odds and ends I didn’t know what else to do with. The rocker was Sadie’s. I went by the old flat after Tessa had moved out. She was throwing this away, just because the arm was broken. It seemed so wasteful. So I carted it back here and mended it.”
“And the pictures?” Rory asked softly.
“I never seem to be able to get rid of anything.” He added almost defiantly, “Besides they are good pictures, good likenesses.”
He hid his face from her as he straightened the photographs, smoothing out the tidy as well, his large callused fingers snagging on the delicate lace. The awkward workmanship was obviously not that of his mother.
“Did your youngest sister make that?” Rory asked.
“No, Tessa gave it to me.”
“Tessa?” Rory echoed in astonishment.
Zeke gave a grudging laugh. “Yeah, I know. It surprised me too. I always thought Tessa more apt to give me the business endof a knife. But the tidy was a present for my sixteenth birthday to decorate the washstand in my room. Tessa said that Sadie told her she had to give me something. So she wrapped this up in tissue paper and practically bounced it off my head.”
Despite Zeke’s tone of wry amusement, Rory obtained a new insight regarding his relationship with the sister who seemed so to despise him. Maybe Tessa had to give him a present, but she hadn’t had to labor such long hours over the tatting, a task which had obviously been difficult for her. Nor did Zeke have to keep it all these years.
As he stood gazing at the pictures, there was a taut set to his mouth, but a wistfulness in his eyes.
“You don’t have any contact with your family now?” Rory asked.
“I send presents at Christmas, birthdays, especially to Caddie’s children.”
A smile escaped Rory. So Zeke really did have a niece.
He continued, “I always wanted to help all my sisters, would’ve settled any amount of money on them. But they never would take it.”
“Maybe they would far rather have a visit from you than the money.”
Zeke shrugged. “Tessa’s anger makes that difficult. It would put Caddie and Agnes in an awkward position, forcing them to choose sides. It just wouldn’t be worth it.”
Rory didn’t agree with him, but she merely remarked, “These are splendid pictures. It seems too bad to keep them hidden in here. Are you that ashamed of them?”
“No, only of myself.” He straightened abruptly. “You had best get back to bed, Rory, before you get cold.”
She could tell he wanted her out of that room, wanted to leave himself. She complied sadly, watching him pull the doorclosed. Zeke was shutting away too much of his life, but it was not something he was willing to discuss, even with her.
She sensed his retreat from her, even before he brushed a kiss on her brow. “You’d best get some sleep while I go back to the guest room and do the same. I have a few details to clear up in the morning regarding the business with Addison.”
Rory regarded him anxiously. “I thought you said that was all over.”
“So it is, but before we can get on with planning our wedding, I have a funeral to attend.”
Seventeen
