Page 93 of A Forgotten Heart
“Which brings us back to why you’ve given up on Elsie,” Ed said.
“You deserve love too, Nick,” Drew said.
“Did you even give her a chance to choose you?” Isaac said.
Nick hadn’t. He’d been hurt, humiliated, and had walked away before she could send him away.
“Maybe she wants someone to fight for her,” Ed added.
Drew stood straighter. “You’re a McGraw, Nick. We fight for what we want. Now, go and get your woman.”
Nick could picture the vulnerability and pleading on Elsie’s face. She’d claimed she hadn’t expected that proposal. But Nick knew her mother wanted her to marry Nelson. Her mother had been helping direct Elsie’s life for a long time.
He could so easily picture the little girl trying to win her adoptive parents’ love, never wanting confrontation.
She’d been rejected by her own father. Had Nick really done any different? Rejecting her before she had a chance to break his heart? To protect himself?
She deserved better than that.
Different words from his father rose up from the mist of his memory.Sometimes, son, you need to stop thinking and get the job done.
He’d done enough thinking. This time, Pa was right.
Elsie’s boot heels clicked on the boardwalk at a meandering pace. Merritt hooked her arm through Elsie’s, prompting her to walk faster. “You can’t leave things unresolved between you and Arnold. If you don’t hurry, we’ll miss the train entirely.”
It had been Arnold who had insisted she meet him at the train station before he departed. To give him her answer.
An answer she’d begun to question herself.
She’d lain awake all night, thinking from every angle.
The crimson sunset reflected off the remaining snow berms piled in the alleyways, while the air twinged with the stagnant mud on the streets.
Elsie scanned the storefronts of the town she’d come to love, decked out in swags of pine garland and bright bows.
Even on Christmas Day, the boardwalk bustled with townspeople visiting loved ones and delivering gifts, each breath puffing out of their mouths in little white clouds.
Calvin had become home, yet Elsie didn’t know how she could stay after all that had happened.
They passed a shadowy back alley, and Elsie’s nape prickled with goosebumps.
Danna still hadn’t found Quade. Speculated that he’d left town for good. She’d said she believed Elsie to be safe.
So how long would it be before Elsie stopped jumping at every shadow?
The train whistle pierced the evening air, and its trill jerked her back to her mission.
Merritt slanted a glance toward Elsie. “Would it be so bad if your answer to Arnold were yes?”
Whose side was Merritt on? Nick was her cousin.
The ring Arnold had proposed with hung on a string around Elsie’s neck, hidden beneath her dress.
She couldn’t wear it.
“Merry Christmas, Miss Atchison.” Rory, one of her students, waved furiously from the back of a wagon parked across the street.
She waved back, her heart aching.
