by Karen Woods
“I’m not a murderer,” Michael said. “You know that. You should also know I would never hurt you, in any way.”
There was a long pause before she said, “Someone wanted to. That someone had to have been a member of your household, Michael.”
“Don’t talk about this to anyone, honey. I’m going to find out what really happened there. It’s been several years, so it isn’t going to be easy. But, I still have some contacts. I’ll find out. It would have been easier if you had just spoken to me about it at the time, Daisy. But, no, you go and assume the worst and run out. You couldn’t even trust me, a little, could you?” His tone dripped with emotion—Hunt thought he could hear both hurt and anger.
“Trust you? Why should I have trusted you when I had just discovered that you had bribed Jarod, that you had basically bought me my position with the symphony, and that someone had tampered with my car? No, Michael, asking me, then, to you, to trust anyone, was more than was humanly possible,” she said, her voice sounding infinitely weary.
“Will you trust me, now?”
“I want you to swear to me that you had nothing to do with the tampering of my car.”
“On my sainted grandmother’s grave, Daisy, I swear to you that I had nothing to do with the death of your boyfriend,” he said solemnly, “Which resulted from the sabotage of your car.”
“That wasn’t what I asked you to swear to,” Maggie replied.
“Daisy, I had nothing to do with, and no knowledge of, any tampering done to your brakes. I swear.”
“Okay, Michael. I believe you. I’ve always been able to tell when you were lying to me.”
“Now that we’ve got that settled, when are you going to move back home?” Michael asked. “Jack and Patty asked me to take care of you.”
“Leave my parents out of this, Michael!” she warned sharply. “You haven’t heard a single word that I’ve said, have you? I don’t want to be ‘kept’. All I wanted was to, for once in my life, lead a normal existence. Whatever ‘normal’ is. I’m not sure that I know what that word means. All I know is that the rarefied air of ivory towers is stifling, Michael.”
“Princesses deserve towers, Daisy. You always were a princess. Please come back home.”
“Sorry, I just can’t.”
“What more do you want?”
“I’m standing on my own two feet, now. I enjoy that. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had thought that you might even be proud of me. I finished my degree in marketing, graduating with high honors. It wasn’t easy, but I did it at night while working at Faulks during the day. Did you know that? I’ve earned more in the past year than most working class people make in ten years. I’m an independent woman, standing on my own two feet. And I don’t need you, Michael, or anyone else to protect me.”
“Of course, darling girl, I’m pleased with what you’ve been able to accomplish. I’m proud of you. But, right now, you are out of a job. I’d like to have you back home with me, at least until you are married to that young fellow who is listening at the door.”
“Hunt can be trusted,” Maggie said.
“What do you know about the man?”
“Enough. I know enough about him,” Maggie responded quietly. “I trust him.”
“Do you love him, Daisy?”
Hunt waited for that answer.
“What is ‘love’, Michael?” she answered, the weariness stronger in her voice. “I thought I knew once, but I am no longer that naive.”
“Daisy, don’t dismiss love that easily. It is one of the few things that makes life worth the effort,” Michael said.
After a moment, Michael added, “Don’t stand there and shrug at me, young woman. Are you really going to marry that young man?”
“I’ve stopped making predictions about the future, Michael,” she said. “I can’t do anything but live one day at a time. Planning for the future is a waste of time. Especially, when I am not certain that I have a future.”
“If you really felt that way, you would not have been a good saleswoman,” Michael replied somewhat sharply. “Don’t kid a kidder, Baby Girl.”
“Don’t call me that, Michael,” she replied, her voice suddenly harsh.
“I miss Jack, too,” Michael said, his tone softer.
“I know that you do.”
“Come home for a while, Daisy. Conserve your resources.”
“I’m hardly likely to starve, Michael.”
“I never said that you were,” he protested. “You came into control of your trust fund last year. Even if you never worked a day in the rest of your life, you wouldn’t starve. Jack and Patty saw to that.”
“I can’t move back to your house, Michael,” she said softly. “I don’t think that I need to restate the reasons.”
“Then let me hire some bodyguards for you. You could easily go to the lodge. Stefan could use a hand with the winter trade. You know how he is always talking about how difficult it is to keep good help.”
“I can’t hide from life, Michael. I’ve never been one to run and hide. I’m too much my father’s daughter for that.”
“Jack was the finest man I’d ever known. He was an officer and a gentleman in the best of the Army tradition. You do favor your father. Sometimes too much,” Michael had replied sadly. “It used to bother your mother how much you were like Jack. Patricia used to worry herself sick over your willfulness. I can’t tell you the nights that she laid awake, troubled by your stubbornness.”
“Don’t even try to invoke Mother’s memory as a means of making me compliant,” Maggie warned. “It won’t work. I won’t stand for it.”
“Come home, Daisy. I need your help with the presidential campaign. I need my family around me.”
“If for no reasons other than PR, right?” Maggie asked.
“Now, Daisy. Cynicism doesn’t become you.”
“I’m not going to go home with you, Michael,” she said firmly. “Even if the person responsible for the accident is no longer around, Susan and I have never gotten on.”
Michael laughed bitterly. “I remember. But, we’re all older. The relationships will be different now.”
“You’re deluding yourself, Michael. Susan sees me as a threat to her security. And there was a time that she was right. There was a time that I would have said or done anything to get her out of your life, Michael. I never thought that she was good enough for you. I still don’t. The difference now is that I know that what I think doesn’t matter to you.”
“That’s not true!” Michael replied firmly.
Hunt pieced things together. Patty had married Michael within a few months of Jack O’Shay’s death. Then Michael had remarried shortly after Patty’s death. Maggie’s stepfather’s new wife, Susan, who was only a few years older than Maggie, obviously resented her strongly. The situation between the young women had probably been little less than a state of open warfare. No wonder she had said that it would take more than one evening to explain the reasons that she had been distant from her stepfather for years.
She sighed before continuing, “She is the woman that you have committed to. At the very least, you owe her the privilege of having a peaceful home. We both know that if I were to return to the estate the last thing that Susan would have would be peace. I can’t say that your marriage to her makes me happy. But, the fact remains that you are married to her. Go home and have a happy life. I wish the both of you only the best things.”
“Well, I guess that I’ve done all that I can do to lure you back home with me. It really isn’t going to work, is it?”
“No. It isn’t going to work, Michael. I can’t believe you actually thought that it would.”
Michael laughed. “No, I didn’t believe I would really be able to lure you back home. But, I had hoped we might make peace between us. You know, I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow. When you came early, you threw all of my carefully rehearsed plans right into the trash.”
“That’s why I don’t make detailed plan
s, except when I have to coordinate efforts with others,” Maggie replied quietly.
“If you won’t come home, at least come to work for my campaign. I need a smart and savvy national volunteer coordinator. You always were good at motivating people.”
“I don’t know, Michael. I don’t know. I’m going to have to think about that.”
“Will you promise me that you will not sabotage my campaign?” Michael asked quietly.
“I won’t purposefully say or do anything which will reflect badly on you,” she pledged. “I know that you would be one of the best presidents that this country ever had. You have to know that you have my full support.”
“I suppose that I should be satisfied with that,” Michael said slowly. “At least, you no longer hate my guts.”
“I’m not sure that I ever hated your guts, Michael,” she answered.
“You should know I’ve changed my will,” Michael said softly.
“I don’t want anything from you, Michael.”
“Susan will have a life estate on the house and grounds. At her death, it will revert to you. I’ve allowed her an annuity sufficient to keep her in a moderate lifestyle. Everything else is going to be yours, free and clear. You’re going to be a very wealthy woman, Daisy.”
“Why in the world would you want to do that?” she asked.
“Who else would I leave everything to? My stepbrothers’ families certainly do not need the money. And, after all, Jack was closer to be than many of the members of my own family. I’ve always thought of you as the daughter whom I never had.”
“I’m warning you, Michael. Leave me your fortune and within one year, it will all be given to charity,” she said softly.
The man’s voice sounded odd. “Well, maybe it will buy my place into heaven. I’ll be seeing you, Daisy. Be well, be happy. And let me hear from you, occasionally.”
“Take care of yourself, Michael. Give my regards to Susan,” she said, sounding polite.
“Just kiss me goodbye.”
“Sure,” she said as she leaned up and kissed him chastely on the cheek just as Hunt opened the door.
“You said ten minutes, but since you didn’t seem to be killing each other, I thought I’d just let you talk it out.”
Michael smiled at Hunt, then turned his smile to Maggie. “That’s a considerate young man, you’ve got there, Daisy. I’ve got the feeling that he would have tried to take me limb from limb, if I had been a threat to you.”
“Tried is not the operative word, sir,” Hunt replied. “Succeeded would be much more appropriate.”
Michael laughed boldly. “Well, Daisy, are you going to introduce us?”
Maggie smiled broadly. “Michael, may I present Hunt Thomas. Hunt, this is my stepfather, Senator McLaughlin.”
“Thomas? I recall a Hank Thomas who was three years behind me at Annapolis. Any relation?” Michael asked.
“My father.”
Michael smiled. “You favor him, son. What is Hank doing these days?”
“Running the family’s Inn in Vermont. And preparing to retire for the second time.”
“He stands out in my memory as an athlete and a fine sailor,” Michael replied thoughtfully. “Give him my regards when you speak with him.”
“I will,” Hunt said.
“You could do a lot worse for yourself, Daisy. Have you set a date?” Michael said with evident approval in his voice.
“Not as yet, Sir,” Hunt answered for them both.
She smiled and spoke with genuine affection in her voice, “Michael, you are a real S.O.B.”
Michael laughed as he remembered their old private joke. “I hope that means Sweet Old Buzzard.”
“It does,” she replied with a slight laugh. “God speed, Michael.”
Michael laughed in return. “Listen, young man, you take good care of my Daisy. She thinks that she is invincible.”
“She knows her limitations, sir,” Hunt replied.
“Would you both, kindly, stop talking about me as though I were not in the room?” Maggie snapped.
Hunt smiled at her. “Sorry, Maggie mine.”
Michael looked appraisingly at his stepdaughter, then at Hunt. “Take good care of her.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Daisy, I’ll have your mother’s wedding dress cleaned and sent to you. Patty always wanted you to have it for your own wedding.”
“Michael . . . .”
Michael smiled at his stepdaughter. “You will let me walk you down the aisle, Daisy, won’t you?”
Maggie looked at Hunt.
Hunt smiled at her. Then he looked at Michael. “I’m not certain that it will be a big enough wedding to warrant that, sir. The ceremony will be very quiet, I’m sure.”
“You will be married in the Church?” Michael asked. “Patty would have wanted you to be married in the Church.”
“I have no intention of marrying outside of my faith, Michael,” Maggie assured him.
Michael shrugged. “I must be getting old. In my day, women all wanted big, memorable, expensive, weddings. But, things change, I guess.”
“That’s what makes life interesting,” Hunt said.
“Call once in a while. At least, let me know that you are alive,” Michael said warmly as he kissed her forehead, then walked away.
She watched until he was gone and then sighed in relief. “I suppose that you’re curious?” she asked, caution coloring her voice.
Hunt smiled, “Hey, the past was there before. It’s always going to be there. I just have one question.”
“Only one? Go on, what do you want to know?”
“Will you marry me?”
“Ask me that again, Hunt, after we’ve known each other for a while longer, okay?” she answered quietly.
Hunt smiled broadly. “You are willing to entertain the thought?”
Maggie laughed. “I’ve always loved that phrase, ‘to entertain a thought.’ You can almost imagine inviting the thought to take a seat, pouring it a cup of coffee, and settling in for a cozy heart to heart. Quite an image.”
Hunt smiled at her. “You never answered my question.”
“Yes, Hunt. I’m willing to think about it at some later date, after we have gotten to know one another better. But, marriage is a very serious step. We need to know each other much more thoroughly before I would even think about it.”
“That’s all that I can ask right now,” he said softly, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “I promised myself a month’s vacation. I was planning to go to see my folks in Vermont on Sunday afternoon. Spend this time with me, Maggie. Let’s get to know each other. I can’t think of anything which I would like more,” he added. “My sisters are supposed to be home for Christmas, with their families. You can meet the whole clan.”
“I don’t think that is a very good idea, Hunt.”
“Why not?” he demanded.
Maggie blushed brightly.
Hunt smiled at her. “That wasn’t an indecent proposition, Maggie mine. My mother is as straight laced as they come. You’d be in a guest room all by yourself, even if we wanted it otherwise. That much I would guarantee you.”
If possible, Maggie’s blush became brighter.
Hunt laughed. “Do you have any idea of how enchanting I find you?”
“Enchanting or amusing?” she replied.
Hunt sobered. “Fascinating. I’ve fallen in love with you, Margaret Mary O’Shay. I wouldn’t have proposed otherwise.”
“Do you usually fall in love that quickly?” Maggie asked, and it was a question that needed an honest answer.
“I’ve been in love twice in my entire life, Maggie mine,” he told her. “You are only the second woman I have proposed marriage to.”
“Why aren’t you still with your first choice?” Maggie questioned quietly.
“The same reason that you didn’t marry your former fiancee. She died,” Hunt said, old hurt in his voice.
Maggie drew a deep, calming breath. “Let’
s just take this slow and easy, Hunt. We hardly know one another. Let’s give this some time.”
“Come up to Vermont with me. Meet my parents, sisters, and brothers. Listen to all the embarrassing stories that they tell about me. Spend time with me on the slopes. Sit with me before the fireplace in the main lounge, sipping hot buttered rums. I guarantee that you will have a good time.”
“You paint an appealing picture, Hunt.”
“Will you come with me?”
“I’ll have to think about it,” she hedged.
Natalie scurried up. “I just saw Uncle Michael leave. Are you all right, Maggie?”
Maggie smiled. “I’m fine. Now, I think that I’ll go get myself a cup of tea. Excuse me, please.”
Hunt smiled at her. “We haven’t finished our talk, Maggie.”
“We can talk later, Hunt.”
“We will talk later, Maggie. Count on it.”
“Somehow, I never doubted it, Hunt. You are as stubborn as I am.”
“More stubborn,” Hunt replied with a smile.
Maggie rolled her eyes as though begging for mercy before she turned and walked away.
“He’s a college buddy of Chuck’s. I don’t know him that well. He’s something of an enigma to me,” Natalie replied to Maggie’s question later that night, after most of the guests had gone, about how well she knew Hunt Thomas. There was something in Natalie’s tone of voice that disturbed Maggie.
Hunt walked up silently behind Maggie. He placed his arms about her waist and kissed her ear.
“Speak of the devil . . . .” Maggie said softly.
Hunt laughed, “Is that how you think of me?”
She turned around in his arms and looked at him. “I honestly don’t know what to make of you.”
“Good. Because the feeling is very mutual,” Hunt replied.
Chuck walked over to the three of them. “Hey, Hunt, old buddy, you’re taking your life in your own hands messing with Maggie,” he teased.
“I don’t think so. Maggie and I have an understanding,” Hunt said with more than a little warmth in his voice.