Chapter 124: Until Morning
The bed creaked when she lay back.
It was old wood. The frame had belonged to her grandmother. The mattress was firm. The sheets were plain cotton. The cheap kind, bought because she did not want anything more than sheets. The pillow under her head was a single pillow. She had not bothered to keep a second one on the bed in nine years.
Caleb was kneeling between her knees with his hands on either side of her head.
He had not moved for the count of fifteen.
He had been looking at her face in the courtyard light.
She let him look.
She put her hand on his right wrist.
She said, very quietly: "Take your shirt off."
He did.
He sat back on his heels and pulled the shirt over his head and dropped it on the floor beside the bed.
The silver was visible for the first time without a harness or a uniform between them.
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She sat up.
She stayed in her sweater.
