“Our kids behave like that and I’ll tan their backsides,” Jace said.
Nellie laughed. “I can’t imagine you striking anyone, least of all a child.”
“Maybe not. Maybe I’ll just put our bedroom on one end of the house and the kids’ on the other.”
It wasn’t until later, when Nellie was snuggled down into bed with the girls, that she realized they had been talking as though their marriage was a foregone conclusion. She went to sleep smiling.
W
hen Nellie awoke the next morning she was still smiling. There was a great deal to do in preparing breakfast for six kids and three adults, but she loved the bustle and activity. The children saw that Jace was a pushover when it came to discipline, and they talked their way out of doing their chores for the day. It was only when the unmilked cow was bawling, there was no wood for the stove, and no water had been brought from the well that Nellie went after them.
Jace teased her, untied her apron strings, then talked Nellie into playing with them. The boys piled bales of hay up to the barn roof, then made a slide. After much teasing and laughing, Jace and the kids persuaded Nellie to take a turn on the slide, too. Jace sat down behind her, his legs stretched out beside hers, and they went sliding down together, landing at the bottom in a heap of straw and petticoats. Jace tried to “help” her right herself and regain her dignity, but his hands seemed to be all over her at once, and she was laughing so helplessly that she fell back into the straw, the children tumbling on top of her and Jace.
When she came up for air she didn’t at first recognize the sheriff standing over them.
“Hello,” she managed to say, pulling straw from her hair and righting a child at the same time.
“Nellie,” the sheriff said, “did you know that all of Chandler is looking for you? There are rumors that you’ve been kidnapped, or worse.”
Nellie sat blinking at the man. “But I left a note,” she managed to say, and she turned to look at Jace, half-buried in the straw beside her. He looked away, and she knew without a doubt that he’d stolen the note.
“You’d best come back with me, Nellie,” the sheriff said, “and show everyone that you’re all right.”
“Nellie,” Jace said, his hand on her shoulder, “I’ll go back with you. I’ll explain that it was my fault that you were missing.”
“You’d better not,” she whispered. She knew what waited for her at home: her father’s anger, Terel’s tears, and her own feelings of guilt for having worried them so. “I must face them alone, and besides, you need to stay with the children until Mrs. Everett is well.”
Jace walked her to the sheriff’s buggy, and as she started to mount the steps he turned her toward him. “Nellie, don’t let them be too hard on you. I’ll see your father later today and explain.”
“No,” she said quickly, “you might lose your job.”
He smiled at her. “Don’t worry about my job.” In front of everyone, he took her in his arms and kissed her. “I have to go to Denver tomorrow on business, but I’ll be back the day of the Harvest Ball. I’ll see you then.” He kissed her again. “Save every dance for me.”
She nodded at him and reluctantly released him, and he helped her into the buggy.
“Take good care of my girl, sheriff,” Jace called as the buggy started to move.
Nellie looked out the back and waved at Jace and the children and Mrs. Everett standing on the porch in her nightgown. She brushed away a tear and turned to look at the road ahead.
What greeted her at home was worse than she had imagined. She had never seen her father in such a rage.
“You could have been killed for all I knew,” he yelled. “Your sister and I, not to mention half the town, have been up all night looking for you. We have been worried sick about you while you…you…” He was too angry to speak.
Terel had no such problem. She wept into a lace-trimmed hankie. “I am the laughingstock of Chandler. My own sister cavorting about with that man. Where did you spend the night, Nellie? With him?”
Guilt seeped through Nellie with every word they spoke. If either of them had disappeared for an entire night, she would have been sick with worry. Part of her was glad Jace had destroyed the note or she would not have had the past heavenly twenty-four hours to remember. Another part of her was very sorry to have caused her family so much concern.
“I don’t believe you care about us, Nellie,” Terel said, sobbing. “You don’t care about the misery you caused us.”
“Yes, I do,” she said meekly.
“But what is to prevent something like this happening again? It seems to me that all Mr. Montgomery has to do is crook his little finger and you come running.”
“It’s not like that,” Nellie said, but she knew that it was. If Jace asked her to leave with him again, she probably would. “I apologize for worrying you. I really do.” Tears were coming now. She really had been very inconsiderate in her behavior. “I wish…”
“You wish what?” Charles said sternly.
“I wish that both of you got what you wanted from me,” she said, and, sobbing, she ran blindly from the room.
Terel and Charles stood staring after her. There was one thing they were in agreement on: What they wanted from Nellie was for her not to interfere with their comfort. If the truth were known, neither of them was too upset over Nellie’s absence, but they were furious that their comfort had been disturbed. Charles had had a cold dinner last night, and Terel had returned home to find that her clothes had not been ironed, and today she’d had to cancel her tea party because Nellie had not stayed home to prepare the food for it.
“That’s one wish that I hope comes true,” Charles muttered.
Terel made her way down Coal Avenue toward her dressmaker’s. She had one more fitting for her dress for the Harvest Ball, and then it would be ready. She had spent far too much on the dress, but she’d worry about her father’s anger later. She was especially pleased with the gown. It had over a hundred pink silk roses on the skirt and bodice. The short sleeves were layered with lace, and there was a skirt of lace under a draped overskirt of pink silk charmeuse.
She couldn’t help smiling as she thought of the entrance she’d make at the Taggerts’ on the night of the ball. In fact, she couldn’t seem to help smiling about a lot of things. The best, and most surprising, thing was that an invitation to the Harvest Ball had arrived for her after all. She’d been sure that after the little mix-up with those boys last year she’d never be asked back. But Terel guessed that she was so popular now that the Taggerts just couldn’t ignore her. In addition, for the last four days Nellie had been a joy. The house had never run more smoothly. The meals had been on time and delicious, and all of Terel’s clothes had been perfectly pressed and hung in her wardrobe.
There had been no further mention of the night Nellie had disappeared, and no sign of Mr. Montgomery. After weeks of turmoil it looked as though the Grayson household was returning to normal. Except that now Terel was indeed the most sought-after young lady in Chandler—she couldn’t possibly accept all the invitations extended to her. And her father’s business was doing better than it ever had.
An hour later, as Terel stood in front of the mirror in her dressmaker’s studio, she looked at herself in her ball gown and smiled. All in all, there wasn’t a cloud in her sky.
“Yes, it’s perfect,” Terel said. “Send it to my house.”
The dressmaker was happy to have at last pleased Terel. The many roses had been very time-consuming to make. “Shall I send Nellie’s, too?”
Terel stopped pirouetting before the mirror. “Nellie’s what?”
“Her dress for the Harvest Ball. Shall I send Nellie’s ball gown to your house at the same time I send yours, or would she like to have a final fitting?”
She’d been so busy she’d completely forgotten that Nellie had been invited to the ball as well.
“Let me see the dress,” Terel whispered.
“Of course,” the dressmaker said, smiling as she stepped behind a curtain into her workroom. “I am very proud of it. I consider it one of my finest creations. I never knew Nellie had such excellent taste in clothes. Of course, the whole town is saying that there is a great deal that they never noticed about Nellie. I for one never realized she was a beauty.” She stepped back through the curtain, a gown of ice-blue satin across her arms. “Nellie looks lovely in the dress, really lovely.”
The gown was very simple, off the shoulder, low-cut, and Terel knew that Nellie would indeed look lovely in it.
The dressmaker looked at Terel’s stricken face. “Have I said something wrong? Perhaps Nellie meant this as a surprise, and now I’ve spoiled it.”
“Yes,” Terel said, trying to recover. “I think it was meant to be a surprise. I was hoping Nellie could go to the ball, but I wasn’t sure she’d be able to.”
“Nellie said something about that. Actually, what she said was quite odd. She said that since both you and your father were going to be out that evening, she didn’t think that her going to the ball would disturb your comfort. Wasn’t that strange? ‘Disturb your comfort.’ That’s just what she said.”
Terel turned away from Nellie’s beautiful gown. “Perhaps you’d better send the dresses separately, so when I see Nellie’s dress I can be
properly
surprised.”
“Yes, of course. That’s a good idea.”
Later, when Terel was on the street, she knew what she was going to do. She stopped at the five-and-dime and bought a large bag of children’s marbles.
Nellie smoothed the ball gown as it draped across her bed. There was a flutter of anticipation inside her as she touched the blue silk. She knew that tonight was going to be very special. For a moment she closed her eyes and imagined waltzing with Jace.
A knock on the door brought her back to reality. Her first thought was to hide her dress, but Terel entered before Nellie could move.
“Nellie, I wondered—” Terel began, but then she saw the gown. “How beautiful, how utterly beautiful.” She gave Nellie a look of surprise. “Why, it totally slipped my mind that you are going to the ball tonight, too.”
Nellie could feel her face turning red. “Mr. Montgomery invited me, and I thought that since both you and Father would be gone this evening that you wouldn’t mind if I went out. I wouldn’t stay for the whole ball. I…” She could feel her hopes for the evening fade as she saw anger on Terel’s face.
“Nellie, you act as though Father and I are monsters, or worse, jailers. I don’t like being thought of as an ogre.”
“No, of course not. I didn’t mean to offend you. I just didn’t want to interfere with your…your comfort. I don’t have to go to the ball. I can—”
Terel took a few steps across the room and kissed Nellie’s cheek. “How silly you are. My comfort, indeed.
Your
comfort is what’s important.” She picked up the gown from the bed. “This is beautiful, and when you’re wearing it you will be beautiful also. Oh, Nellie, we’ll be the two prettiest girls there.”
Nellie smiled. “Do you think so?”
“I’m sure of it.” She held the dress up to the light. “This really is the most exquisite silk, and the color is perfect for you. Did you choose it yourself?”
“Yes,” Nellie said, beginning to relax, and she wondered what she had been afraid of. She had purposely hidden the dress from Terel, had kept secret the fact that she was going to the ball.
Carefully, so as not to crease the dress, Terel put it across her arms. “We have to get dressed together. I’ll help you with your hair, and—Nellie, my opal necklace would look divine with this dress. Come on,” she said when she was at the door. “Don’t just stand there, we have work to do. Tomorrow everyone in town will be talking about the Grayson girls.”
Nellie felt so happy she wanted to cry. What in the world had she been worried about? Smiling, she followed Terel out of the room.
Three hours later Nellie stood before the long mirror in Terel’s room. Her dress looked even better than she’d hoped it would, and the opal necklace was perfect with it. Her hair was fuller on one side than the other, and the curls over her forehead were scorched from the curling iron and a little odd-looking, but Terel admitted she wasn’t very good with hair. Nellie didn’t mind. For the first time Nellie thought the reflection staring back at her was pretty, and, along with feeling that she looked good, Nellie felt warm inside because of the pleasant three hours she had spent with her sister. This afternoon it had seemed like they really were sisters, rather than, as Nellie often felt, mother and daughter. They had arranged each other’s hair, pulled each other’s corset strings, and profusely admired each other’s gowns.
“You’ll have to choose fabrics for me,” Terel said, looking at Nellie in her cool blue gown. “Maybe you would have chosen a different ball gown for me.”
Feeling almost lightheaded with joy over the coming evening and for once not feeling old and frumpy, Nellie spoke before she thought. “Fewer roses and not that shade of pink.”
Terel’s smile left her face. “Oh?”
Some of Nellie’s joy fled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I just meant that…” She couldn’t think what to say.
Terel smiled again and sat down at her dressing table. “Perhaps you’re right. Next time I want you to choose my dresses for me. Oh my, look at the time! The men will be here soon.”
Nellie’s breath quickened at just the thought of seeing Jace again.
“Oh, heavens,” Terel said, “I’ve done it again. I’ve left the cap off the bottle of ink. I was writing thank-you notes and forgot the cap. Nellie, would you hand me the bottle? And be careful, don’t spill it.”
Smiling, still thinking of Jace, Nellie went to the table by the bed and picked up the bottle of India ink. She did not see Terel open the bag of marbles and dump them on the floor. As they began to roll across the floor Terel covered the noise by going into a coughing fit. Nellie, concerned, ran to her sister. She had not taken three steps before she stepped on a marble and slipped, falling sideways against Terel’s bed.