Blanche could feel her temper rising. “What if I decided that your father was the one who lured my mother away and I came after you. Do you see how ridiculous this sounds? We were children. We had no control over what happened in our lives. Believe me, I have been so angry that my mother could go off and leave me. You had your mother to raise you. I did not. I had my father, but you lost yours. Why would you blame me?”
Alice’s bottom lip trembled, and she rushed toward Blanche. But Aunt Grace stepped in between her, stopping her.
“Because your mother ruined our family.”
Blanche had heard and seen enough. The other women were all staring in horror at them. “I’m sorry this happened to you, Alice. But I don’t know if it was my mother who ran off with your father. Why don’t you think about blaming him if you need someone to blame? I had nothing to do with this. After all, I was a victim too. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going home. Give me the locket back or my husband will come find you.”
“Tell him to come and get it. I’m not giving it back. It looks just like the locket my father bought and gave your mother.”
How could she explain this to Jakob? How could she tell him that Alice had taken the locket from her and refused to give it back?
“Fine,” she said and suddenly she wondered. “What did your father do for a living?”
“He had a wagon that he took around to homes selling kitchen wares.”
Well, damn, maybe her mother did run off with her father. All she knew was that her father said she ran off with the pan salesman and Alice’s father sold pans.
Turning, she walked out of the room, eager to get away. What had started out as a fun reunion had become a sad desperate scene she had to get away from.
Her friends walked out with her and she felt Daisy’s hand on her arm.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she said, knowing that she wasn’t. While part of her knew she shouldn’t let the woman upset her, it was a missing piece of her that she couldn’t explain and that frustrated her.
And she’d taken the gift that Jakob had given her. She’d failed him miserably and she so wanted to make him happy. She loved Jakob and wanted to be the wife he so desperately desired.
They walked outside, and when she reached Sweetie, she turned to say good-bye, and Mary hugged her. “Don’t let this destroy the happiness you have.”
That was the problem. Jakob was going to be so upset when he learned she’d gotten in a fight and had a black eye. How could she claim to be a lady when she got into a fist fight at the Sanders’s home?
“I’ll do my best,” she said sadly.
“Be careful going home.”
Climbing up on Sweetie, she still had over an hour before she had to be back. There was one place she could get answers. One place that had a legend that said someone could see the dead.
What if she tried to see her mother?
Clicking her heels against the mare’s sides she hurried in the direction of the falls.
One quick stop and then she would head for home and her men.
Though she knew that Jakob was going to be so angry with her.
When she came to the turnoff, she pulled the reins and Sweetie took her to the pond. She swung her leg over the saddle and dropped to the ground. An eerie feeling was about the place, and she gazed around at the bushes to make certain she was alone.
When she saw nothing, she went to the water and gazed down.
“Mother, I’ve missed you. I’ve hated you, and I can’t help but still love you. Show me your face and tell me if you ran off with Alice Burns’s father.”
She waited and nothing appeared. With a sigh, she sank to her knees. “This legend is a lie. It’s not true. Oh, if only you could tell me what I’m supposed to believe. How could you hurt that family so?”
A fish splashed and she gazed at the water. There was her mother’s face and she reached out like she wanted to touch her, but the water rippled.
“Mother,” she said, her memories returning full force of how she’d loved her as a child. Tears welled in her eyes. “I needed you and you left me.”
Her mother’s face turned sad and she nodded.
“I have to ask. Did you run off with Alice Burns’s father? She tried to poison me, she’s so angry at how our family destroyed her life.”
Her mother’s mouth dropped open and then she closed it. Closing her eyes, a tear trickled down her mother’s cheek. She nodded and Blanche knew that it was true.
“How could you?”
She mouthed the words, I’m sorry. Her mother might have said she was young and stupid, but Blanche wasn’t certain.
What could she say in return? How she had hurt not only Blanche, her father, and the Burns family. What was left to say?
She glanced at the pond and her mother mouthed the words, I love you, and then she slowly disappeared.
Blanche said nothing in return. She couldn’t.
Just then Sweetie let out a fearful screech. Blanche turned toward the horse and saw her worst fear coming toward her. A grizzly bear.
Sweetie turned and ran from the pond, leaving Blanche to face the bear coming straight for her.
Dear God in heaven, what did she do now?