Page 64 of Beyond Montana's Sky
“We didn’t know each other well, Mrs. Grayson.” Sylvia lifted her chin toward the portrait. “But I was dear friends with Elizabeth Hamilton and also Pamela Burke-Smythe when we were girls before she married, and I dearly miss them.”
Mrs. Markham looked around the parlor, frowning. “This room used to be so welcoming and peaceful. Elizabeth had the décor done in soothing blues and grays. Eugenia Hamilton has the most wretched taste.” She shrugged her rounded shoulders and settled on the tufted, red-velvet sofa. “At least she left the drawing room alone.” She placed a hand on the seat next to her in an invitation to converse.
Welcoming the chance to talk about her family and friends in Sweetwater Springs, Edith sat beside Mrs. Markham. “Please call me Edith. I’ve become so accustomed to the informality of the West.”
“Then I must be Sylvia. I remember your brother well.” She spread her fan and blew air toward her face. “So handsome. Caleb quite caught my girlish fancy. Not that he ever noticed me, which is just as well, because my dear Gregory came along….” She sighed, placed a dimpled hand on her chest, and smiled.
“I believe my brother had that effect on many young ladies. Did you know he married a few weeks ago?” Edith smiled. “A widow with the most adorable baby girl. Caleb became a husband and father in one fell swoop.”
“Do you like his new wife?”
“I love her. She and her daughter have had the most astonishing impact on my brother. He’s head-over-heels for both of them.”
Sylvia clapped her hands together. “I’m so delighted when men fall into domestic bliss. So often it’s us females who are the ones carrying the brunt of tender emotions in a relationship. Not mine, of course. I’m blessed to have a loving husband.” She snapped her fan closed and touched the tip to her chest. “Eight children later, he still makes my heart beat fast.”
Edith’s thoughts flashed to Cai, and she couldn’t help wondering….
Sylvia lightly tapped Edith’s arm with her fan. “Do tell me how Elizabeth and Pamela are? We write, of course, but not as much as we should. Mostly my fault. My children take up all my time and energy.”
“Goodness, I would imagine so.”
“I met both of their husbands, you know. John Carter when he came to visit his great-aunt, Hester Burton. Do you remember her?”
She did recall the regal old lady and nodded. “Quite the Grand Dame.”
“Mr. Carter swept Pamela off her feet. I attended their wedding before he whisked her off to the wilds of Montana.”
Edith wished she had known Pamela well in those days and attended their wedding. “I would describe John and Pamela Carter as the backbone of Sweetwater Springs. They are well respected, leaders of the community, and trulygoodpeople.”
“I’m not in the least surprised. Do tell me of my dear Elizabeth. I had a feeling about that handsome cowboy Nick Sanders when he came to Boston. He was so kind to her, and she, well…displayed lighter spirits than I’d witnessed in years. The death of her fiancé Richard, your cousin?”
“Third cousin.”
“Elizabeth was never the same. Still a perfect hostess and friend, but she’d lost her spark.”
I know what that feeling’s like. I was already happier in this past year, and then Cai came along and definitely lit my spark.
Male footsteps sounded on the marble floor, and the women stopped talking.
Laurence Hamilton stepped into the doorway. “There you are, Mrs. Grayson. I was searching for you. Dare I interrupt? I wanted to enquire about my sister.”
“Perfect timing.” Sylvia waved him in with her fan. “Edith was just about to tell me of Elizabeth.”
He entered and took a seat in the red-and-gold patterned wingchair across from them. “From her letters, Elizabeth seems happy, but she could be pretending in order to keep my mind at ease. I never did understand her choice of husband and decision to stay in Montana.”
Edith hadn’t understood Elizabeth’s choice either.Until I met Cai, and everything became clear.“I can vouch that she is content in her marriage. Well, as much as any outsider can presume when looking at a married couple. There’s a glow about Elizabeth. Nick obviously adores her, and their daughter, Carol, is a doll, who looks just like her mother, the loveliest child I’ve ever seen.”
Laurence smiled and settled back in the chair.
Thinking of Charlotte, Edith laughed. “Although now thatIhave a beautiful niece—Caleb’s stepdaughter—I should say your niece is thesecondprettiest I’ve ever seen. And, of course, my other nieces—Nathaniel’s nieces—are also quite pretty.”
Laurence sucked in a breath, as if pained.
Edith looked at him in concern.
“I never thought to see my sister happy again.” He glanced at the portrait and shook his head. “To have a niece I’ve not seen and won’t watch grow up. The very idea saddens me.”
Edith murmured in sympathy.
