The casual mention of her neighbors caught me by surprise. According to the Wilds sisters, Catherine had not been to see them for a very long time, although Charles still made regular visits. How much did she know about their beliefs?
“Have you spoken to Margaret and Abigail about what you saw?”
Catherine shook her head. “There was no need. I knew they would believe me. The first time I met them they became convinced I was the reincarnation of their dead sister.”
“Dorothea?” The likeness between Dorothea Wilds and Catherine had been uncanny to me, but the women had treated it as insignificant. Now, it was clear they believed differently. Or, at least, used to believe differently.
Catherine shrugged and waved a hand. “I’m not sure. They made me uncomfortable with such talk, so I stopped visiting them. The point is, Alice, that no one here in this household believes in such things, and I’m not so sure I do, either.”
“You truly believe you fell and hit your head on a rock, then?”
Her mouth opened, ready with an answer, and then closed. Finally, she spoke on a sigh. “Maybe it was a rock or maybe I was attacked. I don’t know anymore, but it doesn’t matter.”
“How can it not matter if you were attacked?”
“Because I’m safe now,” she said. “As soon as I prove to them all that I am not insane—that I’ve come to my senses—life will continue on as it was before.”
“You said the house was cursed, Cat. You told me when I arrived that you needed me, and now—”
“Now,” Catherine said, interrupting me. “It may be time for you to go back to London.”
Seeing shadows and figures on the moor had not made me feel insane, but suddenly, I felt absolutely mad.
I’d come into my sister’s home to correct a problem that no one else seemed to think was a problem anymore. Even my own sister who was willing to admit she may have been attacked by an unknown person, didn’t seem to concern herself with finding out who it was or for what reason they may have wanted to attack her.
“I’m sorry I sent you that message and asked you to come here. This was never your problem to solve, and I shouldn’t have sent for you.”
“You should have sent for me sooner,” I corrected. “Long before things got to this state. You may be fine with the way things are going in this house, but I’m not. Because I was there all those years when you grew up daydreaming about your future, and never once did it involve a shabby house in the country with no friends and a personal nurse.”
“Alice.” Catherine’s words were a warning, but I couldn’t stop. If I did, I was afraid I’d never get to say what was on my mind. What needed to be said.
“I know Charles is a good man, but he is allowing his sister and your nurse to run this house. He is allowing your voice to be drowned out, and I can’t leave you here like this knowing you aren’t happy.”
“How do you know I’m not happy?” Catherine’s face was flushed, and I didn’t know if it was with anger or fever. What if she really was ill and my angering her was making it worse?
“Because you are locked away in this room, not even allowed to be a mother to your own child.”
Her cheeks burned scarlet, and now I knew for certain it was rage on her face. Frustration and embarrassment.
“Get out, Alice.”
I shook my head.
“Get out,” she repeated. “I’ve been understanding up until this point, but now I am ready for you to leave. You are making things more difficult for me.”
“I am the only person who is willing to tell you the truth.”
Her lip curled back in anger, an expression I’d seen time and time again in my youth, usually after I’d snuck into her room and taken one of her dolls or rearranged her jewelry. Though, I hadn’t seen this look in years.
I knew my sister better than almost anyone, and I knew she wasn’t happy with the way things were going. More than that, I knew she didn’t really believe her “accident” on the moors was no longer a mystery worth solving. Catherine simply wanted to make everyone else comfortable, something the Catherine I knew never would have bothered herself with. I suspected it came from her desire to be part of the family again. To be part of the life happening inside of her house, including her daughter’s.
Catherine would do anything to be with her husband and child again, including ignoring her own thoughts and fears in favor of assuaging theirs.
I, however, didn’t have the same impulse. My loyalty would always and forever be to my sister, whether she wanted it or not.
Rather than continuing to argue, Catherine stamped loudly on the floor several times. It took me a second to realize what she was doing, but then I heard the footsteps on the stairs. Nurse Gray was coming.
“I think my visits with Abigail and Margaret Wilds stirred my imagination. Their tales of spirits on the moors came to the forefront of my mind as soon as it became dark and I realized I was lost.”
Camellia looked at her brother, eyebrows drawn together in suspicion, but Charles’ face was flooded with obvious relief. He smiled and nodded, encouraging me to continue.
“Then, when I spoke with Catherine and realized she no longer believed she’d been attacked, I began to see how silly I was being.”
Catherine leaned into Charles’ side, and he laid a hand on his wife’s knee, squeezing it tenderly.
It felt like a betrayal to be sitting in front of all of them and lying. To convince them that they’d been right all
