Gone before he noticed. Would she offer the same service as a wife, too? Zechariah doubted it.

Makeup smudged, and bruising showed. He glanced off to the side, steadying himself with a long breath through his nose. How much of her story was true? If he abandoned her, did he abandon her and an unborn child to death? It was temperate out. How long did it take a pregnant woman to die in good weather?

“My brother has a newly built home,” Zechariah mused aloud. “Not far from here, even. He has a kind soul.”

A woman-loving soul, too. Was he cruel enough to leave the temptation of adultery on his own gentle-hearted brother’s door?

… One word: pork.

“You are young,” he reassured with a gentle touch to her shoulder. “Widowed. You have your whole life ahead of you.”

He was young. Unmarried. He had his whole life ahead of him.