47
Five minutes. That’s all they could count on.
The old woman slept until dawn every morning. Alex/Charles, Louisa, and David/Henry rose half an hour earlier to begin their chores. And sometime during that half hour Charles would go to the outhouse. Leaving Henry and Louisa alone.
“Are you all right?” Henry whispered. Louisa nodded. He stroked her cheek with his rough, warm hand. Louisa closed her eyes and leaned into it.
Henry brushed his lips against her temple, then softly kissed her ear. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered.
This was always the best part. Until he came to live with them, Louisa hadn’t heard those words since she last saw her parents, years ago. Her daughter Annie said “Love you, Momma” in her own sweet little voice, but it wasn’t the same.
Henry’s lip
