after the house and servants and keep things running smoothly for your husband. You'll have children to look after if you need more to keep you occupied. You'll marry Peter, child, if you know what's good for you."
This was her father talking to her. Georgina couldn't believe he meant it. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she adamantly refused to give in on this topic. "I know what's good for me, and it isn't a man who won't listen to reason. I'll not marry him, Papa."
Her father looked older and grayer than she had ever seen him as he shook his head and started down the hall. "You will, Georgina. I can't afford for you to do otherwise. If you don't, I will have to put you somewhere where you can't hurt anyone else or until you return to your senses."
He entered his chamber and quietly closed the door, leaving Georgina to stare after him with a sense of impending doom. The words had been deceptively calm, but she knew what they meant. She had only been three or four when her mother had gone away and not come back for what had seemed forever. She'd heard the servants whisper about it for years, shaking their heads and looking frightened whenever her mother took to her room. It had taken years for her to find out just exactly where her mother had been all those months, the place her father still occasionally threatened her mother with when he didn't think anyone was listening.
She had no desire at all to be sent off to the Shady Rest Retiring Home for Convalescents.
* * *
"Father, you have yourself upset over nothing," Peter Mulloney argued. "He's just a mud-slinging journalist who will be out of business in a few weeks. People around here are too sensible to listen to his radical preachings."
It was nearly midnight, but the man in the black suit behind the desk had not removed one article of his formal attire and there was not a crease out of place. He puffed furiously on a cigar as he regarded his eldest son, then swept the room with his gaze to make certain the younger boys were listening.
"There are elements in any town that will use any excuse to cause trouble. You heard about the riots in New Jersey. You've seen the trouble the Grange has caused out West. We're going to nip this thing in the bud before he has a chance to cause more harm than he has. All I want you to do is take care of that spoiled brat of yours. I don't want any outcry from her when we do what we have to do."
Peter shifted uneasily in his chair. As the eldest, he had the responsibility to stand up to his father when he was wrong. John and Paul still lived in fear of the old man. Georgina had been wrong to do what she had, but she was young and naive and her mother never had brought her up properly. She would straighten out once she was married. But Peter had a sneaking suspicion that marriage wouldn't come happily if Georgina knew his father was responsible for harming her newspaper friend in any way. He had to persuade the old man to keep things quiet.
"Leave the man alone, Father. The people his article is aimed at can't read. Even if they could, they don't have enough ambition or organization to do anything about it. Those clerks need their jobs and won't jeopardize them. I'll take care of Georgie. But you'll tie my hands if you do anything to that newspaperman. Georgie's very adamant about protecting her friends. She's quite capable of not going through with the wedding if she thinks we had anything to do with harming any friend of hers."
That thought made Peter nervous. She had been rattling on about some clerk in the store he had fired earlier. It might be wise to find out the details. He had known all his life that Georgie would be his wife. Marriage was his ticket to freedom. He didn't want her throwing his ring back at him at this late date.
As if seeing the wheels go around in his son's head, the old man behind the desk chuckled ominously. "You'd better get a tight rein on that one pretty quick, son, before she has you jumping hoops like
This was her father talking to her. Georgina couldn't believe he meant it. Tears pooled in her eyes, but she adamantly refused to give in on this topic. "I know what's good for me, and it isn't a man who won't listen to reason. I'll not marry him, Papa."
Her father looked older and grayer than she had ever seen him as he shook his head and started down the hall. "You will, Georgina. I can't afford for you to do otherwise. If you don't, I will have to put you somewhere where you can't hurt anyone else or until you return to your senses."
He entered his chamber and quietly closed the door, leaving Georgina to stare after him with a sense of impending doom. The words had been deceptively calm, but she knew what they meant. She had only been three or four when her mother had gone away and not come back for what had seemed forever. She'd heard the servants whisper about it for years, shaking their heads and looking frightened whenever her mother took to her room. It had taken years for her to find out just exactly where her mother had been all those months, the place her father still occasionally threatened her mother with when he didn't think anyone was listening.
She had no desire at all to be sent off to the Shady Rest Retiring Home for Convalescents.
* * *
"Father, you have yourself upset over nothing," Peter Mulloney argued. "He's just a mud-slinging journalist who will be out of business in a few weeks. People around here are too sensible to listen to his radical preachings."
It was nearly midnight, but the man in the black suit behind the desk had not removed one article of his formal attire and there was not a crease out of place. He puffed furiously on a cigar as he regarded his eldest son, then swept the room with his gaze to make certain the younger boys were listening.
"There are elements in any town that will use any excuse to cause trouble. You heard about the riots in New Jersey. You've seen the trouble the Grange has caused out West. We're going to nip this thing in the bud before he has a chance to cause more harm than he has. All I want you to do is take care of that spoiled brat of yours. I don't want any outcry from her when we do what we have to do."
Peter shifted uneasily in his chair. As the eldest, he had the responsibility to stand up to his father when he was wrong. John and Paul still lived in fear of the old man. Georgina had been wrong to do what she had, but she was young and naive and her mother never had brought her up properly. She would straighten out once she was married. But Peter had a sneaking suspicion that marriage wouldn't come happily if Georgina knew his father was responsible for harming her newspaper friend in any way. He had to persuade the old man to keep things quiet.
"Leave the man alone, Father. The people his article is aimed at can't read. Even if they could, they don't have enough ambition or organization to do anything about it. Those clerks need their jobs and won't jeopardize them. I'll take care of Georgie. But you'll tie my hands if you do anything to that newspaperman. Georgie's very adamant about protecting her friends. She's quite capable of not going through with the wedding if she thinks we had anything to do with harming any friend of hers."
That thought made Peter nervous. She had been rattling on about some clerk in the store he had fired earlier. It might be wise to find out the details. He had known all his life that Georgie would be his wife. Marriage was his ticket to freedom. He didn't want her throwing his ring back at him at this late date.
As if seeing the wheels go around in his son's head, the old man behind the desk chuckled ominously. "You'd better get a tight rein on that one pretty quick, son, before she has you jumping hoops like
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