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expression. “Jack, remember?”
    “Jack.” She squared her shoulders, and Jack let himself watch. She certainly was a sight. Something good and fine that had been dropped into his life. More than he deserved, sure, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want it. Want her.
    “Jack, have you noticed…” She trailed off again, but when he lifted a brow in question, she continued. “Zelle was tugging at her ear earlier, and rubbing her cheek. Could she be teething?”
    It wasn’t what he’d expected to hear. “Be what -ing?”
    “She looks about that age when her back teeth—the big ones—could be pushing through. Have you checked?”
    It hadn’t even occurred to him that Zelle’s illness was due to her teeth . He knew how to pull infected teeth—using whatever tools he had on hand, usually—but didn’t know a damn thing about them growing in. Sure enough, he stuck one finger back in her mouth—glad that she was finally asleep—and felt around. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for, but the area behind three of her back teeth seemed warmer and harder than it should be. When he pressed on the skin, she whimpered suddenly and thrashed. He got his finger out of there just in time, and looked up to meet Meri’s dark eyes.
    She smiled slightly. “I noticed that she was chewing on her hand a lot, and drooling.”
    “She always does that.”
    “That much?”
    He shrugged, willing to concede. “Nah, I guess not. Drooling, rubbing her face, and her teeth feel funny. I’d say you’re right.” He gently shifted Zelle, and then stood, not minding the way he towered over Meri. Standing beside her made him feel…like a real man. Almost. And the way she smiled at the baby made him start wondering again…
    Clearing his throat, he forced those thoughts away. “So what do we do?”
    “What did you and your wife do when she was teething before?”
    Your wife . His wife. What did he and his wife do when she was teething before? “I…I don’t know.” I wasn’t there . “I don’t remember.”
    Maybe his lie hadn’t been entirely convincing, because she cocked her head and looked at him strangely. “Well, cold water would help, and I left some on the counter. Something to chew on, maybe some clean rough fabric. If you’ll let me look around…?”
    Happy to change the subject, Jack made a little sweeping motion around the cabin. “You’re welcome to poke around as much as you want while you’re here.”
    She smiled at him, and it was the first time she’d really smiled. She was… Lovely didn’t seem like a good enough word for the way she made his breath catch. She looked angelic . She looked like every fantasy he’d ever had while locked up with the scum and evil-doers of New York. She looked like salvation and redemption and a future, all wrapped up together, and that thought was enough to make Jack curse quietly. He was glad she’d moved away already.
    Zelle was his salvation and redemption. Zelle was who was going to make him a better man, going to get him into Heaven. Zelle was his future.
    But damn. When he bit into the stew Mari’d made that evening—beans, bacon, and potatoes!—he lost his resolve. How had she managed to use the same stuff he used and make it taste so good? The second batch of biscuits and jam hadn’t hurt either. Neither had the way she’d looked, bustling around the kitchen, or how she’d managed to make Zelle smile once or twice.
    The little girl was sitting in her usual chair now, the one with the big block of wood he’d put on it, so that she would be able to reach the table. She didn’t look happy , exactly, but seemed more content, now that Meri’d given her a cold wet towel and a wooden spoon to gnaw on. The woman—the angel—had kept up a steady stream of chatter and teasing and even some songs while she prepared dinner, and his princess had finally taken a liking to her. Zelle was still warm, and hadn’t eaten anything, but was drinking the cold