Homespun Bride

60 Homespun Brideand the faint hush of the sleigh’s runners on the icycrust of snow. Hurt rose up like a cold cutting fog untilit was all she could feel.As if from a great distance she heard her aunt anduncle saying goodbye to Thad, she heard the beat of hissteeled horseshoes on the icy ground and felt the tearsof the girl she’d used to be, the girl who believed in loveand in the goodness of the man who was riding awayfrom her. Even now.Please let him move on, Lord, she prayed as Henrietta’sno-nonsense gait pounded in her direction. Pleasetake this pain from my heart.She didn’t want to feel, especially after all this time,the ragged pieces of her spirit broken. She’d waited atthe window for Thad watching the moon rise and thestars wheel across the sky. She stood waiting, shiveringas the September night turned bitterly cold. Stillshe’d waited, believing in the goodness of the man sheloved—a goodness that didn’t, apparently, exist. She’dbelieved in a love that wasn’t true.Now, five years later, she felt the burn of that oldheartache and gulped hard to keep it buried. The piecesof that shattered love still cut like tiny shards of sharpglass.At least I know he will move on, she thought.Please, Lord, let that be soon.Her world was dark and pragmatic. She set her chin,gathered herself and turned toward her aunt’s approachingsteps. “You have your letter? I wouldn’t want youto face such a perilous trip to town and realize you’dleft the letter behind.”“Exactly.” Henrietta sounded cheerful and it was notrouble at all to imagine her delighting in the prospect