I set it up next to the fireplace.” Hetty had desperately wanted a Christmas tree. But Karl had looked so forbidding over the past week since he’d discovered her deception, that she hadn’t dared to ask him for anything. She felt a rush of pleasure that he’d thought of bringing home a tree without being asked. “Thank you, Karl.” “I didn’t do it for you. I did it for the kids. I have work to do in the barn. I won’t be back till late.” “What about supper?” “I’m not hungry.” He turned and headed back out the door, leaving her alone. Despite his threats to make use of the wife he’d paid to bring to Montana, Karl hadn’t come near her in bed for the past week. He retired after she was asleep and rose before she was awake and headed up onto the mountain to spend his days cutting wood. He ate his meals with the loggers. Of all the disasters Hetty had caused over the past year, and there had been many, hurting Karl was the worst. She’d felt so sad since their confrontation that it was hard to get out of bed in the morning.
