Unending Devotion (Michigan Brides #1)(47)

“I’m fine.”

He offered her his arm, and when she took it, Connell had the urge to rush over to her, sweep her off her feet, and carry her to her bed.

But if he did that, he could only imagine what Tierney would say.

Instead, he held himself back, and after she was gone, he spun on his brother. “Don’t say anything more about her. Not one more thing.”

Tierney shrugged. “And here I thought you’d finally loosened up a little.”

“Just stay away from her.”

“Fine. If it makes you happy, I won’t interfere.”

Somehow, Tierney’s words only made him more uneasy.

“I won’t say anything else.” Tierney reached down and tugged off one of his thick wool socks. “Except . . .”

The word hung between them while Tierney pulled off his other damp sock. He tossed them over the line, heedless of the other socks that fell to the floor with the impact.

“Except,” he said again, “Dad wants you to stop living with the girl, which means you’ll have to find another place to board.”

“That’s ridiculous—”

“You’ve got to learn how to do this right, brother.” Tierney pulled a silver cigar case out of his vest pocket. “You can see her all you want. Privately. But you’ve got to learn to keep the rumors to a minimum.”

“And I suppose that’s what you do every time you go out carousing.” The sarcasm in Connell’s voice couldn’t compare to the acidity in his stomach.

Tierney clicked open the thin case and lifted out one of his custom-made cigars. “Nobody pays any attention to a man frequenting a tavern, even if it happens to have other amenities. But everyone notices when a man of your power and position fornicates publicly.”

Connell could only shake his head.

“Dad’s angry about what you’re doing.” Tierney snipped the cap from the head of the cigar. “He wants the rumors cleared up immediately.”

The irony of the situation mocked Connell. He knew he shouldn’t have been surprised by it, but he was, nevertheless. Somehow he’d ended up displeasing Dad when he’d done nothing wrong. And yet Tierney seemed to be earning more and more of their dad’s favor, even though he made a regular habit of committing adultery.

Where was the fairness in that?

But then again, had there ever been any justice when it came to Tierney or Dad?

There certainly hadn’t been any with what had happened with Rosemarie. Connell had tried hard to do the right thing by keeping their relationship pure. All the while Tierney had been—he wouldn’t let himself think about what Tierney had done.

And who had come out the winner? Who had ended up pleasing Dad?

Tierney sat back, lit his cigar, and took a long puff with an air of satisfaction.

Irritation curled through Connell. “Tell Dad he can believe what he wants. But eventually the truth is going to come out.”

Connell could only pray that was true, that Dad would know he’d worked hard and lived with integrity the way he’d wanted him to.

And even if Dad never found out the truth, at least he could stand before God some day with a clean heart. Wasn’t that enough?





Chapter

14



Lily glanced over her shoulder to the front door of the Northern, half expecting Vera to be standing there waving her wooden spoon, demanding she come back inside.

But the dear woman still hadn’t noticed she was gone.

Lily took a deep breath of the bitterly cold air and fought back a cough. She huddled deeper into her coat and hoped Vera would forgive her for disobeying her orders to stay in bed.

The fact was, she had too much to do to waste another day lying around. Especially with Stuart’s failed attempt to free Frankie over the weekend.

Lily’s mind had been altogether too busy the past several days plotting how she could fight against the depravity that ruled Harrison. And it was time for her to get up and do something about it.

Her footsteps crunched in the icy layer of snow, and the wind slashed her cheeks. But not even the cruelty of the north woods winter could hold her back. She was determined to meet with Stuart, lay out her plan, and enlist his printing press.

At midday, Main Street was nearly deserted. Like most of the lumber towns, Harrison didn’t come to life until dark, when the men descended upon the taverns after a long day of work.

Most of the men who boarded in town were other camp bosses, businessmen, railway engineers, mill workers, and laborers who worked at the loading station—like Jimmy Neil—unloading logs the narrow gauges brought out of the various camps and reloading them onto the beds of the Pere Marquette railroad.

Very few of the men brought their families to the remote lumber town and so had little better to do in the evenings than frequent the places of debauchery.

Lily glanced in disdain to the many taverns she’d visited over the past several weeks. If only the town had more wholesome diversions—like a church or a school.

Ahead of Lily, the bell jingled on the pharmacy door as it swung open. Maggie Carr stepped out, tossing one end of her scarlet scarf over her shoulder. She carried a parcel wrapped in brown paper and tied with string.

When she glimpsed Lily, she stopped. Above the edge of the scarf that covered her mouth and nose, recognition flared in the woman’s eyes.