“Don’t be melodramatic, Maggie,” he chastised with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It is simply business, nothing personal. And you will be quite well taken care of, I’m sure. You are marrying into a very wealthy family.” He smiled at her look of confusion. “Oh, they don’t flaunt it much, but the Callaghans are the real deal, Maggie. You did well for yourself.”
Her features hardened. The hand holding her tea cup began to shake; she put it down a little too hard, causing it to slosh over the side. “You of all people should know that money is not that important to me, Spencer. Other things – like doing right by the people you care for, making sure they don’t suffer for your mistakes – that’s what is important.”
The steel she tried to instill into her words, the fierce, stubborn pride, was interwoven with undertones of hurt, shock, and betrayal. She’d spoken similar words after she’d discovered his infidelity, when he tried to dissuade her from ending their engagement by telling her that he would lavish her with any gift she desired in penance for his transgression. She had refused, saying that no amount of money was worth betraying someone for.
It still wasn’t.
His smile faded, his brow creased. “Maggie. What did you do?”
She took a deep breath, steadying her voice before answering. She didn’t show weakness before Spencer Dumas last time, she would not do it now. “I’ve called off the wedding.”
“Why on earth would you do such a thing?” For the first time, Spencer seemed shaken. He stood up and paced back and forth a few times. “Do you have an obsession with breaking off engagements or something?”
She flashed him a withering glance. “Do what you want to me, Spencer. But I will not let you hurt them, too.”
“Jesus, Maggie. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I am thinking that it is my home, Spencer, and it was my responsibility to know what was required of my land. It was foolish on my part not to. And I refuse to take good, decent people down with me because of it.”
“But Maggie –“
“But Maggie nothing. You know I’m an honest woman, Spencer, and I’ll make amends. Every cent, without complaint. But even you must understand that if you tie my land up in trumped-up charges and make it impossible for me to farm it I have no hope of earning enough in this lifetime to do so.” She sat forward on her seat. “Please, Spencer. All I ask is that you drop the charges and free my land. It’s been in my family for generations. I’ll work it myself if I have to.”
Spencer looked at her with pity. “Even if I wanted to, there is no way I could contact everyone in time, Maggie. The County Board meeting is in less than four hours. It is too late, Maggie. It’s out of my hands.”
“Surely there is something you can do.”
“I’m sorry, Maggie.”
Maggie’s eyes filled with unshed tears, but she refused to let them fall. She stood to leave. Spencer put his hand on her arm. “Maggie, go back to Michael. Let him take care of you.”
She looked at him in disbelief. “You really don’t understand, do you? I don’t want anyone to take care of me like some helpless child. If you believe I can do that, Spencer, then you never knew me at all.”
“Maggie – “
Maggie wrenched away from his hand, refusing to listen. The only thing she wanted to do was to get as far away from Spencer Dumas before she did something she would really regret.
*
Spencer’s day, it seemed, was not about to improve. He arrived at the County Board meeting late because of the throng of people that had shown up. Every folded chair was occupied; people stood two and three deep in the limited available space. The crowd even spilled out the door.
Spencer’s feeling of dread only got worse when he saw the first two rows before the head table were comprised entirely of Callaghans and their ilk. A closer look showed him that Maggie was noticeably absent.
Some of the Board members shot him irritated glances when they spotted him. Spencer’s acute self-preservation instinct had him deciding to stay in the back near the doors and observe from there.
The Chairman called the meeting to order. Introductions were made along with a brief welcome. The Secretary then rose. The first order of business, as always, was to approve the minutes from the last meeting. When that was taken care of, the room grew silent once again.