Chapter Ten
Luke’s Ranch — Early evening
Luke felt the shift in the atmosphere as soon as the two women entered the house after their trip into town. Neither of them said a single word, not even a greeting to either man sitting in the dining room with Belle and Simon.
He and Caleb exchanged wide-eyed glances when Evelyn marched straight into the kitchen, and Madelaine disappeared down the hallway into her room. Something was off; that much was clear.
Was it safe to enquire what had happened between the two women?
Just as quickly as Madelaine had disappeared, she returned.
“Belle. Simon. Time for a bath,” she said, without looking at either man. Then, she sighed and shot a glance at Caleb. “Did they behave well?” she asked, her fingers fidgeting.
“Yes. They were great,” Caleb said with a bright smile, but Madelaine’s unmoving face made him shrink back a little, and his smile faded.
“They were very well behaved. Simon is a very good boy, and Belle is just an angel,” Luke said, hoping to entice some form of reaction from Madelaine. She didn’t take the bait.
“Great,” was all she said, without even looking at him.
Then she walked over to Belle, picked her up, and carried her back to their room.
“Simon! Don’t make me ask you again! Bath time!
” she said harshly, and her little brother jumped off the chair he’d been sitting on before running after her.
Then the door slammed shut a little too loudly.
Luke and Caleb both sat there with raised eyebrows, but then Luke decided that this was not how he wanted to spend the rest of the evening and abruptly rose from his seat. When they heard Evelyn angrily talking to herself in the kitchen, Caleb got up, but he turned toward the front door.
“I’ll be outside. I’m going to unload the wagon. You go talk to her. She won’t tell me anything when she’s in this kind of mood,” he said with a shrug. Luke nodded and marched into the kitchen.
“What is going on here?” he asked, putting on his authoritative tone of voice. “Since when are you walking past your husband without even saying hello?”
Evelyn had her back turned to him, but at the sound of his booming voice behind her, she jumped and almost dropped another cast-iron pot. She spun around with wide eyes and swallowed hard when she noticed the deep frown on his face.
“Oh!” Her eyes darted toward the doorway just as the front door closed behind Caleb. “Well…”
“Well?” Luke probed, stepping a little closer. “Did something happen while you two ladies were gone?”
Several different emotions rushed across Evelyn’s face, but Luke couldn’t pinpoint a single one. “What happened?”
“I am upset,” Evelyn blurted out. “But I don’t want to tattletale and…”
Luke furrowed his thick, dark eyebrows, and his eyes narrowed to slits. “Stop beating around the bush! You need to tell me what happened. Right now!” he demanded firmly.
Evelyn turned her back to him, which was clearly an evasive move. “I have a bad feeling about Madelaine,” she said, which completely took him by surprise.
“What? Why? I thought you two got along so well?”
“Well, we do. But today, in the store, and even on the way there, she was acting very strange. Heck, she has been acting weird all day.”
Luke listened intently.
“She’s been stalling all morning!” she complained. “She even managed to delay the trip until we had to go make lunch, and then you came home early, and she stalled again when she went back into the kitchen to prepare your meal.”
“Which was very nice of her,” Luke added.
“Yes, but I wanted to leave early in the morning, right after breakfast, so that we would be back by lunch. Instead, she was doing all kinds of things just to delay it, so that we couldn’t go.”
“Maybe she was nervous?” Luke offered, not really concerned about what he heard. “Amnesia could cause her to feel uncertain…”
“Yes. I understand that,” she interrupted him. “But that wasn’t it.” Evelyn turned back around to him and looked him straight in the eyes. “I was just finishing the order at the store when she started pushing me to get out of there, saying that she was too hot, and that she couldn’t breathe…”
Evelyn’s face almost looked guilty as she said it, but only for a second. “I was counting the coins when she suddenly acted panicked for no apparent reason, almost dragging me out of the store.”
Luke nodded as he listened. This kind of behavior sounded quite odd indeed. Hearing about Madelaine behaving like this gave him pause.
“I tried to talk to her on our way back, but she wouldn’t say anything.
She wouldn’t explain what had happened, or why she’d acted that way.
I have never seen her like this before. This wasn’t normal.
I never thought I would say this, but I got the unsettling feeling that she might not have been truthful with us. ”
Luke looked at her with renewed curiosity. “What would make you say that, Evelyn?”
“Well… I don’t know. I just didn’t think she was sincere when she told me she didn’t feel well.
It just felt off, somehow.” Evelyn paused for a minute.
”I don’t think that she’s a bad person. But don’t you find it odd that she can remember Simon, but not Belle?
She remembers you and Caleb, but nothing else of the incident. Isn’t that weird to you?”
Luke stroked his beard, which he often did when he was processing information. “Actually, I did ask the doctor this exact question. Apparently, amnesia is not a clear-cut thing, and it is very possible that she might only remember parts of what happened.”
Evelyn lowered her head, wringing her hands.
“It’s just so strange to me that she seems to be so scared to go into town, if it could help her remember things.
To me, it feels like she’s hiding something.
And if I’m being completely honest here,” she spoke a little quieter as she looked back up into his eyes, “I don’t believe that she truly suffers from memory loss of any kind.
I’ve watched her, especially the way she is with Belle, and I didn’t get the feeling that she didn’t remember the little girl.
There were a couple of incidents where she said something to Belle about how they ‘used to do things back home’ and ‘how she liked it’… ”
Luke had to admit that the things Evelyn was saying didn’t sound all that unreasonable.
After he spoken to the doctor just two days ago, he had decided that Madelaine might just need more time to recover.
Why would Madelaine want to stay in his house, with strangers, if she actually remembered that she had a home to go back to?
That part did not make much sense to him.
Evelyn stared at him, clearly waiting for some kind of reaction, so Luke nodded with a deep sigh.
“Thank you for telling me this. I’m not dismissing what you’ve told me, and I will certainly keep it in mind, but for now, try to be more understanding of her condition, and don’t put too much stock in her behavior today.
Maybe she was just very anxious and scared about meeting all those people—not knowing if she’d remember or not and possibly embarrassing herself if she didn’t. ”
Then Evelyn blurted out, “What if these precious children aren’t her siblings, after all?”
“Have Simon or Belle ever mentioned anything that would make you think that?” Luke asked cautiously. He couldn’t deny that he himself had thought about this possibility when they first met.
Evelyn was silent for a minute as she contemplated his question, but she seemed to come up empty and finally shook her head.
“I just love those two precious babies so much, I don’t wish anything bad to happen to them.
” Luke suspected the sudden moisture in her eyes stemmed from the fact that her deepest desire to have a family of her own had been denied to her for all these years.
He pulled Evelyn into his arms and gave her a well-meaning hug.
“Don’t be silly. She hasn’t stolen them.
Simon told me himself, many times, that Madelaine was his sister.
And if you really look at them all, it’s kind of undeniable.
You are overthinking all of this. Why don’t you leave the detective work to the professionals, like me? ”
Evelyn pulled away from him, looking embarrassed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t think so harshly of her. She’s been through a lot. Now, I feel bad for saying all those things,” she admitted.
Luke squeezed his cousin's shoulders. “I understand. And I really do appreciate you telling me about all your concerns so openly. All I want to know is the truth, so your concerns are all valid to me. This situation is difficult for all of us, but we have to be patient. The truth will always come out, one way or another. Trust me on this.”
“You’re right. I overreacted. Thank you, Luke. For putting my head on straight. You are the best cousin,” she said with a sheepish smile.
“I’m your only cousin,” Luke jibed, winking at her as he turned to walk out of the kitchen.
***
When they sat down to eat, Madelaine once again asked for a prayer, which Luke dismissed with a deep sigh as he began loading his plate with carrots and beans.
Still feeling slightly embarrassed about his outburst and not wanting to be seen as a monster in front of the children again, he decided to let it slide and began to eat.
During dinner, the overall atmosphere wasn’t too bad, albeit a little superficial, since the women actively tried to avoid talking directly to each other.
Then, Luke noticed that Madelaine wasn’t touching her food much.
She happened to quickly glance at him when he looked directly at her with a worried expression, but she immediately turned her eyes to the other side of the table. She was blushing again.
“Simon, why don’t you tell your big sister about the animal you carved today?
” Caleb said then, and Simon did not disappoint.
He jumped off his chair and ran to the small table nearby, where he’d left it earlier.
“Look, Maddie! I made a buffalo!” he cheered, holding up a somewhat deformed clump of wood that resembled anything but an animal.
Simon’s eyes sparkled with so much pride, Madelaine smiled the most heartwarming smile. “You did? It looks amazing!” she said, as he held it right in front of her face.
Then, Simon pointed at the top of what was supposed to be the head, and his face turned sad. “This is where the horns were supposed to be, but I wasn’t able to finish it.”
“Why not?” Madelaine enquired.
“You yelled at me! Bath time!” Simon imitated her voice and scowled when he shot her a quick side glance.
Caleb burst out laughing. “Oh, I love this kid! You sounded exactly like her.”
Simon’s scowl immediately vanished, and he joined in the laughter with Caleb. “I’m good at that, aren’t I?”
Luke noticed how Madelaine’s smile turned into a full-blown belly laugh. She was beautiful when she laughed, and Luke wished he could make her laugh like that. He watched as her nervousness left her body and her tense shoulders relaxed.
When Belle yawned loudly, Madelaine did not waste the opportunity to leave.
“Evelyn, I’ll take Belle to bed first. I’ll come and help you with the dishes afterward,” she said as she put the plates back down and walked over to pick up the little girl.
The fact that she’d used Evelyn’s full name instead of the usual nicknames spoke volumes.
“Sure. No problem,” Evelyn replied somewhat curtly, gifting her with yet another fake smile.
Luke had had enough of both their attitudes. He threw his napkin onto the table and sighed. These two clearly didn’t want to come off of whatever their quarreling was, and he didn’t want to get involved any more than he was.
It was obvious that Caleb had also noticed the slight awkwardness between the women when he shot Luke a knowing glance. Maybe this was their cue to leave.
“I think it’s time for a whiskey, don’t you think?” Luke asked Caleb as he rose from his chair.
“Yup! That’s a great idea,” Caleb replied, seemingly relieved. “I heard Moe got a couple of new brands in just the other day, which I’d like to try.”
“Perfect,” Luke said, as he adjusted his Stetson on top of his dark curls. “Well, ladies, don’t wait up,” Luke announced unapologetically, not waiting for anybody’s response as he walked toward the front door to grab his thick coat.
Stepping outside, it was already almost fully dark now, but a bright full moon and the sparkling snow covering every surface made it possible for them to see clearly.
The men rode in silence while Luke thought about everything that had happened today.
It had been such a strange conversation with Evelyn, and his thoughts were a relentless spiral of ifs and buts, pulling him into this and that direction without a clear answer to any of it.
There was also the added question of his feelings and why he felt so unsettled whenever he was close to Madelaine or even just looked at her.
She stirred up something, but he couldn’t decipher what it was.
Trying to solve a murder case on top of all these new developments, he felt drained.
Truthfully, he needed a break. After everything, he craved blissful nothingness.
He couldn’t wait to drown his thoughts in a shot of whiskey.
Preferably a double. Or two.