by Unknown
“Tonight,” he answered, turning his gaze back to the window.
“Dalton,” she urged as she came to his side. “I’ve never meddled in your intimate life before, but Marlena is not Rosa.”
“You don’t have to tell me that.”
“Meaning, you can’t kiss her and caress her heart into opening for you just before you turn and leave.”
“I know,” he bit, his voice terse in defense. “It was only a kiss, Mother. A single kiss.”
“I know you better than that, son,” she said. “Listen to me. We have two days left in Boston. You’d better decide your fate before then because whatever you choose is going to affect Marlena. It already has.”
With a deep breath, he shut his eyes and dropped his forehead to rest against the window pane. Choose his fate? The thought nearly made him laugh. He and Marlena had no choice. She was bound to the Winthrops. And he? He was bound to the inferior world beneath them. If Marlena stayed among the Winthrops, there was no place for him.
The same thoughts beleaguered him as they made their way to Beacon Street an hour later in the carriage. Juliet had been right about the bath. Marlena had emerged refreshed and relaxed, and wearing one of his mother’s fancier gowns. It wasn’t quite up to Brahmin standards, but it would suffice.
“Here,” he said, handing her his loaded pistol. “It’s bigger than yours, but it shoots the same. I’ll feel better knowing you have it.”
“Thank you,” she said, slipping it into her dress pocket.
As the house came into view, Marlena’s countenance fell into worry again. He reached across and squeezed her hand.
“I’m right here.”
She smiled, but said nothing and Dalton found himself wishing that Elijah had seen Marlena at The Museum. More than that, he actually prayed for an altercation of any kind, something that would send Marlena fleeing from this life and back into his arms. It was selfish, but he didn’t care. He’d spent his life looking after others, keeping them safe, and now the one person he wanted to protect most was beyond his control, and he didn’t like it one bit. How she’d come to mean so much to him in such a short time, he didn’t know. But neither did he question it. The feelings were real and solid.
The house was calm and composed as they joined Sarah and Elijah in the library. Dalton studied Sarah’s visage and it gave no indication of anything amiss. Elijah stood stern and severe as usual in front of the hearth. Greetings flew between them all, but soon Elijah faced Marlena and fixed her with her glare.
“Where have you been?” he demanded. “Don’t you know what’s happened tonight? We sent for you in your room and your maid said you’d gone. How dare you leave this house without our knowledge?”
Marlena sat tall and erect, a small show of strength that made Dalton proud. “I am not a child.”
“Where did you go?” Elijah said with narrowed eyes.
“I…I…”
“She came to see me at the Haverston Inn,” Dalton supplied. “We had dinner and played cards.”
Elijah turned his icy glare onto Dalton. “I don’t believe I addressed you, Sir.”
Dalton clenched his jaw and came to his feet. “I don’t believe I give a damn.”
Elijah flinched and like any blustering coward, he took a step back from Dalton and rang a bell. “You will leave my house at once and do well not to return.”
“Fine by me,” he turned to Marlena and held out a hand. “Let’s go.”
Marlena’s eyes widened and flitted between him and Sarah and she finally rose from her seat. “Dalton, I…I can’t. I told you...”
He swallowed over the lump in his throat. “You can. Just walk out that door and don’t look back.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes and her nostrils flared. Her voice cracked when she spoke. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
His insides went cold and empty, but his face flushed. He hadn’t believed she’d turn him down. He worried his fingers around the brim of his hat as it dangled in his grip. What was keeping her there? He knew she hated her life and the family lording over her. She longed for Virginia City. She longed for him. Didn’t she?
Two footmen entered and went to Dalton’s sides. He shrugged out of their grip and set his hat on his head, his eyes never leaving Marlena.
“If that’s the way you want it,” he said, then turned his back on her and left.
Chapter 13
Marlena’s chest seized, clenched in the powerful fists of guilt and despair. The look on Dalton’s face would haunt her forever. There had been such hope, such emotion, when he’d asked her to leave with him, and such betrayal and heartache when she’d refused. She had to tell him about the contract, had to make him understand about her debt to the Winthrops, so he would know she couldn’t pack up and leave no matter how much she wanted to.
Elijah chuckled behind her, and she turned to find his face smug with triumph. “I say, this has been a rather enjoyable evening.”
Marlena gaped at the odious man, unable to fathom where he found joy in the events of the evening.
“Are you not curious as to what I refer?” he asked with an arched brow.
Tears threatened to spill over her lashes and she wanted nothing more than to leave. “If it has made you happy, Elijah, I can say most heartily that I care not at all.”
He rolled his eyes with a snort before calling toward the door. “Come on in, Chris. It is time to celebrate.”
The man who entered set the hairs on Marlena’s arms to a stand. Cold, black eyes bore into hers with the look of a predator and she shivered. He looked near Elijah’s age, but with a strong and solid physique. His weathered face was half covered by a silvery black layer of scruff. He smiled easily as Elijah handed him a glass of brandy.
“Would you ladies care for a splash?” Elijah asked. They both declined and he tsked. “What glum company you make. Tonight, we toast the end of The Museum, and the clever man who brought it about.” He raised his snifter. “I promised to see the place burn ‘ere fall and I always keep my promises.”
Marlena’s heart leapt into her throat. “You burned the place down?”
“Of course,” he said with beady eyes and a wide grin. “There is only one way to deal with a canker, and that is to cut it out.” He turned to the man beside him. “My thanks, Chris, for a job well done.”
Chris saluted with his glass. “My thanks for the money to do it.”
Marlena’s lip curled in a mix of disgust and grief, and she shot to her feet. “Excuse me.”
She ran upstairs to her room, collapsing at the vanity where she cried her eyes out until she finally fell asleep. When she awoke hours later, the room was pitch black and the hour late, as told by the position of the moon. Her neck and back ached from the time spent unmoving in the chair. Her eyes were swollen and tired. She stood and stretched, feeling around the nightstand for matches to light a candle. A woman’s scream pierced the silence and Marlena gasped and stood still, straining to hear more.
A succession of thuds, glass shattering and muffled voices followed the scream and she finally left her room, padding quietly down the hallway toward the sounds. They took her to the other wing of the house, where she discovered Sarah and Elijah in the library. The door stood ajar and Marlena crept up to peer through the opening.
Sarah sat in a crumpled heap on the floor before the hearth, tears streaming down her cheeks with no sign of stopping. Elijah stood by the window, piles of glass shards forming a circle around his feet.
“How could you?” Sarah sobbed. “You promised, Elijah. You promised!”
“So did you, dear sister,” he hissed, his eyes bright and fierce. “But you broke your promise, didn’t you? I should have known you couldn’t keep away from him. You brought this on yourself.”
Sarah wiped at her nose and glared at him, her chest heaving with suppressed sobs. “How did you know?”
Elijah gave a condescending laugh. “Stupid woman. Nothing goes on without my knowledge. Oh yes, you
may have duped me with that filthy chit you brought into this house and all of your clever contracts. But I’ve known for quite some time your plans with the lowly shoemaker. You should have known I would never let it happen. Really, Sarah, stop all the blubbering. This should come as no surprise to you.”
“Did you stop sending money to Hazel?”
He snorted. “What money? I never sent a penny to that bastard child. I don’t even know where she is. She could be dead for all I know.”
Marlena’s brow furrowed as her widened eyes darted around the room. A bastard child? Sarah Jeanne Winthrop, a mother?
“So, you were a counterfeit from the start?” Sarah spat. “You never intended to keep any of the promises you made the day I gave her up.”
“That’s not true at all,” he countered with a cavalier air. “I did bury the scandal, didn’t I?”
“For your own gain. Not mine.” She shook her head back and forth. “Why wouldn’t you take care of Hazel like you promised? She is innocent.”
“Well, that is part of burying the scandal, isn’t it? Monthly wires are traceable. It would do me no good to get rid of the bastard only to connect myself to her so obviously. If we are lucky, she has succumbed to the rigors of the west and died.”
Sarah buried her face into the sofa cushions and wailed. “I hate you,” she spat. “I hate you more than the ungodliest of creatures.”
“Yes, well count yourself among them, you whore.”
A hysterical shriek ripped from Sarah as she jumped to her feet and lunged at Elijah, clawing at his face and neck. With very little effort, he grabbed her wrists, holding them in one hand so he could use the other to plant a fist into her right eye. She tumbled backwards, tripping over a coffee table and landed on the floor, but she recovered for another spirited attack. Elijah saw it coming and picked up the fire poker, holding it high to strike.
Childhood memories tore through Marlena. Screams. Blood. Terror. It all came rushing back and she refused to watch it happen again. She pushed through the door and charged Elijah, throwing herself against him with all of her might. He slammed into the wall and dropped the fire poker, but turned his ire onto Marlena. She saw his fist flying toward her and turned her body to take it in the right shoulder with a force that sent her reeling. She stumbled and landed on the floor.
He went after Sarah, but Marlena reached out, wrapping her arms around his ankles, preventing him from advancing. He shook the foot, kicking at her chest.
“Leave her alone,” Marlena said through grunts.
“You’re just as stupid as she is, defending a woman who is using you.”
He stomped on her fingers and she howled in pain, releasing him. Fire burned through her hand, tingling and scalding, but she struggled to her feet. Elijah lifted Sarah by the hair and yanked her to a stand and Marlena leapt on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“You’re not going to hurt her again,” she screamed, tightening her arms as much as she could, but Elijah’s size was his strength, and he soon flipped her over his shoulder, depositing her next to Sarah on the sofa. He reached for the poker and charged them with a scream and Marlena shot to her feet, brandishing the gun Dalton had given her and cocked it. He stopped short, the barrel touching the tip of his nose.
Marlena’s breaths shook like the rest of her body, even her hold on the gun, but that didn’t bother her. At this close range, she wouldn’t miss. Sweat poured down the sides of her face and the screaming pain in her hand began to smart even more. She narrowed her eyes at Elijah, never flinching, never blinking.
“I’ll kill you,” she said. “Do you hear me? I. Will. Kill. You. I shot the last man who tried to hurt me and, so help me, I’ll drop you where you stand if you don’t put that poker down and back away.”
He dropped the weapon and took several large steps back, holding his hands up in surrender. “You’re making a grave mistake, girl. If you kill me, it is the end of your life as well.”
She shrugged. “It might be. But it’ll be the end of yours, for sure.”
“You think you’re going to get away with this?” he asked. “You may leave tonight, but you’ll be arrested in the morning.”
“For what? The police will take one look at her face and my hand and your perfectly unblemished pompous ass and deduce what happened. And if they’re too thick in the head or deep in your pockets, we shall just have to be sure the Boston Herald knows how the head of the Moral Order beats his women, along with whatever scandal Sarah has to contribute to the story.” Elijah’s eyes went a shade darker, but there was also worry in them and Marlena pounced on it. “Or, you let us leave now, let us walk out of your life forever and we will keep quiet on all that has passed.”
He remained silent, and Marlena took that as a good sign. “Be smart, Elijah,” she said. “If one of us goes down, we all go down. Or we all walk away right now. What matters most to you?”
A long breath blew through his nostrils and he gave one stiff, curt nod. “You have ten minutes to remove yourselves from this house, or I shall notify the police of your attempted murder.”
Marlena chuckled as she pulled Sarah to her feet and backed away toward the library door.
“What do you find so amusing?” he asked.
“The word ‘attempted’. Believe me when I say, Elijah, if I decide to take your life, there will be no “attempt” about it. When you say your prayers tonight, thank God for my mercy.”
His eyes narrowed on her. “Get out of my house.” He turned to Sarah next, who clung to Marlena’s arm for support. “You haven’t heard the last of me.”
“Yes, I have brother,” she returned in a shaky voice. “Heard and seen the last of you, Boston, and anything to do with the Winthrop family.”
He glared at her. “So be it. You’ll never sing again east of the Mississippi.”
They backed out of the library and Marlena pulled the door shut, ushering Sarah to her room. “Quickly, gather everything you can carry.”
“What about your things?”
“There are only a few things I care about,” she answered. “And I can grab them on the way out.”
They packed two carpet bags full of Sarah’s items and headed toward the stairs, stopping in Marlena’s room so she could fill a bag with letters from her family and a few spare clothes. She grabbed the table Dalton made and the whittled horse. She still wore the ruby necklace. They shuffled down the stairs and out into the night. The streets were abandoned and eerily quiet.
“Where will we go?” Sarah asked with fear.
Marlena glanced around. It crossed her mind to go to Dalton, but she wasn’t sure he’d see her after the way they parted. “Can we go to the opera house? Will anyone be there?”
“No,” she answered with a shake of her head. “But we can go to Harrison’s.”
“Fine. You lead the way. If we see a transport, hail them down.”
“I don’t have money to pay for one,” Sarah said.
“I do,” Marlena replied, thankful for her meager earnings from The Museum. It didn’t take long for them to hail a carriage and they made the ride in silence. Marlena had questions, but Sarah was still too shaken to speak.
Harrison received them warmly and ushered them into his parlor, calling for tea and bandages. Sarah laid out the entire tale, and Marlena wondered at the lack of surprise in Harrison. It was then she realized the friendship between the two was stronger than she’d thought. After he’d seen to Sarah’s face and Marlena’s hand, wrapping it gingerly in bandages, he looked between the two women.
“Does she know everything?” he asked Sarah, who shook her head.
“Don’t you think she has a right now?”
Sarah nodded and took a deep breath.
“I know about your daughter, Hazel,” Marlena said, sparing Sarah the heartache of the admission. “I overheard you and Elijah.”
Tears gathered in Sarah’s eyes as she looked at Marlena. “I’ve been so hard on you,” she said. �
�I’m so sorry, but you must understand. I just…couldn’t be kind to you, couldn’t love you. I couldn’t be maternal in any way. It was too painful a reminder that I wasn’t a mother anymore.”
Marlena’s pity made her nod, but there was more she needed to know. “What did Elijah mean about you using me? He mentioned something about contracts.”
Harrison reached out and squeezed Sarah’s hand. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”
She nodded and faced Marlena again. “This all began when I fell in love with my shoemaker eight years ago. I didn’t want to love Peter. I knew it wasn’t a proper match, and my father would never approve. He was a traditionalist who believed marriage was about rank and security. Not love.” She bit the inside of her cheek and stared out as if lost in memories.
“And I was right. He discovered us one night and I’ll never forget the disappointment in his face, the disgust. Peter asked for my hand, but Father refused. We quarreled and my father died two days later of a heart attack.” She reached up and massaged her temples, closing her eyes as she went on. “He disinherited me, giving my half of the Winthrop estate to Elijah. I’ve been penniless ever since.”
Marlena’s forehead wrinkled. “But your concerts, your operas. Sarah, you make a fortune singing.”
Sarah shook her head, her eyes sad and weary. “Elijah makes a fortune, not me. When I started in opera, women couldn’t enter into business contracts, so my father made the contracts for me. All of the money went to him and he never put any restrictions on my spending. When Father died, those contracts passed to Elijah.”
Harrison placed his hand over Sarah’s and looked at Marlena. “I tried to negotiate contracts direct between Sarah and multiple venues, even some as far away as Philadelphia, but to no avail. The Winthrops are generous patrons of opera houses and concert halls all over New England. Elijah threatened to pull his funding if anyone did business with Sarah directly.”
Marlena bit the inside of her cheek, struggling to understand. “But why didn’t you just go to Peter and be with him? What leverage would Elijah have for blackmail? If you were disinherited, you had nothing to lose.”