Page 85 of A Forgotten Heart
Nick had come.
And seen everything.
Nick stood frozen at the edge of the boardwalk. For a moment, he couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. And hearing.
Be my bride.
He felt as if he’d been shot all over again, pain bursting in his chest.
Another man gripped the hands of the woman Nick loved, holding a velvet box with a silver ring shining in the sun. Proposing to her.
For a beat, Nick waited. Waited for Elsie to demand he explain himself. Reject his proposal. Did she even know this dandy?
But she seemed frozen in place, looking up into the face of the tall city slicker.
“Elsie, who is this?” The words tumbled from Nick’s mouth, his thoughts scrambling to make sense of what he was seeing.
Elsie turned, eyes flaring wide and panicked. “Nick!”
“What is going on?” he demanded. The familiar burn of betrayal raged inside him. “Who is this?”
The stranger turned, still clasping that ring box. He eyed Nick, as if weighing whether he was a friend or a foe. “Arnold Nelson. Elsie’s intended.”
Again, Nick waited for her to refute him. Instead, he saw her mouth open and close like she couldn’t find words. Saw the guilt and misery in her expression.
Nelson was telling the truth.
The man’s fancy suit, the expensive coat, the beaver-skin hat—they all shoutedmoney, made the fabric of Nick’s Sunday best chafe against his skin.
Nelson wasn’t from around here, and he came from money. More money than Nick would see in a lifetime.
I want to start over.
The words that Elsie had said ran through Nick’s whirling thoughts. If that was true, then who was this?
Nick knew she’d had a life after they’d parted ways. But in the days they’d spent trapped together on the McGraw ranch, she’d never mentioned a beau.
Elsie took a faltering step toward him. “I-I can explain. I was expecting you later.”
She glanced around, like she was just now noticing folks lingering to watch. A flush stained her cheeks.
Why hadn’t she told this Nelson character to go away?
Nelson watched the interplay between them, then stepped to her side. “I don’t believe Elsie’s mentioned you in her letters.”
In her letters.
Plural. Elsie had been writing this guy. Her intended.
She’d kept it from Nick. The old hurt resurfaced, made him question everything.
Nick had made a mistake coming here. If Elsie was going to refuse her intended, she would’ve already done it. Clearly, there was someone unwanted here. And it wasn’t Nelson.
Nick needed to get out of here.
He was turning on his heel when she snapped, “Excuse me, Arnold.”
Nick stalked down the boardwalk, bitterness rising along with the pounding of his pulse in his ears.
