Wishes on the Wind (26 page)

    Letty sighed again, facing her husband's anger with a pained frown.

    "Letty, I asked you a question. Is it true that David offered the O'Connor girl residence in this house?"

    "Yes, it's true." Taking a step forward, her pale blue nightgown making a whispering sound as she touched his rigid arm, Letty attempted a smile. "But you needn't concern yourself. The girl refused."

    Silent agitation worked on her husband's face, and Letty steeled herself against the anger soon to erupt. She had not long to wait.

    "It seems the girl has more sense than my own nephew! At least
she
realizes it would be an impossible situation. How could he have dared to offer that girl a place in the servants' quarters of this house, Letty? He knows how I feel about the Irish. They're not to be trusted!"

    "Martin, she's only a girl a child."

    "It seems I've heard that response before. What's happened to the boy? I thought he and I had settled some things between us, but it appears I was wrong. He's still as confused as he was after that damned fire, and I'll never forgive those damned Mollies for what they've done to him."

    "Martin, David's fine! He has an affection for the girl, that's all."

    "Affection! What of his affection for this family and all it stands for? Has he cast it aside in favor of a girl who's destined to go to seed just like the rest of them down in the valley?"

    "So you see, you and David do think alike after all."

    "What are you talking about?"

    "David said the same thing to me that the girl will go to seed just like the rest of them in the valley if she remains there. He doesn't want to see it happen. He wants to help her."

    "They're beyond help, the whole damned lot of them! And the sooner David realizes it, the better!"

    "Martin, the girl's gone through so much. David feels sorry for her."

    "Better he should feel sorry for us and the situation those Irish bastards have gotten us into with their insufferable arrogance!"

    "David probably identifies with the girl, Martin. He went    through a similar tragedy with his parents dying and his being left orphaned."

    "He wasn't orphaned, Letty! Not really. We took him in, and from that first day, I've thought of him as my own son."

    "As have I. And I suppose that point touches him, too, because I understand the girl and her brother aren't truly wanted at their uncle's house."

    Martin's face remained unyielding.

    "She's not wanted here, either, and I will not allow you to think you've softened me toward the girl. I didn't want her here from the first, and if I didn't feel it would affect David adversely in his confused state, I'd dismiss her tomorrow."

    "Martin!"

    "I mean it, Letty!"

    Letty was struck by the intensity of her husband's frustration, and she rubbed his arm in gentle consolation.

    "The girl refused David's offer. It's all over."

    "Is it, Letty? David's not the kind to let go of something when he's set his mind to it. I'm going to talk to him tomorrow."

    "That would be a mistake, Martin."

    "The boy should not have talked to the girl without obtaining permission for his foolish scheme first."

    "He had permission. Mine."

    "Yours!"

    "I knew the girl would refuse, Martin. She won't leave her kind."

    "Were you really that sure? You took a chance, Letty, and I don't mind telling you, I'm not pleased with this whole affair."

    "Nor am I, but for a different reason, I fear."

    "And your reason is?"

    "I don't like seeing David so unhappy."

    "David again! It seems of late we've all been tripping over ourselves trying to make David happy to little avail. I'm starting to think the girl's bewitched him!"

    Observing the look in her husband's eye, Letty shook her head, almost amused. "Martin, the girl's a child!"

    "But she'll not remain a child much longer. Mark my words. We're in for trouble if this thing goes much farther."

    "It's all over, Martin."

    Martin shook his head, a trace of weariness entering his expression for the first time as he squinted into his wife's face. "I have a feeling this whole affair is far from over, Letty."

    "It's over for the day, at least, dear. Now, come to bed." Smiling up at him, Letty allowed her pale blue eyes to caress her husband's tired face. "It's been a difficult day for all of us. You're so tense. Would you like me to rub your back?"

    Silence.

    "Martin?"

    Martin Lang surveyed his wife's innocent expression with a gradual arching of his wiry gray brows.

    "A backrub? What's this? Are you trying to win me over?"

    "Yes, I am, dear."

    Silence again.

    Realizing she had been successful in startling her husband from the track of his anger, Letty's smile warmed. She inched closer to him and cupped his cheek with her smooth hand.

    "I want to please you and make you happy again. Will you let me do that?" Able to feel the tension draining from her husband's limbs, Letty stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips lightly to his. "I do love you very much, Martin."

    Martin shook his head, his gradual smile wry.

    "I'm on to your wiles, you know. You want to distract me from my anger so I'll have time to think over everything you've said when I'm in a different frame of mind."

    "That's right, dear."

    "Letty! At least have the grace to deny it!"

    "What would be the purpose in that, Martin? You could always see right through me."

    "I suppose that's true, and I suppose that's the reason I love you because I do see right through you to your loving heart." Trailing his fingertips against her smooth cheek, Martin whispered, "Letty, though some may underestimate you, I never have and never will."

    "And will you allow this situation with David more time so he may come to terms with things in his own way?"

    "Letty, dear, do I have any choice?"

    Taking a step backwards, Martin removed his jacket and waistcoat in silence, turning to look down at his wife once more. "But the truth is, you'd have your way in any case. You know I can refuse you nothing."

    "I know that, dear."

    "Aside from one thing. I won't have the girl living in my house."

    "Yes, dear."

    A short laugh escaped Martin's lips at his wife's prompt and unqualified acquiescence. "Ah, Letty, you're good for my morale. You continue to prove to me what an intelligent, farsighted young man I was in my youth to have realized that behind that pretty face and considerable dowry was a woman who was worth a fortune more. You're my most valuable asset, dear. With you at my side, I'm the wealthiest man I know."

    Pausing at the glitter of tears that filled Letty's eyes, Martin drew her close, and Letty slid her arms around him.

    Responding to her husband's familiar touch, Letty closed her eyes, seeking to ignore the voice in the back of her mind that badgered relentlessly. For it whispered that no matter her desire to believe otherwise, everything Martin said about David and the girl was true.

    And it agreed that this whole affair was far from over.

Chapter 11

    "Don't press me, David!"

    Turning with an agitated scowl, Meg looked up at David where he walked beside her, only to see his scowl in return. He had been waiting for her on the hillside trail at the end of the day's work, and their conversation was a repetition of the previous day's. She had little patience for it.

    "Wait, Meg." Grasping her arm, David drew her to a halt.

    Meg's exasperation increased. "Leave go of me. I can't be late getting home tonight."

    "Why? What's a minute more or less between reasonable people? Or is that the point, Meg? Your uncle isn't reasonable. From what I've heard, he's been spending more and more time at his favorite
 
she been
of late and he"

    "Stop! I've heard enough, and I'll not abide that word on your lips, David Lang!" Meghan made a visible effort to control her anger. "I remember the first time you spoke of a
 
she been
to me. You said the word with contempt, and accused my Da of spending too much time there to keep me down in the valley where I belonged. And now you're trying to convince me of just the opposite!"

    "I didn't know you then, Meg. I've apologized for that day in as many ways as I can, and now I'm trying to show you how wrong I was. You
don't
belong down there with those people."

    "Those people? More's the joke in that one. I'm one of 'those people' more than you can believe."

    "You're not."

    Meg's small face pulled into an aggravated frown. "David, it seems I can say nothing that'll convince you that it's so, so I'll ask you a question instead. What did you see the first day we met, when you pulled me out of that bush and shook me so hard I could barely think?"

        David hesitated before replying. "I was in a foul humor that day because I had been thrown."

    "But it didn't affect your eyesight. What did you see?"

    "I saw a ragged little urchin from the village who had caused Fabian to balk again. Her clothes were covered with dirt and webs, her hair was hanging in her face, and she had a long scratch on her cheek."

    "What did you think of her?"

    "I thought she was a nasty little piece, and arrogant to boot, the way she shouted back at me."

    "And what do you see now?"

    "I see a girl with curly dark hair and clear eyes who's neatly dressed and who's far too worthwhile to spend the rest of her life with people that are less than she is."

    "Ah, David." Meg shook her head. "And I suppose you think I'm really the second of those two girls, and not the first at all."

    "That's right."

    "But I'm not, you see."

    "What are you trying to say, Meg?"

    "I'm trying to say, I'm still the girl you saw that first day. That person's inside me, feeling the same strength of feelings about her people in the valley, and ready to fight to protect them. I've not changed at all."

    "Yes, you have."

    "Nay, I've not. That other person you see is the person you want me to be, but the truth is, the real person that I am could never be happy living in a solitary room on the hill away from those she loves. You want to believe I'm the person you see in front of you now, with a clean, neat uniform fitting me well, with my hair tied back neatly."

    "It's not how you
look
, Meg."

    "Aye, it is, because it misleads you. If I've changed on the outside, it's because I know I must in order to get along with the others."

    "That's not so. I know you, and you didn't do all you did for me because you were obliged in order to 'get along.'"

    "Aye, that's true. I did what I did because I wanted to. Because it was needed, but that same girl on the hillside that first day would have done the same. It was inside her as well as this person you want to believe is me, but you'll not let yourself see it."

    "Meg…"

    "What I'm trying to say is that I'm no different now from that  Irish ragamuffin you saw on the hill, David. And I'm no different now from most others down in the valley who you say are less than me. And even if you'd have me forget it, I won't."

    "I don't expect you to see where you're different, Meg, but I see it. And I won't let you waste your life living among people who'll only drag you down."

    A familiar anger started to boil inside her, and Meg shook her head in refutation. "Take care, David. Your ignorance is beginning to rub me raw again."

    "Rub you raw? How else can I make you see that there's a totally different life ahead of you if you'll just"

    "Just forget who I am? And what will you give me that will take the place of my conscience, pray tell?"

    "Meg, you don't owe anything to them down there."

    "Not my brother, either, you say?"

    "Your brother's making his own way, and he hasn't set a happy course for himself, if I'm to believe what I hear."

    Meg's eyes widened. "You've been spying on my brother!"

    "There's been no need to spy. He's been agitating openly."

    "Agitating, you say? And you don't think there might be good cause for his complaints?"

    "No, I don't! I know what goes on in those mines. I've been there every day for months."

    "So, you know what it means to be an Irishman in the mines, do you?" Meghan's face flushed with anger. "You traded your fine English name for an Irish one so you could see how it feels to be pushed to the bottom of the list while the English, Welsh, Poles, Dutch, German, Italian, and every other nationality are given preference over you. And you've swung a pick and dug coal, have you? You've traded the light of day for long hours underground where the dampness gets into your bones and there's not a breath of fresh air to breathe. You've loaded cars and strained to push them into the gangway, all the time knowing that though your muscles ache and your back's near broke, you'll not see half the weight in the car reflected on your pay ticket."