Page 25 of The Pursuit of Elena Bradford

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At their door, Elena thanked Andrew for escorting them to their room.

“Think nothing of it,” Andrew said. “If there’s anything else I can do for you, please let me know. After all, that’s what friends are for.”

“Yes, friends.” Elena echoed his words.

Ivy smiled slightly and slipped through the door, but Elena watched Andrew walk down the hallway. He was such a nice man. So thoughtful and kind. It was good to count him as a friend.

They shed their party dresses in the moonlight drifting in the windows to keep from waking Mother. Morning would be soon enough to talk about death. The problem was Elena couldn’t forget. Nor could Ivy.

After they were in bed, Ivy whispered one question after another, but Elena had no answers. Did Elena see Vanessa fall? Did she think she seemed ill? Could she have been poisoned by the man who brought her punch? And how horrible that would be to consider. What if they had danced with that very man? A murderer. Ivy trembled when she said the word.

Elena put her fingers over Ivy’s lips. “Dr. Graham will find the answers. We need to go to sleep.”

“I don’t know if I can. I keep seeing her lying there with her face covered.”

“I know, but we did only know her one day. We can be sad but hardly distraught.”

“Seems only right to be distraught over such a sad death whether we knew her well or not.” When Ivy’s voice rose, their mother shifted in the other bed.

After Elena hushed her, Ivy was silent for a moment before she went on in a whisper. “And we were going to be famous friends. I’m sure we were.”

“It did seem that might be, but there is no changing what has happened.” Elena kissed Ivy’s forehead. “Now turn over and try to sleep.”

Ivy did as Elena said. In the silence that fell over the room, Elena heard a whippoorwill call from somewhere. The sound was somehow so sad she had to fight to keep back tears.

“Do you think it was Vanessa’s time?” Ivy broke the silence. “The way Mother said it was Father’s time? To die, I mean.”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t think it was. Maybe Father’s but not Vanessa’s. She was too young.”

“Babies and children sometimes die,” Elena said. “At very young ages.”

“Not while they are dancing.” Ivy sounded very certain. “I think she was poisoned. That wouldn’t be something meant to be.”

“We don’t know that she was poisoned.”

Ivy ignored her words. “That man must have done it. The one I saw give her a drink. I will watch for him. I’m sure I can recognize him.”

Fear clutched Elena’s heart. “No, Ivy.”

Ivy twisted around to peer at Elena. In the moonlight filter ing in through the windows, her face looked determined. “I have to.”

“No,” Elena repeated. “We don’t even know that her drink was poisoned.”

Without saying anything, Ivy rolled over, away from Elena.

“Promise me you won’t do anything to put yourself in danger, Ivy.” Elena kept her voice firm.

Ivy’s silence pounded against Elena’s ears. She repeated her words. “You have to promise!”

“I promise that if I do see the man, I’ll tell Dr. Graham. I would never be foolish enough to confront someone who might be a murderer.”

Elena wished that made her feel better, but it didn’t. She had no trouble imagining Ivy going around peering suspiciously at every man she met. If one of those men had actually poisoned the punch Vanessa drank, he would not hesitate to do more to guard against discovery. Tomorrow she would push that truth at Ivy when she could look the girl fully in the face to make her understand.

Right now, Ivy’s body was stiff under Elena’s arm. Her own body felt as tense. She pulled in a long breath and let it out slowly. She rubbed her hand up and down Ivy’s back and tried to think of something to move them away from thinking about Vanessa no longer in the room next to theirs.

“Did you write your letter?”

“Oh, I haven’t told you, have I?” Ivy pushed up off the bed to peer over at Mother. “She’s really asleep, don’t you think?”

“I think so.”

Ivy scooted lower in the bed and jerked Elena down with her. She pulled the coverlet over their heads.

“We might suffocate.” Elena pushed up the cover to make a little tent over them. All she could see was the glitter of Ivy’s eyes.

“I’ll talk fast. Mr. Frazier said Dr. Graham was sending one of his men to Lexington for supplies and had agreed to get some more painting supplies for him. He is going to ask the man to deliver my letter. Mr. Frazier is so nice. And I know he likes you. You two would make a wonderful couple.”

“Don’t be silly. Mr. Frazier is not on Mother’s list of potential husbands. The man is as poor as we are.”

“Mother and her plans. She needs to pray and trust the Lord.”

“What? To rain down money on us?”

Ivy actually giggled. “That’s what he did for me. Sort of, anyway.”

“What in the world are you talking about?” The air was moist under the cover. Elena lifted a corner of the cover to take a breath.

Ivy didn’t seem bothered by the absence of fresh air. “You know how you said I might find a coin on the pathways? Well, I did. A one-cent piece. It seemed a sign. And then when I chased those ducks away from that lady at the lake, she had dropped her reticule and some coins spilled out. I told her about them, but she said she didn’t want them. That they might have duck droppings on them and I could have them. An answer to prayer. Mr. Frazier said it would be enough to pay the man to take the—” She hesitated and took a peek out from under the cover toward Mother before she went on. “Well, the you-know-what to you-know-who.”

“You are a wonder, Ivy.” Elena had to smile.

“It’s the Lord who did a wonder for me.” Her voice went to sad again. “But not for Vanessa. Do you think we should pray for her? For her family?”

“That would be nice. And pray for us that we can get some sleep.”

Ivy threw back the coverlet and settled down on her pillow. She murmured some prayers, and then her breathing became soft and regular as she surrendered to sleep.

Elena tried to do the same. Send up prayers for peace and the ease of sleep, but instead she stared at the dark air over the bed and wished she was in her father’s rose garden with her cat, Willow, winding back and forth around her legs.

She could enjoy rose gardens here, but there were also men she was supposed to entice to marry her. How did a woman do that? And there was a woman—a beautiful young woman—lying dead in the ballroom. One who might have sipped a cup of poison. If that was true, her sister could be in danger if anyone thought she saw whoever gave Vanessa the drink.

So many worries. Perhaps her mother would be willing to go back to Lexington when she found out about Vanessa. They could sell the house. They didn’t need such a large house. The boys didn’t have to go to the schools in the east. Ivy could marry Jacob. She, Elena, could be the spinster she always thought she was meant to be.

She slipped out of bed and went to the open window. The whippoorwill’s call was somehow comforting despite its lonesome sound. Lonesome. That was surely the life of an unmarried woman. Strange, she had always thought spinsterhood would not be so dreadful. A woman could do what she wanted without the demands of a husband and children. But such a woman did need to find a way to support herself or be forever in the debt of whichever relatives allowed her a corner in their household.

She had known such women but never thought of herself in the same way. At times a person could filter out the unpleasantness of truth. Besides, since she’d been here at the Springs, she had a different feeling about the institution of marriage. She’d watched the couples promenading along the paths. Newly married ones and those married many years. Most looked happy, but then why wouldn’t they in such a beautiful place with all their needs met by servants?

If she married a man like General Dawson, she would have servants at her beck and call. But would she have love?

In the past, she often thought she had never met a man to make her consider marriage, but had that changed since she came to Graham Springs? Did the very air here reek of romance, or was it meeting Kirby Frazier that had changed her ideas of love? And then there was Andrew with his gentle ways and kindness. Could she love him? Might she even learn to love General Dawson if he turned out to be her fate?

Her fate. She should be grieving for Vanessa’s fate as Ivy had said. Not a fate she could have imagined as they enjoyed the day together.

With a sigh, Elena went back to bed. She pushed her jumbled thoughts aside and concentrated on the whippoorwill singing its name over and over. She didn’t realize when she fell asleep, but the next thing she knew, dawn’s light was seeping through the sheer curtains.

As she had the morning before, she slipped from bed to dress as quietly as possible. She left off her corset again but did arrange her hair properly. She didn’t pick up her sketchbook. She had no heart for drawing today. But she did remember to take her straw bonnet.

She looked at Ivy as she went to the door. She should stay with her to share the sorrowful news about their beautiful neighbor with Mother, but the urge to be out in the early morning air was too strong.

Besides, she had the same as promised to meet Andrew in one of the gardens. If he could find her. That was before the terrible ending to the night. He might not even remember speaking about it. But the flowers would still be there. The sun would be coming up. The air would be fresh.

The same as the day before, the pathways were empty except for a few servants hurrying to their morning duties. Elena put on her bonnet and tied the ribbons below her chin. The bonnet restricted her vision to seeing only straight ahead unless she turned her head, but she could hear the birds singing. No whippoorwill now. It was a night bird, and with the glow along the eastern horizon promising the sun, now was the time for morning birds.

She didn’t go to the rose garden where she’d met Andrew the day before. Instead, she found a stone bench among a cluster of wine-red, white, and pink hollyhocks. Since she was mostly hidden from view, she took off her bonnet to enjoy the first rays of sunshine shooting up over the border of trees along the horizon.

It was good to see another sunrise. She hadn’t thought about that before. She had taken each new sunrise for granted, but Vanessa would not see this sunrise.

Elena reached to touch one of the white hollyhock flowers. The leaves that touched her arm were rough, but the petals were like silk. Pollen drifted down from the tuft in the middle of the flower. She pulled her hand away as a bee buzzed into the bloom.

A cat came out of the hollyhock stalks. With no sign of being startled to find Elena there, it rubbed against her legs, much as Willow did back in her father’s garden.

“Good morning, kitty cat.” The silvery light-gray cat was gorgeous with a smudge of darker gray across its face as if it had nosed around in an ash bucket. She held out her hand for the cat to sniff before she stroked it head to tail.

Purring, the cat looked up at Elena with the most remarkable blue eyes. Eyes the same blue as Vanessa’s. Elena’s hand stilled for a moment. The cat meowed and pushed its head into Elena’s hand to keep her stroking it. Then without invitation, the cat jumped onto her lap and did a halfway circle before settling down contentedly.

“Well, make yourself comfortable, my friend.” Elena laughed softly as she continued to rub the cat. “And what might be your name? Smoky? No, I don’t think so. Or Misty? No, that’s not fancy enough for you. Sapphire. How does that sound? Princess, perhaps. You do look like a princess among cats.”

“Cinderella.” Andrew stepped around the hollyhocks and gave the cat a look. “I think that would be the perfect name.”