The Engineered Engagement

by Erica Vetsch

  Geoffrey rammed his fingers into his hair. “I don’t know how he knew. He’s slippery. But Josie wouldn’t have shared the information with him. She knew how sensitive it was. She knew how much it meant to you. How much it meant to her.”

  “If she knew and told him anyway, that makes it worse.”

  “Go talk to her. Find out how this happened.”

  “Forget it.” Eli’s heart went hard as a chunk of ice. She’d handed back her ring because she knew she’d betrayed him and she couldn’t stomach it. “If Fox has implemented the same designs as the Bethany, then the race will be closer than I thought. I have more than enough work to do without confronting Josie with her duplicity.” He stood and scooted his chair under the table.

  For a long moment he looked down on the man he had thought was his best friend. “I don’t know what I’ll tell Grandfather. If I tell him the truth, he’ll have you cleaning out your office in the Kennebrae Building before supper. I don’t think you meant me any harm with your lying, but it’s harmed me all the same. Just stay away from me from now on.”

  Seventeen

  “But how did Fox find out?” Despair clawed up Josie’s throat.

  Geoff stood before her, mangling his hat brim. “I don’t know. He mentioned meeting us together near the canal, and he said he’d had you checked out, sent an investigator to your tutor. Fox knew it all. He claimed you’ve been feeding him information all along, that he knows all the designs and modifications to the Bethany, and he’s sure he can win the race. Threw it right into Eli’s face.”

  “That’s impossible. The designs have never left my room unless they were in your possession. Every time you brought me new plans, I took them right up to my desk.” Josie sank onto the garden bench, the same bench where only two days before Eli had held her in his arms. “What did Eli say?”

  “He walked out like he was in a trance. I went back to the office, but he wasn’t in the Kennebrae Building. I don’t know where he is. I decided I’d better head over here in case he’d come to confront you about things.”

  “Did he fire you?” Guilt at landing Geoffrey in so much trouble swamped her.

  “No, but as good as. When Abraham finds out what we’ve been up to, he’ll sack me for sure.”

  Josie blinked back tears and twisted her fingers. “Grandma Bess was right. She says a lie that goes on only gets more and more complicated until the liar is tied up in her own web. I’m so sorry, Geoff. I never should’ve drawn you into this.”

  “Don’t take all the blame for yourself. I had a major hand in this.” Geoff paced the flagstone path. “That still doesn’t explain how Fox knew. If you didn’t tell him, and I certainly didn’t, then how would he get his hands on the plans? What about a servant? Could a maid have slipped him the information?”

  “No, we don’t have an upstairs maid for the bedrooms. Mama thinks we girls should care for our own rooms the way she had to.”

  “Are any of the plans missing?”

  “No, that’s just it. I’ve got them all. When I’m done with the papers, I either give them to you or I burn them in the stove.”

  Something tickled the back of Josie’s mind, and she stopped speaking to focus on it. Something about Fox and her room. . . She shook her head. Grasping at straws. “What do you think Eli will do?”

  Geoff stopped pacing and fixed his gaze on her face. “Clarice says you’re in love with Eli. That you’ve loved him for a long time. Is that true?”

  Josie closed her eyes against the wave of pain and loss that crashed over her. Unable to speak around the lump in her throat, she could only nod. When she composed herself, she whispered, “It doesn’t matter now. He won’t even talk to me. He’ll never be mine. I broke the engagement two days ago. And he’d never take me back, not believing I betrayed him.”

  Geoff sank down on the bench beside her and put his arm around her in a brotherly hug. “I’m so sorry, Josie. But don’t give up yet. We’ll think of something.”

  ❧

  “I’m not surprised she broke the engagement. The last shred of her conscience must’ve goaded her into it. Couldn’t face marrying you when she’d lied.” Grandfather edged his chair farther into Eli’s shipyard workroom.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” Eli spread a map on the table. “Noah, now that you’ve been over the ship, what do you think of her?”

  Noah leaned against the wall, arms crossed, one ankle over the other. “I’d hardly recognize her if her name wasn’t painted on the stern. You’ve done a remarkable job with the repairs.”

  “And I think you’ll find she handles well, too. I wish we had time to give her a thorough shakedown before the race, but we’ll just have time to get her launched and fueled before next week. The hatches will be done in a few more days. Those gaskets were harder to fashion than I anticipated.”

  “Don’t you ignore me, young man.” Grandfather poked Eli in the side. “I came down here to talk about Josie, so start talking.”

  “She broke the engagement. That’s all there is to say. Now leave it. I’m busy.” He pointed to the map. “Noah, you’ll load here at the Zahn number two dock in Two Harbors. The cranes are being erected up there right now to lower the units into the hold. I’ve had to reinforce the pilings to accommodate the extra weight.” He leafed through the large papers on the desk and withdrew the plan for the loading system. “No more shoving one board at a time into the hold. You can be loaded in under four hours. I guarantee it.”

  Noah gave a low whistle of appreciation. “Four hours to load a lumber ship. It’s unheard of.”

  “We have to assume Fox has this plan. He’s taken over Zahn’s number one dock, and from what I can tell, he’s making much the same adjustments over there to crane load.” Eli ground his teeth.

  “I’m sorry about that.” Noah shook his head. “It’s a shame your girl let you down like that.”

  Grandfather snorted. “Thick as thieves, Fox and those Zahns. You made a lucky escape, boy. Radcliffe turned on me over the shipping contracts, and that girl betrayed you to our rival.”

  Eli slammed his pencil down with a slap. “I said I’m through talking about this. If you’d minded your own business instead of trying to shove me into an engagement I never wanted in the first place and if you’d have kept your mouth shut when Fox showed up at that picnic, I wouldn’t be in this mess. As usual, you leap first and think later. Now, unless you want to back out of this race and just hand the Bethany over to Fox right now, I suggest you leave me alone to finish the repairs.” He turned to his brother. “I’ll be back when the room is a little less crowded.”

  The entire shack shuddered when he slammed the door, but he didn’t care. Grandfather could stew in his own juice. From now on, Eli was his own man. He’d do his best to win this race, for his brothers’ sakes and Kennebrae Shipping, but after that, he was finished.

  Good shipbuilders were needed back East. If he couldn’t get hired on somewhere, he’d start his own company. And he’d stay away from women, lawyers, and interfering old men.

  Eighteen

  Josie braced herself against the concrete pier wall, leaning out over the canal.

  People pushed and shoved, trying to find good spots from which to see the race. In the background, the Duluth City Band played a lively tune. Bunting and flags flapped in the gusting wind.

  She glanced up at the swollen, tumbling clouds that looked ready to burst with rain at any moment. What should’ve been a glorious day hovered, anxious and out of sorts, much like Josie herself.

  Whitecaps and chop slapped against the pier side, sucking and slurping as if trying to climb over each other to get onshore. She pulled her coat tight.

  “Is it time?” Giselle tugged on Josie’s hand. “When will the boats come?”

  “I told you, wait for the whistle. The ships will pull out of their docks and head right through the canal. You won’t miss a thing.”

  Josie put her hand on Toni’s shoulder and tugged her back.
“The race will be irrelevant to you if you plunge into that cold water. And Mama will have a fit.”

  Toni rolled her eyes but kept her heels on the ground.

  Giselle yanked on Josie’s sleeve. “I wish we could ride on the boat like Papa. Why’d he go on Mr. Fox’s boat? I thought he would ride with Eli. That’s where I’d go. I like Eli better. Mr. Fox thinks little girls are stupid. But he’s the one who is stupid.” She stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes. “He couldn’t even find the washroom when he was at our house, even though I told him where it was. He went right into your room instead. Stupid man.”

  Josie grabbed Giselle by the shoulders. “Mr. Fox was in my room? You saw him? When?”

  The little girl blinked, her lower lip quivering. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I promise.”

  Josie loosened her grip. “It’s all right, Giselle. You’re not in trouble. But you’re sure you saw Mr. Fox in my room?”

  The little girl’s black curls bounced when she nodded. “He was in there a long time. That’s why I thought he was stupid. He should’ve known right off that wasn’t the washroom.”

  Josie’s lips pressed tight in vindication. Fox had gone into her room and stolen the plans. Her shoulders sagged. Little good it would do her, though. If Eli wouldn’t listen to her, he wasn’t likely to listen to Giselle.

  A whistle blast pierced the air, quickly swallowed by the shouts around her. The race was on!

  Josie pressed her middle against the seawall and leaned out as far as she dared, trying to see past the heads and shoulders of others doing the same. Her hands pressed the concrete, her palms stinging.

  The Keystone Vulpine appeared first, riding high, the water churning to foam in her wake. Almost in her shadow, the Bethany nosed forward. The Vulpine would make it out of Duluth Harbor first. The ship passed before them, stack belching smoke, cutting through the green blue water with ease. High above the crowd, deckhands lined the rail.

  “There’s Papa! Look, Josie, it’s Papa!” Giselle hopped, clapping and waving by turns.

  Radcliffe Zahn stood in the pilothouse doorway, the lapels of his greatcoat fluttering.

  Josie tore her gaze away, disappointment at her father’s actions coursing through her. That he would treat his agreement with the Kennebraes so cavalierly, aligning himself with their rival while still expecting them to honor the engagement between the families, shamed her. His claim that it was “just business” and she “wouldn’t understand” didn’t cut much ice with Josie. The way a person conducted business revealed character. She hoped he would be as cavalier when she told him of the broken engagement.

  She swallowed. She hadn’t conducted her business very well. What did that say about her character?

  The Vulpine’s midship glided past. Josie concentrated on the hull. A converted ore carrier just like the Bethany. She knew the hold would contain the same storage and loading apparatus as Eli had designed. The interior bracing, the hull dimensions, all of it stolen by Fox. She closed her eyes and could see in her mind the final drawings—every line, every curve, every calculation clear. When she opened her eyes, the stern of the Vulpine slid past.

  But something was different. Josie concentrated on the aft hatch cover, the ship’s propulsion shortening her angle of view. The housing around the hatch looked odd. The shadow line seemed off somehow. A wide-brimmed hat blocked her vision.

  Josie stepped back from the crowd lining the waterway and grabbed Giselle’s and Toni’s hands. She shouldered her way up the pier toward the open lake. A wild elbow dislodged her hat, but she ignored it and moved on, trying to get a better look at the departing ship.

  A man caught her by the arm. “Whoa there, miss, what’s your hurry?” A pair of field glasses swung from a strap around his neck.

  “Please, sir, might I borrow those?” She released Toni’s hand. “Stay right by me.”

  He smiled, clearly bemused, and took off his hat to remove the glasses.

  She snatched them and pressed them to her eyes. The Vulpine’s stern leaped close in her vision. The ship quartered slightly, but even that angle presented her enough of a view to know she hadn’t been wrong.

  Fox’s ship was a bomb waiting to go off. The hinges fastening the hatches to the deck were the same ones Eli had originally intended to use. If Fox had used the drawings from her desk the day he had visited the house, then those hinges were under-engineered. They’d facilitate the loading, but in bad weather, with the tremendous strain of water crashing over the deck, they’d let go.

  The Bethany plunged through the Duluth Canal, her steel bulk obliterating the Vulpine from view. Josie swung the glasses upward and trained them on the pilothouse. Dark silhouettes moved in the little room. A face appeared in the window. A lump formed in her throat when she made out Eli’s features. Then he was gone, the Bethany taking him out onto the lake.

  Abraham Kennebrae. He was the only one with the clout to call a halt to the race before it was too late. But where in this throng could she find him?

  The Kennebrae Building. She pressed the glasses back into the stranger’s hand, flashed him a smile, and snaked through the crowd, dragging her sisters along in her wake. Thanks to the Duluth papers, the race had brought throngs of people down to the canal. By the time she reached the steps of the Kennebrae Shipping headquarters, she was out of breath. The comparative quiet of the lobby wrapped around her.

  “May I help you, miss?” A sour-faced man behind a counter fixed her with a fishy eye, and his mouth pinched tight at sight of her little sisters gaping at the ornate interior of the office building. “There are no public facilities here. You’ll have to go up the street.”

  “I came to see Mr. Abraham Kennebrae. Is he here?” Josie squared her shoulders and took a step forward.

  “The offices are closed to business.” His narrow nostrils twitched.

  “If he is here, I must see him.” She smoothed her wild hair, knowing it must look as if she’d combed it with a broom.

  The watchdog stepped out from behind his oak and marble barricade. “Miss, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Mr. Kennebrae doesn’t have time for casual callers. Reporters have been trying to gain access all day.”

  “I’m not a reporter.” Josie’s eyes widened. “Please, you’ve got to let me see him.”

  “Dawkins? Is there a problem?” Jonathan Kennebrae came down the staircase. His stern expression blew frost over Josie’s hopes. “What can I do for you?”

  “I need to see Mr. Kennebrae right away.”

  Jonathan’s brown eyes looked her up and down. “He won’t welcome you. He’s very angry about what you did, giving Eli’s designs to Fox.” He crossed his arms.

  “But I didn’t! And I can prove it. Please, I have to see him. He’s the only one who can help me.” She clasped his arm, pleading with him.

  He blew out a breath and shook his head, and for a moment Josie feared he wouldn’t help her. Finally, he shrugged. “Come along then.”

  Dawkins retreated, head bowed.

  Josie just avoided sending a triumphant glance his way as she took Jonathan’s arm and allowed him to lead her upstairs. She looked back over her shoulder to make sure Giselle and Toni followed.

  Jonathan escorted them through a door at the end of a long hallway.

  Once inside Abraham Kennebrae’s sanctum, the words clogged in her throat. He perched in his chair like a bird of prey, the sweeping views of the lake spreading before him. In the distance, the ships receded, steaming north to Two Harbors. Lightning split the sky, and the windows rattled with the crack of thunder that followed. As if the sound had burst the bottom of the clouds open, rain spattered the glass then sluiced down in a blurry sheet.

  “Josephine.” He turned hawk eyes toward them, so intense under lowered white brows her courage nearly deserted her. “Have you come to crow? Selling us out to Gervase Fox. Do you have any idea what you’ve done to Eli? What you’ve done to Kennebrae Shipping?” Though Jonathan made tamping down mo
tions with his hands, Abraham stormed on. “You Zahns are turning out to be a rum lot.”

  “Mr. Kennebrae. . .” Her voice sounded small in the cavernous room. But she forged on, seeing again her father’s profile on the deck of the Vulpine. Panic clawed her insides, forcing the words out though she wanted to flee his accusations. “Mr. Kennebrae, you have to stop this race.”

  He blinked and sat back.

  She rushed on. “Fox’s ship is unsafe. The hatches won’t stand up to the strain, especially in a storm. I know you think I betrayed Eli, but I didn’t. Mr. Fox stole the plans of the Bethany from my room.” She turned to Giselle and drew the little girl forward. “Tell him what you told me about Mr. Fox.”

  Giselle took one look at Abraham and clamped her mouth shut. She gripped Josie’s hand and lowered her chin, looking at the old man through her lashes.

  “Please, Giselle, it’s important.”

  “No, he’s mean. He talked mean to you, Josie.”

  “I’ll tell.” Toni stepped forward, her hands on her hips. “That sneaky Mr. Fox came to our house pretending to be nice to Mama. But he wasn’t really nice. He said he needed to use the washroom, but he didn’t. He snuck into Josie’s room and was in there a long, long time. That’s where Josie keeps all her papers and drawings, all the stuff from helping Eli build his ship. And I think it’s rotten of you to say Josie sold you out to Mr. Fox. She doesn’t even like him. She’d never do anything to hurt Eli. She loves Eli.”

  Heat raced up Josie’s cheeks.

  Abraham looked up at her then returned his gaze to Toni. “She does, does she? And what makes you say that?”

  “She’s worked so hard on his plans. And she gets all dreamy after he visits, and I saw her kiss him in our garden. She wouldn’t kiss him if she didn’t love him.”

  Josie’s humiliation was complete. If only she could evaporate right then.

  Abraham fixed her with another sharp look. “That makes excellent sense, young lady. Now, tell me again about Mr. Fox.”