Page 94 of A Forgotten Heart
She couldn’t walk away from her students. Could she? Even if it meant seeing Nick in town.
She just didn’t know what to do.
Merritt sighed. “Elsie, what doyouwant?”
It was just like Merritt to cut to the heart of the matter. “Is it so wrong to want a family of my own? Someone who’ll care about me? Arnold is offering me that.”
“Of course not.” Compassion warmed Merritt’s voice. “I wanted it, and God brought me Jack.”
Merritt strolled a few more steps, quiet. “Do you still want those things with a man who isn’t Nick?”
Elsie’s muddled feelings were all Nick’s fault. Being on the ranch had let her see how the McGraws loved each other. With all their faults and failures, no family could be more loyal. Elsie wanted to belong to a family like that.
Merritt tugged Elsie to a stop on the street in front of the train station. “Will you really be happy if you say yes because it’s what your mother wants?”
Elsie squeezed her eyes closed. “She’ll be so angry if I reject Arnold. Stay in bed for weeks.” She ducked her head as her deepest fear blurted from her lips. “What if she says I’m not her daughter any longer?”
Her father had abandoned her. Never given a reason. Just stopped loving her.
What had Elsie done so wrong to make him give her away to a distant cousin who didn’t want her either?
The question always churned inside, never finding an answer.
Merritt’s hand closed around Elsie’s, a gesture of comfort that let Elsie draw air into a tight chest.
“She didn’t stop loving you when you cut your hair off at fourteen. Or when you moved to Calvin, even though she wanted you close.” Merritt’s eyes became earnest. “Elsie, even if your mother stops, I love you. Darcy loves you. Nick loves you.”
A sob hiccupped out as Elsie started to shake her head. Nick didn’t love her. But Merritt squeezed her hand.
“God loves you. Enough to adopt you asHisdaughter. You are a child of the King. Isn’t it time you started loving yourself?”
Something about Merritt’s words shattered a wall around Elsie’s heart.
Adopted by a heavenly Father. The idea seemed too grand to be true, yet warmth wrapped around her, so tender, so comforting that it couldn’t be anything but true.
Elsie drew in a cleansing breath and pinched her eyes closed, releasing tears to stream down her face.
To simply be who she was created to be, to stop trying to earn her way—it tore away the burden weighing on her heart.
Merritt pushed a kerchief into her hand. “Do you really think that marrying Arnold is the right thing?” Merritt whispered.
No.
The word echoed within her heart like a church bell heard for miles around. She couldn’t marry Arnold.
Elsie reached for the string around her neck and pulled the ring loose. Merritt watched, tense. Waiting for Elsie’s decision.
Elsie sighed. “I think I need to go give Arnold his ring back.”
Merritt smiled. “I think maybe you do.”
Elsie bit her lip and glanced toward the train’s steam, expanding into the frigid air above the building. “This is going to be hard.”
Merritt wrapped her in a tight hug. “But you can do it.”
The train whistle blew its last warning.
Merritt pushed her toward the platform. “Go! I’ll wait right here.”
