Read Be Still My Soul: The Cadence of Grace, Book 1 for Free Online Page B

signal of peace. “Now. There is only one thing to be done in a situation like this.”
    No
.
    He flashed Lonnie a warning as he took in a slow breath, then turned to his guests. “Now that my daughter is no longer … desirable for a bride”—he looked at Lonnie—“I have spoken with Gideon, and he has agreed to do right by you.”
    “Now wait just a minute.” Gideon rose.
    “Son.” Bill’s voice boomed. “Enough. You will do what needs to be done.”
    Lonnie’s voice slipped out in a faint whisper. “Right by me?” Her hands shook at her side.
    Fire flashed in her pa’s eyes. “This is the end of the discussion, Lonnie. You will marry this young man. If there is a child, it will be born in wedlock.” He cut the last word off sharp. Rain clicked against the roof.
    So he wanted to get rid of her after all. And it couldn’t be by her own plans and dreams. She should have known.
    “There is no child.” Still standing, Gideon ground out each word.
    Joel stomped forward, any thread of patience gone. He thrust a stubby finger in Gideon’s face. “Sit down and shut up.” His nostrils flared. “Before I show you what we do to men like you.”
    Slowly, but with his eyes filled with a silent dare, Gideon sank back on the bench.
    Lonnie didn’t wait to hear more. She dashed from the cabin without so much as a word. Warm droplets of rain struck her skin, as if the sky were crying.

    In one quick motion, Gideon burst past the door and pounded down the stairs. He’d left his coat and hat behind, and the air nipped beneath his flannel shirt. He spotted Lonnie on the edge of the creek, sitting on a boulder, her head to her knees. He marched forward, not caring if he startled her.
    “You know your pa better than I do.”
    She rose and moved closer to the water as if he hadn’t spoken.
    He followed her. “Is there nothing”—shame tinged the edges of his conscience at the words he was about to say—“that can be done to … prevent this?”
    She spun. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
    “And what of you?” He stepped closer, no longer caring to try and be a gentleman. “Do you want to get married?”
    Lonnie flinched, then composed herself. Without speaking, she simply ran fingertips over her eyes and shook her head.
    When he moved closer, she held up her hand and he froze. “How could you do this?” Her hand shook, but her face was a storm cloud.
    “Me?” His voice almost squeaked. Gideon forced his tone to soften. “Talk to your pa. Surely you can reason with him.”
    “You don’t know him.” She kicked a clump of dirt, and it smacked his shoe. She picked up another, and he ducked when it hurtled past his shoulder. Her eyes flew heavenward before she sank to the ground. She buried her face in the skirts that billowed above her knees.
    With slow steps, Gideon moved closer. He knew all too well the moody ways of women.
Smooth her feathers
. Then just maybe he could squeak out of this situation unscathed.
    He crouched beside her, and she grimaced. He scooted back and rested his forearm on his knee. “What can you say that will change his mind? Surely there’s something.”
    She mumbled something about how she should have known this day would come. Resting her chin against her shoulder, she peered at him, brown eyes as wide as a doe’s. “It’s as good as done now. There will be no reasoning with him.”
    Gideon’s shoulders sank. He picked up a stick, rose, and snapped it in two. Didn’t he have a choice? He studied her a moment and glanced back at the house. What Lonnie said was true. He knew it by the way Oliver had called on them that morning. Gideon had hardly taken a bite of breakfast when the boy had darkened their doorway. By the time Oliver had stumbled through a message from his pa, Gideon had known there was nothing to do but try to smooth things over. But now his hope was as thin as Lonnie’s.
    Crazy Joel Sawyer. Gideon could have picked any girl to walk home that night.