The Outsider by Rosalyn West

Author:Rosalyn West [West, Rosalyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical
ISBN: 9780062243256
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2012-11-12T13:00:00+00:00

They left the next morning, and he didn’t try to convince them to stay. There was no comfort in their presence when he knew they thought he was wrong in what he was doing, when he knew they were waiting for him to fail.

It was always hard to say good-bye to the children. They hugged him in genuine regret, not understanding any of the darker undercurrents between their elders. That was the beauty of children: their simplistic vision.

“Good-bye, Uncle Tony.”

“Will you come see us soon, Uncle Tony?”

“I’ll try. Maybe when I have a new little cousin for you to meet. How would you like that?”

“A baby? When?”

“In the spring.”

“Will you bring Aunt Starla, too? She’s pretty.”

Dodge smiled. “Yes, of course I will.” But when his gaze lifted, he saw the doubt in both his mother’s and his sister’s eyes. “She’s my wife.” He said that to clarify everything else.

His sister embraced him tightly, wetting his cheek with her unexpected tears to make him feel churlish in his behavior.

“Give my best to Frank.”

“We love you, Tony. Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t.”

“Be happy,” was all his mother would say as they held one another.

If only he knew how to effect that miracle.

“I’m sorry it wasn’t a better visit and that Starla couldn’t be here to see you off.”

His mother had no comment, for which he was grateful. Instead, she said, “Do come and visit us. Everyone loves an excuse to fuss over a new baby—a new Dodge.”

Suddenly close to tears himself, he managed a gruff, “I promise,” as they stepped up onto the train. He waited on the platform until the sight of them waving was obscured by swirls of soot, then distance. A sense of loneliness surrounded him like that hazy steam swallowing up the familiar.

He went to work, not that there was much to do except sort through files concerning people who’d never seen fit to step inside the bank. With each folder he set aside as inactive, the tide of futility increased, until he was dangerously close to going under. He wasn’t providing a needed service with the Pride County Bank. He was holding onto an institution that had died with its founder. Reeve had been wrong to bring him down to save something that didn’t want saving. Was he equally wrong in trying to make a place for himself among this foreign and hostile population?

Deciding no harm would be done if he closed up early, he was securing the front door lock when a quiet step behind him alerted him that he wasn’t alone. He turned to face a hulking figure he remembered as one of the men who’d accosted Starla on the sidewalk. There was no fondness in the man’s blunt greeting.

“Mr. Fairfax wants to see you.”

“Tyler knows where to find me.”

“Not Tyler; Mr. Fairfax. Up at the house. You’re to come with me.”

An invitation or a command? Dodge didn’t worry over semantics. A face-to-face with Cole Fairfax suited him just fine.

How else could he get to the

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