Janie stood and looked at the blonde woman. Nicole had come back early from dinner with Clay the night before, and all Janie could get from her was that Bianca had arrived. She said no more, but her face told a great deal. Her eyes showed her sadness. Today, she’d gone about her work as usual, but Janie felt that much of the life was gone from her.
“Won’t you come in?” Janie said. “You must be Bianca. I was just making some tea. Maybe you’d like to join us.”
Bianca looked about the room with disgust. She saw nothing charming in the plaster walls, the beamed ceiling, or the spinning wheel by the fire. To her it was a hovel. She dusted a chair with her fingertips before she sat in it. “I would like for you to get Nicole. Tell her I am waiting and don’t have all day.”
Janie set the teapot on the table. So this was the beautiful Bianca that Clay was so crazy about. She saw a woman with a colorless face and a body that was rapidly turning to fat. “Nicole has work to do,” Janie said. “She’ll be here when she can.”
“I have had about enough insolence from Clay’s servants. I’m warning you that if—”
“If what, missy? I’ll have you know that my duties lie with Nicole, not Clayton,” she half lied. “And furthermore—”
“Janie!” Nicole said from the doorway. She walked across the room. “We have a guest, and we must be gracious. Would you care for some refreshment, Bianca? There are some warm crullers from breakfast.”
When Bianca didn’t answer, Janie muttered something about her looking as if she could eat all the grain in the mill.
Bianca sipped her tea and ate the soft, warm, sugary crullers with disdain, as if she were forcing herself. “So, this is where you live. It’s some comedown, isn’t it? Surely Clayton would have allowed you to stay on the plantation in some capacity. Maybe as assistant cook.”
Nicole put her hand on Janie’s arm to keep her quiet. “It was my choice to leave Arundel Hall. I wanted to have a means of supporting myself. Since I knew about running a mill, Mr. Armstrong kindly deeded this place to me.”
“Deeded!” Bianca said. “You mean he owned this, and he just gave it to you? After all you’d done to him, and to me?”
“I’d like to know what she’s done to you,” Janie said. “It seems to me she’s the innocent party.”
“Innocent!” Bianca sneered. “How did you find out Clayton was rich?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Why else would you have volunteered so readily to go with those kidnappers? You practically leaped on that man’s horse. And how did you get the captain to marry you to my fiancé? Did you use that skinny little body of yours to entice him? You lower classes always do things like that.”
“No, Janie!” Nicole said sharply, then turned back to Bianca. “I think you’d better go now.”
Bianca stood, smiling slightly. “I just wanted to warn you. Arundel Hall is mine. The Armstrong plantation is mine, and I don’t want any interference from you. You’ve taken quite enough of what belongs to me, and I don’t plan to give you any more. So stay away from what I own.”
“What about Clay?” Nicole said quietly. “Do you own him, too?”
Bianca curled her lip, then smiled. “So that’s how it is, is it? My, my, what a small world. Yes, he’s mine. If I could have the money without him, I would. But that’s not possible. I’ll tell you one thing, though, even if I could get rid of him, I’d see you never got him. You’ve caused me nothing but misery ever since I met you, and I’d die before I let you have what was mine.” She smiled more broadly. “Does it hurt, seeing the way he loo
ks at me? I have him right there.” She held out her plump, white hand, then slowly curled it into a tight little fist. Still smiling, she turned and left the room, leaving the door open behind her.
Janie sat down at the table beside Nicole. She felt like she’d just been run between the grinding stones. “So that’s the angel Clay sent me to England to fetch?” Janie shook her head slowly. “I wonder if any man’s ever been born who had any sense about women. What in the world does he see in her?”
Nicole was staring at the open doorway. She wouldn’t mind losing to a woman who loved Clay, but it hurt to see him with Bianca. Sooner or later, he’d find out what she was like, and when he did he’d be miserable.
The twins burst into the room. “Who was that fat lady?” Alex asked.
“Alex!” Nicole said. Then her reprimand lost its bite as Janie started laughing. Nicole tried to keep from smiling. “Alex, you shouldn’t call people fat.”
“Even if they are?”
Janie’s laughter was too loud for Nicole to speak. She decided not to go into Bianca’s weight. “She’s a guest of your Uncle Clay,” she said at last.
The twins exchanged looks of silent communication, then turned quickly and sped down the path.
“Where do you think they’re going?” Janie asked.
“To introduce themselves, probably. Ever since Ellen Backes taught them how, they’ve not lost an opportunity to bow and curtsy.” Janie and Nicole looked at each other, then silently left the house. They didn’t trust Bianca with the twins.
The two women got there just in time to see Alex make his bow before Bianca. They stood on the edge of the wharf. Bianca seemed to be pleased by the twins’ formal manners, even if their clothes and faces were somewhat dirty. Mandy stood quietly by her brother, smiling proudly.