Twin of Fire Read online

  Slowly, with heavy feet, Blair went downstairs and arrived at the door just as Lee was entering. “I have to go,” he said, watching her.

  Blair looked up at him. What act of criminality was Lee into? And why? Did he need money? She thought of the new medical equipment he’d ordered from Denver. It must have cost a great deal, and everyone knew that a doctor made very little money. Of course, Lee’d inherited money from his mother, but who knew how much that was? Was he doing this so he could open his clinic? So he could help people?

  “I know,” she said, putting her hand on his arm.

  As he looked at her, he seemed to sigh with relief. “You’re not angry anymore?”

  “No, I don’t think I am.”

  He kissed her in an achingly sweet way. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Dad will take you home now.”

  Before another word was said, he was on his big stallion and riding down the mountain, out of her sight.

  Blair mounted the horse Reed had brought for her, and they started the long trek home in silence. Most of the trail, between pine trees, across tiny streams, was, of necessity, single file. Blair was puzzling over Lee’s disappearances, telling herself her conclusion was wrong, and praying that he wasn’t in danger.

  A few miles outside of Chandler, when the land flattened and the terrain dried, Reed reined his horse to ride beside her.

  “I think you and I got off on the wrong foot,” Reed said.

  “Yes,” she answered honestly. “From when I was about eight.”

  He looked puzzled for a moment. “Ah, yes, the pranks. You know, I wouldn’t have known about them except that my wife found out about a few of them. Lee never said a word about them. Helen said they were being executed by a girl. She said boys were smart, but they weren’t clever like girls, and these pranks were quite clever. She was very interested after I told her I’d seen you exchanging the fishing worms with a snake. ‘Blair Chandler,’ she said. ‘I might have guessed she was the one. She always has had an extraordinary interest in Lee.’ I don’t know what she meant by that, but I do know that she laughed a great deal whenever she heard about another prank.”

  “If Lee didn’t tell her, how did she find out?”

  “Nina sometimes, Lee’s teacher at other times. Once Lee came home from school with a stomachache, and after Helen’d put him to bed, she returned to the kitchen to see Lee’s lunch pail slowly moving across the table. She said she nearly died of fright before she could open it enough to see what was inside. It was a horned toad, which she gratefully put in her flower garden.”

  “No wonder you weren’t too happy when Lee said he was going to marry me,” Blair said.

  Reed was quiet for a moment, moving easily with his horse. “I’ll tell you my big worry about you and Lee, and it has nothing to do with the pranks. The truth is, my son works too hard. Even as a boy, he used to take on three jobs at once. For some reason, Lee thinks the world’s problems are his responsibility. I was proud when he said he wanted to become a doctor, but I was worried, too. I was afraid he’d do just what he’s done—take on too much. He works in the hospital, and he manages the place even though Dr. Webster has the title of administrator. Lee also takes the case of anybody in town. Four nights a week he runs off on calls. And he still visits people in the country.”

  “And you were afraid I’d be more of a burden to him?” Blair whispered.

  “Well, you have to admit that excitement does happen around you. I wanted Lee to marry someone as different from him as possible, someone like Houston who’s so like Opal, someone who’d stay home and sew and make a home. It’s not that I’ve ever had anything against you, but just look at what’s happened in the last few weeks since you returned to Chandler.”

  “I see what you mean,” Blair said, as one picture of excitement after another passed through her mind. “I don’t think Lee’s had much rest, has he?”

  “He nearly killed himself while trying to impress you with what a good doctor he was.” He paused and smiled at her. “But somewhere along the way, I began to see how much he wanted you.”

  “Yes, I believe he does,” she murmured, wondering if the wanting of her was leading him into doing whatever he was doing in secret.

  She and Reed rode into Chandler in silence, the last few miles in starlight. He left her at the house she shared with Leander, and Blair went inside with a heavy heart. Was he in debt for this place, too?

  She took a quick bath and wearily climbed into the empty bed. It seemed that she was destined to spend every night in this house alone.

  At six the next morning, she was awakened by the telephone ringing. Groggily, she made her way downstairs.

  The operator, Caroline, said, “Blair-Houston, four freight wagons from Denver have just arrived and the drivers are waiting for Leander at the old warehouse on Archer Avenue.”

  “He can’t go, but I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  “But it’s the doctor equipment and Leander needs to tell them where it goes.”

  “According to my diploma, I am a doctor,” Blair said icily.

  “I’m sure I didn’t mean anything. I was just passing the message along.” She hesitated. “Why can’t Leander go?”

  Nosy woman! Blair thought. She wasn’t about to tell her Lee was on another of his mysterious missions. “Because I exhausted him,” she said, and hung up the phone with a smile. That should give them something to gossip about.

  Blair tore up the stairs and minutes later she was running down the street while still pinning her hair up. By the time she got to the top of Archer Avenue, she saw the men lounging against the wagons and looking impatient.

  “Hello, I’m Dr. Westfield.”

  One burly man, mouth full of tobacco juice, looked her up and down for a moment, while the other men peered around the wagon frames—as if they were trying not to show interest in a freak of nature. The first man spat a big wad of juice.

  “Where do you want this unloaded?”

  “Inside,” she said, pointing to the warehouse.

  Immediately, there were problems. She had no key, nor had she any idea where Lee kept a key to the place. The men just stood there looking at her skeptically, as if this were what they would have expected from a woman who called herself a doctor.

  “It’s too bad we can’t get in,” she said sadly, “because my stepfather owns the Chandler Brewery, and he promised a barrel of beer, as thanks, to the men who helped me with the new equipment. But I guess—.”

  The sound of breaking glass cut her words off.

  “Sorry, ma’am,” said one of the men. “I guess I leaned against the window too hard. But it looks like maybe somebody little could get through here.”

  A moment later, Blair was inside and unbolting the heavy front door for them. With the sunlight coming in, she could see the place: cobwebs hanging down, the floor littered, the ceiling with at least three leaks. “Over there,” she said absently, pointing to a corner that at least looked dry, if not clean. While the men unloaded, she walked through the one vast room and tried to imagine how it would be arranged for the clinic.

  The men brought in oak tables, cabinets with little drawers, tall cabinets with glass doors, big sinks, small boxes of instruments, cases of bandages and cotton, everything for 9 fully equipped infirmary.

  “Seem to be enough?”

  She turned to Lee, standing there, surveying the crates and furniture.

  He was watching her with eyes narrowed, a lit cigar between his lips. His clothes were dirty and he looked tired.

  “More than enough,” she said, and wondered how much it had cost him. “You look exhausted. You should go home and sleep. I’m going to get some women in here to clean this place.”

  With a smile, he tossed her a key. “This is to spare the rest of the windows. Come home soon,” he said with a wink and then was gone.

  For a moment, Blair felt tears come to her eyes. Whatever he was doing, he was doing so he could help other people, of