Bossy Bridegroom Read Online Free PDF Page B

Happy, bright, she already reads a little. And she can count to one hundred with only a few numbers missing and write her name. She got your brains, praise the Lord.”
    “My IQ is probably high, but if they measure brains by the way you use them, then I’m an idiot, and we both know it.”
    Jeanie’s heart twisted at Michael’s words. How she’d have loved those words years ago. Now it seemed as if her heart was dead. She could fear him, she could despise him, but she just couldn’t love him. Her love for him had cost her too much.
    She turned up a side street lined with tall oaks. The sun was warm for spring. Rugged mountains hugged the little town. Sluggish Cold Creek, which gave the town its name, was visible between the trees on the south side of town as Jeanie led the way toward Main Street. It was a picture postcard of a town, tucked into the majestic Black Hills of South Dakota. Jeanie felt as if her peace, although it came from God, was nurtured by the beauty that surrounded her.
    And with that peace came a trickle of courage. “One of the things I’d put on that list of why I loved you was
because
you were a tyrant. I needed that. It was part of being emotionally sick. I’m healthier now, but I don’t feel strong enough to stand up to you.”
    “Jeanie, you’re not going to need to do that.”
    She slammed the bat into his hip just on principle. She never broke her stride. “I believe you intend to be a partner in this marriage. You’re sincere when you talk about your faith, but that means you’re no longer the man I married. God has changed your heart and mine. He’s created new people out of the ashes of the unhealthy marriage we had. Now you’re like a stranger to me. A stranger who is living in my house. I hate that.”
    Jeanie stopped in the middle of the street. She saw a car coming two blocks away, the first that she’d seen in the middle of a work day at Cold Creek. It turned off before she needed to move to the side.
    She crossed her arms to face Michael. “If you’re not the tyrant I loved, then who are you? I might as well just pick a guy out at random and have
him
move in. I don’t want you so close to me. I don’t want any man, but most of all I don’t want you.” Jeanie stared at his handsome face. She’d fallen for him the first time he’d smiled at her. She’d been forbidden to date before she turned sixteen, but they’d started sneaking around together long before.
    “I’m still the same man, Jeanie. My heart has changed. I’m a hard worker. I’m faithful. I’ve never cheated on you. I’m honest. Those are all part of me. Maybe, if we can get past that strange codependent thing we had where we found an almost sick pleasure in fighting and making up, we can rediscover the best of ourselves.”
    “I like being alone. I don’t want to have a man or another child, ever. I blew my chance with Sally and you. I don’t deserve another one.”
    Michael reached out and rested one hand on her arm. He didn’t try to hang on or pull her close. Her bat was handy if he did. “Of course you deserve another chance. God forgives us. Everything about being a Christian is second chances.”
    Jeanie couldn’t stand him touching her, so she turned and started moving again. Faster than ever.
    Michael kept up. “You look fantastic. More beautiful than ever.”
    She swung the bat at his head and hoped it stung.
    Michael smoothed his hair. “Why’d you do that?”
    “Don’t try to sweet-talk me. It makes my skin crawl.” The truth was it made her skin shiver. Not at all like crawling.
    How long had it been since a man had spoken flattering words to her? There’d been a few men in the last year, since she’d quit running and settled back in Cold Creek, who’d shown some interest. But she had mastered freezing men out. How galling to think she might have made herself vulnerable to Michael by her self-enforced loneliness. But what else could she have done? She was a married