A Love For Keeps (Truly Yours Digital Editions) (22 page)

“I’ll go after her. She’s in no shape to be by herself,” Jacob Connors said. He crossed the room to kiss Natalie. “I love you, and I’ll be back in a little while, all right?”

Natalie nodded. “Yes, Grandfather.”

Georgette hurried over to the bed and gave her granddaughter a kiss on the cheek. “Natalie, dear, God has answered our prayers that you will be all right. We love you so very much. And your aunt Abigail loves you with all her heart.” Georgette wiped the tears streaming from her eyes. “She never meant to harm anyone. I—Nate, I must go with Jacob and Abigail. We need to get her home. She’s not—”

He nodded. Abigail was in no condition to be alone, but he wasn’t the one who could help her. He needed to stay with his daughter and Meagan. “She needs you. Go to her. Natalie knows you’ll be back soon.”

It was quiet in the room once the Connors family left. Nate wasn’t sure what to say, and Meagan didn’t seem to know what to do as she stood beside Natalie’s bed, wiping tears from her own eyes. But when she finally looked at him, Nate began to hope.

Meagan’s heart was thumping so hard she could barely breathe, seeing the look in Nate’s eyes. He approached her slowly, his lips turning up in a slight smile. She couldn’t take her gaze from his.

“Was Abigail right? Did she make you think I was in love with her?”

Meagan bit her bottom lip and nodded but couldn’t find her voice.

“It all makes sense now. You must have thought me quite the cad when I kept asking you to have dinner and then lunch with me.” He lifted her face to his. “I’m sorry. I certainly helped her cause when I asked her to marry me, didn’t I?”

“I didn’t know what to think. I … didn’t think you were the kind of person who would act that way, yet everything Abigail was saying to me when she came into the shop told me something completely different from what I thought was happening between us.”

Nate shook his head and looked deep into her eyes. “I can see how you would be confused and not want to have anything to do with me. But when you kept refusing to see me, I thought you didn’t care.”

“Oh, Nate.” Meagan shook her head. “I’m sorry, I—”

“It isn’t your fault, Meagan. But I knew I would never find anyone like you again. And if you didn’t want me, as I thought, well, I hoped I could one day come to love Abigail. Natalie needs a mother, and … I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t treat her right, either. I was just so … heartbroken. I had no hope that you would ever return my feelings, and—”

“Oh, Nate, I don’t know what to say. I did—I do care about you very much. I just didn’t know what to think, and then once you were engaged, there was nothing more to do.”

Nate bent his head and whispered in her ear, “You are the woman I want to marry. I love you, Meagan Snow. I’ve loved you for quite a while now, and I wish I’d told you long ago. I love you with all my heart. Do you think you can give me another chance to win yours?”

Meagan pulled back just enough to look him in the eye. “My heart is already yours. You won it a long time ago. I love you, too, Nate.”

His lips claimed hers softly at first until Meagan returned the pressure, and then he deepened the kiss. Meagan’s eyes filled with tears. Nate loved her. Not Abigail—but her. Her world righted itself for the first time in weeks.

She broke the kiss and looked into Nate’s eyes. She could see the joy she felt reflected in his eyes.

“Will you marry me, Meagan? Will you take my heart as your own and be my wife and Natalie’s mother?”

“I love you, Nate. I will be honored to become your wife and the mother of your daughter, whom I love, also.”

His lips found hers once more in a kiss meant to assure her of just how much he loved her. Time forgotten, they were broken apart by the child they both loved yelling, “Yippee! We’re going to marry Miss Meg!”

Nate chuckled and looked a little embarrassed. Apparently Meagan wasn’t the only one who’d forgotten that Natalie was in the same room and overheard everything they said.

When they hurried over to Natalie and included her in a hug, Meagan was more than a little aware that if Natalie hadn’t taken that fall, she and Nate might never have known how the other felt. She thanked the Lord once again that Natalie was going to be all right. How doubly blessed they were this evening.

The doctor arrived at the same time Meagan’s mother and sisters did. They were all in the room while the doctor looked into Natalie’s eyes and checked her cast before pronouncing her on the mend. He recommended a light supper if she was hungry but told Nate not to worry if her appetite wasn’t up to par. He gave her some medicine that would ease her pain and help her sleep during the night, should she need it.

“It does my heart good to see you awake, child,” he said to Natalie. “You look quite chipper for someone who broke an arm and had a concussion to go along with it.”

Natalie’s smile was huge when she nodded. “I’m very happy!”

“I’m sure you are no happier than your papa and these good folk here with him.”

“Can I tell them, Papa?” Natalie giggled excitedly.

Nate grinned and pulled Meagan into the crook of his arm. “Go right ahead.”

Meagan’s mother and sisters looked at her curiously. She just smiled back.

“Tell us what, Natalie, dear?” Mrs. Snow asked.

“Papa and Miss Meg are going to get married! She’s going to be my new mama! And I will be part of your family!”

“You are? How wonderful for us!” Meagan’s mother seemed truly confused when she looked at Natalie. “But what? How?”

“It all happened ‘cause of my fall,” Natalie said. “Aunt Abby gave Papa his ring back, and then after she left, Papa and Miss Meg said they love each other, and I saw them kissing!”

Meagan couldn’t contain her joy any longer. “Nate asked me to marry him, Mama. And I told him yes.”

“Oh, my dears. That is wonderful news. But what about—”

“We’ll tell you later,” Meagan said.

Her mother nodded, and Meagan knew she understood that there was quite a bit left unsaid. “My, we do have much to celebrate!”

It was a while later before Meagan and Nate could discuss wedding plans. By the time her family had left, with Nate promising to bring her home once Natalie was asleep and his housekeeper could watch her, Meagan had begun to believe it was all true and not part of her dreams.

After a light supper, Meagan had helped Natalie get ready for bed, and the child was so sweet even with her pain, that she knew Natalie truly loved her. It felt very natural to kiss the child good night and wait for Nate to do the same. They didn’t go far in case she called out. Instead of going downstairs, they took a seat on a settee in the wide hallway. There was so much to talk about as she told him how Abigail had gone about convincing her that Nate and she were going to be married.

“I can’t help but feel sorry for her,” Meagan said.

“I know. I never realized how guilty she felt about Rose’s death. I was too busy blaming myself for not getting there in time, I suppose. I should never have asked her to marry me when I didn’t love her like I do you.”

“You need to talk to her, Nate. She’s devastated that Natalie is upset with her. I saw her face when Natalie told her she wanted you to marry me.”

Nate rubbed a hand over his face and shook his head. “I still can’t believe this day. I was so afraid I was going to lose my daughter and to end it with her all right and knowing I have you … I have so much to thank the Lord for!” He bent his head and captured her lips with his own.

Meagan wondered if there would ever be a sweeter kiss between them. But when he raised his head for only a second and then kissed her again, she knew there could be.

“When are you going to become my wife? I don’t want to wait long. I don’t want to take a chance on anything going wrong again.”

She kissed his cheek. “Nothing is going to go wrong—not now. We’ll get married as soon as I can get my wedding gown made and you can talk to Abigail and let her know that she will always be part of Natalie’s life. I would never want Rose’s family to think that they couldn’t come around or be as much a part of her life as they always have been. Please, Nate, let them know.”

Nate cupped his hand around her chin and looked down at her. If she’d ever doubted his love for her, she no longer did. It was shining from his eyes.

“I’ll let them know,” he promised … just before he kissed her, telling her in his own way just how very much he loved her.

Nate didn’t see Abigail or her parents for the next several days, but Jacob and Georgette came to see Natalie often, bringing her a toy or some other treat. He’d talked to them briefly, but he didn’t feel any animosity from them about the broken engagement to Abigail. Georgette stayed most of the day while Nate was at work, but she usually left just before he got home, and he hadn’t been able to really talk to them about their daughter. Abigail hadn’t come to see Natalie at all. Natalie didn’t seem too concerned about it. Nate tried to tell her that her aunt Abigail loved her, but Natalie didn’t want to talk about it just yet.

By the end of the week, Nate was determined to keep his promise to Meagan. He left work on Friday and went to Abigail’s home. She did need reassurance that Natalie still loved her, and he’d promised to let her know that she would be a part of Natalie’s life always. But Abigail wasn’t at her home, or at least that’s what her housekeeper told him. Nate sought her out at her parents’ home. He was shown into the study where Mr. Connors seemed to be waiting for him.

“Good evening, Nate. Please, take a seat. I suppose you’ve come to talk about my daughter.”

“I’ve come to see her, sir.”

“She’s had a hard time. I had no idea she blamed herself for so much.” Jacob sighed deeply.

Nate nodded. “I … know. Neither did I. I want to assure her that Natalie will come around. I know she didn’t mean to make Rose fall down the stairs that day. And I should have told you earlier that as much as I wanted to save Rose, I didn’t get there in time. The house was engulfed in flames when I got there.”

“I know that, son.”

“You do?”

“I know most people in this town, Nate. They tell me things. But I also know how much you loved Rose. I know you would have gone in there and dragged her out if there were any way you could have.”

Nate blinked against the tears that threatened. “I would have.”

Jacob nodded. “Abigail isn’t the woman for you. I know it, and you know it. You never had to marry her to stay part of this family, Nate.”

“Thank you, sir. I am sorry I hurt Abigail. I prayed that I was doing the right thing when I asked her to marry me. What I should have done was pray for the Lord to guide me in doing the right thing. I didn’t wait on Him. It would have been easier on Abigail if I’d done that.”

“One day, she’ll get what she needs. A love all her own—not one that loved her sister first or who is in love with someone else, but one who loves her.”

“I’ll pray she does. I would like to apologize to her. Do you think she’ll talk to me?”

“Not now, Nate. She doesn’t want to talk to anyone—not even her friends.”