Chapter 4

The next morning, the fog still hadn't lifted.

Carrying my suitcase, I limped toward the edge of the village.

A big crowd had gathered under the old locust tree there.

Ethan and Chloe stood in the middle, handing out engagement favors to the villagers.

Today was the day they were going back to the city.

When everyone saw me coming with my suitcase, the noisy crowd suddenly went quiet.

Ethan turned. His eyes landed on my suitcase, and his brows knotted instantly.

"What's with the suitcase? Are you pulling the running-away-from-home act again?"

He strode up to me and blocked my way.

"Nora, haven't you made enough of a scene?"

Chloe came over too, hooked her arm through his, and looked at me with concern.

"Nora, where are you going? Are you mad at us because Ethan asked you to pick flowers yesterday?

"He was just in a hurry. Please don't blame him."

The villagers started pointing and whispering right away.

"Nora's got no sense. He was kind enough to find her a job and she turned it down, and now she's pulling this."

"Right. Just because they knew each other as kids, she thinks she's somebody."

Listening to them, Ethan's face grew darker.

"Nora, stop using the past to guilt-trip me. I don't owe you anything!

"Look at yourself. You limp around on one bad leg, you don't even have a real job. Wouldn't it be strange for me to be with someone like you?

"Let me tell you something. Even without Chloe, I still wouldn't want you!"

Every word hit exactly where I used to be softest.

But strangely, I didn't feel any pain at all.

Looking at his face twisted with anger, I suddenly felt sorry for him.

He couldn't even recognize the person who'd saved his life. What was left there for me to miss?

"Are you finished?"

I looked at him calmly.

Ethan froze.

"If you're done, move. I have a bus to catch."

I tightened my grip on the suitcase handle, stepped around his rigid frame, and kept walking.

In the distance, the rickety bus to town was slowly pulling up.

I found a seat by the window.

As the bus pulled away, I saw Ethan still standing in the same spot, staring after it.

I drew the curtain and closed my eyes.

Less than ten minutes after the bus left the village, Ethan's phone rang.

It was old Dr. Harmon, the village doctor.

"Mr. Caldwell, before you leave, could you stop by the clinic?"

Dr. Harmon's voice trembled a little.

"When you were kidnapped as a boy, you left behind a bloody shirt and half a honey cake. I've been keeping them for you all these years.

"Nora came by yesterday for her medicine and said she didn't want them anymore. She told me to toss them. But I figured they were keepsakes..."

Ethan's mind went blank.

"What did you say?"

His hand clenched around the phone.

"What bloody shirt? What half a cake?"

"The day you had that high fever. Nora rolled down the hillside to lead the traffickers away from you, and she broke her leg. Her blood got all over your shirt..."

Dr. Harmon sighed.

"And that half cake? She'd gone three days without eating, and she still saved it and fed it to you. That's how she ruined her stomach.

"After your family found you, you remembered the cake but not the girl. Nora wouldn't let any of us tell you. She didn't want you feeling like you owed her..."

Crack!

The phone slipped from Ethan's hand and hit the ground, its screen shattering.

He turned stiffly and looked at Chloe.

Her face went white, and she stumbled back a step.

"Ethan, let me explain..."

Ethan ignored her.

He shoved his way through the crowd, got into his car and drove like a madman in the direction the bus had gone.