I No Longer Want The Blessing You Brought From Snowy Mountain Chapter 02

I No Longer Want The Blessing You Brought From Snowy Mountain Chapter 02

He held my gaze and softened his voice.

“Dawn, just a little bit. That’s all I’m asking. She’s not gonna make it if we don’t help. Please—I’m begging you.”

He wasn’t begging for me. He was begging for her.

I smiled. “Okay. Go ask Mom.”

Mom’s door was closed.

Ethan stood outside it for a long time. Never knocked.

He turned back to me, eyes pleading. “Dawn… maybe you could talk to her? She listens to you.”

I remembered the time I had a cold and asked Mom for a dose of that tonic.

Ethan stopped me. “It’s just a cold. Drink some tea. That tonic’s too precious to waste on something small.”

Now Elena’s altitude fever was his “big thing.”

I walked to Mom’s door.

“Mom. Ethan needs to ask you for something.”

The door opened. Mom looked at me and sighed.

She pulled the velvet pouch from her locked cabinet. Ethan stared at it like a man dying of thirst.

Mom opened it, carefully measured out a tiny dose, wrapped it in red velvet, and handed it to him.

“Ethan. This is the last time.”

He took it, barely hiding his relief.

“Thank you, Mom!”

He turned to go.

“Wait.”

I called him back.

He looked over his shoulder, impatient.

“What? Elena’s waiting. I can’t stall.”

“Ethan. That thing you’re taking—it was supposed to be mine. For when I really needed it. You sure about this?”

His smile faltered.

“Oh come on, it’s one little dose. There’s still plenty left in there.”

The joy in his face curdled into irritation.

“Fine, yes, I’m sure. Stop being so dramatic. I’ll make it up to you, okay? When Elena’s better, I’ll buy you the newest phone. The nicest clothes. Whatever you want.”

He really thought that could replace it.

Five years ago, for my birthday, he’d spent two weeks digging for herbal supplements on the mountain just to buy me a bracelet. Two hundred bucks. But he gave me his time.

Now he was just throwing money.

“Go.”

He exhaled in relief.

“Dawn. Get some rest. Don’t overthink this.”

He walked out fast, and his figure vanished down the path.

Mom held me. “Sweetheart… why put yourself through this?”

I just shook my head.

That night, I couldn’t sleep.

Gavin—Ethan’s buddy—sent me a photo.

Elena was curled against Ethan’s chest, drinking a steaming bowl of broth. He was looking down at her with a tenderness I’d never seen in his eyes.

And around her neck—the prayer scarf. The one from Mount Mercy. The one that was supposed to be mine.

“See this, Dawn? This is love. Ethan said watching her like that breaks his heart.”

But with me, his favorite line was always, “Dawn, you’re so tough. Like a mountain steer. You can take anything.”

I could take it. So I didn’t deserve his heart.

I turned off my phone and sat up.

I walked to the window. The guest room light at Ethan’s place was still on—Elena’s room.

He was probably still with her. And me—the bride he’d left for the third time—I sat alone till dawn.

Next morning, Ethan came back.

He looked tired but cheerful. “Dawn, Elena’s much better. She told me to thank you and your mom.”

He pulled out a little box.

“She wanted to give you this. Said it’s a souvenir from back east—a turquoise charm.”

I opened it.

The stone was cheap. Cracked. Hazed.

This was what he’d traded my mother’s heirloom for.

“See? Elena’s so thoughtful. You should cut her some slack.”

“Ethan. Let’s call off the wedding.”

He dropped the box. The charm shattered on the floor.

“What?”