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Her heart sank.
When her knock was ignored, she opened the door. Gerda was hunched over the toilet, her back and shoulders heaving. Kristin waited for the nausea to end. Then she sponged the girl’s pale face with a wet washcloth. “Do you have something to tell me, Gerda?” she asked.
Tears welled in Gerda’s pretty blue eyes. “I think I must be . . . pregnant.”
“You think? When was your last menstrual period?”
“I . . . don’t remember. Awhile ago, I guess.”
Kristin sighed. “All right. I’ll check you later today to make sure. But here’s the big question. Assuming you’re pregnant and you know how it happened, who’s the baby’s father?”
There was a long hesitation. Then the breath burst out of her in a single wracking sob. “It was Mason,” she said. “Mason Dollarhide.”
* * *
Kristin had never planned to visit the house where Mason lived with his mother. Growing up, she’d always imagined Amelia Hollister Dollarhide as a wicked witch like the one in fairy tales. She knew better now. Amelia was only a bitter, reclusive old woman, incapable of harming her.
And today, her business wasn’t with Amelia. It was with Mason.
The sun was low in the late afternoon sky as she climbed out of her Model T and opened the front gate. She could hear dogs barking. Big dogs. But when no dogs appeared, she concluded that they must be chained or kenneled. No one was in sight. The door of the barn that stood south of the house was closed.
Resolute, she mounted the front steps to the porch and knocked on the door. After a moment she heard footsteps from the other side. The door opened to reveal an elderly man dressed in outdated formal wear. He looked like a butler from an old British movie, she thought.
“How can I help you, madam?” he asked.
“I’ve come to speak to Mason Dollarhide. Please tell him his sister is here.”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Dollarhide is—”
“I’ll handle this.” A silver-haired woman dressed in riding clothes strode into the room. She was small in stature with a stern, wrinkled face that commanded respect, if not fear. Peridot eyes inspected Kristin from head to toe. “I wasn’t aware that Mason had a sister,” she said.
“I’m his half-sister. If you’d kindly tell Mason I’m here—”
“Yes, now I see the resemblance to your father. I suppose I should invite you in.” Her lips pursed, deepening the smoker’s lines that framed her mouth. “Don’t expect tea. Your family isn’t welcome here. But it seems you have a nasty habit of showing up. First that bastard boy, and now you.”
“I won’t trouble you by coming in, thank you. But I need to speak privately to your son.”
“Privately? Mason and I have no secrets. You can speak to him in my presence or not at all.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not acceptable. If you’ll tell him—”
“What is it, Mother?” Mason walked into the room. The dressing was gone from his nose, but the swelling had yet to go down. The bruise on his jaw had turned purple.
His mother shot Kristin a haughty look, then turned to her son. “This woman, who claims to be your sister, says she wants to talk to you.”
“Sheismy sister,” Mason said. “She also happens to be my doctor. Why are you standing out there, Kristin? Come on in and have a seat.”
“This isn’t a social call, Mason,” Kristin said. “We need to talk privately. We can do it in my auto or wherever you like, but I’m not leaving until we come to some kind of understanding.”
“All right.” A worried look crossed his battered face. “Why don’t we talk on the porch. We can watch the sunset. Please excuse us, Mother.”
Walking past the pouting Amelia, he stepped out the door, closed it behind him, and showed Kristin to a chintz-covered settee in the shade of the overhang. She took a seat at one end. He sat at the other. “Now, what is it, little sis?” he asked.
A memory flashed through Kristin’s mind—how she’d adored Mason as a little girl. He’d been the fun brother, the charming brother. She’d tagged after him like a puppy. For an instant she wanted to spare them both the pain to come. But no, she had to see this through.
“What is it?” he asked again.
She sighed. “Remember what we talked about when I treated your nose? How you needed to stay away from Gerda?”
