Home by Nightfall by Alexis Harrington Page B

defense against bad news.
    “I went to see Mr. Parmenter this afternoon,” she said.
    Now he looked up from currying the horse, his breath stopped in his chest, but he didn’t respond.
    “He said that since the army declared Riley dead, you and I are legally married.”
    Tanner let his hands drop to his sides, not sure if this information was good enough to untie the knot in his gut. She didn’t look happy or sad. She could have been quoting the price of a bolt of fabric at the dry goods store, her voice was so flat. “Did you tell Braddock?”
    “No. You’re the only person I’ve told.”
    “Are you going to tell him?”
    She pulled off her gloves and tucked them into the waistband of her split riding skirt. “Well, yes. But not yet. I’d like to wait until his state of mind is more…settled.”
    He stared at her across the horse’s back. “You mean until he remembers who you are? Don’t you think that would make it harder for him?”
    “That’s not what I mean—but Tanner, he just got home.” She glanced around helplessly, as if looking for an answer in the rafters or a feedbag hanging on a post. “If you were in his spot, is that what you’d want to hear? ‘Welcome back, and by the way, I’m not your wife anymore’?”
    He sighed and swore, knowing she was right. “No. I didn’t want to hear it either.”
    “No one needs to know yet. For now, this is just our business, between you and me.” Then, in a barely audible voice, she looked at him with those expressive dark eyes and asked, “Anyway, didn’tyou tell me I’m the one who has to make the decision, and not the law?”
    That was true too, and he felt as if that knot in his stomach had just pulled itself tighter.
    • • •
    That evening, everyone was seated at the dining room table when Susannah brought in a flowered platter steaming with roast beef and vegetables. She was grateful for Cole and Jessica’s company but disappointed that Shaw had come home for supper.
    He piled vegetables and meat onto his plate, then looked up at Riley, who sat to her left. “Well, son, now that you’ve had a look around the place, you must be glad you’re home with your own kin. No more of that Kree-stoff bullshit, right?”
    Jessica winced.
    Cole lowered his brows and glared at his father.
    Susannah’s fingers interlaced and she clamped her hands together in her skirt.
    Across from her, Tanner kept his eyes on his plate.
    Briefly, Riley touched the scar on his temple and glanced at the old man, giving him a small, apologetic smile. “I—I have not really become accustomed to it yet. Not to any of it.” He rested his right hand on the table and began opening and closing his fist as if he considered punching the old man in the nose. She almost wished he would.
    “We’ll give it a few days yet to get you right-minded again.” Shaw handled the silver awkwardly in his arthritic hands, but managed to spear a carrot with his fork. “How do you like that ambulance losin’ one of our boys like that? Didn’t they know what they were doing?”
    Riley’s fist continued to open and close, now with more urgency. “The ambulance didn’t lose me, it was shelled. I’m told I was the only one who survived.”
    “Sure you were! No son of mine would let a little thing like one of those Huns’ shells get you. Let those other boys fall like wheat grains in a flour mill. I’ll bet they gave you the Victory Medal. It must’ve been a hell of a fight—damn, I wish I coulda been there! We saw a few photographs one of the local boys sent home. Up to his knees in water in those trenches, he said, with rats as big as shoats swimming by, but—”
    With growing alarm, Susannah watched Riley’s reaction to Shaw’s thoughtless yapping. His expression changed to one of glassy-eyed terror. He reached out with his right hand as though he were straining to grab something, opening, closing, opening, closing.
    “Whip! Whip, come on!” he screamed. With his napkin