“What do you want to know?” Edan said, slowly putting his book down.
“When? How? Why? Anything you can find out.”
“She dresses up as an old woman every Wednesday afternoon, calls herself Sadie, and drives a wagonload of vegetables into the camp. Inside the food she hides medicines, shoes, soap, tea, anything she can get in there and gives it to the miners’ wives. Later, Jean Taggert returns the scrip the women pay Houston.”
“You’ve known all this and haven’t bothered to tell me?” Kane bellowed.
“You sent me out to watch her, but you never bothered to ask me what I found out.”
“I’ve been betrayed on all sides! First, that lying little bitch, and now you. And Fenton knew everything that was goin’ on.”
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“Where’s Houston, and what have you said to her?”
Kane’s face hardened. “She just walked out my front door. She couldn’t face the truth. As soon as she knew I was onto her little scheme of usin’ me and my money to get what she wanted, she ran out. Good riddance. I don’t need the money-grubbin’—.”
Edan grabbed Kane by the shoulder. “You stupid son of a bitch. That woman’s the best thing that ever happened to you, and you’re too goddamn stupid to see it. You have to find her!”
Kane shrugged away. “Like hell I will. She was just like all them others; she was just a higher-priced whore.”
Kane never even saw the right that plowed into his face and sent him sprawling. Edan stood over the big dark man as Kane rubbed his jaw.
“You know something?” Edan said. “I’ve about had it, too. I’m tired of hiding away from the world. I spent my twenties closeted inside ugly rooms with you, doing nothing but working to make money. And for what? The only thing you ever bought was this house, and you did that because you wanted revenge. Houston told me once that I was as bad as you, hiding away, staying at your beck and call, and I’ve come to think she’s right.”
Edan stepped away and rubbed the knuckles of his hand. “I think it’s time I found my own life. Thanks to you, I’ve been paid for the years I’ve dedicated to your goals, and I have a few million stashed away. I’m going to take them and do something with my life.”
He put out his hand to shake, but Kane ignored him.
Later, Kane saw Ian, Jean and Sherwin get into the wagon with Edan, which meant that only the servants were left, and he didn’t wait until morning before he fired them.
Chapter 24
Houston wasn’t even aware of her surroundings as she stood in the middle of Pam’s bedroom.
“First, we’ll put you in a tub of hot water, then you can tell me what’s going on.”
Houston stood completely still as Pam left to fill the tub. She wasn’t sure she was fully aware yet of what had happened tonight. She’d fallen in love with a man who was using her.
“It’s ready now,” Pam said, pushing Houston into the pink tiled bathroom. “You get undressed while I call and see how my father is. And Houston! don’t just stand there looking as if the world were about to end.”
Through years of training, Houston obeyed as well as any trained animal, and when Pam returned, she was lying in the big tub, up to her neck in suds.
“Dr. Westfield finally calmed my father down,” Pam said. “He’s too old to go through nights like this one. Whatever did Kane say to him? The only thing that I know of that could upset him so badly would be something about Zachary. If Kane thinks that he’s going to take my son away from me, he’d better be prepared to fight—.”
“No,” Houston said tiredly. “He’s not after his son. Nothing so noble.”
“I think you should tell me.”
Houston looked up at this woman whom she really didn’t know, a woman who was once the love of her husband’s life. “Why are you helping me? I know you still love him.”
Pam narrowed her eyes for a moment. “So he told you, did he?”
“I know he . . . refused your invitation.”
Pam laughed. “That’s tactful of you. I guess he didn’t bother to also tell you that I, too, realized we’d never make it together? We came to a mutual understanding that if we married we’d probably kill each other within three months. Now, tell me what happened between you and Kane. It’s all family, if that’s what you’re thinking, and it’s going to come out sooner or later.”
If Kane decided to take the Fenton money that was legally his, it would indeed all come out, Houston thought. “Do you know who Kane’s mother was?” she asked softly.