can’t support you now. I have nothing. I have to sell everything. I’d rather know that you’re safe with your parents in Tahoe, and eating, than starving with me.”
“I’d rather starve with you,” she said, her voice quavering. “I’m not afraid to work. I won’t leave you. I love you.” He hesitated for a moment and looked at her.
“You’re a stubborn woman, Eleanor Deveraux Allen.”
“I’ll sell my wedding dress,” she said gamely, although it gave her a twinge to say it. It was a symbol of the best day of her life, but now hard times had come, and she wanted to prove to him that she was equal to them.
“Don’t do that,” he said seriously, “you won’t get anything for it. Save it for your daughter one day.” He meant it. It broke his heart that she had offered to sell it for them.
“If you divorce me, I won’t have a daughter,” she said sadly, and he held her tight.
“I have to sell everything, this house as soon as I can get rid of it. Everything we have. I have to close the doors at the bank. We’re bankrupt.”
“It’s all right. We’ll manage,” she said. The way she said it told him she meant it, and her dogged determination gave him hope that they would figure out something. But there were hard times ahead for the whole country. People with immense fortunes would be starving now, and living on the streets, and he and Eleanor might be among them, if he let her stay with him. But he didn’t have the heart to turn her away. She was so young and innocent and loving and her love for him was so pure. She went to the kitchen then to rummage for something for them to eat, and came back with fried eggs, some ham, and slices of toast. It was all they had in the house at the moment, and she put a familiar leather box down next to him on the table. He recognized it immediately. It was the diamond necklace of his mother’s that he had given her as a wedding present. “If we’re selling jewelry, you should sell that.” She smiled at him, and he kissed her.
“Some husband I am, selling your wedding present.”
“I have you. I don’t need diamonds. It was fun wearing it, but you should get a lot for it.”
“Probably not. Everyone will be selling their jewels now. I’ll see what I can get for it.” He sighed and picked at his dinner, and she did too. But he didn’t mention annulling their marriage again, or divorcing her. She had made herself clear. She was going down with the ship if she had to, but she was not getting in a lifeboat. She was not leaving him, and she was willing to do whatever she had to, to stand by him. He had never loved her more in his life.
They clung to each other that night in bed, like two frightened children, and he had a dream that they were drowning and he couldn’t save her. He woke up in a sweat in a tangle of sheets as she slept peacefully beside him, unaffected by his dream. He wondered if they would survive the changes that were happening to them. He wanted to protect her and take care of her, but how would he be able to do that now? He held her as she slept, and tears rolled down his cheeks. The future looked very bleak. He thought of the vow they made only a month ago. For richer or poorer…little did he know then that it would come to this, and how true it would be.
Chapter 6
The early days of November were surreal, for the entire country. No one was untouched by what had happened. Fortunes evaporated, jobs disappeared. Businesses collapsed, unemployment was skyrocketing. People didn’t trust their banks not to fail and withdrew whatever they had left. People in the Deveraux and Allen strata became indigent at a moment’s notice. Both the Deveraux mansion and Alex’s home were on the market, along with other stately homes, at absurdly low prices. There were dozens of important homes for sale, none as grand as theirs, but some quite beautiful and luxurious. For those who had a little money left, there were incredible deals to be made. Louise had sacrificed all of her jewelry to be sold at auction, even family heirlooms, and all that Charles had given her over the years.