Read Online Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati - Free Book Online Page B

that was obvious. It is
an excellent match, Lizzie. Together you will have some five thousand acres.
Not as large as some of the patents to the west, but sufficient. You shall be
well provided for, no matter what foolery your brother gets up to with his
lands once I am gone. Richard can be entrusted to look after Julian's interests
as well as yours."
    Elizabeth
's
knees were trembling. For a moment she thought she might be truly ill. How
could she not be, with this bitter pill her father was asking her to swallow.
She had come so far, and had such hopes of another life, only to find that he
had been bartering away her freedom before she had ever had a chance to
experience it. And for this he expected her admiration and gratitude. It was
too much to bear, and yet she must, if anything was to be salvaged. She folded
her hands tightly together and gave her father a look she had learned from her
aunt Merriweather, the one reserved for the most outrageous of men's endless
maneuverings. "I wonder that you think I am so dim—witted that I wouldn't
see through this ploy."
    "There
is no ploy," the judge sputtered. "What have I done but to offer you
almost half of my most valuable holdings?"
    Elizabeth
shook her head with such force that her hair began to slip from its pins.
    "A
married woman cannot possess land. If you sign that on the day marry, the
property goes almost directly to Richard Todd. It is not for me, but for
yourself and for him that you are doing this. You must esteem him very highly.
Or perhaps you fear him?"
    "I
am doing it for you," the judge fairly roared, waving the paper in her
face. "A husband is someone who will look after your interests. If I die
and all my property goes to your brother, he will gamble it into nothing in a
year. I have spent my life building this village out of wilderness and it will
all be for naught, and then where will you be?"
    "Where
I am right now, with a little money of my own and no property," said
Elizabeth
, raising her
voice to speak over her father's blustering. "If you really wanted to show
your concern for me and protect me from Julian's excesses, you would sign that
deed today, and trust me to marry or not according to my own best
interests."
    There
was a silence while
Elizabeth
watched her father stalk away to lock the deed in his desk.
    "There
is more at stake here than you are acknowledging," she said. "Is
there some financial problem I don't know about?"
    "None
that concerns you," he said shortly.
    "I
would say that it concerns me if you are trying to marry me to stranger in
order to resolve your difficulties,"
Elizabeth
responded.
    He
spun toward her, and she saw the ticking of a pulse in his cheek.
    "Have
I struck too close to the truth, Father?"
    "I
have had some bad luck with an investment," the judge said slowly.
"That I will not discuss with you."
    "Well,
then,"
Elizabeth
said. "If Richard Todd is so keen to have more land, sell the thousand
acres to him. I would hope that would provide the liquidity that you lack, and
there would still be two thousand acres for us, surely enough to live in
comfort."
    Her
father flushed so deep a red that
Elizabeth
was alarmed.
    "I
have spent thirty years," he began, his voice wavering. "I have
invested my life in this land. I will not sell it, not at any price. I am
asking you to consider Richard's offer of marriage, because it would keep the
property in the family, and resolve my difficulties. But I am also convinced
that Richard would be a good husband to you and look after your best
interests."
    "It
is very unfortunate,"
Elizabeth
began in a tone that was calmer, but clear and resolved, "that we must
argue on my first day here. But I hope you will do me the favor of believing me
when I tell you that I will never consider marrying Dr. Todd. I could not marry
someone who keeps slaves. Even if I loved him, I still could not marry him. My
conscience would not allow it."
    "He
is the right husband for you," her father said. "If you were