Hunter's Prize (26 page)

Addie’s knees wobbled and heat flooded her face. “What’s wrong, Priscilla? Has something happened to my family?”

Priscilla’s vacant gaze shifted to her. “They’re fine. Sit down, please.” Hurrying across the room before her weakened knees caved, Addie settled in her seat and tried to still her pounding heart. “Is that a letter from my mother?”

Her white-rimmed lips drew to a firm line. “It is.” Shuffling the papers on her desk, she pulled out a sealed envelope, a match to the one in her hand. “There’s one for you, too,” she said, handing it across to Addie.

Addie caught hold of the precious missive, but Priscilla held on to the corner.

“Kindly wait to open it. I think you’ll want to hear what she wrote to me first.”

Addie swallowed her protest, the letter a hot coal in her hand. Priscilla glanced over the top of her rims. “Shall I proceed?” Addie nodded.

Clearing her throat, she started to read.

Addie sat forward, clenching her fists.

Priscilla glanced up. “Do you want me to continue?”

“Yes,” Addie croaked in a voice she didn’t recognize.

Adjusting her glasses, Priscilla lifted the paper with shaking fingers.

Addie held up her hand. “Please don’t read any more.” She sat quietly for several minutes, fighting tears. “I don’t know what sort of trick is being played here, but that … that brazen request did
not
come from my mother.”

Priscilla turned the page over and held it close to her face. “Well, her name is signed at the bottom.” She held it up for Addie to see. “Is it her handwriting, dear?”

Addie leaned to stare at the familiar script until the letters blurred. “It certainly looks like hers, but it can’t be.” Her wounded heart shouted a firm denial. “Priscilla, I’m horribly embarrassed. What must you be thinking at this moment? Of me, my mother, my entire family?”

Priscilla’s mouth quirked to the side. “I’ll admit it’s a little unorthodox, and a touch scandalous for my taste, but you shouldn’t become so distraught, Addie.”

The conversation had taken a dreamlike turn. Common sense told Addie there was a terrible mistake. The notion that Priscilla Whitfield would agree to weigh Pearson as a possible suitor for her mother was preposterous.

Priscilla leaned over the desk. “I’m sorry. You’re upset. I suppose I should’ve asked you from the start how you feel on the subject.”

“To tell you the truth, ma’am,” she said—forgetting in her angst how Priscilla detested the formal address, “I don’t really know what’s happening.”

Propping her elbows, Priscilla stared blankly at the single sheet of stationery. “Well, there’s more, but if you don’t understand by now, I doubt it would serve to clarify.” She nodded at the envelope clutched in Addie’s hands. “Perhaps you should read yours now. Maybe it will help.” Addie accepted the letter opener from Priscilla and cut a slit in the top of the envelope. Unfolding the note with trembling fingers, she read silently to herself.

Addie’s hands shook so hard, the paper rattled. “Pearson asked permission to spend time with me?”

Priscilla’s slender eyebrows lifted. “Well, of course. Whom did you think? I’m decades too old for him.”

Quivering inside, she read the last line.

Drained, Addie slumped against the chair. Trust her instincts? Hardly. It seemed the wisdom of her ancestors had skipped a generation.

When she’d confronted Pearson, he said she’d see him in a different light once she heard from her mother. How right he’d been. He also said their heated conversation would be the source of embarrassment. Touching her flaming cheek, she wondered how she’d ever face him again.

“Still with me, Addie?”

Glancing up, she met Priscilla’s worried gaze and tried to smile. “Just barely.”

“Did she clear things up for you?” Addie sighed. “As clear as a hog wallow.”

The lady smiled. “I know it’s difficult. Whether you’re expecting it or not, the first approach of an interested suitor can set a girl’s head aflutter. As hard as it may be to believe, I had my share of inquiring young men in my day. None who I ever warmed up to, unfortunately.”

A thoughtful look stole over her face. “Do you suppose we have only one opportunity for love, Addie? Only one other soul destined just for us?”

“I surely hope so.”

Her lips drooped into a frown. “If that’s the case, life becomes quite difficult should one of the parties take a misstep.”

Remembering the poor dear’s fondness for Dr. Moony, Addie’s heart panged.

Priscilla folded the letter in her hand in half and then in quarters. “At any rate, Addie, I should think you’d be pleased with Pearson’s interest.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

She colored slightly. “Forgive me for making the observation, honey, but you do watch him rather closely. And you sort of”—she waved her hand in front of Addie’s face—”light up when he comes into the room.”

Addie stood, her fists clenched at her sides. “I most certainly do not
light
up!”

Priscilla puckered her lips and shifted her weight. “Of course, dear. Whatever you say.” She pushed to her feet with a grunt. “If it helps, I feel I’ve observed Pearson well enough to sanction your courtship, if you’re agreeable.”

Suppressing hysterical laughter, Addie held up her hand. “I don’t think—”

“I’ll write to your mother right away. Meanwhile, your duties await you. Where is Ceddy?”

Addie pointed behind her. “In the kitchen. Delilah took over his lesson on holding a fork.”

Priscilla smiled. “Then you’d best run along. He’ll have her pinned to the wall with it by now. Table manners have never been his strong suit.”

Addie eased toward the door, her mind struggling for the words to protest. How could she explain why a courtship was impossible without telling Priscilla how she’d misjudged Pearson?

More importantly, why did a part of her pray it wasn’t too late to make amends?

T
he sunshine reflecting off the rippling water bored through Pearson’s eyes and bounced to the back of his head. Now it hunkered inside, throbbing to get out.

Their dragline had proved very effective at snagging almost everything off the bottom, including stumps, logs, anchors, and bottomed-out dinghies. Exhaustion and frustration combined had driven Pearson and Theo to take a break.

Long ago, Denny and Charlie had tied up their boat and left for the day, complaining as always about the long hours and low pay.

Pearson sat in the bow of the boat.

Theo reclined astern, idly flicking the surface of the water.

Addled by pain, Pearson decided to confide in him. After several false starts, he gathered his nerve and looked up. “Have you ever loved someone who didn’t love you back?”

“But of course.” Theo gripped his heart. “Every pretty girl I see.”

“Stop. I’m serious.”

Theo shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve really fallen for a girl yet. Not the way you feel for Addie. Like my papa always said,
amore
is a fickle beast.”

Pearson nodded. “I loved my family, of course, and they returned my affection. Then your parents, after the storm. They drew me in and made me one of their own. It’s only natural to open your heart in a case like that.”

Theo nodded. “True.”

Pearson stared at the crisscrossed branches of a red oak tree bending close to the water. “I’ve been thinking about Pearl lately.”

Theo’s head came up. “Rosie’s Pearl? One girl at a time, Pearce. Unlike me, that’s all you can handle.”

“I’m talking about the way I disrespected her. If you think about it, I’m facing a similar situation. I can’t help how I feel about Addie the same as Pearl couldn’t with me. She didn’t even try to hide how she felt.”

“Tshh! She couldn’t. The girl was well smitten.”

“And I didn’t bother to care.” Pulling leaves from the oak, he tore off pieces and scattered them over the water. “It grieves me now how lightly I treated her feelings.” Shame burning in his heart, he stared out over the lake. “Do you remember what I said the last night I saw her? That I had no interest in the likes of her?”

Theo inhaled. “You meant no harm.”

“I meant nothing, because I was too cocky and full of myself to realize I was hurting another human being.” He sighed. “I suppose I’m reaping what I’ve sown.”

“You can’t help who you love, pal. Or who you don’t.”

“True.” He jutted his chin. “But you can help how you conduct yourself. Instead of flirting and leading her on, I could’ve treated her with respect.” He stared across the top of the trees. “This time, I care completely about a person who doesn’t feel the same about me.” He flung the bare stem at the water. “I need to walk away, forget about her, but for the first time in my life, I’m not in control of my emotions.”

Theo whistled, low and ominous. “Not a safe place for a man to be.”

“I might’ve agreed with you before.” He shook his head. “Not now. The truth is, you realize deep down that you’ll love this person, need to protect them, and long to be with them whether they return your devotion or not.” He fixed on Theo’s searching gaze. “Learning this, I know the reason it happened to me.”

“There’s a reason?”

The truth burned on Pearson’s lips, but it was holy fire. He nodded. “There is, because once you love a person without conditions attached, you get a glimpse of how God feels about us.”

Twilight etched the trees on the darkening sky like drawings in black ink as Pearson and Theo rode their rented mounts up the hill toward Whitfield Manor. They’d worked at the lake until hunger hollowed their bellies and thick mud seeped from their pores.

Pearson scowled at the thought of missing another meal at Priscilla’s well-laid table. If she issued another invitation to dine, he intended to accept, the troublesome Miss McRae be hanged.

Feeling Theo watching him, Pearson turned and raised his brows. “What are you trying not to say?”

Theo shrugged. “Just wondering how much longer you’re planning to drag the lake. I’m pretty sure we’ve struck bottom by now.”

Pearson chewed his lip. “It doesn’t make sense. We’re dragging the spot where the locals claim she went down. I felt sure we’d hit her by now.” He sighed. “It’s like Lafitte’s treasure all over again.”

“You don’t think …?”

Pearson smirked. “That I’m bad luck?” “No!”

“Then what?”

“I hesitate to say.” Theo glanced to the side of the lane. “The last time I accused them, the reverend shamed me.” He sat up straighter. “Blast it all, I’ll say it anyway. You don’t suppose those two fellows we hired have already found something?”

Pearson frowned. “We’d know if they had.”

Theo shook his head. “How easy would it be for them to cross off one section of the grid, tell us they found nothing, then return later and claim their findings for themselves? We’d never be the wiser.”

“They’re not even sure exactly what we’re searching for.”

Theo snorted. “You’re fooling yourself. They know something. That’s why they won’t ask. All their pretend stupidity is getting mighty suspicious.”

He made a good point. Pearson lifted one shoulder. “I wouldn’t put anything past those two. All we can do is keep a watchful eye.”

“No, paisan. There’s something else we can do. We could get rid of them, continue searching on our own, even with double the work on our shoulders.”