A Blue Mountain Memory

XLIX

Cora's hand clutched the doorframe, using it as leverage to support her body weight.

Her head emptied, and her vision blurred. She pinched her arm, wincing from the pain, terrified that what she was experiencing was real. It's just his ghost, Cora reminded herself, searching for an explanation. But ghosts do not age.

And when Elwood spoke, Cora knew it could not be his ghost. It was truly him, standing before her, after eighteen years.

"Are you Mrs. Carlyle?" He asked with a warm, smooth voice.

Cora's body shuddered at his familiar sound. It was deeper now, but somehow more confident. His accent was refined, making him sound as though he came from money. This voice was nothing like the one that had spoken to her in her nightmares... That one must have been of her own creation, using bits and pieces of her memories.

Cora could only nod. Her mouth was too dry to speak.

"May I come in?" He asked, almost chuckling.

"Are you a friend of Hen- Mr. Carlyle's?" Cora asked, sucking in as much breath as she could, attempting to steady herself.

"Not exactly. I'm a friend of Sidney Hendricks."

Of course you are, she thought.

"Ah, yes. Please, do come in," Cora forced through her constricted throat.

Her head began pounding, and she could feel her underarms growing hot and wet with fear. Suddenly, as they entered the house, the party had seemed a lot louder.

The man turned to her once the door shut behind them.

"Lewis Elinwood, pleased to meet you," he said, extending his hand.

Cora could have sworn she noticed a slight wink.

Lewis Elinwood? Perhaps it is not him? Just someone who closely resembles him. It cannot be him. It simply cannot. It is not.

With a false sense of security, Cora allowed herself to relax, half-convinced that the man who stood before her was only a doppelgänger of her former lover. Cora felt certain it could not be Elwood. Although the features were strikingly similar, and the age was most likely accurate, a wealthy gentleman stood before her. Elwood was only a poor laborer and a graceless coward.

Henry's emergence from around the corner startled Cora.

"You must be Mr. Elinwood," Henry smiled, politely offering his hand.

"Please, call me Lewis," the man responded, firmly shaking Henry's hand.

"Henry," Henry responded with a simple nod. "I see you've met my wife."

"Yes... She's a rather shy creature," Lewis said, his eyes traveling up and down Cora's body with a slight smirk.

"Upon first meeting her, yes. But I dare say, once you get to know her, she is quite the firecracker."

The two men laughed, but Cora's face remained still, angered at the way they spoke of her as though in her absence.

"Is Sidney here already?" Lewis asked, letting out the last of his chuckling.

"Yes, and as I am sure you can guess, his drink has surpassed us all."

Just then, Leonard Hughes' lengthy neck stretched out from around the same corner Henry had emerged from.

"Henry!" He whispered almost violently, "It's Sidney! He's trying to play the knife game on your desk!"

Henry's eyes widened and he let out a nervous laugh, but Cora observed his sincere panic.