Page 49 of A Forgotten Heart
There was a flurry of introductions made. Elsie was aware of the raised eyebrows from Drew and Kaitlyn. Even more aware that Nick didn’t look at her once.
Ed faced Drew. “We really need to talk.”
Inside, everyone bustled around, all in sync, everyone with a job.
Once the littlest girl had taken Elsie’s coat, Elsie stood out of the way, near the staircase. She spent the moments using the little memory trick she’d learned during her first weeks as a brand-new teacher, committing everyone’s name to memory.
An exclamation from Drew, where he conversed in a tight circle with Ed and Nick, drew her attention.
Nick was staring at her, eyes lit with banked anger and something else she couldn’t identify.
She tipped her chin up, holding his stare. She’d explained her side of things, why she’d helped him in the clinic. What more did he want from her?
Tillie ran up to her, breaking into the moment. “Are you going to be my new aunt?”
Elsie’s mouth opened, but all that came out was a squeak. She cleared her throat, then tried again. “No.”
Tillie’s brow scrunched. “But I thought Uncle Nick was getting himself a wife.”
The reminder was enough to steal the breath from Elsie’s chest, but Jo, the eleven-year-old, called from the dining table, “That ain’t your business, nosy-body. Come set the table!”
Tillie went to join her sister but sent a confused look over her shoulder. “She looks like a wife.”
When Elsie glanced at Nick again, he was staring at the floor, a muscle in his cheek jumping.
This wouldn’t do. Elsie was nothing to Nick, and they both knew it.
She was stuck here for the foreseeable future. There had to be a way to make the best of it.
She had moved past the dining table and peeked into the kitchen when the front door burst open again and another part of the family came inside, brushing new snow from their coats.
More introductions were made. Inscrutable Isaac. A U.S. marshal, she remembered.
Captivating Clare. His wife. Eli and Ben, two boys who flung themselves at David, spoke rapid-fire.
By the time Elsie had taken in the newcomers, the table had been loaded with food.
Elsie felt as useless as a knickknack in the corner. An echo of that old feeling of being in the way, from when she’d lived with the Granbys, swept over her.
It didn’t take long for the family to find their places around the table, although Elsie hesitated behind an empty chair. Was she taking someone else’s seat?
The other side of the table had one long bench instead of chairs. The three boys had taken one end and were tussling in a way that reminded Elsie of a pair of brothers in her classroom.
Jo came to the end of the bench, where only a few inches of space remained. “This is my seat,” she muttered as she plopped down. The boys kept shoving, and Elsie watched as Jo was knocked off the end of the bench, falling on her rump.
The boys cackled and laughed.
Jo’s face was flushed with hurt as she scrambled to her feet.
Elsie’s chest clenched as the girl fled. How many times had the Granby boys picked on her like that? But Drew caught Jo as she moved to pass him, put his arm around her shoulders, leaned in to say something in her ear.
Jo brightened, and watching the poignant moment between father and daughter made Elsie ache so badly she had to look away.
Unfortunately, her gaze immediately clashed with Nick’s. He knew that the tender moment between father and daughter had affected her. She could see it in his eyes.
And when he quickly looked away, a second wave of emptiness hit Elsie.
She hadn’t had a father to encourage her, protect her. And she didn’t have Nick.
