Read Online Tracie Peterson - [New Mexico Sunset 03] by Angel's Cause - Free Book Online Page A

news with the critical eye of one who has seen many things and perhaps has seen too much. You have lost in your sense of vision what it is to feel the heartfelt sorrow of the people around you. We are not seeking to thrust you from your place. We are merely asking to join you there. We are asking you to be proud of your women—your wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters. If we lack wisdom and education, then teach us. If we lack courage, then bolster us with your own, but don’t turn us away as though you were ashamed. Not a single man here can boast of an entry into this world without the assistance of a woman. We are now asking for the return of that favor in assisting us into the world. We are asking for the right to vote.”
    For several minutes, no one said anything. There were sniffling sounds that were heard, then the sound of a solitary pair of hands clapping, then two, then a dozen, then a hundred. Willa smiled and gave her protégée a hearty pat on the back before nodding to Douglas. Angeline Monroe would be a bigger asset than even Willa Neal had imagined.

Chapter 8
    I t was as though that one small speech had somehow justified Angeline’s existence in Willa Neal’s eyes. She beheld the girl with a new respect and the fervent, driving knowledge that Angeline just might get them voting rights in New Mexico.
    The papers that ran the following morning were plastered with front page photographs of Angeline Monroe. Her speech was recited, almost word for word, and the article citing it listed Angeline as a remarkable and clear-mind ed suffragette.
    Willa was thrilled at the coverage. They often had to pay out precious money to get the kind of newspaper attention that Angeline’s one, heartfelt outburst had surged. She pored over the stories and the multiple requests which had started arriving as early as six that morning, for interviews with Angeline Monroe.
    Further evidence came in the form of flowers and cards from the political connections whom Angeline had invited to the speech. Willa read one card after another, noting the dates and times of invitations to dinners, small parties and teas. She intended to work the situation to her benefit no matter the consumption of Angeline’s time and energies.
    The one bit of attention that Willa would not tolerate came from the more conservative suffragists who sought to have Angeline join their cause instead of Willa’s more militant one.
    Willa refused to even admit these women into the hotel suite, and Angeline couldn’t help but wonder what the real threat might be. Willa passed it off as unimportant, however, and insisted Angeline read a speech that had been given by Alice Paul several years earlier and not concern herself with the merits of the less passionate.
    ❧
    Angeline, herself, loved the attention. Used to the limelight, she was once again thrust front and center, and it was everything she’d hoped it would be. A surprising sideline came to her in the form of Douglas’s ardent regard.
    Angeline enjoyed Douglas’s pampering, but her heart nagged at her and reminded her that Gavin was at home in Bandelero, waiting for her. But I never committed myself to him, Angeline thought. In fact, I told him that I wasn’t interested in marriage. She reminded herself of this at least twenty times a day, for all the good it did.
    When Willa announced they were moving on to the next city, Angeline was a bit taken aback. She hadn’t thought of how far she was drifting from home and the people she loved until Willa pointed out that they would be traveling for several weeks. Guilty at the thought of her parents’ suffering because of her disappearance, Angeline suggested to Willa that she write or telegraph them, but Willa quickly dismissed the idea.
    “They won’t understand, and they’ll only insist that you come home,” Willa replied. Angeline nodded in acquiescence, but felt a terrible lump in her throat at the thought of her parents worrying over