The Piano Teacher

Chapter 19

When Nels returned home, he didn't realize how long he had been gone or how late it had become. The sun was already beginning to set and while the mercantile was still open, there was no one there.

Except Harriet, waiting for him at the front counter with a gaze like a ferocious tigress.

She was dressed nicely in a pink gingham dress, a cameo at her neck, and all her rings shining on her fingers.

The moment he saw her, he remembered that he was supposed to accompany her for lunch with her friends, and his stomach dropped. "Harriet, I'm sorry, I—"

"I asked you to remember one thing today," Harriet murmured, barely veiling her rage. She came around the counter and approached him. "One thing. Do you have any idea how humiliating it was for me to sit with my friends and make up excuses for why my husband didn't show up?"

"Harriet, please, let me explain."

She jabbed a finger into his chest, baring her teeth as she spoke. "I couldn't even say you were busy working at the mercantile, because they came here first and saw for themselves that you weren't here. There I was, sitting like some fool, waiting for you to show up, and you never did. And where were you?"

"I was busy for some time at the restaurant," Nels quickly explained.

"And then you went to visit that Richmond woman, isn't that right?"

"Well, yes," he replied. His wife knew that he had been helping tend to her when Doctor Baker was not available, though she had several arguments with him about that arrangement already.

"And do you suppose that taking care of that invalid is more important than accompanying your wife when you were told to?"

Nels hesitated, his mouth agape. "Harriet, I'm sorry I forgot. I'll... I'll make it up to you."

The lamplight in the dark store highlighted the vicious anger on Harriet's face. "That is impossible. The only useful thing you can do now is stop tending to Charlotte Richmond. I'm sick and tired of it. Your absence has cost the mercantile money, and now it's cost me my dignity."

"I can't do that," he insisted. "She's not well enough yet, and neither is her uncle. Hiram can't care for them both at once. She doesn't have anyone else to help her as long as her uncle's recovering."

"I don't care!" Harriet shouted, suddenly raising her voice. "It's not my problem, and it isn't yours either. That girl's so sick all the time anyway, she might as well just die and save everyone the trouble."

Nels was so shocked by her words, it was as if he took a baseball bat to the head. He clenched his jaw and gazed at her sternly. "That's one of the cruelest things you've ever said, Harriet."

"Well, it's true," she replied airily. "Back in my grandparent's day, they would leave a sick child out in the woods to die. That way, no one would waste their time and money caring for such a hopeless creature. Seems to me that's what Miss Richmond's parents should have done with her.

A hot ball of rage appeared in Nels's stomach. "How could you say such a horrible thing? That woman has been kind beyond kind, even going through the displeasure of trying to teach our children the piano."

"I never wanted her here. That was your doing, and as far as I'm concerned, it was a mistake. The children haven't learned a thing."

"Maybe Nellie hasn't, only because she's purposefully slacking, but Willie's made an improvement I've never seen in him."

"So, only half the money we've been throwing at her has had any benefit," Harriet retorted bitterly. "You know, I bet that woman's faking half the ailments she claims to have just for pity and attention. She knows what kind of reaction it'll get; 'oh, poor thing, let me take care of you.' Even you've gotten sucked into the mess, but then again, I've never known you to be terribly smart."