Page 50 of A Forgotten Heart
She felt like she was fumbling through the motions as dapper David encouraged her to sit.
Nick sat kitty-corner from her across the table. She wouldn’t look at him again. It hurt too much.
She bowed her head for the blessing, accepted the food passed her way.
Until David handed her another bowl. “This is Momma’s special recipe. She makes the best baked beans in the county.” He leaned over and whispered, “She puts bacon in them.”
Elsie only hesitated a moment before she accepted the bowl.
She hated beans. Ever since the Granbys. Even now, she imagined their gritty texture stuck in the back of her throat.
But the McGraws had been kind enough to take her in. It would be rude—Elsie lifted a spoonful from the bowl, aiming for her plate.
“Elsie doesn’t like beans,” Nick snapped from across the table.
Drew raised one eyebrow from where he sat next to Nick. But David shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal, so she passed the beans on.
No one else paid any attention, but Elsie caught the way Nick was grinding his teeth. Was he mad at her? Because she’d been going to eat those beans rather than cause a stir?
“He’s desperate.” Isaac’s intense statement to Drew distracted her. “If he’s personally pulling the trigger and not hiding behind a hired gun, he’s too far gone to be reasoned with.”
Rebekah set down her water glass with a clunk. “After that debacle with the Barlow Gang, he’s lost the respect of all the townspeople.”
“He’s been frequenting the saloon,” Ed said.
“It’s still our word against his,” Drew said. He’d barely touched his food. “No one saw him shoot during that blizzard. And we’re the only ones who know that was him on the balcony yesterday.”
Isaac pierced Elsie with glittering green eyes. “Seems like you’ve got one more eyewitness. Schoolmarm, well-liked and respected. No one’s gonna doubt?—”
“No.” The cold word from Nick brought silence to the entire table. He stared at his plate, a stubborn set to his jaw. “This is our fight.”
“He knows she saw his face,” Ed argued quietly. Even the kids had gone quiet, and Elsie saw their wide eyes in her peripheral vision.
“Isaac’s right,” Drew said in a convincing tone. “Elsie’s testimony would only add to ours?—”
“I said no,” Nick snapped. His face was flushed, his eyes sparking as he looked from brother to brother. “She doesn’t owe us anything.”
She didn’t. There was no way to make things right after what’d happened between them years ago.
But Nick had put his own life in danger protecting her.
And testifying was the right thing to do.
His protectiveness stirred her belly. Almost like he still cared.
Would things have been different if she’d been brave enough to stand up for him in teaching school?
Her choice back then had changed everything for him.
“I’ll do it,” she said before she could change her mind.
It was well past dark when Nick slipped out of the bunkhouse, closing the door on a snoring David and Eli.
His bunk was a breeding ground for unwanted thoughts, and the glow of the moon didn’t help. Nor did it erase the feel of Elsie’s kiss from two days ago, replaying in his mind. The memory was turning him inside out.
And he was angry at Isaac for asking her to testify. Angrier that she’d said yes.
He entered the house, silence greeting him, then started a pot of coffee, wincing when he accidentally clanked the stovetop.
