My Mother Married Into Four Brothers, and Each One Says I Saved Him novel · Chapter 11 of 24
Chapter 11: No Marsh
On Sunday night the whole family went to the Legion hall for the harvest dance, and Ansel stayed home with me.
He had told them frost watch.
Kasper had looked at him for a long moment and said, "Fine," and put his hat on.
My mother wore her lavender dress again and kissed my cheek at the door.
"You're sure you don't want to come, honey?" Martha asked.
"I'm tired, Mom. I'll go to bed early."
"Ansel, make sure she eats."
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
Their taillights went down the dike road, one set after another.
Then the farmhouse was empty, and quiet, and ours.
I ran the bath in the big upstairs bathroom.
It had a claw-foot tub, deep and white, on a black-and-white tile floor, and a window that looked out over the beds.
I poured in what was left of my mother's lavender salts.
Ansel stood in the doorway with a towel over his shoulder.
"You're doing this on purpose," he said.
"Yes."
"It's a lot of water."
I swirled the water with my hand.
"It's a bathtub, Ansel."
He looked at the water for a moment longer than he needed to.
Then he undressed, slowly, and left everything on the tile.
I had never seen him in full light.
He was long and lean, the muscles of his back and arms hard from work.
A pale scatter of old nicks ran across his ribs.
And the left forearm.
In the bathroom light it was worse than I remembered.
A thick ridge wound around the arm in a loose spiral, from the wrist up to the elbow.
He held it a little away from his body, and watched me look.
"You don't have to cover it," I said.
"I know."
"Come in."
He stepped over the rim and sank into the water behind me.
I leaned back against his chest, and his arms came around me.
We stayed that way for a long time, quiet, while the water went from hot to warm.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of My Mother Married Into Four Brothers, and Each One Says I Saved Him are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 10 · All chapters · Chapter 12 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend