Daniel was furious.
The moment Elena finished telling him what had happened, he turned toward the door without another thought.
From the way he moved, it was obvious that he intended to march straight back to the main farmhouse and confront George and Agnes.
Elena had expected exactly that reaction and quickly grabbed his arm.
“Uncle Daniel, wait.”
The moment she tried to pull him back, however, she realized there was no chance of stopping an angry grown man with her current strength.
Daniel had spent years working on the farm.
In spring, he plowed and sowed.
In summer, he repaired fences and cut hay.
When autumn came, he harvested wheat and hauled heavy sacks of grain.
Years of physical labor had made his arms strong.
Elena, by comparison, had only just recovered from falling into the pond and running a high fever.
Whatever experience she might have carried over from her previous life, this body was still weak.
There was no way she could drag him back by force.
Daniel already had his hand on the door latch when Elena quickly looked over her shoulder.
“Mom, help me stop Uncle Daniel.”
Martha had been sitting beside Thomas’s bed, holding his uninjured hand while tears slipped silently down her face.
Too much had happened in a single day.
She still seemed dazed by it all, and it was only when Elena called to her that she suddenly came back to herself.
Seeing Daniel about to leave, she hurried to her feet.
“Daniel, don’t go yet.”
Martha crossed the room and caught his other arm.
Her voice was still thick from crying.
“There’s been enough arguing tonight.
Father and Mother are both angry.
If you go over there now, they won’t listen to anything you say.
It’ll only turn into another fight.”
Daniel stopped at the door, though his chest still rose and fell heavily.
“So we’re supposed to let it go?”
“Of course not.”
This time, Elena answered.
She released his arm and took a moment to catch her breath.
“Grandfather and Grandmother only have the idea right now.
They haven’t arranged anything.”
“Even if they go to Mrs.
Howard tomorrow and ask her to make inquiries at church or around the nearby villages, she isn’t going to find someone immediately.”
“We still have time.”
Daniel turned toward her.
Elena’s expression remained calm.
“Besides, Father hasn’t properly woken up yet.”
She glanced toward Thomas.
“This is my marriage, and it concerns our family.
At the very least, we should wait until Father wakes up and hear what he thinks.”
“If he doesn’t agree either, then we can decide what to do next.”
That was far more practical than storming into the main farmhouse and starting another argument.
Daniel fell silent.
He stood at the door for a long moment before finally turning toward Thomas.
Thomas remained unconscious.
The weak lamplight fell across his pale face.
His injured arm had been freshly bandaged, while both legs were hidden beneath a thick wool blanket.
From the outside, it was almost impossible to tell how serious the injuries were.
But everyone in the room remembered what Dr.
Brown had said earlier that day.
Daniel’s clenched fist gradually loosened.
“All right.”
At last, he forced himself to abandon the idea of confronting his parents.
“I won’t go tonight.”
Martha visibly relaxed.
Daniel, however, immediately looked back at Elena.
“But don’t be afraid.”
“If anyone comes here to talk about marrying you, you tell me first.”
“I don’t care what Father and Mother think.
They’re not sending you off with some man none of us knows anything about.”
Elena looked at him and nodded.
“I know.”
Only then did Daniel prepare to leave.
At the door, he glanced back at Thomas once more.
“If Thomas wakes during the night, or anything happens with his wounds, call me.
I’ll be staying close enough to hear if you shout.”
“All right.”
Martha nodded.
“You should get some sleep too.
You still have work in the morning.”
Daniel gave a quiet acknowledgment and stepped outside.
The moment the door opened, the cool autumn air slipped into the room, carrying the mingled smells of dry hay, damp earth, and woodsmoke.
The barn farther across Miller Farm had gone completely quiet.
Only the occasional shifting of a horse in its stall and the low breathing of cattle could be heard in the darkness.
Once Daniel had gone, Martha closed the door.
But as soon as she turned around, her body suddenly swayed.
“Mom.”
Elena caught her at once.
Only when she came closer did she realize how pale Martha had become.
Her eyes were swollen and red from crying.
Ever since Thomas had been brought home in the farm wagon, Martha had barely rested.
First, she had been terrified that her husband might not survive.
Then Dr.
Brown had told her that Thomas’s legs might never recover properly.
That evening, she had gone into the family discussion hoping they might find a solution, only to discover that none of Thomas’s brothers wanted to take responsibility for the long-term cost of his treatment.
And finally, George and Agnes had turned their attention to Elena’s marriage.
It was too much for one day.
Even someone stronger than Martha might have struggled beneath the weight of it all.
“Mom, sit down.”
Elena helped her into the wooden chair beside the bed.
The moment Martha sat, she closed her eyes wearily.
Elena did not question her.
Instead, she crossed the room to the washstand.
A white enamel basin sat there, with a worn cotton towel hanging beside it.
There was still a little water left in the earthenware pitcher from earlier that day.
Elena poured some into the basin, dampened the towel, wrung it out, and brought it back.
“Wipe your face.”
Martha took the towel but did not use it immediately.
She sat with her head lowered for a while before whispering, “I’m useless.”
Elena paused.
“Why would you say that?”
“Thomas is hurt this badly, and there’s nothing I can do to help him.”
Martha’s voice was hoarse from crying.
“And now they want to arrange your marriage, but I can’t even make them change their minds.”
She wiped at her eyes.
“If I had money of my own, maybe none of this would be happening.”
Elena watched her quietly for a moment before sitting beside her.
“Father getting hurt wasn’t your fault.”
“And this family not having enough money isn’t your responsibility alone.”
Martha said nothing.
Elena knew there was little point in saying too much right now.
For years, Martha’s entire life had revolved around her husband, her children, and the farm.
Every morning began with preparing breakfast, feeding the chickens, milking the cow, and tending the kitchen garden.
During the busiest seasons, she worked in the fields as well.
On top of that came the laundry, meals, mending, and the endless small tasks that kept her own household running.
She had worked hard for years.
But she had never had an income that was truly her own.
Now that disaster had struck, it was only natural for her to feel that no matter how much harder she worked, she had no real power to change anything.
That feeling would not disappear overnight.
“Things haven’t reached the worst point yet.”
Her voice remained calm.
“Mrs.
Howard hasn’t even come here.
No one has actually spoken to Grandfather about marrying me.”
“And besides…”
Elena looked directly at Martha.
Her voice was not loud, but every word was clear.
“I’m not going to walk away with a stranger just because someone else decided I should.”
Martha’s eyes reddened again.
She reached out and took Elena’s hand.
“I know you’re frightened.”
“But don’t worry.
Once Thomas wakes up, I’ll talk to him.”
“If he finds out Father and Mother are trying to arrange your marriage like this, he won’t agree either.”
Elena did not doubt that.
She had known Thomas for less than a day in any meaningful sense, but judging from everything Martha had told her and the way Daniel spoke about his brother, Thomas did not seem like the kind of man who would sacrifice his daughter simply to pay his medical bills.
“Mm.”
Elena nodded.
“We’ll wait until Father wakes up.”
The room grew quiet again.
Thomas continued to sleep deeply.
Elena glanced out the window.
It was late now.
Most of the lights around Miller Farm had gradually gone dark, leaving only a faint amber glow from a few windows of the main farmhouse.
Farther away, the barn and stable had disappeared almost completely into the night.
Moonlight lay across the low stone walls, wooden fences, and stacks of hay beneath the sheds.
The farm was so quiet that the wind moving through the trees could be heard clearly.
It had been an unbearably long day.
Elena herself was exhausted.
“Mom, we should get some sleep.”
She stood.
“There’s still plenty to deal with tomorrow.”
Martha looked at her and finally nodded.
Before leaving, Martha made sure Thomas was still breathing steadily and that nothing seemed wrong with his bandages.
Then she carefully tucked the blanket around him.
They left the spare room and followed the familiar path back across Miller Farm toward the old orchard cottage.
Neither of them bothered heating more water in the cottage kitchen.
They simply used what little water remained to wash their faces and hands.
Martha found a faded cotton nightgown in the old wooden cupboard in Elena’s room.
By the time Elena finally lay down, she barely had enough strength left to think.
Her body was still recovering from the fever and the pond accident.
After everything that had happened that day, the moment she relaxed, exhaustion swept over her.
Her head had barely settled onto the pillow stuffed with dried grass and old feathers before she fell into a deep sleep.
Martha stood beside the bed and watched her daughter.
In the dim lamplight, Elena slept soundly.
A few strands of light brown hair lay across her forehead, and her round cheek pressed softly into the pillow.
At first glance, she looked no different from the child Martha had always needed to watch over.
But Martha knew things had changed.
Her daughter could comfort her now.
She could think things through.
She had even known to pretend to be her old self when Martha nearly revealed the truth.
Martha lifted one roughened hand and gently brushed the hair away from Elena’s forehead.
“No matter what happens…”
Her voice was so quiet that only she could hear it.
“I won’t let them decide your marriage however they please.”
After pulling the blanket higher over Elena, Martha quietly left the room.
She did not intend to sleep much that night.
Thomas was still lying in the spare room beside the main farmhouse, and after everything that had happened, she could not bring herself to leave him alone for long.
At the same time, elsewhere on Miller Farm, someone else was still awake.
Victor sat on the edge of the bed in the rooms where he lived with his wife and children, pulling off his mud-stained work boots before hanging his socks near the small hearth to dry.
Laura had already changed into a loose cotton nightgown.
Her pregnancy made her movements slower than usual, and she sat before the small dressing table, taking down the hair she had pinned up during the day.
Their two young daughters were already asleep in the little bed on the other side of the room, sharing an old wool blanket.
The oil lamp had been turned low, its faint glow touching the exposed wooden beams and whitewashed walls.
After Laura finished brushing her hair, she did not immediately come to bed.
She hesitated for a long time before turning around.
“There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
Victor had just changed out of his work trousers.
“What is it?”
“It’s about Thomas’s family.”
Victor paused.
“Haven’t we talked about them enough tonight?”
He clearly had no desire to continue.
“Father questioned us for half the evening.
I’ve already said everything I can say.
It isn’t that I don’t want to help Thomas.
We simply don’t have much money ourselves.”
“I’m not talking about the doctor’s bills.”
Laura rested a hand lightly over her belly.
“I was thinking that if Thomas really can’t do heavy work anymore, things may become difficult for his family.”
Victor frowned.
“What are you getting at?”
Laura hesitated.
“Ethan and Noah will grow up eventually.”
“Noah especially.
He’s still very young.”
“If Thomas really can’t keep working the farm in the future, do you think…
perhaps Noah could spend more time with us?”
Victor finally turned to look at her.
“Why?”
Laura did not answer immediately.
Her gaze dropped to her belly, then shifted toward their two sleeping daughters.
“We already have two girls.”
“We don’t know whether this baby will be a boy or another girl.”
“I was only thinking that if we never have a son, we’ll still need someone to take over the heavier farm work when we’re older.”
Her voice became quieter.
“Noah is a Miller too.
If Thomas’s household really struggles, we could help raise him.
When he’s older, you could teach him how to handle the livestock, mend fences, and work the fields.”
“He could help us then.”
Victor’s expression darkened.
“Don’t start thinking like that.”
Laura blinked.
“I only meant—”
“Thomas is alive.”
Victor cut her off.
“He’s injured.
He isn’t dead.”
“Dr.
Brown doesn’t even know yet how much he’ll recover, and you’re already making plans for where his son is going to live?”
Laura’s face tightened.
“I’m thinking about our future too.”
“Then think about it later.”
Victor was clearly losing patience.
“Noah has a father and a mother.
Even if this baby is another girl, that doesn’t give us any right to start making plans for someone else’s child.”
Laura pressed her lips together and said nothing.
Victor seemed to realize that his voice had become too loud.
He glanced toward the little bed.
Fortunately, the girls merely shifted beneath the blanket and did not wake.
He lowered his voice.
“Don’t bring this up again.”
With that, he pulled off his coat, climbed beneath the blanket, and turned his back to her.
Laura remained seated for some time.
Eventually, she rose and blew out the lamp on the dressing table.
In the darkness, her hand instinctively rested over her belly.
Of course she hoped the baby would be a boy.
A farm needed strong hands, and in families like theirs, sons were usually expected to take on more of the heavy fieldwork as they grew older.
They were also more likely to continue working the land their parents left behind.
With two daughters already, Laura could not help worrying about the future.
But Victor had made his position clear.
For now, she could only put the thought aside.
The room soon became quiet.
That night, it seemed everyone across Miller Farm went to sleep carrying worries of their own.
It was not until the sky began to turn pale gray, the horses grew restless in their stalls, and roosters started calling from around the farm that a new day finally came to Oakridge.
Elena did not sleep well.
She had a long dream.
In it, she was sitting inside an unfamiliar carriage.
The wheels rolled endlessly over a rough country road, and Oakridge grew smaller and smaller beyond the window.
The fields disappeared first.
Then the stone walls.
Then the woods and the little village church.
She called for the driver to stop.
No one answered.
She reached for the carriage door, but no matter how hard she pulled, it would not open.
Eventually, the carriage stopped in front of an unfamiliar farmhouse.
It stood far from the nearest town, surrounded by lonely stretches of pasture and woodland.
A man Elena had never seen before waited at the door.
He was much older than she was.
Several children stood behind him.
No one asked whether she wanted to stay.
No one asked whether she wanted to marry him.
Everyone behaved as though the decision had already been made.
All she had to do was accept it.
From then on, she was trapped in that farmhouse.
Every day she lit the fire, baked bread, washed clothes, fed chickens, milked cows, and cared for children she did not know.
Whenever she tried to leave, someone always told her the same thing.
This is your home now.
You’re married.
Where else would you go?
The suffocating feeling of having no choice grew stronger and stronger.
Elena threw herself against the locked wooden door.
Then—
Thump!
Pain shot through her forehead.
Elena’s eyes flew open.
For several seconds, she simply stared ahead.
At some point in the night, she had rolled to the edge of the bed and struck her forehead against the little wooden cabinet beside it.
Weak morning light filtered through a gap in the curtains of her room in the old orchard cottage.
The back of her nightgown was damp with cold sweat, and so were her palms.
Elena slowly sat up and rubbed her forehead.
Just a dream.
She let out a long breath.
But the feeling from the dream—the helplessness of having every choice taken away from her—refused to disappear.
She was about to lie down again when raised voices suddenly carried across the quiet farm.
Elena froze.
She listened carefully.
It did not take long to recognize Daniel’s voice.
Agnes’s sharp scolding cut through it, along with another man’s lower voice trying to calm the argument.
Somewhere in between, Elena thought she heard Martha crying.
Whatever sleepiness remained vanished instantly.
Did Father wake up?
The thought had barely crossed her mind before she threw off the blanket and got out of bed.
She pulled on her dress in a hurry.
There was no time to properly arrange her hair, so she simply threw an old wool cardigan over her shoulders and hurried out of the old orchard cottage.
The morning air was cold.
Dew still clung to the grass along the path.
A farm wagon stood near the barn, already prepared for the day’s work, with empty sacks, a wooden pitchfork, sickles, and a tin water flask loaded into the back.
The family had clearly intended to make an early start while the weather remained clear.
For some reason, however, everyone had been delayed by the argument near Thomas’s room.
As Elena approached, she saw Edmund gripping Daniel by the arm and trying to pull him away.
Daniel’s face was red with anger.
“Let go of me!”
“Calm down first.”
Edmund looked equally unhappy.
“The sun is barely up and you’re already shouting at Mother.
What do you think the farmhands and the neighbors will say if they hear you?”
Daniel tore his arm free.
“I don’t care what anyone thinks.”
“Elena’s marriage cannot be decided like this!”
Edmund’s expression hardened.
“Who said anything has been decided?”
“Father only wants to ask around.”
“That’s still not right!”
Daniel clearly had not managed to let go of his anger overnight.
“She’s sixteen.”
“If you’re going to look for a husband for her, then take your time and find out what kind of man he is.”
“You don’t start with whoever is willing to give this family money for Thomas’s treatment and decide that’s the man who gets to take her away.”
Edmund’s face tightened.
“You think I want things to be like this?”
His voice dropped.
“I thought about it all night too.”
“But you know what this family is facing.”
“No one knows how much Thomas’s treatment is going to cost.
Elena is already old enough for the family to begin considering marriage, and you know perfectly well where things stand with the Carter family.”
“If we can find a decent man with a stable household who’s willing to accept Elena, it may not be a bad thing for her.”
Daniel stared coldly at him.
“If this were only about finding her a decent husband, I wouldn’t interfere.”
“But is that really what you’re thinking about?”
Edmund did not answer.
Daniel continued.
“The first thing you’re considering isn’t whether he’ll treat Elena well.”
“It’s whether his family can help pay for Thomas’s treatment.”
“Those are not the same thing.”
Edmund’s expression grew increasingly uncomfortable.
“Adult matters aren’t as simple as you think.”
“Yes.”
Daniel nodded.
“You’ve certainly found a way to make them more complicated.”
“All I know is that Elena is my niece.”
“She isn’t a solution to the family accounts.”
With that, he turned sharply away.
He had only taken two steps when he suddenly stopped.
Elena stood a short distance away.
She had clearly come outside in a hurry.
Her light brown hair hung loose around her shoulders, and the buttons of her old wool cardigan were not even properly fastened.
A few strands of hair blew across her cheek in the morning breeze.
The anger had not completely left Daniel’s face.
But when he saw Elena, his expression slowly softened.
Elena looked back at him quietly.
She had heard everything.
Daniel was silent for a moment before walking over to her.
“Elena, don’t be afraid.”
His voice was much quieter now.
“I’m here.”
“No one is going to send you away.”