"Yes," Blanche replied, momentarily distracted. "It just arrived from my dressmaker. I'm not too sure about the color, though. Do you think it's bright enough?" she inquired with a twinkle.
"Well, you'll never be lost as long as you're wearing it," Felicity replied with mock innocence, making Blanche laugh uproariously. "Come and sit down. I'll have Candace make some tea."
Over the Sunday afternoon tea, Blanche supplied the Logans with the latest gossip from town and agreed that this had been the warmest spring she could remember and speculated on how hot the summer months would be. Unfortunately, Felicity noticed, no matter what the topic of conversation, Blanche's perceptive green eyes continued to study her suspiciously.
Felicity squirmed under the scrutiny and glanced surreptitiously at the mantel clock. Stifling a yawn, she fought the lassitude that threatened to overwhelm her. It struck at this time every day, and although most times Joshua was gone from the house and did not know that she often had to actually take a nap, she had no hope of fooling him on a Sunday, when he was home all day. If her visitor didn't leave soon, Felicity would fall asleep right in the chair, and wouldn't that give Blanche something to talk about!
"You look tired, honey," Blanche observed. "Aren't you sleeping well?" Blanche had expected a blush and an embarrassed glance from Felicity to her amorous husband, but instead the girl lowered her eyes and twisted her hands self-consciously in her lap.
"I sleep very well, thank you," Felicity replied, wondering how to change the subject without seeming rude Josh was not averse to being rude, however. He sighed disgustedly. "Is that why you're up and down a dozen times a night?" he challenged.
"Not a dozen!" she replied defensively. She closed her eyes in despair when he lunged to his feet and began to pace the room restlessly.
Thrusting his fingers through his hair, Josh glanced once more at Felicity's drawn face. She was already drooping. In a little while she would not be able to hold her eyes open. She might even fail asleep sitting up in the chair as she had done once before. He had pretended not to know about her daily naps because she got so upset whenever he mentioned them. "I'm not sick!" she would insist, but Josh knew better. No one except a very sick person had to take a nap in the middle of the day. And then there was the problem with her eating. Sometimes even the smell of food made her sick.
The worst part was feeling so helpless. He couldn't even get her to talk about it. He'd tried to enlist Candace's aid, but ever since Jeremiah's return, Candace had been alarmingly vague about everything. She had not seemed to notice anything unusual about Felicity's behavior. Maybe he should ask Blanche… No, definitely not, he decided quickly. He would not discuss such a sensitive topic as his wife's health with Blanche Delano. Besides, he realized, watching Blanche watching Felicity, she already seemed aware that there was a problem. With her instincts, she would figure out what was wrong in no time. All he had to do was leave them alone.
"I… Excuse me, ladies. I've got something to do in the barn," he improvised.
He did not look back on his way to the door, so he did not see Felicity's agonized expression. Blanche did, though. "Honey, what did you mean when you said you were off your feed?" Blanche asked when the door had slammed behind Josh.
"What?" Felicity asked, having only half heard the question as she agonized over the fact that Joshua could no longer stand being in the same room with her. His displeasure with her was painfully obvious.
"Your eating…" Blanche began, but stopped when Felicity bristled.
"There's nothing wrong with me," she snapped, then caught herself. After all, Blanche was her friend. Felicity had no reason to take out her frustrations on a guest. "I am not sick," she said more calmly. "I wish people would stop fussing over me."
"Of course," Blanche readily agreed. "There's nothing worse. I remember once…" Blanche launched into a story to which Felicity paid little attention. She was too busy wondering how she was going to convince Joshua and everyone else that she was not sick when all she wanted to do was go into her bedroom, curl up on the big, wide bed, and sleep for the rest of the day.
Well, Blanche thought as she rattled on with her story, if Felicity won't talk, I'll get it out of Candace. But when Candace came in a few minutes later to remove the tea things, Blanche received a rude shock.
"Have you found a man for me yet, Candace?" Blanche asked with a wide smile.
Candace glanced up, a blank expression on her elegant face. "Excuse me, Mrs. Delano," she mumbled absently and went back to her work.
Blanche's eyes widened. What on earth was wrong with Candace? She was acting like she was simpleminded! Blanche glanced toward Felicity to see if the girl had noticed. Felicity was frowning uneasily.
"What's wrong with Candace?" Blanche asked the moment the black woman had gone.
"She… she had a shock," Felicity explained reluctantly, uncertain how much of the story she should reveal to Blanche.
"What kind of a shock?" Blanche insisted, reminding Felicity of Blanche's single-minded determination when she wanted to know something. Trying to keep the story from her would be a waste of energy, energy Felicity sorely lacked at the moment.
"One of those rustlers that Joshua caught was Candace's son," she began, and soon she had told her friend the whole story.
"Good heavens, his brother!" Blanche exclaimed when she had heard everything. "How did Joshua take the news?"
Felicity shook her head in despair. "He never talks about it, but I think it hurt him badly."
Blanche nodded her agreement. "It must have," she murmured as she recalled the bleakness she had noticed about him recently. Now that she thought about it, she also recalled that she had seen very little of Candace on her visits, which explained why she had not noticed the change there.
Candace's withdrawal certainly explained why the black woman had not proposed a theory about Felicity's ill health, a theory that seemed obvious to Blanche. Of course, she still did not know all the facts. "Is it bad dreams that keep you awake at night?" she asked, hoping to trick Felicity into revealing something.
She failed.
"I don't have any trouble sleeping," Felicity lied indignantly. "And I eat just as much as anyone else around here and-"
"And you aren't about to drop right off to sleep right now, either," Blanche finished in a placating tone. "Not feeling well is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I think I know what's causing it…"
"Nothing's causing it!" Felicity cried, jumping to her feet. "I'm not sick!" To her horror, tears sprang to her eyes. She dashed them away with hands that trembled, belying her words even more. Blanche might think that illness was nothing to be ashamed of, but Felicity knew differently. She had seen Joshua's frowning disapproval. He did not want a wife who would be a burden to him, who would take to her bed every afternoon with a case of the vapors. She couldn't be sick. She simply couldn't.
"No, of course you aren't sick," Blanche agreed, rising also and placing a comforting arm around Felicity's shoulders. "And now I've upset you. If I'm not more careful, I'll wear out my welcome here. Next time I come calling, you'll run me off with a shotgun."
Felicity managed a watery smile at the picture Blanche drew, but she still did not trust her voice to reply.
"I'm going to run along now so you can have some peace and quiet, but will you do me one favor?" Felicity nodded. "Please go to your room and lie down with a cold rag over your eyes. If Joshua sees that I've made you cry, he'll come after me with that shotgun!"