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“Daniel, it’s past your bedtime,” she said. “Come give us a kiss and run on up. I’ll be up soon to tuck you in.”
Daniel’s face went rigid. “You work too hard. You should rest. Uncle Thomas can come up, can’t you, Uncle Tom?”
“Daniel Sullivan! As if Thomas has a life of leisure!”
Thomas stood without hesitation. “No bother at all. Can’t think of anyone I’d rather spend my time with.” Thomas swung Daniel onto his shoulders, his jade-colored eyes soft with an innate kindness that was so much part of his gentle nature. Abby smiled, then let her head fall back against the rocker. She closed her eyes against a rush of tears. She couldn’t ask for better fathers for her son than her brothers.
Except for Joshua, taunted a traitorous voice inside her. Then a vision of his face drifted before her mind’s eye. At fifteen her mother had called him a golden boy. But then manhood had beckoned and his jaw squared and his shoulders broadened. His hair went from the color of corn silk to a rich tawny gold. That same golden color had spread across his chest and his playful teasing gave way to seductive glances. Friendly shoves turned into stolen kisses. Yet two things had never changed—his sky-blue eyes or her love for him.
Her father’s voice rescued Abby from her foolish trip into the past. “What did you tell Danny, Abaigeal?”
“Tell him?” Abby opened her eyes and glanced toward her father, knowing he wouldn’t let the night go by without settling his household properly.
He sat in his chair by the fire, the flames reflecting in the white that liberally threaded his once ink-black hair, a blanket draped across his left leg and what was left of his right. He had arthritis in his shoulders and his hands. It made getting around on crutches painful now, so he rarely went out anymore. But make no mistake, one look into his intelligent, deep-green eyes and it was plain nothing, but nothing, got past Michael Kane. “About Joshua’s return,” he said at last.
“Nothing. I’m glad now I never lied to him. You were right, Da. If I’d told him anything but that Joshua just hadn’t come back for us, he’d know I lied.”
Brendan spoke up, then, worry stamped on his handsome face. “I think you should leave and fast. He’s returned with a woman. Suppose they marry? Suppose they decide to take Danny? You’d not have a leg to stand on.”
She couldn’t deny the pain just the thought of Joshua married caused, but her stomach flipped sickly at the idea of losing her son.
“Is there a weddin’ in the offing?” Michael asked, rescuing Abby from the need to comment.
“I don’t want to talk about weddings,” Brendan snapped. “It’s the boy I’m thinkin’ of.”
She forced herself to think logically. “Joshua has never even acknowledged Daniel’s existence. Why would he want him now?”
“Because Danny is one hell of a boy. What man wouldn’t want to claim him?” Brendan asked, his green eyes intent and sparkling like emeralds and his black hair gleaming in the fire’s light.
“Shake your head—rocks or marbles?” Michael scoffed. “You’re not thinkin’ straight, boyo. Wheaton didn’t want his son ten years ago and he’s not going to be wantin’ the boy now. If he marries this woman he’s brought home with him, he’ll be wantin’ her and her babes.”
“Da’s right, but perhaps I shouldn’t be taking chances,” Abby said. “If we can make do till the end of the month, we’re free and clear of Harlan Wheaton and his son. I say we take our wagon, all we can pack, and head west. We could make it to Independence even in winter and work odd jobs till spring. Da could stay with Daniel during the day while we’re at work. What say? Let’s be shut of this place once and for all. We won’t be gettin’ the start we wanted, but at least we’ll be free.”
Brendan shook his head. “Lord knows I’d love to, but we need more supplies and money to get even that far. You’ve done a good job saving and putting up staples, but we aren’t ready. We can’t do it yet, Abby. But you two could. Thomas has socked away enough money for you and Daniel to go by train. It just isn’t enough for all of us.”
Abby felt tears burn at the back of her eyes and throat. She pressed her lips and nodded. “You’re right. Foolish talk from a desperate woman. But I can’t go alone. It would be going from frying pan to fire. Without the respectability of traveling with my family, I’d be but a poor widow at the mercy of men who would think I’m no better than I have to be. I’ll have to wait even though the talk here will be worse now.” She sighed, then tried to smile. “Isn’t this just like my luck. I’d nearly earned the right to hold my head up ‘round here again.”
“You’ve always had that right, Abby girl.” Her father’s eyes narrowed. “It’s that son of Satan who hasn’t. He’s the one who abandoned you. You did nothing many a young girl hasn’t done since Eve. You loved the wrong man too soon. ‘Twas a sin to be sure, but it wasn’t the crime small-minded folks make of it. Now, that said, I’ll be takin’ meself off to bed.”
Nearly overcome, Abby jumped up and hugged her father. “Thank you, Da.”
“Don’t be thankin’ me. It should have been said long ago, and I should have protected you from it ever needing to be said. I failed you.” He sighed tiredly, and patted her cheek. “Now not another word.”
Once their father was out of hearing range Brendan looked up from his reading. “I wish you’d go alone, or I at least wish we could protect you, but we can’t.”
“We should all go. We don’t owe much to Harlan now,” Abby pleaded. “We could do it! We could all just leave.”
“Da needs a chair. We all know he does. Thomas could build one but even the parts would be costly and set us back further from leavin'.”
Abby stuffed her mending in the bag hanging from the arm of her rocker. “Da was hurt in Wheaton’s mine and it’s him that’ll provide a chair if I have to camp on his doorstep to get it.”
“What about Joshua?”
Swamped suddenly by roiling doubt, Abby stiffened her spine. She would not be cowled by the likes of Joshua Wheaton. “He can step over me same as anyone else, including his guests. Let him explain who I am.”
“Oh, sister, that won’t be botherin’ the likes of Helena Conwell. She’s sniffin’ after a man her guardian will approve. No matter what she’d be sayin', that’s all that could matter to the likes of her. Comfort is all she’s ever known. How could it be any different?”
“So you think they’re to wed?” Abby asked, hating herself for caring what Joshua did with his life, and wondering why Brendan was suddenly more melancholy than angry.
“Luther Dancy says so but it’s not official.”
Abby cursed the surge of joy her brother’s words set to blooming in her heart. It isn’t too late.
“’Tis ten years too late!” Abby hissed, then felt her face and neck flame when she realized she’d spoken the words aloud.
Fortunately, Brendan put his own thoughts to her words. “True. Had another girl been in the picture back then, none of us would have let him within a mile of you. We should have protected you then. He fooled all of us. Ma, as well. To think I called him friend. I hope he’s bright enough to stay out of my way, or we may be run out of town rather than be leavin’ on our own.” Brendan sighed. “I best turn in. Don’t you be stayin’ up too late at your mendin'.”
Abby stared after Brendan. He’d championed Joshua the longest, keeping her hope alive until after Daniel’s birth. He’d been the one to encourage that last shameless letter she’d written. Brendan had just grown quiet about the subject when no answer came from Germany. In fact, he’d never spoken a word against his former friend until tonight, and now he was filled with anger and threats. She wondered why the change but shrugged off the thought. Perhaps as with her, Joshua’s return had opened the wounds of betrayal.
Chapter Two
Joshua stopped outside his father’s study. When they’d arrived Harlan had been sleeping, so Josh had decided to unpack. When he’d seen his room redone in an adult—if not an ostentatious—decorating style, he’d let himself hope his father saw him as a man now. But when Henry brought word that Harlan wanted to see him, old feelings brought doubt. He wondered if he’d ever truly be his own man in Wheatonburg. Here he felt like a rich man’s puppet. His father’s puppet.
He forced himself to remember who he was—who he’d become. He was one of the world’s most sought-after mining engineers. He’d answered to no one for years, and had a reputation for being an independent thinker. Straightening to his full six foot one inches of height, Josh opened the study door.
“Son. Come in. Come in,” Harlan called.
Joshua braced himself for the sight of his once robust father confined to a wheelchair. But he wasn’t prepared for how old the man looked after ten years. His blunt Germanic features were now rounded with excess weight. His once muscular chest seemed to have caved in, the rubble falling in an enormous bulge on his lap.
Forcing himself forward, Josh wanted to allow his father as much of his dignity as possible regardless of the bad blood between them. He advanced steadily and shook Harlan’s hand.
“It’s good to have you home, son,” Harlan said. His voice wobbled a bit. It gave Josh hope that the old man really was glad to have him back and willing to accept him as he was.
“It’s good to be home,” Josh answered, though he qualified it in his mind as feeling only a bit better than he’d expected.
“Sit down, Joshua. I asked Franklin to sit in on this meeting for several reasons. First, I thought there should be a witness.” Harlan reached beside him, and picked up a set of keys and a piece of paper. He handed each to Joshua in turn. “Here is the combination to the safe, and these are the keys to this office and all the buildings owned by Wheaton Coal. As I agreed, you’re free to run the mines as you see fit. It’s what I’ve always wanted. A family business. There are only two of us, but I’m sure there’ll be more soon.”
“There is no woman in my life. I thought I’d made that clear,” Joshua countered. “I’m not averse to marriage, as I told you. But I haven’t met anyone in recent years I’d want to spend the rest of my life with.”
“You have to forget what’s past,” Harlan groused, shifting restlessly in his chair. “You can’t go back. There’s too much water gone over that dam. Which brings me to the second reason I asked Franklin to be here. We’d … Franklin and I … uh …”
Gowery chuckled. “What your father is trying so carefully to say is he and I would like you and Helena to make a match of it. As soon as possible.”
Joshua blinked. “Pardon me?”
“I want you to marry my ward.”
“Franklin, don’t take this as an insult, but, no. I scarcely know her.”
“You must admit she’s a lovely young woman.”
From the implacable expression on his father’s face, Joshua knew there would be no diplomatic way to extricate himself from this situation. “Be that as it may, I don’t want to marry her.”
Gowery nodded. His patronizing expression irritated Joshua even before he spoke. “I am given to understand that there was once a girl in your life. Are you still in love with her?”
Joshua sucked a breath through gritted teeth. This came too closely on the heels of that heart-wrenching glimpse of Abby in town. “She’s out of my reach, Franklin, not that it’s any of your affair. My father had no right to speak of my private business.”
“Helena also loved unwisely. Her husband will need to overlook her error, however, if you take my meaning. She isn’t in the family way, fortunately. You needn’t worry about that. The man is completely unsuitable and as Helena is all alone in the world, I am obligated to see to her future. We’ve never been close but her father was a friend. You should know Helena is heiress to a considerable fortune, which will be turned over to you when you two marry.”
“My father should have warned you, Franklin. I can’t be bought.” Joshua’s comment snapped like a whip through the room. He glanced sharply at Harlan then added, “Or threatened. He tried both ten years ago and hasn’t seen me since.”
Gowery laughed. “I would hardly call being made a millionaire for marrying a lovely young woman a threat. Nor is it a bribe. I like you, Joshua. You’re from a good, solid family and I know my friend’s daughter would be well taken care of as your wife. She has to marry. Why not take advantage of a windfall?”
“I should think you’d want more for the daughter of a friend than to be considered a windfall. Love for instance?”
“Love is a much lauded but stupid emotion. It leads people to foolishness, desperation and heartache. You’ve learned that. Helena will accept it, as well. What Harry Conwell wanted for his daughter is the kind of alliance I have with my wife and your father had with your mother. Under the terms of Harry’s will, I must approve of the man or she doesn’t inherit.”
Joshua suppressed a shudder, remembering his parents’ cold union, and the poor German widow forced into an illicit alliance to fill the private needs his father’s wife refused to deal with. Josh would die alone before he’d live the way they had. “I suggest you look elsewhere.”
“At least consider it?” Gowery asked. “Squire Helena about for a day or two. Get to know her. There is another man I’m considering who is from just as good a family. I’ll settle on him if you refuse even though Helena seems to despise him.”
Poor Helena. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to agree to spend time with her. He could give her a reprieve for a little while. She was a pleasant person and certainly not hard on the eyes. Harlan’s chair creaked, drawing Joshua’s attention. He sat back in his own chair and looked toward his father again. “You’ve been surprisingly quiet, Father.”
“I think you would be wise to think about Franklin’s offer. He’s only trying to do his duty by the girl and it isn’t as if arranged marriages among people of our class are unusual. Don’t turn it down out of hand just because I’ve endorsed the girl.”
Joshua smiled. “That would be rather childish. If I remember from our recent communications, we’ve decided I’m a man now. I’ll run the company and escort who I wish and, as it so happens, it suits my purposes to be Helena’s escort while she’s here. If we decide to pursue a relationship, it will be because we choose to for personal reasons—not financial gain or because you two have meddled in our lives. Is that clear?”
Both men nodded, but considering their personalities, Josh was sure it was only a temporary capitulation. “Pressure either of us and even this much of a concession is at an end,” he added.
By the time dinner was over, however, Josh knew he couldn’t marry Helena. She clearly hated him for some unknown reason. After thinking it through, he went downstairs to tell Harlan of his decision but got a nasty earful instead. What he overheard chilled him and placed him in the most difficult position he’d ever been in.
It seemed his father had left out something rather important when he turned the company over to Josh—like having hired Pinkerton agents to act as spies within the mining community. Josh understood both Gowery’s and his father’s desire to eliminate the threat from the thugs who’d taken over the failed American Miners United union. His father had been shot by one of them, after all. Josh’s anger initially came from being left in the dark but then he heard something that made his blood boil.
“I want evidence gathered on one man specifically, Brendan Kane,” Josh heard Gowery say.
“Is this because he seduced Helena then discarded her?” a voice unknown to Josh asked.
“He’s miles below her in station. He had no right to even talk to her let alone have his way with her. I want him to swing—if not for that then for Harry Conwell’s murder,” Gowery demanded.
“We have no proof that Helena’s father was even killed by a miner let alone her lover,” the undercover Pinkerton agent said. The man’s British accent seemed to be tinged with a touch of Irish. “I was there,” he went on. “I held Conwell as he died.”
Newspaper accounts of Harry Conwell’s murder had placed both Gowery and Jamie Reynolds, the Earl of Adair, at the scene. Did that mean that for some reason an earl was working undercover for the Pinkertons? Joshua had to agree with the man’s assessment of Helena’s father’s death. Josh was sure Brendan Kane was innocent of everything except seducing Helena.
Josh wished he could simply warn Brendan but that might not be wise. He was trapped, Josh thought as he made his way to his room upstairs. If he didn’t agree to the marriage, Gowery would just take Helena and leave town.
He had to talk to her.
Since Josh rarely put off unpleasant tasks, he went immediately to her room and tapped on the door.
“Joshua?” she whispered after cracking the door open.
“I need to talk to you. I know it’s late, and that this is irregular, but may I come in?”
Helena’s shadowed figure grew rigid. “I don’t know what Uncle Franklin told you, but I assure you, I will not allow you to sample the merchandise!”
She started to close the door, but Josh pressed his shoulder against it. “I said talk. That’s what I meant. Look, I don’t want to sound melodramatic but this is a matter of life or death.”
Helena considered him, then stepped back and silently motioned him inside. She had a lamp burning low on a table between two chairs at the far end of the room. She walked to one of the chairs and sat, gesturing to the other.
He sat. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but—”
“I was awake.” Her tone was flat and preoccupied. “I don’t sleep well anymore.”
“You’re very resentful of me. Why?”
“You’re a man,” she snapped. “I doubt you have the capacity to understand. What exactly is the plan for tonight? Compromise the little heiress and gain control of her fortune?”
Josh raked a hand through his hair. What if she resented Brendan? “I came here to ask your help,” he explained. “You don’t want to marry me and I don’t want to marry you. My father married my mother for her money. I was merely the second clause in the negotiations. She had little choice, and it seems you don’t, either. Am I right?” She nodded. “If I don’t marry you, Franklin will go looking for another man for you.”
“He has another man all picked out to step in line.” Helena laughed quietly but it was a sad sound. “I can’t marry the man I love, because he’s poor and Uncle Franklin is sure he’s after my money. It’s perfectly acceptable, though, to hand me over to you or some earl who is probably bankrupt and obsessed with me. There’d be no pretense of love in the marriage on my end, but one of you will have my money as a reward. With him I’d be the Countess Adair. What do you have to offer?”
She’d answered the question of why a man of consequence like an earl would be foolhardy enough to become involved with spying on the AMU. He was trying to find the man who killed the father of the woman he loved. So where did all that leave Helena and Brendan? Poor Helena was closer to a slave than the miners. “Do you still love him and does Brendan Kane return your feelings?”
She looked up in surprise at the mention of Brendan’s name and a tear glistened at the corner of her eye. “He loves me so much he won’t see me or talk to me. He thinks he’s not good enough for me but that isn’t true. He’s wonderful. And noble. All he worries about is that he can’t give me what I’ve always had. He’s bitter about losing me but he’s as stubborn as Uncle Franklin. I wanted to run away with him, but he says he won’t rob me of my inheritance. How did you find out his name?”
Joshua leaned forward and took her fisted hands in his. “I just got an earful outside my father’s room. Franklin wants retribution, Helena, and he’s using your earl to get it. Have you ever heard of the American Miners United or the term Workmen?”
“Of course, Uncle Franklin says it was members of the AMU who shot your father and killed mine. And they’ve threatened Uncle Franklin. Workmen are what their members are called.”
“Do you think Brendan Kane could be a Workman?”
Fire shot to her eyes. “He’d no more shoot a man in cold blood than he would his own father! And he wouldn’t belong to an organization that would!”
He’d needed to know what she thought. She thought Workmen had killed her father. She wouldn’t harbor one. “I hadn’t thought so but I haven’t seen or heard from Brendan since I left here.”
Helena’s eyes widened. “You know Brendan.”
“He was my best friend. Your guardian is trying to frame Brendan as a Workman. They have Pinkerton spies all over Schuylkill County. A man named McParlan is close to getting a membership list in his sector. If they bring the men involved with the AMU to trial, many will hang. Your guardian means to see Brendan’s name added to the list.”
“I’ll warn him,” Helena burst out.
Josh shook his head. “No, you can’t. Neither can I. He may know men who’re in the AMU. They could be his good friends. There’s no sense in tempting him to warn a friend. If he did and something happens to one of the Pinkerton agents, and especially the earl, Brendan could be implicated.”
Joshua thought of Brendan as he watched emotions and thoughts race across Helena’s face. He didn’t like the idea of his friend being in the kind of pain he himself had been in for years. He didn’t want him to feel the emptiness that goes with losing love. For long minutes, the only sound in the room came from a clock ticking in the corner.
“According to the terms of your father’s will, will you ever be able to marry as you wish?”
“When I’m twenty-one. In three months time, I inherit, married or not. I’d hoped to put him off but Uncle Franklin is determined to choose for me before then. I can’t let another man touch—” She stopped and shook her head, a blush staining her pale cheeks. “I won’t marry anyone but Brendan.”
