House in a Tree
Nice to see you, too, Miss Tucker,” Judah laughed, having discerned her comment, no doubt.
Hope shook her head, unable to control the smile that played at her lips. “It is nice to see you, Mr. Lawless. You see, that’s the problem, now isn’t it?”
He snickered at her again but didn’t comment. “What brings you out here?”
“I don’t suppose Ginny’s around is she?” She wanted to peer past him into the foyer but stopped herself.
“I’m afraid not,” he replied, leaning on the doorjamb. “She went into town with her mama and George.”
“Of course she did.” Hope sighed, thinking she should’ve left well-enough alone. “Was she looking for this?” She held up the book.
“Amongst other things,” he nodded. “You come all the way out here to bring her a book?”
“Yes, I did.” Hope realized they both knew that wasn’t the truth in its entirety, but she could hardly say otherwise. She handed the book to him. “Would you mind seeing that she gets it? I know she wanted to read it this weekend.” Her fingers grazed his as he took the book, and she fought any acknowledgement of the pulses that sent a wave of shivers up the length of her arm and down her spine.
“I’ll make sure she gets it, Miss Tucker.”
“Thank you.” Hope cleared her throat, and realizing there was nothing else to say, she took a step backward. She couldn’t quite seem to get her eyes to follow her, though, and they stayed locked on his face. Without his hat on, it was even easier to see how handsome he was, and she thought about how unfair life had been to him, and how unfair it was being to her presently.
“You headed home then?”
Was there something to that question or just a general inquiry? “Is there somewhere else I should be headed?” she asked, not sure what he was getting at but hoping he was thinking along the same lines as she was—that it was a crying shame for her to have come all this way and just turn around and leave again. But then, she was an uninvited guest, after all, and it seemed as if Paul wasn’t in the house either, so she would be alone with a single male, a strict violation of her contract, which was still in place. And she hadn’t forgotten Mr. Stewart was looking for reasons to get rid of her, particularly if he was reelected.
“No, I guess not. It’s a lovely day, isn’t it? Do you have plans?”
Hope couldn’t help but giggle. What sort of plans could she possibly have? “No, I do not. Except for with a similar bound volume that’s waiting for me at home.” For a moment, she imagined what she might be doing if she were back in Missouri with all of her friends and family. Maybe apple picking or working in the yard with her daddy. A pang of longing hit her, but she brushed it aside.
“You should get out more. There’s some young ladies at your church about your age. You could socialize with them.”
“I guess I could,” she replied. “Celia is nice enough.”
He laughed, and she realized he thought she was joking. “I suppose so,” he said with a shrug. “What about Anna?”
It was Hope’s turn to laugh. “I don’t think she’s too fond of me.” She had hardly spoken to Anna since the barn raising. “I’m fine, Mr. Lawless, I assure you. I have plenty of friends. In my books.”
His smile widened. “You do know those folks ain’t real don’t you?”
“They seem real enough to me.” She took another step backward, thinking now was as good a time as ever to flee. She already felt ridiculous for having come, and now that her social life had been thoroughly scrutinized, she saw no reason to hang around.
“Hope, you wanna see somethin’ straight outta The Swiss Family Robinson?”
She remembered noticing something in one of the trees behind his house when she’d pulled in and thought it must’ve been a treehouse. Of course, she wanted to see it. The idea that anyone would know she was out here alone with him crossed her mind, but the chances were slim someone would come by and notice her pony so far off the road, not to mention they’d have no way of knowing she wasn’t visiting Caroline, unless of course, they also happened to see the woman in town near the same time, which was a stretch. So she found herself saying, “That does sound interesting.”
He smiled at her and stepped out onto the porch closing the door behind him. She followed him down the steps and around to the back of the house, neither of them saying a word. Hope folded her hands in front of her and kept her eyes on the ground, hoping she didn’t regret putting herself in another situation where she’d be close to him for a bit and then torn away from him for an eternity.
“There it is,” he said, and Hope lifted her eyes to see a sprawling oak tree with a huge treehouse built high above her head. It seemed massive to her, almost as big as her little cabin, and it had to be high enough to rival the second story windows of the house to her back.
At first, she didn’t know what to say, so she just gasped in wonder. Finally she managed, “This is amazing, Judah. Did you build this yourself?”
“I sure did,” he said, and she could tell by the beam of his smile that he was proud of himself, though she imagined the house behind her, which he had also built, was likely more difficult than the simple structure above her. “It’s a pretty nice little place. You can even see the top of the courthouse from up there.”
“You can?” It was hard to imagine, but then the courthouse was huge. “Is it for the children?”
“Oh, no. This is where I live—weather permitting. I mean, if it’s too cold or rainy, I have a room in the house, but most of the time, this is where I’m at when I ain’t workin’.”
Hope pulled her eyes away from the treehouse for a moment to stare at him, trying to determine if he was serious. She could tell that he was. While it seemed strange, she imagined it had something to do with Paul not being too fond of Judah after his sister’s death. She decided not to ask. “Well, it surely is a spectacle.”
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
