“Before I came?”
“Long before.”
Her lips parted.
“But I told you—”
“That you weren't pretty.”
“Yes.”
Elias crouched beside her chair.
Their faces became level in the mirror.
“Clara, is that what you think I've been seeing all this time?”
She could not answer.
He turned the chair gently until she faced him.
“No mirror.”
Clara looked at him directly.
Elias touched her cheek.
“From the stagecoach, I saw the woman who knew six languages and chose a place where hardly anybody speaks one properly.”
She laughed.
“I saw the woman who repaired my pump before unpacking half her books.”
“That was weeks later.”
“Details.”
He smiled.
“I saw the woman who stopped me from walking into a blizzard because she was stubborn enough to threaten to follow me.”
“You were being stupid.”
“Yes.”
“I saw the woman who stayed awake two nights when I had fever.”
His thumb moved across her cheek.
“The woman who made my house feel occupied before I understood what home meant.”
Clara cried openly now.
Elias looked frightened.
“Did I say something wrong?”
She laughed.
“No.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“You're terrible at romance.”
“I know.”
“Continue.”
He smiled.
Then his expression became serious.
“And yes.”
Clara waited.
“Yes what?”
“I think you're beautiful.”
Her breath caught.
Elias shook his head.
“But that's the least interesting thing about you.”
Clara covered her face.
“That may be the strangest compliment ever spoken.”
“I warned you I’m not good at this.”
She lowered her hands.
“Elias.”
“Yes?”
“Why did you never tell me?”
His gaze dropped.
“Because every man who ever praised you seemed to make you suspicious.”
She froze.
“How do you know?”
“You tense when I mention your hair.”
Clara stared.
“I thought if I said you were beautiful before you trusted me, you'd think I was trying to collect something for the compliment.”
The accuracy hurt.
Elias continued.
“So I waited.”
“For what?”
“You.”
Clara looked at him.
“To believe I wasn't leaving.”
He nodded.
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
Elias wiped them with his thumb.
Then Clara whispered:
“You really are an idiot.”
He smiled.
“I've heard.”
She reached for his shirt.
Pulled him closer.
Their foreheads touched.
“Elias?”
“Yes?”
“I think you've behaved long enough.”
His eyes changed.
Clara felt the shift.
Warm.
Adult.
Electric.
He still did not move.
“Are you sure?”
She smiled.
“Ask me again and I'm throwing your blanket into the fire.”
That finally broke him.
Elias kissed her.
Not cautiously this time.
Not the careful kisses from January.
His arms went around her.