Five Sisters (10 page)

He pushed his large rimmed glasses back up onto his nose, "Are you alright, Nora?"

"I suppose so," Nora sighed, "But you know, sometimes I feel like I'm just being a silly, lovesick fool. Ben's
never
going to notice me. Even when he did, last night at Gail's party, it was only after Emy asked him to."

Sawyer shrugged, "You never know. Maybe he enjoyed himself. At least he knows your name now."

"Yes, that's true. But I'll bet he's already forgotten it. It's not like I made much of an impression. I couldn't even speak, let alone dance!"

"You made a fine impression," Sawyer assured, "Don't think so badly of yourself. If Ben has any sense at all he's probably already falling for you. And if he doesn't have that much sense, than he's not a man you'd want anyway. If he can't appreciate how much you care for him, he's not worth it."

The corners of Nora's mouth curled up in a small smile, "Thank you, Sawyer. That was a very sweet thing to say."

Turning to the side, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before looking back out the ocean. Sawyer stood paralyzed, his face burning and his cheeks turning red. But Nora obviously didn't seem to think as much of the abrupt peck as he did. She'd already continued to talk about Ben Leslie.

"Sometimes I think I should just forget all about him. Why waste my time on something that's never going to occur?" She pondered, "Or is that the point? Is the fact that I spend so much time thinking about Ben evidence of how much I care for him?"

Sawyer, having recovered from the kiss, scratched his head, "Perhaps."

"Perhaps," Nora repeated, thinking.

They stood in silence for a few moments as Nora thought about her situation with Ben. Sawyer was simply waiting for her to speak, but when she didn't he thought she might have forgotten about him.

"Do you," he used a finger to push his glasses further up his nose, "Do you want to play a game of cards perhaps? We could play Gin Rummy, like last time."

It took Nora a moment to come out of her reverie, but when she did, she nodded, "Yes, that would be nice."

"Such a horrible day," Mary noticed, gazing out of the porthole at dark clouds and angry, black water, "Charlie says he thinks a storm's coming."

Nora nodded, "I wouldn't be surprised." She, Mary, and Sara were sitting downstairs in their room a few days after her conversation with Sawyer; while Sara read, Mary continued working on her curtains and Nora was doodling on some paper.

"Have you noticed anything different about Emy lately?" Sara asked suddenly, looking up from her book.

"What do you mean?"

"She just seems . . ." Sara began, "I don't know . . . She's just seemed distracted for the past few days. If it's possible, she seems even quieter."

"Do you think something's troubling her?" Mary asked.

"I don't know," Sara said, "I don't even know if something's wrong. I just thought she seemed a bit different lately."

"Well, she has been acting rather strangely, I've thought," Nora agreed, "As though her head's always up in the clouds or something."

"Exactly!"
Sara grinned, "That's exactly what I thought! I knew I couldn't be the only one that saw it . . ."

Mary rethreaded her needle, and looked up curiously "Well what exactly do you suppose is wrong?"

Nora shrugged, "I have no idea."

"Do you suppose it could be . . ." Sara began, but she didn't continue and instead shook her head, "No,
no.
It couldn't be."

"What couldn't be?" Nora pressed.

"Nothing," Sara replied, "I don't know what I was thinking. Forget it."

Nora exchanged a glance with Mary, who demanded, "Oh just tell us, Sara! You know that you'll have to sometimes. And besides, if it really is such a silly idea we'll simply forget it."

Sara sighed, "Well alright. I thought that perhaps she might be . . . in love."

"In love?" her sisters questioned at once.

Sara laughed, "Yes, in love. Is that such a crazy thought?"

Mary seemed rather taken aback, but Nora was the one to speak, "I've just never seen Emy as the type to fall in love."

Sara cocked her head to the side with an amused grin, "What do you mean? Aren't all girls the type to fall in love?"

"She's just always seemed to shy away from men, so I never once imagined that she might perhaps be attracted to one," Mary replied. "She always seemed rather scared of them, in a way."

Nora nodded, "That's what I meant."

"Well perhaps our little Emmeline isn't quite
so
immune to the male species as we once thought," Sara said with a giggle.

"Even if it is true," Mary replied with a sudden spark in her eye, "Who in the world could it be that she's so enamored with?"

"It must be one of the sailors," Nora replied, "The question is which one."

"Rory, perhaps?"
Sara suggested, "Or Zooey? Maybe she's jealous that they're always teaching Gail how to sit in the crow's nest and go fishing."

"No, no," Mary refused, "They're much too dirty and boyish for her taste. I'm thinking someone more like Michael, or maybe Jacob."

"Perhaps," Sara agreed, "Or maybe she's followed Nora's lead and has become infatuated with Ben. That wouldn't be hard to believe."

"No it wouldn't," Nora
said,
her eyes wide.

"I'm not so sure. Ben just doesn't seem like her type either," Mary dissented, "And she already knows that Nora's got her sights set on him so . . ."

"Do you think we should just ask her?" Nora questioned.

"No, she'd just deny it," Sara replied, "And
she's probably be
embarrassed."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see then," Mary said with a sigh, "I still can't believe it. Our sweet Emy's in love."

CHAPTER 9

Forgotten

Gail left Nathaniel alone for the next few days, afraid that if she walked in he'd just scream for her to get out again. Finally, five days after her birthday, she headed back downstairs just after lunch with a box in her hands filled with the game board for Chinese checkers as well as a sack of marbles. Her thick red hair was pinned up and she wore a very simple blue day dress.

"Hello?" she asked, peeking in the door to see if he was awake, "Nathaniel?"

He was sitting partially up sipping some tea out of a new cup, his old one broken. Although he didn't grimace or frown at the sight of Gail, he wasn't exactly smiling either.

"I thought you might like some company," said Gail. She held up the box, "We could play a game, if you want."

Nathaniel's eyebrows slanted inward and he crossed his arms across his chest

"I
don't
need any company," he said firmly, "And besides, I detest that silly game. I'm perfectly fine by myself, thank you very much."

"Well I just thought perhaps . . ."

"You thought wrong! I don't need any company, especially of the likes of you."

"I'm sorry about what happened the other day," Gail murmured, stepping closer, "I didn't mean to . . . I didn't know that you . . . that you couldn't . . ."

"I could have gotten up by myself if you hadn't
ran
off for Charlie!" Nathaniel interrupted, his cheeks reddening as he recalled the embarrassing situation he'd been in three days ago.

"I'm sorry the cup broke."

"It was just a stupid cup, I didn't care about it anyway," Nathaniel affirmed, "And why are you still here? I told you I didn't wish for you to stay and I hate that silly game!"

"You do not," Gail disagreed, sitting down in the chair beside his bed and setting down the game, "You're just determined to be rude to me, for a reason I have yet to find. I'm tired of all your useless rants and no matter what you say you have to be just a little bit lonely! And don't try and deny it! I know you're
obviously
not the type who wishes to identify their faults, but just this one admit that you
might, just possibly
actually want me to stay!

"Now," she continued, her voice calmed, "You don't have to vocally admit it if you don't want to. I'm just going to pull over this table," and as she spoke Gail began to drag over a wooden table from the corner of the room, letting it rest between his bed and her chair, "And set up the game," she did so, dropping yellow marbles in the triangle nearest hers and red marbles into his. She took a seat and sighed, "You can go first, if you like, Mr. West."

Nathaniel looked at her quizzically. Although he was slightly disconcerted, knowing that every word she'd spoke was true, he also held a bit of respect for her, for he'd never known a girl who was almost as equally stubborn and determined as he was.

Without a smile, or even a nod, he leaned forward and moved one of the red marbles.

Gail knew that if she showed her pleasure that he'd given in, even if it was only a tiny grin, Nathaniel would most likely back out. So instead she followed suit and simply moved her marble without looking up.

The game commenced quickly and before Gail knew it, Nathaniel had won and another game began. She'd expected to be the victor from the moment she suggested the game since she'd always been the best checkers player in the family, and was surprised when Nathaniel excelled over her. Instead of angering her though, it intrigued to Gail to play someone as good, if not better, than she.

They rarely spoke, but perhaps that was a good thing, she thought, for she was afraid if a conversation did begin they might start to argue, as they always seemed to do.

As they played, Gail began to notice little things about Nathaniel she'd never had the time to notice before. The few times she'd come to see him before she'd never seen him as weak. How can you classify someone as weak when they're always yelling and shouting and so seemingly confidant? In fact, except for the moment she'd seen him lying helpless on the floor, he'd never struck her as being outwardly unhealthy. And besides his skin, he'd never looked terribly ill either.

But now she began to notice little obscurities that had been invisible to her before. His eyes seemed more sunken in and dark shadows lay beneath them. He always seemed to be sleeping during the day, so she wondered how he could appear so in need of rest. Little did she know, Nathaniel had always had trouble sleeping, ever since he was a little
boy.
He often awoke in the middle of the night from horrid nightmares and once he did he could never drift back to sleep again, but would lie awake for hours.

Once, he made a stupid move on his part, for by moving that one marble he allowed Gail to jump over several others and let her marble reach its destination. He gave a small chuckle, realizing his mistake, and Gail was glad to see that when she grinned as well he didn't become angry. Everything seemed so perfect in that moment; it was all going so well. And then, without warning, Nathaniel's chuckles turned into coughs. Violent coughs. Gail didn't know what to do. She tried to hand him a glass of water, but he shook his head, instead motioning to a tall violet bottle standing in the middle of a dozen other medicines on his bedside table. She spooned some of the thick liquid into a spoon and handed it to him. Just moments after he'd swallowed the syrupy liquid his coughing ceased. He thanked her, and immediately began playing again as though no interruption had occurred.