The Christmas Secret Read Online Free

Eve.”
    Cheeks burning and heart pounding, Elizabeth moved quickly away, busying herself as she began to dust the desk where she’d discovered the journal. She’d already dusted it thoroughly but needed to put some distance between her and David.
    “It’s obvious that there’s still some work to be done here, so what would you like me to do?” David asked.
    Silence filled the room.
Go home. Leave me alone so I can think.
    “Elizabeth, did you hear what I said?” David touched her arm.
    She turned to face him but fixed her attention on the buttons of his jacket, unable to look at his handsome face. “I–I’ve developed a headache, and my stomach is upset. I think I’d better go home and lie down. Besides, it’s not proper for us to be here alone together without a chaperone.”
    “You’re right, of course.” He retrieved her shawl from the back of the wooden bench and placed it around her shoulders. “I’ll follow you home to make sure you get there safely.”
    “There’s no need for that. I’ll be fine.” Elizabeth grabbed her satchel and hurried out the door.
    She was about to climb into her buckboard when David called, “I really would prefer to make sure you get home safely.”
    “If you wish,” she mumbled. The headache she’d mentioned was real and had become worse—no doubt from the time she’d spent crying after she’d found Aunt Lovina’s journal. If only she hadn’t read those horrible things her aunt had written. If she could just turn back the hands of time.
    But if I hadn’t read the journal I might have married David—my own brother—and then …
    No longer able to deal with her troubling thoughts, Elizabeth gathered up the reins and got the horse moving. She needed to get home so she could retreat to her bedroom and think things through. She needed to pray about this matter and decide how she should break her engagement to David. The most frigid of winters had never made her feel as cold as she did right now.

U nable to face David, Elizabeth spent the next several days in bed, telling her father and stepmother, Abigail, that she was sick with a stomach virus. Truth be told, her stomach was upset. Food held no appeal, and she’d had to force herself to drink the chamomile tea Abigail had given her. Father had wanted her to see the doctor, but she’d insisted that it was nothing serious and would be fine in a few days.
    I can’t stay in my room forever
, Elizabeth told herself as she climbed out of bed one morning.
I need to break my engagement to David, and I can’t put it off any longer. I need to do it today.
    She wrapped the quilt from her bed around her shoulders and plodded across the room to the window. It was a dreary-looking day, full of dark clouds and a blustery wind that caused the branches of the elm tree near the house to brush against her window with an irritating scrape.
    Elizabeth shivered and crossed her arms over her chest. It was cold in her room, and she was tempted to crawl back in bed under the warmth of the covers but knew she’d been confined to her room long enough. She’d made a decision before going to sleep last night and needed to follow through with it. She would get dressed, put Aunt Lovina’s journal, as well as a few clothes, into a satchel, and go downstairs for a cup of tea and a biscuit. Then she’d head over to the cabin, leave David a note, and stop on her way to the train station to see Helen, whom she’d decided would be her only confidante. She was glad Father had left on a business trip to New York this morning, and since Abigail had gone shopping, she wouldn’t have to tell them face-to-face that she was leaving. She was sure they wouldn’t have accepted her explanation and feared she may have broken down and told them the truth.
    I must never tell them,
Elizabeth told herself.
It would bring humiliation on my family, and the shock might be too much for Father when he found out he’s not my real father at all.
    Tears sprang