Heal My Heart

ONE

**READERS - please let me know if you find any errors. I'd really appreciate your help!! Thanks!

Vermont, 1880

Dear Lovelorn,

I have just received some unsettling news, and I'm not sure how to handle it. I've lived with my aunt since I was nine years old, and although my aunt and her husband have treated me well and raised me to be a lady, those first few years with her family had not been pleasant. My aunt's stepson was a thorn in my side since before he joined the military several years ago. Now he's coming back and he'll stay at his father's house until he can start a new life. I have been enjoying life and the rituals of courtship, but I still haven't found anyone to love, so I must continue to live with my aunt. Please, Lovelorn, tell me how I can handle my aunt's womanizing stepson who has no morals. I fear he'll return to his childhood tactics that made my life intolerable, and I might not have the patience to put up with him. What if I strangle him... or shoot him? I'm anxiously awaiting your advice.

Sincerely, Vexed in Vermont

Nicolette McFarland put her writing pen down and reread her letter to The Lovelorn in the St. Louis Gazette. She'd been following the column for quite a while, and she enjoyed reading the responses from The Lovelorn. It was her turn now. She needed advice.

Adrian Robinson, the stepson of her aunt's, would be surprised to see how much Nicolette had changed. No longer was she the simpering little girl who cowered every time Adrian came near, nor was she the cry-baby who went bawling to her aunt whenever Adrian hurt her. But Nicolette had grown to be a strong, self-assertive woman. Nobody stopped her from accomplishing her goals, not as long as she could use the brain God had given her. If Adrian dared try to go up against her this time, he would discover quickly what kind of a monster he'd turned her into. Revenge would be sweet, indeed!

It didn't matter that he was seven years older than her, would be difficult to forget how many times he locked her in the cellar late at night, telling her that the devil would come get her if I cried or made a noise. Thankfully, she grew to realize that Satan didn't work like that – only the evil Adrian Robinson did.

And what about those times he had shortened Nicolette's dresses or ripped the seams right before her parties? She'd been humiliated in front of her friends. There were even times he had tied her up in the backyard behind the tall hedges and singed the edges of her long light-brown hair. She reached up and stroked her palm down her wavy locks of hair. Luckily, her hair had grown back long and was now soft and silky like it used to be.

Nicolette quickly slipped the letter in an envelope and addressed it to the St. Louis Gazette. She held it tightly in her hand as she tiptoed out of her bedroom and headed downstairs. Mornings were usually quiet in the Robinson household. Teddy, Adrian's father, owned a profiting lumber store in Woodstock, Vermont, where they had been living since Nicolette first came to stay with them.

Teddy and his oldest son, Jacob, were already at the store this early in the morning. Aunt Betty was probably still sleeping since the middle-aged woman usually stayed up until late at night visiting social functions. The few servants the Robinson's had knew that they weren't really needed until Aunt Betty was awake, especially since Nicolette could dress herself and fix her own meals – and had done that since she was nine.

She moved into the kitchen and found an apple. This would work just fine for breakfast. Of course, she also didn't want to waste another minute eating when it was most imperative that she get this letter to the Post Office.