She finally found her voice and said, “I can’t explain it. But something happened out there.”
His voice tight with impatience, Alex responded, “Nothing happened.” He enunciated each word as if speaking to someone who was demented. “You probably dreamed the whole thing. No sane person would run out in the fields in the middle of the night!”
Flinted anger flashed in Katherine’s eyes, and her face darkened with rage. “I know what I saw! I am not insane!”
“Yes, just like you weren’t insane when you saw this nonexistent maid?”
“That’s cruel, Alex.” May-Jewel shot a disapproving glance at him. “It’s obvious something happened to upset her. And whether you believe what she saw or not, you should be more compassionate and open minded.”
Alex moved from the side of the bed to the window, intending to stop further discourse. Katherine’s outbursts had opened an avenue that he hadn’t considered before. He tightened his jaw and glared at her reflection in the window. After a few more witnessed scenes like this one, he mused, Wistmere will be free of one heiress. They have places for people who hallucinate. That will leave May-Jewel, and I can always handle her. Pleased with these ideas, he smiled at his own reflection.
May-Jewel mulled over Katherine’s story. It sounded strange. Yet what little she knew about her sister, she was certain that she wasn’t given to fantasy. The truth had to be in there somewhere. She looked at Alex, his broad shoulders framed against the window.
“Alexander,” she purred, “Charles hasn’t returned, so why not go with Katherine to the cottage? That way we’d know for sure what, if anything, has happened there.”
Motionless and silent, Alex weighed his options carefully. I could pursue this attack on Katherine’s sanity. But would that be wise? Perhaps, I should exercise a tighter restraint over my words. But Alex wasn’t used to checking his tongue nor his actions. Even before Robert’s death, he was accustomed to having the final say on everything pertaining to the shipping business. And after his death, Neal Jameson had given him free rein over Wistmere until such time that the heiresses themselves could manage. But he wasn’t willing to relinquish any of that control. Perhaps he wouldn’t have to.
“You’re right,” he said, turning around. “We should all go to the cottage.” His tone softened. “Perhaps I was too concerned about Mistress St. Pierre’s fainting to think of that myself.”
“Of course you were,” May-Jewel commented, an astute smile forming on her lips. “Katherine, are you willing to return to the cottage, just to see if…, I mean, what took place there?”
“I am!” She said, trying to keep the eagerness from her voice. She had to prove, if only to herself, that her experience was real. Donning her robe again, she followed her sister and Alex from the room.
They hadn’t gone far when they met Charles coming toward them from the direction of the cottage. He spoke in private to Alex, then continued back to the manor.
“Well?” Katherine inquired.
“It’s just as I told you,” Alex answered, “Charles says there’s no sign of anything out of place or abnormal.”
Katherine frowned deeply. What a fool I was in agreeing to come here before I could investigate the inside of the cottage myself. Now everyone will think I’m truly unbalanced. Grabbing her sister by the arm, Katherine pulled her down the path.
“You don’t have to jerk me around. I was going anyway.” May-Jewel yanked her arm free. “You never did say what you were doing out here?”
“If you must know,” Katherine snapped, defensively, “I was awakened by someone calling my name and… and the voice led me here.”
Her pace slowed as she approached the cottage door. Vivid images of the horror that had taken place just a few hours before rushed through her mind. She froze, unable now to enter.
Impatient and riled, Alex pushed her aside. “For heaven sakes,” he said, unlatching the door and throwing it open, “it won’t open itself.”
As they entered, Katherine’s heart sank for the room, and indeed the entire cottage, appeared to have been untouched by any fire. It seemed to be in its normal state. There was even the absence of bird feathers.
“I don’t understand,” she muttered, her eyes scouring the area. “I know…” She stopped and looked from May-Jewel to Alex. Neither face seemed to register any knowledge of the events that took place in the cottage. “I-I…” But there was nothing she could say to make them believe her. Stifling her own defense, Katherine stood mute in the center of the musty room. She couldn’t deny the reality that nothing there was now amiss.
“I knew it,” Alex proclaimed as he stormed from the cottage. “You’re just as daft and demented as your mother was! How pathetic!”
Katherine ignored him as she struggled between what she had seen earlier and what she was now seeing.
For a moment, May-Jewel pitied Katherine. And though Alex tried to convince her differently, there wasn’t any question in her own mind about her sister’s sanity. But his unreasonable bias toward Katherine
