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."
Epilogue
"Where are we going?" Georgina gathered up flounces of blue batiste and hurried after her long-striding husband.
"You'll see," he said mysteriously, offering his elbow but keeping his gaze straight ahead.
"You and Peter have been acting awfully odd lately," Georgina complained. "I'm not at all sure I like it. I'm beginning to think I was much better off when you had no family."
Daniel sent her a glance of concern, then seeing the laughter in her eyes, he smiled and hastened his steps. "At times, I've thought the same thing. But there are other times when there are distinct advantages to family."
Georgina sighed. "I don't know. I love my father dearly, but he just won't listen when I make suggestions about rebuilding the factory. And even though I persuaded my mother to stand up to him about all those medicines and Dr. Ralph, she still lets him walk all over her. He's a terrible tyrant."
"You can't expect a man who's had things his own way all his life to change overnight, Georgie. He did agree to let you look over the new line, and he hired a woman to act as foreman."
"It should have been Janice. I still can't understand why she all of a sudden decided to up and leave with Evie and Tyler. Just because Audrey got her job back and you gave Douglas an after-school job isn't any excuse for her to run away like that."
"Audrey and Douglas are comfortable at the boarding house. Janice and Betsy weren't. The position of schoolteacher back in Mineral Springs was a good opportunity. Evie will see that Janice