“You can deliver us from this hell.” Her father gazed at her as if she were the answer to all of his questions. “You owe this to us.”
“I owe this to you? And how do you figure that?” She turned back to the food just in time to keep it from burning. She worked quickly, pulling the potatoes and onions from the skillet and replacing them with one of the steaks.
“You’re our daughter. We provided for you for all those years, and now you can provide for us. I demand that you give me charge over your bank account and investments.”
Susanna turned to see that he was serious. She’d never seen him quite so firm in his demands. “No. My money is not yours, nor will it be.”
“I won’t tolerate this. I need that money. I need it now.”
His tone was unlike anything Susanna had ever heard. “Father, I don’t wish for this to come between us, but I will leave San Marcial for good rather than be harassed by you.”
“You know nothing about how to invest.”
“And neither do you.” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but the words spilled out before she could stop them.
“We’re back!” Gary called from the lobby.
Susanna gave her father a pointed look. “I’m willing to forget this ever happened. We needn’t argue in front of Gary and his friends.”
“I won’t forget this. I won’t forget your betrayal. We will talk more about this after supper.”
Susanna shook her head and refocused on the food. Now what was she going to do? Her father was usually a kind, soft-spoken man, but the craving for money and his desire to invest in one thing after another had turned him into someone she didn’t know. How had he figured out that she had money? Uncle Harrison certainly wouldn’t have told him. Maybe he’d just added up the fact that she’d purchased the house and hired Lia without seeking reimbursement. She supposed she should have been more careful.
She put one of the steaks on a plate and then popped another into the skillet. This wasn’t going to be resolved easily. Once Father told Mother that she had money, there would be no end to the nagging and whining.
A train whistle sounded. That would be the evening train preparing to leave. Susanna fought the urgency to make a run for it. She wasn’t going to be able to stay once her mother learned the truth. There wouldn’t be any peace of mind. She sighed and began to pray in earnest.
Dear God, help me, please.
10
Susanna knew that sooner or later she would have to deal with her mother. She had just hoped it would be some time in the future rather than ten minutes after her father left.
“Susanna Ragsdale!” her mother bellowed from the lobby of the hotel just as Susanna sat down to eat with her brother and his friends.
“I guess I won’t be joining you,” she said, smiling as she got to her feet. “Gary, please clean up after yourself and your friends. I have a feeling I’m going to be busy for a while.”
She made her way to the front desk, where her mother was anxiously pacing back and forth. With one look, Susanna knew her father had told his wife everything and then some. Susanna reached for the sign that would explain to their one and only guest for the evening that she was on supper break. The sign declared she would return at six-thirty. A glance at the clock showed that gave her a half hour to calm her mother.
“Why don’t I walk you back to the house, Mother?” Susanna headed for the front door of the hotel.
“We can talk right here. Right now.”
Susanna stood at the open hotel door. “Not unless you wish everyone to know your business, including Gary’s friends, who are eating with him in the back room.”
Mother glanced toward the open door behind the hotel’s front desk. “Very well.” She gave a huff and exited the hotel, glancing over her shoulder to make certain Susanna followed. “I can hardly believe what your father has told me. I’m so ashamed and hurt by you that if this is true, I can scarcely think of how we can go on.”
Susanna easily caught up with her mother’s strides. “I’m sure you’d rather wait to address this until we are back in the privacy of the house.”
“The house you bought because you’re rich,” her mother declared.
“The house I bought because you made such a scene about living at the hotel,” Susanna countered. “The hotel Uncle Harrison generously provided for you and father and Gary. I shouldn’t even have to be here. I am a widow, and my in-laws are in Topeka, where I was happily living and may yet return.”
That shut her mother up for a moment. Susanna picked up her pace in order to reach the house before her mother unleashed yet another tirade of words. Once they were inside, however, Susanna braced herself for the assault.
“Your father tells me that you’re rich. That you have more than enough money to have kept us from losing our home and properties. That you could have delivered us from the hands of the bank, and instead chose not to lift a finger to help.”
Susanna said nothing. Instead, she walked to the table, which Lia had set with salad, dinner rolls, and some sort of meatloaf. Susanna picked up a plate and helped herself. If she couldn’t eat her steak with the boys, she would at least eat here.
While Susanna filled her plate, Mother raged about Susanna’s selfish nature and how impossible she’d always been as a child. She started in on how Mark had changed her, made her less congenial, more self-absorbed and selfish.
“I’ve never been more humiliated and embarrassed. More hurt. You have betrayed me and your father, and I demand you make this wrong . . . right.”
Susanna had the fork halfway to her mouth. “And what would make it right, Mother?”
“Now you’re being reasonable.” Mother took the seat opposite Susanna at the table. “You must turn your money over to your father for management.”
“So that he can lose it as he has his own?”
Mother’s face turned red. “How dare you be so cruel? He did not lose his money. A ruthless conman stole it. He robbed your father. It is hardly the fault of the victim.”
“A victim who was warned by no fewer than a dozen people to avoid the man and his schemes.” Susanna popped a piece of meatloaf in her mouth and smiled. Lia had such a way with seasonings and spices. Susanna would have to learn what Lia had done to this meat.
“Your father has a right to make his own choices.”
“And he did,” Susanna said, reaching for the pitcher of iced tea. “Now he must live with the consequences. I’m sorry for you both, but that is hardly my fault.”
“No, but it is within your power to fix. You could have given us the money to save our place in society.” Mother wagged her finger as she often did when making her point. “I will not tolerate any more of this godforsaken place. You will make all the arrangements, Susanna. You will give your father the money he needs to reinvest in our future. You will help us get to California, for surely Topeka is lost to us now.”
Susanna took a long sample of the iced tea. She placed the glass on the table and met her mother’s gaze. “No. I will not.”
Her mother began to huff and puff as if she were about to hyperventilate. She took up her fan and waved it wildly. “You will not defy me in this. I deserve better.”