For one disoriented moment, he thought Sarah had risen before him. He lay still beneath the quilt, listening to the soft clatter of a pan, the scrape of a chair, and the faint humming that drifted up through the floorboards. His heart gave a painful little leap before memory settled over him like the snow outside.
Sarah was gone.
The sound downstairs belonged to a stranger.
Caleb dressed quickly and descended the stairs, fastening his shirt as he went. The kitchen was already warm, the stove glowing beneath a blackened kettle, and Adeline stood at the counter with her sleeves rolled to her elbows. Her brown hair had been pinned into a loose knot, and a strand had escaped beside her cheek. She was cutting the last of the potatoes into thin slices.
She turned when she heard him.
“Good morning, Mr. Hart.”
He glanced toward the window. Dawn had barely begun to lighten the eastern hills.
“You're up early.”
“So are you.”
“I live here.”
“And I work here now.”
There was no sharpness in her reply. She spoke as though the matter were perfectly settled, then returned to her potatoes.
Caleb looked at the table. Three bowls sat beside a plate of bread, and a small pan of something golden rested near the stove. For several seconds, he simply stood there, trying to remember the last time he'd entered his kitchen and found breakfast waiting.
Sarah had always risen early. She had possessed a gift for making ordinary things seem effortless, though Caleb had never been foolish enough to believe they actually were. He remembered her standing at this very counter with flour on her cheek, scolding him for leaving his boots beside the stove, laughing when Samuel tried to steal a piece of bacon before it reached the table.
Now the kitchen was warm again, but the warmth frightened him.
It felt too much like being given something he had no right to keep.
“Where did you find the flour?” he asked.
“In the pantry. There was enough for biscuits if I stretched it with a little cornmeal.”
“You didn't have to make breakfast.”
Adeline looked at him over her shoulder.
“I thought children generally ate in the morning.”
“They do.”
“Then I made breakfast.”