Texas Tiger

chapter 39





"Daniel is dead," Paul announced flatly, glaring at Daniel through eyes so like his father's and Peter's it was eerie. "I've seen the grave in the cemetery."

"You wish," Peter answered. "Undoubtedly, that was what Father wished, too. But Daniel had the obnoxious gall to survive."

Discomfort crawled over Daniel's skin, but the woman in the bed clung to his hand like a lifeline. He had always wondered what his family was like. He wasn't certain he wanted to find out all at once.

Twenty-year-old John stepped forward first, his eyes alight with curiosity, his message forgotten. He studied Daniel as if he were a foreign object to be catalogued. "You don't look like Father," he decided.

"He looks like my side of the family, just as you do." Edith gestured for her youngest son to come to her side. "I think he's been denied enough as it is. I want you all to make him feel welcome."

"When hell freezes over." Paul crossed his arms over his chest and glared.

With a lopsided grin John held out his hand. "Paul and I don't agree on anything. You're the one who won Georgie, aren't you? I am green with envy."

As if the sound of her name caused her to materialize, a familiar voice called from the stairway. "Yoo-hoo! No one answered the door, so we let ourselves in."

Daniel felt a wave of relief sweep over him. He had a dire need for Georgina's presence right now. Giving John's hand a brief shake and releasing himself from his mother's grip, he took a step toward the doorway.

Georgie was faster. And Evie. And Tyler. Daniel gaped as the trio swept in. He must have fallen on his head when he jumped off that train. Or maybe he ate a strange mushroom in Mama Sukey's jambalaya last night.

Trailing lavender organdy and smelling of lilies, Georgina sailed across the room. "Mrs. Mulloney! You are looking so much better! I trust Peter took my advice and called in Dr. Phelps."

Laughter danced in Evie's dark eyes as she glanced around at the men standing stiffly in various parts of the room. Behind her, Tyler propped a shoulder against the door frame and crossed his arms, his gaze measuring the situation for any elements of danger. Garbed in a fawn frock coat and low-crowned Stetson, he was nearly as elegant as Evie in her yellow traveling gown with narrow bustle and shortened skirt.

Georgina made introductions, and the Monteignes gracefully shook hands and uttered pleasantries. The stunned Mulloney brothers could scarcely take in all the chatter at once. It was only when their mother made an exclamation of joyous surprise that they turned in unison to the center of their world.

"So you are Louise's daughter! How much like your mother you look, my dear. You don't know how good it is to meet you!" Edith clasped Evie's hand in both of hers.

With satisfaction Daniel noted it was Evie's turn to be shocked. She stared at the woman in the bed with a mixture of hope and surprise. She and Daniel had grown up as orphans, never knowing their real parents.

"You knew my mother?"

Edith smiled. "She was my favorite cousin. We grew up together. When I received word of her untimely death, I felt sorry that she had never experienced the joy of children. Now I know she must have had her love for you all those years. I hated to think all that was left of my family was gone. Now I have you. I think this has been the best day of my life."

Tears glittered in her eyes, and Daniel looked helplessly to the two women in the room for some clue as to what he should do. As the eldest, he felt responsible, but he'd never had a mother before. He didn't know where to begin.

Evie bent to kiss Edith's cheek, and Georgina hurried to fluff up her pillows. The music outside seemed to grow louder.

"The store!" John remembered abruptly. "We've got to get down to the store."

A loud slam and a violent curse in the lower hall ended that thought. A roar of "Peter!" sent the crystal lamp prisms shaking.

Smiling brilliantly, Georgina slipped from the bedside to clasp Peter's arm gently with one hand, patting it with the other. "The employees went on strike this morning. You'd better calm him down and make him see reason or it could become very ugly shortly."

"Georgina!" Peter and Daniel exclaimed in unison at her calm statement.

Tyler captured Evie's arm and pulled her behind him as furious footsteps resounded on the stairs. Daniel grabbed Georgina away from his brother, pushing her closer to his mother and standing guard in front of both of them. In complete accord as before, his three brothers formed a barrier between the bed and the door.

"Peter, get yourself out here now! We're going to have to straighten—"

The man in the doorway stopped abruptly at the sight of the room full of people. The barrier of his sons in front of the bed caused him no concern, but the sight of Daniel standing to one side brought the mottled purple of wrath to his sagging jowls.

"You! I should have known you would be behind this. I've reached the end of my patience." He turned and stabbed a finger in Georgina's direction. "You better tell your parents to start packing their bags. They'll be out on the streets tomorrow."

Concerted sounds of protest erupted around the room, but the silver-haired man gave no heed as he stalked toward the huge bay window at the rising sounds from the street below. "What the hell!" he demanded more than asked as he stared out to the street.

"It's a protest march," Georgina announced brightly. "Your employees are demanding better working conditions." She peered with curiosity out a smaller window. "And I rather think more than the department store employees are with them."

That was undoubtedly the understatement of the year, Daniel decided as he peered over her shoulder. Through the canopy of trees along the edge of the lawn he could discern what appeared to be the entire Independence Day parade marching up the quiet residential street. Horns blared, drums pounded, and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" became "The Star-Spangled Banner" as they listened.

"Goddammit, stop them!" Artemis roared as the parade veered toward the open gates of the front drive.

Georgina gave her father-in-law a nervous look and tugged at Daniel's sleeve so he bent to hear her whisper. "His color isn't healthy, Daniel. Maybe you'd better calm him down."

Daniel looked at her with incredulity. Half the town was marching across the front lawn, and she wanted him to calm his father down? "I quit being a hero," he reminded her.

"Ummm, that's true." A slight frown marred her forehead as she glanced around at the room's occupants.

Peter had gone to stand beside his father and stare at the mob of people filling the emerald lawn. Evie sat beside the woman in the bed, patting her hand, while Tyler hovered protectively. The two younger Mulloneys had found another window from which to watch. There really was very little any of them could do now that the scene had been set in motion.

Artemis flung open the windows and stepped out onto the small balcony beyond. Shaking his fist at the crowd forming below, he yelled, "Get yourselves out of here before I fire the lot of you! Dammit, I'm calling the police!"

The rousing cacophony of horns and drums gradually came to a standstill while people still marched through the gates, spilling across the lawn and up the trees and onto the walls so they could watch the action. A male voice raised loudly enough to be heard through the open window.

"We've come to declare our independence! We will no longer be slaves! We demand decent hours and decent pay!"

"You can have your damned independence!" Mulloney roared back. "You can all go look for jobs tomorrow."

Peter caught his father's arm and tried to pull him away. "Don't do this, Father. We can't possibly keep the store open without them. Let's hear them out first."

Artemis turned a deeper shade of purple and shook his fist at his son. "Stay out of this, you traitor. You're the one who brought that bastard in here." He shook his finger in Daniel's direction.

"I won't have you malign my mother like that, sir," Peter replied with calm indignation. "Daniel is as much your son as I am."

"You're no son of mine!" He shook his fist furiously. "You're..." With a sudden startled gasp he grabbed his chest and staggered.

Peter caught his father's arm and steered him away from the balcony. Below, someone continued the speech-making, and rousing cheers rose from the crowd.

"Let go of me, damn you!" Artemis fought off Peter's grasp and tried to straighten. He gasped as if the wind had been knocked out of him, and bent over again.

"John, find a doctor," Daniel yelled, rushing to help Peter.

Both John and Paul ran out the door. Their steps clattering down the stairs mixed with the yells and noise outside the window.

Worriedly, Edith attempted to rise from her bed. Both Georgina and Evie rushed to help her. "Bring him over here. Make him lie down," she ordered.

"Dammit, woman, I'm fine! You're not going to make an invalid out of me." Artemis tried to shake off the hold of both of his sons, but his weakness betrayed him. They led him easily in the direction of the bed.

Outside, there was a concerted chorus of yells and the explosive detonations of firecrackers. Georgina and Evie exchanged concerned glances around the frail woman now standing between them.

"Someone had better speak to them," Edith said mildly.

"I'll do that, damn you!" Artemis yelled as his sons lowered him to the bed. "Just bring me some water." He gave an inadvertent moan of pain and bent forward before passing out.

Edith clutched the hands holding her and watched as Peter and Daniel straightened Artemis out on the bed and released his collar. The purple staining his jaws had faded to a sickly white, but he was still breathing. Edith nodded as if any movement might jar her head from her shoulders. "I'll speak to them," she announced.

Everyone turned to stare, but she was already sailing regally toward the window with Evie and Georgina as ballast. Tyler grabbed Daniel's shoulders and shoved him away from the man in the bed, taking his place there so Daniel could go to his mother.

Too stunned to comprehend all that was happening, Daniel slipped his hand beneath the elbow Evie was holding and sent her away with a nod of his head. She gracefully relinquished her place.

As Edith appeared in the window supported by Daniel and Georgina, a cheer rose from the crowd. The band began on "Yankee Doodle" again, and firecrackers exploded throughout the lawns. Children jumped and cheered for no other reason than that they enjoyed the noise. Their parents clapped and screamed because Artemis Mulloney was no longer standing there yelling threats.

"Daniel, you must speak to them. My voice won't carry," Edith murmured beneath the roar.

"What in hell do you want me to say?" Completely shaken by events, Daniel forgot to be polite.

"You're the eldest. You say what needs to be said."

"I don't have that authority. Peter should be the one doing this."

"Peter will do what I say. My name is on all those legal papers, too. Peter has been acting in my behalf all these years. Perhaps we've failed. It's your turn now."

Daniel stared at her uncertainly, then glanced to Georgina. Her eyes were wide and bright with confidence, and he took strength from the look she bestowed on him. He knew what to do; he just needed that look to tell him he was right. He smiled back and waited for the roar below to grow quiet.

"Thank you for coming here today." The wry note in his voice sent ripples of laughter through the crowd. "My father has been taken ill. If there is a physician out there, I would appreciate it if he would come forward immediately." That stopped the laughter.

A figure hurried forward from the outskirts of the crowd just as John appeared on horseback with another mounted man carrying a black bag. A low murmur of concern wafted through the crowd as the two physicians raced up the front steps.

Daniel watched them disappear through the portals before turning back to his main purpose here. He scarcely knew the ill man behind him, but he was ready to shoulder the responsibility of being the partial cause of his attack. He squeezed the frail hand on his arm and sought the words that needed to be said.

"We know that you are out there today for a reason. I hold myself partially responsible for that reason, as I hold myself partially responsible for my father's illness today." A low murmur of shock and surprise rippled through the mob. The hand on Daniel's arm squeezed gently, and his mother shook her head, but Daniel continued without interruption. "And as a responsible person should, I will try to correct the errors that have been made in the past."

Daniel turned his glance to his mother, then to Georgina. All the eyes in the crowd did the same. "Knowing my wife, I'm certain a woman's judgment will be entering many of the decisions to be made." Some of the laughter that followed was derisive, but a definitely feminine cheer overrode it. Daniel gave the crowd a grin. "But I think it's time to hear the opinions of those who have made Mulloney Enterprises what it is today."

The crowd remained silent, too afraid of this change in administration to have any confidence in Daniel or his disarming grin or in what he really might mean.

Seeing that, Daniel pointed at the people in the forefront of the crowd, many of whom he recognized from late-night arguments in taverns or as friends of the Harrisons. "I want you to get together now and appoint five good people to represent you. Today's a holiday, and I want all of you to enjoy it, but tomorrow, I want those representatives to come to the store so they can sit down with Peter and myself and discuss what needs to be done. I don't know a damned thing about the business and the man who knows the most may not be able to be there, so I make no promises, but where there are problems, there have to be solutions. You'll have to help us find them."

Shocked amazement prevented any instant response to this declaration, but as people turned to their neighbors and verified what they'd thought they heard, a murmur of approval began to grow into cheers that became an uproarious cry of triumph. The band swung into a cacophony of songs accompanied by the crazed crackle of one firecracker exploding after another, and some all at the same time.

Beneath this barrage Daniel helped his mother return to the room. Georgina clung to his other arm, and the heat of her fingers made him wish they were alone. He needed more than her reassurance right now.

But the bedroom beyond was packed with people, and there didn't seem to be any escape. Physicians bent over the inert figure on the bed. His brothers stared at him as if he'd grown two heads and horns. His mother demanded to be lowered to a chair near the bed. Tyler and Evie sent servants scurrying through the doors on a multitude of errands. Daniel could only be grateful that his in-laws had apparently been caught in the crush of the crowd and hadn't joined them.

Through this he had Georgina's hand on his arm to comfort and calm. The damned little firecracker had set all these events in motion, and she was bravely taking them in stride. Daniel thought maybe he'd taken on more than he could handle when he had taken on his altogether too-creative bride, but he would learn to take chances in the future. He put an arm around her waist and hugged her to him.

Georgina opened her mouth to say something, but the words were lost when Peter appeared in the bedroom doorway. Daniel hadn't even noticed he had left, but he was standing there now, frowning in bewilderment.

Finding Daniel, he gestured with his head. "You'd better come see this."

When Georgina started to follow her husband, Peter shook his head. "Stay here, Georgina."

"Stow it, Peter Mulloney. I can go anywhere I want to." With her nose in the air, she sailed into the hallway on Daniel's arm.

A small parade of people followed them out and down the stairs. When Peter tried to protest, John grinned and repeated, "Stow it, Peter, we can go anywhere we want to."

Peter scowled at Daniel and his wife. "This lack of authority is all your fault. If you have your way, we'll have anarchy."

"Study history. Leaders eventually emerge out of chaos." Much more cheerfully than he felt, Daniel continued his pace. "Where are we going?"

"See for yourself."

They had reached the bottom of the stairs. In the front hallway, surrounded by a bevy of bemused servants including a staid butler in formal frock coat, were two men apparently trussed together. Both looked slightly battered and bruised but mostly sheepish as they tried to avoid staring eyes.

"Egan!" John whispered from behind Daniel's shoulder.

"Emory!" Georgina said with a tone of awe, examining the culprits. "I thought they'd run off."

Her gaze fell on a sheet of paper pinned to Egan's back. Before she could reach for it, Daniel shoved her behind him and ripped it from Egan's shirt.

As he scanned the note, he stared in amazement, then began to chuckle. Before Georgina could snatch the paper away, he handed it over, and she read it out loud.

"Anytime you need to ride round-up on your family, just drop me a line. And next time you write about Pecos Martin, make sure he's a man's man, and keep those damned women out of it."

Georgina stared at the signature on the bottom and doubled up with laughter.

It was signed "Pecos Martin."