At 19, Her Stepmother Sent Her to a Mountain Man — But He Became the Family She Never Had

Chapter 2

Lavinia blinked. “I beg your pardon.”

“You heard me.” Asher didn’t raise his voice. He never once raised his voice, and that was somehow worse than shouting. “I sent thirty dollars because a woman wrote to the store and said there was a soul in this town about to be put out with nowhere to go before winter. I sent it because I’ve got room and I’ve got work and I don’t hold with letting people freeze. I didn’t send it to buy a girl off her own kin like she was a heifer.”

He took his hand back. “Keep your money. And take your hands off that child.”

I realized distantly that Lavinia’s grip had closed on my wrist hard enough to bruise. She let go. My hand came free, and I pulled it against my stomach and held it there.

“Mr. Blake.” Lavinia’s voice had gone tight. “I don’t think you understand the situation. She’s got nowhere else. She can’t stay in my house. There’s my own daughter to think of. Her prospects. Her name. And this girl?” Her lip curled. “This girl has always been difficult. Willful. She’s not the kind that finds a husband. You’d be doing us all a Christian mercy.”