“Upstairs, you idiot, and call Nellie.”
Johnny leaned against the wall at the bottom of the stairwell and panted. “Nellie,” he said, little more than a whisper.
“She’ll never hear you if you don’t speak up.”
“Nellie!” Johnny yelled.
“Again.”
“Nellie!” His voice lowered. “Terel, what did you eat for breakfast? Rocks?”
She heard Nellie coming. “Get me upstairs, and slowly.”
“That’s the only way I can move.” Groaning, Johnny started up the stairs, his arms and back aching.
“Terel?” Nellie said. “Oh, Terel, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just a little dizzy spell. It’s probably just my heart.”
“Put her in here.” Nellie directed Johnny to Terel’s bed. “Go get Dr. Westfield. Tell him to come at once. Tell him it’s the utmost emergency!”
It was at that moment that the front door slammed open and the whole house jarred.
“Nellie!”
Jace Montgomery bellowed. “Where are you?”
All the blood drained from Nellie’s face as she stood up straight.
“Nellie.” Terel grabbed her sister’s arm. “Oh, my dear Nellie, it’s him, and I’m too sick to help you face him. I will do what I can to help you. Johnny, send him away.”
Johnny looked horrified. “The man is twice as big as me.”
Downstairs they could hear Jace going from room to room.
“I must go to him,” Nellie said softly.
“No, don’t leave me. Please, please, Nellie, don’t leave me. You say you care for my comfort, so will you leave me when I might be dying?”
“No, no, of course not.”
“Swear you won’t leave me. Swear it.”
“I will not leave you,” Nellie whispered. “I do not believe I
can.”
The three of them stood silently as they heard Jace thunder up the stairs, and then he was at the doorway. He was more handsome than Nellie remembered: bigger, more alive.
The anger on his face softened when he saw Nellie, and in spite of what she knew to be true about him, she stepped toward him, but Terel clamped down her hold on Nellie’s arm. “Don’t leave me,” Terel whispered.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Montgomery?” Nellie managed at last to say.
“I’ve come to take you away, to marry you.” After what Miss Emily had just told him, Jace wanted nothing more than to strangle Terel. He had no doubt she was behind all the gossip that had been spread about him. He was sure she was behind the letters he’d received and believed were from Nellie.
“I am perhaps a fool once, but not twice,” Nellie said. Her heart was pounding.
Jace couldn’t contain his anger. “As long as you stay around her you’ll be a fool forever.”
Terel tightened her grip on Nellie and gave a little whimper.
“My sister is ill, she—”
“Ill? She’s sick, all right, sick in her mind.” He tried to calm himself. “Nellie, I love you. I went home because I received a telegram saying my father was dying. I wrote you a note. I explained where I was going and why. I wrote you letters all the time I was gone.”
“We received no letters, Mr. Montgomery,” Terel said.
“You stay out of this,” Jace said, glaring at her. “I don’t know how you’ve done this, but I know you’re behind it. For two cents I’d—”
“Do not speak to my sister like that. She is ill. Johnny, go get the doctor.”
Since Mr. Montgomery was blocking the doorway, Johnny wasn’t about to push past him. He stood where he was, pressed into the corner of the room.
“Look at this.” Jace pulled the packet of letters from inside his coat and threw them on the bed. “I received these from you while I was in Maine.” He looked at Terel. “What did you do with my letters to Nellie?”
Terel took the letters before Nellie could touch them. “Whose handwriting is this? It’s not Nellie’s, and it’s certainly not mine.” She tossed the letters to the floor at Jace’s feet.
“You little—” Jace began, starting toward Terel.
Terel lifted herself from the pillows and hid behind Nellie. “He’s going to kill me! Nellie, save me!”
“Mr. Montgomery, you have to go.”
“I’m not leaving here until you let me explain.”
Nellie was beginning to recover her equilibrium. “I think not. No, let me speak. You have had your say. I’m afraid, sir, that once I believed everything you said to me. I defied my family for you, but not again. I cannot give my trust to you twice. You broke it once, and I cannot trust you again.”
“Nellie,” Jace said, and the word came from his heart. “I never did anything to break your trust. I wrote to you, I—”
“I neither received nor sent any letters.”
“That’s because
she
took them.”
Terel clung to Nellie and whimpered.
“My family loves me and would have no reason to harm me. You, on the other hand, have wanted my father’s business. You have even courted the old maid daughter hoping to get it.”
Jace took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. “Nellie,” he said softly, “your sister has every reason to want you to remain with her. You are little more than a slave to her. You cannot buy the kind of loyalty and maid service you give her. She has merely to wish for something and you give it to her.”
He took a breath. “As for my wanting you just to get your father’s freight office, don’t you realize that my family owns Warbrooke Shipping? I could buy your father’s company with my pocket change. Everyone else in town seems to know of my money.” He squinted at Terel hiding behind Nellie. “I never wanted your money; I’ve only wanted
you.”
Nellie’s head whirled. Was what he said true? If she believed him about the letters and his wealth, she’d have to believe that her family had had a hand in lying to her. Her family loved her. They would never want to harm her. They wanted her happiness.
“Nellie, come with me,” Jace said softly, holding out his hand to her. “I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you. Please come with me.”
She wanted to go with him. God help her, maybe she was a silly, desperate, love-starved old maid. Maybe he had lied to her. Maybe if she went with him he’d seduce her, get her with child, then abandon her, but at the moment she didn’t care. She wanted to take his hand, walk out with him and never look back.
But she couldn’t. She
could not
leave her family. As though chains held her, she felt she could not leave them and make them so—well, uncomfortable. Who would cook for them? Look after them? See to their needs?
“I cannot,” she whispered.
Jace dropped his hand, and the pain showing on his face was raw. “You won’t.”
“I cannot.”
Jace looked at Terel. “It looks like you win. My love isn’t as strong as your selfishness.” He looked back at Nellie. “I’ll be at the Chandler House for three days. Come to me there.” He turned and left the room.
The three left behind listened until the front door shut. Johnny peeled himself away from the wall and looked at Nellie. “You should have gone with him,” he said softly, then he left.
I know, thought Nellie, but she couldn’t explain to anyone how she felt.
She could not leave.
Terel settled back against the pillows. “I’m glad that’s over. Nellie, I think I’d like some tea, and perhaps a slice of the cake you made this morning.”
Nellie turned to look at her sister. Was there any truth in what Jace had said? Had he written her, and had Terel destroyed the letters?
“Nellie, don’t look at me like that. You’re giving me goose bumps.”
Was
she nothing more than a slave to her family? “Did you know he was wealthy?” Nellie whispered. “Is it true? Is he?”
“If he were wealthy, would he have taken a job as a clerk for Father? Would he have paid court to a woman no one else in town would have? Sometimes, Nellie, it’s shocking the way you seem to believe strangers over your own family. Why, for a minute I thought you were going to go with him. Going to leave the people who love you for a man you don’t even know.” She caught Nellie’s hand. “You wouldn’t leave me, would you? You promised you wouldn’t.”
“No, I don’t believe I can.” She pulled away from Terel. “I’ll get your tea now.”
“And don’t eat the whole cake. Father would like some, too.”
Nellie stopped in the doorway, and the look she gave Terel was icy. “I do not believe my weight is any longer a cause for concern. If you haven’t noticed,
you
are the plumper sister now.” Nellie turned away and went down the stairs.
B
erni left the Food room, and immediately she was again wearing her burial suit. She had been eating for quite some time, eating all the delicious things she’d denied herself on earth in order to stay slim, but now she was standing in the hall and thinking.
Pauline appeared out of the fog. “Have you been to the Fantasy room yet?”
Berni’s eyes widened. “What kind of fantasy?”
“Anything you want.”
Berni perked up. “Medieval men? Dragons?”
“Anything.” Pauline stepped toward a golden arch, Berni behind her, but Berni halted.
“I was wondering what happened to Nellie. Did she lose the weight? Did she marry her hunk?”
“She lost the weight, but she doesn’t see Mr. Montgomery anymore. He’s still in Chandler, but I think he’s about to give up hope. Nellie won’t see him. Right through here is the Fantasy room.”
“Wait a minute. Why doesn’t she see Montgomery? I thought he’d like her when she lost the weight.”
“Mr. Montgomery loves her—his love has nothing to do with her size—but Nellie is bound by the wishes you gave her. She can’t leave her father’s house and disturb the comfort of her father and sister.”
“Oh,” Berni said, looking down at her feet. “I never meant to do her harm. She seemed like a nice kid. I thought—”
“What does a fatty like Nellie matter anyway?”
“Nellie matters. Look at the way she was always helping people. People like that count. Nellie never—”
She stopped because Pauline had stepped through the Fantasy arch and the fog had cleared. Before them was indeed a scene out of Berni’s wildest dreams. A beautiful young woman with blonde hair to her waist, wearing a clinging pink silk gown, was chained to a post. Before her was a large but rather cute dragon, with a forked tongue and fire coming out of his nostrils, fighting an incredibly handsome, muscular, dark-haired man wearing chain mail. Berni nearly swooned.
“Come on,” Pauline said, “you can be the maiden.”
Berni took two steps forward, then stopped. “No, I want to see about Nellie.”
“Nellie can wait. Did you see the man’s horse?” The fog cleared to the right, and there was a beautiful black stallion draped in red silk.
Berni swallowed and took a step backward. “No,” she tried to say firmly, but her voice quavered. “I want to see Nellie.”
Abruptly, fog closed over the scene, and Berni let out a sigh of relief. She grinned at Pauline. “Anyway, I’d never be able to choose between the man and the dragon.”
“Your choice,” Pauline said, and she led the way through the fog to the arch of the Viewing Room.
Berni settled down on the banquette and watched as the fog before her cleared and she saw the Grayson living room. Nellie was there putting branches of pine along the mantelpiece.
“She looks great,” Berni said. “She’s really built, and now she’s much prettier than her little sister, so what’s the problem? Why doesn’t she have Montgomery? In fact, why isn’t she at some party? Looking like that, she could have
any
man.”
“Nellie has never been much interested in appearances. All she’s ever wanted was to love and be loved. Mr. Montgomery sensed that.”
Berni watched Nellie hanging up Christmas decorations, tying greenery along the banister. She was so very pretty now, but in her face was a deep, deep sadness. When Berni had first seen her, and Nellie had been fat, Nellie hadn’t looked sad as she did now. Berni couldn’t understand it. On earth she’d spent many thousands of dollars for plastic surgery so she could look half as good as Nellie, yet here Nellie was, with a face that could cause a war, a body better than any centerfold, and she was all alone and looking miserable.
“So why doesn’t she go after him?” Berni snapped.
“Two reasons: because of the wish you gave her and because Nellie doesn’t know how. You can’t just put wolf’s clothing on a sheep and expect the sheep to turn into a wolf. Nellie is Nellie, whether she’s fat or thin.”
Berni turned away from the scene, putting her hand to the side of her eyes. “I can’t bear to see any more.”
Pauline waved her hand, and Nellie and the room disappeared.
“So now what happens?” Berni asked.
“That’s up to you. We supply the—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m supposed to supply the wisdom. I haven’t been exactly wise so far, have I?”
“Oh, well, what does one fatty more or less matter?”
Berni winced. “You’ve made your point. So maybe I was wrong. You said Montgomery loved her. Would she be with him now if she wasn’t bound by the wish?”
“Probably, but who knows? One can’t predict these things.”
Berni looked back at the fog. “I would like to know more about Nellie. Is it possible to see all of her life? From the beginning?”
“Of course.” Pauline waved her hand, and there was a pretty woman in a Victorian bed straining to give birth.
“I’ll leave you,” Pauline said, rising. “I’ll return when it’s nearer Christmas 1896.”
Berni waved her hand absently and stretched out to watch. She’d already learned that time in the Kitchen wasn’t like earth time. The scenes seemed to fly past. Berni saw that from the beginning Nellie was a quiet, solemn, eager-to-please child. Her mother wasn’t well, so Nellie was never allowed to make even the smallest sound; and since her father’s business made little money in its early days, Nellie always had many chores. As a reward for all her obedience, Nellie was pretty much ignored by her parents.
When Nellie was eight her mother gave birth to Terel, then was seriously ill until she died four years later. But Nellie didn’t mind caring for the child. She held the screaming infant and looked at it with love. For the first time ever she was going to have someone who would return her love.
After his wife died, Charles Grayson seemed to have no qualms about leaving his twelve-year-old daughter with the responsibility of caring for the baby. Nellie was a good mother, but she was so starved for affection that she gave the baby anything she wanted, so that Terel grew up believing that Nellie had been put on earth solely to do Terel’s bidding.
In adolescence Nellie began to gain weight. Berni saw the way boys flirted with Nellie, making her blush, and how she looked back at them. Then, at home, Charles would forbid Nellie to go out and leave the toddler alone. Nellie would go to the kitchen and eat.
By the time Berni got to 1896, she really understood Nellie’s life. Nellie had no idea how to fight for what she wanted. All she knew was how to give.
Berni watched as Jace Montgomery came into Nellie’s life, saw the way she blossomed under his love, and Berni smiled warmly. Nellie deserved to have someone love her, deserved to stop being a slave to her father and sister.
Things changed when Nellie started giving her three wishes away, and Berni felt herself grow smaller. She hadn’t meant to hurt Nellie. Heaven help her, Nellie had had enough pain in her life, and she didn’t need any more, but the wishes had increased Nellie’s burdens.
Berni watched Nellie at the Harvest Ball and thought she looked beautiful. A little wide, perhaps, but she was so in love her entire body glowed. After the ball Berni saw what Terel did with Jace, sending the phony telegram, then stealing Jace’s letters to Nellie and hiring some poor woman to write replies to him so he’d think Nellie had answered him.
“You conniving little manipulator,” Berni muttered.
She watched as Jace returned to town, then saw the scene when Terel pretended to be ill. Berni heard Jace ask Nellie to leave with him, and she heard Nellie say she
could not
leave. “Because of the third wish,” Berni said aloud.
At last she came to Nellie hanging the greenery in the parlor. It was two days since Jace had asked her to leave with him and three days before Christmas.
The scene became covered with fog.
“What shall it be?” Pauline asked. “More wishes?”
“Can I go back to earth and help Nellie?”
“Go back to earth? You want to leave the Kitchen? Leave here for all the nastiness of earth? You know, you didn’t see all of the Feasting room. They have chocolate mountains in there. And it’s not wimpy milk chocolate but that really deep, rich, dark chocolate. You can eat all you want and never gain an ounce.”
Berni hesitated as she imagined chocolate mountains. “No,” she said firmly, “I want to return to earth. Nellie needs a teacher. She’s no match for that sister of hers. She needs some help.”
“But I thought you liked Terel. I believe you said she reminded you of yourself.”
“Terel is
exactly
like me, and that’s why
I
need to fight her.”
“Fight her?” Pauline said. “But I thought you wanted to make her into Cinderella.”
“She already thinks she
is
Cinderella. What right does she have to take everything away from Nellie? Nellie is a hundred times the person she is. Can I go to earth or not?”
“You may go, but the limit is three days, and I warn you, these visits rarely work out.”
“I’ll take my chances. Now, I’ll need to know some about the family. I plan to arrive as the Grayson family’s long-lost relative, their very rich relative. Do you think I might have a wardrobe, something in green silk to match my eyes?”
Pauline smiled. “I think something might be arranged. There are rules, though. What has happened stands. You cannot change what Nellie has already wished.”
“I don’t plan to disturb her family’s comfort,” Berni said with a smile. “They’ll be the most comfortable family in America.”
“And three days,” Pauline said. “That’s all the time you have.”
“I won my second husband in three days, and I didn’t resort to magic. How about a hat with an ostrich plume? And how about shoes with lots of buttons?”
“I hope you do this well,” Pauline said softly.
“I always get what I want. Terel doesn’t stand a chance against me.”
Pauline sighed. “All right, then, come along. We’ll embed you in the memory of the Graysons so they have some knowledge of Aunt Berni, then we’ll send you down.”
“And clothes,” Berni said. “Don’t forget clothes. How about an amber necklace?”
“You will have all the clothes you want. I hope I don’t regret this—and, more importantly, that Nellie doesn’t regret this.”
“Don’t worry. When it comes to being a bitch, I wrote the book.”
“That’s a book I don’t want to read,” Pauline muttered as she started walking.
“How rich?” Terel asked, biting into one of Nellie’s crispy apple tarts.
“
Very
wealthy,” Charles said, putting down the letter. “And she has no other relatives besides us. It’s my belief that she wants to choose one of you as her heiress.”
“
One
of us?” Terel asked, glancing sideways at Nellie, who was sitting at the far end of the dining table. As usual, Nellie wasn’t paying attention. Not that Nellie was ever a barrel of laughs, but in the last two days, since that man had come storming into the house, Nellie had been a veritable gloom factory. “Why just one of us?”
“She says she doesn’t want her fortune divided. She wants it kept intact after her death, so I take that to mean she plans to leave it all to just one of you.”
“Mmm,” Terel said thoughtfully. “I do wish you’d told us of her visit before the day of her arrival.”
“I can’t think why I didn’t,” Charles said, genuinely puzzled. “I’m sure I knew about the visit, but I don’t know why I never said anything.”
“Oh, well,” Terel said, licking her fingers, “I shall do my best to take care of her. Nellie, you had best stay in the kitchen and cook. Your wonderful cooking will please Aunt Berni, I’m sure.”
Nellie didn’t bother to reply. She pushed the food about on her plate. For once in her life she wasn’t hungry. Being hungry meant that you were alive, and right now Nellie didn’t feel very alive.
Terel turned to Nellie and studied her. Yes, it would be much better to keep Nellie away from this rich relative. Terel wouldn’t have worried about the fat Nellie engendering love, but this new Nellie, slim, beautiful, unconsciously graceful, caused people to look at her twice. For the life of her Terel couldn’t figure out what about Nellie caused people to care so much about her. Miss Emily, the nosy old hag, constantly asked after Nellie, as did whole churches full of people. Terel assumed it had to do with the way Nellie kept giving their food away to the grubby kids of Chandler. No one ever thought to thank their father for paying for the food, nor did they thank Terel for having to do without because Nellie spent their family’s money on other people. No, everyone just saw Nellie playing Lady Bountiful.
Now Nellie looked like the heroine of a tragic play, with her big eyes full of misery. Everyone who saw her seemed to be filled with pity for her. But why? Terel wondered. She’d come close to marrying a very rich man—not that Nellie deserved him—and in the end, she’d done the right thing by staying with her family, so why was she trying to make everyone else feel miserable? Terel knew Nellie’s moroseness was meant to punish her, Terel, but no one else seemed to realize that. That stupid Mae Sullivan said yesterday that she felt almost like telling Nellie the truth about Mr. Montgomery, that he hadn’t kissed any other woman in Chandler. “Except me,” Terel had said, and she turned on her heel and walked away.