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Nell hurried to Adam's side and put her arm possessively around his middle. "We're married, Eugenia," she said in a near whisper.
"And a baby?" Eugenia said, also in a near whisper.
Nell placed her free arm on her abdomen. "Yes. Mine and Adam's," she said, smiling awkwardly.
Eugenia moved to Adam and Nell and embraced them, one at a time, knowing that her tears were wetting their cheeks. "I'm so glad for both of you," she said softly.
"You are?" Nell asked in disbelief.
Eugenia stepped back away from them again, laughing. "Yes, my dear," she said. "I'm very happy for you."
"But… I thought…" Nell said.
"You thought I'd be angry to find out about your love for one another?" Eugenia said, pulling her Papa's combs from the sides of her hair. She shook her hair free, letting it tumble loosely around her shoulders. She ran her fingers through it. "I knew even before I left with Drew that you had been having an affair," she added, still laughing softly, as she headed for the back of The Towers.
Nell hurried to her side, panting. "Then you do understand, Eugenia?" she asked, lifting her skirt, taking each step slowly up to the porch.
"Nell, I couldn't be happier for you," Eugenia said, lifting her own skirt. "And a baby in The Towers? How wonderful that will be."
"Do you mean, Adam and I… ?"
"Can you continue to live here?" Eugenia said, stopping to touch Nell on the arm. "You'd just better not try to leave. I want to share your baby with you." Then she added, "If that's all right with you and Adam."
Nell threw her arms around Eugenia's neck and kissed her wetly on the cheek. Eugenia ran her fingers through Nell's long, blond hair, ready to weep once again herself.
Then Nell pulled away from Eugenia, her blue eyes wide. "But, Eugenia, where's Drew?"
It was becoming easier for Eugenia to say. "He's married my sister," she said, then hurried into the kitchen, spying the short figure of Key busily chopping greens for a salad.
"Hello, Key," she said, waiting for him to turn to discover her presence in the room. She smiled tenderly when his black, slanting eyes widened more than she would have ever thought possible.
"Miss Genia? Is it really you?" he shouted, dropping his knife in the large bowl of salad greens, making the lettuce flip out all over the floor.
"How have things been, Key?" she asked, hurrying to him, shaking his hand vigorously.
"Much better now that you've returned," he said, obviously looking toward the door, waiting for Drew.
"I'm alone, Key. I've come home alone. To stay."
"But… Mr. Drew?"
"He and I never married, Key."
"No?"
"No," she said, then began walking around the kitchen, checking the food to be served for supper. Her diet had been scanty these past months, so much that her dress hung a bit loosely from her waist. The aroma of fresh bread and Cornish hens baking made her mouth begin to water.
"Is Miss hungry?" Key asked, pulling a pie from a shelf. "Just freshly baked apple pie. Want a piece?"
"I'd love it, Key," she sighed. "I'm going to my room to change. Have Iris bring me a large glass of milk with the pie."
The smile faded from Key's face. He lowered his eyes. "Iris no longer here," he said solemnly.
"Iris isn't here?" she asked, wondering why Nell or Adam hadn't told her. "Where is she, Key?"
"She returned to your other house," Key answered, fidgeting with his white apron.
"She did?"
