WestwardWindsV2Arebooks (21 page)

Geoffrey sat with his wife in their front parlor reading one the financial papers to which he subscribed. Maureen worked at a particularly difficult piece of needlework. She sighed and Geoffrey looked over at her and smiled.

“If it frustrates you that much, why not quit it and word on something else?” he asked.

She flicked an annoyed glance at Geoff and said, “When have you ever known me to give up on something just because it was difficult. If I did that, you and I would not be married.”

Geoff laughed at that. “’Tis
true, lass. It’s lucky for me that you didn’t cease your pursuit of me.”

“You weren’t the only one being pursued, if you remember correctly. We led each other on a merry chase,” Maureen responded.

“Right again. You have to admit that there was a lot of fun moments involved, though.”

“Yes, there were,” she agreed.

The front doorbell chimed and they looked at each other. It was nearly eleven and they wondered who could be calling at that time of night. Mrs. Duncan had been sent home for the night and they’d also given the butler, Richard the night off. Geoff answered the door and was surprised to see a police constable standing on the stoop.

“Hello. Can I help you?” Geoff asked.

“Are you Mr. O’Connor?” the man inquired.

“I am.”

“Might I come in, sir? I have something of a serious nature to discuss and I don’t think you want to talk here,” the policeman said.

Geoff stood back and motioned the man into the foyer. Maureen came out of the parlor.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“Well, ma’am, I’m sorry to inform you both that your daughter, Madelyn, was attacked tonight in the park,” he said shifting from foot to foot. He was obviously uncomfortable at having to impart such terrible news.

“What?” Geoff said.

“Attacked? By whom?” Maureen said.

“Apparently, it was a family friend. Theodore Wilson,” the policeman told them.

Maureen put hand to her bosom. “Theo? But, they’re friends. Why would he do such a thing? Never mind that right now. We need to get to her.”

Geoff asked, “What is her condition?”

“Very serious, I'm afraid. It was a brutal assault. I have a carriage out front to take you to the hospital,” the policeman said.

Claire came down the front staircase. She’d heard the conversation from the landing at the top. “I’m coming, too.”

Geoff turned to his youngest daughter and said, “No, Claire. I’m afraid not. You need to alert the staff for us.”

“But, Papa-“

Geoff cut her off as he gave her a forbidding look. “Claire, this is not open for discussion! Now, do as I say!”

Claire looked down at the floor. “Yes, Papa.”

Geoff instantly regretted being sharp with her. He hugged her and said, “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m just upset. Forgive me?”

“Of course, Papa. I shall do as you ask,” Claire said.

Geoff kissed the top of her head and said, “That’s my good girl.”

Maureen kissed Claire’s cheek and said, “Try not to fret too much.
Maddie will be fine.”

As soon as they saw Madelyn, Maureen realized how wrong her words to Claire had been. The policeman had told them to prepare for how bad
Maddie
looked, but her parents were still shocked. Their daughter was barely recognizable. Dark bruises and nasty cuts covered her face and her left eye was swollen shut.

Maureen had to turn away at first to regain her composure. Geoff hugged her close as a fierce anger took hold of him. He vowed that Theo would pay for what he’d done to their daughter. The doctor came to talk with them an informed them that although
Maddie’s
injuries were severe, she would heal.

“Dr. Spencer, was she, did he...?” Maureen couldn’t bring herself to say the words.

Dr. Spencer looked at her with sympathy and said, “No. He didn’t get the chance. There was another couple in the park who saw what was happening and intervened. I believe they are still here. They’ve been very concerned.”

“I should like to thank them,” Geoff said. “I’ll be right back, Maureen.”

Maureen nodded and sat in the chair beside Maddie
. She picked up
Maddie’s hand.

“I’m here, Maddie
. Mama is here and you’re safe,” Maureen said. She kissed
Maddie’s hand and held it against her cheek as tears made their way down her face.

Maddie’s
right eye opened slightly and she located her mother. “Mama?”

“Yes, darling. I’m right here.”

Maddie
squeezed her mother’s hand even though it hurt. Her mother’s comforting presence caused relief to surge through
Maddie
. Sobs began to wrack her battered body and Maureen moved to sit on the bed so she could gather her daughter close. She rocked
Maddie
as she had when she was a little girl. She uttered words of comfort and tried to sooth away her daughter’s misery.

Geoff entered the waiting room and spotted the couple who’d saved Maddie right away.

“Are you the ones who brought Madelyn O’Connor here?” he asked.

They both rose from their seats.

“Yes, sir. I’m John Heath and this is Ashley Brooks,” John said.

Geoff shook hands them. “We owe you a huge debt of gratitude for saving our daughter from an even more horrible fate. How can we ever repay you?”

John shook his head. “There’s no need, sir. We’re just sorry that we didn’t happen upon them sooner so that she might not have been hurt at all.”

“How is she?” Ashley asked.

Geoff was touched by the young couple’s concern. “She is in a bad way, but Dr. Spencer is confident that she’ll make a full recovery.”

“That’s good to hear indeed,” John said.

Geoff thanked them again and gave them his card. He told them to call upon him if he could ever help them in any way and then returned to his wife and daughter.

Maureen softly closed the door to her daughter Madelyn’s room. She walked down the long hallway in their family home located in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Point Breeze. Her deep distress was apparent to the head housekeeper, Mrs. Duncan, as she passed her mistress. Mrs. Duncan didn’t speak because she could tell Maureen was deep in thought.

Mrs. Duncan was as upset as Mrs. O’Connor over the horrible events that had taken place two months prior.
Maddie had healed well physically but her mental condition was still tenuous.

As Mrs. Duncan continued on her way to the kitchen to make sure lunch would be served on time, she figured that Maddie
must not have improved, judging from the expression on Maureen’s face. She gave a worried sigh and shook her head. She would talk with Cook about making one of
Maddie’s favorite dishes to entice her to eat.

Maureen descended the main staircase and went through the dining room and out the double French doors that led to the garden. She walked to a bench in a secluded part of the garden and sat down. It was so hard to see her beautiful daughter this way. Prior to the attack, she had been a vivacious social butterfly.
Maddie
had rarely been home in the evenings because she attended so many parties and dinners. Unlike her older sister, Tessa,
Maddie
had willingly immersed herself in the party life. She was also very charming at the dinners that were thrown for Geoffrey’s business associates and was adept at easing tensions with her wit.

Now, however, she was reclusive, depressed, and had very little appetite. Anger and sadness were Maureen’s regular companions these days and she had a hard time sleeping some nights. The sight of their daughter bruised, battered, and terrified as she lay in the hospital bed that night would be forever burned in Maureen’s mind.

Geoffrey had been consumed with rage and had barely been prevented from going over to the Wilson’s residence to call Theo out and kill him. Although Maureen would have liked nothing better than for Geoff to thrash Theo, her sense of reason had prevailed and she and the police were able to keep him from doing so. Maureen kept telling him that their family needed him at home, not in prison, and she eventually got through to him.

Charges were pressed, but though it would have gone to court, Maddie
didn’t want the humiliation of testifying. The Wilson family had protected their son, as any high society family of that time would have, and there had been rumors spread around the city that
Madelyn was promiscuous and had lead Theo on.
Maddie had flat-out refused to testify and be subjected to the kind of publicity that would surely come.

Geoffrey had fumed and cajoled and pleaded, but he couldn’t budge Maddie
. He wanted that animal to suffer and be punished for hurting his little girl and it ate at him that he couldn’t get justice for her.

Their social life had ground to a halt with the exception of smaller dinners with their close friends and a few business associates. They did their best to avoid the Wilson family because Geoff wouldn’t have been able to control himself. Before accepting any invitations to parties and the like, they always made sure the Wilsons were not invited. It would seem as though many people had stopped invited the Wilsons, a sign that they believed Theo guilty of the crime. They didn’t want him around their daughters.

Thinking of all this now, Maureen let herself cry. She allowed the tears to flow once per day, but otherwise tried to appear positive for her family. However, Claire wasn’t fooled and would often give her mother comfort with a spontaneous hug or kind words. Claire was also able to made
Maddie smile by reading her the more amusing articles in the paper in the mornings.

Geoffrey had taken to coming home earlier in the day to be there to support his family. The tragedy had drawn them all closer and they worked their hardest to heal their daughter and sister. They all did their best, but it wasn’t easy and Maureen feared that
Maddie would never fully recover.

******

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Westward Dance (Montana Mail Order brides Book 2)

Westward Bound (Montana Mail Order brides Book 3)

Westward Destiny (Montana Mail Order brides Book 4)

Westward Fortune (Montana Mail Order brides Book 5)

Westward Justice (Montana Mail Order brides Book 6)

Westward Dreams (Montana Mail Order brides Book 7)

Westward Holiday (Montana Mail Order brides Book 8)

Westward Sunrise (Montana Mail Order brides Book 9)

Westward Moon (Montana Mail Order brides Book 10)

Westward Christmas (Montana Mail Order brides Book 11)

Westward Visions (Montana Mail Order brides Book 12)

Linda Bridey lives in New Mexico with her three dogs; a German shepherd, chocolate Labrador retriever, and a black Pug. She became fascinated with Montana and decided to combine that fascination with her fictional romance writing. Linda chose to write about mail-order-brides because of the bravery of these women who left everything and everyone to take a trek into the unknown. The Westward series books are her first publications.

©
2014 by
Linda Bridey

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, or places is purely coincidental.

First Printing, 2014