Elena's eyes were shining.
“You don't get to decide that nobody can ever love you because you've decided to hate yourself.”
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
She stepped closer to the chair, using its heavy armrest for support.
Then she lowered her forehead toward his.
“Do you know what I see when I look at you?”
He closed his eyes.
“A monster?”
She shook her head.
“The man who brings firewood to widows when nobody is watching.”
His breathing changed.
“The man who carried an injured dog six miles through a snowstorm.”
She placed one hand against his powerful chest.
“And the man who never once made me feel ashamed of the body God gave me.”
Gideon's eyes opened.
Elena's voice broke.
“You're the first man who has ever looked at me like I'm beautiful without making it sound like a favor.”
He lifted one enormous hand toward her cheek.
Then stopped.
“God help me, Elena.”
His voice was barely audible.
“I've fallen in love with you.”
Tears spilled down her face.
For a moment, she smiled as though she'd waited her entire life to hear those words.
Then the smile faded.
Because folded inside the pocket of her enormous wool skirt was something she had been terrified to show him.
A silver pocket watch.
Old.
Scratched.
With a dent near the hinge.
And an engraving that would destroy everything Gideon believed about the worst night of his life.
Elena swallowed.
“There's something I need to tell you.”
His expression changed.
“What?”
She carefully withdrew the watch.
Held it between them.
Then whispered, “A stranger came to my bakery this afternoon.”
Gideon stared at the watch.
Every trace of color drained from his face.
His hand began trembling.
“Elena.”
She nodded.
“He told me to give this to you.”
Gideon reached toward the silver case.
He knew the dent.
He knew the broken clasp.
And he knew the tiny engraved words on the back.
Come home before the snow. Your brother, Gideon.
He had given the watch to Matthew on his nineteenth birthday.
Three weeks later, Matthew disappeared in a blizzard.
For ten years, Gideon believed the mountains had swallowed his younger brother.
Now the watch was resting in Elena's trembling hand.
“Where did you get this?”
His voice was suddenly harsh.
She flinched.
He noticed and immediately softened.
“I'm sorry.”
He took a breath.
“Elena, please. Where?”
She placed the watch in his palm.