Mistaken Devotion

Chapter 5

After breakfast Sunday morning, Alicia came back downstairs from dressing for church and was tying on her bonnet when Emily came bounding down and stopped, gasping with delight. "You finished your new dress!"

"Yes, and if Mr. Beckman scares me and ruins this one, I'm going to make him replace it." She said.

"I'm sure he won't." Emily said.

Alicia eyed her sister suspiciously. "How can you be sure?" she asked.

"Well, he didn't mean to the first time, so I'm certain he'll be more careful now."

Alicia didn't buy it, but it was time to go or they would be late for service and she hurried her sister out the door.

Ryan was waiting just outside the door when the service ended and Emily hurried over to make sure he hadn't forgotten about supper.

"You're still coming, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes, of course. So long as the invitation's still open." He replied as Alicia walked up.

"Yes, the offer's still open." She smiled.

"Well, then I'll walk you home." He pushed away from the wall he'd been casually leaning up against and dropped his hat back on his head.

Emily hopped and skipped along the road ahead of them, turning and waiting for them every few minutes as they walked slowly along behind her.

"She seems happier." Alicia said, watching Emily twirl around singing.

Ryan chuckled. "She's lucky to be young. She has more of a chance at getting over things that would affect you and I more deeply."

Alicia nodded. "You're probably right. There are things I don't think I'll ever get over, and in a few years she won't even remember."

"But if you could, would you want to forget?" he asked.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I wouldn't mind forgetting all the sad things."

"Are you sad?"

"Sometimes."

"Are you sad right now?"

"No. Just when I think about my parents. And the Jensens."

"And your fiancé?" he wondered that she had left that out.

"Yes."

"You're still young. I'm sure someone else will come along and sweep you off your feet."

She laughed at the thought. "No, I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"What for? Emily and I get along just fine on our own. We don't need anyone else."

"Ah, independent."

"Now you're making fun of me." She said.

"No! I wasn't!" he held his hands up. "I just think that being married wouldn't be so bad."

"Then why aren't you married, Mr. Beckman?"

"Because it's hard to find someone worth marrying in the confines of a prison in Texas."

"And is that what you're doing here? Trying to find someone worth marrying?" she raised an eyebrow as she looked at him.

"No. I'm just here to get away from my past."

"And what's in your past that you're running away from?"

"I'm not running. I just meant....well, any time I walked down the street in Texas, people would look at me as if I had killed that man. They all knew I'd been in jail, so they just assumed I was guilty."