Chapter 12 #2
Over the past few days, he’d heard Eliza laugh more often when Chloe brought her back from the orphanage. She and Chloe were good company at the supper table, and the boarders, Thomas and Missus Evans, seemed to like both of them. So for now, the boarding house was full and everyone seemed happy.
Well, except for him. At the same time, there were times when he’d glance at Chloe, and she seemed to be deep in thought.
While Eliza seemed to blossom, Chloe grew quieter.
He wondered why, but didn’t want to intrude on her privacy.
He’d also noticed that at times, Eliza would suddenly retreat into herself, especially when she caught herself laughing, as if she were afraid to enjoy the emotion, maybe figuring her happiness wouldn’t last long.
Perhaps it was normal, this period of adjustment, for both of them.
What did he know? He’d never been abandoned.
He’d never grown up in an orphanage. Time.
That’s what everyone needed, including himself.
Time. The problem was he didn’t quite believe it.
Yesterday, he’d watched as Eliza ran from the cabin and into the woods.
Chloe had come to the door, calling after the child but not gone after her.
Nathaniel had taken it upon himself to do so, leaving through the front door. A grove of trees grew for a mile or so at the edge of town, and he made his way toward it and the creek that rippled through it. He found the child sitting on the banks, throwing tiny pebbles into the water.
“Eliza?”
She startled and turned around with wide eyes. He saw streaks of tears on her face. Compassion welled up inside him as he approached slowly. “Eliza, what’s wrong?”
At first the child refused to talk. He sat down beside her and followed suit, tossing pebbles into the stream nearby.
“You know, sometimes I get frustrated with my days.” He glanced at her but she wouldn’t look at him.
“Some days, it feels like nothing I do is the right thing. Or sometimes, it’s as if people expect things from me that I can’t give. ”
“Like what?” she mumbled.
“Well, the other day, a rancher who lives not far away, his name is Adam, lost one of his cows.”
“Lost?”
“Well not lost as in it lost its way, but it’d been attacked by coyotes or a wolf or something.”
“What did he want you to do about it if the cow was already dead?”
“He wanted me to go hunt for the pack of coyotes or the wolf and kill them.”
“You couldn’t find them?”
“I didn’t even look.” He turned to her. “You see, I can’t control Mother Nature.
Coyotes are all over the place around here.
When they’re hungry, they’ll hunt. Mostly it’s rabbits and smaller animals, but sometimes, if they travel in a pack they’ll go after something bigger, something that will feed all of them.
” He shrugged. “I can’t kill them for that, can I? They’re just doing what comes natural.”
She said nothing for several moments and tossed another pebble into the stream. “I’m afraid that Mama … Chloe, will leave me again and never come back.”
Well, he wasn’t sure what he could say to reassure her. “Your mama put herself at great risk to search for you. Did she tell you that before she got into town, she was in a stagecoach accident?”
Eliza nodded and tossed another pebble.
“She could’ve died. But she was looking for you, willing to take the risk, and I’m sure she’s very happy that she found you again.”
“But she gave me away once,” the child mumbled. “Maybe if I do something she doesn’t like, she’ll do it again.”
Nathaniel heaved an inward sigh. What was he supposed to say to this child? What kind of wisdom and assurance could he impart to her? “You know what I think, Eliza?”
She finally looked up at him.
“I think she loves you very much, more than you know. I think that now that she’s found you, she would never want to let you go again.
Even if you have a disagreement, even if you don’t like something she does or says, or doesn’t like something that you did, she loves you.
Mothers are like that no matter how much time they’re apart from you. ”
“Was your mother like that when you were little?”
He grinned down at her. “She still is, Eliza. I’m nearly thirty years old and she’s still like that.” A small smile curved the child’s lips and it lifted Nathaniel’s heart to see it. “Come on, let’s go back. She’s going to be worried about you.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she’s a mother.”
He stood and extended his hand. The girl stood, brushed off her dress and then tucked her small hand into his. His heart skipped a beat feeling something he’d never felt before.
They walked back to the cabin, where Chloe was in the front yard, pacing, looking worriedly toward the woods.
The relief on her face when he and Eliza emerged from the woods was obvious.
So too was the realization that in quite a short time and without even spending much time with her, he knew the truth.
He had to admit it to himself. He was enamored of Chloe Whitfield.
No, it was more than that. When she turned a relieved and grateful smile on him, he knew it for certain.
Problem was, she wasn’t his to have. She belonged to another man, a man who frightened her into running away. It was at that moment that he was determined to find more about that man and to make sure that he never bothered Chloe again.