Chapter 28

twenty-eight

“ D o you mean to tell me this entire spectacle was unfolding right beneath my very nose, and I missed all of it?” Jo said, punctuating her disbelief with the rhythmic motion of rocking two identical cradles holding two identical and precious baby boys.

“In all fairness to you, my love,” Chase responded, “Your vision was rather obscured by a burgeoning belly thanks to these two.”

He nodded down at his sons, and Trudy could not help but notice the pride on his face and in his voice. Truthfully, Trudy felt a bit of pride in those two babies herself having helped to coax them into the world. Granted, Jo was the true hero, having done virtually all of the difficult work, but Trudy had done a bit, and neither had been aided by the absent midwife who, through no fault of her own, learned of the births hours after the fact.

It had been nearly a week since the séance, and Chase had invited Trudy and Alex to visit, under the guise of a social call, but with the real intention of having them help regale his wife with a tale so fantastical she never would have believed him without their assurance it was true.

“So, who then was responsible for placing Isabella’s things where you would find them?” Jo inquired.

“All three of them,” Trudy answered. “Lorna, Ellis, and Moyen. Apparently Lorna is a rather deft pickpocket, as well as a thief.”

“A thief? She was a thief, a pickpocket, a lady’s maid, a spy, and a liar?” Jo asked, arching a brow as if impressed.

“And she has a deft skill with styling my mother’s hair,” Alex added dryly.

Trudy smiled over at him, hoping he could sense how much she cared for him.

It had been a difficult few days as he contemplated all he’d been through—a debacle of deception fueled by treachery and envy turned upside down by a remorseful accomplice. The betrayal still loomed over him. Trudy could sense it, just as she could sense his lingering mistrust and confusion. He’d even admitted to her that he wondered if perhaps Isabella might be lingering nearby, somehow, and that he wondered what she might think of all this if she was. It was going to take time for him to work through it all, but Trudy intended to remain by his side and to help in any way she could.

“It seems our housekeeper instructed Lorna to pack up Isabella’s things to be sent back to the Carnegies, but Lorna burgled most of it. That’s where the items to haunt me with came from,” Alex said.

“Lorna pilfered Isabella’s diary, too,” Trudy added, shaking her head the girl’s brazenness.

In some ways she almost felt sorry for the spy turned maid. She had been trapped in an intricate web of deceit, woven by her own mother, no less, but Trudy could not forgive what the three of them had done to Alex. She never would. Trudy was quite capable of holding on to a grudge and this was one she had no intention of ever letting go of.

“The diary was a wealth of information, it seems,” Alex agreed wistfully. “That’s how they knew which items would disturb me the most. Isabella kept a rather detailed account of my every failure and transgression. Her every disappointment and unfulfilled wish was recorded upon the pages.”

Trudy looped her arm through his and pressed against him as they sat side by side on the small sofa in Chase and Jo’s suite. “That was Isabella’s twisted perspective of events but even Lorna admitted she was spoiled and jealous. You cannot take to heart was she wrote in a journal. It wasn’t about you. It was about her and her own meanness.”

But Alex would take it to heart. Trudy knew he would, and she’d made it her mission to remind him of what type of man he truly was—caring, generous, patient—and damnably handsome. Oh, and skillful with regard to sexual congress…

“Trudy is right,” Jo said, casting a warm gaze toward Alex. “Izzy had a cruel streak, but we all know you to be witty, and thoughtful, and considerate. You must trust us women on this. Trudy and I are both very wise.”

“I shall endeavor to do so,” he said, smiling back at her and pressing Trudy’s arm tightly in response.

“Good,” Jo said, then added, “Now explain to me how it was that Ellis got involved in this? How did he and Moyen come to work together?” Jo picked up a baby from one of the cradles and handed it to Trudy, as if something in her expression had revealed just how badly she wanted to hold one. She didn’t even know which baby she had but it didn’t matter. Either would do.

“Ellis and Lorna became… acquainted soon after he moved in with us,” Alex said. “According to her, when he complained about how we mistreated him, she brought him to her mother, and a plan was hatched.”

“So, she was certainly not an innocent victim. What do you suppose made her finally confess?” Jo continued, taking the other baby and handing it to Alex who accepted him with some hesitation.

“If she’s to be believed now, it was Daisy’s wonderful influence over her. Lorna said no one had ever treated her with respect before or treated her as if she had any intrinsic value, but Daisy’s trust in her—misplaced though it was—showed Lorna a new path. She was afraid of Moyen and Ellis, though, and thought the only way to convince us of what they’d done was to bring everyone together and make her mother so angry it would all come spilling out. And she was right. It did.”

“Lorna became the spider,” Trudy murmured with a chuckle, suddenly recalling what Mr. Gibson had said.

“The spider?” Jo asked.

Trudy chuckled. “She was caught in a web and the only way to escape was to become the spider.”

“A rather large web, apparently,” Alex added. “It seems Moyen has an entire network of spies all over Chicago working as servants, shopkeepers, bartenders. All of them have been providing her with details about wealthy families that she uses to either convince them of her clairvoyance, or more often to blackmail them. I’m the only one she pretended to haunt, however. I suppose that should prove I am exceptional.”

He looked down at the infant in his arms, and Trudy tried not to dwell on how vastly attractive that made him.

“What happens to them all now?” Jo asked, smiling at them as if she had some trick up her sleeve. As if it wasn’t obvious she was playing Cupid by forcing them to snuggle with her babies.

“That is to be determined,” Alex answered. “They all belong in jail, of course. But Hugo doesn’t want the guests at the hotel to know he hired a charlatan. A felonious charlatan, no less. Our family isn’t too keen on creating another scandal by having Vernon and Ellis arrested, and as for Lorna, she’s young. There may be hope for her yet but she’s certainly not welcome in any home of mine.”

“And what of poor Finn,” Jo added, her eyes getting suddenly misty. “He’s a sweet boy. He shouldn’t pay the price for misdeeds he had no part in.”

“We won’t let him fall to the wolves, my darling,” Chase responded. “We’ll think of something. I don’t necessarily want him in my home, either.”

“I suppose,” she said with a nod, then turned her gaze to Alex. “Speaking of homes, Alex, Chase tells me you’re considering staying on the island for a few extra months after the summer season has concluded. Something about some new scheme of Hugo’s?”

Alex stole a glance at Trudy. “I haven’t quite decided yet, but Hugo has tapped both Chase and I to form a financial partnership with him.”

“He has?” Trudy asked. She was surprised… but not necessarily disappointed by this news.

Alex nodded. “He wants to restructure the entire town of Trillium Bay and fill it with his own businesses, but that will require a great deal of time spent on the island. And suddenly I find myself not wanting to be that far from… Springfield.”

“That’s interesting,” Trudy said with a smile. “Mr. Plank seems intent on forming all sorts of new partnerships.”

“Meaning?”

Her smile broadened. “He told me yesterday that the Imperial Hotel is in desperate need of a qualified physician since Dr. Prescott has abandoned his post and returned to Detroit.”

“Is that so?” Alex replied, his brow lifting. “And is that a permanent position?”

“I got the impression it was a flexible arrangement, but I did discuss the possibility of a leave of absence from the clinic with my father. Working on the island for a few months seems like just something a modern, progressive woman such as myself might want to try.”

“Interesting,” Alex said, his own smile growing. “So, you’re saying that, in case I were to stay on the island for a few extra months as well and found myself with a broken finger, you’d be here to tend to it?”

“It appears so.”

“Well,” Jo said, smiling smugly. “I like the sound of that.”

“Have I told you yet this evening how very beautiful you are in that dress?” Alex whispered to Trudy as they lingered on the periphery of the ballroom—because three dances in a row would have set the gossips to their mongering.

“Yes,” she responded with feigned annoyance. “You have told me, but you mustn’t stand so close. My father is watching.”

“That doesn’t concern me in the least. Your father likes me,” Alex replied.

“My father likes everyone,” she said, keeping her own voice low. “But if he finds out where you’ve been sleeping at night, he might change his mind.”

Alex shrugged, the very picture of nonchalance. “Well, I can’t sleep in my own room. I realize it’s no longer haunted but it’s unpleasant to be in alone,” he teased. “Your room is ever so much more comfortable. And besides, I have another very logical reason for spending my nights with you.”

She arched a quizzical brow.

“And what reason is that?” she asked, trying to sound stern.

But when she turned to look at him, his blue eyes were soft in the light of the gasoliers, and the orchestra music was sweet and romantic, and his smile had turned from teasing to tender as he whispered softly in her ear, “I spend my nights with you, Trudy Hart, because I am in love with you, as if you didn’t know it.”

“How would I know it if you haven’t told me?” she replied breathlessly.

“I’m telling you now.” He took ahold of her hand. “I love you, Trudy,” he whispered again. “I’ll never ask you to give up medicine for me because it’s part of who you are and I love that about you, too. But I am asking you to be my wife. When you’re ready. Even if that means I must find my own dinner or miss you for days on end because you’re busy healing those who need you. Or when you’re off delivering babies. Perhaps our marriage won’t look like anyone else’s but that’s fine by me. We’re progressive. We’ll figure it out.”

He paused then, and Trudy’s breath hitched in her lungs, and her heart tumbled over itself inside her of chest—which she knew wasn’t anatomically possible—but that’s what it felt like because there it was in Alex’s expression… Everything she’d ever wanted… Everything she’d ever needed… Everything she’d secretly longed for…

His besotted admiration…

His recognition and acceptance of exactly who she was…

And his true love given freely with no conditions...

Her eyes puddled with tears at his words, but a smile she had no intention of hiding spread across her face.

“I love you, too, Alex,” she whispered tremulously. “But, I fear I don’t deserve you. You’re too perfect and too fine. I’m not sure I’ve earned this kind of happiness.”

“Yes, you have,” he whispered back. “And so have I.”

And then defying all sense of good manners and decorum, he kissed her, right there in front of everyone in the Imperial Hotel ballroom.

The End