Sam bolted straight up in the bed. “What? What is it?”
“I said,” I said, “how can you lie there sleeping like a baby, when I know what you’ve been doing? Did you think you could hide it? Don’t you know that everybody in town saw your car? And ran as fast as they could to tell me? And did you think I’d just take it lying down? Well, think again, because I won’t and I’m not.”
Sam reached over and switched on the lamp. “Julia, what in the world are you talking about?”
“Don’t play innocent with me! You know what I’m talking about. I’m talking about Helen and what you were doing holed up with her all afternoon.” I took a deep breath that came out almost as a sob, making me even madder. It did me in that I couldn’t control myself, especially when he put his arm around my shoulders.
“Is that what’s bothering you?” he asked, in the most calming and understanding way, although his eyes were still heavy and unfocused. “You should know me better than that.”
“Well, I don’t,” I said, shrugging off his arm. “And you can unhand me. I don’t need patronizing, and I don’t need a pat on the head. What I need is for you to explain yourself, and I needed it without having to drag it out of you.”
Sam yawned, then rubbed his hands across his face. “It’s a long story. Can it wait till morning?”
Rearing back in disbelief, I threw back the covers and sprang out of bed, my long gown flowing. With my hands on my hips, I glared at him. “Oh, it certainly can wait till morning. In fact, it can wait forever as far as I’m concerned. I’m leaving!”
I turned and headed for the door, then stopped. “What am I doing? This is my house, so you can leave. Get up from there and go back to Helen’s. I expect she’s over there waiting for you, now that Richard’s gone. Very conveniently, too, I might add.”
“Julia, my goodness, honey. What’s gotten into you? Come on back to bed. I’m not interested in Helen, and she’s not interested in me. Now come on over here and keep me warm.”
“I’m not about to. If you think I’m going to put up with another stunt like Wesley Lloyd pulled, you are dead wrong. I’ve had my fill of tom-catting husbands.”
Sam pushed back the covers and swung his feet to the floor. “I know you have, and you don’t have one now.” He walked toward me as I eased backward. “Come tell me what’s wrong.”
“What’s wrong? Everything’s wrong, and you know it.”
“No, I don’t. Now, what’s Helen done to upset you?” He reached my side as I turned and opened the door to the hall.
“You stay away from me, Sam Murdoch. I am not playing around. I’m serious about this. And it’s not Helen who’s done anything, it’s you.”
Sam stood there, his hands spread and his face drawn with concern. “Tell me what I’ve done, and let me put it right.”
I thought I’d cry because he was so good and decent and honest. Still, he should’ve known what he’d done, and he should’ve known how badly I’d been burned once before.
My eyes filled with tears at the unfairness of it, as I stumbled out into the hall with Sam right behind me. I didn’t know where I was going, but on my way I bumped into the Sheraton chair by the door. It fell over with a clatter, probably waking the whole house.
As I stood waiting to see if anybody had heard it, a door opened upstairs and Hazel Marie called out, “What’s going on down there?”
Sam’s arms wrapped around me from behind, and I leaned against him, wanting so badly to regain my trust in him. We stood there for a minute, hoping she’d go back to bed. “It’s all right, Hazel Marie,” I called. “We just knocked over a chair.”
There was a second of silence, then she gave a little laugh. “Well, I’d keep it in the bedroom if I were you.” Then her door closed.
“Good idea,” Sam whispered. “Come on now. Lloyd’ll be the next one if you keep this up.”
“All right,” I conceded, not wanting the boy to be disturbed. “But this is not over and I’m not changing my mind.”
“I know, but come on.”
I let Sam lead me back to the bedroom, where I meekly crawled into bed. My feet were freezing.
“Now,” he said, getting in beside me and scrooching up close, “listen to me. If it’s Helen you’re concerned about, I am not interested in her or any other woman. I’ve got more than I can handle right here.” He turned my face so I had to look at him, then whispered in the most loving manner, “Don’t you know that?”
I pulled back and pushed him away. “I don’t know anything that I thought I knew. You spent the day with her when she wouldn’t see anybody else. And you’ve been out of touch all day, eating at the Bluebird and volunteering me to the commissioners and visiting Helen. And what’s worse, you told about everything but her when you got home.” I lifted my head and glared at him. “How long were you going to keep me in the dark? Did you think I’d put up with it like I did with Wesley Lloyd? Well, I’ll tell you this, Sam Murdoch, if you want to go after Helen Stroud, then you can just keep going. You can move in with Leonard Conover, for all I care, and chase all the women you want.”
I thought he was going to laugh, but he pulled himself together and said, “My chasing days are over since I’ve caught the only woman I want. But here’s the story: I went to Helen’s because she called and asked me to come over. She wanted some legal advice without going downtown to an attorney where everybody would know about it. She’s very upset and rightly so, since she doesn’t know where Richard is or what he’s done. She called me as a friend who could advise her, hopefully without stirring up more gossip.”
My mouth tightened. “Uh-huh, and don’t you know that’s the oldest ploy in the book? A distressed woman, leaning on an old friend. I would never have thought it of Helen, much less that you would fall for it.”
Sam put his hand on my cheek. “Sweetheart, where did all this come from? Don’t you know you can trust me? I’m married to the only woman I care about. Why would I risk losing you?”
“I don’t know, but you’ve certainly run that risk today.”
Sam smiled and kissed my hair. “Yeah, I guess I have, but you don’t have to worry about me. I am as true to you as the day is long, because I love you. It’s as simple as that.”
“Well,” I said, picking at the sheet as my anger began to melt away, “well, why didn’t you tell me what you were doing? All I could think of was that you were keeping it from me because you had something to hide.”
“I should’ve told you, even though Helen didn’t want anybody to think she needed a lawyer. She thought it might damage Richard, if he’s ever located. Of course, I’m not bound by the rules of confidentiality now that I’m not practicing, but I was trying to respect her wishes.”
“You didn’t count on LuAnne Conover, did you?”
“Is that who told you?” Sam laughed again and pulled me close. “I’m surprised she was the only one. See, honey, that ought to prove I wasn’t trying to hide anything—parking my car in plain view of anybody who came by. Now listen, my advice to Helen was to get a good lawyer, maybe in Asheville where no one knows her.” Sam rubbed his hand along my arm, making me feel warm and comforted. “You still mad at me?”
I turned my face into his chest. “I’m not really mad at you,” I mumbled, then resorted to the most guilt-inducing justification I could think of. “I’m just hurt.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, leaning his face on my head. “I’m really sorry to put you through all this, but I just didn’t think it was all that important. I get asked for legal advice all the time—on the street, over the telephone, at parties and you name it. I don’t tell you about them because they’re mostly petty or sordid little problems that take care of themselves. And if they don’t, I give them the same advice I gave Helen: Go see a lawyer.
“So I want you to forget all this and trust me. I’m not doing anything I shouldn’t be doing, and I’m certainly not tomcatting around.”
“Well, I can’t help it if I thought you were. Anybody would. Ever since LuAnne told me about seeing your car over there, I have been torn apart. Then when you didn’t say a word about it, I thought it was Wesley Lloyd all over again.”
“Let me tell you something,” Sam said, pulling me up to look in my face. “I am not Wesley Lloyd, never have been and never will be. Do you believe that?”
I leaned against him with infinite relief. “Yes, and I thank the Lord for it.”
Then he began whispering a few sweet words that, after a while, warmed and comforted my sore heart.
So I slept the sleep of the pacified, at least for a few hours. The next morning, though, it was a different story for the seeds of doubt had been sown. Oh, I was nine-tenths convinced that Sam was as faithful as any man can be, which is probably not saying much for any of them. It was that leftover one-tenth that continued to niggle away at me. Because, tell me this: Did it take all afternoon to advise Helen to go see a practicing attorney?