Berni wasn’t sure she liked the woman’s tone, but before she could reply Pauline said, “Shall we watch?”
Berni looked back at the scene before them, at the two women in the bedroom, and settled back to watch. She had to figure out how to help the slim, pretty Terel.
Chandler, Colorado
1896
Nellie moved about the room, picking up Terel’s clothes and hanging them back in the wardrobe. She also picked up the hats Terel had discarded and carefully put them back into the boxes.
“I cannot decide,” Terel said petulantly. “Why do we have to live in this forsaken town anyway? Why couldn’t we live in Denver or St. Louis or New York?”
“Father’s business is here,” Nellie said softly, straightening a feather on a hat. The hats weren’t theirs but were on loan from the milliner. She was sorry they could afford only one hat and the others would have to be returned, but she meant to keep the ones Terel didn’t want as clean as possible.
“Business!” Terel said, flopping down on the bed. “That’s all anyone in this town talks of. Business! Why can’t there be any society?”
Nellie straightened out another hat, stroking the dried hummingbird on the crown before she put it away in the box. “There was the very nice garden party at Mr. and Mrs. Mankin’s last week, and the Harvest Ball will be at Mr. and Mrs. Taggert’s.”
Terel snorted. “All that lovely money and a family as crude as that. Everyone knows the Taggerts are little better than coal miners.”
“They all seem very nice.”
“Oh, Nellie, you think everyone is nice.” Terel propped herself on one elbow and watched her sister putting away clothes. Just last week, for the thousandth time, she’d heard someone say what an extraordinarily pretty face Nellie had, that it was too bad she was so heavy. Terel had even seen Marc Fenton watching Nellie. Marc was handsome and rich, and if he looked at anyone it should be at Terel.
Terel got off the b
ed and went to her dresser, opened a drawer, and withdrew a box of chocolates. “I have a gift for you, Nellie,” she said.
Nellie turned and smiled at her beloved little sister. “You shouldn’t give me things. I have everything I need.”
Nellie’s whole face lit when she smiled. Terel had heard women say that Nellie could light up a room with the warmth of her smile. “You wouldn’t refuse my gift, would you?” Terel asked, lower lip extended in a pretty pout. She held out the box of chocolates, and Nellie’s face fell. “You don’t like it,” Terel said, on the verge of tears.
“Yes, of course I do.” Nellie took the chocolates. “It’s just that I’ve been trying to eat less and lose some of this weight.”
“You don’t need to lose weight,” Terel said. “You look beautiful to me.”
Nellie’s smile returned. “Thank you, dear. It’s nice to have one person love me just as I am.”
Terel put her slim arm around Nellie’s plump shoulders. “Don’t let anyone change you. You’re beautiful just as you are, and the fact that men don’t like you doesn’t mean anything at all. What do they know? Father and I love you, and even if we’re the only ones, that’s all right. We love you enough to make up for all the men in the world.”
Nellie suddenly felt very hungry. She didn’t know why Terel’s words of love should make her feel hungry, but quite often they did. It didn’t make sense to her, but it seemed that love and food were mixed up together. Terel told her she loved her, and Nellie felt hungry.
“I believe I will have maybe just one piece of that candy,” Nellie said, her hands trembling as she opened the box and jammed three pieces into her mouth at once.
Terel turned away and smiled. “What should I wear tonight?”
Nellie sneaked a fourth piece of candy. “What you have on is lovely,” she said, swallowing. She was gaining control of her hunger.
“This hideous old thing? Nellie, I’ve worn this half a dozen times already. Everyone has seen it.”
“Two times,” Nellie said indulgently, putting the lid on the last hatbox. “And our guest tonight has never met you, so he can’t have seen it.”
“Nellie, really! You just don’t understand how it is when you’re an attractive woman, when you’re young like I am and your whole life is ahead of you. Surely your youth wasn’t so long ago that you can’t remember.”
Nellie was feeling hungry again. “Terel, I am not as old as you seem to think.”
“Of course you’re not old, you’re just…well, Nellie, I don’t mean to be unkind, but you’re just not on the market any longer. I am, and I need to look my very best.”
Nellie ate four more pieces of candy.