Adam sat in the carriage, watching Sissy; waiting. He couldn’t begin to imagine what she was feeling. Neither of them had bothered to look at the address given to them by the lawyer until that morning, and when they’d opened the slip of paper, Sissy had gone pale. She had shaken her head, refusing to go, but in the end, her devotion to Meg had caused her to put her own needs aside. Now, they sat only a mile down the road from where Sissy had spent most of her childhood. Adam had only been there a few times, but he’d never before paid much attention to the monstrous white house surrounded by miles of green fields. As soon as the house came into view, Sissy began to cry, and Adam had stopped the carriage.

“She can’t. Oh, Adam please, tell me she didn’t end up back there. Please, not there.”

Adam held her, allowing her to cry until her voice was nearly hoarse. He tried suggesting, gently, that they turn around and go back, but Sissy insisted she would be okay. She just needed some time, so Adam set the breaks, and with an arm around her shoulders, he waited. He listened to the birds singing, watched as magnificent horses grazed in large pastures, and he loathed that a place so beautiful had held so much suffering. Eventually, Sissy gave a long sigh beside him, and he turned to her.

“I’m ready,” she said.

A moment later, he helped her down from the carriage and, together, they walked up the long porch. Adam knocked on the door, and after a few seconds, a large black man answered.

“Can I help ya?” he asked.

Adam squeezed Sissy’s hand. “We’re looking for a Professor Denton. We were told he lives here.”

“Come on in the hall. I’ll let’m know you’re here. May I say whose callin’?”

Adam glanced at Sissy, but it was obvious she was having trouble focusing, as her eyes darted around the room.

“Just tell him Adam Cartwright is here to see him.”

The man shuffled off down the hall, and Sissy turned to Adam. “It looks just the same,” she said, her voice sounding small in the open hallway. “I . . . I’d hoped never to come back here.”

“Then why did you?” a harsh voice asked, startling both Adam and Sissy.

The servant, who’d gone to announce them, was bringing in a bent man in a wheelchair. It took a moment, but then the man looked up and Sissy gasped.

It was Denton, but not at all the man Adam remembered. The man before him had lost most of his hair, and his pallor was gray. His hands shook as they rested in his lap, and when he spoke, Adam saw most of his teeth were missing.

“I said, what’d you come here for? To gawk at a dying man?”

Adam grasped for words, his shock was so great, he’d nearly forgotten why they’d come, but Sissy hadn’t.

“We’re here for Meg,” she said, sounding bolder than Adam had thought she was capable of.

“Meg?” Denton questioned.

“My cousin. What have you done with her? The lawyer told us you would know where we can find her.”

Adam watched as the man’s expression changed from one of annoyance to one of spite.

Denton waived his servant to bring him closer. “Guess you haven’t been out long enough to have heard yet,” he said, stopping right before Sissy. “She’s dead.”

Sissy went perfectly still. “You’re lying.”

“Watch your tongue, girl. You wouldn’t even be out of that prison if it wasn’t for me letting it happen. Who was it? That young snippet that worked for your last lawyer? Boy always was a nuisance, poking around asking questions.”

Adam could tell Sissy had stopped listening. Her eyes were on the top of the stairs, unblinking. He knew he needed to act fast.

“The last we’d heard,” he said, gaining Denton’s focus, “was that no one knew of Meg’s whereabouts. Do you have any proof of what you’re saying?”

Denton chuckled, a harsh wheezing sound. “You think I’m lying, too, do you? I’ll tell you though; a dying man has no reason to hide the truth . . . You may not believe it, but I loved her.”

“You!” Sissy suddenly snapped. “How dare you say you loved her? All the times you stood by and watched while she trembled in front of my uncle, all the times he shamed her, beat her. That’s what you loved, to watch her cower and cry out, but not her. Don’t you ever say you loved her, you, you-”

Adam reached around and took her arms shaking with rage; gently he turned her toward him, pulling her close to try and calm her.

Denton’s eyes were snapping fire, and he barked at his servant. “Go and get that paper from my desk.”

The large man quickly made his way down the hall and was back a moment later, handing a well-worn newspaper to Denton.

“Read that!” the man spat, tossing the paper at Adam.

The paper fell open to an article that looked as if it had been read over and over. Scanning it, Adam then slowly shut his eyes.

“Adam,” Sissy’s voice trembled. “What is it? Tell me what it says.”

Adam thought about throwing the paper back at Denton, telling Sissy the man was liar, and pulling her from the house, but this truth was something he couldn’t protect her from, she needed to know. Slowly he turned the paper for her to see.

-Local Richmond Woman Dies Tragically in Fire-

     Adam dropped the paper as Sissy fell to the ground. Kneeling beside her, he took her in his arms. She was out cold. Picking her up, he turned to Denton one more time before leaving.

“Whatever disease it is you’re dying from, I hope it causes you as much pain as you’ve caused her.”

Adam headed toward the door, ignoring the insults being railed at his back. Denton’s servant opened the door for him, and then helped him get Sissy into the carriage. Adam then ran to his side of the carriage, wanting to get Sissy to a doctor quickly.

“Here, suh,” the large man said, reaching across to hand him the newspaper. “She’ll want to know about it,” he nodded to the unconscious Sissy, “when she’s feelin’ better.”

Adam took the paper, stuffing it into his jacket, and nodded a quick thanks. An hour later, Sissy lay on one of the beds in the Charlottesville hospital he’d visited the day before. Her eyes were open, but unseeing.

“She’s had a great shock,” the doctor had said to him. “Let’s give her some time.”

The doctor left then and Adam pulled up a chair close the bed. He grasped her hand and held it close to his lips, his heart growing heavier with each passing minute of silence. Instinctively, he knew, for Sissy, the losses had finally become too great for her to overcome, and no amount of time would be able to heal this wound.