Page 41 of Loved to Death

“Go wait by the stables. I don’t want Mother to see you.” He started toward the house and muttered, “Father’s death was traumatic enough without you adding to it.”

Thomas strode to the barn with a clenched jaw. Five minutes later, when Sarah came out of the house, he’d cooled down.

Sarah made her way toward the stables carrying a lantern, and Samuel came out behind her carrying a rifle.

Thomas shook his head. Did his brother really think that would be a deterrent? He focused on Sarah instead. Motherhood looked good on her. Thomas had always found her beautiful, but that beauty had mixed with an air of calm confidence.

She tentatively smiled at him when she got close enough to see his face but stayed out of arm’s reach. “Thomas? Is it really you?”

“It is. You’re even more beautiful than I remember.”

Her smile grew. “You’re just as I remember you.”

He waved her forward. “Come close so we can speak without prying ears.” He glared at his brother.

She frowned and stayed where she was. “Rusty said you killed Jeffrey. I didn’t believe him of course, but I’d like to know the real story before I come any closer.”

Unable to stand the hope and compassion in her eyes, Thomas faced the ground. “It was an accident,” he whispered.

“No, that can’t be.” She took a step back. “You couldn’t have killed him. They said his neck was torn out.”

He almost blurted out the truth, but knew that wouldn’t set well with either Sarah or Samuel, so he lied. “There was a dog. It had been following me, and when Jeffrey came out, it tried to attack me, but I ducked and it bit Jeffrey instead.”

Samuel butted into the conversation. “It tried to attack you because you’re an unholy thing.”

He brought his eyes back up and glared at Samuel for a moment before turning back to Sarah. “I didn’t come all this way to talk about Jeffrey. I want to talk about Thomas Jr. I have questions that Samuel has no business hearing.”

Sarah took a deep breath and then turned back to Samuel. “I’m fine. Go back to the porch.”

“That’s not a good idea, Sarah.”

“Thomas won’t hurt me.” She turned back to Thomas. “Will you?”

“No.”

Both of them stared at Samuel until he cursed, lowered his gun, and walked back to the porch.

Thomas took a step closer to Sarah, and she took a step back to match. “What is it you want to know?” she asked.

Staying where he was, Thomas said, “Is he truly mine?”

“Yes.”

“How can you be sure?”

“You’re the only one I let inside me without a condom for months.”

“The only one? How can that be? There were so many customers. Surely one of them—”

“No,” she cut him off. “You’re the only one. All of us girls were supposed to make the customers use condoms. Rusty’s brother works in a factory that makes them back east, so Rusty gets a big box of them at cost every month. He said making the customers use them was good advertising for his brother and worth the money to prevent us from getting pregnant. I made you wear one that first time.”

Thomas certainly remembered that encounter because he’d never used a condom before.

“But after that first time with the three of us, Jeffrey and I devised a plan.”

He frowned. “You were going to trap me in marriage?”

“We were going to make you happy, despite your refusal to leave your father’s money.”

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