Legacy (11 page)

I waited. If Mother wanted to tell me more, she would. If she didn't, no amount of coaxing would get the story out of her.

'From what I heard, it seems that Dr. McKay wasn't always as wealthy as he is now. According to the woman who told me, the McKays lost a fortune in shipping when three of their freighters were lost with all hands and none of the cargo was recovered. They'd put their money into building a steam-liner, and, of course, that couldn't be finished properly. It went down in a storm on its second voyage out. And that happened the same year that Dr. McKay, just beginning his practice, married one of the Main Line set - one of those spoiled, headstrong brats I always vowed you'd never become.'

She paused and looked at me for a moment before she went on.

'This young lady just took it to heart when she found out that her husband suddenly didn't have all the money she thought he had. Even though there was plenty from her own family, she wanted more. She began to interfere with his medical practice, pressing him to see only her wealthy friends and to raise his fees.'

'And, of course, he refused,' I said. I knew Justin McKay at least that well.

Mother gave a tight-lipped smile. 'He not only refused, child, but he stopped seeing most of the wealthy patients and opened a clinic for the poor. That's when the real trouble started with his wife. It caused quite a scandal, I'm told. She started carrying on with other men, drinking too much, and telling everyone she met what a mistake she'd made to marry 'beneath herself'. Maybe she thought she could shame him into changing his ways or maybe she was just spiteful, but whatever the reason was, it didn't work.'

'What happened?'

'Well, they found her passed out one morning in the guesthouse of one of the Main Line estates. The man who owned it said he'd brought her home with him after a concert because she'd not been feeling well. What he meant was that she'd taken to mixing opium with her alcohol and was afraid to go home to her husband in the condition she was in. When they found her, there were three vials of laudanum in her purse.'

She paused a moment, taking the brush from me and setting it on the dresser before she began arranging her hair into braids, as she did every night.

'Well, his wife wasn't dead,' she went on, 'but she came close to it. When they found her she hadn't taken off her dress, which saved the owner of the house quite a bit of explaining, I gather. They couldn't wake her up. As soon as Justin McKay found out, he put her in a sanatorium, started divorce proceedings, and left Philadelphia right after that. He sold his house and gave half of the profits for the care of his clinic patients, and then he came up here with the money that was left. You know the rest.'

'He's divorced, then?'

Mother shrugged slightly. 'Can't see how they'd stop it. She gave him cause many times over, from what this woman said. She wasn't at all particular about her men, as long as they had money. By the time of her accident, most of Philadelphia society was talking about her behind her back. And they invited him to places they didn't invite her - though, the way I heard the story, he didn't often have time to go, anyway.'

A sudden whim made me ask what the first Mrs. McKay had looked like.

'Not like you, child, if that's what you're wondering. She had fiery red hair and was thin as a rail.'

'Amanda Scott.' I said the name without thinking.

'You're right about that,' said Mother. 'I understand she's been spending her mornings down at the clinic these days, too, helping in the women's ward.'

So that was why I hadn't seen Amanda at the clinic!

Probably she hadn't wanted the men to make comparisons ... I brought my thoughts up short. It would not do to think of Amanda as a rival. I barely knew Justin McKay, and I was certainly not going to set my cap for him just because he appeared to be such a good match! Steven was just as good. More important, I was my own woman. I would choose when I was ready, not before.

'Not that it's done her any good, I suppose,' Mother was saying. 'If she's after him, probably her looks are against her. And he didn’t ask her to go with him Saturday.'

'Perhaps he asked both of us.' I smiled at the thought of what Amanda would say if she saw me in the carriage when she came out with Justin.

'Not if he knows what's good for him. Now you run along to bed. Tomorrow we'll have the dressmaker out here with some fabrics and we'll look over your gowns and see what we can do with three days' notice. Honestly! You'd think he'd have more consideration than to ask you this late. But I suppose he's so busy it never entered his mind that a woman can't be seen at one of these affairs in something she's worn before.'

Shaking her head in mock dismay, she motioned me to go. But a thought occurred to me then, and I felt the apprehension coming back.

'What about Father? What if ...'

'No, you leave him to me. I'll manage that part. You can take my word for it that he'll see reason. You're going, and that's that.'

Thursday passed, with the dressmaker in the morning and the clinic in the afternoon, and a very subdued conversation at dinner, during which time Father did not mention the Graybars. Friday went much the same, for Madame Peret, Mother's dressmaker, wanted to make something completely different for the occasion and required me to stand for finings nearly all that morning, as well. That afternoon, to my disappointment, the bed where Billy Joe Walker had been had a new occupant, a sallow-faced, thin fellow with a bandage on his head. When I inquired, the patients told me that Billy Joe's leg had healed. His cast had been removed from his leg last night, and he had started back upriver this morning.

'Serves 'im right,' said another of the patients, a big man named Peters who had lost an arm in an accident at one of the lumber camps. 'He don't get to take it easy down here anymore. That's what he gets for pickin' on poor old Hoyt all the time, hey, Hoyt?'

The bearded man made no reply. He just sat there silently glowering under heavy black eyebrows, as he always did. Even when the men were laughing, Hoyt's expression did not change more than to soften a little.

'Isn't that right?' Peters was taunting him now. 'Bet you're glad old Billy Joe's gone off. Now maybe ya won't be screamin' and hollerin' in your sleep no more . . .'

'You shut up!' Hoyt's voice was low and level, toneless.

'Oh, now can't take it, eh?'

I interrupted them. There was no reason to begin another fight. 'I think that's enough, Mr. Peters. Mr. Hoyt's pain is his own concern, and I'm sure it does not improve matters any to make jokes about it.'

As I turned to my book to begin to read, I thought I saw a flicker of appreciation in Hoyt's flat, cold stare, but it was only for a moment.

On my way out the nurse at the desk, Mrs. Martin, motioned me over.'Dr. McKay left a message for you,' she said, open envy in her eyes as she looked up at me. 'He meant to be here to tell you himself, but I was to tell you if he wasn't able to return in time.'

'Yes?' I was surprised to find a catch in my voice. What if he weren't going to the ball tomorrow?

'The message is, he'll stop by for you shortly before nine tomorrow evening. He wanted to make it a bit earlier, but there simply wasn't time, he said.'

She waited for my response, and I could see just from looking at her that she was in love with him. Mrs. Martin was brisk and efficient, probably as old as Justin, and with a wedding ring on her finger, but there was no mistaking the sparkle in those eyes or the vigor with which she pushed back her blonde hair. As I looked at her, I thought how painful it must be to have someone so close, and yet so far out of reach. And yet there was nothing to do for this woman's own inner suffering but ignore it.

'I'll expect him then,' I said. 'Please tell him that for me when he comes back.'

As I went to sleep that night, I thought how fortunate I was not to have suffered over Steven Graybar the way Dr. McKay's nurse must be yearning for Dr. McKay. I still had not heard from Steven, and it had been nearly a full week. He had said that he was going to Harrisburg, but for all I knew he might have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Still, he would come to me. He had said he would return the morning after the ball, and then he would come to me.

Chapter Five

There was a light rain Saturday morning, but it had stopped by afternoon, leaving the air wonderfully crisp and clean. Mother and Madame Peret had finally finished my gown. I had bathed, serene and quiet, enjoying the smooth feel of a new fragrance oil on my skin. An hour before dinner Emily had come up to arrange my hair, and she had arranged it in soft ringlets with her curling iron. Soon I had brushed the ringlets out into waves that glowed with an auburn sheen and fell lightly around my shoulders. Then after dinner, which Father did not attend, it was time for me to put on the gown that had taken so much time to complete.

'It's too bad Madame Peret couldn't be here to see you now,' said Mother after I had come down the stairs and into the front parlor. 'I think she's done nobly. Just stand there a moment and let me see the back, now that your hair's down.'

While Mother made her inspection, I studied my reflection in the oval wall mirror beside the doorway. The gown had turned out more than just satisfactorily. It was a light shade of pink silk, cut with a graceful neckline that showed my full breasts to their best advantage while exposing only a hint of the cleavage between them. The waist was also fitted snugly, and the skirt below spread out crisply over the Alaska down bustle and fell in shimmering folds to the floor. With the dress I wore no rings, only a simple ivory cameo held tightly around my neck by very thin golden chains at both top and bottom. I had white shoulder-length gloves. Dr. McKay had sent a single white orchid, which I wore pinned to my gown just below my left shoulder. The effect was striking, and I knew we had done well to trust Madame Peret's judgment. As I stepped lightly around to face Mother again, I felt bold and lighthearted. Let Justin McKay try to act the busy man of science tonight!

Suddenly I saw Father standing in the doorway. He was dressed formally, as he usually was for dinner, but dinner had been over for an hour. Could it be that Father was planning to go to the ball?

He saw what I was thinking. To my relief, he smiled slightly. 'You look quite splendid, Catherine,' he said. 'I'm sure they'll be charmed up there at the Graybars. But they won't have the benefit of seeing Claire, for she's coming with me down to the hotel. I've arranged a little surprise entertainment for the guests - in the ballroom. If things get dull on Legacy, you might have Dr. McKay bring you down for a waltz or two.'

I might have known that he would have done something like this! Father could not rest while there was a victory to be won over the Graybars. I was thankful again that I had not told him what I had seen on Legacy last week, for he would doubtless have used it against them and brought me no end of trouble.

But I smiled at him, and said that I certainly thought this would be a more enjoyable evening for Mother than staying idly at home. Father's hotel really did have an excellent ballroom, and the food there was always superb. On previous nights when there had been dancing, the midnight suppers given afterwards had been the talk of Grampian society for days.

Just then I heard a carriage pull up at the front entrance. I looked at the clock, and it was almost nine. 'That must be Dr. McKay now,' I said. Mother rang for Emily to bring me my wrap, for the night was cool.

Father looked at me, quietly, as though we had all the time in the world. 'I believe you know what I expect of you,' he said.

'You have made that clear, Father, yes.'

A long moment passed.

'That's all, then. I trust the doctor will be good company.'

He dismissed me with a nod and turned to urge Mother to get dressed and come with him.