“Michael!” Priscilla came flying down the stairs, pigtails bouncing against her shoulders. She threw herself into his arms.
He swung her around. “Hey, minx. I swear you grow an inch every time I see you.”
Her legs wrapped around his waist, and fingers linked behind his neck, she leaned back and regarded him. “Why are you here? Who’s taking care of the store?”
He tapped her on her nose. “My new employee, John.”
Priscilla’s smile faded. “I’m sorry about Heidi.”
Michael set her on her feet. “Not to worry, Pris.” He
glanced around. “Is your papa home?”
“Yes, he’s in the library. But Mama’s with him. I think they’re planning something wonderful.”
He caressed her cheek. “You always think they’re planning something wonderful.”
Priscilla skipped along and chattered all the way down the hallway until they stood at the library door. Michael knocked once, and entered at Tori’s come in.
“Well, hello there.” Tori rose from where she leaned over Jesse’s shoulder as they studied papers on his desk.
“Priscilla, is your homework finished?” Jesse asked, leaning back in his chair.
“Almost.”
“Back to it, young lady.”
Priscilla wrinkled her nose. “Someone should pass a law against child labor.”
“Go,” Tori added.
“I must say you look a lot better than the last few times I saw you,” Jesse remarked as Priscilla closed the door.
“You could say things are looking up.” Michael settled in the worn leather chair Tori had been trying to replace for years. His aunt sat next to him in its mate, adjusting her skirts.
“I had a visit from Heidi’s mother today.”
Jesse’s eyebrows rose. “From Oklahoma City?”
Michael nodded and pulled the paper from his pocket. “She came all the way on the train to show me this.” He reached across the desk and held the note out to Jesse.
His uncle opened it, then gestured to Tori, who circled the desk to join him, resting her bottom on the arm of his chair. He held the paper in one hand, and curved his other arm around Tori’s waist. They bent over and read, the ticking of the tall cherry wood grandfather clock the only sound in the room.
They both looked up at the same time, with identical frowns. “What is this all about?” Jesse tapped the paper with his fingernail.
Michael stood and rested his hands on his hips. “It seems Heidi’s fiancé blackmailed her into marrying him.”
Tori’s jaw dropped. “I don’t believe it.”
“I’m afraid it’s true.” He turned to Jesse. “Apparently, Clarence has a mistress, Gloria something or other, who used to work in the same brothel as your…mother.”
Jesse grinned. “How old is this mistress?”
Michael shrugged. “Thirties. The timing works if Gloria was a girl when she knew Rosie.”
“And?”
He returned to his seat, his white-knuckled fists gripping the arms of the chair. “And, the bastard-sorry Tori-wrote this and told Heidi if she didn’t marry him, he would send the information to The Oklahoman and The Guthrie Sentinel.”