Chapter Sixteen #2
believed was best for everyone. He knew Velma would be happier with
Tony, and he was right. He has good instincts about people.
Besides, Velma admitted she’d only wanted Mark for his money. She
didn’t love him.
Did that mean Kenneth didn’t love Annabelle?
Was he also planning to marry her for money? Natalie didn’t think
Annabelle would be happy with that. Sure, Annabelle wasn’t
interested in how much money he had, but she obviously wanted a
husband who loved her. It was possible that Kenneth was in love
with her. But how possible was it?
He’s still lying. As Velma said, if Kenneth
really was wealthy, he would be flaunting it because that’s what
people do back East.
Natalie would just have to take Velma’s word
on that one. She didn’t know how rich people in Chicago or
Massachusetts did things.
If he doesn’t have any money, then why
doesn’t he come out and admit it? His aunt and uncle are
wealthy.
Yes, but it could be embarrassing to admit it
if he didn’t have any money.
Velma wasn’t embarrassed to admit she didn’t
have money. She came out to Omaha with the intention of marrying a
man of means because of it. Maybe Kenneth is looking for a woman of
means.
Perhaps it was different for a man to admit
he didn’t have money. For a woman, this might not be embarrassing,
but that didn’t mean men felt the same way about it. That didn’t
necessarily make Kenneth a bad person…did it?
“Excuse me, ma’am,” someone said.
She jerked and turned to the man who was
behind her.
He offered her a smile and went around her to
open the door. “Ladies first.”
Face warm, she hurried into the building so
he could get in, too. She hadn’t realized she’d been standing in
front of the door for so long.
He tipped his hat to say good-bye then went
to the elevator. She watched as he stepped into it. The young man
who manned the elevator shut the doors, and they disappeared up
into the wall. Should she try going in the elevator today?
She stood to the side of the large room so
she didn’t get in anyone else’s way. She spent the next fifteen
minutes watching as people came down from the elevator and went up.
They made it look easy. It was silly that she should be scared of
something that was obviously safe.
While it didn’t really matter if she chose
the elevator or stairs to get to Mark’s office, she had a nagging
sensation that if she could overcome her fear of the elevator, then
it would mean she was closer to embracing her new life. It was a
small step toward embracing it, but it’d be one all the same.
She released her breath. She couldn’t go back
to Kentucky. And if she was honest with herself, she didn’t want to
go back there. She loved Mark. Her life was here with him. She was
a part of this world now. When she married him, she married into
all of this as well. Velma had learned to accept her new life and
all that went with it. It was time for Natalie to do the same.
Natalie checked to make sure no one like Fran
or Katherine was around. Good. They weren’t. If she was going to
conquer her fear, she didn’t want someone who wanted her to fail to
be watching her. She’d rather not have that kind of stress hovering
over her.
After taking a moment to strengthen her
resolve, she headed for the elevator. She could do this. Others
were doing it. All she had to do was get into the elevator and stay
there until she was on the floor Mark worked on. There was nothing
more to it than that.
When she reached the elevator, the young man
operating it opened the doors. “What floor would you like to go to,
ma’am?”
“The third,” she said.
She stepped into the elevator with more
bravado than she felt. She didn’t know if he remembered her or not.
He’d been working here that day she bolted out of the elevator in a
panic. Either way, he didn’t give any indication that he recognized
her, and for that, she was grateful.
Two middle-aged men came into the elevator
and asked to be taken to the fourth floor. Good. That meant they
would still be on this elevator when she got off. It was a minor
thing, but it made her feel better to know she wasn’t going to be
the last person off this thing.
The young man made sure no one else needed
the elevator before he shut the doors and pressed the button to
take them up. The elevator moved up, and she clasped her hands,
digging her fingernails into her palms, a nervous habit she hadn’t
done in years. From what she’d seen, the elevator was fairly quick.
This would soon be over.
“Do you trust him to come through with his
promise?” one of the middle-aged men asked his companion.
“I don’t have a choice,” his companion
replied. “I’ve been given strict orders to deal with him,
but…knowing he’s going to propose to a wealthy young lady makes me
optimistic.”
He’s going to propose to a
wealthy young lady? Natalie couldn’t be
sure, but it sounded like they could be referring to Kenneth and
Annabelle.
Natalie took a good look at the two men. They
seemed pleasant enough. They wore suits and were clean-shaven. But
there was something in the way they talked that made her think they
weren’t as pleasant as they seemed.
She glanced at the young man who was
operating the elevator. He didn’t even seem to notice them. He
probably tuned out the things people around him said. She’d do the
same thing if she did this all day.
The elevator came to a stop, and the young
man opened the doors for her. “We’re on the third floor,” he told
her.
Since everyone was staring at her, she
hurried to thank the young man and left the elevator. The young man
closed the doors. At once, she had the nagging suspicion that she
should have stayed on the elevator in case the two men said more
about the person who was supposed to marry a wealthy young
lady.
What was it one of them had said?
Do you trust him to come through with his
promise?
The other one obviously
hadn’t, but he’d said, I don’t have a
choice. I’ve been given strict orders to deal with him, but…knowing
he’s going to propose to a wealthy young lady makes me
optimistic.
If there hadn’t been that bit at the end
about the proposal to a wealthy young lady, she wouldn’t have
thought anything of it. But there was a proposal coming. Omaha was
bigger than the place she came from, but what were the chances
there was another man about to propose to a wealthy young lady?
The elevator moved up, and before she could
talk herself out of it, she ran for the stairs. She knew it was
wrong to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, but she had to
know if this involved Annabelle. She found the staircase and
hurried up each step as fast as she could in her high-heeled boots.
At times like this, she missed the boots she used to wear. She
could go much faster in those.
She made it to the fourth floor just as the
two men stepped out of the elevator. Thankfully, they weren’t
looking in her direction. She closed the door to a crack so that if
they happened to look her way, they wouldn’t see her.
They headed down the hallway, and she waited
for a second before she slipped into the hallway. She saw a large
plant and hid behind it. All of the doors to the offices were
closed, so no one saw her sneaking around. Which was a relief. God
only knew what would happen if she was caught.
“He shouldn’t have come to Omaha,” one of the
men said. “Once he left Chicago, he should have stayed hidden.”
They had to be talking about Kenneth. It was
too much of a coincidence that this person left Chicago, came here,
and was ready to propose to a wealthy young woman.
“That won’t matter as long as he comes up
with the money,” the other man replied.
“But what if he doesn’t?”
“Then he’ll have to deal with Archie. I’m not
willing to deal with him any longer than that.”
Then a door opened and shut. She grunted in
aggravation. She really wished she’d heard more of the
conversation. It would help her answer some questions she had.
Like, what did they want with Kenneth? What had happened in
Chicago? How did the men find him? And what did Kenneth owe them
money for?
Velma’s instincts were right. Kenneth didn’t
want Annabelle. He was hoping to marry her for the money. And
though Mark didn’t know this little piece of information, his
instincts about Kenneth had been right all along.
Making sure no one was leaving any of the
offices, she got out from behind the plant and ran back to the
stairs so she could talk to Mark.