Shadow of Dawn Read Free Page A

home in Alabama, Uncle Martin. When he’s better, perhaps it
would be best if we went to live there, though I’m very grateful to
you.”
     
    “Perhaps it would be best,” Sallie said, her
blue eyes round and concerned. “Perhaps he’d prefer to be among his
own people.”
     
    “Well, we’ll see. Now I must be off.” Martin
kissed his wife on the cheek, took his hat from the rack near the
doorway, and left the room.
     
    Sallie glanced at Catherine. “Well, I’m sure
you’ve thought of this, but there’s always the possibility of an
annulment.”
     
     
     

CHAPTER TWO
     
    C atherine stared.
“Annulment?”
     
    Sallie lowered her eyes and adjusted the
sleeve of her gown. “Why, yes. Do you know what your life is going
to be like? Andrew is blind. You’re only nineteen. Why, that’s only
three years younger than I am, and I know I wouldn’t want to spend
the rest of my life with a man who’s completely helpless, even if
there is someone else to take care of him.
     
    “And what if Mrs. Shirley leaves and it’s
left up to you? What if the war comes here and we all lose
everything? How is Andrew going to support you?”
     
    Catherine sat down abruptly. “Sallie, Andrew
is my husband. I promised—”
     
    “Yes, I know all about marriage vows, dear.
But if you get an annulment, you’d be free to marry again.” Sallie
raised a delicate brow. “You were only together for one day before
he left, and you were sick. Of course it’s none of my business, but
it seems that—”
     
    “Yes, you’re quite right. That is, about it
being none of your business. Excuse me, please. I must go see my
husband.”
     
    She got to her feet again, making a supreme
effort to control her temper. How dared Sallie say such things? Of
course she was not going to leave her husband. She would not listen
to such talk. Only…only it seemed that Sallie’s suggestion, for
just a moment, had lifted an intolerable burden…had given her a
tantalizing glimpse of a certain freedom that would never be hers
again.
     
    Catherine felt ashamed. How could she be
thinking of herself after what had happened to Andrew? How lonely
and despondent he must have been all these months!
     
    She steeled herself as she went up the long
staircase, her hand sliding along the polished wooden banister.
This situation would take some getting used to. What would she say
to him? She gathered from what Mrs. Shirley had told her that he
did not expect her to share his room, and she felt guiltily
relieved.
     
    The large area at the top of the stairs had
been made into a sitting room. A central window looked down upon
the street in front of the house. On either side of the sitting
room, railed hallways ran parallel to each other, with three
bedrooms on each side. One belonged to Martin and Sallie, one to
Sallie’s brother, Bart Ingram, one to herself, and now on the
opposite side, one each to Andrew and Mrs. Shirley. Not sure
    which bedroom Andrew had been given, since
she had expected him to use hers, she paused in the sitting room
and listened.
     
    Someone said at her side, “Your husband is
waiting to speak with you, madam.”
     
    Catherine’s eyes, a light gray-green now in
the dimness, widened as she turned around. Mrs. Shirley was also
going to take some getting used to.
     
    “He’s in that room,” the nurse said, with a
quick gesture. “My room is next to his.”
     
    “Thank you,” Catherine said, trying to appear
unruffled.
     
    Mrs. Shirley stood and watched as Catherine
moved down the hallway and knocked on the door, then she turned and
went down the stairs. Not even her skirts rustled.
     
    “Come in,” came a low voice from within.
     
    Catherine turned the knob and stepped into
the room. The shades had been pulled and the lighting was dim.
Apparently all his clothes had been put away, for the empty bags
sat near the armoire. The covers on the massive four-poster bed
were folded back, as though he were about to take a