Adding Up to Marriage by Karen Templeton

want her there, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care.
    â€œSorry,” she mumbled, swiping the knife through the dishtowel, then shoving her glasses back up her nose with the back of her hand. “You’re right, I did overreact.” One shoulder bumped. “But it’s been one of those d-days—”
    Oh, crud. There went her chin, going all wobbly on her. Jewel turned back to the sink, but it wasn’t like she could hide wiping the tears. At least she wasn’t all snotty or anything, but still.
    â€œNo, I’m sorry,” Silas said softly. Gently. “I should’ve…” He sighed. “Ever since the boys’ mother died—no, before that, when my marriage fell apart—I’ve had this problem with wanting to keep everything under control. Which is stupid because the more you try to make things go your way, the less inclined they are to do that.”
    â€œTell me about it,” Jewel said, folding her arms acrossher ribs but still not looking at him. She sucked in a deep breath, then finally shifted her gaze to his. “I’m sure I can find someplace to stay, Silas. I mean, I appreciate the offer and all, but I’d never in a million years want you to feel uncomfortable. A night or two, that’s one thing. But two weeks having a stranger in your house is asking a lot—”
    The scream made them both jump. Like a flash, Silas was down the hall, Jewel right behind him, Doughboy lumbering along at the rear.
    â€œI didn’t do anything, I swear!” Ollie said, sobbing, rushing his father and clamping his leg. “Tad was just playing and all of a sudden he tripped and hit his head on the table, it wasn’t even that hard, and then there was all this blood! ”
    Blood? That, she could handle. The look in Silas’s eyes, not so much.
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    You’d think, with all the times Silas had seen, worn and wiped up his sons’ blood over the last six years, he’d be inured to it by now. You’d be wrong. You’d also think a woman who got all emotional as easily as Jewel would fall apart at the amount of the red stuff oozing from Tad’s forehead.
    Wrong, again.
    â€œCome here, baby,” she said, calmly gathering the freaked, bloody little boy in her arms and steering him into the bathroom, where she hauled him up on the sink, grabbed a washcloth and carefully pressed it to the wound.
    â€œI should be doing that,” Silas belatedly called out over his other son’s wails, which got him a “No, we’re good, Ollie needs you,” in reply.
    â€œBlood doesn’t bother you?”
    â€œI’m studying to be a midwife, what do you think? Not to mention I was an ER nurse for six months…it’s okay,sugar,” she said to the other wailing child, “it’s hardly more than a nick. Daddy? You got any butterfly bandages?”
    â€œA lifetime supply. In the medicine cabinet.”
    â€œIs h-h-he okay?” Ollie managed between sobs.
    â€œOh, sure, baby—” She shot a smile in their direction. “There’s just lots of blood vessels up there, so it looks a lot worse than it is. In fact, it’s nearly stopped already.”
    As had the tears. From that corner, at least. Still. “Maybe we should take him to the ER, just to be sure,” Silas said. “Head wounds are nothing to mess around with.”
    â€œTrue. But honestly, it’s not that serious. Lord, if we’d trekked to the ER every time my stepbrother knocked himself in the head we’d’ve never left. Doesn’t even look like it needs stitches. Come see for yourself.”
    Peeling his older son from his chest, Silas poked his head into the bathroom where Tad perched on the sink, swinging his legs and grinning. And true, the cut was so tiny you could barely see it between the scars from previous encounters with objects harder than his head.
    â€œYou feel