Her Ideal Man by Ruth Wind Read Free Book Online Page A

vowed that she would never trick him again like that, and had had a vasectomy in her third month. Kara had wept for days over it.
    A knot of disgust settled in his belly. He’d been so arrogantly certain of his decision, so sure she had no say in the matter if she was going to be so foolish as to risk her life. There had been times through that pregnancy when they spoke only in the politest of terms for days and days on end. His mother had counseled Tyler to be more understanding, to have faith that things would work out.
    Now he knew that Kara had hidden her worsening condition out of a desperate need to see the pregnancy end in a live child, because it was her only chance to have his baby.
    He would live with that guilt the rest of his life.
    He would also live with the time he’d lost by being angry all those months. The truth was, he just had not expected her to die. He was waiting for her to come home and take care of Curtis, and then they could get back to the business of mending their marriage.
    But they never got the chance.
    Guilt and sorrow welled up in him, an acid burn that seared away everything else. “I’m sorry, Kara,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
    Only then did he remember he had to check the fire in the stove in Curtis’s room. Swearing mildly, he pulled a robe over his naked body and padded to the closed door. He knocked softly, and heard a faint answer.
    â€œI just want to check the fire. Are you decent?”
    He heard her laugh, throatily. “Come in,” she called.
    He opened the door, carefully ignoring the womanly shape on Curtis’s little bed. A line of soft orange glowed around the edges of the stove door, and when he opened it, he saw that the fire was not quite out, but was burning pretty low. He stirred the embers vigorously. “Be right back,” he said.
    From the stack in the living room, he gathered a few healthy chunks of pine and carried them back to the stove. Wind clattered and howled around the windows, and a hard crack struck the west pane. “Damn,” he said, kneeling to feed the fire, “I meant to cut that branch last week.”
    â€œDon’t you worry that Curtis will get burned on that stove?”
    His mother had worried about the same thing. “I think kids figure things out pretty fast if you don’t overprotect them. Curtis put his hand on the one in the kitchen when he was two, and blistered himself pretty badly, but he hasn’t touched one since.”
    She made a sound of pain. “How could you stand to let him hurt himself?”
    Tyler looked in her direction. Cold pale light from the storm fell through the uncurtained window and caught in the tumble of black curls. Firelight made of her eyes two luminescent pools. One hand was tucked under her cheek. “We’re not here to protect them from everything,” he said. “We’re here to guide them, give them the ability to think for themselves and make good decisions. Letting him burn himself once means he won’t have to do it again. It works a lot better than me telling him over and over.”
    â€œMakes sense, I guess.” She shifted to one elbow, and Tyler tried not to notice the way his too-big flannel shirt revealed the top of one round white breast. “But surely you have to protect him from some things. What about wild animals and getting lost in the forest and things like that?”
    Tyler lifted a shoulder. “Sure I have to protect him sometimes, just like I have to feed him and love him and help him learn to keep himself clean.” His leg was going to sleep, and he shifted to sit on a stool, carefully pulling his robe around himself. “Bears are a real problem around here, and kids think they’re like Yogi, and Goldilocks and the three bears, so we’ve talked a lot about them. He knows what their tracks and spoor look like, and he knows you never, ever come close to a baby bear.”