“Girls! Roger! Behave,” Eleanor said in a loud whisper.
“It’s quite all right,” the reverend said. “The ceremony is concluded. The children are welcome to stand.”
Each one of them, even Gwynnie, leapt up and rushed to the front of the church as if they’d been forced to remain in one place for hours on end.
“Congratulations,” Eleanor said when she finally was able to pry Rebecca away from the children for a moment. “It was a lovely ceremony.”
Rebecca’s eyes darted to her new husband, who was shaking hands with Merrick. “I’m so afraid I’ve made the wrong decision.”
Eleanor took her sister’s hands. She was so beautiful, with her dark hair swirled up into a simple style and her luminous skin glowing in the sunlight streaming in through the church windows. “You haven’t. I’m sure of it. You and Mr. Whiteside are going to be perfectly happy together, and before you know it, you’ll have even more children to occupy you.”
That made Rebecca smile. If there was anything her sister loved, it was babies. Eleanor wouldn’t be surprised if Rebecca had five more.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice sounding stronger. “Will you come visit?”
“Of course I will. What do you say to Christmas?”
“I would love that more than anything!”
Eleanor gave her a hug, and when she let go, Mr. Whiteside took Rebecca’s hand. Merrick and Eleanor followed as the new family piled into a wagon and headed home.
“I think he’ll do right by her,” Merrick said as the wagon faded into the distance.
He didn’t know how much his words reassured her. Eleanor drew in a deep breath and let it out. She’d felt positively about Mr. Whiteside, but Rebecca’s hesitation had made her second guess everything.
“He’s a good man, by all accounts,” Merrick said.
Eleanor looked up at him in surprise. “You asked around about him?”
“I did. I was hardly about to let your sister marry some ne’er-do-well.” He stood a little straighter, and pride swelled in Eleanor’s heart.
“Thank you. That means more to me than you could ever know.”
He gave her a smile that could have melted the dusting of snow around them. “What do you say to a walk along the creek before we go home? Or are you too cold?”
He looked at her so hopefully that even if she were near to freezing, Eleanor would have said yes to his suggestion. But as it was, she was perfectly warm in her coat, gloves, and new shoes. “That sounds wonderful. This sun takes some of the chill from the air, doesn’t it?”
“It does.” Merrick extended his arm, and Eleanor wrapped her hand around it. It was a far cry from their first venture out into town, when he’d seemed terrified to offer her this most basic of gentlemanly gestures. This time, not only did he offer, but he tucked his free hand over hers as they began to walk. The movement drew them closer together, and Eleanor reveled in the feel of him walking beside her.
He looked particularly handsome today too, she thought as they strode past the buildings in the middle of town. He’d purchased a new hat but wore the same suit and coat he’d donned to their own ceremony. Eleanor’s mind went back to the one they’d just witnessed, where she’d spent half the time she wasn’t occupied with the children with remembering her own recent wedding.
When they stepped off the board sidewalk, the shallow layer of snow crunched beneath Eleanor’s feet. “I haven’t been past the edge of the town yet,” she said as Merrick led her around a dip in the ground. “We had a creek back at home that I used to love to walk alongside.”
“Silver Creek is beautiful any time of year,” Merrick replied. “In fact, it’s one of my favorite places to go.”
Eleanor glanced up at him. Just as she thought she knew him, he revealed some other interesting fact about himself. “I didn’t realize you had such a fascination with natural beauty.”
He shrugged, as if it wasn’t anything that interesting. “I assumed most people did.”
“Not at all,” she replied, her breath coming in wisps as they trudged up the hill past the hotel. “You’d be surprised the number of people in West Fork who went about their day without a glance or appreciation for the curve of the hills or the green in the trees or even birdsong in the morning. But I suppose I can’t fault them. Life was difficult there, and most folks worked dawn to dusk just to feed their families.”
Merrick seemed to think a moment, and then nodded. “It’s something of a luxury to take a moment and appreciate all of what is around you.”
He was right, and Eleanor pondered his words for a moment as they crested the small hill and began their descent. “I never thought of it that way. Oh!”
Merrick was quick to react, grabbing her other elbow to steady her as her heel sank into a soft spot in the ground. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. Thank you.” He held onto her a moment longer while she glanced down at her shoe. Nothing was amiss, thankfully, and they continued to stroll until they reached the banks of Silver Creek.
