Land Of Promise by Cox Carol

Author:Cox, Carol
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-04-24T04:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Letitia raised her head and looked daggers at Elizabeth. Her hair had escaped from its pins and stringy gray strands dangled on either side of her tear-streaked face. “You haven’t been honest with us from the moment you arrived, have you? You wanted a way out here and you used us as a reason to come. We’d planned such a wonderful future for you, but you wanted nothing to do with it. All you’ve been interested in is following your own desires.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Do you deny that you misled us about your relationship with James Reilly?”

“Misled, yes. Maliciously, no. I only meant to deflect your interest in finding me a beau. I never intended to cause you any harm.” Elizabeth stared from one of the distraught pair to the other.

“But just how could my statement about James bring you to ruin? I don’t understand.”

Richard opened his mouth, then closed it again as he shoved himself away from her chair. Letitia swiped a clump of hair back away from her face and pushed herself to her feet.

“I’ll tell you how.” Ignoring Richard’s cautioning gesture, she declared, “Our money is gone. All of it.”

“Financial reversals,” Richard put in.

“We had one chance to recoup our losses. Just one.”

“An offer from an old and trusted friend.”

“His son needs a wife,” Letitia said. “All we had to do was produce a suitable candidate—”

“And let nature take its course, so to speak.”

“All you had to do was let us introduce you to this young man. You’re attractive enough when you aren’t spouting off those idiotic ideas about women’s rights. You could have caught his attention if you’d only tried.”

“Things move quickly out here,” Richard said. “You could have been married before Christmas.”

“Married!” Elizabeth heard her voice come out in a squeak.

“All you had to do was agree to meet him. We could have kept things going from there.” Letitia’s voice rose to a piercing level. “But, no. You couldn’t be bothered to show us the least amount of gratitude for bringing you out here, for giving you our protection and a roof over your head. Not the least bit of cooperation. And now it’s too late!” The shrill scream echoed through the house, leaving a bitter silence in its wake.

“Too late? Too late for what?”

“For giving us the help we needed, you foolish girl! After you led us to believe you were engaged to James Reilly, Richard went to tell Timothy the deal was off. And now, after you’ve shattered any hope we had of restoring our fortune, you tell us it was all a lie.”

Elizabeth remembered Richard’s parting words the night before. She leaned forward in her chair. “Let me get this straight. My meeting this person was going to help you regain your wealth?” A horrible notion struck her. “Do you mean to sit there and tell me you were going to provide me as a wife to this man’s son. . .for a price?” She sprang to her feet, quivering with rage.

“All you had to do was—”

“All I had to do was sell myself—no, allow myself to be sold.

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