A Promise to Love by Serena B. Miller Page A

About that time, my wife came into the sitting room from the kitchen and said her head was hurting.”
    â€œThat was the first she mentioned a headache?” Carver asked.
    â€œIt was. She sat down a spell, and I asked if she was sick in any other way. She said she wasn’t. Then she got back up and went on out to the kitchen again. It must have been after eleven o’clock by that time. I was there about five minutes when Agnes came to get me. She said something was wrong with her mother again. I went into the kitchen, and my wife was sitting in a chair, saying her head ached. I helped her go into her parents’ bedroom and lie down.”
    Joshua looked out over the crowd. The rapt expressions on some of their faces made him feel slightly nauseous. It seemed as though some were practically feeding on the story of the events preceding his wife’s death. Others, his closest friends, were staring down at the floor as though trying to give him some privacy as he recounted the most painful hours of his life.
    â€œWhat measures did you take to help her?” the judge asked.
    â€œWe put a wet cloth on her head and gave her some coffee to drink. She started getting chilled, and we built up the fire and tried to make her warm.”
    At this, his voice choked up. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to pull himself together.
    â€œPlease go on, Mr. Hunter,” the judge said impatiently.
    â€œIt was so hot in there that I was sweating, but Diantha was shivering. Her mother put an extra quilt over her, and Richard built the fire up even hotter. Soon after that, she started complaining that her head was worse. I started to go for the doctor, but she grabbed hold of me and begged me to stay with her.
    â€œAt that point she started writhing around underneath all those covers. She started convulsing and . . .”
    â€œAnd?”
    Joshua took a deep breath. “She died about a minute later. Her father went for Dr. Allard, who got there about one o’clock. He said he thought the cause of her death was some sort of burst blood vessel in her brain.”
    â€œDid he mention any other possible cause of death?”
    â€œHe did.” This was the moment that he had been dreading—the comment the doctor had made that had set Virgie off. “He said that the convulsions we described could also be symptoms of strychnine poisoning.”
    There was a gasp in the courtroom.
    The judge nodded as though acknowledging that this is what he had expected him to say. “At any time previous to her death, did you hear your wife say that she was tired of living or that she would commit suicide?”
    Joshua was blindsided by this question. This was private information—something he thought was just between him and Diantha. He had never mentioned it to anyone.
    Judge Carver noted his hesitation and glanced up from his papers. “Please answer the question, Mr. Hunter.”
    â€œShe was in one of her bad moods one day.” Joshua picked a piece of lint off his army pants. “She said she was tired of living and wanted to drown herself. There were some days when she would talk like that to me when the children weren’t around. She didn’t mean it. It was just something she would say to let off steam. The next day she would laugh about it.”
    He wished he had been warned that he was going to have to repeat these words. If so, he would have sent Agnes out of the courtroom.
    There was a buzz in the air as everyone absorbed this shocking information. He had planned to go to his grave never telling anyone about those conversations with Diantha.
    He glanced at Agnes, who was sitting stone still. Her eyes were wide with shock. She leaped up, hiked Polly onto her hip, and ran out of the courtroom. He wished he could run after her, but Judge Carver was already following up with another question.
    â€œHad you secreted about your house previous to her death any