Houston whitened a bit, but she seemed to be under control. “But he came to me anyway,” she whispered. “He saw her, kissed her, but he married me.” A brilliant smile lit her face. “Blair, you have made me the happiest woman alive today. Now, all I have to do is find my husband and tell him that I love him and hope that he will forgive me.”
She stopped suddenly. “Oh, Blair, you don’t know him at all. He’s such a good man, generous in a very natural way, strong in a way that makes people lean on him, but he’s…” She buried her face in her hands. “But he can’t stand embarrassment of any kind, and we’ve humiliated him in front of the entire town. He’ll never forgive me. Never!”
Blair started toward the door. “I’ll go to him and explain that it was all my fault, that you had nothing to do with it. Houston, I had no idea you really wanted to marry him. I just couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to live with someone like him.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that anymore, because I think he just walked out on me.”
“But what about the guests? He can’t just leave.”
“Should he stay and listen to people laughing about how Leander can’t decide which twin he wants? Not one person will think that Kane could have his choice of women. Kane thinks I’m still in love with Lee, you think I love Lee, and Mr. Gates thinks I’m marrying Kane for his money. I think Mother is the only person who sees that I’m in love—for the very first time in my life.”
“What can I do to make it up to you?” Blair whispered.
“There’s nothing you can do. He’s gone. He left me money and the house and he walked away. But what do I want with this big, empty house if he’s not in it?” She sat down. “Blair, I don’t even know where he is. He could be on a train back to New York for all I know.”
“More than likely, he’s gone to his cabin.”
Both women looked up to see Kane’s friend, Edan, standing in the doorway. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when I saw what happened at the wedding, I knew he’d be in a rage.”
Houston expertly wrapped the train of her wedding dress about her arm. “I’m going to him and explain what happened. I’m going to tell him that my sister is so in love with Leander that she thinks that I am, too.” She turned to smile at Blair. “I can’t help but resent the fact that you thought that I was low enough to marry a man for his money, but I thank you for the love that made you willing to sacrifice what has come to mean so much to you.” Quickly, she kissed her sister’s cheek.
Blair clung to her sister for a moment. “Houston, I had no idea you felt this way. As soon as the reception is over, I’ll help you pack and—.”
Houston pulled away with a little laugh. “No, my dear managing sister, I am leaving this house right now. My husband is more important to me than a few hundred guests. You’re going to have to stay here and answer all the questions about where Kane and I’ve gone.”
“But Houston, I don’t know anything about receptions of this size.”
Houston stopped at the door beside Edan. “I learned how in my ‘worthless’ education,” she said, then smiled. “Blair, it’s not all that tragic. Cheer up, maybe there’ll be an attack of food poisoning, and you’ll know how to handle that. Good luck,” she said and was out the door, leaving Blair alone to the horror of having to deal with the enormous, elaborate reception.
“Why did I ever open my big mouth about that school Houston chose?” she mumbled, as she straightened her dress, tried to breathe inside the tight corset, and left the room.
Chapter 18
The reception was worse than Blair had imagined it could be. People were always running out of this or that and, the minute Houston was out of sight, no one seemed to know what to do. And then, there were what seemed to be hundreds of Lee’s relatives to meet, all of them asking questions about the unusual exchanging of twins. Opal began spreading the rumor that Houston’s husband had taken her away on a white horse (probably one with wings, Blair thought), and all the young ladies were whispering that Kane was the most romantic of men. All Blair could t
hink of was that she was certainly glad that her switch had failed and she wasn’t going to have to spend her wedding night with Taggert.
Some man was asking Blair how he should serve what looked to be a hundred-pound wheel of cheese when she looked across the guests to see Leander watching her, and a small blush began to spread over her body. Whatever else she minded about Lee, spending the night with him was not one of them.
He pushed his way through the crowd of people, gave a few curt directions to the man with the cheese, and pulled Blair away with him into the garden, out of sight of the people. “Thank heavens a man only has to go through this once in his life. Did you know that Mr. Gates is crying?”
She felt good being here with him in the shade, away from the noise and the crowd, and she wished he’d kiss her. “He’s probably happy to see the last of me in his house.”
“He told me that now he could relax, because now he knew you’d be happy. Now, you were going to do what the Lord made women for. You’d have a good man—that’s me—to take care of you, and at last you’d be fulfilled.”
He was looking at her in a way that made her feel very warm.
“You think you will be fulfilled with me?” he asked in a husky whisper and began to move toward her.
“Dr. Westfield! Telegram!” came the voice of a boy, and the next minute he was standing there, shattering their aloneness.
Leander gave the boy a nickel and told him to help himself to the food as he began to open the telegram, his eyes on Blair. But the next minute, all his attention was on the paper in front of him.
“I’ll wring her neck,” he said under his breath, his face beginning to turn red with anger.
Blair took the telegram from his hand.
I HAVE JUST MARRIED ALAN HUNTER STOP WOULD YOU TELL FATHER AND BLAIR STOP I WILL RETURN IN THREE WEEKS STOP DO NOT BE TOO ANGRY STOP LOVE NINA