Everyone Ignored the Quiet Cook—Until a Mountain Man Asked About Her Cornbread
Chapter 5
They escaped through the kitchen.
Clara carried the recipe box beneath her cloak.
Elias led her through the woods.
They rode borrowed horses until the tavern disappeared behind the trees.
By sunset, they reached the mountain path.
Clara was exhausted.
She had never ridden so far.
Elias stopped near a stream.
“You can rest.”
She dismounted.
“Why are you helping me?”
“Because your mother asked me.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it matters.”
Clara sat beside the fire.
“Tell me about her.”
Elias looked into the flames.
“She laughed loudly.”
Clara smiled.
“She did.”
“She hated dishonesty.”
“Yes.”
“She once chased a man out of her kitchen with a broom.”
Clara laughed.
“She did that too.”
Elias smiled.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Clara asked:
“Did she love my father?”
Elias’s expression changed.
“Yes.”
“Then why was she afraid of him?”
“She was not afraid of your father.”
“Your letter said—”
“I said she was afraid of what would happen to him.”
Clara looked confused.
“Your father was trying to expose Mercer.”
“What happened?”
“He disappeared.”
“Was he killed?”
“I don’t know.”
Clara’s eyes filled.
“You must know something.”
“I know he was alive when I last saw him.”
“When?”
“Two months before you were born.”
She stared.
“You saw him?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me something.”
“What?”
Elias looked at her.
“He said, ‘If anything happens to me, tell my daughter that I never left her.’”
Clara covered her face.
For six years she had believed her father had abandoned her.
Now, for the first time, she wondered if he had been trying to return.
