Page 31 of The Pursuit of Elena Bradford

31

People gathered at the edge of the lawn in front of the hotel for Vanessa’s funeral. Elena didn’t know whether that was from curiosity or genuine sympathy for a young woman dying in such a strange way during the last dance at a ball. Whichever it was, every Springs guest must have been gathered around the burial site.

The place Dr. Graham had chosen for his servants to dig a grave was lovely. The spring blooms on the redbud trees along one side were long gone, but their heart-shaped leaves seemed perfect. Hydrangeas bloomed on the other side. No clouds disturbed the blue of the late afternoon sky.

General Dawson was waiting for them when they arrived. He insisted that Elena, her mother, and Ivy move to the front of the onlookers. It seemed only right that they act as family for Vanessa, and Elena was glad she and Ivy had decided to wear their mourning dresses to match their mother.

Elena wondered if somewhere a mother or sister, some loved one, would watch for Vanessa to return home, wherever that was, and grieve when she didn’t come. They might never know what became of her.

Not that Dr. Graham couldn’t still locate her family. He had the portrait Kirby had done to show anyone who might come looking for a missing daughter or friend. Perhaps he would also have a painting of her death face if Kirby had complied with the doctor’s wishes.

Surely he had, for how could he refuse, even though it had been more than apparent he wanted nothing to do with painting Vanessa after death stole her smile? She didn’t blame him for that. She thought it best to remember a person in life. That was why she had avoided looking at her father in his casket.

But she had seen Vanessa in death. She had knelt beside her, heard her whispered words. “No one will ever know.” Elena needed to forget those words and remember her last ones as life left her. “I hear music.” Then Vanessa was gone. Nothing but the shell of her body was left there on the dance floor.

Elena pushed aside that vision and followed her mother and Ivy as they threaded through the crowd. All at once, her ears picked up the sound of their name. She held her breath and listened as intently as she could.

“There is that Bradford girl who saw someone give the poor departed her last drink.” A woman’s voice.

Another voice answered. “Poisoned, they say.”

“What else would cause her to die so suddenly?”

When Elena looked around, two women shifted their eyes swiftly away from her. She shouldn’t have turned her head. Better to pretend not to hear.

She let her gaze stray to others in the crowd, and there at last was Andrew. She had managed to slip away from the general and Ivy long enough to take a round through the gardens after the midday meal, but he had been nowhere to be found.

She smiled and started to motion for him to come stand with them. A beautiful woman grabbed his arm and stepped very close to Andrew. Elena’s hand froze in midair. Somehow she knew without anyone telling her that the woman was Gloria, his intended bride last summer. The one who had left him. The one who now had come back.

She didn’t look away quickly enough. Andrew saw her and his face changed. Not a smile. Not a friendly wave. Nothing. She whipped her gaze from him and hurried to take her place between Ivy and her mother at the front of the gathered people.

Tears pricked her eyes as the musicians began to play the same song they were playing for the last dance the night before. The dance she had with Andrew. She gave herself a mental shake and blinked away her tears. She was being ridiculous. Andrew had offered her casual friendship. Nothing more. But it had felt so right talking with him in the garden and then while they were dancing. Until this very moment, she hadn’t even realized she had entertained the idea of something more than friendship with him.

That was all he’d offered. She was the one imagining more. How silly she’d become since being here at the Springs. Being attracted to Kirby and now to Andrew. Her head was spinning. She needed to forget romance. Forget falling in love. That was for others, like the beautiful woman clinging to Andrew. Not for her.

Tears filled her eyes and spilled over to moisten her cheeks. Everybody would think she was weeping for Vanessa. Shedding tears for the young woman was only proper. Her death was tragic. There was nothing tragic about Andrew being reunited with the woman he wanted to marry. Elena should be happy for him. Happy for both of them.

She dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief as more tears spilled over. She needed to stop thinking about Andrew. Think instead about Vanessa as the song ended and a singer stepped forward to bring new tears to Elena’s eyes as he sang “Amazing Grace.”

She’d heard the song many times in church. Had even hummed or sung it when she was in her father’s rose garden, but the words had never touched her heart quite the way they did now.

Grace. She hoped Vanessa had embraced the grace that could take one through dangers, toils, and snares. Grace would help Elena get through whatever lay ahead for her too. She would forget the feeling that had been awakening in her heart for Andrew. She would refuse to think about Kirby and how he had painted her portrait with beauty. With the grace of the Lord, she would find her way along whatever path opened to her.

While she might never know what dangers and snares Vanessa had tried to avoid by taking an assumed name and coming to the Springs, she could still think about her in heaven basking in the bright shining light as she sang the Lord’s praises. After all, she had said she heard music.

Elena wiped away a few more tears. At least these were for Vanessa instead of herself as the last words of the song drifted away.

Dr. Graham stepped to the front then to speak about Vanessa’s beauty and her zest for life exhibited by her love of the dance. “No one who saw this young woman spinning around the ballroom last night expected anything but that she would be dancing again this evening. Instead, we are witnesses to the brevity of life. None of us are promised a tomorrow. So we must instead live as this young woman did, with joy in each day, since we never know which day might be our last. We knew Miss Vanessa for only a brief moment in time, but her loss is still a sorrow in our hearts.”

He gestured toward the wooden casket covered with a cascade of freshly cut roses. A green rug covered the waiting grave. When Ivy’s sniffles became a sob, Elena wrapped an arm around her. Ivy turned to hide her face against Elena’s shoulder. Tears slid down Elena’s cheeks too. Even their mother was blinking back tears.

General Dawson patted Mother’s shoulder before he joined Dr. Graham in front of them. He shared about Vanessa’s day at the Springs and how she looked like a princess when she came down the stairs into the ballroom.

He opened a Bible but didn’t look down at it as he recited Psalm 23. His voice deepened but trembled slightly as he spoke. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

His voice got stronger as he went on to the next verse and then finished with a sound of victory that made Elena wonder if he’d once been a preacher as well as an army general. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the L ORD for ever.” He closed his Bible. “And that is where our young friend is on this day and forevermore.”

When he stepped back beside Mother, she reached for his hand. He whispered something in her ear before he gave her his handkerchief.

“There’s no more to add to that,” Dr. Graham said. “We shall always remember this young lady who spent her last day on earth among us. Thank all of you for coming. We will have no dance tonight, but tomorrow evening the ballroom will be open again. I’m sure Miss Vanessa would be the first to tell us to continue to dance with joy.”

Elena turned to go back to the hotel. She did not want to see Andrew and the woman again, but her eyes were drawn to him like filings to a magnet. The woman had started back toward the hotel, but Andrew didn’t immediately follow her. Instead he seemed to be waiting for Elena to glance his way. He wasn’t smiling, but Elena imagined his face had a look of appeal. Elena’s heart gave a lurch before she shifted her gaze to the trees and the sky, anywhere but at Andrew. Her imagination was running away with her. He hadn’t given her any kind of special look. Not even a hint of a smile.

At the hotel, Elena’s mother wanted to go to their room to freshen up before going to the dining room. Elena started to follow them, but General Dawson stopped her.

“Can I have a word with you, Miss Elena?”

When her mother gave her a look, Elena’s throat tightened. Had her mother made some kind of arrangement with General Dawson without telling her?

“Of course, General.” She pulled in a breath and smiled as she went with him out onto the veranda, mostly empty now since it was the dinner hour.

“Let us stand over by the railing where we can have a little privacy.”

“If you wish.” She let him escort her over to the wooden railing. She grabbed it to hide the tremble in her fingers. She wasn’t sure she could make herself say yes.

He stared out toward the horizon for a moment before he spoke. “I saw you looking at Andrew.”

That wasn’t at all what she expected him to say. “Andrew?” She acted as if she wasn’t sure who he meant. When he simply looked over at her without saying more, she went on. “Oh, yes. Andrew Harper. I did see him in the crowd. With a lady. Is that his intended, Gloria?”

“His intended last summer.”

“Oh. Do you know Mr. Harper well?” She tried to keep her voice casual, but the old gentleman seemed to see through her pretense.

“I have known Andrew for years.” He smiled a little at Elena before he turned his gaze back to where the sun was sliding lower in the afternoon sky. He was quiet for a moment. “The question is do you know him?”

“I can’t really say that I do. I met him on the stagecoach on the way here.”

“Ahh. The same one where Mr. Frazier heroically stopped the runaway horses.”

“You heard about that?”

“Here at the Springs, nothing much stays secret for long.”

That made Elena remember the whispers she’d heard from the women in the crowd. “I guess except who Vanessa really was.”

The general waved his hand in dismissal. “In time, that will be discovered.”

Elena looked behind them to be sure no one was close enough to hear. “Do you think she was poisoned?”

He hesitated a moment too long before answering. “Dr. Graham doesn’t think so. As a doctor, he should know. I think it’s best that we trust his superior knowledge in this. The local officials have agreed with his findings.”

Elena nodded. This conversation wasn’t at all what she expected. First asking her about Andrew and then appearing to be uncomfortable talking about Vanessa’s death. She supposed that was to be expected, but why had he asked about Andrew? Had Andrew told him about meeting her in the gardens? She pushed aside her questions and waited for whatever the general had to say.

The silence stretched between them. A few other guests came out on the veranda, perhaps already finished with their dinners. When General Dawson finally spoke, his words again were unexpected. “The artist, this Kirby Frazier, what do you think of him, Elena?”

She felt a rush of warmth in her cheeks. “He’s an interesting man. I admire his artistic ability.”

“True. And he’s a strong figure of a man. I can understand if you are attracted to him.”

Elena studied her hands on the railing. She could feel him watching her. Why was he asking her about Kirby? Did he think Kirby was his competition? “Kirby Frazier is not someone I can be interested in except as an artist.”

“Because of your mother?”

That surprised Elena too. She looked over at him and decided to answer honestly. “Yes.”

The general actually smiled as he stared out at the lawn again. “Juanita has been scheming since she arrived here, but she is somewhat blinded by all her machinations. I think she wants to be a general, but she has no army.”

“She has Ivy and me. Especially me.”

“True, that she does.” He gave her a quick look and then stared out at the horizon again as he went on. “My dear wife used to accuse me of being a matchmaker. She would laugh and say that was not a job for an old general.” He chuckled. “She, of course, was right. The dear woman was always right. But here at the Springs I rather enjoy watching the matches being made between this or that lady and gentleman. This is a great place for romance.”

“I’ve heard others say the same. Unfortunately for my mother, I don’t appear to have a talent for romance.”

He turned to look at her then. “My dear Elena, you sell yourself short. I think, should you open your heart and arms, you could have your pick of men.”

“Are you one of those picks, General?” She couldn’t believe she spoke those words aloud. What would the man think of her?

When he threw back his head and laughed, she wanted to sink through the veranda. “Do forgive me for being so forward, sir.” Her cheeks were on fire.

“There, there, not to worry. I like a young woman not afraid to ask the pertinent questions. No need tiptoeing around what needs saying.”

That wasn’t an answer, but Elena didn’t dare ask him anything more.

He reached over and patted her hand as she gripped the railing. “I knew Juanita had that in her plans, but rest easy, my dear. It is not in my plans. I would much rather have you as a daughter.”

“You mean...” Words failed her.

“I mean my matchmaking has your mother in my sights.”

“Mother?”

He shrugged a little. “She’s a lovely woman, and I hope to convince her that I can be a suitable match once her mourning time is over.”

Relief flooded Elena. She wasn’t going to have to say yes to a proposal from the general. Her mother could do that. “She may think she has to play the widow role for a year.”

“Play the widow role?” He laughed again. “Are you saying she is not sincere?”

“No, not at all. I chose my words poorly. It’s just that Father left us in a rather precarious situation, and she has some resentment of that.”

“Yes, I know about your situation.”

“Mother told you?” The general was full of surprises.

“While Juanita was asking about me, I did some asking about her.”

“Then you know that we are pretending to be something we are not.”

“I wouldn’t say that at all. Juanita has made no secret of the fact that she would like to make favorable matches for her daughters. She is not the first parent to come to the Springs with that in mind. Your financial situation would become clear before any final matches were made.”

“I see. Then it could be that Mother will not be able to make a favorable match for me.”

“Perhaps. But it could be that I can be a better matchmaker than her.”

“With Kirby Frazier? He has no interest in me.”

The general frowned. “I might have thought that myself before I saw your portrait today. You did look at it, didn’t you?”

“Of course. Not that it looked much like me.”

“Maybe not as you see yourself, but it was as he sees you. Every line of that painting had love in it.”

“Love of his art, perhaps.” The man was talking nonsense. At least about Kirby. It was wonderful that he planned to propose to her mother and not her. The general as a father figure was much more attractive to consider.

“That too, no doubt. However, I do not think he would be your best choice.”

Elena smiled and shook her head. “You are being very kind, General, but I don’t truly believe I have choices.”

“I saw you looking at Andrew.” The general stared straight at her then with no hint of a smile. “And I saw him looking at you. The same as Kirby Frazier is not your best choice, Gloria Collins is not Andrew’s best choice. Keep that in mind in the days ahead. That is all I ask. I am very fond of you both.”

Elena didn’t know what to say. She wanted to believe the general, but she had seen the beautiful girl clinging to Andrew. That morning, she had heard the sadness in his voice when he spoke of her. Whether General Dawson thought she was best or not didn’t really matter. It was what Andrew thought was best.

The general turned away from the railing. “There’s your mother and Ivy looking for you.” He started across the veranda toward them. “Perhaps we can find a table together in the dining room.”

Elena stayed where she was for a moment. The sun sank below the horizon. The night bugs began chirring. A whippoorwill sang its name. And Vanessa in her beautiful princess dress would be covered with dirt. Elena didn’t want to go in to dinner. She wanted to walk down off the veranda and along the paths through the late afternoon shadows.

“Elena, are you coming?” her mother called.

With a sigh, she turned toward her. “I’m coming.”