Borrowed Hearts by Lisa Marie Long

Author:Lisa Marie Long
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, love, family, historical, western, adoption, widower, oregon, 1800s
Publisher: Lisa Marie Long

~~~ Chapter 22 ~~~

Cord checked his watch one more time. Josie still wasn’t home. He didn’t want to ask her why she needed the time off, but it bothered the hell out of him that she never said where she was going or what she was doing.

All morning, and into the afternoon, he’d checked his watch a hundred times and waited for her return. It wasn’t just that she hadn’t told him where she was going, but simply that she was gone that bothered him. He missed her. He hadn’t known how much he’d gotten used to her quiet presence in the store, her shy smiles when she caught him looking at her, or even just sitting down to lunch with her and the children.

Cord looked at his watch again and clicked it shut. Four o’clock. Dammit, something could have happened to her. That was it, he was going to look for her. He locked the front door and hurried to the back. Where did he look for her? She could be anywhere.

"Lacy, Matt!" he called as he passed the stairs. Afternoon sunlight streamed into the kitchen through the window. "Lacy honey? You want to go see Grace?" Maybe she had an idea where Josie had gone.

"Hi Daddy!" Lacy’s voice floated in through the screen door.

Cord grabbed her dusty shoes from the corner. "Hey, Sweetpea. Let’s put on your shoes and--" He stopped cold. Josie was home.

She stood at the end of a shovel in the back yard, turning a new bed for the garden she and the children had reclaimed from the weeds.

Why didn’t she tell him she was back?

Josie grunted as she lifted a shovel full of soil and turned it over. She stabbed at the earth, her body straining from exertion. Sweat dotted her face. Tendrils of damp hair stuck to her cheeks and forehead. She seemed oblivious to everything else around her. She didn’t even notice when Cord stepped off the porch and walked toward her.

"You’ve been busy," he said quietly.

She stopped and looked up for a moment, then stabbed at the dirt again, almost as if she were punishing it. Or herself. "I promised the kids we’d have a new bed for the tomato starts. Grace said they’re nearly ready to plant."

"She’s been a big help to you."

Josie snorted, almost a laugh. "I need the help." She heaved another pile of dirt over and sliced it with the shovel like she was killing a snake.

Cord rested his hand on her arm. She stilled and looked at him, her expression unreadable. "You don’t have to do all this," he said. "I can manage.

She shook her head. "Not with that arm of yours still healing."

"It’s fine." Cord grabbed for the shovel.

"The doctor said it might take months for it to be normal. Anyway, I felt like doing this right now." She stomped the blade into the dirt.

Cord frowned. "Josie, is something bothering you?"

"Why do you ask that?" She turned a clod of dirt and whacked it with the back of the shovel.

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