“I Feel Sorry for the Man Who Marries Her,” He Said — By Autumn, He Was the One Saying the Vows
Chapter 4
The next morning, Daniel woke on a chair beside Clara’s hearth.
Rain still fell outside.
Clara was asleep near the window.
Her head rested against the wall.
Daniel watched her for a moment.
Without her usual stern expression, she looked younger.
Tired.
Vulnerable.
He realized he had fallen in love with her.
The thought frightened him.
He stood quietly.
Clara woke.
“You’re staring.”
Daniel smiled.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was wrong.”
She looked away.
“You’ve said that before.”
“I wasn’t wrong about you being stubborn.”
She glared.
He laughed.
“But I was wrong about everything else.”
Clara lowered her eyes.
“Daniel…”
He stepped closer.
“I don’t feel sorry for the man who marries you.”
She whispered:
“Then what?”
“I think he will be the luckiest man alive.”
She looked at him.
The silence between them became almost unbearable.
Then someone knocked.
Thomas entered.
He stopped when he saw them.
His eyes moved from Daniel to Clara.
Then he smiled.
“I see.”
Clara turned red.
“Thomas.”
He laughed.
“I didn’t say anything.”
Daniel left shortly afterward.
Outside, he mounted his horse.
He had never been happier.
But happiness rarely came without a price.
That afternoon, Clara received a letter.
Her father’s mortgage had been called in.
She had six weeks to pay the full amount.
If she couldn’t, the farm would be seized.
The letter was signed by Daniel’s uncle.
Clara stared at the name.
Edmund Whitmore.
The man who owned the mortgage.
The man who had never liked her father.
And now, perhaps, the man who could destroy everything Clara had built.
