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Adele stomped the snow off her boots on the storm porch and caught her breath before she entered the kitchen. With Peter and Maggie visiting their grandparents, it meant the entire family had gathered. Uncle Nicholas might be home as well. Her heart beat hard, worried that the children had seen her talking to Grai’s spirit and would tell, terrified of what the family’s reaction would be.
What troubled her more was that Grai might admonish her because her parents murdered Professor Reinhardt, his grandfather’s good friend. Grai may choose to never see her again! That would hurt more than any punishment Uncle Nicholas could administer. It seemed the entire world would soon compress her into a dried-out sponge. She’d be a friend to no one, and useless to all.
She shut the kitchen door quietly and hid the medicine bag under a cupboard, intending to return it to its rightful place when she was alone. Mei Ling greeted her with a quick nod while stirring onions in a cast-iron skillet.
“Smells delicious,” Adele said as she opened cupboards looking for a vase. She found an old stein instead, and so poured water from the pitcher and arranged the flowers in it.
“Fresh flowers?” Mei Ling ceased stirring and stared at the bouquet.
Adele smiled.
“In winter?”
“You never know what you’ll find under the hoarfrost.”
Mei Ling shook her head and resumed cooking.
“Lots of strange things happen here,” she mumbled.
“Like flowers in winter?”
She nodded. “Flowers in winter are odd but good. Some things not so good.”
Adele paused and watched the woman toss the vegetables, her arms moving in rhythm, one mixing the food, the other rotating the pan.
“Tell me more.”
Mei Ling pouted and glimpsed at Adele. “What do you want to know?”
“What other odd things are you referring to? Did you see something?”
“Lights sometimes.”
“Where?” Had Mei Ling seen Grai’s spirit’s lights?
“Next door. That’s not all. Lots more things. Haunted things.”
“Like what?”
Mei Ling grunted, focusing on the food she cooked. The more she talked, the faster she stirred. “Screams in the night. Cups turn upside down when no one moves them. Dead people walking through walls.”
“You saw all of this?”
She nodded.
“And it happens where?”
“Everywhere. In the bunkhouse, your uncle’s hotel. Everywhere. The entire town whispers about it.”
“All of Port Summerhill?”
“Maybe.”
“Do my aunt and uncle know?”
She shrugged. “They don’t believe.”
Adele hadn’t heard that ghosts plagued the entire town, but then she spent no time with residents of Port Summerhill, although Grai said his mother holds seances.
“You asked your uncle to learn to cook with me?” Mei Ling asked as she dropped pieces of meat into the pan and wiped her hands on her apron.
“Not yet. Soon!”
“Good! Holidays come too soon. I need help.”
“Splendid!” After she solved the mystery behind Grai she’d hide away in the kitchen for the rest of her life and avoid Benjamin and Uncle Nicholas both. She picked up the vase to carry into the dining hall, but Mei Ling made a high-pitched sound, startling her.
“Leave flowers in the kitchen.”
“Why?”
“Good luck,” she said.
Adele laughed and set the vase on the counter.
“Bad luck if your aunt and uncle see them.” She shook her head and clicked her tongue.
“Oh!” No doubt a bouquet of winter flowers would cause confusion.
There would be no good luck for Adele today for as soon as she stepped into the living room, Benjamin caught her off guard. Dressed in a blue silk waistcoat, his white shirt buttoned tight and a bow tie adorning his neck, her cousin stood warming himself by the fireplace. His eyes widened when he saw her, and his lips bent into a crooked smile.
Where had everyone else disappeared to?
Tossing his golden hair back with a shake of his head, he greeted her. “Adele!”
He took a step toward her.
“Don’t touch me,” Adele warned as he approached. She stood her ground. A cougar chases a doe only when she runs, her father once told her.
Before Benjamin got too near, he stopped and look down the hall and Adele followed his gaze. Shadows and voices in a room off the corridor indicated the family had gathered in the parlor. Benjamin wouldn’t dare try anything in the house, would he?
“I hear you’re going to the soiree with us tomorrow evening,” he said as he drew her attention away from the activity down the hall.
“You’re going?” Adele asked, none too pleased.
“Of course.”
“I might become suddenly ill that day. What time is this event so I can plan my malady?”
“Nonsense.”
“I don’t care to be in the same room with you. Ever.” She headed for the parlor, impeded by his arm around her waist.
“Let go of me,” she hissed.
He pulled her close and whispered in her ear. “The family plans to marry you off to one of the elite’s sons. I can make sure you get in the wealthiest arms if you do me a favor.”
“The only favor I might do you is by filling your boots with petrified cow dung and having the mules haul you to the river. Get your hands off of me.” She tried pushing his arm away, but he resisted.
She raised her brow. “Did you forget I come from the pit of the earth?” she breathed. “I still have friends lurking in the shadows of Port Galleon waiting to attack rogues like you.”
He let her go. But that might have been because Aunt Eloise called him.
“What’s going on in here?” her aunt asked just as Benjamin stepped away from Adele.
“Nothing. I was simply asking Adele if she knew about the stolen necklace.”
“What necklace?” Adele asked.
“We don’t know that anyone stole it, Benjamin. Lila may have simply misplaced it,” Aunt Eloise gave the two of them a dubious frown. “Adele, please come with me. Your dress is just about done, but I need you to try it on.”
Adele glanced in the parlor as she passed by, her heart skipping a beat when she saw Lila and the children conferring with Uncle Nicholas. If the children were relaying what they saw earlier, Adele might face another chastisement. She hurried, hoping none of the family saw her, although Benjamin slid into the room after she passed by.
Aunt Eloise led her into a guest room further down the hall and shut the door. Her aunt spread out the gown of silk on the bed, and Adele gasped when she saw it.
“Oh, Aunt Eloise, is that for me to wear?”
“It’s yours to keep. I would hope you would wear it. I’m not doing this for my health. Here, undress and come stand on the stool. Your corset is on the chair.”
“I have one on already,” Adele argued.
“Trust me. You’ll need this one with that bodice.” Aunt Eloise handed her the corset to put on. An unusual shape, it matched the princess bodice on the dress with boning that extended off the waistline to the hips.
“As if things couldn’t get any worse,” Adele moaned as she hurriedly undressed out of her woolens.
Aunt Eloise fitted the evening bodice over the slim-lined corset, and Adele, shocked at the exposure, held her hand over her chest. “Auntie, I’m not used to this. Must it be so revealing?”
“This dress reveals extraordinarily little, it only suggests. We can’t have you tucked away in clothing that’s not even fit for a maid.” Aunt Eloise tightened the laces as Adele held her breath. “Not only is this get-together a celebration for the railroad, an invitational for politicians, bankers, and leaders of our community, but it is also your debut.” She leaned close to Adele and whispered in her ear. “You cannot expect a man to be interested in you if he sees you have nothing of interest. Trust me, Adele.”
Not sure she wanted a man interested in anything a dress might ‘suggest’, Adele tensed while her aunt tightened the corset and slipped on the bodice which had its share of lace, buttons, and tiny pearls woven through an off-white braid. The gathered lace covered much of her neckline, and so she didn’t feel as exposed as she thought she’d be.
The skirt itself hung in layered drapery, alternating between soft minty silk and a lusher satin, wrapping around in back with only the hint of bustle and a small train. When Aunt Eloise held the mirror up for her to see, the only thing that looked out of place was her matted hair and eyes that divulged the waterfall of tears she had shed that afternoon. The rest of her image challenged the beauty of any aristocrat young woman of her day.
“It’s so pretty!” she exclaimed.
“My skills are improving with each dress I make. I’m glad you like it.” She took a wooden box of pins from out of her sewing basket while Adele inspected the fabric, the lace, and the tiny pearl buttons on the sleeves. “Now hold still and tell me what’s going on.”
Aunt Eloise’s voice lost its friendliness.
“What do you mean?”
“You and Benjamin are becoming much too intimate.”
“I can’t stand him, Auntie. He pushes himself on me and then he threatens me.”
Aunt Eloise stepped back and looked Adele in the eye. With pins held between her lips, her auntie’s frown sent a chill up Adele’s spine.
She let the pins fall into her hand.
“How long has this been going on?”
“The very first day I arrived he accused me of being a woman of the night and that he...” she choked on her words. “He wanted to...”
“That’s a dire accusation, Adele.” Aunt Eloise was kind enough to interrupt so that Adele needn’t go into detail.
“I wouldn’t accuse him of such a thing if it weren’t true.”
“And why didn’t you come to me?”
“I’m afraid of him, Auntie. He’s extraordinarily strong.”
“I’ll discuss this with Nicholas.”
“No! Please!” That would be the last thing she needed as she feared her uncle as much as she feared her cousin. If her uncle thought she was lying, he would defend his son and would punish her. Worse, Benjamin would seek revenge.
“I’ll find the right time and place, preferably after this social. But we need to address these matters if they’re true. And if they’re not,” she looked Adele in the eye. “Well, if not, then we need to address that as well.”
“Uncle Nicholas won’t believe me,” Adele whispered.
“You don’t know what he’ll believe.”
No, but she could guess. It’s a man’s world. She held her tongue though and watched her aunt pin the hem. Torn between wanting her cousin to stop propositioning her, and avoiding another confrontation with her uncle, she fretted, though the dilemma was now out of her hands.
“Father wants to talk with you, Adele.” Benjamin’s overly radiant smile caused a growl in her stomach when he peeked into the room. Aunt Eloise didn’t seem too pleased to have him interrupt, either.
“She’ll be there when I’m finished, Benjamin.”
“Father’s not a patient man,” he told his mother and was met with the eyes of a dragon. “Just letting you know.”
“I know your father better than you do. Leave us in peace or this will take twice as long,” Aunt Eloise scolded. Benjamin dodged out of the room.
“He’s becoming more and more mulish the older he gets. I’m not sure where he gets it from, but I’m tired of it.”
“He seems to enjoy the suffering of others,” Adele mumbled.
“He’s his father’s son.” Aunt Eloise agreed.
After pushing the last pin through the hem and measuring around the bottom of the dress once more, she stepped back.
“It will be a fitting garb for you, Adele. I’m hoping you will catch the eye of one of the Travis boys. Fine gentlemen they are and are in line for enough wealth to keep you satisfied.”
“I’m not after wealth, Auntie.”
“You say that now, but you’ve been poor all your life and you suffer the trauma of your parent’s crimes. I think the best thing that can happen to you is for you to marry someone who can afford you a suitable home and enough money to maintain it.” She touched Adele’s cheek tenderly. “You have much to offer a man, but you need a gentle one. Know that I’m looking out for your best interest.”
“Yes, ma’am. But....”
“But what?”
“This dress, and going out in public, I’m not sure it’s right.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Today my parents died. Shouldn’t I be wearing black for a while? In mourning.”
Aunt Eloise sighed and took her hand. “Those traditions don’t apply here in these western territories. They are old-fashioned and inhibiting, especially for a young lady as yourself.”
“Uncle Nicholas doesn’t want me to mourn for my parents, does he?”
She sighed heavily and took a moment to respond. “I have to admit, mourning for your parents would be awkward here in Port Summerhill. The execution was public, Adele. Everyone in town knows who they were and what they did, and some residents knew Professor Reinhardt. The dignities your uncle associates with were outraged when they found out what happened. Better not to remind them of your relationship which is what you in black would do. You’d be making a mockery of the professor, throwing guilt upon the judge, condemning the executioners, and embarrassing the town. Your parents were the guilty ones, not the rest of the world for carrying out the sentence.”
Aunt Eloise slipped the dress over her head carefully and laid it on the bed.
“Turn around,” she said, and untied the corset.
“You can’t even mourn your sister.”
“We weren’t close. Now hurry, change your clothes, and answer your uncle’s summons. We have company coming this evening.”
“Who?”
“One of your uncle’s business partners. Richard Bonneville and his wife Lucille. We need to make a good impression.”
Stunned, Adele stared at her aunt as she spread the gown carefully on the bed. Grai’s parents were coming here? The people whom Grai thinks paid to have him murdered? Adele closed her mouth. She mustn’t look so surprised.
Her aunt left the room without another word, and Adele changed back into her woollies, which had taken on the smell of sheep in a thunderstorm. She shouldn’t have rolled about in the snow that afternoon wailing like a ghoul, especially since she had so few dresses and no others that were dry. She would see what her uncle wanted and then change into something more appropriate for the evening.
When Adele stepped into the parlor, Uncle Nicholas had his back to her, and Lila sat on the davenport with an arm around Maggie while Butterscotch curled up on the young one’s lap. Peter stood beside his grandfather and folded his arms when she walked in. He too wore a bow tie and held his chin up just like his uncle Benjamin had earlier. She gave him a special grimace.
Please don’t let this meeting be about Grai’s ghost!
“Adele, have you seen a pearl necklace with a cameo?” Lila asked.
“No.”
“Well, Peter seems to think he saw you with a necklace just like mine this morning out in the garden, and I’d like to know why.”
“I have no idea why Peter thinks what he does,” Adele said, her full focus on the boy. “But I’ve never seen your necklace, and I have no need for such an item. I don’t wear jewelry.”
Lila sprung off the couch, stepped in front of Adele, and folded her arms.
“It’s a valuable jewel, Adele. Don’t toy with me.”
Adele met Lila’s piercing blue eyes and widened hers.
“I don’t steal, and if I did, I wouldn’t steal anything of yours. I like you, Lila. I would hope we could be friends. I wanted to thank you for choosing the fabric of my dress and trying on the bodice. I—,”
“I want my necklace back! It had more sentimental value than anything else.”
Lila had such a pale complexion it took little for her cheeks to flame.
“I would be glad to help you look for it.”
“She knows where it is, mother,” Peter mumbled.
“Hush, Peter,” Uncle Nicholas spoke for the first time. “This is between the women.”
“I saw her with it, Grandpa. She’s a liar.”
“You must have been mistaken, Peter,” Adele said calmly. The room had gotten stuffy and hot. She felt perspiration trickle down her side under her dress.
Uncle Nicholas took the boy’s hand and walked to the door. “Come, Maggie.” He gave Adele a strange look before he left. The three walked out of the room, but not without an over-the-shoulder sneer from Peter. Adele wanted to pick the boy up and throw him through the window. What ill did he have toward her to cause so much trouble?
“If it doesn’t turn up by tomorrow, I’m going to search your room,” Lila said.
“Search it now,” Adele challenged her.
“No. I’ll give you the opportunity to make it re-appear.”
Adele shook her head and sneered. “I don’t have it.”
“Look, cousin, my mother and father have bent over backward to give you another start in life. They’ve provided much more than you deserve, it seems. Such audacity to take advantage of their goodness. That’s on them, though. They are more forgiving than I am. You’re up against a firing squad with me. I’m friends with the marshal in Port Summerhill. If I find that you’ve pilfered my necklace, I’ll file charges against you. You can wade about in the same swamp your parents came from. I’ll not have you tainting my family. If it were up to me, you wouldn’t be here.”
She stormed out of the room, her pretty blond curls bouncing over her shoulders to the rhythm of rage, leaving Adele about to retch again.
Adele could find the necklace if she scavenged through the house, but then Lila would accuse her of theft. At the moment, she wanted to hide in the tower, but to do that, she’d have to walk through the living room to get to the stairs, the entire family might be waiting to pounce on her.
Adele waited a moment to collect herself. Lila’s words cut deep. How could her family have garnered so much hostility toward her in such a short amount of time? What did she do?
Fortunately, only Maggie was in the living room playing with the cat by the fire, and Peter sat smugly on the couch playing with a pocket watch. It might help if she could make peace with the boy. She pushed all of her anxiety to the bottom of her stomach and approached Peter with a gentle smile.
“Peter, why did you lie to your mother?”
He didn’t answer.
“Why don’t you like me, Peter?”
The boy pulled his attention away from his toy and looked at her. “No one likes you. You’re from Port Galleon, where murderers live. You shouldn’t be here.”
That hurt! But he’s just a child responding with an attitude he’s learned from others. She could ignore that, tolerate it. What she had a hard time doing was living with the consequences of such attitudes. “Peter, I’ve done nothing to you.”
“You’re mean to my Uncle Benjamin.”
How could she explain to a little boy why she scuffled with his favorite uncle? She watched him snap open the watch, push the hands around in a circle, and close it again.
“Where did you get that?”
“Not telling,” he said.
When he flipped closed the lid, Adele leaned in closer.
“That’s not a toy,” she whispered, regarding the item which seemed way too valuable for a boy Peter’s age to be playing with. The inscription on the cover—CM—was someone’s initials, and a glimmering red stone, a ruby, adorned the plate. Adele wasn’t an expert in metals, but it appeared to be made of gold.
“Tell me how you got that watch, Peter. It’s beautiful. Did someone give it to you?”
“I found it.”
“Where?”
He snickered and stuck the watch in his pocket, jumped off the couch, and left the room at a run, no doubt to find his mother.
Soon after, Lila and Garth took the children home. Mei Ling busied herself in the kitchen preparing snacks for the evening’s company, and Adele went to the tower to find something to wear that didn’t smell.