The Confidential Life of Eugenia Cooper Part 27

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, b.u.t.tercup?" 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 Please, Lord, she prayed, help Daniel handle this the right way. help Daniel handle this the right way.

"You know, b.u.t.tercup," 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 pus.h.i.+ng 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 bas.e.m.e.nt, 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."

Gennie thought of Anna next door. How would she manage to cause this stubborn man to change his thinking? Lord Lord, she prayed, I know You can do what I cannot, and changing Daniel Beck is something I certainly cannot do. I know You can do what I cannot, and changing Daniel Beck is something I certainly cannot do.

But sticking close by him until she had a better plan was something she could could do. do.

"Well, Tova," she said, "what's on the schedule for tonight? I'd like to be sure my ensemble is appropriate."

"The Millers are hosting a ball," she said.

"Likely a thinly veiled excuse for a suffragette rally," Daniel said.

"Actually, the invitation says to dress as an invention," Tova said.

"An invention?" Daniel shook his head. "What sort of frippery is that?"

"It sounds like an interesting challenge." Gennie grinned as she looked up at the ceiling.

Later in the privacy of her bedchamber, Gennie examined gown after gown until she found the one that best fit the invention she'd chosen. Only one item remained, and she enlisted Elias to comb the ma.s.sive attic for just the right accessory.

When the knock came at her door, Gennie found uncharacteristic b.u.t.terflies dancing in her stomach. She'd attended countless b.a.l.l.s, soirees, and galas; tonight's event, a simple costume ball in a Denver home, should have been just another evening out.

"Mr. Beck's waiting." Tova slipped the door open a notch, then sucked in a deep breath. "Oh my," she said.

Gennie's heart sank. "I knew it. I look a fool." She reached for the glittering diamonds at her ears. "Tell Mr. Beck I'm staying in tonight."

"You'll do no such thing," came a booming voice from downstairs.

She gave Tova a beseeching look.

"Go now," Tova said. "You'll be the belle of the ball."

"The belle of the ball?" Gennie chuckled. "I hardly think so."

"Go," Tova repeated, "and enjoy yourself. Charlotte and I will have-"

"You're beautiful!" Charlotte slid around Tova and skidded to a stop inches from the toe of Gennie's slippered foot.

"Slow down, Charlotte," Gennie said. She took a deep breath and moved toward the door.

"You could learn a lesson from the speed at which my daughter moves," Daniel called as he stood in the foyer. He turned to Elias, who kept a safe distance at the parlor door. "I fail to understand what a woman does that takes..." Noting Elias's sudden change of expression, Daniel stopped. "What's wrong with you, Elias?"

His friend seemed unable to do anything but point toward the stairs. Daniel turned to follow Elias's stunned gaze.

Gennie made her way down the staircase. At least, he thought the vision in s.h.i.+mmering gold was his governess.

"She's a sight." Elias crossed the foyer to nudge Daniel. "Didn't expect that, now, did you?"

"What do you think?" she asked when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

Her hair had been piled atop her head in a fas.h.i.+onable style, then decorated with glittering gems. A second look told him those gems matched the ones attached to her dress at intervals. They also matched the crystals on the trio of chandeliers that once hung in his dining room.

As she moved from the stairs, her costume caught the new chandelier's light and sent prisms of color bouncing around the room. "Daniel?"

"I'm not sure what it is," Daniel said, his mouth suddenly dry. "I mean, I'm not sure what this represents."

"Daniel, you're not making any sense." Elias chuckled. "Not that I blame you."

Gennie's expression fell. "You don't like it, do you?"

She turned to go back up the stairs, but Daniel caught her by the wrist. A wrist encircled by a string of crystals that matched the ones at her ears and neck. "We're late," he said, his voice belying the fact she'd taken his breath away.

Gennie stepped out into the night air, and Daniel followed like a hapless pup. As he landed in the carriage beside her, he managed to form a question. "Gennie," he said carefully, "exactly what invention does your costume represent?"

"I might ask you the same." She looked him up and down. "I fail to see you've donned anything other than your customary evening suit. Where's your costume?"

Daniel leaned back and called to Isak to commence the drive to the Miller home. "My costume?" He gestured to his chest. "I'm wearing it, Gennie."

She gave him a sideways look. "What invention could you possibly be?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He put on his best grin. "I'm man, of course."

Her laughter filled the carriage. "That's ridiculous."

"Gennie," he said with mock horror. "Do you not think man is G.o.d's best invention?"

To her credit, the governess appeared to be considering it. "I suppose I never thought of it that way," she finally said as the carriage rolled out of the gates.

Reaching across the distance between them, Daniel lifted a curl of hair from her shoulder and watched the attached crystal catch the lamplight. "Your turn."

"My invention is fire." She lifted a crystal at her neck. "Can you feature it?"

He could. Easily. And likely would for quite some time.

Indeed, she and Daniel Beck were quite different.

And yet when Gennie stepped into the Millers' ballroom on Daniel's arm, those differences faded away. For a man of decidedly frontier tastes, he was an accomplished dancer, gliding her around the room with such skill that she felt she might leave her dancing slippers behind and float away, her golden skirts billowing in the breeze.

While his costume was interesting and cheating in equal measure, Gennie found herself smiling at the thought of his daring choice. When Anna joined her, she almost felt guilty for the grin she wore.

"We must find a way for him to dance with you, Anna," she said to her friend, who wore a costume with numerous circles attached.

"Perhaps dressing as the wheel was not my best choice," Anna said. "I'll certainly not capture Daniel's attention in the same manner as your gown of fire."

Gennie shook her head and glanced across the room at Daniel, who seemed embroiled in an intense conversation with several business types. "He'll come to his senses, Anna."

"I'm not so sure," she said. "I think he took leave of them the minute you arrived."

Gennie denied it, of course, and added a promise to discuss Anna at length with Daniel on their drive home. This became difficult, however, when Daniel changed the subject each time she mentioned his neighbor's name.

Finally, she'd had enough. "Daniel, I must know what you find so uninteresting about Anna Finch. I think she's quite lovely."

"Yes, she's very lovely," he said as the carriage pa.s.sed beneath a gaslight. "But what man would think of the wheel when he's faced with fire?" He leaned back and closed his eyes. "Explain this to me, Governess, for I am merely a man."

She could only laugh, though it appeared her plan to draw attention to Anna was in grave danger.

The following night, they attended an oratory lecture at the opera house. Halfway through the insufferable speaker's monologue, Daniel started snoring and had to be jabbed awake. Daniel repaid the favor several days later when an amba.s.sador from a Central American country droned on in stilted English, and Gennie was forced to find respite behind her fan.

By the end of the week, their strained silence at home had given way to the easy camaraderie they'd shared on other occasions. Her only disappointment came in her failed attempts at bringing Daniel together with Anna. With her time in Denver drawing to a close, Gennie had almost decided that only a miracle would accomplish the feat. Anna, it seemed, had given up entirely.

"Tonight will be different," Gennie said as she finished pinning her hair and rose to take a look at the newly altered ball gown. The dress s.h.i.+mmered in a blue that Tova said complimented her eyes.