Page 22 of A Forgotten Heart
If he thinks you’re on friendly terms, you should be on friendly terms.
Friendly terms were one thing, but this hurt too much.
She must follow the doctor’s orders. If something happened to Nick because of shock, it would be her fault.
A sudden realization squeezed her heart, and her scrubbing came to a stop.
Would she have prevented this pain if she’d refused when the doctor demanded she stay?
She touched her pocket, the letter’s crinkle a reminder of her parents’ expectations. What would happen if she stopped writing to Arnold? Told her parents she only wanted to teach.
Darcy had broken free of Mother and Father’s expectations. And Mother hadn’t spoken to her for nearly a year. Elsie’s stomach pinched. She owed Mother and Father, didn’t she?
She shivered. She needed to add another log to the stove. She’d been trying to ration the firewood, but cold was creeping inside.
Wrapping her arms around her torso, she rose to move toward the back room. She stilled when she reached the timber box.
Nearly empty.
“El?” Nick’s voice called from the other room.
She added another log to the stove, then slipped into the exam room, bracing herself to see him looking at her tenderly.
Nick was propped on his uninjured arm. “I was about to come find you.”
“You’d better not. I can’t pick you up if you get dizzy and fall.”
He watched her for a long moment—long enough that she grew uncomfortable and glanced down, only to see goosebumps on the bare skin of his arm.
“I just added another log.” But it was chilly in here too. “I’ll find more blankets.”
She was grateful for the excuse to get out from under his intense gaze, but only found four blankets.
When she returned, Nick was outright shivering. With no wood, he couldn’t stay in here. She had to do something.
Before she changed her mind, she rushed to the back room to create a pallet close to the stove, then hurried back to the exam room.
She peeled off Nick’s blankets. “We have to move closer to the stove. There isn’t much wood left.”
Nick propped himself on his elbow. Each muscle quivered as he struggled up.
Her stomach sank. He couldn’t move on his own.
She swallowed hard, then slipped her arm around his torso. The feel of him sent a thrill through her muscles.
He teetered slightly as he stood. “I’m a little dizzy.” He leaned his muscled side into her and wrapped his arm so that his hand rested on her shoulder.
Strong. Yet tender. The way he’d always been.
She’d not forgotten how it felt to be in his arms. Except, now he was no longer the lean boy on the cusp of manhood. He’d filled out. Grown into his body.
Her heart pounded as they staggered down the hallway. She couldn’t reach Nick’s pallet quickly enough.
“Tell me about your students this year. Any troublemakers?” he asked, his voice strained.
She needed to say something to take her mind off his nearness. “I have a girl pulling pranks behind my back. Like sneaking inside during recess and removing the lesson plans from my planner. When I confront her, she acts sugary sweet, saying she would never do such a thing.”
“Have you contacted her parents?”
