"They're not wearing mourning," Evie pointed out.
"People don't hold much with those things out here, particularly men. Life isn't easy, and people come to expect death. Look at those kids of yours. Are they going around moping and moaning like they're expected to do back East? They haven't got time. They've got to survive."
"I suppose." Evie had heard the children's sobs late at night, but there was nothing she or Daniel could do that they weren't already doing. They couldn't bring Mrs. Rodriguez back from the dead. She supposed grown men like Kyle and Jason would deal with the death of their parents in a more grown-up fashion than sobbing in their beds. "I guess we need to find out more about the Howells. What do you suggest?"
"I suggest that Evangeline Howell write from St. Louis and tell Mr. Hale that Nanny is dead and ask for instructions. We can crumple the letter up some and walk on it and put it in the mail and it will look like it's been through every mailbag between here and there. I assume you've made some arrangement to have your mail sent down here."
"Yes, but it could take months for Hale's reply to go to St. Louis and back. There's got to be a faster way. I had hoped to get Daniel hired on as a clerk, but with his leg..." Evie made a gesture of frustration.
Tyler didn't have any intention of sitting around idle waiting for a letter to appear, but he wasn't telling Evie that. There was no telling how much dust she had already stirred up by going to that lawyer yesterday. He was keeping her clear of any other proceedings.
"Give me time to make a few more inquiries, Evie. We can't do much until we have some facts. You just get busy writing that letter. I'll let you know when I've found out anything." Tyler steered her back toward town. With a definite task ahead of him, he felt a little more comfortable. This business of vague worries about Evie and the children made him itchy. He preferred direct action, and now she had given him enough information to act.
Evie let him steer her away, but she wasn't about to sit back and do nothing while waiting for Tyler to do all the work. She had a few plans of her own.
* * *
"There's mail, Daniel," Evie whispered excitedly, as she came in after school the next day. She stepped from the bright sunlight of outdoors into the dimness of the front room waving two slim envelopes.
Both envelopes had an Ohio return address, and she handed them unopened to Daniel. They both knew what that return address meant. The fact that they were addressed to the "executor of Delilah Witherspoon's" estate told a whole story.
"We shouldn't have these, Evie." Daniel stared at the envelopes hungrily, without opening them. "There must be a lawyer out there somewhere taking care of Nanny's unfinished business."
"Of course there is." Impatiently, Evie threw her books and papers down on the table. Carmen had gone to pick up Maria at a neighbor's, but she would be returning any minute. "We just didn't wait around for him to hem and haw and decide what to do with us. Maybe that's where my check has gone. That would mean that Mr. Hale already knows Nanny is dead, if this other lawyer has sent out notices."
Another lawyer with the power of their future hanging over their heads. Daniel sighed, then ripped open the first letter and scanned it.
"It's the check for my upkeep." he glanced at Evie. "Do we dare cash it now? If there's a lawyer out there, he might accuse us of stealing."
"How can you steal your own money? Cash it, and let them come find us." Evie crossed her arms defiantly. There was no doubt pots of money sitting around in banks and lawyer's offices all over the country that they were entitled to. She didn't see any reason why they should have to starve and do without while lawyers debated the disposition of all that wealth. "Open the other one."
The other envelope contained a lengthy sheet of vellum that Daniel read quickly, then went back and read more thoroughly. His hands were shaking as he handed it over to Evie.
"My parents are asking Nanny's executor how I am progressing, if it is possible for me to attend a university now that Nanny can no longer look after me. They are willing to continue providing funds for this executor to act as my guardian until I am of age. There isn't any note to me or any mention of condolences. It's a business letter."
"And you're unfinished business, just like Nanny's estate." Evie read the letter with disgust. "If I were you, I'd write to this lawyer and tell him you're ready to accept their offer. Get an education. Get everything out of them that you can. Then when you come of age, go back there and walk in on them and say 'hello, folks, here I am, ready to take over the family business.' I'd like to see their faces."
Daniel managed a painful smile. "It would be even more amusing were I whole again." He folded the letter up and put it in his pocket. "But I'm not going anywhere until we find out about your family. Take the draft and put it in the bank. Jose is practically barefoot, and they can all use new clothes."
Evie glanced at him speculatively. "And you will need transport out of here. This may be all we get. We can't spend much of it."
Daniel looked annoyed as he returned to his reading. "Don't be a goose, Evie. I'll write the lawyer and tell him to forward the money here. We'll be fine. Go deposit the money."
He was hurting, and there wasn't a thing she could do. Quietly, Evie folded the bank draft and put it in her skirt pocket. She had felt the pain of never knowing who her parents were, but it was as nothing compared to knowing she was not wanted. She knew exactly what Daniel was feeling right now.
Returning to the sunshine outdoors, Evie hurried down the alley toward the bank. Tyler had warned her not to go out alone after dark, but she felt no insecurity in traversing the streets during day. This was a small town, and she was always in sight and sound of someone.
The other night had been a fluke with the jailbreak causing so much commotion that her abductor might have got away with it had it not been for Ben and Tyler's quick reactions.
She almost bumped into Mr. Hale as she came around the corner. She caught herself just in time, pulling her skirt out of the dust as he raised his hat and made a gentlemanly bow.
"Mrs. Peyton!" He gave her a look of warm concern. "I am happy to see you doing so well after Saturday night's little contretemps. I tried to be of some assistance, but the sheriff's son shut everyone out. I cannot understand such a thing happening in Mineral Springs."
"Mr. Monteigne believes it was one of the escaped outlaws. I'm certain nothing of the kind will ever happen again." Evie began strolling toward the bank. She wanted to get as much information from this man as she could, but the bank draft was burning in her pocket.
Mr. Hale offered her his arm, and she accepted it, giving him a delighted smile that he promptly returned.
"I understand Mr. Monteigne is a friend of your family's. Will he be staying here for any length of time?"
She was supposed to be the one asking questions. Evie made a vague gesture. "He has business with the Hardings, I believe. Tell me, Mr. Hale, if I go to the cemetery, will I find graves for the Howells? I have already written Evangeline about what you said, but the mail takes so long, I thought I'd find out what I could on my own. My letters are likely to reach her before there is time for her to write you and you to respond."
"I can see no harm in your visiting their graves. I would be delighted to escort you. Do you have time now?"
Mr. Hale was a very polite man. Evie smiled at him approvingly. She wished he wasn't so darn ethical about keeping family secrets, but she couldn't complain if the family lawyer was an honest man.
"I have to stop in the bank. I don't wish to delay you."
"There's no delay. We're already here." He opened the door for her and escorted her inside.
She didn't want him watching her as she tried to deposit Daniel's check. It was going to be a tricky business as it was. Evie bit her lip in frustration and glanced around the tiny building. There was one teller's booth behind bars and a desk in the far corner of the room behind the teller. She could see the safe built into the wall behind the teller. It wouldn't take m
uch to rob this place.
Sighing, she patted Mr. Hale's hand. "If you'll just wait here for me, I'll be right back."
The teller was only a few steps away, but if she talked low, perhaps he wouldn't hear. She removed the check and stepped forward to transact her business.
Several minutes, several smiles, and several blushes and reassurances from the male teller later, Evie returned to Mr. Hale. Daniel now had his very own bank account.
"Your brother is lucky to have a sister like you." Hale opened the door. "Your maiden name is Mulloney, then?"
So he had heard. Evie held her chin up. "Yes. We're originally from Ohio, but we've lived in the South for some considerable time now. The war was devastating to us all." Distraction worked best at times like this.
"I'm certain. Was your husband from around here, by any chance, Mrs. Peyton? There are still remnants of a Peyton family in these parts, but I don't remember an Alexander Peyton. That was your husband's name, correct?"
Evie tried not to tighten her grip on the lawyer's arm as they entered the churchyard. "Alexander grew up in Natchez, sir, but it is possible there are cousins."
"It's quite a coincidence your coming to Mineral Springs to teach, and then taking on the Rodriguez children, if so, Mrs. Peyton." Hale stopped before two small, nondescript gravestones and pointed at them with his cane. "There lies the Rodriguez children's maternal grandparents."
Evie could just barely make out the inscription: James and Rosita Peyton.
Chapter 27
Staring at the gravestones, Evie uttered several noncommittal remarks about her husband's wandering cousins, and allowed Mr. Hale to lead her toward the grander monuments in the Howell family plot. She refused to reveal how shaken she was as she listened politely to his explanations. He pointed out the patriarch of the family, Cyrus Howell, his wife beside him, a son who had died at an early age, and various and assorted relatives. But none of the graves were new. Tyler had said the Hardings' mother had recently died.
Evie placed her gloved hand on the lawyer's frock-coated arm and turned away. "I'm afraid my friend will be terribly disappointed. She is only my age. It seems most of those people were much too old to be her parents. But I do thank you for your time, sir."
Hale hesitated, then led her farther down the same path. "All the Howells aren't buried in the family plot, of course. Wives are usually buried with their husbands. Louise Howell Harding, for instance, was Cyrus's daughter. She's buried in the Harding family plot. I believe you are acquainted with the Hardings? It was a tragic accident."
They stopped before a newly erected monument, and Evie held her breath as she scanned the writing. She scarcely paid attention to the name of Randall Harding. Her whole being focused on the name below it: Louise Evangeline Harding, born 1829, died 1870.
Evie quivered. She reached out a hand to touch the stone, but didn't dare in Hale's presence. Tears filled her eyes. She wanted to fall to her knees and weep, to pour out twenty years of grief and pain and frustration into the grass just barely started over the dirt mounds.
Her mother. She knew it. Evie could feel it to the very bottom of her soul. It was as if Louise were standing over her now, holding out a hand in sorrow. She had died so young. If only Evie had come a few months sooner. She would have known her, spoken to her, maybe come to love and understand her. Just a few short months, and now eternity separated them. It was more than Evie's heart could bear.
She turned away and started down the path before her tears could betray her. She pulled out a handkerchief and neatly dabbed at her eyes, forcing herself to behave as Maryellen Peyton, disinterested observer. She should be handed an acting award. Her very foundations had been shaken, and she was walking with this man as if she didn't have a care in the world.
"How sad for the Hardings. Their mother must have been terribly young. It is always tragic when someone dies young." Evie was doing mental acrobatics. Applying her mind to a problem always helped to alleviate emotion. She had no reason to cry over a mother who had abandoned her, even if that mother could barely have been twenty years old when she had her. Her age. Evie could very well remember the terrible fear of being pregnant with no man's name for her child. She didn't want to feel sympathy for the dead woman, but it would come later, when she didn't have to think.
"Actually, she was just their stepmother. I'm right between Jace and Kyle in age, and I can remember when she married their father. She probably wasn't much more than ten years older than Jace, but she made us boys jump when she came around. She was a mighty fine woman. She's the one who put up the money for the school. The government has finally got around to saying we ought to have public schools, but the money just isn't there. Without her, the children around here would be growing up ignorant."
Evie liked hearing these things. Her mother was a good woman, a well-respected woman, and a good mother. It gave her some small sense of pride. She supposed if she thought about it she could be furiously bitter that such a good woman would desert her only daughter, but Evie was certain there were mitigating circumstances. She couldn't have done what her mother had done, but was abandoning a child so much worse than killing an unborn one? That's what she had meant to do.
Lost in the torment of her thoughts, Evie almost didn't hear Mr. Hale's next words. She halted a minute as if to adjust the buttons on her gloves, then looked up at him through her lashes. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Hale, I believe I missed what you were saying."
He tucked his cane beneath his arm and took her arm to guide her over a tree root as they left the cemetery. "Perhaps it would be better if I did not repeat it. I have no business talking so freely to you like this, but I can see you are a woman of compassion, and that you have Miss Howell's best interests in mind. I do not know how to phrase this without going beyond my authority to do so."
"You mentioned the Hardings," Evie recalled. "I fail to see how they would be of any interest to my friend."
Hale answered in low tones as they traversed the main street. "Mr. Harding had a younger brother. Really, Mrs. Peyton, I cannot say more. As long as your friend does not come to Mineral Springs, there's no need to worry. The Hardings are very attractive young men. It would just be... shall we say, indelicate, if she should develop any relationship with Kyle or Jace."
It didn't take too long to work out that hint. If Kyle's uncle were Evie's father, the Hardings would be her first cousins. So much for her mother being a good woman. Evie's lips tightened.
"I'm certain that won't be a problem. Evangeline is happily affianced to a very wealthy gentleman back in St. Louis. You can understand why a woman on the brink of marriage might be concerned about her heritage." Since Mr. Hale was being so understanding, Evie boldly pushed forward. "As a matter of fact, I have given thought to what we discussed the other day. I have already written Evangeline, you understand, but wouldn't it be better if you were to write her immediately and tell her what you know? Her wedding is a few short months from now, and it would be so much better if her concerns were answered quickly."
Hale hesitated, giving her a quick look. "As a matter of fact," he said carefully, "I have been trying to get in touch with Miss Howell. You'll understand that I am not in a position to divulge the details. I have left my card with both her guardian and her legal adviser in St. Louis, but I have not heard from either of them."
Evie was jubilant, but she didn't dare reveal anything yet. If she could only tell him who she was... it would save a great deal of time and worry. But the abductor the other night made her give Tyler's and Daniel's warnings more consideration than she would have otherwise. She was almost positive she knew who her mother was, and Hale had insinuated at her father's name. Those were pieces of information she could savor for a long time. It wouldn't hurt to wait for the rest of the details.
"Her guardian has only recently died, sir. I'm sure there is an amount of confusion involved. She will be in touch, particularly if she receives my letter. I thank you so much for your kindness, Mr. Hale." T
hey had come to the alley by the hotel, and Evie held out her hand in farewell. For some reason, she was reluctant to let him see where she was staying, although he certainly seemed to know everything about her.
"May I be so bold as to ask for your company one evening over dinner, Mrs. Peyton? It is not often that we have an attractive young woman in this town, and I will admit to being most interested in you."
She hadn't thought she'd made much of an impression at all on this dry stick of a man. Evie hid her surprise at his request. "I would be honored, Mr. Hale, but as I have told Mr. Harding, it is rather difficult for me. My brother suffered an accident and is confined to bed, and the Rodriguez children look to me for their welfare while we search for their uncle. Perhaps another time."
He bowed over her hand. "I will find some way to see you again. However, I am unhappy to inform you that I have heard the children's uncle was killed in California some years ago. You may do better to let the town see to their placement in homes."
Evie frowned at this piece of news, and absently dismissed the lawyer before going her own way. Why would Mr. Hale have heard of the death of someone in California, if the man's own niece and nephews hadn't heard of it? But Mr. Hale had been so extremely helpful in other ways, she couldn't just put the information aside.
She needed time to assess all the facts and innuendos she had accumulated this day, but as she walked in the door, the sight of Tyler spread-eagled on the floor decimated all else.
Maria and Jose sat on each of his arms and Manuel held his legs. When Evie entered, Tyler looked up and began scattering children across the floor. They giggled and laughed and came back for more, climbing into his lap and pulling on his arms and wrapping small arms around his neck to try to pull him down again. Evie gaped, amazed.
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