The House of Secrets

by Elizabeth Blackwell

  “Hush,” Will said, trailing his fingers along her arm. “He’s hours away, in Washington. Spending his inheritance on women of ill-repute, I’d hazard. Or drinking himself into an early grave.”

  “But he could come back tomorrow. I can’t be alone with him. I’m so afraid. I have to leave, no matter how it makes me look, but I don’t know where, or how—”

  “Calm down,” Will urged. “I’ve thought of a plan.”

  “You have?”

  “One way or another, your marriage has to end. You’ve said you don’t give a care about your reputation, and mine is already ruined. A divorce is the only solution.”

  “I told you, Charles will fight it.”

  “Of course he will, at first. But I’ve spoken to some lawyers—all very discreet, don’t worry. If life were fair, you would be granted a divorce on grounds of adultery. You and I know Charles is guilty, but proving it would be another matter.”

  “We never could,” Evelyn said. “No one would dare speak against him.”

  “And you would subject yourself to a humiliating legal battle with very little hope of winning. But there is another possibility. Abandonment.”

  “What would I have to do?”

  “Leave. Disappear. After a certain amount of time has passed, you could write to Charles and ask for a divorce. It could take years, I’m afraid, but by then, he’ll be anxious to be rid of you. You’ll accept blame for leaving the marriage, he can emerge as the innocent victim, and some unlucky young fortune hunter can become the next Mrs. Brewster.”

  “Do you think it could work?”

  “If you have the patience. And the strength.”

  “It will take more than strength,” Evelyn said. “I don’t have the money to disappear for a month, let alone years. I’ve saved all I can, but it’s not nearly enough.”

  “Money is the least of your worries,” Will said. “Didn’t I tell you I would find a solution? I’ve been putting money aside for years. A form of insurance, as I’m quite sure none of the Brewster fortune will be coming my way in Mother’s will. I wasted a fair amount on wine and motorcars—something I deeply regret now—but I can afford to buy train tickets. And food, for a time at least. Enough to leave.”

  “But that money is yours,” Evelyn protested.

  Will held her tighter. “Don’t you see? I’m using the money to get what I want most in the world—you. If I have to spend every penny to free you from Charles, it will be worth it.”

  “You’ll come with me?”

  “There’s nowhere I would rather be.”

  Evelyn smiled with relief. “Then we’ll go. Tonight, even. It won’t take long for me to pack a bag….”

  “I admire your enthusiasm.” Will smiled. “But we wouldn’t get far. No trains run at this time of night. You can wait until tomorrow, can’t you?”

  “But Charles—”

  “When was the last time he rushed home to see you during the day?” Will asked. “I doubt he’d be home before dinner, if then.”

  “I suppose,” Evelyn said.

  “Don’t tell anyone about your plans, not even a hint,” Will said. “Go through your day as usual, and I’ll sort out the travel arrangements. I’ll come for you in the afternoon, at the latest. Well before Charles would be expected home.”

  “If we disappear on the same day, the whole family will know you’ve gone with me.”

  “By then, it won’t matter,” Will said. “Let them be horrified. Although I admit, I would love to see Mother’s face when she finds out!”

  Evelyn laughed nervously at the thought of Alma’s reaction. It would be the perfect comeuppance. After years spent denigrating others, Alma would finally be the subject of scandalous gossip.

  “Where should we go?” she asked.

  “I have an idea,” Will said. “Are you willing to trust me?”

  She nodded.

  “Good. All you need to do is pack a bag. I hope you’re not one of those women who insists on traveling with fourteen trunks of clothing.”

  “Apparently, I won’t be requiring much clothing at all,” Evelyn said with a smile.

  “How promising,” Will murmured. He reached for her, and soon they were distracted by the feel of each other’s bodies.

  “Come upstairs,” Evelyn whispered. “So many nights, I’ve imagined you in my bed. If this is my last night here, I want you to spend it with me.”

  They climbed the stairs together, fueled by anticipation. All through that stormy night, they kissed and whispered plans for the future, as if imagining a new life could erase their fears for the day to come.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  AS SHE AWOKE in her bedroom, Alissa flashed back to the previous night. Kissing Danny in the kitchen. Pulling away as the teakettle grew more insistent. Standing there, wondering what to do. Pour the tea as if nothing had happened? Or turn off the burner and drag Danny out of the kitchen, to the couch—or even upstairs?

  She remembered the way Danny had watched her, his cautious smile an invitation. Paralyzed by indecision, she’d held back. If he’d taken one step toward her, reached out with his confident hands, he might have wiped away her doubts. But Danny would never push her for more than she was ready to give. She had to come for him this time.

  His smile had faded in Alissa’s silence. “I should go,” he’d said.

  “Oh.”

  His body had responded to her, she was sure of that, and he looked hurt as he turned away. Alissa realized, too late, that Danny had been hoping she’d protest, pull him back into her arms. By the time she figured it out, he was gone.

  Alissa glanced at the clock on her bedside table. Danny would be showing up for work within the hour. She pushed off the covers and made her way to the bathroom, catching her reflection in the mirror attached to the wall across the room. It was an unusual piece, almost as tall as she was and surrounded by an elaborate gilded frame. At first she’d found it charming, in a quirky sort of way, but now she was having second thoughts. She’d recently had to buy an armoire—lack of closet space being a major drawback of historic homes—and it came with a full-length mirror inside one of the doors. Maybe Danny could take this one down without doing too much damage to the plaster.

  Danny. It was just as well she hadn’t brought him up here last night. How would she have faced him this morning? How would they have moved from lovers to employer and employee in just a few hours? She thought back to the peaceful feeling that had enveloped her during the drive home from Baltimore. She knew with complete certainty that she had made the right decision about her life. When she saw Danny standing in the driveway, she’d simply followed her instincts. Kissing him had felt like the natural next step.

  At least they hadn’t gone too far. But there was no denying she’d led him on, then rejected him, and she felt terrible for toying with his feelings. She hoped he’d play it cool this morning. She couldn’t afford to lose him—as a handyman, but even more as a friend.

  Alissa was halfheartedly dusting the carved banister by the front door when Danny walked in.

  “Feeling okay?” he asked.

  “I guess,” Alissa said warily.

  “I thought I’d find you groaning in bed with the curtains pulled shut.”

  He was going to pass this off as a drunken mistake. Maybe the kiss hadn’t affected him as much as she thought. Alissa forced a laugh as she followed his lead.

  “Sangria. Guess I should be more careful.”

  “I’ll keep the hammering to a minimum,” Danny said. He strolled down the hall to the kitchen as if last night had never happened, which Alissa found both reassuring and infuriating.

  By unspoken mutual agreement, they ate lunch separately, Danny in the kitchen and Alissa upstairs in her room. By midafternoon, Alissa had tired of the charade. If she and Danny were going to make any progress on the renovations, they could hardly do so from opposite ends of the house. So what if she kept thinking about that kiss, remembering the feel of his body presse
d up against her? The sooner they got back to normal, the better.

  She called down to him from the top of the stairs.

  “Yeah?” He walked into the foyer, wiping sweat off his forehead with a rag he’d pulled from the waistband of his jeans.

  “When you’ve got a minute, there’s something I’d like you to do in my bedroom.” As soon as she heard herself, she blushed. Last night had given even the simplest request new meaning.

  “Really?” Danny asked with a broad smile and Alissa’s face flushed deeper. “C’mon, I’m kidding,” he said.

  “Right, I know,” Alissa said, stumbling over the words.

  Danny took the stairs two at a time. When he reached the top, he leaned over, resting one arm on the railing so he could look Alissa in the eye.

  “Can we get something straight?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “You don’t have to feel bad about what happened. It was late, you were a bit tipsy, I got caught up in the moment—it’s no big deal.”

  But it was, Alissa realized. Although she’d tried to distract herself with paint samples and plastering, it hadn’t worked.

  “So,” Alissa said, keeping her tone light, “I guess you make out with all your clients?”

  “Actually, no.” Danny looked at her seriously. “You’re the first. But if you’re not ready, or you’ve had second thoughts, that’s cool. Just tell me so.”

  Alissa wanted to say the kiss didn’t mean anything, that they should go back to being no more than casual friends. But she couldn’t. Danny could be infuriatingly mysterious about his past, but he’d always been honest with her. If he really wanted to get things straight, she owed him no less than the truth.

  “I’m not sure how I feel about last night,” Alissa said. “I guess because I’m not sure how I feel about you.”

  “Oh.” Danny’s expression was neutral. He was waiting for her to reveal her hand before making his next move.

  “I can’t figure you out,” Alissa said. “You have an MBA, you’ve traveled all over the world, but here you are, working as a small-town handyman. Don’t you want something better?”

  “Who’s to say what’s better?” Danny asked with a smile. Seeing that Alissa wasn’t in the mood for joking, he sighed and ran both hands through his hair, as if clearing his head of all distractions.

  “You want to know if I’m a screwup, right?”

  Alissa began to protest, but Danny waved her off.

  “Maybe I am,” he said. “I’ve made more than my share of mistakes. Starting with going to business school and getting drawn into a competition that I never really wanted to win. You know, I only interviewed for that investment bank job to prove I could. I never thought I’d get it, and I sure as hell didn’t realize what I was getting into when I accepted it. I ended up making an insane amount of money, found myself a flashy girlfriend and a cool apartment, but in the end the pressure wore me down. I had to walk away.”

  Alissa remembered their conversation at Jack’s Place, when Danny had talked about leaving his life and his girlfriend behind. She’d assumed he wanted to play the field rather than be tied to one woman. Now she saw that Danny’s search for freedom went even deeper. He didn’t want a steady relationship or a steady job, or even a home of his own. He was content to live an aimless life, in the small town where he’d grown up. He was smart and kind, but utterly without ambition.

  Strangely, Alissa found this realization liberating. She could flirt with Danny—even have a fling with him—but there would be no long-term commitment. If Danny prized freedom above all else, she would give it to him.

  “So,” Danny said, standing up and stretching his arms above his head, “what did you want to show me?”

  Alissa led him into her room and pointed to the wall opposite the door.

  “What do you think of that mirror?”

  “The first word that springs to mind is gaudy,” Danny said. “Unless you were going to tell me it’s a priceless antique and you love it.”

  “No.” Alissa laughed. “I was hoping you could take it out. It’s bolted to the wall somehow.”

  Danny pulled a small flashlight out of his tool belt and peered behind the mirror. He tugged at the frame from a few different angles, then nodded.

  “It should come off with a crowbar, if you don’t mind me pulling some of the plaster off.”

  “That’s fine,” Alissa said, “I can patch it later.”

  “I’ll get my tools,” Danny said.

  When he returned a few minutes later, Alissa was arranging painting supplies on a drop cloth, ready to try out samples of the colors she was considering for the walls. It felt natural to be working alongside him again.

  “What you were saying before, about walking away…” she began.

  “Is this the part where you agree I’m crazy?” Danny asked. He slid the crowbar under the edge of the mirror, gently pushing and pulling to loosen the frame.

  “No, not at all,” Alissa said. “I think you were brave.” She knew how it felt to finally reach all your goals, only to realize your dreams had changed along the way. “Did you just get fed up one day? Do the whole take-this-job-and-shove-it routine?”

  “Nothing that dramatic,” Danny said. “The thing is…” His voice drifted off. He continued his work on the mirror, his back to Alissa. “My dad got cancer. I said I’d be there for him, but I never showed up for any of his chemo treatments. Too busy with work, closing big deals. They told us he probably had a few years, so I always thought I’d go later. But he was gone in a couple of months. At the end, by the time I got to the hospital, it was too late.”

  He spoke in a monotone, not trusting himself to say more than the basic facts. She understood why he wouldn’t face her.

  “My mother died of breast cancer,” Alissa said quietly. “Almost two years ago. I was there for all of it. Trust me, you don’t want to see someone you love suffer like that.”

  Danny shook his head. “Not being there is worse. At least, that’s how I felt at the funeral. The guilt crushed me—that’s the only way I can describe it. I moped around my parents’ house, and I called in sick to work for the first time in three years. I felt like I had died, too.”

  The mirror creaked as he separated a corner of it from the wall. “I dragged myself back to New York eventually,” Danny continued, reaching up to slip the crowbar under the frame’s top edge. “I didn’t care about the mergers or my year-end bonus. I broke up with my girlfriend, quit my job and sold my condo. The only thing I could think to do was come home. My mom was happy to have the company and get help around the house, at least.

  “At some point—this was probably about a year ago—I went to the garage and found all my dad’s old woodworking tools. I started fooling around again, making tables and shelves. You know that rush you get when you’re doing something you really love? It all came back. I realized I really liked working with my hands. I started doing odd jobs for my mom’s friends, built some word of mouth, and now here I am.”

  The top of the mirror popped away from the wall, scattering fragments of plaster on the floor. Danny still hadn’t looked at Alissa.

  “Thanks for telling me about your dad,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s hard to talk about him,” Danny said. “But I don’t miss anything about my old life. Well—maybe the money.”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can match an investment bank salary,” Alissa said with a laugh.

  Danny stood facing the center of the mirror, and Alissa saw his reflection smiling back at her.

  “Seriously, I couldn’t care less,” he said. “I’m so much happier now, it doesn’t even compare. That salary kept me chained to a life I hated.” He pulled the crowbar with both hands, his shoulder muscles straining with the effort. Then, suddenly, with a loud crack, the mirror fell from the wall, landing with a thump as Danny threw his arms around the sides to soften the impact. While he laid it carefully down on the floor, Alissa we
nt over to take a look.

  “Wow,” she said. “Do you think that’s the original wallpaper?”

  She stared at a faded pattern of pink and red roses, surrounded by cracked plaster. Danny came up next to her and leaned in closer.

  “Look.” He pointed to a narrow seam in the wallpaper. He slid his fingers into the seam and pulled. With a creak, the wall moved.

  “A door?” Alissa asked. She peeked through the opening and saw wooden stairs leading up. “Why was this hidden?”

  Danny shrugged.

  “Where do you think the stairs go?” Alissa asked.

  “Only one place they could go,” Danny said. “The roof.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  WILL LEFT EVELYN’S bed at dawn, insisting he had to go before the servants were expected home. Evelyn clung to him nonetheless.

  “It won’t be long,” he said. “By this afternoon, you’ll be free of Charles forever.”

  She walked downstairs with him, watching as he pulled on his still-damp clothes from last night.

  “Take these.” Will handed her the trousers and shirt she’d taken from Charles’s room. “We have to be sure I’m not leaving anything behind.”

  Evelyn smiled. Impossible, she wanted to tell him. I still feel your kisses on my skin. Wherever I go from now on, I will carry you with me.

  Later that morning, after she’d finished breakfast in her room, Evelyn decided to pack her things so she’d be ready to leave as soon as Will arrived. She dragged a traveling case out from under her bed, one Lavinia had given her as a wedding present. She opened her armoire and stared at the clothes inside. The silk gowns and embroidered shawls Charles had insisted she buy in New York hung undisturbed, like museum exhibits. These luxurious clothes paid for with Brewster money would have no place in her new life. She packed only the simplest cotton dresses and blouses, a few books and her toiletries, including a silver brush and mirror set that had belonged to her grandmother. Everything else could be left behind.