Innocence and the Outlaw

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

"Mother, leave us alone for a while." Leah finally barked out at her mother who had been hovering over Leah and Benjamin in the sitting room since they'd entered ten minutes ago. Her father had stormed off to the kitchen, not wanting to be in the same room as his 'ruined' daughter.

Sarah gave a hopeful look to Benjamin and then quickly excused herself to join her husband in the kitchen.

"I can't believe you're alive." Leah quietly admitted as she stared at her hands, crossed in her lap.

"I could say the same to you." Benjamin replied, frowning as he looked at her clothes. She was dressed in clothes fit for a savage not the lady he knew her to be. "Your mother and father were kind enough to let me stay with them since obviously I can no longer live alone. I'm not sure what to do with my life now that I am useless."

"You're not useless." Leah countered passionately. "You are a good man." Benjamin smiled at her and reached out a hand, placing it on her knee. Leah stared at that hand and wondered at the lack of passion she felt from his touch. Had she truly thought herself desperately in love with him such a short time ago?

"I truly thought those men had killed you, Leah, and I thought it was all my fault for allowing you to run away that night."

"Benjamin." Leah sighed and looked up into his loving blue eyes. She felt a nagging guilt deep in her heart as she looked at him. He loved her. It was clear in his eyes. Benjamin had always loved her. He was gentle, soft, poetic and kind. All the things she had thought she wanted in a man and yet he was so different from what she had found in Chase. "What happened that night was not your fault. You know that I am not the kind of woman that a man can allow or not allow to do things. If I set my mind to something then I do it and I would have run away that night with or without you."

"I should have kept you safe, Leah. I should have been quicker with that gun or..."

"Benjamin, you aren't that kind of man and that's what I always loved the most about you. There was nothing you could have done to save us that night. Trust me, those men knew what they were doing and they knew they were going to kill you before we ever saw them."

"I love you, Leah." he whispered and Leah swallowed hard and dropped her gaze back down to her hands.

"Benjamin..."

"You don't love me anymore? Is it because I'm in this chair or is it because you love that monster outside that helped put me here?"

"I understand your anger but Chase is not a monster and he did nothing to cause you to be in that chair." Leah replied, though she felt awkward defending Chase to Benjamin.

"He did nothing to keep it from happening either. He was happy to see me dead because it got him you."

"No...."

"Leah, you are a smart woman! You are stubborn, loyal to a fault and headstrong but being ignorant has never been one of your faults." Leah felt a moment of annoyance at Benjamin. Was he saying that her stubborness, loyalty and headstrong nature were faults? Chase had certainly never made her feel as if her personality was flawed. "He did not try to save me; the man you were supposed to marry. Instead he took you for himself and somehow he has endeared himself to you." Benjamin continued.

"Benjamin, it's not like that." Leah argued and Benjamin shook his head sadly.

"Isn't it? You are the love of my life, Leah. Thoughts of one day seeing your sunshine smile again are all that kept me going when the doctor told me my legs would never work again. And I know you love me as well. You have just been brainwashed by this man and those that were with him. You believed loving him was your only choice because I was dead and he was all that could keep you safe against those that would do you harm."