Page 59 of A Forgotten Heart
“I won it fair and square!” Tillie stuck out her tongue at him.
Their game of marbles had gone on for too long. Elsie had sat down to supervise a while ago, and now her left foot was asleep.
Across the living room, Eli and Jo lay on their stomachs with a checkerboard between them. Jo snatched up a checker with a cackle, and Eli cried, “Hey, give that back or I’ll slug you.”
“There will be no slugging!” Elsie called out.
Eli pulled a face but ducked back to the game momentarily.
It had been a day and a half since the men left on their mission, and tempers were short.
Between the sense of possible danger and the soft snow that had been falling since last night, the kids had been cooped up in the house for too long.
Even Elsie’s real students got breaks to run around outside and release pent-up energy.
Something was on the brink, and the entire household could feel it.
Ben carefully angled his blue shooter marble toward the only two remaining marbles on the other side of the circle. Tillie had lost interest, balancing her shooter on her upper lip.
Footsteps overhead were a reminder that Rebekah had gone up to check on Kaitlyn, who’d been in bed all morning. Elsie didn’t know much about pregnancy, but Rebekah had helped her prepare breakfast with a worried frown.
Clare and David had gone to the barn for chores. Was Nick out there?
She’d barely seen Nick since the emotional conversation yesterday morning. He’d walked circles around the property, scouting for danger. Spent the rest of the time in the barn or bunkhouse. Maybe he’d come to the same conclusion she had after their talk.
She needed to keep her distance. Otherwise she risked opening her heart to him again.
Ben tossed his arms in the air. “I win again!”
Tillie whined. “I’m bored. Let’s play Sculptor again.”
Ben tossed the marbles, and they bounced noisily across the floor. “No way. We played that all morning.”
One of the flying marbles pinged over the checkerboard, and Eli made a noise of outrage.
Elsie stood, using the sofa for balance when blood flow returned to her tingling foot. “Why don’t we?—”
A loud thump on the porch interrupted her, and the kids went quiet.
What was that?
The door swung open, and Nick blew in with a light swirl of snow. David was on his heels, and Patch followed last.
Tillie and Ben ran to his side with a string of questions before he could toe his boots off.
“What took you so long?”
“Can you take me outside?”
“How come David got to go?”
“Where’s Clare?”
Nick smiled as he cued Patch to lie down on a blanket by the door and took off his gloves. “Clare’s in the barn still.”
Jo followed Nick as he moved toward the window to peer out. “Uncle Nick, I’m going to go crazy if I have to stay inside with all them.”
Tillie propped her hands on her hips. “That’s not nice.”
