Twin of Ice (Montgomery/Taggert 6)

“Yes, of course,” she said, rising. “I didn’t mean to keep you from your work.”

He caught her by her elbow. “I didn’t mean me, I meant us. You and I are going to a realtor to buy a house today. It’ll have to be something large to have room for all of us.”

She moved out of his grasp and turned to look at him. “All of us? I don’t know what you mean, but Ian, Father and I couldn’t possibly live with you. I’ll get a job in t

own, perhaps Houston can help me, and Ian can go to school and work afterwards, and Father—.”

“Your father would hate himself for being a burden to you both, and Ian is too big to go to school with the others and he’d be better off with his tutor. And you couldn’t earn enough to support them. Now, come with me and help me find a big house, and you can be my housekeeper.”

“I couldn’t possibly do that,” she said, aghast. “I can’t be a housekeeper to an unmarried man.”

“Your father and cousin will be there as chaperones in case I try to molest you and, then again, from what I’ve seen of married life in the last few months, I rather like the idea. Come on, Jean, close your mouth and let’s go shopping. We’ll probably have to buy furniture and food and all sorts of things before we can get out of this hotel. Do you think the staff will volunteer to help us if they know their help will get rid of us faster?”

Jean was too stunned to say another word as Edan led her upstairs to her father’s room to tell him where they were going, In the end, Ian, Jean and Edan went to the realtor’s.

* * *

Houston sat at Pam’s dining table, listlessly poking at a bowl of oatmeal.

Pam burst into the room, pulling off long, white chamois gloves. “Houston, the entire town is on fire with gossip about last night,” she said without a greeting. “First of all, after you left, it seems that Kane and Edan had a brawl in an upstairs bedroom. One of the maids said that the fight went on for hours and, when it was over, Edan left the house in a storm.”

“Edan left, too?” Houston asked, wide-eyed.

“Not only Edan, but also the other Taggerts: Jean, Ian and Sherwin. And when they were gone, Kane marched downstairs and fired all the servants.”

Houston leaned back in her chair and gave a great sigh. “He said he was tired of all of us taking so much of his time. I guess he can work all he wants now . . . or go back to New York and work there.”

Pam unpinned her Strada hat, fluffing the ostrich plumes atop the white Italian straw. “I haven’t told you the half of it. Edan and Jean took up residence at the Chandler Hotel and kept the staff up all night, waiting on Sherwin who was, as far as I could find out, near death’s door, and this morning they bought a house together.”

“Edan and Jean? Is Sherwin all right?”

“Gossip says he’s fine and, yes, Edan and Jean bought that enormous Stroud place at the end of Archer Avenue, across from Blair’s hospital. And after they signed the papers—Edan paid cash for the house—Jean went back to the hotel and Edan went to The Famous and bought, I hope I get this right, three ladies’ blouses, two skirts, a hat, two pairs of gloves, and assorted underwear. That nasty little Nathan girl waited on him, and she kept after the poor man until he admitted that the secret woman he was buying the clothes for was approximately the exact same size as Miss Jean Taggert. If Edan doesn’t marry her after this, her name won’t be worth much in this town.”

She paused for a moment. “And, Houston, you might as well know that the Chandler Chronicle is hinting that there’s another woman involved in everything that happened last night.”

Houston picked up her coffee cup. The local paper didn’t faze her. Mr. Gates had complained for years that the paper was nothing but a gossip rag consisting of reports on the most bizarre deaths from around the world and inane articles about where each English duke’s family was wintering. He stopped delivery of the paper after it carried a half-page story in which an Italian man declared Anglo-Saxon women to be the best kissers in the world.

“Wherever did you hear all this?” Houston asked.

“Where else but Miss Emily’s Tea Shop?”

Houston almost choked on her coffee. The Sisterhood! she thought. She had to call an emergency meeting to let them know that Jacob Fenton knew about the women disguising themselves and illegally entering the coal camps. All the man had to do was get angry enough at Kane and he could have the women arrested. “May I use your telephone?” Houston asked. “I have some calls to make.”

Chapter 25

Houston called her mother first and interrupted Opal in a fit of crying. After Houston’d managed to calm her mother without giving her too much information, she persuaded Opal to help her call some of the members of The Sisterhood. The only suitable meeting place, where they were sure of not being overheard, seemed to be the upstairs of the teashop.

“At two o’clock, then,” Houston said as she hung up and began calling the others who were on the telephone system.

When the women finally met in Miss Emily’s parlor, they all looked askance toward Houston. She was sure they were dying to hear the truth of what had happened last night when everyone left Kane’s house. She walked to the front of the women who stood waiting.

“Last night, I found out some very important information,” she began. “Jacob Fenton knows about our going into the coal camps. I’m not sure exactly how much he knows, but I called this meeting to discuss it.”

“But the guards don’t know, do they?” Tia asked. “Is it only Fenton himself who knows? Has he told others? How did he find out?”

“I don’t know any of those answers. All I know is that he’s aware that we disguise ourselves and go into the camps . . . and he’s threatened to prosecute me.”

“You?” Blair gasped. “Why you, particularly? Why not all of the drivers?”