Page 39 of The Pursuit of Elena Bradford

39

The next morning Andrew slipped out to the veranda in the first gray light of dawn. If Elena went out before sunrise, he wanted to be sure to see her. He hadn’t wanted to let her out of his sight since they opened the door of that shed and found her there. Of course, he had. She’d gone to her room. She’d been to the baths. But he was continually watching for her, thinking about her, wanting to be beside her.

Gloria had confronted him with another unpleasant scene the day before. He had listened without saying a word as she accused him of betrayal. All the time she was talking, he kept thinking about Elena and how she’d come out into the sunlight and straight into his arms. Then she’d walked back to the hotel without complaint or concern for her unkempt hair, torn dress, or broken fingernails.

“This woman, this Elena, is just a flash in the pan for you. You’ll come crawling back to me, but believe me, I won’t be waiting. You have lost your chance.”

She was still talking when he walked away, leaving her alone. She didn’t stay alone long. General Dawson reported she left late that evening with a man named Harrison. A good match for her, the general said with some pleasure.

“I didn’t know you were such a matchmaker, General.”

He had smiled. “An old soldier has to have something to do once he can’t ride out to battle anymore. But Gloria was never right for you, son, not even when you thought she was.”

“Is Elena right for me?”

The general’s smile got broader. “That’s for you to find out.”

“We really don’t know each other that well.”

“I suggest you use the next few weeks here at the Springs correcting that.”

“Will she be here that long?”

“Dr. Graham has told Mrs. Bradford that she and her daughters can stay as long as they like. Until the end of the season if that is their wish. Without charge, to make up for his unfortunate reluctance to organize a search for Miss Elena.”

“Has his nephew, Sanderson, come back to the hotel?”

“Not as yet. I rather doubt he will.”

“Will the officials find him or the other man?”

General Dawson’s face hardened. “I have my doubts about that too. A man can disappear in this country if he chooses to do so.”

“Could they have really caused the mystery lady’s death?” It was all so difficult to believe.

“Miss Vanessa’s?” He looked thoughtful. “The man would have no reason to lie in the conversation Miss Elena overheard. He intended someone ill, but not death. However, he could have gotten his poisons mixed up the same as he was confused about his intended victim, or perhaps the poor girl had some problem that made the concoction more deadly for her.” He shook his head. “I doubt we will ever know.”

“Or who she really was?”

“That surely will not stay secret forever. Her identity will come to light in time.”

“If it does, do you think her family will want to move her body from here to their own graveyard?”

“Another question we cannot answer. Perhaps. Or perhaps they will want her to stay here where she had her last dance.” The general patted Andrew’s shoulder. “Don’t concern yourself with questions you can’t answer. Think more on the answers you can discover.”

That was what he hoped to do as he watched for Elena in the early morning light. He had no assurance she would come. She might need to rest after the events of the day before. She hadn’t come to the dance last night. Her sister told General Dawson they all needed some quiet time to recover.

Even so, he hoped she would be out to see the sunrise. As the horizon began to warm to a golden pink, she did come out of the hotel. He didn’t call to her. Better to follow and pretend to find her as he had promised to do at the dance on the night the mystery lady had died.

He trailed her, but not close enough for her to notice him. She went straight to the lake where Frazier did his painting. A finger of doubt poked Andrew.

Was she hoping to see Frazier? She had been in his arms beside the moonlit lake two nights ago. She had embraced him yesterday after they found her. Frazier had kissed her forehead and perhaps had kissed her the night before.

Andrew hadn’t kissed her when she walked into his arms, but that was his hesitation, not hers. He tried to quell his jealousy. There was no reason to guess at what she was feeling. He would ask. Whenever she stopped.

She slowed and glanced over at the shade tree where the artist worked, but then went on. Andrew looked that way too as he passed. Frazier’s easel and stool were no longer there.

When he looked back at the pathway, Elena had disappeared. A moment of panic seized him before he noticed a few weeping willow limbs by the lake moving in the still morning air. She had found her hiding place.

She laughed when he ducked through the willows after her. She was backed up against the tree’s trunk. “It’s good you were following me or I might have had to whistle some birdsongs to help you find me this morning.”

“Can you whistle birdsongs?”

“Only a bobwhite.” She demonstrated. “Although the female only does the white, and the male says the bob with the white.”

“How do you know that?”

“My father told me.” She smiled a little sadly. “He loved birds as well as roses. He was a good man in spite of making poor financial decisions.” She hesitated a moment before she went on. “That is my way of telling you my family has no money. Only debts.”

“Do you think I care about you having money?” Andrew frowned.

“I don’t know. Some men would.”

She had to be talking about Frazier. Something he didn’t want to do, but he needed to know what she was thinking. “Did Kirby Frazier know you weren’t well to do?”

“Not when he asked me to go west with him. Ivy said she told him yesterday morning. That General Dawson insisted she make our situation clear to him.” She gave him a curious look. “Did you hear her?”

“No, it must have been before I tried to fight him.”

“Fight him? You didn’t!” Elena’s eyes widened as she stared at him.

“I did.” Andrew shook his head. “Fortunately for me, the general was there to stop it. Frazier would have made short work of me.”

Elena twisted her mouth to the side to hide a smile. “He is bigger than you.”

“And surely more skilled at throwing punches.”

“That could be. What I have a hard time believing is that he still searched for me after he knew I wasn’t a wealthy heiress.” She had a look of wonder.

“That surprises you?”

“It does. He and I were both here for the same reason. He to find a wife to finance his trip to the west and me to find a husband to save my family from poverty. Such pretense on both our parts.” She shook her head sadly.

“I think he truly loves you.”

“And going west would be a grand adventure.” She sounded as if she believed that.

“I suppose it would be.” Doubts kept poking him. “Why didn’t you go with him, then?”

“He would have tired of having family. Besides, I couldn’t go with him.” She smiled a little.

“Why is that?”

“Because I do truly want to love whomever I marry. I didn’t realize that until my mother pulled me out of my spinster corner and insisted I find a husband. A rich husband. She made sure I knew that requirement. Of course, that left out Kirby even had I fallen in love with him.”

“I see.” Andrew wasn’t sure what he should say, what answers he needed to find.

“Do you?” She didn’t let him find an answer to that question before she asked another. “Why are you here at the Springs, Andrew? Because Gloria broke your heart?”

“My heart was wounded. I felt betrayed by her and by my friend who ran away with her.”

“That’s understandable.” Her smile was completely gone. “The two of you could have renewed your promises to each other when she came here.”

“We could have.”

“But you didn’t. Why is that?” She asked him the question he’d asked her moments before.

“Because the same as you, I do want to truly love the person I marry. In the time since Gloria left, I have discovered that is no longer her. If it ever truly was her.”

“You surely thought you loved her when you asked her to marry you.”

“I did, and we would be married a year now if she had gone through with the wedding.”

“I don’t know where that leaves me.” Her brow furrowed in a frown.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I have fallen in love with you, Andrew Harper.” She searched his face a moment before she went on. “And I don’t know if you think you might fall in love with me.”

“I do think I could.” Why couldn’t he just say he loved her? Still, he’d known her such a short time. Did he feel love or merely attraction? But then, what about his panic when he thought something had happened to her? Surely, that was because of love.

“Love. Such a little word to be so hard to say at times. So hard to trust.” Her gaze drifted away from him to study the willow branches shivering in the morning air.

He wanted to trust his feelings, but he hesitated to speak them aloud.

She looked back at him and spoke first. “I’ve always wondered why people call it falling in love, but now I understand. It can be like walking along through life doing what has to be done when suddenly someone shows up among the flowers to talk to you. Somehow, you know that this is a conversation you never want to end. You’ve fallen off a cliff into a whole new place where feelings matter more than sensible thinking.”

She didn’t give him time to say anything as she took his hands and went on. “But if you haven’t fallen off that cliff, I understand. I can go back to my spinster’s corner now that the general wants to marry my mother. I no longer have to search for that rich husband to save us.”

“Spinster’s corner?” That made him laugh. “No spinster corners for you.” She was smiling now. A beautiful sight. “If I haven’t already fallen off that cliff into love, I am tottering on the edge.”

“I’m glad, Andrew.”

“May I kiss you, Miss Bradford?”

“I am sure Mother would think it scandalous to hide among the willows to steal a kiss, but a former spinster can dare a little scandal.” She lifted her face toward his.

He dropped his lips to cover hers just as the first sunrays streaked across the lake to sneak in between the willow branches to touch them. He felt himself falling.