Divided Heart by Sheryl Marcoux

Author:Sheryl Marcoux
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Fiction
ISBN: 9781522300809
Publisher: Pelican Book Group
Published: 2018-06-17T16:00:00+00:00

19

An asylum? The news hit Hattie like a lightning bolt behind her eyes, blinding, deafening, and numbing her. She could no longer feel the soaked rag scalding her hands, the pang of her father wanting to make amends too late, and worst of all, the ever-reopening stab of Nate’s—unfaithfulness? The flash flared from her head to her feet and illuminated her whole being about Nate’s unexplained absence. She could see, hear, smell, taste, and feel only two words. An asylum?

“Hattie, are you all right?”

She must have looked pale.

“Let me fetch you a glass of water.”

“No, I’m fine.” The news of Nate’s whereabouts began to shed light on the shadowed corners of common sense. She wanted to be left alone to understand it all. “You need to get back to the office in case someone needs you.”

“‘Someone’ includes you too, Hattie.”

“I’ll be fine.” To prove it to him, she willed her hand to move in circular motions upon the floor to emulate scrubbing. “You should go now.”

He hesitated. “You know where I’ll be if you need me.” The sound of the latch followed his footsteps.

She dropped the rag into the bucket and stared past the watery swirls of flour on the floor.

Remembrances of when she’d worked in the saloon reawakened, memories of the many times she’d spent sitting by Nate’s bedside trying to comfort him. Nights when sobs would splinter his voice as he stared with moist eyes past the ceiling and said over and over, “I’m sorry, Sally. I’m sorry.” Tears would roll down his face, droplets she’d dab at, but his soul would only reabsorb—because he couldn’t face the truth.

As a young man, he’d continued to revisit that day and to weep as inconsolably as the seventeen-year-old boy who’d held the body of his younger sister. Even now, Hattie turned her head away from the memory of Sally’s burnt body. But Nate rocked her lovingly as he sank to the snowy ground, hugging her and weeping. He’d always said it was his job to protect her, and he’d been so tender toward her, guarding her from so much as the prick of a thorn.

Nate loved so deeply.

His love for his sister was the reason he couldn’t accept the truth. From the day of her death forward, his mind had twisted things around so that he’d believed her death was Zachariah’s fault. It wasn’t right, but Nate couldn’t help it, and he claimed it was Zachariah’s turn to start the fire and blamed him for lollygagging and letting Sally start the fire for him. Because dear Nate couldn’t face the fact that she’d died protecting him from being punished.

To relive that terrible day over and over again because he couldn’t face what had really happened…

Had Nate learned the truth?

He must have. Hattie put her hand to her heart. “Poor Nate. All that time he’s been in an asylum healing his mind, and all along I’ve been accusing him of being with another woman. How could I be so mean to him, Lord?” Nate would be too ashamed to admit to something like that.

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