Ana Seymour (7 page)

“Just a minute,” he called. The words sent painful vibrations through his jaw and radiating up his temples. Lord, how much had he had to drink yesterday? Enough to have tumbled into bed fully dressed, boots and all. He dragged himself out of bed and crossed the room to open the door. Perhaps if Kate saw him in this state, she’d take pity on him, he thought ruefully.

But the expression on her face did not look sympathetic.

“What happened to you last night?” she asked. She was obviously angry, but there was still a margin of doubt in her voice, as if she would be willing to believe that his absence had had some kind of worthy explanation.

He would very much have liked to clear his head with a cup of coffee before he had this discussion, but she stood watching him, awaiting an answer. “I ran into some old friends,” he said.

Her eyes widened. “All evening?”

He turned around and went back to sit on the edge of the bed, hoping he wouldn’t be sick. “The time just got away from me, I guess.”

She looked at him in disbelief. “You didn’t remember that you were supposed to be here to introduce your daughter to your parents?”

He shook his head. The truth was, he’d remembered it every five minutes all night long, which was part of the reason one more drink kept sounding so attractive. “I’m sorry, Kate. Did you meet with them? Did they see Caroline?”

She was still standing in the doorway. Her voice shook as she answered, “Yes, Sean, I met with your parents by myself. I showed them our daughter, though with you mysteriously gone, I’m not sure if they believed she was your daughter or not.”

“Katie, I’m sure there’s no doubt in their minds.”

“How would you know? You weren’t there. Your mother had several careful questions about all the
men
I supposedly harbor under my roof, implying. I don’t know what. By the end of her interrogation, even your father was looking at me a bit askance and observing that it was peculiar that you weren’t there.”

Sean shook his head, winced at the pain, then looked down at the carpet. “I’ll talk to them this morning. We’ll straighten it out, don’t worry. As soon as they get to know Caroline, they’ll love her.and you, too.” He looked up at her and did his best to muster one of his charming smiles.

Kate’s expression didn’t change. “I was dreadfully worried when you didn’t come home. I thought something terrible must have happened.”

Sean stood again and walked over to her, putting his arms around her and drawing her resisting body close. “I have no excuse, Katie. It was a miserable thing to do. I went down to the Golden Garter to meet with some of my friends and they invited me to join a game. One thing led to another.” He coupled his cajoling tone with small circular caresses along the length of her spine. “I’m a wretch. You should hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, Sean,” she murmured, her voice and her back softening at the same time.

“Well, you should.” His hand reached her waist
and drew her more firmly against him and his lips nuzzled her neck. “I’ll make it up to you, sweetheart. We’ll spend the day together. And—” he straightened and his face brightened “—you got the presents I sent, didn’t you?”

Kate pulled away. “Yes, your mother brought me the dresses. They’re, um, very nice.”

“We’ll get more, too. A whole new wardrobe. And jewelry. Anything you want.”

Kate looked puzzled. “Sean, it’s not necessary for you to shower me with gifts just because I’m upset over your behavior. The fact that I’m angry doesn’t mean I’ve stopped loving you. It just means that I was disappointed that you weren’t here last night. And that I found it inconsiderate of you not to let me know.”

Her explanation was calm and logical. It was not a type of anger that Sean was familiar with. When his father was angry, he became withdrawn, cold. When his mother was angry, she became so shrill that everyone between here and the wharf knew of her displeasure.

But Kate’s composed acceptance of his transgression only made him feel more guilty. “Well, if you don’t want gifts, what can I do to make it up to you?”

Kate gave him a glance up and down. “For starters, I’d say you could use a change of clothes. I believe that’s the same suit you were wearing yesterday.”

He nodded, embarrassed. “I should wash up and get dressed. Then we’ll go get Caroline and take her down to breakfast with us. If Mother and Father are there, I’ll offer them my apologies, as well.”

She must have realized that his remorse was sincere,
because she gave him a slight smile. “I’ll wait for you in the nursery,” she said. “Caroline’s quite taken to it, by the way, and to Nonny, too.”

“Everyone takes to Nonny,” Sean answered with a grin. Then he leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Thank you for being so nice about this, Katie.”

She nodded, then left him to make himself presentable.

Kate was not feeling as charitable as her smile to Sean would indicate, but she was at a loss how to handle her husband’s unexpected disappearance. In all her imaginings of what she would encounter in the Flahertys’ fancy San Francisco world, she’d never once considered that she’d be facing it without Sean at her side to support her. The previous evening had been miserable from the moment she’d donned the hideous purple dress to the end, when she’d brought Caroline down for her first brief audience with her grandparents.

Patrick had been vaguely complimentary, had given the baby a distant smile, then had looked at his watch as if he had a pressing business engagement. Harriet had started in immediately. “See how pathetically thin the poor creature is, Kate? This is what I was telling you earlier. She needs to be fed in a civilized manner.”

Kate had been close to tears by the time she’d fled to the comfort of the nursery. She’d sat in the big rocker and defiantly fed Caroline in the same manner she’d been feeding her since she was born, but she found herself looking down at the child’s tiny arms and wondering if Harriet’s words held some truth. Perhaps
tomorrow she should ask Nonny where she could get some bindings to start the weaning process.

But by morning, she had other things on her mind. She’d slept fitfully but hadn’t heard Sean come in. She’d awakened frantic, ready to believe that he must have been waylaid somewhere in the wicked city. Then the serving girl who brought her a basin of warm water had assured her that Master Sean was safe asleep in his room. Kate had thanked the girl, feeling embarrassed to have had to ask the question about her newlywed husband, and also abashed that she’d forgotten the girl’s name, which seemed to her incredibly rude. She still wasn’t able to keep straight the endless procession of servants who seemed to be required to run the Flaherty household.

Relieved of the worry that Sean might be lying somewhere with his head cracked open, she’d taken her time getting dressed, hoping that he would awaken and burst through the connecting door with desperate apologies and explanations about why he hadn’t come home. But when she’d finished her toilet and there was still no sound from the adjoining room, she’d decided to knock.

Now, sitting on the thick rug of the nursery playing with Caroline, she tried to decide how she should react to the fact that his only excuse for not coming home had been that he’d been drinking and gaming. She’d heard of men who had problems with liquor. Even Vermillion had a couple of town drunks, pitiful specimens. Surely her charming, laughing, flamboyant Sean was not one of these?

In the short time she’d seen them together, she’d
already sensed the tension that existed between Sean and his parents. Perhaps he hadn’t appeared last night because he was still ashamed about Caroline being born so long before their marriage. She knew something about shame herself. She’d endured it for months before the baby’s birth and some time after. For Sean, it was still new.

This explanation made more sense than the drinking. He just had to work through his shame, the way she had, then he’d be normal once again. In the meantime, she’d try to be understanding, try to help him through it. It might not be easy. She sensed that Harriet was the kind of mother who could make a son feel ashamed for a very long time, if she was of a mind.

Sean appeared in the doorway looking much better than he had a few minutes earlier. He’d shaved and had on a freshly pressed blue suit and snowy-white shirt. His black hair was slicked back. Her breath caught at how handsome he looked, framed by the doorway. She smiled up at him and Caroline waved her arms in recognition.

Sean returned her smile with an expression of relief and gratitude, then came over to drop down onto the rug beside them. “How’s my girl today?” he asked Caroline, planting a kiss on her cheek. His daughter crowed in acknowledgment.

“And how’s her mother?” he asked more softly, his eyes seeking Kate’s with a special glow.

“Her mother’s fine,” Kate answered, also softly. “But she missed you last night.”

Sean reached out and stroked a finger along her cheek. “Today I’m not going to leave your side. We’ll
take Caroline for a drive through the city. How would that be?”

“We’d both like that.”

Sean moved his legs to seat Caroline on his knees and began giving her a horsey ride. “Shall we go for a ride today, pumpkin?” he asked her as she giggled in delight.

“Don’t you have to go to work?” Kate asked.

Sean grimaced. “They won’t miss me. It’s more important for me to spend time introducing my family to San Francisco.”

Kate gave a satisfied smile. Sean’s problem wasn’t drinking, she told herself again. It was getting over his parents’ disapproval of his forced marriage. As soon as he got over that hurdle, they could settle down to a happy life together.

T
hey’d had a wonderful day. Kate was still brmming from it as she dressed for dinner. They’d taken Caroline down to the wharf to see the huge ships, their masts towering against the blue autumn sky. Then they’d driven to the top of Telegraph Hill for a view of the harbor and the entire city, stretched magnificently in front of them. Kate had never seen anything like it.

Caroline had behaved beautifully all day. They’d found a shelter for Kate to nurse her discreetly in the middle of the excursion, and Kate had resolved that the next day she would begin the process of weaning. If she was going to be a big-city wife and mother, she’d learn to do things the big-city way.

Even having to put on another of the gaudy new frocks Harriet had brought to her couldn’t completely extinguish her good humor. The clothes were not at all her style, but evidently Sean had liked them enough to pick them out for her, so she would just get used to them.

But when Sean came to her door to collect her for
supper, the look on his face told her that somehow she did not fit the image he’d had when he picked out the gowns. Perhaps he was still thinking that she was too skinny. She smiled bravely and gave a little twirl. “I didn’t thank you properly for these,” she said. “It was very thoughtful of you.”

Sean swallowed hard, then said, “You like them, then?”

“Well, they’re a little different from what I’m accustomed to wearing. We’re still old-fashioned up in Vermillion, 1 suppose.” She looked wryly over her shoulder, trying to see her back. Then she turned so that Sean could see how her dress poofed out over the bustle. “I don’t think these inventions have reached the mountains yet.”

Sean laughed. “I’m afraid I’m a bit old-fashioned myself.”

Kate looked up at him in confusion. “But you chose this.”

He shook his head. “No, I must confess. I left the selection in the hands of my mother. And from the look on your face, I’m thinking that perhaps that wasn’t the best idea.”

Kate gave up trying to mask her feelings. “It’s just that they’re
so.frilly,”
she said with a little sigh.

Sean put his arm around her waist and said, “Sweetheart, you shouldn’t worry. You look good in anything. And if you don’t like these dresses, we’ll give them to the servants and go get you some new ones.”

It was just what she needed to hear, and after their pleasant day, she went down to supper with her heart
light. But it didn’t take long for her mother-in-law to dampen her high spirits.

“Isn’t Kate the belle in her new finery?” she asked Sean.

He nodded. “She’s beautiful in anything. But we may look for some different styles. I believe her tastes are a bit plainer than yours, Mother.”

Harriet gave a little sniff. “I’m sure they’re
plainer
where she comes from, but she’s a Flaherty now. We can’t have her going out on the streets looking like a milkmaid.”

“I agree with my son,” Patrick said, looking up from an earnest attack on a huge sirloin steak. “She’s pretty in anything. I don’t think you need to worry about her disgracing the family name, Harriet,” he added with a touch of sarcasm.

Once again, Kate grew uncomfortable being discussed as if she were not around. “My mother always used to tell us that it’s not the wrapping that counts, it’s what is inside,” she said.

“I’m sure your mother made do with the resources she had,” Harriet said with one of the bland smiles that Kate was finding increasingly infuriating.

Sean looked bleak and made an effort to change the subject. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to introduce you to little Caroline last night. What did you think of your new granddaughter? Isn’t she a beauty?”

Patrick had gone back to his steak. Through a big mouthful, he mumbled. “Pretty child.”

“She’s quite thin,” Harriet observed. “We’ll have to hope she gets more robust with some real food and
ocean air. The mountains aren’t healthy for babies, you know “

Kate hadn’t touched her supper. The steak looked bloody and unappealing. “That’s odd. All the babies I’ve ever known have grown up m the mountains. And most of them have been remarkably healthy.”

Sean supported his wife. “There’s nothing wrong with Caroline’s health.”

Harriet seemed to find the topic disagreeable. “Who were you with last night, Sean?”

“I ran into Wellington and later Charles Raleigh”

Harriet beamed. “Fine boys. Did you ask after their parents?”

“They’re hardly boys anymore, Mother. Charles is starting to take over for his father at Raleigh Watch, and Harold Wellington has his own law office.”

“Of course, dear.
Such
fine families. Cynthia Raleigh is the most regal woman I’ve ever met. Did Charles tell you about the place they’re building down on Van Nuys? Well, she’s just going to be the envy of the whole city.”

“We didn’t discuss it, Mother.”

Harriet looked at Kate. “Don’t take this wrong, my dear, but people always used to talk about how Sean and Charles’ sister, Penelope, would make a sterling match. Of course, that was before you came along.”

Kate felt as if the starched ruffle collar of her new dress were choking her. She looked down at the slab of untouched bloody meat on her plate. Pushing back her chair, she said quietly, “I hope you’ll excuse me. I’m not very hungry tonight.” Then she gracefully got to her feet and left the room.

No one spoke for several moments after she left. Sean took a bite of potatoes, chewed, swallowed.

“I hope I didn’t hurt her feelings. She seems to be a touchy person, doesn’t she, Sean?” Harriet asked.

“Nothing touchy about it, Harriet,” Patrick observed brusquely. “You as much as told the girl that you’d hoped Sean would marry someone else.”

“Why it’s only natural to want your son to make a brilliant match. Any mother would.”

Sean had taken two more bites of potatoes. He had no idea what he’d just eaten. “I’m not too hungry, either,” he said abruptly, throwing his napkin on the table. “Excuse me.”

He left the room and ran up the stairs to Kate’s bedroom, expecting to find her lying on her bed, perhaps in tears. But the room was empty. In the nursery, Nonny was rocking Caroline and said she’d seen nothing of Kate.

He found her finally in a tiny parlor at the back of the house, which his mother called the music room, though no one in the household played any kind of instrument. She was seated on a small couch, looking out the window into the darkening twilight at a large oak tree in the backyard. She looked up at his entry and gave a wan smile. “That was probably rude of me,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

Sean shook his head and went to sit beside her. “There’s no need for you to apologize, Katie. My mother was the rude one.”

“No. She had every right to say that. I’m sure it’s a disappointment to her that our marriage eliminated any possibility of you making what she would consider
an eligible match with one of the important families around here.”

Sean put his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “Sweetheart, she’s been trying to marry me off to some rich man’s daughter since I started wearing long pants. But I never wanted any of them. I never wanted anyone until I met you.”

Kate smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. It had grown dark outside. The tiny parlor was without the gas fixtures that illuminated much of the house. A small whale-oil lamp provided a dim, cozy glow. “Will you tell me that more regularly?”

Sean laughed gently. “Every time you remind me. Sometimes I’m not too good at remembering these things myself.”

They sat for a moment in companionable silence, then Kate moved her head in what seemed like the most natural motion and their mouths met in a gentle kiss.

Sean felt the contact all the way to his feet. He’d been trying to resist thinking about the physical side of his marriage. In a way, he was punishing himself for having taken advantage of Kate all those months ago. He’d disgraced and endangered her by giving in to his baser urges, then he’d compounded the disappointment by not being strong enough to resist his family and declare his love for her. Now he was determined that he was going to be strong. He’d be a husband to Kate and a father to Caroline, and stand with them against his parents, if necessary. And he wouldn’t let his physical needs interfere.

He pulled away from her, though she seemed willing
to continue the kisses. “It wasn’t fair of me to bring you here without giving you some idea that my family’s not like yours, Kate.”

“I never expected…”

He put his fingers gently on her lips. “No, let me finish. I know that my father can be cold and distant. And my mother can be calculating and inconsiderate. They both have their good sides, too. But they’re not the easiest people to live with “

“I just wish your mother didn’t seem so set against me.”

She was still in his arms, and he settled her more comfortably against his side. “Sometimes I think she’d be against any woman I chose, Kate. Even one of her high-society debutantes. It’s just the way she is. You’ll have to learn not to let it bother you. And my father is rather impressed with you, I believe.”

Kate laughed. “Not so anyone would notice.”

“Well, he doesn’t say much. but his few words about you have been complimentary. I’ll confess he was the one who suggested I buy you those dresses that turned out so disastrously.”

“They’re not disastrous, they’re just…”

Sean grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. “Disastrous,” he concluded for her. “We’ll get some others that suit you.”

“Sean, I don’t need dresses. I don’t care about them. What I need is you…us…talking, sitting here like this When your arms are around me, the whole rest of the world could be at sixes and sevens for all I care.”

Sean kissed her again, on the mouth this time, then
followed up the first kiss with several more. Both began breathing more deeply. “Me too,” he whispered.

“So you won’t go off and leave me alone like last night?” she asked a bit timidly.

He pulled away from her mouth. “I told you I was sorry.”

“I know. I won’t bring it up again. It’s just that for a while, for these first few days, I need you, Sean. When you’re here, I’m not lonely.”

“Aw, Katie.” He shifted against the back of the couch and lifted her into his lap, cradling her like an infant. “I don’t want you to be lonely ever again.” He started to kiss her once more, then stopped abruptly and said with sudden excitement, “We’ll get our own place.”

“We’ll what?”

“You and I and Caroline. We’ll find a place of our own to live. Then you’ll only have to listen to my mother’s nonsense when we come once a week for Sunday dinner.” He sounded almost like a little boy planning a birthday party.

“Can we afford our own place?”

“I’ll ask my father for a raise. Or for a share in the company. I’ve been there four years now, it’s time I was making enough to show that I’m the owner’s son. Charlie Raleigh makes three times what I do.”

The idea of becoming independent and establishing his own household was suddenly exhilarating. Energy surged through him and fueled the already urgent signals of his body from the contact with Kate on his lap.

“It would be nice to have a little place just for us,” she said wistfully.

But he didn’t want her wistful. He wanted her as she had been on their wedding night, needy and hungry for him. He brought a hand up to sculpt a breast and even through the frills of the new dress, he found her raised nipple. “A place just for us, my darling wife, so I can make love to you in every single room.”

Kate giggled and leaned back against his arm, giving full access to his freely roaming hands. She gasped as his hand found a sensitive spot through her skirts. “I’ve yearned for this since our wedding night,” Sean murmured.

“I have, too,” Kate admitted. “But you’ve seemed so tired and distant. And then last night you weren’t in your room.”

Sean nuzzled her neck, then kissed along the length of her jaw. “We should be in my room right now. Shall I carry you through the halls to my boudoir, sweetheart, and scandalize the servants?”

“How about if I just walk there?” she replied with another happy laugh.

“I don’t know if I can bear to let you go long enough.” He glanced at the door. “The damn thing doesn’t lock.”

No sooner did the words leave his mouth than, to Kate’s horror, the knob turned and Harriet stood in the doorway, peering into the gloom. When she saw the two entangled on the couch, her eyes widened. “Am I interrupting?” she asked frostily.

“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Sean said.

But Kate pushed herself off his lap and said with as much dignity as she could muster, “Of course not, Mrs. Flaherty.”

Harriet walked into the room, not bothering to avert her eyes as Kate tried to inconspicuously smooth her rumpled skirts. “Good,” she said. “I sent word to Madame Lavalier about your dissatisfaction with the dresses and she
insisted
on sending her assistant over here immediately to take measurements for new ones.”

Kate’s heart plunged, but Sean said, “It’ll have to wait until tomorrow, Mother. This is no hour to be doing tailoring.”

“My dear Sean,” Harriet said, “the woman will be here any moment. It would be terribly rude to turn her away.”

“I’ve never known you to worry about being rude to shopkeepers, Mother,” Sean said bluntly.

“No, Sean,” Kate chided. “Your mother’s right. I wish you all would not worry about new clothes for me, but if the woman has come out in the middle of the evening, it would be discourteous not to see her.”

Harriet smiled. “We’ll go up in my bedroom, dear. Sean can go join his father for a glass of port.” She turned to her son. “He’s so happy to have you back home, Sean.”

Kate followed her out of the room, looking ruefully at Sean over her shoulders as she left.

Sean punched his hand into the puffy sofa cushion. Once again his mother had exercised her uncanny ability to interfere in his life at the worst possible moment. Since he’d been a child, she’d managed to snatch away pleasures that she considered beneath the family dignity. At the same time, she’d always turned a blind
eye on his drinking bouts, since his companions were of such impeccable lineage.