When Blair looked up, Houston was smiling. “I love him more every day. What about you and Lee? At the wedding, you said you didn’t believe he loved you.”
Blair thought of this morning, of their exuberant coupling that had tumbled them out of bed, and of later when Mrs. Shainess had nearly slammed breakfast on the table. When the woman’s back was turned, Lee had rolled his eyes in such a way that Blair had started giggling. “Lee’s all right,” she said at last and made Houston laugh.
Houston began to pull on her gloves. “I’m glad everything worked out as it did. I’d better go. Kane and the rest of my family will be needing me.” She paused a moment. “What a lovely word. I may not have a medical degree, but I am needed.”
“I need you,” Blair said. “Was it you or Mother who organized all my ‘patients’?”
Houston’s eyes widened. “I have no idea what you mean. I merely came here because I was hoping I was expecting. I plan to come back at least once a month, or any other time I’m not feeling well.”
“I think you should visit your husband more often, not me, if you want a baby.”
“Like I hear you’re exhausting Lee every night and morning?”
“I what?” Blair began, then remembered her telephone boast. Of course it was all over town.
“By the way, how is Mrs. Shainess working out?”
“Dreadful. She doesn’t approve of me.”
“That’s nonsense. She’s bragging to everyone about her lady-doctor.” She kissed Blair’s cheek. “I must go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Chapter 29
The next morning, early, Blair looked up from her desk to see Nina Westfield, now Hunter, standing before her.
“Hello,” Nina said softly, her eyes half pleading. “Wait,” she said, when Blair started to rise. “Before you say anything, let me do some explaining. I just got off the train and came directly here. I haven’t seen Dad or Lee, but if you say you can’t bear the sight of me, I’ll leave on the next train and you’ll never have to see me again.”
“And miss thanking you every day for the rest of my life?” Blair asked, eyes sparkling.
“Thanking…?” Nina said, then realized what Blair meant and, the next minute, she was pulling her sister-in-law out of the chair, hugging her and crying on her neck. “Oh, Blair, I’ve been so worried that I haven’t really enjoyed what I’ve done. Alan kept saying that you loved Lee but just didn’t know it. He said you and Lee were much more suited to one another than you and he were. But I wasn’t sure. To me, Lee’s a brother. I couldn’t imagine choosing to live with him. I mean—.” She pulled away, blowing her nose and sniffling.
Blair was smiling at her. “I’d offer you tea, but we don’t have any. How about a cup of cod liver oil?”
That made Nina smile, as she sat down heavily in an oak chair. “I think this may be the happiest moment of my life. I was so afraid you’d be angry, that the whole town would be angry with me.”
“But no one in town knew Alan and I were engaged. They thought Lee and I were to be married.”
“But you wanted Alan,” Nina persisted. “I know you did. I know you went to meet him at the train.”
Blair’s curiosity was peaked. “I want to hear the whole story.”
Nina looked down at her hands. “I really hate to tell you everything.” She looked up, tears beginning to form again. “Oh, Blair, I was so unutterably devious and underhanded. I did everything I could to get Alan. You never had a chance.”
“If I shoot you, I promise I’ll sew the wound myself.”
“You can joke, but you won’t after you hear about the things I did.” She blew her nose again, and, while looking at her hands, she began. “I met Alan the night he decided to kill Lee.”
“What? Leander? He was going to kill Leander?”
Nina shrugged. “He was just angry, and I understood so well how he felt. Lee has such a highhanded way about him. When I was little, he used to decide what was good for me and what was bad. It used to make me so angry that I wanted to strangle him.”
“I know the feeling,” Blair
said. “He hasn’t changed a great deal.”
“When I saw Alan, I knew he wasn’t going to kill anyone, he was just enjoying the idea. I invited him into the parlor, and it was quite easy to get him to talk and tell me what was going on. He told me he was in love with you, but I knew that Lee’d already made up his mind that you were going to marry him, so I didn’t think Alan had much of a chance. I knew Lee’d win.”
“How could you possibly know that?”