“I’m sorry, Aunt Grace,” Meg said. “What do you want me to say to Mr. Bradford? I’ll say it, I swear I will.”
“I think perhaps we should go there right now,” Aunt Grace replied. “William Bradford is not the only one who needs convincing right now of your sincerity.” She rang for the chauffeur, and in moments, she and Meg were being driven the short distance to the Bradford cottage.
The Bradford butler let them in, and Meg found herself standing in front of Mr. and Mrs. Bradford, and Clark, in their parlor.
“Thank you very much for seeing me,” Meg began. “I hope I haven’t disrupted your plans in any way.” It scared her to look at Mr. Bradford, so she glanced at Mrs. Bradford instead, and noticed, not for the first time, how watery her eyes were. She wanted to look at Clark, but didn’t dare, so she turned to face his father instead.
“We’re very interested to hear what you have to say, Margaret,” Mr. Bradford declared.
“Thank you,” Meg said. “I appreciate that. I know I’ve been a worry to you, to all the people who are kind enough to care about me. I know I don’t always show how grateful I am to you, for the way you’ve welcomed me into your home on so many occasions. Your friendship means so much to me. My father … well, I know how much he cherished that friendship, and how grateful he’d be to you for all you’ve done for me.”
“Reggie was a good man,” Mr. Bradford said. “A bit wild, perhaps, and I never did care for that wife of his, but a good man. Breeding does show.”
Meg nodded. “That’s one of the things I’ve been learning,” she said. “About the importance of breeding, of where you come from and how it makes you what you are. I guess I’ve always taken it for granted. I guess that’s why I couldn’t see through Nick Sebastian as easily as you could. I was dazzled by him, and I felt if the Sinclairs thought he was good enough to be their houseguest, then he must be all right. Only I was wrong.”
“You’re young,” Mrs. Bradford said. “Young girls frequently make mistakes of the heart.”
“Quiet, Evelyn,” Mr. Bradford said. “Go on, Margaret. How exactly were you wrong?”
Meg could feel them all staring at her. She glanced at Clark, who seemed as interested as the rest of them in her confession. “Nick Sebastian is illegitimate,” she said. “That isn’t even his name. It’s George Keefer. His mother was a tramp, excuse me, Mrs. Bradford, but I don’t know how else to describe her. He grew up in squalor, and he lies, he lies about everything. I know now he was only interested in me for my money.”
“You have no money,” Mr. Bradford pointed out.
“For the money he assumed I must have,” Meg said. “Everything you said about him was true, Mr. Bradford. He doesn’t belong in Eastgate, with people like us. The Sinclairs know that now, and so do I.”
Mr. Bradford nodded. “I only wish you had realized that on Sunday,” he said.
“I was a fool,” Meg said. “I have no excuse. But I am very sorry.”
“William, please,” Mrs. Bradford said. “I know you can find it in your heart to forgive Margaret.”
“Very well,” Mr. Bradford said. “Margaret, I appreciate your apology. You are young, and will outgrow your foolish behavior, I’m sure. There’s a recklessness to today’s youth that is of great concern to me. My nephew Brad is worrying his mother no end with his choice of companions. Naturally, I want only the best for Clark, and I worry I haven’t been selective enough with him. But you are a Winslow, Margaret, no matter who your mother was, and I can see that Grace is doing a fine job raising you. You must be very grateful to her.”
“I am,” Meg said. “To her and to my uncle Marcus, and all the other people who’ve shown me so much kindness since my parents died.”
“Tragedy, that,” Mr. Bradford said. “Well, Grace, why don’t you join Evelyn and me for a cup of coffee, and we’ll let the young people here have a moment or two to themselves.”
“Thank you, William,” Aunt Grace said. “I would enjoy that.”
Meg couldn’t believe she’d pulled it off. She tried to keep from smiling as the adults left the room.
“He’s really illegitimate?” Clark asked as soon as they were alone.
“It’s not his fault,” Meg snapped.
“Then that was all an act,” Clark said. “You didn’t mean a word you said just now to my father.”
“I had to,” Meg said. “You don’t know the threats Aunt Grace makes.”
“She does what she thinks is best for you,” Clark said.
“I know what’s best for me,” Meg said. “Clark, you have to do me a favor.”
“What now?” he asked.
“You have to spend Thursday with me,” Meg declared. “If your father says it’s all right, that is. Ask Aunt Grace if she’ll let me see you on Thursday. I’m sure she’ll say yes. Then pick me up as early as you can, and we’ll tell her we’re going to spend the whole day together.”
“What do you have planned?” Clark asked.
“I can’t tell you,” Meg replied. “But believe me, Clark, you’re my only chance.”
“That’s the one thing I do believe,” Clark said. “All right, Meg. I’ll see what I can do.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
It seemed so easy when there were no ladders involved. Clark merely knocked on the door and was admitted by Meg herself. Aunt Grace said a few words of hello and warning (don’t go too far, don’t come back too late), and then Meg and Clark walked out of the house and entered Clark’s car. Meg couldn’t get over how simple it was.
“You still want to go through with this?” Clark asked. “You don’t have to meet Nick. You can forget all about him, and just spend the day with me.”
“I can’t forget all about him,” Meg replied. “Don’t be silly.”
Clark laughed. “I’m the one being silly?” he said. “You’re risking everything for what, a few hours with someone you hardly know, and you accuse me of being silly?”
“It’s not just a few hours,” Meg said. “What did Nicky tell you?”
“To pick you up and drop you off and forget I ever saw him,” Clark replied. “He made it sound a bit better than that, but basically that was his message.”
“I know this is hard for you,” Meg declared. “But Nicky and I are doing the right thing. We’re both sure of that.”
“I hope the right thing doesn’t include marriage,” Clark said.
Meg was uncertain how to respond. She stared out the window and prayed Nick would be there waiting for her when Clark stopped the car.
“You aren’t really planning to elope?” Clark asked. “Meg, I need an honest answer.”
“We know what we’re doing,” Meg said. “We don’t have many choices, Clark. Aunt Grace’s seen to that.”
“If you’re so determined to get married, marry me,” Clark said. “I mean it, Meg. I can understand why you want to get away from Grace, why you’re so scared of the future. I’ll marry you today if that’s all you want. You may not realize it, but you’d be much happier with me than you ever would be with Nick. I’m like you. We have the same values, we speak a common language.”
“I can’t marry you,” Meg said. “Your father would kill you if we eloped.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Clark replied. “Meg, I love you. You must know that. I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember. If what you want is to get married, then we’ll get married. Just say yes, Meg, and I’ll keep on driving until we find a justice of the peace.”
“Oh Clark,” Meg said. “I do love you. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. And if all I wanted was to escape, then maybe I would marry you. But it’s more than that. What I feel for Nicky is so deep within me. I don’t know if I can explain it to you. You say we have the same values, the same language. With Nicky and me, that doesn’t matter. Once I met Nicky, I realized that there was a part of me that had always been missing, a part of me that was Nicky. And Nicky realized the same thing about me. Do you understand that? Nicky and
I are becoming each other.”
“You can’t honestly think you’ll be happy with him,” Clark said. “He has nothing, no family, no money, and if he marries you, no prospects. And you’ll have given up everything you have. You’re deluding yourself if you think it’ll work out.”
“You’re deluding yourself if you think it won’t,” Meg declared. “We know what we’re giving up to be together. And it’s nothing compared to what we’re going to have.”
Clark kept his eyes on the road, but Meg could see how he clenched the steering wheel and feel his anger. “Are you going to tell me you believe in him?” he asked. “That he hasn’t lied to you a hundred times over?”
“Nicky’s never lied to me,” Meg replied. “Is that all you’re worried about, Clark? There wasn’t a thing in that detective’s report that Nicky hadn’t already told me. None of it mattered to me.”
“Does he know you don’t have any money of your own?” Clark asked. “Did you happen to mention to him just how small your trust fund is, how dependent you are on your aunt and uncle?”
“Stop it, Clark,” Meg said. “Just stop it. If you don’t want to help, then drop me off right here. I’ll get to Nicky without you.”
“You don’t even know where he is,” Clark said. “You’re helpless without me.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Meg said.
Clark was silent for a moment, but he kept on driving. “I’ll take you,” he said. “There are a few things I want to say to Sebastian myself.”
“Clark,” Meg said.
Clark laughed. “I’m your best friend, remember,” he said. “If I can’t bless the bride and groom, who can?”
Meg wished the drive would end already, that Clark would vanish and she could be on a bus somewhere with Nick, going toward their future. She never wanted to be parted from him again.
It took another ten minutes before Clark pulled up to a diner. Nick was standing outside, waiting for them, waiting for Meg. He had a suitcase. Meg realized she had nothing, just the clothes she was wearing and seven dollars in her pocketbook. Would Grace let her have the things she’d left behind? Would she ever have the courage to ask for them?
But then, as she got out of the car, and saw Nick smile, it no longer mattered what she’d left behind. She ran to him, and they embraced. Mrs. Nick Sebastian. That was all that mattered.
“Very touching,” Clark said. “Glad you could make it, Sebastian.”
Nick kept his arm around Meg. “I wish you’d stop calling me that,” he said. “Sebastian was my father’s name, not mine.”
“So I’ve heard,” Clark replied. “Actually, I’ve heard a lot about you the past few days. I’d be happy to share it with you.”
Nick grinned. “My past seems to be endlessly fascinating to you people,” he declared. “Grace Winslow couldn’t get enough of it, and now you. I don’t see why. It wasn’t that much fun to live through. I’d just as soon forget it.”
“I’m sure you would,” Clark said. “What name are you going to use on the marriage license? George Keefer? Nick Sebastian?”
“I’ll use my legal name,” Nick said. “Did Daisy tell you we were going to get married?”
“He guessed it,” Meg said. “It doesn’t matter, Nicky. He won’t tell Aunt Grace. And he doesn’t know where we’re going.” She realized she didn’t know either, and felt a slight edge of uneasiness.
“I’d like to hear it from you, though,” Clark said. “You really plan to marry Meg today?”
“Yes I do,” Nick said. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
Clark took Meg by the arm and pulled her away from Nick. “Listen to me,” he demanded. “You know nothing about him, about what kind of man he really is.”
“I know him better than I know myself,” Meg said.
“You heard my father,” Clark said. “He’s an animal. He attacked Caroline Sinclair.”
Nick laughed. “Caroline Sinclair’s idea of an attack is when the man says no,” he said. “I never touched her, no matter how much she asked me to.”
“I believe Nicky,” Meg said.
“I know what’s in that report,” Clark said. “Your aunt told my father all about it. All he’s done is tell lies, lies about his family, his past. Lies about how he got the money for his education.”
“He hasn’t lied to me,” Meg said. “I don’t care who else Nicky’s lied to. He’s been honest with me.”
“Meg, please,” Clark said. “Come home with me now. You’re going to be hurt if you don’t.”
“Nicky won’t hurt me,” Meg said. “I know he won’t.”
“You’re right,” Clark agreed. “He won’t, because he won’t have the chance. I’ll do the hurting instead.”
“What are you talking about?” Meg asked. “You didn’t tell anybody what we were doing today? Aunt Grace isn’t here, is she?”
“If you did, I’ll kill you,” Nick said. “Don’t you understand what they’re threatening her with? Don’t you care?”
“Stop it, both of you,” Clark said. “I understand, and I care. I care a lot more than you do, Sebastian, or Keefer, or whatever your name is. I wouldn’t marry Meg just to sell her back to her family.”
“What?” Meg said. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Nick George,” Clark said. “Does that name sound familiar to you, Sebastian?”
“Clark, don’t,” Nick said.
“Neither one of you has left me any choice,” Clark replied. “Meg, I know this is going to hurt you, and I’m sorry. But it’s the only way I can think of to make you come to your senses.”
“I don’t want to hear any lies,” Meg said. “Not from you, Clark.”
“You’ve heard enough lies from him,” Clark said, nodding his head at Nick. “You know I’ll tell you the truth.”
“Nicky?” Meg said.
“I love you, Daisy,” he said.
“Is that what you said to Elizabeth Stanton?” Clark asked. “I’m sure it must have been.”
“Just tell her,” Nick said. “That’s what you want to do, so do it.”
“Tell me what?” Meg asked. “Who’s Elizabeth Stanton?”
“She’s the sister of a friend of a friend of mine,” Clark replied. “She was how old when you pulled this scam on her, seventeen?”
Nick didn’t answer. Meg was terrified to look at him, to look at Clark. She stared at the street instead, watching the cars drive by the diner.
“You really are a fool,” Clark said to Nick. “I guess someone like you doesn’t realize what a small world old money is. The amazing thing is I’m the only one who’s found out. Of course you used a different name then, Nick George. But even so, it was a dangerous game to try the same thing twice in so short a time.”
“Found out what?” Meg cried. “What’s a dangerous game?”
“I’ll tell her,” Nick said. “Daisy, look at me.”
“Don’t lie,” Clark said. “I know everything that happened, so there’s no point lying.”
“I don’t lie to Daisy,” Nick said.
“Sure,” Clark said. “You’ve just forgotten to tell her a few little truths.”
Nick stared at Clark with such loathing, it hurt Meg to look at them. “There are a lot of little truths in my life,” he said. “Most of them accidents of birth. There’s only one big truth, though, and that’s my love for Daisy.”
“You going to tell her or shall I?” Clark said.
Nick took Meg’s hands and made her look straight at him. “I told you I saw my father,” he said. “I wanted him to give me money enough for four years’ worth of tuition at Princeton. I didn’t have a penny to my name. What little I had I’d spent on train fare to North Carolina and a decent suit to see him in. Somehow I thought if I was respectably dressed he’d be more willing to listen to me. I was a fool. I had this fantasy that he’d love me, that he’d say he’d been looking for me all those years. I thought, I’ve done well in high school,
I’ve supported myself for a year and a half now. I’m smart. I’m not afraid of work. Even if he doesn’t love me, even if he feels he can’t make me a part of his family, at least he’ll be proud. No one had ever been proud of me, Daisy.”
“Your mother must have been,” Meg said. “Didn’t she care you did so well in school?”
Nick shook his head. “It was just one more thing that made my stepfather mad,” he replied. “He’d say my grades meant I wasn’t working hard enough at home. So one time, in fourth or fifth grade, I flunked everything deliberately, just to see if that would make a difference, but it didn’t. He beat me up anyway for being a stupid bum. After that, I figured I might as well get good grades. A beating’s a beating, and at least that way my teachers liked me.”
“Very touching,” Clark said. “But not relevant.”
Nick shot Clark an angry look. Meg squeezed Nick’s hands. “Go on,” she said.
“Sebastian Prescott wasn’t proud,” Nick said. “I was a fool to think he would be. He said my mother was a whore, that there were any number of men who could have fathered me. He said the thousand dollars he’d paid my mother made her the most expensive lay he’d ever had, but it was worth a few thousand more to him to keep her bastard from bothering him again. Her bastard. Not even his. So he wrote out a check for three thousand and told me to get lost. Are you taking notes, Bradford? Are you writing all this up in your personal report?”
“I’m just trying to understand you,” Clark said.
“You can’t,” Nick said. “But Daisy can, and that’s what matters. I took the check and I cashed it right away. That was shortsighted of me. I should have held on to it, used it for blackmail. But I was too angry, and dammit, I was hurt. I’d had fantasies about him, about how he’d love me. I know I had no right, but he didn’t have to be cruel.”
“No, he didn’t,” Meg said.
Nick nodded. “I wanted to hurt back,” he said. “I knew he had children, a son and a daughter, and I thought maybe I could get back at him through them, but I couldn’t think of a plan. I looked so much like him, I couldn’t pretend to be a stranger. If I’d kept the check, I could have shown it to his wife, but all I had was the cash and the resemblance. So I took the next train out of town. I went to New York. I thought, There’s no point starting at Princeton, I don’t have the money for more than a year. Why bother? So I gave up that goal. Princeton was the only thing I’d ever worked for. I had a teacher once who’d wanted to go to Princeton, but the war got in the way. He said Princeton could make a gentleman out of anybody.”