“I would have never thought she had the strength.”

“Strength often comes when needed. Roanna found her strength when her brother-in-law told her either she or her daughter would warm his bed or he would put them out of their own home. She knew even if she submitted to him that he would eventually have her daughter as well. She chose to leave and face the unknown. It took courage to do that.”

“She told me differently,” Willow said, imagining how horrible the situation must have been for the woman.

“She thought it better to keep the truth to herself. Her brother-in-law is a respected man and she doubted anyone would have believed her. Then there’s you,” he said, a teasing smile surfacing. “You were the most challenging to rescue.”

“Was it me who was a challenge or the situation?” Willow asked with a lift of her chin.

“A bit of both, I believe, but I’m not one to give up easily.”

“And obviously you’re a man with a kind heart.”

His smile vanished in a flash. “Remember as with Corliss and Roanna, things are rarely what they appear to be.” A teasing sparkle in her green eyes and a slight smile pushing at the corners of her mouth, returned his smile. “Do you have a sensible response to that?”

Her smile broke free. “Only that while Corliss and Roanna have secrets, you’re charming, though often less-than-honest tongue is not a well-kept secret.”

“Perhaps it’s a ruse for a much darker secret,” he whispered as if hinting otherwise.

She turned a puzzling look on him. “That would make sense of why there are two sides to you; a man with a kind heart and a man with a misleading tongue. Now I’m intrigued to solve this mystery.”

Slatter laughed. “I’m no mystery. Who you see is who I am.”

What Willow saw, though mostly heard, was that his usual lightheartedness was missing from his laughter. It gave her pause to think a moment. Could it be possible? Did Slatter keep a secret? And if so, what was that secret he guarded with laughter so that people would not give thought to it, brush it away, ignore it.

“Then I will have to look closer at you,” Willow teased with a smile that dripped with sweetness.

“I’m right here for you to see, wife, look as closely as you like,” he said and wished he could retrieve his words. Her smile and tone might appear sweet, but there was a determination to them that warned this was no teasing matter. She had set her mind to it, a pragmatic mind at that, and she would now look more closely at him. But she would see only what he let her see. Or would she see what others didn’t?

Silence followed after that, Willow’s thoughts weighing heavily upon her until she found her head bobbing with the weight of them. Having grown accustomed to resting her head on Slatter’s shoulder or chest when she slept, instinct had her lowering her head to his chest.