Somewhere Between by Patty Wiseman

Author:Patty Wiseman [Wiseman, Patty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: novel
Publisher: Book Liftoff
Published: 2018-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

PHEBE ROCKED BACK AND FORTH in the sky parlor staring at the discovery she made near the window, all thoughts of the emerald ring gone as she stared at the floor. A red stain on the flat weave carpet. She never noticed it before. It raised the hair on the back of her neck. It’s either a wine stain or—blood. Edmund’s?

She rocked faster and faster trying to convince herself it was the wine stain. Edmund dropped the glass as he became ill. I’ve heard some poisons cause a person to bleed from the mouth, so it could be blood. Still, no one knew for sure what killed him. It might have been a blow on the head. Another accounting for blood.

The rocker stopped, and she stood. “What am I saying? Myrtle said the doctor thought it was his heart. She suggested poison. No one said anything about a murder weapon or injury. Why would she bring up poison? It’s sure she knows more than she’s telling me.”

Myrtle told her about the sherry glass when she first arrived at the house. Mary talked about the stain in her diary. Now, it was real, right in front of her.

She addressed the empty room as she paced. “I’ve been up here a dozen times. Why didn’t I see it before?” Her fingers slid over the smooth tabletop; the toe of her shoe ran across the carpet. “Because I expected it to be near the table, I suppose. The decanter is there, the sherry glasses. I presumed he fell near the table after drinking the wine, but no stain darkens the carpet there.” She crossed to the window. “Was he looking out at the lawns when he died? Or was he looking at Jonathan?” Now, she whispered, “Please come back Edmund.”

The diary fell open to the last page she read. It told of the discreet marriage ceremony, held in the library, with only Jonathan and Mary’s parents in attendance. And the parson, of course.

‘The ceremony was short. I don’t remember much of it except for the bewildered looks from Mother and Father at the sudden decision. They must have suspected, because their faces looked so sad. Jonathan’s parents, however, beamed their approval of the match.’

Phebe’s heart wrenched at how Jonathan whisked her away on a honeymoon trip, designed to keep them away until the birth of the child.

‘I am mourning for Edmund, but Jonathan insists on exercising his husbandly rights. He argues it will make it more plausible that the child is his, at least in his mind. I have no choice. He rescued my child and myself. It is all I can do to let him touch me. He isn’t tender or loving, but rough, as if anger consumes him. Above everything, he wants this child to be his, to erase any part of Edmund from my memory.’

“The cad!” She slammed the book shut. “How can he treat Mary so? I dislike him intensely, even though he saved Mary from a life of disgrace.

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