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Adele cried herself to sleep.
Not because she had been orphaned, or shamed, or even that her uncle had threatened to commit her to an insane asylum—she had heard horror stories of what they were like. What brought her despondency to the surface was that she had fallen in love with a man who asked her to never return. She had failed him in every way possible, even though she tried so hard to save him. He had been a light in a dark tunnel for her. He had watched over her in her grief. He had loved her in his own extraordinary way. And now he wanted her gone.
In the morning when she woke, the same worries burdened her, and she trembled on her bed so much so that Butterscotch came to her and licked her salty tears. Adele caressed the cat and held her close until the feline’s purring eased the pain in her heart.
“As much as I have reason to, I cannot lie here all morning feeling sorry for myself and counting my woes,” she said to the cat. “I need to be of use. I’ll ask Mei Ling to teach me to cook today then I could spend the rest of my life working in the kitchen. I’m not an aristocrat, Butterscotch. The Creator didn’t form me from the same clay as Aunt Eloise and Uncle Nicholas. I’ll never be noble, honorable, or impressive. I’m not even sure if I fit into the working class. I hope I’m not a criminal. Do you think Uncle Nicholas is right?” She scratched behind Butterscotch’s ears. “Do you think I, too, will follow the footsteps of my parents?”
The only answer she got from the cat was a gentle purr. She sat up and dried her eyes with her hands.
“Silks and satins are for blue-blooded people, not I. Why did I assume I could save anyone?” She stroked Butterscotch’s soft fur again. “I didn’t want this to happen, but I think I love him!” Looking out the window from her bed, beyond the frosted glass and snowy yard to the dormant honeysuckle, she whispered. “I love him. I’m sure I do.”
Adele chose a simple linen skirt and bodice that she had brought from Port Galleon, brushed her hair, and tied it in a braid.
“Come downstairs with me,” she told Butterscotch. “Let’s see what life will bring us now that we’ve ruined everything I could ever hope to have.”
Butterscotch scurried past Adele when she opened the door and trotted down the stairs with an odd crook in her tail that prompted a smile through her tears.
Sunlight filtered into the house from the window in the foyer, and more so in the living room. What snow blanketed the ground outside glimmered so brilliantly Adele had to squint and drop the drapes before she could open her eyes fully. Uncle Nicholas and Aunt Eloise were on the couch. Neither acknowledged her when she first descended the stairs. Uncle Nicholas leaned over with his head buried in his hands, and Aunt Eloise gently stroked his back, comforting him. Auntie looked up at her with a frown after Adele closed the drapes.
“Please, your uncle is not feeling well. Let us alone,” she said softly.
“No!” Uncle Nicholas argued with an unfamiliar passion. “We should talk, Adele.”
Adele stood in front of them, wringing her hands. She had already experienced more turmoil than her nerves could manage. Anymore would surely cause her to go daft.
“Sit down,” he said.
Adele took a chair across from them and Aunt Eloise leaned back, a hankie in her hands.
Her uncle sat upright, his hair askew, his eyes red. He looked as though he hadn’t any sleep and judging by his clothes he wore the night before, he might have recently come back from Port Summerhill. Adele assumed his distress came from shooting a man. Or perhaps because Delaney gave him trouble on the way to the marshal’s office. Aunt Eloise scooted away from him and picked up her knitting from a basket at the end of the couch, a gesture meant to put Adele at ease. Nothing could put her at ease.
“I need to know the truth, Adele. Everything.”
Adele shrugged, not knowing where to begin.
“How often did you speak with Delaney? How close were you to him? When did your conspiring begin?”
Adele took a deep breath. “I never conspired with him. I only spoke with him once, and then I didn’t know who he was. He had his face covered.”
Uncle Nicholas raised his chin, crossed his arms, and leaned back.
“I rode to Port Summerhill yesterday, and he followed me home. And threatened me!”
Her uncle held up his hand and shook his head. “Wait! You took my horse into Port Summerhill?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, at least you’re honest about that! I already had full knowledge. Mr. Fernsworth told me you borrowed a horse and asked for directions into town. I could have forgiven such an act for a young lady wanting to ride. I would never have consented to your riding into Port Summerhill alone in a snowstorm. That was foolish.”
It was, but not for the reasons Uncle Nicholas thought. Adele cleared her throat.
“Tell me why you went.”
Adele’s hands sweated. She could not tell her story without mentioning Grai. Then again, Grai had already rebuked her. She had no more promises to keep, although her love for him remained, and always would. After last night, the way her uncle handled Delaney, and even Benjamin, the chances of Uncle Nicholas being a suspect had diminished. She risked nothing telling her aunt and uncle the truth.
“Before you begin,” Uncle Nicholas interrupted her thoughts. “I am aware that someone or something is living on the Madison’s property. Last night I had a very disturbing experience.”
Adele bit her lip.
“Some sort of apparition came out of the ivy, large and ghastly. It had the face of a man, but the rest of its body was transparent and flew like a cloud of dust. It terrified me. The first shot I fired hit it, or rather went through it.”
Adele gasped. “What happened to it?”
“It fled.”
Adele went cold. No wonder Grai’s spirit had been so grisly to her. What horror that must have been for Grai! It wasn’t bad enough that the thugs had come back to murder him, but her uncle came shooting at his spirit. Grai must think she sent them all.
“Have you seen this thing?”
Adele nodded.
“What is it?”
Her hands quivered so violently that she held them down on her lap. “I’m afraid to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because you might...” The words wouldn’t come, but the tears were struggling to find their way out. “You mustn’t...Please don’t shoot him again! Please don’t kill him.”
Her uncle’s lips grew thin, and he squinted at her. “Who? What are you talking about?”
“The ghost is not a dead man. He’s only a severed spirit.”
“Severed from what?”
Adele shuddered and glanced at Aunt Eloise, who had stopped her knitting.
“From Grai Madison.”
Her aunt set her knitting on her lap and Uncle Nicholas sat quiet, like a statue.
“Grai Madison is alive?” Aunt Eloise asked.
“Please don’t kill him. He’s a beautiful person. His spirit is kind and gentle. Something happened to him. Men attacked him and they wounded him terribly. I took your medicine bag to nurse his wounds.”
Uncle Nicholas and Aunt Eloise locked eyes.
“He didn’t want me to tell anyone because he thinks whoever tried to kill him will try again. He’s hiding until he and his spirit...,” she covered her face. “It’s such a horrid predicament.”
“That poor boy! He’s living there by himself in the cold?” Aunt Eloise asked.
“There’s a root cellar he stays in.”
“How much do you know about him? Did you see this cellar where he stays?” Aunt Eloise asked.
“I know of the root cellar,” Uncle Nicholas interrupted. “It’s been said there is a cache of gold that Cyrus Madison hid away on his property. Coins he and the professor collected during the war. This might explain why Delaney was snooping around the area. But it doesn’t explain Adele’s involvement. Nor does it explain this...this ghost!”
“It’s not just the gold that Delaney wants, Uncle. It’s Grai. They tried to kill Grai once,” Adele added. “Or at least someone did. Grai thinks his stepfather hired ruffians to murder him so that Bonneville would inherit the property.”
“That’s preposterous!” Uncle Nicholas sprang from the couch. “Bonneville is cunning, and crafty, yes, but he would never harm either of his sons.”
“He has more than one?”
“Nicholas,” Aunt Eloise warned. “We’re not to speak of Matt.”
“Matt? Matt is Bonneville’s son?”
“Illegitimate,” Nicholas added. “The world isn’t supposed to know about Mary Sellers and Richard Bonneville’s illegitimate affair. Even though it occurred long before Grai’s mother married him, he had kept it a secret from her. The ordeal, when she found out, is what made Lucille go barmy. Eloise said you danced with Matt?”
“Once. He wanted to dance more, but I refused him.” Adele’s heart raced, and though she listened in on the conversation, her mind spun.
“Regardless of his personal life, Bonneville is a lot of things, a rogue yes, but he’s not a killer. So, you’ve told me about young Mr. Madison and his estate, now tell me what you were doing in Port Summerhill?”
“Grai wanted to stop probate somehow until he could discover who his assailants were. He has a Will but is certain whoever tried to kill him would finish the job if he showed himself. I suggested letting me help to find a lawyer. Grai planned on coming out of hiding as soon as...” she looked at her auntie. This sounded so eldritch. “As soon as his ghost and he were one again. I guess I made a fatal mistake going to speak with Mary Sellers.” She rose. “Delaney somehow knew of my inquiries and that Grai was still alive. He saw me in the mercantile when I purchased the gauze. I think he assumed I was going to use it to nurture Grai’s wounds. He followed me to the junction and then threatened me.”
Aunt Eloise put her hand over her mouth. “Oh, Adele!”
“What did he say when he threatened you?”
“He wanted to know where Grai was. I refused to acknowledge that I knew who he was talking about, but I guess I don’t make a particularly good liar. That he and Benjamin were on the property armed tells me they were going to finish what they had started.”
“Now you’re accusing Benjamin of attempted murder?” Uncle Nicholas asked, his chest puffed, his face red and his fists clenched.
Adele shrugged. “Why else was he there?”
Uncle Nicholas spun around and walked to the window. Adele looked at her aunt.
“Benjamin is not a killer either,” Aunt Eloise insisted.
“We don’t know that Eloise,” her uncle claimed.
“Is there any other reason you would suspect Benjamin was involved?” Aunt Eloise asked Adele with pleading eyes. As much as Adele wanted to satisfy her aunt’s fears, she had to be honest.
“Peter has Grai’s timepiece. Grai’s grandfather gave it to him. It has Cyrus Madison’s initials on it. I’m sure it’s his.”
Aunt Eloise leaned back, her face pale. “Oh dear,” she whispered. After a moment of fanning herself, she added. “Perhaps he found the watch. Or perhaps Benjamin purchased it from somewhere.”
“Perhaps,” Adele agreed, not wanting to upset her aunt. Aunt Eloise lost her sister to crime. How horrid would it be to lose a son as well? “I’m sure we can sort this out.”
“Why would Benjamin or Delaney kill Grai Madison?” Uncle Nicholas growled. “Neither one of them would get anything for it but a noose around their necks. Delaney is already sentenced to hang. He was after the gold, that’s all. And Benjamin was trying to get the bounty money on Delaney’s head. I have no reason not to believe him. This idea of a conspiracy is far-fetched, Adele.”
“If that’s what you believe.”
Adele stood, anticipating being excused. Mei Ling had come into the kitchen through the back door, getting ready to prepare the morning meal. This would be a good day to learn to cook.
“I think with Delaney in jail, we’ve done our duty. There needn’t be any more conversation concerning the matter.”
“And Grai?”
“Grai can rest assured the thief has been apprehended.”
Adele looked anxiously at her aunt and then at her uncle. “That’s all you’re going to do about the matter?”
“I do not need to do anything else. You, though, must answer for the necklace.” He glanced at the foyer, at the sound of a carriage. “And speak of the angels, my daughter has just arrived. Your time to exonerate yourself is at hand.”
Lila and her children walked inside at that very moment. Lila, hearing her father’s words, quickly removed her coat and boots, and stormed into the living room.
“Am I late for this conversation, Father?”
“On the contrary, you’re just in time.”
Lila blustered in front of Adele, her green and red plaid skirt flaming in the sunlight that still trickled in from the partially covered window. Lila’s blond hair had been braided in one long braid that fell to her waist. Her skin was flushed from the cold weather, which made her look alive and livid. Her blue eyes shone like topaz under her blond lashes.
“What do you have to say for yourself, before I go to Port Summerhill to speak with Marshal Carrey today?”
Maggie hurried into the living room and interrupted Butterscotch’s nap by sitting on the floor and pulling her onto her lap. Peter strolled to the hearth and stood by the fire. He had a strange look on his face, almost fearful. Adele merely glimpsed at him, noticing he took an extreme interest in his mother’s words.
“I didn’t steal your necklace.”
“You’re a liar, Adele.”
“I’m not.”
“What was it doing in your room then?”
“I have no idea. I didn’t put it there.” She looked at Peter again, whose eyes grew wide. The second that Adele let down her guard, a sharp pain stung her cheek.
“Mama, don’t!” Peter cried.
“Lila!” Aunt Eloise jumped from the couch, but she was not in time to stop Lila from slapping Adele again.
When Lila pulled back her arm to strike a third time, Adele grabbed her hand and stopped her.
“Mama, don’t!” Maggie jumped up screaming, the cat hid under the couch.
Adele gritted her teeth, wrestling against Lila’s strength, the two pushing each other about the room.
Rage had been swelling inside Adele—for being everyone’s scapegoat, for being suspected of crimes she didn’t do, for being slandered and degraded. She wanted to sock her cousin in the eye, make it black and blue, spoil that pretty face of hers, but she restrained herself, satisfied with just keeping Lila’s strikes at bay.
“You’re a liar and a thief.” Lila spat. “You aren’t good enough to live with my mother and father. I think you deserve to be hanged just like your parents were, what with all the trouble you brought. You’re going to prison, Adele.”
The powerful arms of her uncle pulled Adele away from Lila, and Aunt Eloise took Lila by the shoulders.
“I’ve not done any of those things!” Adele roared.
“Stop, Lila!” Aunt Eloise commanded.
“Stop!” Peter echoed. He squeezed in front of his mother. His high-pitched voice drowned Lila’s accusations and his grandmother’s pleas.
“Don’t Mama. Don’t let them hang Adele. I took the necklace and put it in the tower. It’s my fault. I wanted her gone, but not dead. Stop!”
Lila squirmed away from her mother’s hold and stepped back. Gasping for breath, she glared open-mouth at her son. Uncle Nicholas released Adele, and Aunt Eloise picked Maggie up in her arms after the child came running to her.
“What did you say?” Lila asked.
Tears ran down Peter’s cheeks. “I didn’t mean to put her in jail. I just wanted her gone after what she did to Uncle Ben. Not dead though.”
“What did she do to Uncle Ben?” Uncle Nicholas asked.
“She kicked him.”
All eyes were on Adele, but Adele didn’t say a word. She wasn’t about to defend herself again. No one believed anything she said before, why would they now?
Lila straightened her skirt and after glancing at her parents, she took Peter by the hand and guided him to the couch where she sat with him and the two conversed quietly.
Uncle Nicholas, clearly beside himself, paced, shooting angry looks at both Adele and Eloise.
Peter continued to cry and rub his eyes.
The conversation with the boy ended shortly, and Lila rose.
“Well, Mother, Father, I am sorry for this outrage in your home. Please forgive me.” She waited for an answer. Aunt Eloise nodded. Uncle Nicholas seemed in shock.
An odd silence followed.
“Adele, I was mistaken about the necklace. My apologies.”
Adele’s cheeks flamed with pain where Lila had slapped her, and she wondered if they now glowed as red as Lila’s. She said nothing. The apology was only for the accusation about the necklace, nothing more. Adele turned and ran up the stairwell to her room. She had no desire to talk to anyone after that display. She shut her door, stormed across the room, pulled back her curtains, opened her window, and screamed.
“Grai!”
He wouldn’t answer. She didn’t want him to. He hated her. She’d never see him again. It didn’t matter. His name meant life to her, and she cried out again, and then she slammed the window shut. If Uncle Nicholas meant what he said about committing her to an asylum, now he had a good excuse.
She fell on the bed, folded her arms, and resisted crying. She’d run away. Perhaps she’d return to Port Galleon and become a woman of the night, tease men, and steal their money. Why not? She already had a reputation without ever having done anything. What would hold her back?
A knock on her door interrupted her plans.
Aunt Eloise stepped inside, and Adele leaped from the bed.
“Adele, we’re so sorry.”
“Whatever you’re going to tell me now has no bearing on what was said before. Neither can your words wash away what I know Uncle Nicholas and Lila and Peter and Benjamin think of me. You’re the only one who has given me any kindness and I thank you. But the rest of the family wants me gone and I’m ready to pack my bags.”
“No, Adele. Don’t. Listen to me for a moment.”
Adele’s cheeks flushed. Tired of listening. What could Aunt Eloise say that would soothe her soul?
“You began something that I think you should finish.”
“What did I begin?”
“You took it upon yourself to be a nurse for Grai Madison. You can’t desert him. He needs you to follow up on what you’ve begun.”
Adele gaped at her aunt.
“Don’t just stand there gawking at me. The poor man is suffering. I would feel as responsible as you if he should die. He’s a fine young man. An architect, isn’t he?” Aunt Eloise asked.
“He’s already drawn blueprints of the manor he’s going to build,” Adele admitted.
“Take care of him,” Aunt Eloise whispered. “You must help him get well.”
“I have your permission?” Adele looked out the window again. Nothing stirred save for water dripping from the icicles on the eaves making perfectly round cavities in the snow below.
“You have my instruction. I’m not sure why one’s spirit would be severed from a body. Perhaps a priest could help.”
“I think he just needs a gentle touch,” Adele admitted.
“You talk as if you’ve already given him a gentle touch.”
Adele sat on the bed, picked up her pillow, and held it close to her chest. “I have fallen in love with him, both his spirit and Grai himself. I want to see him better and safe and those who are conspiring against him locked away. He blames the railroad, Auntie. Because his grandfather’s property is targeted as grounds for a terminal, he thinks someone has conspired against him.”
“I suppose that’s possible, although he could offer to sell and be done with all of this kerfuffle.”
“He won’t sell. He loves his grandfather’s estate too much.”
“Still, it seems there would be a way to negotiate for a part of the property for the railroad?”
“He’s not in a position to talk to anyone at the moment.”
With a long sigh and a tender expression, Aunt Eloise sat next to Adele and stroked her hair. “You’ve been through so much. I’m terribly sorry for the additional turmoil your uncle and I have put you through.”
“I need to go back to Port Summerhill.”
Aunt Eloise’s eyes popped open. “Whatever for?”
“I have unfinished business there.”
Her aunt rose and walked to the window, staring out across the garden to the Madison’s property. She sighed, shaking her head. “Very well. You’ve gotten yourself in this deep, I suppose you should finish what you started. Have Fernsworth drive the buggy this time. Tell him I told him to bring a rifle and follow you wherever you go. Be home before dark.” She smiled and tapped Adele on the nose. “Don’t talk to strangers.”
“What about Uncle Nicholas?”
“I’ve already taken care of your uncle. He won’t bother you.”