Chapter 9
Thomas was oddly silent on the drive back to Unity. Although Clary tried to engage him in conversation he only made the briefest of answers and didn’t carry the conversation forward.
Perhaps he just needs some time to think of how to help his brother.
Her mind was thrumming with questions. What was going on between Thomas and Luke?
The explanation that he had offered wasn’t much of an explanation at all.
What could be going on that he didn’t want to tell her about it and he was convinced that she couldn’t help him with?
Was it the problem with his brother’s wife’s refusal to allow him to visit?
That didn’t seem likely. Not when it was a long-standing situation that he had mostly made peace with.
The only way to find out would be to read the telegram. Which was problematic since she didn’t think that Thomas would let her see it.
It was dark when they finally reached Unity’s gate and got the men on guard to open it for them. There hadn’t been so much as a peep from the bandits. Not a scout, not a whisper. It was as though they had vanished from the world.
Clary didn’t buy the explanation that everyone gave that it was because of their defeat. They couldn’t be off licking their wounds if this El Aguila character had such a force at his disposal. He could simply send more men.
Which meant that one of two things was true. Either El Aguila didn’t have the kind of forces the Unity folks assumed he had, or he didn’t want to send those forces against them because of something else he had planned.
Clary had no idea which it could be.
She brought the stagecoach to a halt in front of the farmyard. Everyone piled out.
“Thanks so much for driving us,” Lucy said brightly. “It was really nice to go in a coach and not on a buckboard. The cushioned seats were especially nice.”
“Oh, my pleasure,” Clary said, smiling.
“Yes, the trip was most pleasant,” Warren said.
Dorothy and Robert also thanked her, and the couples walked off into the night.
That left only her and Thomas. He turned to her on the driver’s seat. “Do you want some help?”
Clary didn’t need any help getting the horses and the coach squared away, but she could always do with more time with Thomas. She was about to accept his offer when Kyle came out of the yard.
“I was waiting for you,” he said, looking up at them both. “I’ve moved some things around in the stable.”
“Ah, right,” Thomas said and got down from the driver’s seat.
“Anyway, you look tired. Why not let me take the horses?” Kyle asked.
Clary frowned. “I can do it.”
“I know,” Kyle said, “But I missed them.”
Clary couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, if you want to.”
“Oh, and you should go and see Anita. She has some food for you both,” Kyle said.
Clary turned to Thomas and found that he looked as confused as she was.
“Should we?” he asked, offering his arm.
She smiled and took it. “Okay.”
They walked up to the restaurant. It wasn’t busy. There were two occupied tables. Anita met them at the door. She smiled. “I thought you might want a hot plate of food since you’ve been out all day.”
“We won’t say no,” Thomas said.
She led them to a table and soon arrived with bowls of rice and stew. Then she left them.
Clary was very tired now, and the warm food soon made her feel sleepy. But she was still determined to get to the bottom of Thomas’s trouble with his brother. As they sat together and ate their dinner, Clary tried once more to get Thomas to talk.
“I know you said you don’t want to talk about the news you got today, but … don’t you think it would help?” ” she asked.
Thomas had been lost in thought, his spoon partway to his mouth. He frowned at her. “Um … I don’t know.”
“But a problem shared is a burden halved or something like that,” she pressed.
He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s the saying at all.” He sighed. “Clary, I …” he stopped speaking as the door to the restaurant opened and someone came in. They walked past the table, and Thomas shut his mouth as though it was on springs.
“What is going on?” Clary asked him.
“I’m too tired to talk about this tonight, okay? We can discuss it tomorrow,” Thomas said vaguely.
Clary had had enough. “Fine,” she said. “Be that way.” Standing, she picked up her bowl and moved to another table.
As she sat down, Thomas followed her without his food. “Clary, please?—”
“Unless your next words are, ‘This is the reason I’m being so strange,’ don’t bother,” Clary said. “There are too many things going on in this town for me to have to worry that something is wrong with you. You have to tell me, and I’ll be waiting for you.”
She folded her arms across her chest and refused to engage in further conversation.
Thomas gave up and left the restaurant.
When he was gone, Clary realized that she had most likely done that all wrong. Now he would never let her see that blasted message. And what if she’d done real damage to their relationship?
Clary had no more appetite. She went to the front to pay for her meal, but Anita waved her money away.
“Don’t be silly. I lured you in here with Kyle’s help. The meal was on us.”
“Thank you, that’s very kind of you,” Clary said.
“You’ve brought some much-needed life to our town; it’s the least we could do to say thank you.”
Clary smiled. “Well, good night then.”
“Good night,” Anita said warmly.
Walking up the street, Clary came to Mildred and Anders’s house. There were lights on downstairs, so Clary went to the front door. She needed to see Evelyn, even if it was only from afar. She just needed to know that her sister was all right.
Her knock was quickly answered. Mildred smiled when she saw her.
“Ah, there you are,” Mildred said. “I was wondering when you would come by. Evelyn is helping with the dinner dishes if you’d like to say hello.”
“I really would,” Clary said.
Mildred ushered her into the house and led her to a modest kitchen. There was a large table and several chairs in the kitchen, and Clary was shown to one of the seats.
“I’ll put the kettle on,” Mildred said.
“Please don’t go to any trouble; I was just popping by to see how she’s doing,” Clary said.
“And you will see better with some tea,” Mildred insisted.
Anders peered at her from the scullery. “Ah, Clary!” he boomed. “Well, this is a treat. We’ll be done in a moment.”
Clary waited. This was all very odd. Evelyn doing the dishes? She hated housework about as much as she hated anything.
When the kettle boiled, Mildred poured the water into a pot with some tea and then, as though they had planned it, Anders and Evelyn came to the table.
Clary could hardly believe that it was her sister.
Evelyn was dressed neatly, her hair combed and tied in a braid down her back.
She smiled, and it was genuine. As she sat down, Clary realized that the biggest change was in Evelyn’s eyes.
The manic need to be frenetically busy was gone. She was calm.
“Hello, Clary,” Evelyn said brightly. “How was your day?”
“It was long,” Clary said. “Very long. How are you?”
“I’m really well,” Evelyn said as she accepted a cup of tea from Mildred. “I’m sober, and I haven’t been playing cards, if that’s what you’d like to know.”
“Evelyn, please … Clary isn’t here to attack you. She’s your sister, and she’s here out of love,” Mildred said.
Evelyn regarded her skeptically. “Are you here out of love?”
Clary nodded. “Yes. I just wanted to see you. To know you’re okay.”
“But you left me,” Evelyn said, anger in her voice. “You washed your hands of me, remember?”
“I did,” Clary said. “I couldn’t carry you anymore, Eve.
I just couldn’t.” She looked down at her hands.
“I’ve been looking after you and picking up after you, fixing things for you, for far too long.
It took coming here and seeing the wheels come off your life for me to realize that it’s time you pick yourself up.
If I keep doing it, you’ll never learn how. ”
“Oh right, because I’m a burden to you. Thanks. You could have said that ages ago,” Evelyn said. “I thought you liked how we were. You’re the levelheaded, serious one and I’m the fun one.”
“You can still be that,” Clary said. “But you have to take responsibility for your life.” It was all too much. This had been a huge mistake. “I should go. Thanks for taking Evelyn in and for the tea.”
She shot to her feet and ran through the house, out into the cool night air before anyone could stop her. Clary ran down the street, and only when she reached the corner did she stop. Then she realized that she’d been crying the whole time.
What a day! Thomas was lying to her, and Evelyn hated her guts.
Wonderful! What else can possibly go wrong?
When she reached the boarding house, she found Sarah and Alexander talking in the reception to Mrs. Odenkirk. They were discussing something in raised voices. Clary didn’t pay much attention.
“Evening, everyone,” she said as she headed tiredly to the stairs.
“… it dropped from my hands,” Sarah was saying.
“Hold on!” Alexander said loudly.
Clary placed a hand on the banister. Washing the day off her skin would be wonderful.
She would love nothing more than to climb into bed and pull the covers over her head.
Then she could pretend to disappear for a couple of hours.
Perhaps the morning would bring more answers than problems to her door. Yes, that would be goo?—
As she reached the eighth step, her foot slid right out from under her. She went crashing down on one knee, but that too slid and she fell face-first into the tenth step. The blow sliced the bridge of her nose as her hands hadn’t come up in time.
It didn’t stop there. Clary’s hands were in something. A puddle of something.
Oil?
She slipped, trying to right herself, and this time hit her forehead before sliding down the remaining stairs on her side. She reached the bottom in a bleeding, bruised heap.
“Oh, Clary!” Sarah cried, rushing over to her. “Are you okay?”
Dazed, Clary could only blink at her.
Am I okay? How would I know?
“She’s hit her head,” Alexander said. He was a serious young man who used to live on a farm nearby but had decided to stay at the boarding house instead of traveling back and forth. “We should take her to the clinic.”
“There’s no one there now,” a voice said from the top of the stairs.
“Don’t come down!” Mrs. Odenkirk cried. “Sarah spilled the lamp oil all over the stairs.”
“I’m coming down,” the other voice said. It was calm and collected, the kind of voice that took no nonsense from anyone.
Clary’s eyes stung, and she felt quite odd. Parts of her body were checking in, and they all hurt.
“Clary, can you open your eyes for me?” the authoritative voice asked.
Clary did and looked up at Diane. Of course, the nurse was still staying at the boarding house until she could set a wedding date with Ethan. She and Clary had eaten a few meals together.
Diane had a big black medical bag with her and checked her over for injuries.
“All right, it seems she’s a little dazed, but that should pass soon,” Diane said.
“Her left wrist is sprained, and she has a cut and bruised right knee. The cut on her nose is not serious, but I suspect she’ll have two black eyes tomorrow.
I’ll give her something for that. The knock to her forehead will also need some care, but it didn’t break the skin. ”
“Thank goodness she’s going to be okay,” Sarah said with a sigh of relief. “Clary, I’m so so so terribly sorry!”
“You’re confined to your bed tomorrow, Clary,” Diane said. “All day.”
Clary nodded and then winced as pain shot through her head.
Diane and Sarah helped her up the stairs once Alexander and Mrs. Odenkirk had cleaned up the oily mess. They put her to bed, and Clary drifted off quickly.
The next morning, she woke to find Evelyn sitting beside her bed. She wore a funny expression on her face.
“Eve?” Clary asked. She tried to sit up and found that her head was pounding.
“Hey, sis,” Evelyn said sheepishly. “I came by to apologize for last night, and they told me you had an accident on the stairs.”
“Yes, can you believe it?” Clary asked. Her head was sore, but it was quite clear. “I made it through a gun battle without so much as a scratch, but stairs floor me.”
Laughing, Evelyn helped her sit up. “Come on. Diane left this willow bark tincture for you to take, and there’s breakfast here. Well, some of your breakfast. I ate your bacon.”
It was such a typical Evelyn thing to do that Clary laughed.
She took her medicine and then ate her eggs and toast, which were cold.
She didn’t mind, and she found she felt a good deal better.
Her left wrist hurt when she moved it, and her knee was swollen and sore. Yes, staying in bed would be just fine.
“Anyway, I felt really bad about how I spoke to you last night,” Evelyn said, as though that conversation hadn’t ended a while earlier. “I just felt so betrayed, I guess. I thought we were in this together forever.”
“We are; we’re sisters,” Clary said. “Nothing will change that.”
“But you said—” Evelyn insisted.
“’I was angry and hurt and fed up,” Clary said. “You can be exhausting.”
Evelyn was about to say something, but she thought better of it.
“You’re right. I am exhausting and selfish and far too impulsive.
Mildred has been talking to me about it.
I didn’t believe her until now. When they said downstairs that you were injured, my heart …
I thought it would stop. This doesn’t work without you.
I can’t be me if there isn’t a you.” She hung her head.
Clary took her sister’s hands. “There isn’t me without you either. But I can’t have that you, the crazy reckless one. This version of you, the calm, sensible one I can talk to. That one can stay.”
Evelyn treated her to a lopsided grin. “You mean it? You’re not so mad that you want to never see me again?”
“How could I ever be that angry with you?” Clary asked.
Evelyn began to cry. “I’m sorry.”
Clary began to cry too, but she found it hurt her head. She hugged her sister, not caring about the pain, and they sat there holding each other for a while.
When they parted, Clary told Evelyn some of what Thomas had told her about the danger and the bandits and his brother being in trouble.
“He got a reply, but I don’t know if he told me everything,” Clary said. “I wish I could get my hands on that telegram. Just to make sure that he’s okay.”
Evelyn laughed. “Is that all? Oh, I can get that for you. No problem.”
“Eve, you’re not going to do something you shouldn’t, are you?” Clary asked, worried that she’d just made her sister backslide.
“No, I would never,” Evelyn said with a wicked twinkle in her eyes. “I promise I’ll only be a little naughty.”
Before Clary could call her off, her sister kissed the top of Clary’s head and then bounded out the door.