A Love For Keeps (Truly Yours Digital Editions) (16 page)

“Good afternoon, Miss Meg! I’m here for my fitting!” he heard Natalie say.

He heard Meagan chuckle. “So you are,” she said. “Good afternoon to you! I have everything ready, so come on and we’ll get started.”

Nate entered the shop just as they disappeared behind the changing screen. He took his normal seat in one of the chairs and waited for Natalie to come around the screen and twirl in front of him. When she did, it was worth the wait. She looked adorable in the silk dress she could wear for dinner or to church. Meagan only needed to put the hem in and finish the matching jacket.

Natalie twirled this way and that in front of the mirror, admiring herself.

“I think she likes it,” Meagan said.

He chuckled. “Now whatever gave you that idea? She looks adorable, Meagan. And she loves everything you’ve made her.”

“Thank you. She’s a pleasure to sew for.”

Mrs. Snow entered the room just then. “Oh, Natalie dear, I knew that would look lovely on you, and it does!”

Natalie curtsied prettily. “Thank you, Mrs. Snow. I feel like a princess in everything Miss Meg makes for me.”

“And you look like one,” Nate added.

“Nate, it’s good to see you. Are you able to stay for supper with us?”

“Oh, Papa, can we? Please?”

His daughter’s eyes implored him to say yes, but he wasn’t sure what to do—

“Please do join us,” Meagan said, looking at Natalie.

Nate wondered why she didn’t look at him and had a feeling she’d added her invitation to her mother’s just for Natalie’s sake, but he wasn’t going to turn it down. Hopefully it would give him the opportunity to be able to talk to her later. “Thank you, then. We’d be honored to join you.”

As she and her sisters helped get the meal of roast pork, mashed potatoes, and green beans on the table, Meagan wondered why she hadn’t told her mother earlier in the day not to ask Nate and Natalie to stay for supper. Once the invitation was issued, however, she couldn’t bear disappointing Natalie again. She kept telling herself that it was the child she was concerned with, yet if she were being honest with herself, she had to admit that she truly wanted them to stay—in spite of the fact that Abigail was making her life miserable each and every time she came into the shop.

Meagan had come to the realization that Nate hadn’t meant to hurt her. It wasn’t his fault that she’d begun to care for him so much. She shouldn’t have read so much into the outing for a soda or the invitation to the Crescent gala … or the dance lessons in the moonlight. She told herself that the first had just been out of politeness and the second had most likely been to help her business out. The third, well, he hadn’t given her any real encouragement that he cared about her the way she did him. Not really. She’d just hoped.

And now, looking at Nate from across her dining room table as they all enjoyed the apple pie her mother had made earlier in the day, she told herself to let go of the hope. Much as she cared for Nate and his daughter, his sister-in-law was part of their family and there was really no way to compete with Abigail Connors. She was a determined woman, and she wanted Nate. Of that there was no doubt. She’d come out and told Meagan that she planned to be married to him. How much plainer could it be? If Abigail was that certain, she must know how Nate felt about her.

Yet the way Nate looked at Meagan, off and on throughout the meal, continued to make her pulse race and turn her heart to mush. When he asked if he could have a minute with her after supper, while Sarah, Becca, and Natalie were helping to clear the table, she wasn’t sure what to think. All a tremble on the inside, she led him to the family parlor where they’d had tea the day he’d decided to give them the loan.

She motioned for him to take a seat in the same chair he’d sat in the first time he’d come to this room, and she seated herself on the settee. “What is it you want to talk to me about, Nate?”

“It’s of a personal nature, Meagan.”

“Oh?” Her heart seemed to stop the slow somersault it had begun, and she held her breath, waiting for his reply.

“For some time now, I’ve wanted to ask you to have dinner with me. There is a new restaurant in town that I’ve wanted to try, and I’d very much like to take you with me if you would like to go. I was wondering if you would be free to accompany me tomorrow evening.”

Oh how she wanted to go! With every fiber of her being, she wanted to accept his invitation. But from all of Abigail’s accounts, they were practically engaged. If so, he certainly shouldn’t be asking her to go to dinner with him. Who did he think he was? He might be the banker who loaned her money to start her business, but he was also the man who’d stolen her heart when he was almost engaged to another. Nate had no business playing with her feelings.

She might be risking her business, but she couldn’t risk more heartache. Disappointment in him pierced her heart as she jumped up from the settee and answered, “I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to accompany you, Nate.” Meagan was well aware that she sounded angry, but she couldn’t help it. She was.

Nate stood also, looking a bit surprised and … there was something else in his eyes as he looked at her. “I’m sorry. I—”

The girls entered just then, and Meagan didn’t know who was the more relieved at the interruption—she or Nate.

“Papa, may I play one game of checkers with Becca? I’m getting much better at it, and I know it is from playing with her,” Natalie said.

Nate glanced at Meagan and then back to his daughter. He shook his head. “Not tonight, dear. We need to be getting home.”

Meagan’s heart twisted in her chest. She didn’t want things to end like this between her and Nate. She didn’t want them to go. But they weren’t hers to keep, and it was becoming more painful by the day to want something so badly and know that she couldn’t have it. A life with Nate and Natalie wasn’t going to happen for her, and she had to accept that fact. Abigail had a stronger claim, and there was nothing Meagan could do about it except perhaps to lower her standards—and that was something she had no intention of doing.

Nate listened to Natalie’s prayers, trying to hide his heartache at Meagan’s refusal to have dinner with him. But his daughter was quite intuitive and put her small hands on each side of his face as he kissed her good night. “Papa, are you all right? You seem sad tonight.”

He was sad. But he didn’t want his daughter taking on his mood and becoming dispirited herself. “I’m fine, dear. Just a little tired, I suppose.”

Nate told himself that it wasn’t really a lie. He was tired of being lonely and tired of not knowing what direction the Lord wanted him to go in. He’d thought it was to pursue Meagan Snow, but after tonight, he thought that perhaps he’d been wrong.

“Well, you’d better turn in yourself and get a good night’s rest,” Natalie advised with a giggle.

“I might just do that, sweetheart. You sleep tight and have sweet dreams.”

“You, too, Papa,” Natalie said as he turned down the gaslight and left her door ajar so he could hear if she called out in the night.

He went back downstairs and entered his study to find that his housekeeper had left him a pot of hot cocoa. Mrs. Baker knew he liked the beverage any time of year and especially before bed. Perhaps it would help him sleep, but he doubted he’d have sweet dreams tonight. It appeared that he’d been living on dreams ever since he met Meagan Snow. At first, she’d reminded him of his Rose, and then as he’d come to know her, she’d become a gracious, beautiful woman in her own right—at least in his thoughts and dreams. But when she’d turned down his invitation to dinner, he’d come to the realization that perhaps she wasn’t interested in him as a man, but only as the one who had approved her bank loan.

No
, he told himself. That was being unfair to her. She’d never acted as if she was only kind to him because he was a banker. He knew she cared about Natalie, and he’d come to think she might care about him. But perhaps that was only wishful thinking on his part. Perhaps she simply was not impressed with the man he was.

She was used to being around real people instead of the kind he’d introduced her to at the gala. Most of them were superficial, going about their days with only one thing in mind: to be entertained, to have a good time. Why, most of the people he’d associated with since Rose’s death had too much time on their hands, and they didn’t use it for much good.

He wanted something different for himself and his daughter. Perhaps he’d read too much into Meagan’s refusal tonight. The girls had interrupted them before he could find out why she was turning him down. Meagan had looked weary. Maybe that was all it was. She worked very hard, and if the conversation at the supper table had been any indication, her business was growing. Perhaps she was just tired and had a lot of work to do.

Nate leaned back in his office chair and took a sip of cocoa. It was still very warm and comforting. He took another sip and began to feel better. He wasn’t going to give up on Meagan—not now—and not until he had no other choice.

Meagan barely managed to make small talk with her mother and sisters after Nate and Natalie left. She didn’t want them to see how upset she was. She flipped through one of her newest magazines while she kept them company in the parlor. That way she didn’t have to look up every time they asked her a question and she answered or made a comment.

“Mr. Brooks seemed in a hurry to leave tonight, didn’t he, Meagan?” Becca looked up while she and Sarah played a game of checkers in the family parlor. “Natalie asked if we could play a game of checkers, but he barely let her finish her cookie before they took off.”

“Maybe he had work to do at home, dear,” her mother answered.

“He didn’t look too happy about leaving,” Sarah said. “Did you make him angry, Meagan?”

Her sister’s question took her by surprise, and Meagan inhaled sharply.
Did I? Well, if so, it was no more so than he’d made me
. The more Meagan thought about their conversation the more upset she became, and she was glad her mother spoke, saving her from having to answer her sister.

“Meagan make Mr. Brooks angry?” Their mother chuckled. “Now, Sarah, you know better. Your sister goes out of her way not to anger anyone.”

“I know. But he looked …” She shrugged. “I don’t know. He just didn’t look as happy when he left as when he came in for supper.”

“Hmm,” Mama said. “I’m sure he’s fine, dear. He probably just wanted to get Natalie home and ready for bed. And that’s just what you girls need to be doing now. Don’t you have some studying to do?”

“I do have a test at the end of the week,” Sarah admitted.

“Well, go on, then. I’ll be up to say good night soon.”

Meagan was relieved the conversation about Nate had ended. Just hearing his name made her want to cry. She released a sigh and turned to leave the parlor. “I think I’ll go straighten up the shop, Mama.”

“Have a cup of tea with me first, dear,” her mother said. “You haven’t had much time to relax lately.”

“That sounds good.” Meagan followed her mother into the kitchen.

Once they sat down at the table with their tea, her mother said, “Tell me what’s bothering you, dear. You’ve looked so sad this evening.”