A Season of the Heart by Dorothy Clark

Author:Dorothy Clark
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-05-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Ellen laid the magazine on the settee, rose and walked to the window. Willa’s meeting with the children’s mothers about the Christmas pageant had put off decorating the parsonage until tomorrow. She crossed her arms, drummed her fingers against her upper arms and stared into the distance wishing for something to do. The idleness of her day was most annoying. It made her...restless.

And Mr. Lodge’s call upon her that morning had made it worse. The man was so...so pompous! Why had she never noticed? All he did was talk about himself and how clever he was, twisting things to his advantage in numerous business deals and using his prestige to make those less fortunate yield to his demands. And the way he looked at her, as if he were assessing her value to him.

She pressed her lips together and touched the dark blue braid her mother had used on her new dress to emphasize her small waist. Obviously, he found her pleasing. He had deemed her worthy to become his wife. But then, the Buffalo elite had judged her the “prize” catch of the season because of her beauty, and Harold Lodge always obtained the best. His overweening pride would accept nothing less. But shouldn’t there be something more? Shouldn’t she be more to him than another acquisition that bested that of his peers?

Oh, what was wrong with her! She had been elated before she came home at the thought of marrying Mr. Lodge. So what if he was pompous? It was the way the socially prominent were. And why shouldn’t they be? They had the best of everything. And soon she would, also.

She waited for the rush of excitement that thought should bring, but there was only that nagging uneasiness. She watched two boys running down the road trying to stay in the tracks of a passing sleigh, then gazed across the empty field to the parsonage. Willa had asked her to come to the meeting, but she couldn’t go with Mr. Lodge here.

Coward! Spineless fribble! The name-calling did no good. Her feet stayed rooted to the spot. The boys left the road and waded through the deep snow of the field. She caught sight of the face of one as he looked up and pitched a snowball at the other. Joshua. Sally must be indoors. Would they decorate tomorrow evening after the children were abed, or—

She inhaled sharply, taken by a sudden thought. She stared at Joshua and smiled, lifted her gaze to the parsonage. She would go see Sadie. The weather was fine. It wasn’t snowing or blowing. And the roads were passable. People had come to church from the outlying farms yesterday. She moved a curtain aside and glanced up; the sky held no threat.

“Pardon the intrusion, Miss Ellen, but I need to tend the fire.”

She nodded, let the curtain fall back and turned from the window. “When you’re finished with the fire, Asa, please hitch up the cutter and bring it around to the front for me.

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