Authors: Jill Marie Landis
“As if you’ve seen it somewhere before?” Laura prodded.
Maddie remained silent and rubbed her temple.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” She turned tear-filled eyes to Tom and whispered. “I feel like I’m coming apart again.”
He wished he’d never brought her here. Wished he’d left her alone on the bayou. At least then she wouldn’t have this tortured confusion in her eyes.
“Maddie?” Laura said. “Please. Look at me, Maddie.”
Maddie turned to the woman at the head of the table.
“My mother — “ Laura stopped, cleared her throat and corrected.
“Our
mother possessed only one thing she valued almost as much as her family. It was a small brass pendant, a circle that she said represented eternity. Inside was the shape of an Irish shamrock. She wore it around her neck on a rawhide string.”
Maddie set the spoon down on the fine Belgian lace and slowly traced the shamrock design with her fingertip.
“What happened to it? The pendant?”
“Our Uncle Timothy sold it for whiskey. Do you remember it, Maddie?”
Tom found himself waiting for Maddie’s answer as if the rest of his life hung in the balance.
“I don’t,” Maddie said slowly, her gaze never leaving Laura’s. “But for some reason, looking at it makes me feel very, very sad.”
Tom’s heart ached for her when he saw the tears in her eyes. He reached for her hand, drew it into his lap, and held it tight beneath the table. Her eyes widened at his touch, but she didn’t even try to pull away.
A
fter tea Maddie wanted nothing more than to escape outside into the fresh air. Laura must have sensed her discomfort, for she suggested Brand take the children to the church with him to
prepare for tomorrow’s service. Tom declined an invitation to go with them.
“If I’m not needed here, I’ll just go and see about my lodging,” he told Laura.
Maddie longed to ask him to stay or, at the very least, to take her with him. She wasn’t ready for any of this any more than she was ready to reveal her past to Laura. She certainly wasn’t ready to contemplate the future or Tom’s leaving.
“Nonsense,” Laura said. “We have more than enough room, and we’ve been looking forward to having you both here. It’s been far too long since I’ve been able to cater to guests. Your things are already upstairs. Just follow the hall to the last door on the right.”
“I don’t want to be any trouble,” he told her.
“Nor do I,” Maddie quickly added.
“I’m sorry.” Laura appeared crestfallen, looking to each of them in turn. “I didn’t imagine you’d want to stay anywhere else. Not that there
is
anywhere else to stay in Glory. There is a new hotel going up, but it’s not even fully framed yet. The Silver Slipper has rooms above the saloon, but given its reputation, I doubt you’d be comfortable there, Tom.”
“If you’re certain …”
“Quite certain,” Laura nodded. “We’ll love having you both here.”
Tom went upstairs to his room, leaving the two women alone. Laura took Maddie into the kitchen, where she introduced her to Ana and Rodrigo Hernandez, the help, then led her over to a long window near the back door and pointed out the Hernandez cabin beyond the backyard.
“Brand’s adult son, Jesse, lives in a room in the carriage house,” Laura said, nodding that way. “The younger children adore him, but they tend to be a handful. He prefers having his privacy out there.”
Maddie wished she felt as comfortable in her newfound role as Laura appeared to be at accepting hers.
“Would you mind if I went outside and walked through the garden?” she asked.
“Not at all,” Laura smiled. “In fact, I’ll come with you if you’d like.”
Unwilling to be rude, Maddie tried to find a polite way to decline Laura’s company, but words failed her. This woman, her sister, watched her with such hope and sincerity that Maddie couldn’t deny her anything.
Thankfully, Laura was perceptive enough to notice her hesitancy.
“On second thought,” Laura said, “there’s no doubt you need time to let things sink in.”
Laura bid her wait while she went and collected her cape. “There’s a chill outside. You’ll need this.” Laura handed over the emerald wool garment. “Be sure to button up.”
Maddie was used to being the caretaker. To be nurtured was a blessing, but it would take some getting used to. She thanked Laura and stepped out onto a wide veranda that wrapped around the house. In the yard beyond, rosebushes lined the drive. The Hernandez cabin at the edge of the property sported buckets of huge red geraniums beside the front door. A tidy vegetable garden had been planted alongside. Four horses grazed in a corral surrounded by a split-rail fence. Above and beyond stretched endless blue sky with a few high clouds drifting overhead. The house faced Main Street. There was nothing beyond the back fence except the open plain that rolled out like an endless sea.
Maddie took a deep breath of cool, dry air. Laura was right. There was a slight chill in the breeze. She tucked her cape close, went down the steps, and headed along the path toward the corral. She was intent upon circling the drive and walking to the front of the house.
Perhaps she would even try the porch swing.
Laura McCormick seemed like a perfectly intelligent woman
and not given to hysteria. Nor did she appear to be in such desperate emotional need that she’d claim just anyone as her long-lost sister.
The fact that Laura had described Maddie’s nightmare in detail was most telling. Dexter had explained the dream away, but no doubt Dexter had lied to her. Now he was dead and the secret would have been buried forever — if not for Laura’s determined search, and if not for Tom’s hunch.
Her nightmare was the only scrap of memory left of her former life as Megan Lane. As much as she was loath to believe it, she had to have been changed like the others. She bit her lips together, tried not to dwell on how she must have been shut up in the dark and held captive, threatened until every last memory of herself, her family, even her own name, was gone.
Had Dexter known her aunt’s name was Maddie? Or had he bestowed the name on her in jest because it belonged to a woman who had condoned the sale of two little girls to the highest bidder?
Would Anita tell her the truth if asked?
T
he breeze gusted a bit stronger as it whipped across the open land to tease the hem of Maddie’s cape and play havoc with her hair before it died down. She tucked her hands in her deep pockets, unaware of the sound of footsteps until someone was nearly upon her.
Hoping it was Tom, instead she found herself facing a striking young man well over six feet tall. At first glance, she assumed he was related to the Hernandezes. She took in his fringed buckskin boots, glossy black hair that fell to his shoulders, and the lethal-looking blade sheathed at his waist. A six-shooter hung low on his hip.
It wasn’t until he gave her a slight half smile that she realized his features mimicked those of Brand McCormick, but in an exotic way.
“I’m Jesse Langley,” he said.
“Brand’s son.” Maddie smiled in acknowledgement as well as surprise. “I’m Maddie Grande.”
“I can see they didn’t tell you much about me.”
“No. I thought … are you a McCormick?”
“I’m half Cherokee. Jane and Sam are my half sister and brother. I’ll let Brand tell you the rest of the story someday if he’s inclined,” Jesse said. “I can see you have other things on your mind.”
He gazed out over the corral area. When she remained silent he
added, “If it’s any reassurance, I’ve only known Laura a little over a year, but she’s one of the best people you’ll ever want to meet. If you are related to her, you should consider yourself lucky.”’
“Do you know …” Maddie suddenly stopped. Perhaps Jesse knew nothing about Laura’s former life.
“I know all about Laura. I also know how much finding her sister means to her. I wouldn’t want to see her hurt after what she’s been through in this town.”
“I don’t intend to hurt her.”
That much is true,
she thought. It appeared there was much about her sister that she didn’t know. Much they still had to share with each other. So many lost years. A lifetime of details.
“You take care walking around out here,” Jesse advised. “It’s not too late in the season for a rattler to come along.”
She saw a teasing glint in his eye and liked him all the more for it.
“Do you hunt, Jesse?”
“I do, ma’am.”
“Please. Call me Maddie.”
“I hunt everything there is that puts food on the table.”
“How about muskrats?”
“Can’t say as I ever shot one.”
“I’m a muskrat trapper myself. I can catch just about anything in the bayou that puts food on the table.” She’d tried to shock him but he accepted it without a blink.
“You use a gun?” He sized her up.
“I’m a fair shot,” she said. “Mostly I trap and sell the pelts.”
He looked her over with a new appreciation. “You don’t look like a fur trapper.”
Suddenly Tom spoke from behind them. “She’s quite a good hunter, actually. She totes a shotgun when she’s on the lookout for gators.”
Jesse Langley’s eyes widened. “You hunt alligators?”
“They live around my place.” She pictured the cabin, missing it.
Maddie introduced the two men. Jesse studied Tom and tugged on the brim of his own hat.
“I’ll leave you two to yourselves. Have a nice stay,” he told them.
Tom waited until Jesse was out of earshot. “How are you holding up?”
“I feel as if all the pieces of my life have shattered and are lying on the ground around me.” She thought of Laura again. Found herself wishing she remembered her older sister. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
He nodded. “A fine-looking woman.”
Maddie recalled that he had met Laura during the war. Now she couldn’t help but wonder about the circumstances.
“Where did you meet her?”
“At a social gathering. I was undercover.”
“As a Pinkerton?”
“As a spy for the Union. She had the confidence of a lot of wealthy Southern politicians.”
“Did you know she was a … she was a …”
“Prostitute? Yes. She was also a Union sympathizer willing to pass along information. She went by the name of Lovie Lamonte back then. When she wrote to me last year, she explained that she had moved to Texas and was posing as a wealthy widow. Naturally, I’ve kept her past confidential.”
“Even from me.”
“She asked me specifically not to tell you. Besides, it’s my job to keep secrets, Maddie. You know that.”
Of course she knew it. She couldn’t fault him. He had promised Laura he would keep her confidence and he had. A man of honor could do no less.
But had she known, she wouldn’t have embarrassed Laura the way she did — and she might have been a lot more at ease meeting her.
“She’s convinced you are Megan,” he said.
“You two spoke of me?”
“Just now. There’s not a doubt in her mind. She asked what I knew of your past, and I told her that it was up to you to tell her.”
Again, the most honorable thing.
“Knowing Laura’s history should make it easier to tell her about my past,” she sighed. “It should be easier, but it won’t be.”
“Because you are ashamed? Or do you think it will change her opinion of you?”
“Both.”
They reached the edge of the property and stopped beside the split-rail corral. He turned toward the house. “You’ve nothing to be ashamed of. You were both sold into lives you didn’t choose. You were only children. If anyone understands, it will be Laura. Besides, there’s far more between you than the missing years. You’re sisters. There is a bond of blood there.”
“Yet I have no memory of her or our parents. Only of the night we were separated.”
“Your nightmare.”
She nodded, stared out over the undulating plain. When the wind suddenly blew something into her eye, she cried out and ducked her head.
“Here,” Tom said softly. “Let me help.” He placed his hand beneath her chin and tilted her face up. His hands were warm and sure. “Hold still.” He gently held her lid, touched the tip of his little finger to the corner of her eye.
“A small grain of sand, that’s all.” He brushed something away.
He was so close his image wavered in her tears. Her heart raced, spurred by his touch. He cupped her cheek. His gaze searched her face and paused on her lips. His arm slipped around her, drawing her closer.
She knew he was going to kiss her and she couldn’t bring herself to stop him.
M
addie was in his arms. Warm and pliant and willing. For days Tom had wanted nothing more than to taste her sweet
lips, to hold her close and never let her go, and now she was in his arms. Then he reminded himself she was no longer Maddie Grande and stepped back so abruptly she was caught off balance. He steadied her with a hand beneath her elbow.
“The game has changed, Maddie,” he said softly.
“This isn’t a game, Tom. This is my life.”
“You’re not Madeline Grande anymore. You can have a new beginning. No one here will ever know about your past; they’ll only know you as Laura McCormick’s sister.”
She touched her heart. “In here I’ll always be Maddie Grande. I have to live with who I became and what I’ve done.”
“Maybe in time you’ll remember. As for what you’ve done, look at your sister. She hasn’t let her past stand in the way of her happiness.”
“I’m not even sure I like it here.” Lost, she looked around and shivered as the wind gusted again.
He took her by the arm, turned her toward the house. Together they started down the drive. As they neared the back porch, Maddie ignored the steps and followed the drive around to the front.
“I want to sit on that porch swing,” she told him. “I want to see what it’s like.”
He found himself smiling. He’d thought the same thing when they’d walked up the front steps.
He also found himself thinking of Reverend McCormick and the obvious pleasure Brand took in his children when they babbled on about cookies and tea sandwiches. McCormick supported his wife’s search for her long-lost sister and seemed to take it all in stride. The man’s gaze constantly strayed to his lovely Laura.