ALONE AGAIN
Chapter 22
Floorboards creaking in the hall outside her room woke Glory abruptly from a light sleep. She wearily turned over to look toward the door and saw faint, flickering light slipping in underneath. Sighing as that light faded, she wondered again how much longer Thea would be able to stand the strain of not being able to sleep.
Adam and Nate had left two weeks ago and Thea was becoming a mere shadow of her former self. The joy and enthusiasm that had been such a large part of her personality were almost gone. And Glory's heart clenched painfully whenever Thea's control slipped and her eyes filled with the deep pain she was trying so hard to hide.
Glory rolled over and tossed the sheet back, suddenly feeling too warm, and hoped that she would fall back asleep while at the same time knowing she wouldn't. Neither woman had been getting much sleep, even though they had been working from sunup to sundown almost non-stop every day. So far they had cleaned the house from top to bottom, with the exception of Adam's bedroom. The two avoided going in there in unspoken agreement. They had tackled the barn next and when they finished there, they started in the garden.
Groaning from stiff and sore muscles, she slid out of bed and quietly left her room. She padded down the hallway on silent bare feet and crept down the stairs. Halfway down she stopped in surprise - Adam's bedroom door was open and dim light spilled out. She hurried down the rest of the way when the sound of Thea's sobbing reached her ears.
She slowly moved into the room and carefully sat down on the edge of the bed where Thea was laying face down, crying her heart out into Adam's pillow. Tears filled her own eyes as she reached out and began rubbing the other woman's back with a gentle hand, her heart aching for her friend and for herself.
"Oh God Glory, what am I going to do if he doesn't come back!" Thea choked out as she turned over and sat up to throw her arms around her friend.
"He IS coming back," she answered quietly and Thea leaned back, her reddened eyes peering into Glory's intently.
"Do you really believe that?"
Glory nodded her head and closed her eyes in a vain attempt to keep her tears from overflowing. "I HAVE to believe that - I have to believe that BOTH of them will be coming back."
Thea's eyes opened wide as she stared at the other woman in dismay for a few moments. "Glory! I'm so sorry! Here I've been so wrapped up in my own troubles I never thought once about how you feel." She hugged her friend tightly and the two women cried on each other's shoulder for a while.
When they had both calmed down Thea took a deep breath and leaned back to look Glory steadily in the eye. "Thank you for putting up with me these last three weeks, but I think I've been acting like a twit long enough, don't you?" Glory just nodded, giving the other woman a weak smile.
Thea's expression became solemn as she peered closely into her friend's eyes. "You really do love Nate, don't you?" she said and was almost knocked over when Glory burst into tears again and threw her arms around the smaller woman.
"Yes I do! God help me I do," she gasped out in despair as Thea hugged her tightly. When Glory had calmed down somewhat she drew back again.
"Why did you say 'God help me'? You know Nate loves you too."
Glory let go and wiped at her eyes with both hands as she laughed a short, bitter laugh. "You know I can't ever marry Nate, I'm six years older than he is!"
"Six years isn't that big of a difference." Thea was saying in answer when the other woman cut her off.
"Damn it, I can't marry Nate because I can't have children!" she almost shouted and pressed a hand to her mouth to muffle a sob as fresh tears flowed down her cheeks.
Thea stared at her blankly for a moment. "Surgery?" she asked with a very tight throat and Glory nodded.
"And you've never told Nate?"
"No, I've been a coward." Glory sniffed and wiped at her eyes again. "I should have told him a long time ago, but I just couldn't bear the thought of losing him."
"Aren't you being unfair to Nate? Maybe that won't matter to him."
"Thea, you know how much Nate loves children," Glory said impatiently. "You've seen how he is with the kids in the neighborhood. He's 'Uncle Nate' to every single one of them."
"Well.yes.but doesn't he have a right to know? To make a decision like that for himself?"
"No, you don't understand. Nate would ask me to marry him anyway." her face flushed a deep red. "Things have gone too far between us for him to walk away now."
"What?" Thea said without thinking, badly startled. "You mean."
Nodding, Glory's face turned an even deeper red.
"Oh Glory!" was all Thea could think to say as she wrapped her arms around her friend again, fiercely holding her tight. "Why didn't you tell me all this before?"
"I just couldn't," Glory said weakly. "I just couldn't face the thought of life without Nate, but when we went too far I realized the truth. I can't let Nate marry me out of a sense of obligation. He would come to resent me for it eventually."
"But Nate loves you." Thea started to argue.
"Yes he does right now," the other woman said emphatically while shaking her head. "But you know how easily love can turn to hate."
Nodding reluctantly, she watched her friend with deep concern as she pushed Thea's arms away and stood. "We both better try to get some sleep. Morning isn't that far off now," she said tightly and hurried from the room.
Thea opened her mouth, intending to call her back when she realized there was nothing more she could say. No other argument she could give that would change the other woman's mind. She lay down on her back and stared at the ceiling, becoming aware for the first time how incredibly lucky she was. Lucky to know Adam still wanted to marry her, in spite of what she viewed as severe flaws in her personality.
Sighing, she sat up to blow the lamp out, and flopped back down against the pillows. She expected to be awake for some time while mentally wrestling with these huge problems, but fell deeply asleep in seconds.
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The two women took it easy the next few days and Glory was glad when her friend seemed to regain a good deal of her former animation. But she could still occasionally see Thea's deep fear overshadow her smiling expression and her own heart would ache for Nate in response.
So the two continued with the daily tasks of living and by the time the men had been gone for three weeks they were feeling restless and needed to get out of the house for a while. The next day was Saturday and they decided to spend the day in town shopping, hoping to distract themselves from their constant, nagging worry.
The day turned out to be quite a success and the two women were pleasantly tired on the long walk home. They were both giggling helplessly as they came up the front walk, laughing over a hideously ugly hat Glory had bought for next to nothing. The hat was made of dark orange felt, and studded with silk roses in a shrieking yellow. It was banded with black velvet ribbons that formed the strings for tying under the chin.
Glory had pounced on it at first sight, gleefully explaining to Thea that she intended to wear it when Nate came home. She was looking forward to watching his expressions, knowing he would find it very difficult to keep his horror from showing on his open face.
"I swear I'm telling you the truth! One look at that thing made my stomach roil," Thea was saying to the other woman over her shoulder as they reached the front door. Then her amused smile faded when she saw Glory flinch and turn white.
"What's wrong." she quickly asked, and then turned her head toward the door to see what her friend was staring at. A buff envelope, easily recognizable as a telegram had been slipped into the crack where the door and frame met, and it was fluttering in the slight breeze.
Thea stared at it blankly for what seemed like a very long time until a stifled sob from Glory startled her and she slowly reached out to pull it from the door as her heart rose in the throat. She turned toward the other woman and held it out with a shaking hand.
"It's addressed to you," she managed to say from a throat so tight it was difficult to breathe.
Glory dropped the packages she was holding and took the envelope, her normally pale blue eyes dark and wide with fear. Swallowing hard, she slowly ripped it open, her fingers feeling stiff and clumsy as she struggled to pull the flimsy paper out.
She read the few lines and a deep sob escaped when she opened her mouth to speak. "It's from my mother.my father's dead," she whispered and closed her eyes as tears sprang up and raced down her pale cheeks.
"Oh Glory," Thea moaned, dropping her own packages as she reached out for her friend. The tall woman stumbled into her arms and they both went down.
Thea landed on the front stoop on her bottom with Glory still clasped tightly in her arms and she held her close, murmuring soft words of empathy in her ear. Huge sobs shook the thin woman's frame as she cried out her grief over her father and her worry over Nate.
When she finally quieted down, she leaned back to look around vaguely as she said, "I think I have to go home."
"Yes you do," Thea answered calmly and firmly as she wiped at her wet eyes with shaking fingers, and then rose to her feet before reaching down to help her friend up.
Glory stood there, her head down and her arms wrapped around her middle as Thea hurried to gather up the abandoned packages, carried them into the front hall to set them on the table there, then came back out to pull the stunned woman inside by the hand.
Thea took her to the kitchen and left her sitting at the table there to hurry next door and ask her neighbor's son to find Dr. Charles at the hospital and ask him to come. Then she came back to coax Glory into drinking a cup of hot tea laced with whiskey as she gently questioned her about what needed to be done. She looked up in surprise a short time later when David suddenly appeared at the back door, so she hurried out, and after a quick discussion he took off for the train station.
When he returned less than an hour later, she was still sitting next to her friend, holding her hand and listening to her talk about her father. He quietly came in the back door and was glad to see Glory look up. She was starting to come out of her shocked state, and when he approached she stood and turned toward him.
His sympathetic heart clenched at the lines of grief etched on her face and he hugged her, something his natural reserve would normally have kept him from doing.
Thea gave him a grateful smile and hurried off when he nodded, knowing he was telling her he would stay with Glory and not to worry, setting her free to attend to the many things that needed done before morning.
By the time the sun finally set, she had everything Glory would need packed and every other detail taken care of. She made her way back to the kitchen to find it empty, but could see dim light spilling into the hall from the doorway of the sitting room.
She smiled when she entered, thankful to see David settled in a chair next to the sofa where Glory was lying sound asleep, a blanket carefully tucked around her. He looked up from the book in his lap and returned her smile as she sat down on the long, low table in front of him.
"Did you give her something to get her to sleep?" she asked low.
"Believe it or not, no I didn't. She pretty much just talked herself out and from everything she said it's clear she was very close to her father." Thea nodded in agreement.
"Yes she was, and to her mother too. Glory wrote to them every week without fail." They both glanced at the sleeping woman.
"She's been just about the best friend I've ever had and the finest person I've ever known," Thea said softly, her eyes dark with worry. "Why is it that the worst things seem to happen to the nicest people?" she asked and he just shook his head. They both knew there would never be a definitive answer to that ancient question and they fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Well," David finally said, "you should go get some sleep. I'll stay here and keep an eye on her." He was surprised when she didn't argue with him. She just nodded as she stood and then leaned down to brush his cheek with her lips.
"Thank you," she said softly and smiled when he flushed slightly red.
"You're welcome," he answered and dropped his eyes to the book in his lap as she turned and hurried out.
Chapter 22
Floorboards creaking in the hall outside her room woke Glory abruptly from a light sleep. She wearily turned over to look toward the door and saw faint, flickering light slipping in underneath. Sighing as that light faded, she wondered again how much longer Thea would be able to stand the strain of not being able to sleep.
Adam and Nate had left two weeks ago and Thea was becoming a mere shadow of her former self. The joy and enthusiasm that had been such a large part of her personality were almost gone. And Glory's heart clenched painfully whenever Thea's control slipped and her eyes filled with the deep pain she was trying so hard to hide.
Glory rolled over and tossed the sheet back, suddenly feeling too warm, and hoped that she would fall back asleep while at the same time knowing she wouldn't. Neither woman had been getting much sleep, even though they had been working from sunup to sundown almost non-stop every day. So far they had cleaned the house from top to bottom, with the exception of Adam's bedroom. The two avoided going in there in unspoken agreement. They had tackled the barn next and when they finished there, they started in the garden.
Groaning from stiff and sore muscles, she slid out of bed and quietly left her room. She padded down the hallway on silent bare feet and crept down the stairs. Halfway down she stopped in surprise - Adam's bedroom door was open and dim light spilled out. She hurried down the rest of the way when the sound of Thea's sobbing reached her ears.
She slowly moved into the room and carefully sat down on the edge of the bed where Thea was laying face down, crying her heart out into Adam's pillow. Tears filled her own eyes as she reached out and began rubbing the other woman's back with a gentle hand, her heart aching for her friend and for herself.
"Oh God Glory, what am I going to do if he doesn't come back!" Thea choked out as she turned over and sat up to throw her arms around her friend.
"He IS coming back," she answered quietly and Thea leaned back, her reddened eyes peering into Glory's intently.
"Do you really believe that?"
Glory nodded her head and closed her eyes in a vain attempt to keep her tears from overflowing. "I HAVE to believe that - I have to believe that BOTH of them will be coming back."
Thea's eyes opened wide as she stared at the other woman in dismay for a few moments. "Glory! I'm so sorry! Here I've been so wrapped up in my own troubles I never thought once about how you feel." She hugged her friend tightly and the two women cried on each other's shoulder for a while.
When they had both calmed down Thea took a deep breath and leaned back to look Glory steadily in the eye. "Thank you for putting up with me these last three weeks, but I think I've been acting like a twit long enough, don't you?" Glory just nodded, giving the other woman a weak smile.
Thea's expression became solemn as she peered closely into her friend's eyes. "You really do love Nate, don't you?" she said and was almost knocked over when Glory burst into tears again and threw her arms around the smaller woman.
"Yes I do! God help me I do," she gasped out in despair as Thea hugged her tightly. When Glory had calmed down somewhat she drew back again.
"Why did you say 'God help me'? You know Nate loves you too."
Glory let go and wiped at her eyes with both hands as she laughed a short, bitter laugh. "You know I can't ever marry Nate, I'm six years older than he is!"
"Six years isn't that big of a difference." Thea was saying in answer when the other woman cut her off.
"Damn it, I can't marry Nate because I can't have children!" she almost shouted and pressed a hand to her mouth to muffle a sob as fresh tears flowed down her cheeks.
Thea stared at her blankly for a moment. "Surgery?" she asked with a very tight throat and Glory nodded.
"And you've never told Nate?"
"No, I've been a coward." Glory sniffed and wiped at her eyes again. "I should have told him a long time ago, but I just couldn't bear the thought of losing him."
"Aren't you being unfair to Nate? Maybe that won't matter to him."
"Thea, you know how much Nate loves children," Glory said impatiently. "You've seen how he is with the kids in the neighborhood. He's 'Uncle Nate' to every single one of them."
"Well.yes.but doesn't he have a right to know? To make a decision like that for himself?"
"No, you don't understand. Nate would ask me to marry him anyway." her face flushed a deep red. "Things have gone too far between us for him to walk away now."
"What?" Thea said without thinking, badly startled. "You mean."
Nodding, Glory's face turned an even deeper red.
"Oh Glory!" was all Thea could think to say as she wrapped her arms around her friend again, fiercely holding her tight. "Why didn't you tell me all this before?"
"I just couldn't," Glory said weakly. "I just couldn't face the thought of life without Nate, but when we went too far I realized the truth. I can't let Nate marry me out of a sense of obligation. He would come to resent me for it eventually."
"But Nate loves you." Thea started to argue.
"Yes he does right now," the other woman said emphatically while shaking her head. "But you know how easily love can turn to hate."
Nodding reluctantly, she watched her friend with deep concern as she pushed Thea's arms away and stood. "We both better try to get some sleep. Morning isn't that far off now," she said tightly and hurried from the room.
Thea opened her mouth, intending to call her back when she realized there was nothing more she could say. No other argument she could give that would change the other woman's mind. She lay down on her back and stared at the ceiling, becoming aware for the first time how incredibly lucky she was. Lucky to know Adam still wanted to marry her, in spite of what she viewed as severe flaws in her personality.
Sighing, she sat up to blow the lamp out, and flopped back down against the pillows. She expected to be awake for some time while mentally wrestling with these huge problems, but fell deeply asleep in seconds.
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The two women took it easy the next few days and Glory was glad when her friend seemed to regain a good deal of her former animation. But she could still occasionally see Thea's deep fear overshadow her smiling expression and her own heart would ache for Nate in response.
So the two continued with the daily tasks of living and by the time the men had been gone for three weeks they were feeling restless and needed to get out of the house for a while. The next day was Saturday and they decided to spend the day in town shopping, hoping to distract themselves from their constant, nagging worry.
The day turned out to be quite a success and the two women were pleasantly tired on the long walk home. They were both giggling helplessly as they came up the front walk, laughing over a hideously ugly hat Glory had bought for next to nothing. The hat was made of dark orange felt, and studded with silk roses in a shrieking yellow. It was banded with black velvet ribbons that formed the strings for tying under the chin.
Glory had pounced on it at first sight, gleefully explaining to Thea that she intended to wear it when Nate came home. She was looking forward to watching his expressions, knowing he would find it very difficult to keep his horror from showing on his open face.
"I swear I'm telling you the truth! One look at that thing made my stomach roil," Thea was saying to the other woman over her shoulder as they reached the front door. Then her amused smile faded when she saw Glory flinch and turn white.
"What's wrong." she quickly asked, and then turned her head toward the door to see what her friend was staring at. A buff envelope, easily recognizable as a telegram had been slipped into the crack where the door and frame met, and it was fluttering in the slight breeze.
Thea stared at it blankly for what seemed like a very long time until a stifled sob from Glory startled her and she slowly reached out to pull it from the door as her heart rose in the throat. She turned toward the other woman and held it out with a shaking hand.
"It's addressed to you," she managed to say from a throat so tight it was difficult to breathe.
Glory dropped the packages she was holding and took the envelope, her normally pale blue eyes dark and wide with fear. Swallowing hard, she slowly ripped it open, her fingers feeling stiff and clumsy as she struggled to pull the flimsy paper out.
She read the few lines and a deep sob escaped when she opened her mouth to speak. "It's from my mother.my father's dead," she whispered and closed her eyes as tears sprang up and raced down her pale cheeks.
"Oh Glory," Thea moaned, dropping her own packages as she reached out for her friend. The tall woman stumbled into her arms and they both went down.
Thea landed on the front stoop on her bottom with Glory still clasped tightly in her arms and she held her close, murmuring soft words of empathy in her ear. Huge sobs shook the thin woman's frame as she cried out her grief over her father and her worry over Nate.
When she finally quieted down, she leaned back to look around vaguely as she said, "I think I have to go home."
"Yes you do," Thea answered calmly and firmly as she wiped at her wet eyes with shaking fingers, and then rose to her feet before reaching down to help her friend up.
Glory stood there, her head down and her arms wrapped around her middle as Thea hurried to gather up the abandoned packages, carried them into the front hall to set them on the table there, then came back out to pull the stunned woman inside by the hand.
Thea took her to the kitchen and left her sitting at the table there to hurry next door and ask her neighbor's son to find Dr. Charles at the hospital and ask him to come. Then she came back to coax Glory into drinking a cup of hot tea laced with whiskey as she gently questioned her about what needed to be done. She looked up in surprise a short time later when David suddenly appeared at the back door, so she hurried out, and after a quick discussion he took off for the train station.
When he returned less than an hour later, she was still sitting next to her friend, holding her hand and listening to her talk about her father. He quietly came in the back door and was glad to see Glory look up. She was starting to come out of her shocked state, and when he approached she stood and turned toward him.
His sympathetic heart clenched at the lines of grief etched on her face and he hugged her, something his natural reserve would normally have kept him from doing.
Thea gave him a grateful smile and hurried off when he nodded, knowing he was telling her he would stay with Glory and not to worry, setting her free to attend to the many things that needed done before morning.
By the time the sun finally set, she had everything Glory would need packed and every other detail taken care of. She made her way back to the kitchen to find it empty, but could see dim light spilling into the hall from the doorway of the sitting room.
She smiled when she entered, thankful to see David settled in a chair next to the sofa where Glory was lying sound asleep, a blanket carefully tucked around her. He looked up from the book in his lap and returned her smile as she sat down on the long, low table in front of him.
"Did you give her something to get her to sleep?" she asked low.
"Believe it or not, no I didn't. She pretty much just talked herself out and from everything she said it's clear she was very close to her father." Thea nodded in agreement.
"Yes she was, and to her mother too. Glory wrote to them every week without fail." They both glanced at the sleeping woman.
"She's been just about the best friend I've ever had and the finest person I've ever known," Thea said softly, her eyes dark with worry. "Why is it that the worst things seem to happen to the nicest people?" she asked and he just shook his head. They both knew there would never be a definitive answer to that ancient question and they fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Well," David finally said, "you should go get some sleep. I'll stay here and keep an eye on her." He was surprised when she didn't argue with him. She just nodded as she stood and then leaned down to brush his cheek with her lips.
"Thank you," she said softly and smiled when he flushed slightly red.
"You're welcome," he answered and dropped his eyes to the book in his lap as she turned and hurried out.