Tentatively Sisi placed her hand in Myrna’s, and Myrna helped her trembling sister crawl out from her place of concealment and stand. Before Myrna could again speak, Sisi whirled to face their host, clasping her hands beneath her chin.
“Oh, please let us stay, sir.” Sisi stunned Myrna further when after a moment’s hesitation, she catapulted into Dalton, throwing her arms around his waist. “I’ll be good! I promise. Can’t I stay and be your niece, too? I never had an uncle.” She lifted her tear-streaked face to look at him. With his arms still hanging at his sides in shock, he stared at Sisi then Myrna, clearly at a loss for words.
Myrna was the first to recover. “Sisi, go to your room. You may take your meal there and stay there the rest of the night.” She couldn’t send her to bed without supper, Sisi’s health being a frequent concern. Neither could she let her wayward conduct go unpunished.
Her sister pulled back from Dalton and sheepishly hung her head.
“I’ll be in soon. And Sisi, go directly to your room. No stopover to see Rebecca.”
“Yes, Myrna.”
Once Sisi left, Myrna turned her attention to Dalton.
“I apologize. She’s not usually so forward. She’s actually quite timid around strangers.” Myrna added the last in confusion. “I suppose she feels comfortable with you since you rescued her from the train.” Saying the words made her uneasy. The last thing she wanted was to think of Dalton Freed as their savior, even if he had rescued them. “We’ll leave tomorrow.”
He nodded. “I’m not upset. The experience last week terrorized her.”
“Yes, well, I’ll talk to her. Thank you for your help.” Myrna nervously gripped a fold of her skirt. “I hope we haven’t been too much of an imposition.”
“No, you haven’t been an inconvenience.”
An awkward moment stretched longer. Myrna found it difficult to look away from his compelling silver eyes. He did nothing to break the contact.
She cleared her throat. “I should go.”
“Yes.” He stepped back.
She realized he waited for her to precede him and left the room.
Upon hearing the door click shut, she turned her head to see that the corridor stood empty and he remained inside the forgotten chamber.
A curiosity, certainly, but Myrna desired no further intrigues for one night and hastened away before he could open the door and catch her there staring.
Chapter 5
Deciding to delay her discussion with Sisi, Myrna went downstairs to seek the cook and ask that she prepare a tray. She took a corridor, hoping it would lead to the kitchen. Coming abreast of one room, its door ajar, a lovely melody from within made her pause.
A peek inside revealed the mistress of the house sitting at a grand piano. At the sudden wash of light from the doorway in the otherwise dimly lit parlor, the woman looked up in surprise and turned her head. Myrna froze at being discovered.
“I apologize. I was looking for the cook and heard the music.”
Before she could close the door she had opened, Mrs. Freed beckoned her.
“Please, come in. I wish to speak with you.”
Myrna hesitated, remembering her last private interrogation by a Freed, and bearing that same introduction, but did as bid, closing the door behind her. Dalton’s mother motioned to a nearby chair, and Myrna nervously took a seat.
“Did you find your sister? Gladys only just told me she went missing.”
“Yes, we found her in a room upstairs.”
“I’m sure you must be relieved.” At Myrna’s nod, she continued, “So why don’t you tell me what still has you upset?”
The woman’s calm manner invited confidence, and Myrna briefly explained the situation.
“I had thought to take dinner with Sisi and try to ease her fears,” she concluded. “Though I have no idea how to go about it, as I am now not without my own fears to travel by train.”
“It was such a horrible ordeal for a child to suffer, for anyone to suffer.” Mrs. Freed sympathized and paused, as if considering her next words. “Your sister is such a calming influence. Such a quiet child.”
Myrna wondered if they spoke of the same girl. Sisi was anything but quiet, though compared to the exuberant Rebecca, Myrna could understand why Mrs. Freed thought her calm.
“My granddaughter and your sister have bonded as if they are kindred spirits. Before you came, I hadn’t once seen Rebecca smile, not since my son’s accident.” She glanced at the patterned rug. Myrna didn’t feel it appropriate to intrude into her thoughts so waited and said nothing. “Your sister is good for Rebecca, as a stabilizing influence and as a friend.”
Suspicious by the direction of the conversation, Myrna tightly clasped her hands where they rested in her lap. “I’m sorry for your loss and grateful to you for allowing us to stay at your manor to convalesce.”
“You don’t have to go.”
“No, I do.” Her voice came out strained.
“Given the circumstances, do you honestly feel that your sister has had a chance to fully recover from that night? For that matter, have you? Do you not think it too soon to travel?”
“Exactly what are you saying?” Myrna asked carefully.
Mrs. Freed rose from the piano bench, taking the chair across from Myrna. “I’ve given the matter a great deal of thought. I’ve watched how you interact with your sister. She tells me you taught her to read?”
Myrna tried to follow, better yet to understand. “A lesson in progress.”
“Then you do tutor Sisi?”
“In what manner I can.” Myrna’s heart rate increased.
“You seem like a respectable young woman, well learned in such skills and no stranger to social decorum.”
“I’m sorry.” Myrna shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Rebecca has long been in need of a governess. I wish to offer you the position—”
“No—I can’t!” Myrna practically jumped to her feet, wishing to flee but managed to compose herself. “Forgive me, but I cannot accept your offer.”
Mrs. Freed looked at her in clear surprise. “Sisi would receive every advantage that Rebecca does, studying alongside her. I assure you, she’ll want for nothing and have her needs met. Both of you will. You may keep your present rooms, and the pay would be generous.”
“You are very kind, Mrs. Freed, but we don’t belong here.”
“Nonsense. You are most welcome to stay.”
Myrna doubted Dalton would feel the same consideration.
“May I ask, Miss McBride, are there other obligations which would prevent you from accepting my offer?”
Myrna winced at the appropriate form of address, twisting her mother’s wedding ring on her finger. “How can you offer me the position, knowing so little about me and...and knowing what you do know?”
Mrs. Freed glanced at the ring. Myrna’s face grew uncomfortably hot, and she moved her hand out of view, in the folds of her skirt, certain the questions would now follow. But the woman only smiled.
“I have not failed to note your qualities. With Sisi, you are gentle but not lacking in authority. Kind. Compassionate. It’s clear she adores you. Perhaps I should not admit this, but Rebecca can be somewhat...unruly. She’s been spoiled dreadfully and needs a guiding hand. A governess, with the qualities you possess.”
“But I’ve never been a governess. I’ve only taken care of my sister.”
“And you’ve done a remarkable job. Should you agree to the position, you’ll not regret it.” Her smile grew mysterious. “Indeed, the timing of events works well for all those involved.”
“The timing?”
“You and Sisi will have a home, all that you need, a place to heal. Rebecca will have a companion her age and a governess. And I will
have the delight of hearing children’s laughter again, so long missing from this gloomy house—the laughter I’ve heard all week. I see God’s handiwork involved here.”
Myrna averted her eyes, uneasy with the subject of divine intervention. Where had God been when her family suffered from a scandal of half-truths and were forced to move? Where had God been when Papa died, handicapped, with a broken heart, after the loss of a wife who had worked herself into an early grave?
“At least consider taking the position for a short time,” Mrs. Freed urged. “If you’re not happy here come spring, you could leave.”
A shaft of light brightened the room. Startled, Myrna looked in that direction.
The master of the manor stood on the threshold, his bearing formidable, his very presence enough to stop her heart and capture her breath.
“May I have the night to think about it?” Myrna whispered to Mrs. Freed.
“Of course. You may give me your answer in the morning.”
“I must return to Sisi. You’ll excuse me?”
“Yes, dear. Have a restful night. Should you agree to my offer, we will discuss the details tomorrow. It is my hope that there will be many other dinners we might share.”
Myrna quickly sidestepped Dalton, not daring to look at him after that last remark.
Mrs. Freed might anticipate her presence, but she felt certain her taciturn son would not share his mother’s enthusiasm, and she had no desire to linger and find out.
Running across one of the maids, she passed along her request of a dinner tray then took the stairs to join her sister.
Once she entered the spacious bedchamber that their entire old tenement could have fit into, leaving half the room to spare, she found Sisi curled up and lying on her side on the canopy bed. She clutched a china doll to her heart. Her eyes were closed, her breathing steady.
“Oh, Sisi, whatever shall I do?” she whispered, not wishing to wake her. She sat on the edge of the mattress and smoothed the child’s tangle of curls.
Myrna wanted the best for her little sister, always, and had striven to achieve that. But one disappointment after another had been the scope of Sisi’s young life. In one week, Myrna had seen an astounding transformation—Sisi happy, lively, excited to have a friend. Everything Mrs. Freed offered seemed like a dream too spectacular to believe credible. Only one shadow lingered to mar its sunny landscape....
The master of Eagle’s Landing.
Her misgivings that spanned years warred with the desire to accept such a fortuitous proposal, and Myrna struggled to put aside selfish qualms and concentrate on doing what was best for her sister. The longer she considered the prospect, the clearer became the choice to be made.
May God help her.
If truly He did care.
* * *
“Please tell me I did not come upon what I fear to have just heard.”
“Dalton, do come inside and cease from lurking in the doorway like a grumpy bear. Come now, stop your scowling.”
Letting out a frustrated breath through his teeth, he closed the door and approached.
“Mother, you do realize that by putting me in the position of managing the estate, I should have a say in how it’s run when it comes to the employment of those chosen?”
“Of course, dear. Shall I ring for some tea?”
“No, thank you. Please tell me you haven’t hired Miss McBride as a replacement for Gladys?”
“Heavens, no.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
“She’s to be Rebecca’s new governess.”
“What?” He sank to the chair Myrna had just vacated. “You’re not serious?”
“I am. She’s intelligent and well educated, a good guardian to her sister...”
“She has deceived me from the start and still wears a ring to display the lie.”
“Did she actually tell you she was married? Or did you rush to assumptions as has been your habit since you were a boy?”
Her rebuke came gentle but still flayed his pride. “Mother, the fact is she is still wearing that ring. We know nothing about the woman or where she comes from.”
“And yet, you brought her here.”
He was strongly beginning to regret such a rash decision.
“What else was I to do? Leave her and her little sister to freeze to death? But I had no intention of them securing a permanent place in this household, and especially not having that woman become a governess to my niece!”
She lifted her chin. “She is my granddaughter, let’s not forget. Or do you suddenly question my love for Rebecca and ability to make sound decisions with regard to her? I’ve done so since her mother died, I’ll remind you. I still run this household. I’m not yet in my dotage.”
He pushed a tense hand through his hair. “Yes, yes, but your heart is too kind. You tend only to see the good in people, ignoring their blatant flaws.”
“And you, my dear, do exactly the opposite. Every young woman is not Giselle.”
Disturbed that she would introduce such a sensitive topic, his eyes snapped to hers. Her features were kind, but he looked away, unable to accept her sympathy.
“Miss McBride hardly seems the type to be a governess,” he insisted quietly.
“She might surprise you. She seems a woman of many hidden talents.”
He huffed out a laugh devoid of amusement. Myrna McBride had definitely surprised him on more than one occasion since meeting her a week ago. His mother was right—Myrna was certainly not what she appeared.
“Perhaps she might even make sense of your brother’s notes.”
“That won’t happen.” He would never give her the opportunity. Recognizing the grief in her quiet words, he calmed. “I won’t let you down, Mother. I won’t let all of what Grandfather built be lost.”
She reached out and took his hand. “Dalton, you’ve never given me a moment’s regret. You’re very strong to bear such burdens. Your life has been riddled with them, ever since you were a boy....” Her voice cracked. Troubled, he cast his eyes to their clasped hands. “And now you’ve been given a full plate as a young man of twenty-two. I wish you never had to suffer. Only through reliance on the Lord will you overcome the obstacles and rise above the storm. I made that truth my fortress, the one gift of any true meaning I’ve passed down to my children.”
He knew the verse well. It had become the household creed when his great-grandparents were alive.
“The strength of eagles, Dalton. That we may soar and not fall.”
He nodded to show he understood, though he still struggled with faith in that area.
“Try to be more lenient of Miss McBride. Continue to rely on the charity that I know resides in your heart, that first saved a young woman in need, and be the honorable man I raised you to be.” She patted his hand before releasing it.
He shook his head at her determined naïveté.
“So we are to close a blind eye to her continued deceit and pray she doesn’t steal the family silver then run off into the night?” He spoke, only half in jest.
“Silver is only metal, a commodity that can be replaced. A person’s soul cannot.”
He chuckled dryly, having expected such an answer. “Sometimes your arguments defy all worldly logic. Yet deep down, they strike a bizarre chord of reason.”
Her smile was cunning. “The wisdom that comes with the experience of years, my boy. I cannot pretend to understand why Miss McBride felt such a pretense necessary, but I sense she’s unhappy. I think she needs us as much as we need her.”
“And there, once again, you have lost me.”
His mother laughed. “Give it time, Dalton, and you’ll see. If she agrees, it will be for a trial period, until the spring.”
Dalton awaited the melting snows and the b
looming flowers with an eagerness he had never before anticipated.
* * *
Myrna justified her decision to stay at Eagle’s Landing—a place that was good for her sister, and which paid her a handsome wage that helped replenish all her family had lost—with a resolve to steer clear of her new master whenever possible. Thankfully, he seemed just as determined not to cross paths with her, his sudden appearance followed by a hasty exit from the doorway of whatever room she inhabited a clear sign of his similar disinterest. Breakfasts and luncheons were taken in the morning room with the girls. Dinners were shared in the great dining hall with the family and Dalton presiding at the head of the long table in brooding silence.
Soon, however, she reasoned that fate must have a wicked sense of humor. No matter their mutual disregard for one another’s company, in that first week, in a house so enormous, Myrna crossed paths with the man what must be a half-dozen times a day.
The second week proved no better.
Nor did the third.
“Miss McBride,” Rebecca interrupted Myrna’s cynical train of thought. “Since the snows have mostly melted and it’s not so cold as it was, after lessons can we go outside for a walk?”
“May we, and it’s still cold.”
“But not as cold as it was,” Rebecca insisted.
Myrna had quickly learned that the wee mistress of the manor had a will as strong as the walls of stone that made up the fortress. In most matters where the situation warranted the need, Myrna remained firm, but she could see no true reason to deny the girl’s hopeful request. After what seemed an eternal winter, it would be nice to escape the stifling mansion, along with a more than probable glimpse of its disturbing owner.
“Very well, Rebecca. If you and Sisi bundle up warmly, I suppose—”
“Yay!” Rebecca jumped up and clapped her hands.
Sisi’s smile was bright. “May we look for the eagle’s nest Mrs. Freed spoke of?”
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