The Confidential Life of Eugenia Cooper (34 page)

She could have said no.

The meal began, and Daniel came to sit beside her. “I didn’t expect this,” he said to Gennie as he gathered Charlotte into his lap, “or I’d have warned you.”

“So you say.” Gennie’s gaze surveyed the room. “Interesting how the same people practicing vigilante justice on us mere hours ago are now falling over one another to wish us the best.” She returned her attention to Daniel and caught him staring. “What? Have I spilled the soup on myself?” Gennie looked down at the front of her gown, then back up at Daniel. “Stop looking at me like that.”

Daniel’s brows rose and he dabbed at the corner of his mouth. “Miss Cooper, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s Mrs. Beck, dear,” she reminded him in a less-than-sweet tone.

Lieutenant Governor Tabor stood and raised his glass. “A toast to the happy couple.”

Daniel rose slowly and deposited Charlotte in the chair beside him. “Thank you, Horace,” he said as he lifted his glass.

Gennie remained seated. Her knocking knees could never have supported her. If only she could find a way to make an exit from the forced festivities. Thankfully, Charlotte gave her a reason.

“Your daughter is exhausted,” she said to Daniel when he sat once more. She gestured to the child, who rested her elbows on the table. “I’ll see she gets to bed. No need for you to leave the party.”

“Are you certain?” Was that regret she saw on his face?

“Very.” She rose, and Daniel joined her. “Do make my apologies to your friends.”

Gennie swept Charlotte from the room and headed upstairs to the bridal suite, where she made sure the door was locked tight.

“See?” she said as she turned to tackle the job of preparing Charlotte for bed. “If your papa and I were really married, it would be him, not you, in that monstrosity of a bed tonight, so be thankful.”

Charlotte giggled, and Gennie admonished her for racing over to climb beneath the massive curtains.

“You’re filthy, child,” she said, “and your bath is drawn, so into it you go.”

The girl stood her ground.

“Fine, then,” Gennie said. “I’ll sleep in the bed, and you can have the pallet on the floor over there.”

Charlotte dashed toward the tub.

Some time later, heavy footsteps paused outside in the hall, but only for a moment before continuing on. Gennie punched the lumpy pillow and rolled onto her back on the makeshift pallet before gathering the blanket to her chin.

I could have said no.

That thought followed Gennie all the way to Denver and echoed in her mind as she boarded the streetcar for the downtown area and the telegraph office. Fully expecting a response from Hester Vanowen to have languished there until she returned, she was surprised to find nothing waiting for her. Gennie peered into her near-empty reticule and extracted enough coins to pay for a brief telegram reminding her old friend of the prior request.

With nothing left to do but go back to the Beck home, she climbed aboard the streetcar and rode all the way back to the end of the line, wondering why she’d not heard from Hester. That concern faded when she spied Anna Finch waiting for her on the sidewalk.

“How was Leadville?” she asked as she fell into step with Gennie.

“Interesting” was the best answer Gennie could give.

They walked in silence for a full block before Anna stopped. “You’ve fallen in love with him. I can tell.”

Gennie shook her head. “No, of course not. We did spend a bit of time together, and there were some interesting developments while in Leadville, but love? Hardly. You’re the one who loves Daniel Beck, not me.”

Anna shook her head. “I’m not convinced.”

“Then don’t be,” Gennie said as she stalked ahead. “My opinion in the matter of Daniel Beck doesn’t seem to matter to anyone anyway.”

She left Anna at the gate of the Beck house and stormed inside. Elias and Tova sat at the kitchen table.

“Your trunks have been unpacked,” Tova said. “What would you like me to do with the pistol?”

“The pistol?” Gennie shook her head. “Considering the events of the last few days, I suggest you keep it as far away from me as you can.”

She headed upstairs to see to Charlotte’s bedtime routine. When one story was not enough, she went down to the library to fetch another. There, she walked in on Daniel, who sat at the desk, looking at a letter.

“I’m terribly sorry,” she said, turning to leave.

He looked up as if he hadn’t heard her come in. “No, it’s fine. I’m guessing Charlotte asked for another book.” When she nodded, he pointed out two of her favorites. “Take them both,” he said. “She may want a third.”

“She’ll not have a third,” Gennie said, “but I will give her a choice.”

His nod dismissed her, and Gennie escaped upstairs feeling she’d somehow been judged and found lacking. That feeling intensified when she returned the books to the library awhile later and found Daniel still sitting at the desk.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. “I’ll just leave these outside and put them away in the morning.”

“No.” He looked up from his work. “Come in and sit, please.”

“Perhaps tomorrow,” she said. “I’m exhausted.”

“No. Now, please.” He sighed. “There’s no need to put this off.”

Daniel gestured to the empty chair, and she grudgingly sat in the one next to it. “All right, but is it impertinent of me to ask that, given the late hour, you be brief?”

“First, I would like to know what your plans are for preparing Charlotte to meet her grandfather.”

Her grandfather? He was the royal personage to whom Charlotte would be presented? “Now that she’s wearing socially appropriate attire, I thought to introduce her to events where she can use her manners and deportment.”

“Charlotte has manners and deportment?”

Gennie nodded. “She began her lessons in Leadville, and they will continue until I leave.” She recited one of Mama’s favorite lines. “The end of learning is the end of knowledge, Mr. Beck.”

“Daniel.”

“Oh, of course,” she said. “It wouldn’t do to call one’s husband by anything other than his given name.”

“Speaking of Leadville.” His gaze collided with hers. “Do you realize that had you not chosen to scream at the most inopportune time, none of this would have happened?”

Gennie blinked hard and shook her head. “Do I understand you correctly? Are you blaming
me
?”

“If you recall, the occupants of the third floor were summoned not when Charlotte had her nightmare, but when you screamed at my entrance into the room.” He held his hand up to stop her protest. “And let me remind you, I knocked before I entered.”

“You knocked, and therefore I should not have screamed when a man wearing what appeared to be some sort of strange traveling cloak barged into a hotel room already under guard due to threats by an awful miner who chased your daughter?”

Daniel seemed to let all of that sink in before slowly nodding.

Outrage of a depth she’d never felt before welled up in Gennie. “Look here, Daniel Beck. I will not accept responsibility for this.”

“Stop it,” a small voice demanded. Gennie turned to see Charlotte standing in the doorway.

“Did we wake you, Buttercup?” Daniel asked.

“Papa, why are you being so mean to Miss Cooper? She married you because you asked her to. That’s how mommies and daddies get married.”

“Yes,” Daniel said, “that is the conventional way of doing things.”

Charlotte rubbed her eyes. “Why didn’t you and Miss Cooper do things the ’ventional way?”

Gennie rose and herded her charge into the hallway. “We can discuss this tomorrow, Charlotte. Tonight you need to sleep.”

The girl offered no protest until they reached the stairs. “I forgot to tell him good night,” she said as she raced back to the library.

Gennie waited at the bottom of the stairs. She couldn’t see Charlotte or Daniel from her position, but she could hear their voices through the open door.

“We need Miss Cooper,” Charlotte told her father, “and you should be nice to her.”

“I am nice,” he said.

“No, you’re not,” Charlotte replied in that insistent way she had. “You didn’t marry her the ’ventional way, and now she’s not a bona fide wife.”

“Where did you hear that? About Gennie not being bona fide?”

“I heard Elias and Tova talking about it.” She paused. “They said you only married her to keep your stupid mines from getting back-rupted.”

“Back-rupted?” He chuckled. “You mean bankrupted. And what you need to understand is that we didn’t actually get married.”

“But people said you did.”

“Yes,” he said slowly.

“And Mr. Sam helped me make a sign for you.”

Gennie crept closer, but still could see neither father nor daughter.
Please, Lord
, she prayed,
help Daniel handle this the right way.

“You know, Buttercup,” he said gently, “Miss Cooper’s not planning to stay with us forever.”

“But she has to. I like her.”

“It’s wonderful that you like her.” He chuckled. “A miracle, even, but she has a mama and a papa in New York who would miss her terribly if she didn’t go back to them.”

Silence.

Gennie crept closer until she could see the back of Charlotte’s head. “If she leaves, I’ll run away.”

“Don’t you ever say that,” Daniel snapped. “Never.”

“I’m sorry, Papa, but I love Miss Cooper. She protected me from the bad man even though I was mean to her.” She paused to sniffle. “You love her too, don’t you?”

Gennie walked away before he responded. There was no need to eavesdrop on the answer when she already knew what he would say.

“Terribly sorry you’ve got to leave so suddenly,” Mae said, practically pushing Henry out the door. “Might you be interested in a stroll later?”

“Can’t commit,” he said. “An interesting problem that rarely afflicts me.”

She stared, not quite sure whether his meaning was intentional. With dear Henry, she never really knew.

Another thump and she slammed the door. Peering through the lace curtains, she saw Henry had already beat a path for home.

His home.

“Oh, Henry, someday we will find one that will be ours together,” she whispered. “But for now, mine’s got an angry criminal in the basement, and I must see to him.”

“The invitations are on the silver tray in the foyer,” Tova said when Gennie returned from delivering Charlotte to school.

“Invitations?”

Tova nodded. “Before I always threw them away but I understand Mr. Beck will be going out again.”

“He will?” Despite the fact their marriage was a sham and their kisses had all been mistakes, Gennie felt a twinge of jealousy not unlike the moment when Baby Doe called Daniel “Danny Boy.”

“Likely Miss Finch’s ball gowns will have to be taken in a bit at the
waist if you’re to wear them. If you have time this morning, perhaps I could do that for you.”

Gennie shook her head. “I think you’ve misunderstood. I’ve not been invited to go to anywhere with Daniel.”

Tova nodded. “Perhaps I misunderstood.”

“No, Tova,” Daniel said from the top of the stairs, “you did not misunderstand. If my daughter is to be accepted into society, it starts with me doing my part.” He looked at Gennie. “And if I go alone, the matrons will trot out their marriageable daughters again. I can’t tolerate that, and I won’t.”