The Bachelor's Bride (The Thompsons of Locust Street #1) - Holly Bush Page 0,35

were surrounded by women. This is the first time you and I have spoken privately since we spoke about . . . about your brother.”

“How did Schmitt find out about this woman. Mrs. McMillan. This affair?”

“We didn’t advertise our estrangement, your mother and I, but still people knew and there was talk. I set up payments for her for Jonathon’s care, so the bank employees knew. I was a well-known face around Philadelphia married for a few years and living at a hotel. People knew. If Schmitt dug around a little, he would find out.”

“I was furious and maybe still am to some degree,” he said, looking down at the drink that had just been delivered and then up into the cautious eyes of his father. “But I spoke to a friend. They lost their parents, both of them at the same time, and that person reminded me that I am incredibly lucky to have you still on this earth. They are right. I am lucky. But I’m not quite sure why Mother didn’t kill you at the time.”

His father shrugged and looked away. “It was a close thing done. The time we were separated was the longest and worst month of my life. I wasn’t sure that she would ever forgive me.”

“But she did.”

His father nodded and took a drink. “She did. I am eternally grateful to her for that and still at a loss as to what I was thinking at the time.” He looked up at Alexander. “We are all bound for mistakes in our lives, but we sometimes fool ourselves and think that we would never do something that would put ourselves in so much jeopardy. But I did put my family in jeopardy and gambled with the respect of my parents and siblings and with the good opinion—and love—of my wife. I was arrogant and foolish. Who could ever compete with the beauty and brains and style of your mother? No one. No one could, although Annabelle is close.”

“Mother is all that and more.”

His father looked him in the eye then. “But more than any of that, more than all of it, I’m in love with her, and I love her, and have from nearly the first minute I met her.”

“How did you know? How did you know you loved her?”

Andrew Pendergast smiled slowly. “I couldn’t breathe when I was around her. I couldn’t think of anything but making her mine. I counted the minutes I was away from her.”

Alexander tapped his thumb on the table and thought about his sleepless nights wondering what Elspeth had done during her day and reliving his foolish words when she was at his parents’ home for the luncheon with Annabelle. “I don’t know how she feels,” he said and looked up suddenly. He hadn’t meant to speak out.

“Your mother said she thinks you are partial to the Thompson girl. Elspeth?”

He thought about shrugging it off. He thought about acting as if he didn’t care. He hesitated to admit, even to his father, that he’d been brought low and confused by a young woman. If he was the sophisticated man about town that he pictured of himself, then why was he feeling so unsure and out of sorts over her since nearly the first moment he met her on the steps of a bawdy house, of all places.

“I think about her all the time. Even when I’ve sworn to myself that I will not think of her.”

“Maybe you’re more than partial,” his father said and took a sip of his drink.

“Maybe. She is actually the reason I wanted to talk to you.” He then told his father about Schmitt’s requests and then his demands. “I’m concerned for her safety, especially after those two men followed her and her sister after the boxing match. But I’m also concerned for our family, for you, for Mother and Annabelle.”

“Why?”

“I think Schmitt . . . I know Schmitt told those men that I know her. What if they wanted to force me to find out something about her? I told Schmitt I’d try and find out their family name before they came here, but I was just trying to buy time. I’d never seen him in such a state. He was panicked. He must know these people will not take no for an answer. I don’t want to worry you unnecessarily but—”

“I trust your judgment,” his father interrupted. “I’ll talk to my security people and have them add staff, maybe visible staff, until