“I’ll be on my way. Thank you again, Papa.”
Lilly pecked at his cheek and hurried to the foyer.
Dear Lord, I have no way to pay the colonel and no one else to turn to. I’m begging for Your help and I’m relying completely upon You for a solution. I’ve looked to myself instead of toward You and I’ve found no answers. Please forgive me
.
She took a deep, cleansing breath as she walked into the foyer. She stopped short and gasped. Harlan and his mother stood at the front door with Jack and George nearby.
“Good afternoon, Lillian. We ’ve come to pay your mother a short visit and collect my niece, Miranda.” Dolly’s glare could crack glass. “Mrs. Carstairs has extended her an invitation to stay for two weeks and we ’d like her to join us now.”
Harlan nodded without even a hint of a smile. “Miranda belongs with her family.”
“I believe that’s Miranda’s choice,” Lilly said softly.
Harlan rolled his eyes.
Lilly bit back a remark as she swept past the group. She had no time for chatter if she were to meet Colonel MacIntyre on time.
“Where are you off to, Lilly?” Jack followed her toward the door while George waited with the Santerres.
“I’m going out for the afternoon.” She tried to sound breezy and calm, but her voice quavered, and she refused to look up at him. “Please excuse me. I must be leaving.”
“By yourself?” Harlan’s mouth fell open.
Dolly’s jaw dropped.
“Would you like an escort?” Jack asked.
“No thank you, but it’s kind of you to volunteer.”
Parasol in hand, Lilly slipped past Mr. Ames and stepped over the threshold.
The coachman assisted Lilly into the carriage, and within seconds they were swaying down the driveway. Free at last, Lilly expelled a long sigh. She couldn’t stop trembling as the carriage rolled toward town.
Her mind volleyed between her mother’s puzzling remarks to Jack’s decision to make Fannie Cole go public to the look on Harlan’s face as she breezed out the door. She shook her head. Right now, she had to concentrate on the task at hand. Eradicating the threat of Colonel MacIntyre. The rest she could deal with later.
Lilly sank back into the cushion feeling disquieted and patted her skirt pocket concealing the cash. She ’d pay Colonel MacIntyre part of his extortion money and pray he ’d leave her in peace. Yet a nagging doubt tugged at her mind. Would the greedy man be satisfied with just one payment or would he demand countless more? Would she ever free herself from his grasp? Suspecting the answer, she thrust the disconcerting questions out of her thoughts.
She steeled herself for a confrontation. And wished she’d accepted Jack’s help.
"MY GOODNESS. WHAT has gotten into Lillian?” Dolly peered through her pince-nez from one shocked face to the other.
“It seems to me she ’s asserting her independence,” Jack said, staring after her. “It’s about time.”
Dolly squeezed her eyes and her spectacles popped off. “Well I never.”
Harlan’s face contorted in a sneer. “See here, Grail. If you’re implying I tried to keep Lilly dependant upon me, then you’re quite mistaken. I merely expected her to behave appropriately and not disgrace my family or her own.”
What a pompous fool. Jack stared at Harlan, unable to conceal his dislike. “She ’s an intelligent, talented woman who didn’t want a jailer. She ’ll always be her own person, not anyone’s lap dog.”
George stifled a laugh behind a fake sneeze. “Stop it, you two. There’s no point in arguing over my sister.” He looked bewildered, as if he couldn’t imagine anyone dueling over Lilly, physically or verbally. “But Jack is right. No one will mold her thinking. She may be reserved, but she ’s strong-willed and opinionated.”
“Lilly is not the woman you think she is. Actually, she ’s far superior.” Jack returned Harlan’s glower.
Harlan veered back on the heels of his shiny black shoes. “And you always thought I wasn’t worthy of her. Well, you’re not tricking me, Grail. You’re in love with her yourself. It’s plain as day.”
“And I believe she ’s in love with Jack too,” George added. “And I’m happy for them. Harlan, I’m afraid you and my sister were never well matched.”
George had just burned his last bridge, but he didn’t seem to care that his former future employer scowled at him.
Good for you
, Jack cheered inwardly. Never mind that he had no earthly idea what Lilly felt.
Both Santerres were chalk white while George flashed a self-satisfied grin.
Dolly pointed toward a stringed purse resting on the mahogany side table next to a vase of yellow and purple gladiola. “Lilly forgot her reticule.”
Snatching it, Harlan began to pull open the gathered top, then stopped. “Should I look inside, Mother? Perhaps we’ll learn where she ’s gone off to.”
Jack guessed it came from the colonel. “Don’t open it, Santerre. It belongs to Lilly, not to you.”
Dolly dismissed Jack with a condescending wave. “Yes, but I’m certain her parents will wish to know. Please hand it to me, Harlan. A lady may peer into another lady’s purse, if her intentions are pure.”
He gave the reticule to his mother. Dolly rifled through the interior, retrieved an envelope and removed the note. Repositioning her spectacles, she scanned the writing and read aloud.
“My dear Miss Westbrook,
Please meet me at O’Neill’s Café on Thames Street, Monday at three o’clock. We have important business to discuss. If you want to keep your secret safe and your reputation intact, it would behoove you to accept my invitation. Come alone.
Sincerely,
An interested party”
Harlan paled. “What does it mean? I don’t understand,” he muttered.
“I certainly do,” Dolly snapped. Looking more triumphal, she proclaimed, “I believe she has taken a lover. She betrayed you, my dearest boy. How fortunate you ended your engagement when you did.”
“Why, I, I . . .” Harlan sunk into a throne-like chair against the wall. “Lilly would never . . .” His voice trailed off. “I find it hard to believe she ’s that kind of woman.”
Dolly’s brows knit. “But today is not Monday. She must have already rendezvoused with the man.”
Jack snatched the envelope and note from Dolly’s hand. Nearly illegible, a few words were scratched on the back of the envelope.
Wednesday, 3:00 O’Neill’s Café
. Today. He tucked it into his waistcoat pocket.
“Come on, George.” Jack motioned his friend to the front door. Leaving Harlan and Mrs. Santerre to condemn Lilly’s transgressions, Jack and George sprinted across the lawn to the stable. At their command, the stable boy quickly hitched a lively roan to the gig.
They were soon racing around Ocean Drive with Jack straining to spot Lilly’s carriage. He kept up their breakneck speed but didn’t see her even in the distance
. Never mind
,
I’ll catch her at the café
.
“Do you think Lilly has a secret beau?” George yelled above the pounding hooves and the whine of the wind blowing off the ocean.
“No, definitely not.”
“If she doesn’t have another suitor, then who is she meeting?”
He hesitated to tell George the truth about Lilly, but when they arrived at the café, he ’d find out anyway. “Colonel MacIntyre, the editor of
Talk of the Town
,” Jack shouted.
George blew a low whistle. “Is she in some sort of trouble?”
Jack nodded. “Yes, indeed. She ’s the dime novelist Fannie Cole. MacIntyre is blackmailing her and she ’s about to pay him off.”
George ’s eyes widened. “You don’t say. I can hardly believe that. But then Lilly writes for you. Didn’t you know her real identity? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Jack glanced sideways. “She thought her family would condemn her writing, so she kept silent. I wanted her to tell you and your parents, but she wouldn’t. It wasn’t my place to reveal her secret. Even though she refuses to let me deal with MacIntyre, I can’t let her go through this by herself.”
George pulled on the point of his goatee. “Neither can I.” He shook his head, bewildered. “I never once suspected my little sister was the infamous dime novelist. Imagine that.”
“I want to stop her before she turns over the money.”
George gave a grim nod. “I hope we make it in time.”
L
illy stepped into O’Neill’s Café, pulling her veil over her face. She hid behind a pillar and waited for a well-dressed couple to leave the colonel, ensconced in the back of the small restaurant. What were other fashionable Newporters doing here in a working-class establishment? Perhaps they were paying off the colonel too. As the pair bent over MacIntyre ’s table, Lilly couldn’t identify their forms or hear the hushed conversation. Her chest tightened as she cringed by the entrance attempting to look inconspicuous. If the couple turned around, they might recognize her. Then she’d be doomed. But there were no safe hiding places among the many empty tables and scattered groups of diners.
“May I help you?” A waiter approached from the kitchen carrying a tray.
She gestured for him to leave and then turned back to the colonel. With a shrug, the young man served his customers with pints of beer and bowls of steaming soup. He didn’t give her a second glance.
Lilly yanked her veil further down, hoping it was opaque enough to conceal her face. She side-stepped to the next pillar, drawing closer to the trio. Poking her head around the corner, she identified Theo Nottingham as the man huddled with the colonel. Then the woman’s hazy silhouette sharpened unmistakably into her sister-in-law.
Lilly gasped. What was Irene doing here? Were she and Theo truly lovers, forced to pay blackmail money just as she was? Lilly couldn’t believe Irene would trade George for a bland little man, but that was the only explanation. Her poor brother would be crushed if he discovered his wife ’s infidelity, if that was in fact the case. Lilly’s palm pressed against her bodice in a futile attempt to slow her galloping heartbeat.
MacIntyre’s hand jerked forward and thrust a wad of cash at Theo. Why was he giving them money instead of taking it from them? Then the fat man bowed slightly and pushed another stack of bills into Irene ’s white gloved palm. Irene smiled grimly as she stuffed the money into her reticule.
“For a job well done,” the colonel gushed.
Lilly gasped. What was going on?
Colonel MacIntyre glared directly at her. His stomach protruded over the tabletop and his eyes bulged in his doughy flesh. “Ah, Miss Westbrook, you’ve arrived a trifle early. So glad you could come.”
“I don’t understand,” Lilly murmured as she moved into the aisle between empty tables.
The thud of leather heels distracted her. She glanced over her shoulder, annoyed at the interruption. As Jack and her brother charged toward the group, unexpected relief caught her by surprise.
“I’ll explain, Lilly.” Jack’s eyes bore into Irene and then MacIntyre. He blocked the aisle, preventing anyone from escaping.
But before Jack could speak, George lunged for Theo and jerked him by the lapels. “You’re having an affair with my wife, aren’t you?”
“No, no, of, of course not,” the man stuttered, as if appalled at the very idea of adultery. Theo pushed away from George.
Surprised, George turned to Irene and held her by her shoulders. “You’re in love with Theo, aren’t you? I’ve seen you together often enough. I want the truth.”
Irene shook free. A nervous laugh spewed from her throat. “George, how can you believe I’d be interested in a puny fellow like him when I have you?” She looked up through the curve of her long eyelashes.
George hesitated. “Then why are you here? Is that scum blackmailing you too?”
“No, no. Theo and I are having a business meeting.” Her voice trailed off.
Jack stepped forward. “Tell him the whole sordid story, Irene. Your husband has a right to know.”
After several moments of silence, Irene raised her chin. “I don’t have to take your rudeness any longer, Jackson.” She glanced up at her husband and narrowed her eyes in a sensuous smile. “George, the truth is, I’m returning to San Francisco to visit Uncle Quentin. My stay might be a long one. I was borrowing some money from the colonel for my journey since I know we’re temporarily short of funds. Theo introduced us.”
Jack chortled and shook his head in disbelief. Then he sobered. “George, I don’t know how to break this to you, so I’ll just come out with it.”
“No, Jack, don’t,” Irene begged.
Turning his back on the colonel, Jack drew a deep sigh, suddenly somber. Lilly could tell this wasn’t easy for him, and with all her heart she wanted to throw her arms around this man. He’d come to the rescue and now he was trying to set things right with her brother and his wife. “Irene isn’t really the niece of Quentin Kirby.” Jack cleared his throat before continuing. “He found her in a dance hall and brought her to his home and treated her like a princess. But she married you for love, apparently. Though she ’s doing a despicable job honoring that devotion.”
George sunk into the nearest hardback chair. “And now you’re going back to your first lover?”
A shocked look swept across Irene ’s face. “He ’s an old man. We were never lovers.”
“Then why are you returning to him?” George ’s words strangled in his throat.
Irene ’s eyes sparked with defiance. “Because he recently offered me marriage and his entire fortune. I can’t refuse.”
“But you’re married to me.” George glanced from Irene to Jack. “I don’t understand.”
“She’s not married to you, George,” Jack said as gently as he could. “She couldn’t be.”
Lilly gasped and George glanced upward, desolation etched in every line of his face.
Jack leaned back against a pillar. “Before Irene met Quentin Kirby, she wed a California farmer named Hiram Wilson. They separated but never ended their union. So, they’re still legally married. She ’ll have to search for Hiram to ask for her freedom before she can marry Quentin.” He reached out and laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Your union was a falsehood.”
George buried his head in his hands.
Irene slid into the chair beside him and touched his jacket sleeve. “I never meant to deceive you, George. My marriage to Hiram . . . it was short and so long ago, it simply didn’t seem necessary to find him. It was such an ugly, painful situation, I erased it from my mind.”
The colonel leaned forward. “You’re a fascinating woman, Irene Westbrook. Or should I say Irene Wilson?” He was obviously enthralled by the drama playing out all around him. “If things don’t work out with Kirby, I might be interested.” His pig-like eyes gleamed with lust.
Irene ignored MacIntyre and clutched George ’s hands. “I’m sorry, George. I never meant for you to find out. It was just a youthful mistake.”
George shook off her hands and rose to his full height. “You’re a liar and a bigamist, Irene. Get out of my sight. You’ve brought disgrace upon yourself and upon my family, though you probably don’t understand that concept.” Fury flared in his eyes. For the first time in Lilly’s life, pride in her brother displaced pity. He refused to crumble in the face of disillusionment.
MacIntyre opened his palms. “If you’ll pay me a small sum, I guarantee I’ll keep this nasty business quiet and out of
Talk of the Town
. No one except the six of us ever needs to know.”
“Why, you
scum
.” With fists clenched, George drew closer to MacIntrye, who tipped his chair backward against the wall, his eyes wide with fright. The extortionist cowered, his huge body shaking like gelatin. He shielded his barrel chest with his arms.
“You’ll not get a penny from me,” George spat out. “If you want to spread your filthy gossip, go ahead. I’ll not protect Irene.”
Lilly looked at her brother, astonished. He ’d confronted society’s most dangerous enemy and stood his ground. That was so unlike the weak-willed George she knew. He’d always taken the easy way out of every scrape and avoided any hint of confrontation.
“I’m proud of you, George,” she said. If he found the grit to face the greatest shock and disappointment of his life, how could she do any less?
He tossed her a grateful smile.
Standing beside her chair with his arm on the top rung of the ladder-back, Jack added, “There’s something else you should know, Lilly.”
Her heart lurched.
“Irene was the colonel’s spy at Summerhill. That’s why she ’s here. He just paid her for the last of the items she delivered through Theo Nottingham, one of MacIntyre’s many operatives in Newport. Isn’t that right, Irene?”
Irene ’s shoulders sagged. “Yes, but I only did it because I needed the money. George and I never have nearly enough, so when I met Mr. Nottingham, he offered a way to pay our bills. I’m sorry, Lilly, but I didn’t have a choice.”
“So those trysts with him were never romantic?” That explained the attraction between Irene and Mr. Nottingham—money.
Irene’s harsh laugh caused Theo to blush. “Goodness no. We were informants, not lovers.” Irene glanced around. “Well, I’m afraid I can’t stay any longer. I must be off to San Francisco. I’ll send for my things once I arrive.” She gripped her parasol and reticule.
Lilly’s glare made Irene wince, but only for a moment. “You had a choice, Irene, you just made the wrong one. You didn’t care how much havoc you caused my family.”
Irene adjusted her hat and pulled her veil over her face. “I apologize for all this unpleasantness, but now I must be gone. Good day, everyone.” Irene scurried from the café, Theo right behind her.
“You’re well rid of her,” Lilly squeezed George ’s arm as they watched his so-called wife vanish out the door and out of his life. “Though I’m sorry things turned out so badly.”
George expelled a long sigh and sank into a chair again. “I know I’m better off without her. But still I never expected this.”
Without a doubt, he ’d miss her for a long while. Love didn’t die in an instant.
“How did my sister-in-law and Mr. Nottingham become involved?” Lilly asked. Numbness spread through her from the shock of these revelations. They were more than she could absorb all at once.
The colonel puffed on his cigar, looking rather relaxed now that George was seated again. “Theo has been one of my informants for quite a while. From listening to local gossip, he discovered Irene needed money to cover her gambling debts. He approached her at a party and asked if she ’d like to help us. He realized she ’d come to know just about everyone in society and might be willing to spill a few secrets for a little cash. She turned out to be quite an observant woman.” He chuckled. “It seems you were careless about locking your desk. Irene wanted to borrow a pen and stationery and discovered a manuscript with Fannie Cole ’s name.”
Lilly doubted that. She ’d always locked her desk. Irene had snooped around and found the key.
The colonel rubbed his hands together. “I believe Miss Westbrook prefers to speak to me alone.”
“I think not, MacIntyre. I have something to say to you.” Jack leaned across the worn tablecloth sprinkled with crumbs from MacIntyre’s pastry. “I told you that Miss Cole is one of my authors and I take a great interest in her career. A personal interest. Drop your blackmail scheme right now, because she ’s not paying you one red cent.” Jack glanced at Lilly.
“Then maybe you’d like to, Grail.”
Jack shook his head. “No. Nothing from me, either.”
“I want to hear from Fannie herself. Speak up, Miss Westbrook.”
She glared at the colonel as he blew a smoke ring in her direction. “You’ll not get a dime from me.” Lilly stared at the arrogant man, thrilled she ’d finally defied him. “
Or
from Mr. Grail. You can expose my name in your horrid newssheet, but it doesn’t matter because I’ve decided to promote myself and my novels for Jones and Jarman. You have no hold over me any longer.”
Jack reached for her hand. She pulled her attention away from the colonel and looked down at Jack’s hand. His touch warmed her icy fingers, but heated her heart even more. These were the hands she longed to hold forever—hands that could make her feel secure and safe.
A stinging in the back of her eyes told her that unexpected tears threatened to spill. Had the day’s stress gotten to her, or did having Jack here with her touch her beyond belief?
His eyes pleaded with her for understanding—and maybe something more.
“I know how much you want to stay in the background. So if you don’t wish to engage in any promotion for any of the titles published by Jones and Jarman, I understand.”
“Thank you.” Lilly squeezed Jack’s hand, hoping he would sense her overwhelming gratitude for his selflessness. The future of his company rested on her doing promotions, yet he ’d give her an out for—
“I find your mutual self-sacrificing quite touching,” the colonel interrupted her thoughts, “but shockingly unrealistic. Think of the humiliation and heartbreak this will cause your family, Fannie.” He looked from Jack to Lilly. “I don’t care who pays me, but someone will or Fannie Cole is going to see her true name in the next edition of
Talk of the Town
.”
The colonel leaned toward Lilly, his stare hard. His noxious cigar breath drifted across the table. “If you don’t pay up, I’ll expose you on page one of
Talk of the Town
so nobody can miss it. I’ll write how you cheated on your fiancé with your publisher. Oh yes, Irene told me all about you and your
good friend
, Jack here, and his
personal interest
in you. What do you say to that, Miss Cole? Do you want to be cut from every rich and powerful family in New York and Newport? Or would you rather pay a small sum for my silence? You can go on just as you always have, marry Grail or some society swell, and write your stories. What’s your answer?”
Lilly tried to speak, but only a croak came forth. “I planned to pay your blackmail because I was afraid our friends would ostracize my family and me.” She looked at Jack and George. “Irene ’s previous marriage will cause a dreadful scandal for George and our family, but we ’ll face it and weather it. I refuse to do anything less in this matter.” She shook her head. “I’ve hidden my work as if I’m ashamed of it. Well, I’m not. It’s time I own up to my career. I won’t be timid any longer.”
She smiled at her brother. “George, you’ve given me courage and I’m grateful for your example. And I’m so proud of you.” Funny how he was the last person she ’d expect to show fortitude in the face of social shunning.