Bloodroot by Susan Wittig Albert

Author:Susan Wittig Albert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.

Chapter Ten

As lily of the valley blooms in May it was customary

to decorate churches with them at Whitsuntide....

In the West of England, to plant a bed of lily of the

valley was a bad omen, an invitation to an early

death.

Josephine Addison

The Illustrated Plant Lore

Leatha and Amanda were so deeply engrossed in each other that Martha and I spent the entire lunch hour talking between ourselves, mostly about the traditional uses of native plants. In fact, Amanda and my mother got along so well that before we left Martha’s house that afternoon, Leatha had told her that there was a large cache of family documents at Jordan’s Crossing and that she could take her pick. As we drove home, I couldn’t help feeling annoyed about this.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to let a total stranger paw through our family papers?” I asked. “We haven’t even seen Amanda’s credentials, for Pete’s sake. We have no idea whether she is who she claims to be. How do we know we can trust her?”

“Of course we can trust her,” Leatha replied calmly. “It’s funny, but I have the feeling that Amanda’s not a stranger. From the moment I met her, I felt as if I’d known her all my life.”

“I could certainly see that,” I retorted. “But any lawyer will tell you to be careful who you give the family papers to. I’m sure Colonel Blakeslee would agree with me.”

Leatha turned. “Do you distrust Amanda because you’re worried about those papers, China, or because you simply don’t like her?”

I had to laugh. “It shows, does it?”

“I’m afraid it does. Why don’t you like her?”

“I wish I knew,” I said, trying to be honest. “But somehow I have the feeling that Professor Gleason has more on her mind than this research project. She has another agenda, and we don’t know what it is.”

But the minute the words were out of my mouth, I could hear how petty and mean they sounded and I wished I could take them back. My dislike of Amanda was entirely intuitive and had no more validity than my mother’s instinctive liking for her. And now that Wiley was dead and it wasn’t likely that anyone would pursue that old property deed, there couldn’t be anything of vital or current importance in all those old family documents. What harm could there be in Amanda’s going through them? I might not like the woman, but what kind of trouble could she cause? And if I were being completely and brutally honest with myself, I’d have to concede that there might be some jealousy involved here. I had seen the way Amanda cozied up to my mother, and I didn’t like it.

I opened my mouth to apologize, but the damage had already been done. Leatha turned away, hurt.

“I’m sorry you feel the way you do,” she said stiffly. “I’ve already invited Amanda over this evening to talk and perhaps meet Aunt Tullie. If you’d rather not see her—”

“You go right ahead,” I said in a careless tone.

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