Page 22 of A Forgotten Heart (Wind River Mail-Order Brides #5)

N ick went on patrol not long after Tillie’s question had flipped him topsy-turvy.

After trudging a wide circle through the snow-covered brush on the McGraw property for the last hour, Nick hadn’t spotted anything out of the ordinary.

He couldn’t tell whether the vague feeling of wrongness haunting him was because they still hadn’t had word from his brothers or something else.

The snowscape expanded over the horizon, making him acutely aware of the miles between them and their closest neighbors. Patch walked by his side.

The barn loomed not far ahead. Bunkhouse a bit beyond that. Everything was still and quiet. Nick’s head pounded.

He clenched and unclenched his hands, trying to bring some feeling back to his fingers.

Suddenly, Patch stopped short, hackles up, his nose pointed toward the southern horizon.

Nick looked to see what had alerted Patch. In the distance, a light flickered. Faint, but there. He blinked and it was gone.

He took his spyglass from his inside coat pocket and scanned the area until his eyes began to water.

He’d seen something. Where was it? What was it?

A rustling sounded in the snowy ground behind him. He lowered his spyglass and whipped around, reaching for the revolver at his hip.

Two silhouettes approached, too short to be a threat. “Uncle Nick,” David whispered. Eli was right behind him.

Nick’s heart thudded in his chest as he lowered his hand. What were his nephews doing out here?

He looked back to where he’d seen the light. It was still dark. Was someone out there?

Nick walked toward them. “What are you two doing? I thought you were in bed.”

David dragged his toe through the snow. His words showed in the puff of moist air. “We couldn’t sleep. We wanted to help you scout.”

“You snuck out?”

David looked guilty, but Eli’s chin jutted out. “We been cooped up in the house all day. We wanna help.”

Kaitlyn and Clare would be furious to know the boys had snuck out.

An order for the boys to go back into the house was on the tip of Nick’s tongue, but that light in the distance flickered once again. Only, this time on the north side of the house.

Unease skittered down his spine.

It couldn’t be a coincidence, those two lights. Could it?

The McGraw property spread farther than the eye could see. If someone was out there, they were trespassing. And this time of night, whoever it was would be up to no good.

But Nick couldn’t be in two places at once.

He tore his attention off the horizon and studied the boys. They were so young. “I need your help,” he blurted.

This was dangerous. If something happened to one of these boys, he’d never forgive himself. Neither would his brothers.

Elsie believed in his ability to think things through. This was his only choice.

Nick clamped his hand on David’s shoulder and turned the boy to where he’d seen the flicker. “See there?”

Eli hovered at their back, watching over David’s shoulder.

David nodded.

“That’s over by the dried creek bed where you boys play hide-and-seek during the summer. I saw a light flash.”

“I know lots of hiding spots over there, Uncle Nick,” David said.

“I want you two to sneak over there and scout the area. Then come right back.”

Eli was fairly bouncing on his toes. “Yes!”

Nick put out a hand to quiet the boy. “This isn’t a game of hide-and-seek. There could be men out there who want to hurt you. Hear me? You are only to scout it out.”

Both kids nodded. Nick hesitated for a moment, pulled his rifle out of the scabbard he’d slung across his back.

The warning his father had given him when he’d handed a rifle to Nick for the first time echoed through his head.

Nick held out his rifle to David. “Don’t put your finger on the trigger unless you’re willing to shoot.”

David eyed the gun, quiet and serious now. His jaw twitched as he reached for it. “Just like you taught me, Uncle Nick.”

“Meet back right here. Be careful.”

They were gone, running through the snow and into the woods just moments later.

Nick’s chest locked up.

Please, God, be with them.

Nick took a quick moment to settle Patch close to the house. The dog would bark an alert if anyone came close.

Then Nick hiked in the other direction.

The pulsing in his shoulder kept time with the pounding in his head. When was the last time he’d slept?

He pushed through the exhaustion, fighting through the snow drifts and trying to stay out of sight.

This was about protecting the people he loved.

Tillie’s sweetly asked question popped into his mind again.

How come you aren’t a teacher like Miss Elsie?

All the reasons he’d told himself years ago resonated like hollow excuses now.

Sure, he’d been framed, but he could’ve fought to have the truth revealed. Could’ve gone to a different school. Tried again.

Isaac had got him thinking about going back. Starting over.

He had never filed the paperwork to buy that land. What if he simply…didn’t?

Drew had big plans to expand. Build the McGraw legacy. Someone would have to winter with the cattle. But what if Nick could still go back to school?

His head reeled over the revelation that he truly wanted to go back to school. Finish his teaching certification.

He couldn’t deny it any longer. After this was all over, he would sit down with Drew. Talk things over. Make a plan. He might not know what to do about Elsie, but this path seemed clear.

Forcing his mind back to the present, he slowed as he climbed through the brush. A flash of light from ahead had him scurrying behind a tree for cover.

The form of a rider appeared in the distance, dark against the starry sky and snow-covered ground.

Two riders, carrying torches.

He pulled out his spyglass and looked through it.

Both men’s faces were concealed with bandannas. By the way they carried themselves, they certainly weren’t Nick’s brothers.

An icy chill prickled under his skin. What were these men doing out here on McGraw land?

Nick sank into a kneel and watched, hoping to see some activity to prove the riders had a different purpose than what he feared.

The two men circled. Came close together, paced apart. What were they doing? Watching? For what?

Nick couldn’t stay and watch all night. He needed to get back to the boys. Make sure they were all right.

He hated abandoning his post but had no choice.

With deliberate steps, he made his way back to the barn. As he neared, Patch jumped up and came to his side with high-pitched whines.

“Hey, boy. Where are the kids?”

Patch circled Nick, agitated.

“David. Eli. Where are you?” he called quietly into the dark.

Dread snaked up his spine.

“David. Eli.”

No answer.

His pulse galloped in his ears. Had they been caught by whoever was out there? Where were they?

His eyes scanned for any shadows moving.

Nothing. Wait?—

Something crackled in the underbrush.

Nick whipped around. “David?”

He held his breath until he heard “It’s us.”

A relieved sigh whooshed out of Nick’s lungs, and his eyes closed.

“Uncle Nick,” Eli said. Nick peeled his eyes open to see the boys’ drawn expressions. “We’ve got a problem.”

Nick had been gone for too long.

Elsie stood at the counter, looking out the darkened window, even though it was impossible to see.

There was nothing left to clean in the kitchen, but Elsie kept up the pretense of scrubbing the spotless countertop anyway.

Kaitlyn and the girls had gone up to bed.

For a while, Rebekah and Clare had sat in the living room, making last-minute adjustments to Christmas gifts that had begun to appear beneath the decorated tree.

Their voices had faded some time ago, and Elsie couldn’t help but wonder whether she was the only one left awake in the entire house.

She missed Nick.

Somehow, over the last few days, she’d become keenly aware of his nearness. When he glanced up from across the room as she passed through, their eyes met. When she brushed past him as she served lunch at the table, she felt the shiver of awareness, knowing he was there, that he was watching her.

And now that he’d been gone so long this evening, his absence was like a pulsing heartbeat.

Where. Where. Where.

Where was he?

Faint light came from the front room. Elsie had left a lantern in the window, just in case. A beacon to cut through the dark night and guide Nick home. Should she light one here in the kitchen too? If only she knew which direction he would approach the house from.

Fabric rustled from the doorway, and she glanced over her shoulder to find Rebekah looking around the kitchen.

“I thought I left my mending basket in here.” Her gaze landed on Elsie. She hesitated. “You all right?” Rebekah asked.

Elsie forced a smile. “I put it over here. I’m sorry, I should’ve brought it up to you.”

She turned back, but Rebekah’s attention had fixed on the window. Elsie saw the other woman’s weariness in the drooping of her shoulders and her worry in the way she bit her lip.

Elsie handed her the basket. “Can I help with any mending?”

Rebekah’s focus returned to Elsie. Her brows crinkled. “What are you—are you still cleaning up?”

“Not really…”

Rebekah accepted the basket as she glanced around the room. “You’ve cleaned up every little bit of the mess Tillie made helping with supper.”

Elsie smoothed her empty hands down the pleat of her skirt. “It wasn’t much?—”

“And the paper scraps from Jo cutting snowflakes. And you’ve swept up David’s pencil shavings.” There was a note of exasperation in Rebekah’s voice.

“I—” Elsie had done all of that. It hadn’t been a hardship. She’d wanted something to keep her hands busy, even as her mind was busy worrying over Nick.

“You’re a guest in our house, and this is how we’re treating you?”

Elsie picked up the rag she’d abandoned on the counter and folded it. She didn’t want to rile Rebekah any further.

“I didn’t mind,” Elsie admitted. “I actually?—”

She clamped her mouth shut as a beat of awareness swept through her.

How could she have forgotten who Rebekah was?

These past hours as they’d wrangled the children together and shared concerns over what was happening with the other McGraw brothers, Elsie had begun to feel as if Rebekah was a friend.

But she wasn’t.

Rebekah was a reporter. One who might spill Elsie’s secrets to the entire town…and that could have disastrous consequences.

Rebekah must’ve seen her hesitation. Something shifted in her expression, a minute change that resulted in a fine tension in the air between them.

And Elsie felt a rush of uncertainty. Nick seemed to trust Rebekah. And Elsie dearly needed a friend.

She laid the rag on the sink. “Since you and Ed and Nick brought me here, I’ve felt like…felt like I’ve been home.”

Rebekah’s expression warmed.

It was more than that though, and suddenly Elsie felt herself swamped with emotion.

Bread. Bread would be nice at breakfast.

Elsie turned to the larder and pulled out a bag of flour.

And words tumbled out before she could stop them.

“My sister and I used to sing carols constantly during the days leading up to Christmas. Our father would grumble and protest, but if you watched him carefully, he’d smile when you weren’t looking.

” She’d forgotten about that, right up until this moment.

Rebekah sidled next to her at the counter to help. “You have a beautiful singing voice.”

“Oh, nothing like my sister’s,” Elsie protested quickly.

“Darcy has the most beautiful voice. She could be a professional singer, on stage somewhere in the East. She’s that good.

Sometimes she’d ask me to sing in rounds with her, and we’d go faster and faster until I was so out of breath that I couldn’t continue.

” And then both of them had collapsed in giggles.

“You love her very much,” Rebekah said as she pulled down the mixing bowl from the shelf.

Elsie nodded.

“But you won’t see her for Christmas?”

It should’ve been an easy question to answer. But Elsie hesitated again before divulging, “It’s complicated. My mother is…my mother isn’t easy. She and Darcy had a falling out a few years ago, and…”

Rebekah didn’t look up as she added a portion of the starter into the mixing bowl. “And if you visit your sister at Christmas, your mother will make things difficult for you?”

Rebekah had cut to the heart of the matter even without all the details. Mother hadn’t wanted Darcy to marry Reuben. Even before that, Darcy had chafed under Mother’s “episodes” and the way she manipulated circumstances to suit her whims.

If Elsie visited Darcy and Reuben for the holiday, Mother would offer cutting words in her next letter to Elsie, would perhaps refuse to speak to her for a period of time.

And if Elsie went home to visit Mother and Father, she’d spend the whole time missing Darcy.

It was easier to stay away. At least she wouldn’t make anyone unhappy.

Except herself, she was beginning to realize.

Elsie blinked away the heat building in her eyes and went to gather the oil from the larder.

Everything would change once Elsie wrangled the nerve to be able to tell Arnold she didn’t want to see him romantically, didn’t have any interest in marrying him. That was why she’d put it off for so long.

Mother and Father had chosen to take her in after her pa’s abandonment, but if they decided to cut her out of their lives, who would she have left?

There was noise from the living room, and Elsie glimpsed a flash of Clare moving around.

Rebekah was opening her mouth to speak when something banged into the side of the house.

Elsie jumped. Rebekah did too, whirling so she had a view of the back door.

“What was that?” Rebekah whispered.

Something scritch-scratched on the porch. Was that?—

It sounded like a dog’s paws scrabbling for purchase.

“Patch?” Elsie whispered back to Rebekah.

But there was no sound of footsteps or Nick letting himself into the house.

“What if he pushed too hard and his head injury knocked him out?” Elsie’s words to Rebekah were a frantic whisper.

Rebekah looked alarmed. “I thought he was better.”

Elsie felt the same fear slither through her as she had when the doctor had explained the severity of Nick’s injury. She knew he was still having headaches. He wasn’t completely healed. What if…

Elsie edged toward the door. “If it’s Patch?—”

“What if it isn’t?” Rebekah demanded.

Elsie reached for the nearest thing she could find—a sturdy rolling pin.

If Nick needed help, they couldn’t just leave him?—

She was reaching for the door’s latch when there was a sudden rush of noise. Whispered voices from outside the door, rustling of clothes and footsteps.

“It’s not Nick!” she whispered frantically to Rebekah, who waved her to retreat to the living room.

But it was too late—the door was already opening.

Elsie raised the rolling pin, fear nearly choking her.

And David and Eli tumbled inside.