Page 26 of A Forgotten Heart
The image of Elsie as a child, watching through the window for her father to come, stung Nick’s heart.
He closed his hand over hers. This time she didn’t pull away.
“What happened?”
She cringed. “Mrs. Granby resented me from the start. I was only another mouth to feed. She never paid attention to me. I even had to comb my own hair.”
The muscles in Nick’s neck bunched. “A four-year-old combing her own hair?”
“All I wanted was to be noticed. To curl up in her lap as she sang to me. Or something. Anything. But no matter how much I tried, I never met her approval. Not to mention she allowed her sons to pick on me mercilessly.”
“So how did you end up with the Westons?”
She licked her lips. “I was seven. One of the boys said he wanted to play hide-and-seek. I should’ve known he was up to something, but I was so excited that he wanted to play with me.”
He wound his fingers between hers.
“He took me out to a countryside I had never been to, miles from home, and told me to hide and he’d come find me.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “He never came looking.”
For a heart-wrenching moment, a veil fell, and Nick could see the broken little girl in the woman before him. The little girl who only wanted to be a part of a family. To have a brother who really did want to play with her.
But then her expression went blank.
When she spoke again, her voice was matter-of-fact. “Mr. Weston was the one who found me. I’d been lost for hours. I was hungry and scared. He tried to take me back, but Mrs. Granby said that she’d forgotten all about me.” Her sigh shuddered. “She hadn’t even noticed I’d been missing.”
Nick shoved himself up on his elbow. He didn’t care that his shoulder seized in pain. “El, look at me.” He waited until she turned her face to him. Her eyes glittered with unshed tears. “You are anything but forgettable. This woman must’ve been daft, or wallowing in her own misfortune, I don’t know. But I do know that you are worth remembering.”
Even if he had forgotten this piece of her.
Shame flooded his veins. He would do better.
Something passed behind her eyes before she looked away. “You’re only saying that because you have a head injury.”
His stomach knotted at the flash of hurt. “Maybe it’s my head injury helping me see things clearly.”
Her chin quivered, and he felt it like a punch in the gut.
“I’m so sorry. Have you told me this before and I’ve forgotten?”
She gave a quick shake of her head as if to rid herself of the emotion. “No, Nick. I never did.”
“I’m glad you told me now.”
She shrugged slightly and turned her shoulder, declaring an end to their conversation.
He stared at her a little longer.
Even with a fuzzy head, he remembered Elsie as always conscientious, quiet, and smiling, not once hinting that something like this was hidden in her background.
He relented to the throbbing in his shoulder and lay back down, staring at the planks in the ceiling.
Had she never felt safe enough to tell him? That thought churned in his gut until he thought he might be sick.
He knew one thing. He wouldn’t give up on her like her father had. Somehow, he would fix their marriage. Earn her trust again. Make her smile.
Her breath had evened out, like she was asleep once again. He studied her, examining how her hair fanned around her.
He let his fingers caress the ends, careful not to wake her.
