a bend in the river road, Ellie’s horse picking up the pace as they neared Magnolia Grove. How much should Graham reveal to her about the weasel? He hesitated, choosing his words carefully, determined to say no more than necessary. “He’s always been that way. Selfish, greedy, cruel—you name the bad quality, he’s got it.”
“Don’t be silly. He’s not the beau of Natchez, but he’s not that bad.”
Ellie never could see the evil in a skunk. “You’re going to have to take my word for it, unless you want me to tell you some sordid stories. I’ll merely say I’ve had to intervene when he was on his way to mistreat a lady. I’ve also stepped in when he was cheating a man who couldn’t afford to lose what the weasel was trying to take from him.”
“Leonard behaved that way?” She turned those blue eyes on him, their innocence shining as brightly as her golden hair.
At her silence, Graham gave her time to think, to remember.
“I never felt completely comfortable in his presence,” she said after several moments. “He was often disrespectful to Lilah May. Sugar doesn’t like him either.”
“This time, I agree with Sugar.”
As they approached Magnolia Grove’s lane, Ellie slowed her horse. “What did you mean when you told Leonard that you haven’t forgotten how to fight? At first, I thought you were speaking of the war. But the surrender was only two months ago, and that’s not long enough for a soldier to have forgotten how to do battle.”
“You’re better off not knowing.”
“Have you ever fought with Leonard?”
“Fought hard and won.”
“You were defending someone else?”
He hesitated. “Someone much like you,” he said in a low voice.
They turned into the Magnolia Grove lane and stopped by the cypress bog. The still-magnificent big house hadn’t changed, at least not that he could tell from this distance. But the weedy drive, the unmown lawns, the sticks and magnolia limbs in the yard, had turned the plantation shabby.
Graham worked to keep his dismay off his face. Magnolia Grove was Ellie’s real home, where she and her uncle had spent the springs, Graham visiting nearly every day. This sprawling plantation was where she felt safe.
Now it looked less like a grand, productive estate and more like an abandoned, run-down farm. The fact nearly tore his heart from his chest, so how must Ellie feel?
She winced as if seeing Magnolia Grove through Graham’s eyes. “I’m ashamed to show you how much it’s changed. We haven’t even been able to keep up with the weeds in the fields, so we haven’t done anything with the drive, the lawns, or the formal gardens.”
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