Chapter 24

Leon gathered everyone together the next morning after his visit to the lawyer's office.

"A letter was slid under the lawyer's door. He found it when he arrived at his office this morning. He doesn't know who delivered

it." Leon pulled a creased paper from his pocket and cleared his throat. "Do you want to read it?"

"You go ahead," Otis said.

Leon began reading to his captivated audience.

Dear Sir,

I don't know what to say or how to say it. I saw your request in the newspaper about the child Elisabeth. I believe the girl

you seek is in my home. She calls me Papa and my wife Mama. She is happy here, and I beg you to tell whoever it is that seeks

her that she is well.

I don't have a lawyer yet to help me understand what can be done. I will write again when I do. Until then, tell your client

not to worry. She is safe and loved.

"There is no signature," Leon said. "Our lawyer said he will ask around and see if anyone saw who left the note, but so far there are no leads."

"She's close." Otis stood, unable to sit still. His niece was nearby, and soon they would be together. "Someone must know

where she is. We could get the police to go door to door."

"Perhaps...," Mildred said. "They might be able to help."

"What kind of a man leaves a note like this and doesn't even sign his name? Why bother with a note at all?" Otis looked to

Sadie, needing her support in this moment.

"Otis." Sadie looked up when she said his name, her eyes red rimmed. Her reaction made no sense. Where was her indignation?

He needed her to come to his aid. "He may be a good man," she said in a voice that shook. "He might be trying to do the right

thing."

"A good man would not keep her from me."

"I will go to the police if that is what you want. I can consult them and see what they advise." Leon, always ready to act,

stood and moved to the door. "Mildred, will you walk with me?"

"Tell them it's important we discover her whereabouts," Otis said. "Tell them I am willing to do whatever it takes to have

her brought home."

Leon nodded. "We will tell them you are devoted to your family."

Once they were alone, Sadie approached him. "You have known about Elisabeth for more than a month, but all these people know

is that they've loved a little girl as if she were their own, and now someone wants to take her away. They may want to hire

someone so they can be assured she is really your kin. Can you fault them for that?"

She reached out to touch his arm, but he brushed it away. Could her loyalty be so fickle? He knew she had worries, but he'd not believed they ran so deep. How could she stand there and say such things when he'd seen the bond of her own family? Was he not entitled to the same familial love?

"She was never theirs to have." He pressed a hand to his chest. " I am her blood. You and I... we were searching for her together. I'm sorry for the barn. If that is what this is about, forget

it ever happened."

"Otis."

"What?" he snapped.

"I do care about Elisabeth. And about the barn... can we set it aside, like we did while we skated?"

"I don't know if we can," he muttered. It would be near impossible to put it from his mind. He'd thought of their shared embrace

and the taste of her kiss countless times since the barn, and he'd questioned her fleeing with equal frequency. "I'll try

if that's your wish."

"For now it is." She shifted, looked toward the door, and he felt certain she was about to leave. He wanted her to go, but

he also wanted her to stay. A photograph of him as a boy, standing beside his brother and parents, all rigid but together,

gave him an idea.

"I have not been to my childhood room since I returned." Did he truly wish to go there now? With her? It was too late to take

back the words. "I have wondered whether it remains the same or if it was altered."

"Are you asking me to join you?"

"I'd rather not go in alone."

"I have been meaning to clean your old room. But Mildred said to wait until you were ready."

"I won't ever be ready. But I want it over with."

His room was on the second story, near the back of the house, overlooking the creek, all details he remembered. Many other details he could no longer remember. He could not recall the color of the quilt he'd once slept beneath, but he knew he had left clothes in the closet, waiting for his return, and that his collection of wooden animals had been lined up on the windowsill. He could not remember what portraits hung on his walls or how many cars were on his train set, but he knew his Christmas ball and bat were under his bed, tucked away in a safe spot because they'd at one time been treasured gifts.

She followed him to the door, quietly supporting him. An awkwardness existed between them, and he blamed himself for assuming

her capable of caring about him as more than a mere friend or employer. It hurt to think about, but she was here, as a friend,

and that was ever so much better than being alone.

At the door he hesitated. And then he handed her the key. She unlocked it and waited until he nodded to push it open. He stepped

into the once familiar room, only to find himself in a foreign land. There were no remnants of his childhood left except for

the view.

He'd expected it to hurt, to know that his belongings had been packed up or discarded. That at some prior date, his family

had decided he would not be coming home for them. Instead, he simply looked around at the unfamiliar furniture and shrugged.

"It's not the same," he said, ready to back away. But she stepped deeper into the room, making her way to the window.

"I am very glad you did not sleep in this room when you first returned home." She winced and he chuckled. "If it's all right

with you, I'll dust everything and mop the floors."

"I can help," he said, preferring their uneasy relationship to silence. They were still busily removing the layer of dust

when Leon and Mildred returned.

"The police listened." Mildred was first to speak. "They were concerned and said they would have to speak to someone else before they set out looking for her. They said an abandoned child—"

"I did not abandon her."

"We made that known," Leon said. "However, if your brother abandoned her and the child's mother did as well, or if she died,

like we believe, then someone may have already taken the legal recourse to adopt the child."

"So what do we do? There must be a way to get her back."

"They said they would ask questions so they understood the law better. And if it is within their power, they'll go searching.

For now, we have no choice but to trust them to do their job. It's more important than ever that you get yourself ready for

the masquerade. If this becomes a legal battle, then it will help for you to have a good reputation. Even the law can be influenced

by rumors."

***

Everywhere Sadie went the next day and night, she listened for Otis. If she heard his tread on the stairs, she went the other

way. If she heard him playing the piano, she paused and allowed only a note or two to touch her heart before returning to

work, refusing to follow the music to him. It was better for him if she stayed away. After the masquerade tomorrow, she would

tell him what she knew, and she would accept whatever reaction he had. She would have to.

Her efforts to avoid him, though mostly successful, were not foolproof. She managed to dodge his presence, but a note was

slid under her door at night, accompanied by a sheet of music.

Dear Sadie,

When I could not find you, I went to the music room and wrote this piece. The notes flowed in the way a musician always hopes

they will. Straight from my heart to the keys.

Find me, and I'll play it for you. Then we'll talk. Say you'll come.

O. T.

Oh, how she desired to rush through the house, find him, and then lose herself in his music. However, her desire to keep her

distance won over impulse. Instead, she held his music close, hoping that she would someday have a chance to watch Otis's

hands dance across the keys as they played her song.

***

"You've been polishing that silver for a mighty long time," Mildred said the next day as she leaned into the pantry. "Are

you hiding?"

"I'm working."

"I'm not blind. You and Otis have been like sap on hands since meeting, and now you are avoiding him. Did you have a tiff?"

Sadie shook her head. "Mildred, can I trust you with a secret?"

"This house is full of secrets—what's one more? Come along, let's go to your room and we'll talk while you try on what I've

made you for the masquerade."

"I'm not going." Sadie's voice squeaked. "I can't. I don't want to spend money, and, well, I'm not sure I want to watch him...

I can't go."

"Nonsense." She pulled Sadie through the hall and down the stairs to her bedroom. "I saw your blue dress and thought it was perfect for going out. I made a mask that matches. You'll be beautiful." From within the depths of her apron, she pulled an exquisite blue mask, embroidered and edged with snowflake-like tatting. Delicate and angelic.

"You made this?" Sadie held it gingerly.

"I did, and I'd be heartbroken if you didn't wear it. You won't put me through that agony, will you?"

Sadie stared at the mask. It was like something from a fairy tale, fit for a princess. "I suppose I could put on my dress

and this beautiful mask. I could sit in the back and watch the other skaters, but Otis can't know I'm there."

"That's a start. And then once you realize that you deserve to be there as much as anyone else, you can leave the corner and

go to the floor. With the music playing and the crowd, it'll be a night you'll always remember." Mildred sat on the edge of

Sadie's bed and patted the spot beside her. "Now, tell me what it is that's got you hiding in the pantry."

Her heavy secret, so tightly wrapped inside of faulty justification and endless worries, burst from its careful packaging.

In a flurry of tears and words, she told Mildred about Bessy and Peter and Nina. She even showed her the sheet music from

Otis and told her how badly she wanted to hear him play it. Putting words to her struggle was difficult, but having someone

else privy to the details made the burden easier to carry.

"Peter and Nina prayed for a baby. They wanted a child so badly," she said with a sob. "They were so happy when Bessy came. They took her in and helped her when she was so thin and scared. She could hardly talk and was always hiding in the corner, but they were gentle, and with time she came around. Bessy loves them." She wiped at her face, trying to stop the tears. "They can't lose one another."

"But—"

"But Otis's intentions are pure. He wants to find her so he can give her a good life. He has money and a beautiful house,

and he wants to share it all with her. He was abandoned, and it is right that he doesn't want the same pain to befall her."

She groaned and fell back on the bed. "I plan to tell him after the masquerade. I thought it best that he not have the burden

I do until after he has reconnected with the town. You and Leon both said it was important for him to make a good impression

in case this becomes a legal battle." She couldn't meet Mildred's eyes. She had a list of excuses for not telling him, but

that was all they were—excuses. "But I'm feeling crushed by the weight of it."

"You were trying to protect him?"

"Yes, in a way. And myself too." She rolled onto her side. "I have loved my time here. And you know I am fond of Otis. Everything

will change once I tell him. He'll think I betrayed him for not telling him sooner. I've stalled, telling myself it was noble,

only now I don't know. Maybe it was just selfish of me."

Mildred patted Sadie's knee. "With a secret like that I might want to hide in the pantry with the silver too. But you're a

brave girl. Be brave again today. Get up and go to the masquerade. Otis will like knowing you're there, and when it's over,

you'll tell him what you know and... well, no matter what happens, you will know that you said what needed saying."

"I have another secret."

"Oh dear."

Sadie walked to the closet and ran her hand over the blue dress. "I have dreamed of going to the masquerade since learning of it. At first I dreamed of skating with every man in town, but now I only want to skate with Otis. I think it'll hurt my heart to watch him with someone else."

"Once he sees you in this blue dress, I have a feeling he'll see only you."

"But the whole reason he is going is to make a good impression, not to start rumors. If he skates with me or arrives with

me, I'll be in the way. Everyone in town believes he's returning now—they don't know that he's been here all this time. I

can sit back and watch, but for his sake, that's all I can do."

"We will go late, after he's already shaken a few hands. When he asks you to skate, it won't shock anyone as long as he skates

with others too. Besides, we will all be wearing masks."

She nodded slowly, considering the option. "I don't know about skating with him, but I would be willing to sneak in if you

promise to stay by my side."

"We'll go together. I'll be back to fix your hair right after I shoo Otis off."

With Mildred gone, Sadie needed a distraction.

***

... I have never felt so beautiful, nor have I ever felt so afraid....