With his glass factory turning a tidy profit, Kiernan had been looking for his next investment well before the fire. He’d been considering a sugar refinery or getting into the steamboat-building business. He’d even discussed with Sullivan, his new brother-in-law, the possibility of investing in a train that would connect St. Louis with eastern rails.
But the day after the fire, Kiernan had realized right away that the city would need to rebuild, and he’d decided to meet the demands that would arise.
As he’d considered the materials necessary for rebuilding, he landed upon bricks. Cheltenham to the south of St. Louis already had a handful of clay mines and brickyards. The area was rich in sediment—primarily clay—deposited over the centuries by the Mississippi River. The clay was ripe for mining and firing into bricks.
In fact, after spending the past couple of weeks researchingeverything he could find about clay mining and brickmaking, he’d become more convinced than ever that brickmaking was the direction he wanted to go. To capitalize on the immediate need for bricks, however, he’d realized he didn’t have time to buy land and do everything required to excavate a mine and create a brickyard from nothing.
After scouring the existing brickyards, he’d located one fellow who was interested in selling and had his sights set on the California goldfields. Kiernan had examined the operations and decided it had potential for growth.
The trouble was he’d lacked the capital to make the purchase on his own, having already used his inheritance from his da to buy the glass factory. Of course, he could have sold his factory, but that would have delayed his ability to help with the rebuilding of St. Louis.
For the span of five minutes, he’d considered asking Da to invest with him. But then all he had to do was think of Da’s litany of successes.
Aye, Da loved to talk about how he’d immigrated by himself with a small inheritance from his father, a silk manufacturer. Kiernan had heard Da’s stories so often, he could almost recite them word for word—how he’d arrived in St. Louis with practically nothing, and how he’d worked with his ownbrawn and brainover the years to become one of St. Louis’s most prosperous and prominent citizens. He’d done it all by himself, without any help.
That’s what his da expected now of Kiernan with his inheritance. While the glass factory had been a good start and had helped him learn what it took to run his own business and be successful, he’d also concluded that it would never help him rise to the top and surpass his da’s accomplishments.
Kiernan needed something else that would prove he had the same ingenuity, resourcefulness, and drive that his dad did, if not more. That something was bricks.
Whether the people of St. Louis knew it yet or not, they would need bricks. And Kiernan planned to be the biggest and best brick producer ... with Liam as his partner.
Liam had already come into his full inheritance after his father had passed away several years ago and was a wealthy man, certainly more so than any other twenty-two-year-old. Although Kiernan would have preferred to do it all on his own, he’d had no choice but to involve his friend. Fortunately, Liam had been eager to join Kiernan in his new business venture.
Kiernan took another sip of his lemonade. “Even without the city council mandating the rebuilding with bricks, I think most people will do it.”
Liam gave a nonchalant shrug. “A little pressure and a few favors to council members will hopefully nudge them in our direction.”
Kiernan set his glass down on the side table too forcefully. “No favors.” He’d already had this discussion with Liam. Kiernan wanted to do everything with integrity, the same way his da had. No cheating, no swindling, no cutting corners, no breaking of laws, and no twisting of politicians’ arms to get their way.
He’d either succeed by his own brawn and brain or not at all.
Liam’s easy smile made an appearance. “I’m just jesting. Of course I’m not offering favors.”
Kiernan wasn’t an idiot. He knew Liam didn’t always tell the truth, sometimes said what he thought people wanted tohear in order to keep the peace. This was probably one of those cases, but Kiernan didn’t want to argue with his friend tonight and put a damper on their excitement.
He cast his gaze off to the west to the hazy, humid sky hovering over the horizon. The blue was light, the same color as Alannah’s eyes. Those beautiful wide blue eyes filled with such life and curiosity and wonder.
He’d briefly searched for her upon his return home a short while ago, hoping to see her and ask her how her first day of work had gone. But he hadn’t spotted her anywhere, and with Liam here, he’d decided it was probably best not to draw attention her way.
The slow singing of the cicadas filled the air, and the short buzz of a nighthawk sounded overhead as it began hunting for its feast of insects around sunset. A low, mournful groan of a bullfrog echoed from the direction of Dover’s Pond across the road and down just a little way.
Although Kiernan rarely stopped his work long enough to appreciate the sights and sounds and smells of the countryside, he drew in a breath laden with the scent of damp grass and the lavender his mam grew in the side garden.
“And there she is.” Liam stood, his sights fixed upon a horse and rider coming around a bend in the road.
Kiernan didn’t need to look to know whoshewas.
“Holy mother.” Liam spoke reverently. “She’s beautiful.”
With her thick brown hair, seductive brown eyes, and perfect womanly form, Shelia was beautiful. She always had been, even when they’d been young children playing together when both of their families had escaped the heat and stench of the city for the countryside, even if only for a few days at a time. Together with their siblings, he and Shelia had runthrough the meadows and woodlands during the endless summer days.
Kiernan had fallen in love with her almost from the start and always believed he’d marry her. He’d assumed she’d felt the same way about him.
Then eighteen months ago, she’d left for a trip to Europe. He’d been busy with his new glass factory at the time and had hoped that when she came back, he’d have enough saved to build her a house. When she’d returned, instead of rushing into his arms the way she always had, she’d been tucked against Liam’s side. While gallivanting around Paris, she’d connected with Liam, who’d been there for a short trip.
Liam’s short trip had turned into a long one accompanying Shelia and the Douglas family for the rest of the six months they’d remained in Europe. By the time everyone arrived home in St. Louis, Liam and Shelia had been courting. Over the past year they’d been home, Liam hadn’t yet proposed since Shelia’s parents wanted her to wait until she was eighteen to get married.
With her eighteenth birthday in one month, Liam had already been planning how he intended to propose to her and talked about it all the time. Kiernan was tired of hearing the details about the proposal to the woman he’d thought would be his wife. But he didn’t have the heart to tell Liam to stop.
