by Linda Bridey
Now, however, she was reclusive, depressed, and had very little appetite. Anger and sadness were Maureen’s regular companions these days and she had a hard time sleeping some nights. The sight of their daughter bruised, battered, and terrified as she lay in the hospital bed that night would be forever burned in Maureen’s mind.
Geoffrey had been consumed with rage and had barely been prevented from going over to the Wilson’s residence to call Theo out and kill him. Although Maureen would have liked nothing better than for Geoff to thrash Theo, her sense of reason had prevailed and she and the police were able to keep him from doing so. Maureen kept telling him that their family needed him at home, not in prison, and she eventually got through to him.
Charges were pressed, but though it would have gone to court, Maddie didn’t want the humiliation of testifying. The Wilson family had protected their son, as any high society family of that time would have, and there had been rumors spread around the city that Madelyn was promiscuous and had lead Theo on. Maddie had flat-out refused to testify and be subjected to the kind of publicity that would surely come.
Geoffrey had fumed and cajoled and pleaded, but he couldn’t budge Maddie. He wanted that animal to suffer and be punished for hurting his little girl and it ate at him that he couldn’t get justice for her.
Their social life had ground to a halt with the exception of smaller dinners with their close friends and a few business associates. They did their best to avoid the Wilson family because Geoff wouldn’t have been able to control himself. Before accepting any invitations to parties and the like, they always made sure the Wilsons were not invited. It would seem as though many people had stopped invited the Wilsons, a sign that they believed Theo guilty of the crime. They didn’t want him around their daughters.
Thinking of all this now, Maureen let herself cry. She allowed the tears to flow once per day, but otherwise tried to appear positive for her family. However, Claire wasn’t fooled and would often give her mother comfort with a spontaneous hug or kind words. Claire was also able to made Maddie smile by reading her the more amusing articles in the paper in the mornings.
Geoffrey had taken to coming home earlier in the day to be there to support his family. The tragedy had drawn them all closer and they worked their hardest to heal their daughter and sister. They all did their best, but it wasn’t easy and Maureen feared that Maddie would never fully recover.
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Linda Bridey's other books
Westward Dance (Montana Mail Order brides Book 2)
Westward Bound (Montana Mail Order brides Book 3)
Westward Destiny (Montana Mail Order brides Book 4)
Westward Fortune (Montana Mail Order brides Book 5)
Westward Justice (Montana Mail Order brides Book 6)
Westward Dreams (Montana Mail Order brides Book 7)
Westward Holiday (Montana Mail Order brides Book 8)
Westward Sunrise (Montana Mail Order brides Book 9)
Westward Moon (Montana Mail Order brides Book 10)
Westward Christmas (Montana Mail Order brides Book 11)
Westward Visions (Montana Mail Order brides Book 12)
About Linda Bridey
Linda Bridey lives in New Mexico with her three dogs; a German shepherd, chocolate Labrador retriever, and a black Pug. She became fascinated with Montana and decided to combine that fascination with her fictional romance writing. Linda chose to write about mail-order-brides because of the bravery of these women who left everything and everyone to take a trek into the unknown. The Westward series books are her first publications.
Copyright
© 2014 by Linda Bridey
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, or places is purely coincidental.
First Printing, 2014