“Sunshine prefers dogs, although we never had any dogs because Father wouldn’t permit it.”
“A decision your father made after your dog Sparky died when you were ten, and he believed you were being overly sensitive about the death,” Douglas said, which had Georgette drawing in a sharp breath.
“You remember me telling you that?”
“I remember everything about you.”
Georgette’s shoulders sagged a touch before she squared them. “How unexpected, but returning to your daughter’s name, she kept the middle name I gave her—that being Sunshine—which suits her to aTbecause of her sunny disposition.”
“I wouldn’t take Mother’s word about that,” Eunice said. “I don’t have a sunshiny personality, more along the lines of direct and annoying.”
Georgette rolled her eyes. “You could have waited at least an hour before divulging your character weaknesses to him, Eunice. It would have been nice to at least allow him to think, if ever so briefly, that he had a daughter filled with sunshine and light.”
“I’ve been disguising myself as a widow for years,” Eunice countered. “And while it’s true now that I’ve abandoned my widow’s weeds that I do feel lighter, sunshiny has never been an appropriate way to describe my true nature.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And while I understand you’re discussing my names to try to avoid starting what you know is going to be an unpleasant conversation, I’d like to know why you hid the truth about my father all these years.”
“I wasn’t going to tell you that your father was a no-good, lying rogue who left me when I was expecting you.”
“I had no idea you were expecting, Georgette, and you know it, and again, I didn’t leave you,” Douglas argued. “Your father had me abducted. I mean, how could we have ever thought he’dgo to those lengths simply because he mistakenly thought that I was a fortune hunter? Yes, I was a third son, and yes, at the time we married, I was given an allowance. But I know I told you I had a trust fund coming, and a rather substantial trust fund at that.”
“Your family told you they were cutting you off from your allowance after you told them we’d married. I assumed your trust fund was to be taken away as well.”
“My grandfather left me that trust, so there was no way for my family to deprive me of it, but I wasn’t eligible to receive the trust until I turned twenty-five. I was in the process of seeking out a paid position when your father snatched me. As for his assumption that I was a fortune hunter, I didn’t even know who your father was or the extent of his fortune when we married. Yes, I assumed you had some family money because you were attending an expensive finishing school. However, I had no idea your father was a copper mogul, but it wouldn’t have made a difference to me. I fell in love with you the second I laid eyes on you, and I thought you’d done the same with me.”
“I did do the same. You were the love of my life. It’s the reason I never sought out a divorce, since I couldn’t very well seek out an annulment or get married again, something that drove my father mad.”
Douglas stilled. “You didn’t divorce me?”
“I didn’t have the stomach for it, but...” Georgette’s eyes widened. “Good heavens, you’re probably married, which means I’m the reason you’re a bigamist.”
What almost sounded like a laugh escaped Douglas. “I’m not a bigamist because I could never contemplate the idea of marriage again, seeing as how the one and only time I fell in love ended badly for me.”
Georgette blew out a breath. “Well, thank goodness for that—I mean, not the part about matters ending badly for you, but that you’re not a bigamist. That would have added to a situation that’s quite complicated enough.”
Douglas’s only reply to that was to settle a smile on Georgette,one she returned right before she and Douglas began to simply stare at each other, quite like a few other couples had been doing of late. Not wanting to intrude, Arthur fetched himself a chair and sat down beside Eunice, who reached out and took hold of his hand, giving it a squeeze.
“This is certainly a peculiar turn of events,” she whispered.
“Indeed, but are you all right? It’s not every day one discovers a father one didn’t know was alive.”
“I’m not certain how I feel just yet,” Eunice admitted. “However, I’ll have to sort through my feelings later when I’m at my leisure. For now, I still have scads of questions to ask, and we still need to uncover the person responsible for killing Grandfather.”
“What was that?” Douglas asked, tearing his gaze from Georgette’s.
Taking a few minutes to fill Douglas in on what was transpiring and why an agent with the Pinkertons, along with agents from the Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency, were gathered in the library, Eunice finished with “And that’s why Mother and I returned to Montana. And with all that out of the way, before Agent Clifton begins questioning the family again about Grandfather’s death, I have a question for you. Why did you assume the name D. H. Loring when you began corresponding with my uncle about the sale of Mason Mines?”
“There’s no mystery there,” Douglas began. “Even with the time that had passed since my marriage and subsequent disaster with your mother, I was concerned that someone would remember that Georgette had once been married to Douglas Howland. I thought they might then refuse to entertain my offer to purchase Mason Mines, hence the reason for creating an alias with Loring as my last name, which is my mother’s maiden name.”
Georgette’s nose wrinkled. “But I remember that your mother’s maiden name was Loring, which means I could have put an end to your plans to purchase Mason Mines.”
“Considering that Raymond told me James’s daughter was dead, I wasn’t worried about my alias. I did mourn far deeper than I expected, though, after learning you were no longer alive.”
Georgette released a bit of a sigh before she turned and leveled a glare on Raymond. “You really should be ashamed of yourself, telling everyone I was dead.”
Raymond didn’t bother to respond, merely turned his head and began taking a marked interest in the vase of flowers next to him.
“Clearly, our family has been participating in a lot of shameful behavior,” Eunice said before she nodded to the letter Douglas was still holding. “I believe you should read that letter so you’ll understand what Mother must have been feeling all these years. After you’re done, though, I’d like to look at both letters.”
“Why?”
