Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Zachary closed the door quietly, shutting the factory noise out.
Elizabeth had fallen asleep, her arms cradled over the desk.
She had worked on the ledgers for hours, and it was a warm September afternoon.
How he enjoyed Elizabeth’s daily visits, easy wit and found endearing the ever-present ink smudges on her face.
His jaw clenched. Her parents were back from Rhode Island, and it would be a matter of time before she’d have to quit or risk being discovered.
He lifted her and, in her slumber, she snuggled into his chest murmuring sounds of pleasure while innocently stroking his neck.
He refused to release her, allowing this one time to hold her in his arms while reclining on his bed.
She was the personification of sweetness, of lavender and lemon.
He lay fascinated, taking in everything about her.
Her lips so perfect, nose, chin, cheeks.
To kiss her and keep on kissing her. He smoothed silken tendrils of her hair back, to take it apart and run the golden tresses through his fingers.
To lay beside her every night for the rest of his life.
She stirred undeterred he’d taken liberties.
“You were exhausted—” he explained.
“To tell you the truth, I’ve dreamed of you holding me, protecting me.”
He filled his lungs with a deep satisfying breath, and he shifted to rise. “I should get you home.”
She held fast. “A few minutes more–please.”
The unusual pleading and distress in her voice disturbed him. She struggled to speak, but only a dry sob passed her lips. His insides twisted. Whatever was bothering her rose an unbearable agony. He waited.
“When I became with child, my family treated me like a social pariah. I suffered the constant snipes and innuendos from my mother and sister. And then I was shipped from home to hide my disgrace. I lived in isolation.
“That day on the riverbank…I was thinking of ending my life. To save me from the shame of it. I had hit rock bottom. I had no strength to go on, black days passed and unaccounted for. Crying did no good, for I had emptied everything inside me. There were no colors, only a shrouding veil of gray and cold to bind me prisoner. When you waved to me, the riverbank gave way. I thought nature had provided the answer.”
He held her tighter to curb her shaking. To think that this lovely woman harbored such guilt.
“On the descent, my baby kicked. I wanted to live. I had to live. Icy water sucked me beneath and rang victorious as my tombstone. The shoreline had become a figment, as if the world had evaporated. And then you were there, pulling me back into the world.”
“The worst thing is that my parents never believed my innocence. I can never live down my mother’s scorn or my father’s dubious pity.”
Pain shimmered deep in his heart, blending with fury. In the waning light, he kept her in his arms, safe and free from hurt.
Stillness filled the room and covered them like a great warm quilt. Everything was transfixed only the light of the setting sun moved. Silence was pure. Silence was holy. Silence emerged true wisdom to be found.
To hold her in his arms and be comfortable with each other without declarations. Words spoken would be useless and fracture the peace. Zachary sighed and nuzzled his chin into her hair with the mystery.
For this moment, she was his. He’d saved her life, delivered her child. Providence had connected them again. Like islands in the sea, they were different on the surface, but those invisible threads entwined in the deep.