Heart of Lies (31 page)

Cheers went up from the children. Brand winked across the table at Laura, who blushed beautifully.

Slowly a hush fell and Maddie realized they were all expecting her to say something. Beside her, Tom nodded encouragement, though he wasn’t exactly smiling.

When Maddie finally turned to Laura, she said the one thing that was on her mind.

“We have
sisters?”

L
ater that evening, after the house was dark and silent and everyone was asleep, Tom heard a faint, creaking sound and went downstairs. He found Maddie on the porch swing, gently gliding back and forth. She had wrapped a patchwork quilt around a plaid wool robe.

“Can’t sleep?” He settled beside her.

“No.”

“Me either. I thought I heard the swing.”

She immediately stopped. “Do you think it’s disturbing anyone else?”

He started it up again. “I could barely hear it.”

Somehow Maddie had made it through dessert, watching as the others all had second helpings of Rodrigo’s flan. She followed everyone to the sitting room, but as soon as the Larsons left, she claimed exhaustion and retired to her room.

“I’m still trying to fathom that I have two others sisters somewhere. Laura said Katie and Sarah would be twenty-eight and twenty-six now, if they survived.” She paused a moment and then asked, “Have you been searching for them too?”

“I had no idea there were more sisters. After you went upstairs Laura told us that your uncle spoke of taking them to the Ursuline
orphanage, but it was closed by ‘53. There were plenty of other institutions, though.”

“What if he lied and sold them too?”

“That’s what Laura and I both fear.”

Maddie fell into a deep, thoughtful silence.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Tom said. “If Dexter did have them, you’re not responsible for anything that happened. He used you, Maddie. As much as it pains you to admit it, he used you.”

“Do you think it’s possible one or both of them were brought into the tribe? That I may have been responsible for changing my own
sisters
without recognizing them? That I lived with them and didn’t know it?”

“I don’t want to believe that’s possible. Besides, you said there were not many girls.” He tried to sound encouraging, but he wasn’t sure of anything anymore. He forced himself to consider the facts.

“Not all the adoption and orphanage records were destroyed during the War. I may find a lead eventually.” He was tempted to hold her hand but didn’t. “You were very quiet at dinner.”

“It’s all so overwhelming.”

“Say the word and I’ll take you back to Louisiana when I leave,” he offered.

She was silent for so long he thought she hadn’t heard.

Finally she asked, “Back to what?”

“The bayou. Your friend Anita. You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to.” He hoped she’d say yes. She might not want his love, but at least she would be close enough for him to visit if he ever felt like torturing himself between cases. Maybe, with time and persuasion, she would change her mind and accept his love.

“Laura was devoted to finding me. I can’t leave so soon. I can’t hurt her.”

He felt like a miner, stooping to pick up a nugget of hope. She hadn’t said she intended to stay on forever, but chances were, the more settled she became, the more ties she established, and the closer she grew to Laura, she would never go back to Louisiana.

H
is words echoed on the night air, breaking Maddie’s heart.

“Say the word and I’ll take you back to Louisiana when I leave.”

He was going back. He had stopped trying to convince her they belonged together. He was moving on.

This afternoon Hank Larson had been so hopeful Tom would agree to become sheriff of Glory that she’d let herself imagine they might both be starting new lives here. But deep down she knew he’d be leaving. Just as she knew she had to let him go.

“Thank you again for offering to take me back, but I’m looking forward to getting to know my sister. I’ve dreamed of a new life for so long that I’d be foolish not to stay.”

At least for a while,
she thought.
At least until I’m no longer in love with you.

Clutching the quilt, she rose, intent upon returning to her room. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep, but if she stayed with him any longer she might be tempted to change her mind.

She walked to the porch railing to stare up at the stars crowded in the clear indigo sky. She heard Tom move up close behind her and was sorely tempted to lean back against him. More than anything she longed to feel his arms around her again.

As if he read her mind, she felt him step even closer. His warmth drew her into him. His arms went around her waist, and she relaxed against him with a sigh. Together they stared up at the heavens until, without warning, he let go and stepped away. His footsteps rang loud and clear against the porch. The door opened and closed, and when she turned around he was gone.

Tears filled her eyes and through them she watched a falling star streak across the sky. It was so bright and near she wondered if it had crashed to earth on the open plain or if it burned out before it reached the ground.

She would never know the fate of that star.

Just as she would never know what might have been had she accepted Tom’s love.

S
leep evaded Maddie until just before dawn when she fell into a restless slumber and didn’t awake until after nine. She dressed and hurried downstairs, where she found Laura lingering over coffee in the dining room.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Laura greeted her with her ever-present smile, but she wore a look of concern as well.

“Is everything all right?” Maddie asked.

“Is everything all right with you?”

“Yes, of course,” Maddie said. “Where is everyone?”

“Brand has already gone. He has a church board meeting every Monday morning, and he likes to walk the children to school beforehand.” Laura waved Maddie into an empty chair and went into the kitchen for a moment.

She returned and settled into her own place again and folded away the copy of the newspaper she’d been reading. A moment or two later, Ana came in with a breakfast plate piled high with scrambled eggs, a thick steak, biscuits, and gravy. It was enough for three and smelled delicious but Maddie wasn’t hungry. She took a bite of the fluffy eggs, fingered the shamrock on her fork before she set it down.

“Has Tom been down yet?” She wondered if he’d been able to sleep.

Laura avoided Maddie’s gaze a second, then sighed.

“I thought you knew he was leaving on the early stage to Dallas.”

“No. I …” Stricken, Maddie’s heart stumbled. Her hand went to her throat.

He hadn’t said a word last night. He’d left her on the porch without so much as a good-night, let alone a good-bye. She closed her eyes against a rush of tears. Laura was on her feet and beside her in a second.

“Oh, Maddie. I’m so sorry. I thought you knew.”

“He’s really gone?” Hands shaking, she wove her fingers together in her lap.

Laura reached into the pocket of her apron and pulled out a letter. “He left you this.”

Maddie’s hand shook as she took the letter. She stared down at the letters that formed her name. Those she recognized.

“I can’t read it. He left me a letter that I can’t even read.”

“He wanted me to wait and give it to you when you were able to read it for yourself. He asked me not to give it to you until then, but seeing you this way —”

“That could be months,” Maddie whispered. “Years, even.”

“I think he knew that. I don’t think he wanted you to have it until then.”

“Why?”

Laura pulled out the chair beside Maddie and sat down. “Maybe he didn’t want to influence you.”

“Why are you giving it to me now?”

Laura smiled through her own tears. “Because you’re my sister and your heart is breaking, and maybe this will help.”

“Read it to me.” Maddie handed it back.

Without hesitation, Laura broke the seal and quickly scanned the page. A hint of a smile lifted the corners of her lips.

“ ‘Dearest Maddie,’ ” ‬ she began. “ ‘Congratulations on learning to read. I knew you could do it. By now you have settled into your
new life in Glory, and I am no doubt still doing the work I was meant to do.’ ‬

“ ‘I’m sure there will be times that I try to convince myself that you chose to stay in Texas so that I would have the life you think I wanted. Just as I left you there so that you can have a bright future with a family that loves and cares for you. A family that can give you everything.’

“ ‘I wonder how often I will ask myself if perhaps we didn’t love each other too much. If you had asked me to stay with you, to give up my work as a Pinkerton, I would have. But I could have never asked you to give up your chance at a new life for one that included me — a reminder of your past.’

“ ‘I hope by the time you read this letter that our lives have unfolded and that we are both content, if not happy, with the choices we’ve made for each other. One thing I do know for certain, Maddie Grande. I will always love you. Sincerely, Tom.’”

Laura handed her back the single page. Maddie looked down at the jumble of words. Tom’s bold writing was soon blurred by her tears.

She felt Laura’s arm slip around her shoulder.

“You know that no matter where you go or what you do, you’ll always be my sister.” She forced Maddie to raise her head and slipped a kerchief out of her pocket with a laugh. “I’ve found that with children around, it’s a good thing to keep a lot of hankies at the ready.”

She dabbed away the tears on Maddie’s cheeks and looped Maddie’s hair back behind her ear.

“Go after him, Maddie. There’s still time, but you’ll have to hurry. If there’s one thing certain about the stage to Glory, you can always count on it being late.”

“But—” Maddie searched Laura’s eyes. “We’ve just found each other.”

“Are you staying because you truly want to, or for me?”

Maddie tried to picture Laura as a child, a helpless big sister
screaming as they were separated, a big sister who had lived with the guilt of breaking a promise to their dying mother.

A sister who loved her so much that she deserved the truth. Laura, above all people, deserved the truth.

“For you,” Maddie felt a sadness of a different sort. “I’d be staying here for you. I don’t want to break your heart.”

Laura hugged her close and said, “My prayers have been answered just knowing you’re alive and knowing where you are. I can’t ask you to sacrifice your love for Tom. You know where I am. Come home anytime you want.”

Home. She knew that no matter where Laura was, she would have a home if she wanted one.

“But—what about the children? And Brand?” Maddie was already on her feet, already wondering if she should take time to collect her things, throw them in her bag, or just run out the door. “Will you tell them good-bye for me? Will you explain?”

“Of course,” Laura assured her. “Of course I will.”

Her sister was crying but her cheeks were bright with color, and she was smiling through her tears.

“Hurry,” she said. “Run upstairs and get your things. The carriage is hitched up. I’ll get Jesse to drive you down the street.”

“Will you go with me?” Maddie hated to leave her so soon. She couldn’t bear telling Laura good-bye yet.

Laura’s dimples deepened and she laughed.

“Oh, Maddie, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

E
arlier, as Tom wandered around the Mercantile and Dry Goods store awaiting the stage, Harrison Barker dogged his steps.

“We’ve got a nice assortment of moustache cups.” Barker waved a feather duster over a row of the aforementioned ceramics when Tom stopped to stare at them. “If you’re thinking about growing one, that is.”

“Not really,” Tom replied, moving on to the aisle where rows of men’s western style boots were on display. He wasn’t thinking of
anything at the moment but Maddie and whether or not she’d be shocked to discover he’d left without so much as a good-bye.

Taking the coward’s way out didn’t sit well with him, but he was afraid that if he tried to tell her good-bye he wouldn’t be able to leave. He’d find himself accepting the job of sheriff and spend the rest of his life if it took that long trying to wear Maddie down, trying to convince her they belonged together.

He found the telegraph office opened early, so he took the time to wire Allan Pinkerton that he was headed back to New Orleans. Hopefully there would be a case waiting for him when he arrived. Something, anything, to take his mind off of Maddie.

“We’ve some very affordable boots.” Barker was still at his elbow.

Money wasn’t a problem. Laura had written him a very generous bank draft for a job well done. He tried to turn it down but she insisted he accept. As he pocketed the check, he found himself wishing he’d ignored his hunch and never brought Maddie to Texas.

Outside there came the sound of hoof beats as the stage pulled up.

“Would you look at that?” Harrison pulled out his watch. “First time in a year they been ahead of schedule.” He turned to Tom, extended his hand. “Well, Mr. Abbott, it was nice meeting you. Too bad you’re not staying in town.”

If he wondered why Maddie wasn’t leaving with him, Barker didn’t say. Then again, Tom remembered, this was a small town. Between the Larsons and the McCormick children everyone probably already knew that Maddie was Laura’s sister and that she’d come to stay a while.

Tom walked to the front door, picked up the bag he’d left on the floor, and went outside. He was the only passenger waiting to board and discovered he had the entire stage to himself.

The driver held the door and waited for Tom to hand his bag up to the guard. Tom adjusted his hat and couldn’t resist a last
glance down Main toward the McCormick’s house. There was no sign of anyone on the porch. He wondered if Maddie was still asleep or if she had learned that he was gone.

He mounted the coach step and the stage sank on its springs. The driver closed the door, climbed up onto the box. He cracked the whip, the team pulled in their traces, and the coach lurched forward as they headed away from the McCormick house, away from Glory.