Ana Seymour (5 page)

Jennie had offered similar sentiments, but Kate was ignoring them all. Of course, Sean needed to be back in his world. He was expected to take his place in his father’s business and, as his wife, it was her duty to live where he needed to be. She stopped the motion of the swing with her knee and laid her hand on Lyle’s. “It’s where I belong,” she said, her eyes sad. “I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me, Lyle. But you’ve got to let me go and give me a chance to build a life with my child’s father.”

Lyle pulled his hand out from hers. “I won’t wish you luck, Kate,” he said tightly. Then he turned around, crossed the porch and ran down the path to the street.

Kate insisted on keeping the wedding preparations to a minimum. Though everyone in the household offered best wishes, she knew that Lyle’s skepticism and Jennie’s concern were shared by the others. No one else in town had been invited. Some of their friends had been staunch supporters during Kate’s unwed pregnancy, but she thought it was unseemly to advertise the nature of Caroline’s birth with a regular wedding.

So it was just the family and the three silverheels who lined up in the parlor to listen to Kate and Sean exchange vows in front of Reverend O’Connor. An Irishman himself, the blustery minister seemed willing to overlook Sean’s tardy arrival on the scene months after his daughter’s birth.

“May the Lord bless you both on this holy occasion,” he said in closing, and shook the groom’s hand warmly before accepting just a “wee” glass of the celebratory champagne Sean had insisted on having brought from Virginia City.

Kate was kissed by each of the silverheels in turn, then Carter, and finally by a teary-eyed Jennie. “Be happy, Kate,” she whispered. “That’s all I want.”

All in all it was a subdued evening, and by the time she and Sean left to go back and spend their wedding night at his hotel, Kate’s stomach was jumping with nerves.

“Would you like me to have some food sent up, sweetheart?” Sean asked as he took off his blue suit coat and hung it on the clothes tree. “I noticed that you didn’t eat anything back at your house.”

“I wasn’t hungry,” she said, and walked toward the bed, feeling odd and lonely, as if she had already said goodbye to her family and home.

Sean came up behind her and put his arms around her. “You’re tired. You’ve worn yourself out packing the last two days. I’m sorry I couldn’t have waited longer, but I know my father is anxious for me to get back to San Francisco.”

The warmth of his arms dispelled some of her gloom. “It’s going to be hard to leave tomorrow,” she agreed. “But as you say, we’ll see them often. And I’ll have the two most important people in my life with me.”

Sean turned her to face him and looked down at her with a serious expression. “I heard what your sister said, Kate, and I saw the misgivings in the faces of
the others. But I
do
want to make you happy. You and our daughter.”

She smiled up at him. “Caroline’s quite taken with her papa already. And, of course, her mother’s been hopeless about him since the day we met.”

“On the steps in front of the Wentworth Bank.”

She nodded.

“You were wearing a blue dress, just the shade of your eyes, and I thought you were the prettiest sight I’d ever laid eyes on.”

Kate moved more fully into his arms. “You said, ‘Miss, I hope you’re planning to lock some of that beauty up in the bank here, because it’s not safe to have it out in the open.’“

“Did I now?” Sean grinned.

“Yes, and I thought it was the most outrageous nonsense I’d ever heard.”

“But look where it led us.”

“Yes.”

She turned her face up for his kiss, and all the misgivings of the brief wedding ceremony faded as once again her body responded to his caresses with increasingly strident yearnings.

“Ah, Kate, you turn me to fire every time I hold you,” Sean murmured in her ear, and the hardening of his body against her was ample proof of his words.

They were too impatient to pull back the coverlet on the bed, tumbling right on top of it and shedding clothes as they fell. “Jennie gave me a lovely nightdress to wear.” Kate began, but trailed off the words as Sean met her mouth with searching, skillful kisses that made her head spin. Her eyes closed and she lay
back and let him stroke her into passion, her thighs, her stomach, her breasts.

“We’ll put it on you later,” he whispered. “For now I want just you…naked and soft and warm.” The words accented his deliberate caresses. Eventually his hand slipped between her legs where she was moist and ready to receive him. He pulled himself over her and asked softly, “Now?”

She opened her eyes to look up into his, glittering blue fire above her. “Please. .now,” she whispered, and guided his entry.

Their union was slow perfection. The speed they had felt at the beginning was through, replaced by a delicious sense of timelessness. All their feelings were centered on their joined flesh. Kate reached the edge first, and she whimpered at the back of her throat and hugged him more closely to her, prompting him to hasten his movements into a quickened shared rhythm that sent them both crashing into completion.

His body rested on top of hers, their damp skin sticking together wherever they touched. Kate’s fingers played idly through his tangled hair.

“You were magnificent, Mrs. Flaherty,” he said finally.

Kate gave a slow smile. Mrs. Flaherty. It had a lovely sound. “You were pretty magnificent yourself, Mr. Flaherty,” she said happily.

He rolled off her and pulled himself up to lie next to her on top of the coverlet. “To all appearances, Katie Mane, one of us was in a bit of a hurry. We didn’t even undo the bed.”

She loved the teasing note to his voice. “I believe we
both
were impatient, my love.”

Sean smiled.
“My love…I
like the sound of that.”

Actually, the endearment had slipped out unintended. Sean had still never told her in so many words that he loved her, and she had thought that she should not push the matter. But he
was
her love, and after what they’d just shared, it only seemed right to tell him so.

“Then I shall call you that every morning when I wake you up in our new home in San Francisco,” she said, tapping a finger lightly on his nose.

His smile dimmed, and for a moment his thoughts seemed to wander away from her. “I may change my bedroom,” he said after a moment.

She frowned in confusion. He’d already explained that for the time being they would be living at his family’s mansion, which was plenty big enough to house them and Caroline. “Change it?” she asked.

“We’re right down the hall from Mother, and I have a feeling if we don’t do something about it, the first sound either of us hears each morning will be her knock.”

“Surely your mother wouldn’t intrude on a newly married couple.”

For just a moment Sean looked younger than his twenty-five years. “We’ll see,” he said, but his voice lacked its usual confidence.

“Perhaps we should try to find a place of our own to live. Your parents might not like being saddled with a new daughter-in-law
and
a new granddaughter all at once.”

Sean rolled off the bed. “We should pull back these covers,” he said. His voice had lost all the warm intimacy of the previous few moments.

Kate got to her feet, feeling suddenly self-conscious at her nakedness. Without comment she opened her carpetbag and put on the light pink lawn nightdress Jennie had given her. “Do you think they’ll like me?” she asked, disturbed at Sean’s reaction to the topic of his home and parents.

“Of course,” he said. “Everyone likes you, Katie.” The offhand answer did little to comfort her. She slipped into bed under the blankets and waited while Sean put out the light and climbed into the other side of the bed. The sheets were cold and Kate shivered under the coverlet. She wanted to feel Sean’s arms around her again, making her feel warm and loved. But he didn’t reach for her. “We’d better go to sleep so we can get started early tomorrow,” he said. He turned toward the opposite side of the bed and settled down, apparently ready to sleep.

Kate lay awake, staring into the darkness, a tightness closing around her heart. Tomorrow she would leave the only home she had ever known to travel to a new city and a new family. And all at once the man who was taking her there seemed like a stranger.

T
he four-day trip by stagecoach to San Francisco had seemed interminable. Caroline had been understandably fussy to be torn away for the first time ever from her comfortable surroundings at Sheridan House. Kate had been long-faced after her tearful parting from Jennie and Barnaby. Sean himself had found the exuberance of the courtship and the wedding being replaced by worry over what it would be like to return home with his new bride.

Of course, it had been his father’s insistence that had sent him back to Vermillion in the first place. When Sean had shown him Jennie’s letter with the news of the birth of his daughter, Patrick Flaherty had given his son a stern lecture on responsibility, had written him out a bank draft for five hundred dollars, and then had basically thrown him out of the house and told him not to come back until he had the matter straightened out.

Sean was fairly certain that his father would be pleased that he had decided to shoulder responsibility by marrying Kate. But his mother. Lord. She’d be
reaching for her smelling salts at the news. She’d always maintained the hope that Sean would pick out one of the pink and pretty debutante daughters of her insufferable nouveau riche friends in Nob Hill society. Sean had dutifully courted several of them. And unbeknownst to any of their parents, had even gone beyond courting with two or three of the more willing ones. But he’d never found one who had fascinated him the way Kate had from the moment he’d set eyes on her.

Well, his mother would just have to give up her matchmaking schemes now that he was presenting her with his ready-made family, a grandchild already nearly a year old. Sean leaned against the mended leather back of the old stagecoach seat and closed his eyes. Harriet Flaherty a grandmother? He suppressed a groan at the thought.

Grandmothers were people like Nonny, Patrick Flaherty’s tiny Irish mother, Bridget, who lived with them. She, at least, would welcome Kate and the baby. He’d always been able to count on Nonny. With that comforting thought, he let the jolting of the coach rock him into a restless sleep.

Kate felt as if she hadn’t slept a wink for four days. Sean seemed to be able to sleep even as the carriage tilted precariously over the edge of a mountain road, threatening each instant to slide into a thousand-foot gorge. But she stayed wide-awake, clutching Caroline’s basket with white knuckles.

The nights had not been much better. Jammed into tiny rooms at overcrowded rest stops, Sean had made
no attempt to resume their lovemaking. He seemed tired and distant, and Kate didn’t know what she should do about it. At times she concluded that his mood must mean that he was already regretting his decision to link his life with someone so different from the ladies he was used to back home. Perhaps he was dreading having to present her to his parents and fine friends. Since he’d become so pensive when the subject had arisen on their wedding night, she’d been afraid to bring it up.

Caroline was the one bright spot. It gave Kate a warm glow to watch Sean play with her and delight in her antics. When she and Sean would laugh together at the baby’s unintelligible attempts to formulate words or her wide-eyed exploration of each new item she encountered on the journey, it made Kate feel as if they truly were husband and wife.

Sean had become surprisingly comfortable with the baby. When she’d begin fussing, more often than not by the time Kate reached for her, Sean had already snatched her up into his arms. He never complained about her restless nights, and had even taken to changing her wet clothes now and then, though he’d let Kate deal with the washing.

But when the baby was asleep and Sean got that somber look on his face as he sat gazing out at the sage-covered hills, Kate would feel the beginnings of an unsettled dread in her stomach. She didn’t know what kind of life awaited her up on that intimidatingsounding place called Nob Hill, but she was starting to get the feeling that her year of single motherhood would be a picnic in comparison.

*   *   *

San Francisco was already full of rich speculators, merchants, railroad tycoons and gold barons before discovery of the Comstock lode. But the unimaginably rich silver strike had ushered in a whole class of instant millionaires, wealthy “nobs” who began building their ostentatious mansions up on a hill overlooking the city and the bay, which soon became known as Nob Hill.

They fueled the growth of the city, investing in coal companies, factories, woolen mills, silk weaving, all variety of enterprise. Patrick Flaherty was among the earlier arrivals to the Paris of the West. Arriving with a modest sum obtained from a gold strike that had played out before it could yield real wealth, he had chosen to invest in exporting and shipping. The move had multiplied his wealth beyond his wildest dreams. A city full of new rich, hungry for marble from Italy for their carved mantlepieces, wicker furniture from China for their long verandas or Parisian glass for their atrium skylights increased his shipping operations tenfold, and then tenfold again.

The Flahertys were also among the early builders on Nob Hill. Their mansion was relatively simple compared to some of the ornate structures that were now being called Victorian. But to Kate, the Flaherty mansion was nothing short of a palace.

Her mouth fell open as she followed a step behind Sean into the huge entrance foyer. It was dominated by an imposing staircase with a large wrought iron candelabra sprouting up from the newel post like an iron tree. Gilt-edged mirrors went floor to ceiling along
both side walls, reflecting endless images of herself looking small and lost as she stood in the simple blue serge coat that had been her mother’s, holding a sleeping Caroline.

The door had been opened by a uniformed young man who had disappeared before Kate could even thank him.

Sean put Caroline’s basket and bag on one of the elegant hall chairs and turned around to face her. “Welcome home, sweetheart,” he said. smiling.

Kate felt as if she hadn’t slept in weeks, but she managed a wan smile. It was the first time he’d called her sweetheart on the entire journey. Perhaps things would be better now that they were truly home The strangeness that had settled over them on their wedding night would disappear. “Thank you,” she said, then looked around the empty hall. They’d been there for several minutes and no one had come to welcome them. “Did your parents know we were arriving this evening?”

Sean looked ill at ease. “Yes, I wired them. But I believe they had a supper to attend tonight. Some sort of opera gala. There will be time enough for you to meet them in the morning.”

It was certainly not the kind of welcome a family visitor would receive back at Sheridan House, but, Kate reminded herself, she was in a different world now. She’d have to get used to the way Sean’s people did things, and she’d have to learn not to be quick to judge the new ways until she’d given them a try. She smiled more broadly. “I daresay they’ll find me a
more pleasant sight after a good night’s sleep anyway.”

Sean nodded. “Do you want to wake Caroline to feed her?”

Kate looked down at the sleeping child. “She’s so exhausted, I think she’ll sleep right through the night if you want to take her basket up to our room.”

Sean looked surprised. “She’ll have her own nursery, Kate. She doesn’t have to sleep in your room anymore.”

Kate hesitated. “But I don’t mind having her there.”

“Nonsense. This house is huge. There’s no reason for everyone to sleep all cramped together like…ah…well, there’s no reason to be all crowded.”

Most of the time the crowding together at Sheridan House had felt cozy rather than burdensome, but Kate didn’t want to start an argument. She had slept in the same room with Caroline since her birth, and she would have enjoyed the comfort of being near her on their first night in this vast strange new home, but she supposed that it was reasonable that Sean would want some privacy with his wife. “If you take her basket to the nursery then, I’ll put her down.”

Caroline stirred in her arms as if suddenly aware in her sleep that her life was about to change. Kate rocked her back into oblivion.

“We don’t need the basket anymore,” Sean said. “There’s a crib all ready for her up there.”

“Oh. Well, that’s very nice,” Kate said, casting a glance at the discarded straw basket and following Sean upstairs.

Wall sconces lit the entire length of the endless staircase They seemed to glow all by themselves. Noticing her glances at them, Sean said, “Gasworks. It goes through the house to all the light fixtures. Uses a fortune in coal.”

Kate nodded as if she understood what he was saying, but in reality the bright lights seemed to be a product of magic. And then, as they rounded the curve of the stairs, a small figure appeared who could very well be the wizard who’d produced the effect. Or some kind of benevolent gnome.

“Nonny,” Sean cried, and took the remaining stairs two at a time to enfold the creature in a giant hug.

By now Kate could see that it was not a gnome but rather a small woman wrapped in a quilted plaid night robe and wearing a matching pointed nightcap. By the light of the sconces her eyes danced merrily as she looked down the stairs at Kate and said, “Ah, Sean, you’ve brought us an angel…two of them from what I can see, one grown and one wee.”

Sean turned toward Kate, his arm still around the old woman’s shoulders. “This is my grandmother, Kate. Bridget Flaherty.”

“How do you do, Mrs. Flaherty?” Kate murmured, mounting the last couple steps to stand directly in front of her.

“My child, you’re to call me Nonny, like my grandson does. I’m your granny, too, now, from what Sean writes.”

Her voice was so warm and cheerful it gave the same effect as stepping into a comforting hot bath.
Kate relaxed her shoulders and gave a genuine smile. “Thank you, Nonny.”

Nonny bent toward the baby. “What a precious little love. With the Flaherty black curls, no mistaking that. She’s the picture of yourself as a wee one, Sean.”

Kate could literally feel her heart lightemng with the woman’s instant acceptance. Perhaps her new surroundings would not be so alien after all, in spite of the intimidating luxury of them. She smiled again at the little woman. “I’ve thought that myself ever since she was born.”

“Ah, but we’re keeping you here talking, my dear, when you’re swaying from exhaustion. Let me help you get this little angel to bed and you right behind her.”

“Caroline will sleep in the nursery,” Sean clarified.

Nonny looked sharply at Kate, whose smile had faded, then gently addressed Sean. “She’ll sleep where her mother says she sleeps.”

Caroline was heavy, and Kate felt if she didn’t put her down and get to a bed herself soon, she might sink down on the Flahertys’ lush Persian carpet and spend the night there. “The nursery will be fine, if that’s the way Sean wants it,” she said.

Nonny looked at her for another long moment, her bright gray eyes keen. “I’ll tell you what, for the wee one’s first night here in a strange house, I’ll just sleep by her in the nanny’s bed. If she wakes up, I’ll come to get you right away.”

Kate nodded, her gratitude plain on her face.

“In fact, if you trust me with her, I’ll put her down myself. You can go right on to bed.” Gently and
smoothly she reached for Caroline, who went into her arms without stirring. “She’ll be just fine,” Nonny whispered. “Now Sean, take this poor lass off to bed.”

With a last look at Caroline, Kate let Sean take her elbow and lead her down the long hall. Her arms felt empty without the baby who had been like another appendage during the long trip. But Sean’s body brushed against hers as they walked and suddenly she realized that she was alone with her husband. The husband who had not kissed her since their wedding night. Her mouth felt dry.

They reached a door at the end of the hall and he opened it. “Here’s your room,” he said.

She looked at him in surprise. “My room?”

He nodded. “Mine’s next door. There’s a connecting door inside. Just tap on it if you want anything. Do you need your trunk up here tonight?”

Kate shook her head, feeling a bit dazed. Once again she tried to remind herself that she wasn’t in Vermillion anymore. Maybe in San Francisco fancy folk who were married didn’t share a bed, but it certainly seemed as if that was one custom that the poor folk had much better figured out than the rich.

“Nonny’s right, you do look tired. I’ll leave you to get some rest,” he said.

He leaned over and gave her a brief kiss on the cheek, and then he was gone. The door next to hers clicked shut. Kate stood in the doorway of her room looking down the long hallway at the twinkling gaslights. “Welcome home,” she said to herself softly with a rueful twist to her mouth. She was too tired to sort it all out now. No doubt tomorrow things would
look brighter. Then she turned to enter her bedroom alone.

Thank heaven for Nonny, Sean thought as he lay wide-awake in his bed. At least some member of the family had been there to give Kate a welcome. He’d had the feeling the entire journey that his new bride was already regretting their hasty marriage. The trip had been hard on the baby, on all of them. And when they’d arrived at his home, he’d seen how she looked at it as if it were overly extravagant and pretentious. Which it was, he supposed. He’d never really thought much about it before.

He couldn’t believe it when the new houseboy had told him that neither of his parents was home to receive them. What was the lad’s name? He couldn’t keep track, they came and went so fast. His mother was not the easiest mistress to work for.

In spite of his exhaustion from the trip, he couldn’t seem to sleep. Part of his restlessness was undoubtedly due to the knowledge that his beautiful wife was this minute sleeping not fifty feet away from him. He’d hoped to have her sleeping next to him tonight, naked in his bed. But she’d looked so tired and so distant.

Still, even after he’d left her. he’d waited up for a good hour, hoping to hear the knob turning on the door between their rooms. Hoping that she’d want to spend their first night in their new home together.

He sighed. Tomorrow would be better. She and Caroline would be rested. His parents would be there to give her an official welcome to the family. And then, perhaps, after a day of getting used to his world, tomorrow
night she’d be willing to slip through that connecting door and let him spend the rest of the night making love to her.