Next Time Away novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Purple Crayon

I looked at Elsie on my porch in my grandmother's hat, with her bag, and my anger had nowhere to go.

She was six years old.

None of this was hers.

"Ten minutes," I said to Dagny. "Elsie comes in alone. You wait in your van."

"I'd rather stay with her."

"Then she goes home."

Dagny smiled her sad, patient smile.

"Of course," she said. "Anything you need, honey. Elsie, be good for Aunt Tove."

She walked back down the drive with her arms wrapped around herself.

The van door shut, and the dome light came on.

I could see her sitting there, watching the house.

Jonas had come around the truck with the carrier in his hand.

He passed it to me without a word and sat down on the porch step with his back against the rail.

"I'll be here," he said.

"I know."

Inside, I put Greta in her bassinet by the fire and hung Elsie's coat on the hook where my own hung.

She stood in the middle of the living room and looked at the mantel.

The three stockings were gone.

In their place hung two small ones, mine and Greta's, that Jonas had found in a box in the garage.

"I'm sorry about your room," Elsie said, with her chin tucked down.

"It was never your fault, sweetheart."

"I didn't know it was Greta's. Uncle Soren said it was mine."

"I know."

She crept toward the bassinet and stood on her toes.

Greta lay asleep with both fists up beside her ears.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Next Time Away from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.