Emma Jane nodded as she stared into the empty space Jasper left. If only it were as simple as Jasper wanting to discuss politics. Unfortunately, she knew for a fact that Jasper found the subject distasteful. No, he wanted to get away from her.
Being forced to marry someone was one thing. In the Jackson mansion, avoiding one another was easy enough. But here, trapped at the Spruce Lakes Resort, they were forced to be together. Except that Jasper seemed to be doing everything in his power to avoid it.
Was it so wrong to wish they would rekindle the connection they’d once had? Emma Jane dreaded the thought of spending the rest of her life married to a man who was sullen whenever he was in her presence.
Friendship... It was all she wanted from him. The romance, yes, that would be nice, but clearly it wasn’t going to happen. So why couldn’t they at least settle on a good old-fashioned companionship?
* * *
Jasper groaned at the heated argument between the two men, wishing he could be anywhere else, yet because he couldn’t handle the mix of emotions he felt being with Emma Jane, here he was. Stuck.
Stephen pointed to the bookcase. “Help yourself to anything that suits your fancy. You sure you don’t want to share an opinion on the upcoming elections?”
Jasper shook his head. “Quite sure.” He already knew how he’d be voting, and listening to the heated debates in his father’s study had given him a distaste for participating in them himself.
He glanced at the book titles. Everything he’d already read, and nothing that struck his interest. Once again, his mind drifted to Emma Jane. She’d spent a lot of time reading her Bible, and it seemed to take the edge off the somber mood while they were in the bandits’ cabin. In fact, it seemed to make even an unconscious Daisy more at peace.
“You wouldn’t happen to have an extra Bible, would you?”
Stephen smiled. “Ah, a man of the Word. I am so pleased to see one of the pillars of society so dedicated, not only to doing good, but in immersing himself in the Bible.”
Stephen’s compliment, while sincerely meant, felt like empty praise. Jasper didn’t want to do the good he was credited with, and his Bible reading, well, he didn’t really even know what it was about. He hadn’t spent much time studying the Bible on his own. Even now, he couldn’t understand why he felt drawn to it.
Jasper remained silent.
“As it so happens, my good man, when we emptied your saddlebag, I found your Bible. I set it on the dresser in your room.”
Of course Emma Jane would bring the Bible. He hadn’t given it any thought during their escape. Even though he’d warned her about carrying any extra weight, he found he couldn’t fault her for bringing the Bible. After all, when she’d gone missing, he’d even brought it along.
“Thank you. If you’ll excuse me...” Jasper nodded at both men and went up to the room he and Emma Jane had been given.
The Bible was not on the dresser but on the small table beside a chair that sat in front of the window. Emma Jane had probably already been reading it today.
He picked up the book and examined it. What treasure did it hold that kept Emma Jane so enthralled? And if it was really as useful in a person’s life as the pastor seemed to think, then why wasn’t she more...reasonable?
Sitting down, he thumbed through the pages. The Psalms seemed to be more creased and worn than the others, and he remembered Emma Jane reading from them at the cabin. Would this give him the peace he needed?
It hadn’t seemed like he’d been reading long when he heard footsteps on the stairs. Jasper quickly closed the Bible and put it back on the table. He couldn’t explain it, but he wasn’t ready for Emma Jane to know that her Bible reading had inspired something in him. Maybe because he wasn’t quite sure yet exactly what had been inspired.
“There you are.” Emma Jane peered into the room. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He gave what he hoped was an acceptable smile.
But he should have known that Emma Jane wasn’t going to simply accept such a short answer and leave it at that.
“Things are different between us,” she said slowly, hesitantly, like she was almost afraid to say it.
The trouble was, he wasn’t sure he wanted to have the conversation. Not when he was still trying to figure out the puzzle of his life—the one that had been put together all without his consent.
“I don’t like having so many choices taken from me.” There. He said it. The thing that stood between them, that they could never find a way through.
“You’re still upset that I’m keeping Moses.”
There it was again. Her decision. Not his. Not even theirs.
“We didn’t discuss it.”
Emma Jane sighed. “There are a lot of things we don’t discuss. But the right decision in this case should be obvious. Moses needs a home. We both want children, but aren’t going to have any of our own.”
The longing on her face was obvious. And her argument made sense. Especially after the conversation he’d avoided having with her about children.
“This isn’t what I meant by compromise.”
“You don’t want to adopt?” Emma Jane looked at him like she didn’t understand what he was trying to say. And clearly, she didn’t.
“Compromise means both people talking about a subject and coming to a decision together. Everything in our relationship has been about you making a decision without me.”
His throat felt raw as the words came out. Burned. Oozed with the emotion he’d been holding in. He took a deep breath. Closed his eyes. Tried to steady himself.
But, of course, Emma Jane wouldn’t allow him that space to even find a steady place.
“Me, making decisions without you?” she huffed. “Who skipped out on our wedding without telling me? Who made a promise to
