“Oh, she’s your woman now?”
“For tonight, at least,” Jonny said, shooting him a wide grin. “Best of luck, Tommy.”
With that, he wandered back through the tavern, leaving Tommy alone once again.
Alone — but determined.
He could make this plan work. One way or another, he was going to save Minnie from the fate her father was trying to force upon her.
Even if it meant sacrificing the life he knew to do so.
Chapter Six
Minnie couldn’t sleep.
She wasn’t sure if it was from wondering why Tommy hadn’t sought her out over the past week as he had promised he would, or the concern over her father’s financial woes and just how it would affect their family, but that night, she turned over from one side to the other in her bed until her stomach rumbled. Remembering that she had barely eaten dinner, she decided she wouldn’t sleep until she ate something. She crept from her room, intent on seeking out the kitchens.
She paused on the main floor landing, about to continue on to the servants’ staircase, when she noticed a light shining out of her father’s study. She hesitated, wondering whether to waste her time to see if her father was within, but finally, she couldn’t help but stop to see if he might have some more news to impart, as he had, thus far, been silent on the subject of his potential financial ruin.
She paused in the doorway, slowly pushing the door open.
“Father?” she called, but hearing no response, she pushed it open further, expecting to find himbehind the desk. Instead, the room was empty but for the lamp still burning on his desk. She was about to back out of the room when she saw the open book on the desk, and while she knew she was likely invading his privacy, at the moment, she didn’t overly care.
Didn’t she have a right to know?
Taking one more look out the door to make sure that no one was coming, she padded on bare feet around the desk, coming to stop behind it, leaning over her father’s chair to see what was sitting on the pages before her.
It was a ledger, but not a business ledger.
It seemed her father, ever meticulous, had kept records of his debts that were as good as he ever had of his business expenses.
There it was, all laid out before her.
Every gamble, every loss was sitting there in red numbers.
At the bottom, there was one line with numbers in black, numbers that zeroed out all that came before it.
Minnie’s eyes travelled across the line to see what could possibly be of such value to pay back all that her father owed.
Her eyes fell on two words.
Two words she knew better than any others.
Minnie Draper.
Fingers shaking, she reached out, lifting the ledger to better read what was within, only to find two papers sitting underneath, papers that had scrawling over them. Her eyes ran over it as she held it before her, keeping it as still as her trembling would allow.
It was a marriage contract.
Her name was there, as was her father’s, with a few notes below. There was no dowry included, no provision for her should anything befall her husband, as had been part of her sister’s dowry to protect her in the future.
No, from this, it seemed that her father was basically giving her away, in exchange for his debts being paidoff.
So that was what she was worth to him.
The only question was, to whom was she being sold off? The space for her husband’s name was just a blank line.
Did it even matter?
