The Secret of Stavewood (Stavewood Saga Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

got worse for her after the train. The day she let me into her heart I vowed I would spend a lifetime making it up to her.”
          “I love you, Daddy. I think you have done exactly that.” Louisa looked at her father and thought about how lucky her parents were to be so completely in love with one another. “I’m going out later to Hawk Bend Station to look around and take some notes. Mark was up there when Mama first arrived and I need to hear that story again. I want to write it down this time.”
          “Have Mark take you up then. If you need any of your brothers let me know. Phillip has taken over the bookkeeping now at the mill and Noah and Jake are running saws after school, but any of them would love to spend the day with you.”
          Louisa thought about how much her brother, Phillip, looked like her grandfather and the memory of the man brought to mind the fairy tale cottage her grandmother had kept near their home.
          “Is anyone using the cottage now?” she asked.
          “Katie and Joseph are there right now, until after the baby comes. After all those beautiful stories of you being born there all the young mothers want to have their babies there. Other than that it’s usually empty. I think your mother secretly hopes you might want to live there one day.”
          Louisa sighed. “Was it easy for you to fall in love with Mama? I remember Mark telling me he thought falling in love was easy, that it just happened. When he found Colleen he knew, through and through. He used to tell me that when two people found one another they should not act like chickens and pretend they weren’t in love. He must have said that a hundred times whenever he saw you and Mama together, or the Vancouvers.”
          “Your mother and I, we did know, through and through as you say, but we had real challenges. So did Mark and Colleen. The confusion about your mother when she arrived nearly drove her back to England. Had that happened everything would have been lost. Mark nearly got himself killed before he found Colleen. Look at Roland and Emma and the things they faced to be together. In your heart you know you have found love, but there can be huge obstacles to overcome. I wonder how many people let love, real love, slip away for not fighting for it, not believing in it. Your mother and I both fought for it really hard.”
          As her father spoke, Louisa again found herself touching her watch, bringing Talbot’s handsome face to mind. He was what she wanted but it would be hard to bring him home to the family. His ways were very different than theirs. But, she reasoned, if he were the right man, she could overcome that. Her family wanted the best for her and they would want her happy. She could make them understand that she was in love. With Talbot, in the city and not under the watchful eye of her family, she could figure it out.
          “Thank you, Daddy.”
     
          Timothy slapped the rump of the big bay and Romeo swiftly carried Louisa away from the stables and along the stretch of road that led from Stavewood. The wind blowing on her face was invigorating. It had been years since she had ridden and she felt free and alive in the cool mid-morning air.
          She passed wagons on the road, several riders, men who tipped their hats and couples called out a “good morning”. She didn’t recognize any of them, not even the men she saw turning up the mill road on their way to a day of hard work cutting lumber. She was home now, but she was a stranger. Stavewood was very much the same as she always had known it to be, but, all around the estate, the outside world was changing. Louisa could not explain exactly why, but she felt saddened by that realization.
     
          She turned the bay onto the property of her older brother and his wife and stopped beneath the massive wrought iron archway. The name Elgerson was forged into the tough metal in a