He shook his head.
“Everything will be fine, Adam. It might not seem like that now, but I want you to know that sorrow may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”
The words slammed painfully in Adam’s chest as he recalled Olivia had told him those same words.
Olivia!
His thoughts had been filled with her in the forest, no matter how he tried to force them away. How she must despise him now!
“Have you seen Olivia lately?” he gingerly asked, wary that Annie might give him a good tongue lashing for what he did to her friend.
“No. She left for the orphanage a day after you sent a note to her asking her to go back there.”
He knew Annie wanted to say more, but he wasn’t prepared to listen just yet. Guilt for the way he had treated both Olivia and his family threatened to choke him.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, clearly humbled by his experience.
Annie shook her head and moved forward. “You don’t have to apologize for anything, Adam. Everyone understands what you’re going through.”
Adam lifted soulless eyes. “Even Olivia?”
Annie frowned. “But of course, she’s a very understanding woman. You know that.”
“Even after what I did to her?”
Placing her hands on her robust hips and with her eyes narrowing, Annie stood by the table.
“Just what did you do her, Adam? Please don’t tell me you broke her heart.”
Adam smiled a little. “Please sit and listen to me for a moment. Standing there like that reminds me of my late mother whenever I did something wrong.”
Still regarding him with censure, Annie pulled out a chair and clumsily sat. “What did you do to that sweet young woman?”
Adam inhaled deeply and slowly let it out. He had always found it easy to talk to Annie. However, this was the first time he would talk to her about his feelings for a woman. He felt a little awkward.
Lying there at a clearing in the forest, he had known Ruby Rock was no longer a place he wanted to be. But the thought of leaving Olivia had almost torn him to shreds. The thought of living without her had been unbearable. And so, he had returned to Ruby Rock to see her one last time. But he was wary of going to the orphanage after the way he had mocked her the last time they met.
“Adam.”
He jerked from his musings and gave his sister-in-law an apologetic smile.
“Forgive me, Annie. I was miles away.” Adam lowered his head. “Didn’t Olivia tell you what I did to her?”
“No.”
That surprised Adam because he had thought she would tell everyone what a blatherskite he was. It just went to show how wonderful Olivia was. She didn’t make him look bad before his family, even though he deserved it.
I don’t deserve her.
“Adam, please tell me what happened,” Annie gently prompted.
With every word like a knife stab in his heart, Adam relayed to his brother’s wife all the hurtful things he said to Olivia that fateful day.
“Oh, Adam. Why would you do that?”
Adam’s shoulders slumped. “I let my frustrations get the best of me.”
“Then you must go to her and apologize.”
