He had refused. Madison knew he would as soon as she’d allowed the stupid suggestion to pass through her lips. She had sat there alone in his bed, feeling ashamed as the soft quilts hugged up around her body.
She hadn’t meant for the proposal for them to share the bed to come off as suggestive or inappropriate, though she was sure he took it that way. Well, maybe I did mean it that way, she thinks as she pulls herself from the bed with a groan the next morning.
No comfortable sleep was had that night, by either of them, and Madison is thankful that Ellis is gone to the woods already when she exits the bedroom.
She quickly busies herself with bailing hay in the barn while cheerful birds chirp around her, clearly happy with themselves despite the frown on her face.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ellis frowns down at the bundle of flowers in his hands. He fiddles nervously with their stems for a moment too long and delicate cobalt petals begin to hit the ground. He exhales a sigh and begrudgingly realizes he needs to hand over the gift before it is completely ruined by his anxious touch.
Why had he picked them? He couldn’t say for sure, but the disappointed look on Madison’s face last night when he all but bolted into the rocking chair after dinner may have had something to do with it.
He remembers her comment about Gal being a bit of happiness in the middle of something scary during her time in the woods. Ellis thinks on the almost-too-big-to-handle feelings in his heart and decides he’s in the middle of something scary right now, too.
These feelings are terrifying, and borderline illogical, considering the amount of time he’s known this woman.
When he steps through the cabin door, he spots her immediately. She is in his rocking chair with a button up shirt of his in her lap. Her face is taut with concentration as she threads a needle through the fabric.
He opens his mouth to speak, but when she looks up at him he loses his voice.
“Hi,” Madison greets him with a breathtaking smile, and her eyes move from his face to his hands as she notices the flowers.
“Bluebells?” She asks, her smile faltering just slightly before turning into a shy grin.
Ellis looks down at the wildflowers he’d picked. He strides over to her spot in the chair and thrusts the small bouquet out towards her.
“Saw them on my way back to the house. Made me think of you.” He cannot fight the furious pink color rising to his cheeks, and Madison sees it clear as day underneath the rough stubble on his face.
She sits his shirt aside and takes the flowers from his nervous hands.
“They’re beautiful. Thank you. I loved them before, but I think bluebells are my new favorite flower,” Madison comments, and that just makes Ellis’ blush deepen.
Instead of saying anything, he just clears his throat and she remembers what she was working on.
“Oh! I finished with the hay already, so I thought I’d help you out by patching up some of your shirts.”
“You didn’t have to,” Ellis says and notices the stern look that crosses her face at being scolded again, so he just nods. “But thank you.”
Gal strides up to Madison with an accomplished look on her mahogany and white face. “How was the hunt?” Madison asks, looking between the hound and Ellis.
He wordlessly goes outside and holds the turkey up through the threshold of the door, not wanting to bring the bird all the way in.
Madison squeals, “Ellis! A turkey - that’s fantastic!”
YOU ARE READING
In Wilderness Found
Historical FictionEven though that pistol is aimed on the space right between his eyes, his awe is outweighing his fright. His admiration for her strongly set jaw and her confident grip on the firearm is overpowering his common sense. Even with his life in her hands...
