Chapter 13 - The Child Beneath Her Heart
Samuel ordered Rosalie to remain in bed.
She objected.
He ignored her.
“I have twenty-seven pupils.”
“Vivien has twenty-seven pupils.”
“Vivien is pregnant.”
“Vivien is also not currently threatening to deliver six weeks early.”
Rosalie glared.
Samuel smiled.
“Now I understand Wade.”
Wade arrived before sunset.
His hands trembled when he sat beside her.
“I'm fine.”
Samuel appeared behind him.
“No, she isn't.”
Rosalie threw a pillow.
Weeks passed.
Lydia visited every afternoon.
One day she sat beside Rosalie.
“I made usefulness your permission to exist.”
Rosalie looked at her.
Lydia continued.
“You don't have to earn being cared for.”
Rosalie began crying.
Lydia held her.
Healing did not erase history.
But sometimes it prevented history from repeating.
The baby remained safely inside for six weeks.
Then labor began during a thunderstorm.
Fourteen exhausting hours later, a girl was born.
Wade stared at the infant.
“What do we call her?”
Rosalie looked at him.
“Eleanor.”
His eyes filled.
“You're certain?”
“Yes.”
Eleanor Rose Hollis.
Two months later Vivien gave birth to Henry.
The cousins grew almost like siblings.
Years passed.
Rosalie returned to teaching.
Wade sometimes brought Eleanor to school strapped against his chest while discussing cattle prices.
The sight became one of Willow Creek's favorite spectacles.
When Eleanor was five, she found the silver brooch.
“Can I have it?”
“Someday.”
“Why not now?”
“Because you're five.”
Eleanor frowned.
Rosalie laughed.
“When I give it to you, you may accept it.”
“Okay.”
“You may also refuse.”
The girl looked confused.
“Why?”
“Because gifts should never become cages.”
Eleanor considered that.
Then asked for a cookie.
Life became ordinary.
Until an elderly stranger rode into Willow Creek.
He carried a photograph.
It showed Eleanor Hollis as a young woman beside someone Rosalie had never seen.
The stranger introduced himself as Benjamin Cole.
“I knew Wade's mother before she ever came west.”
Rosalie invited him inside.
Benjamin placed the photograph on the table.
“This woman beside Eleanor changed her life.”
“Who is she?”
“Anna.”
Then Benjamin revealed the secret behind the school.
A story that began long before Rosalie.
Long before Wade.
May you like
Long before Cottonwood Creek.
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