The Outcast Read Online Free

“Why don’t you have a seat, kind sir, and I’ll bring the food over.”
    â€œI can help,” Zach offered, although he really didn’t want to. He considered cooking and the like woman’s work. He offered only because if he didn’t now and then, she carped that he never helped around the cabin.
    â€œNot tonight. Tonight I’ll wait on my lord and master.” Lou wanted him in fine spirits when she broke the news.
    Zach pulled out the chair at the end of the table and sat. He was troubled. She never treated him like this unless she wanted something. Women were devious that way. They used their wiles to trick men into doing things the man wouldn’t ordinarily do. He must be on his guard.
    Bubbling with contentment, Lou brought over a steaming bowl of potato soup. She placed it in front of him and stepped back, smiling. “Here you go. Whites call this an appetizer. I know you like potato soup a lot. I added extra butter, too, just like you always want.”
    â€œThank you.” Zach picked up his spoon. He had taken several sips when he realized she was still standing there, watching him. “What’s wrong?”
    â€œI want to be sure you like it.”
    â€œI like it very much.” Zach had learned early in their marriage never to say he disliked her cooking. Either it crushed her so that she sulked for days, or else it made her so mad, she went around slamming doors and giving him looks that would wither rock.
    â€œGood.” Lou beamed. Men were always in better frames of mind when they had full stomachs. She remembered her grandmother saying that the way to a man’s heart was through his gut, and her grandmother had been right.
    Zach swallowed more soup, and when she didn’t move, he tactfully suggested, “Why don’t you get a bowl and join me?”
    â€œOh. Sure. Sorry.” Lou ladled only a little into her bowl. She wasn’t all that hungry. The butterflies in her tummy were to blame. Taking the chair across from him, she took a tiny sip. “This is nice.”
    â€œI told you I liked it.”
    â€œNo, not the soup. This.” Lou motioned at the table and at them and at the room. “Our cabin. Our home. It’s nice that we have four walls and a roof over our heads.”
    Zach deemed that a silly thing to say. Certainly it was nice. It beat sleeping in the rain and the snow.
    â€œWho would have thought it would come to this.”
    â€œThat we’d have a cabin? You told me you wanted one before we were married.” Many times, Zach could have added but didn’t.
    â€œNo, I didn’t mean that. I meant us.”
    Zach was confused. They were man and wife. They lived together. That was the way of things. He decided not to say anything and devoted himself to his soup. No sooner did he swallow the last spoonful than Lou was at his elbow, taking the empty bowl.
    â€œNow for the main course.”
    Zach marveled at how much time she must have spent cooking and baking. There was the roasted grouse. There were carrots and baked potatoes. There was gravy. There was freshly baked bread with butter. “It’s not Christmas, is it?” he joked.
    â€œI just wanted to show you how much I love you, how much you mean to me.”
    Zach’s mental guard went up again. “I love you, too, Louisa. There was no need to go to all this bother.”
    â€œLove is never a bother. Love is love.”
    Zach fidgeted in his chair. There she went again with another silly remark. Of course love was love. What else would it be? He ate in silence. When he finished the main course he was close to bursting. She brought over a thick slice of apple pie, and he sniffed it, savoring the scent. It was another of his favorites.
    Lou sat back down and folded her hands in front of her. She waited until he forked a piece into his mouth, then cleared her throat. “How do you feel?”
    â€œLike a snake that has