Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 237

Chapter 237: There it is
Mia’s bravado faded as she steeled herself to take whatever verbal barrage Ford would throw at her after her little speech.

She could see his point. She’d told him not that long ago that he could be honest, and then complained about his sarcasm… but sarcasm wasn’t honesty!

Still, if Mia had assured him that he could be himself, and now she complained about it just because he implied she liked to talk too much, that was hypocritical. She should apologize.

And yet, the look on Ford’s face made her tilt her chin up. She wouldn’t back down now. She wasn’t meek, wouldn’t be trodden over! Blast it, she was a kind friend, and a good one, and her friendship was to be valued, not denigrated!

She waited quietly, but inwardly she composed a valiant defense for herself. Extolling her virtues, her value, and why she deserved to be treated with a modicum of respect, perhaps even deference!

After all, if it weren’t for her decision to bring Ford along, he never would find the cave like he wanted.

“You want to know the truth?” Ford stared at her for a moment. Reluctantly, she nodded.

His eyes measured her carefully, and she tried to be brave under the scrutiny.

“I wasn’t being mean. I said you have a nice voice because you do. It’s one of the many irritating things about you,” The corners of his mouth pulled downward and Mia blinked several times.

“My ‘nice voice’ irritates you,” She repeated slowly, trying to understand what he was saying. Was he trying to confuse her?

“Your voice, your hair, your eyes, your face, your family, your house, your life, your wealth, your connections. All of it. It’s too perfect and I hate it.” He spat the words at her as if he had been holding them in for quite a long time. She stared until he became visibly uncomfortable.

“Are you satisfied? Can we leave now?” He groused.

“Yes,” She squeaked, nudging her heels into Henry’s sides.

The speech wasn’t at all what she’d expected, and she silently processed it for a time. She’d noticed early on that he bristled at certain things she said or did.

In retrospect, the pattern was glaringly obvious. She felt like quite the fool for not picking up on it right away. Of course a poor orphan would feel the kind of resentment he’d described, and instead of helping him work through it, had she been making it worse by flaunting the things she loved about her life?

“My brothers snore really loudly,” She bit her lip. “I know you haven’t met them. They can be a bit much. And sometimes Grandpa forgets to send the bugs out before bed, and the house gets full of them.”

“What?” Ford eyed her.

“You said everything is perfect about my life. I… I know these things are trivial by comparison, but nothing’s perfect. My family kept something this important from me for most of my life. That’s not perfect.” She looked down. This was probably making things worse, not better.

“Close enough.” Ford frowned.

“I do have a question,” Mia pushed her loose braid over one shoulder and swallowed her nervousness.

“What’s that?” His voice held an edge of irritation that, contrary to its likely purpose, spurred her to spit out her question anyway.

“My hair, my face, my eyes… Do you actually think they’re perfect?”

She dared not look at him, and yet, of their own accord, her eyes wandered towards his face. His expression was somewhere between mortified and enraged.

Mia had never been vain. Her father had always told her that she was ‘pretty like Mama,’ but when she’d first met her stunning Aunt Anaisa, that had become Mia’s standard for beauty.

The woman’s eye-catching red hair and slender figure were the focus of many a man’s admiration, she was sure! Mia felt positively plain by comparison, despite what her father said.

But Ford had called her looks ‘perfect.’ Surely he hadn’t meant to!

“You told me to say what I mean, didn’t you?” He challenged. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

“I… I won’t,” Mia promised, though her mind was already racing. No one had ever called her perfect in any sense before. It was a novel, exciting sensation and she wasn’t ready to let it pass without indulging in it a while.

Did that mean that Ford was interested in her? No, no, of course not. He’d listed the qualities as things about her that he found extremely irritating.

So perfect that it was irritating?

How very strange.

Sneaking a glance over at her companion again, she noticed his dark eyes were searching ahead. The landscape had changed considerably since they’d left the farm.

He’d said that she was perfect… Did he find her attractive, even if he was too irritated at her supposed perfection to like being around her?

That was a possibility, in her estimation. She glanced at him again. His face was inscrutable.

But he didn’t quite look as pale as he had a few minutes ago, did he?

“Be careful about sunburn,” She warned, and he startled.

“What?”

“Be careful of sunburn,” Mia repeated. “You look a little red, and sunburn can hurt.”

“We’re in a canyon now, in shadow,” Ford made a face. “Am I still going to get sunburn down here?”

“Oh, I suppose not as easily,” She agreed, turning away. “You will be fine, I’m sure.”

The silence lapsed between them and stretched, while Mia wondered whether to try to strike up more conversation or just convince herself that it was a companionable silence.

It certainly didn’t seem like one to her.

Ford was in no hurry to speak again, it seemed, so Mia tried her best not to break what he probably thought was an enjoyable quiet. It wasn’t until the horses needed rest again that Mia got up her courage to say something.

But the noise of galloping horses behind them broke the silence for her.