“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.