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A little glow of red sprung up on Nolan’s cheeks, making him look even younger than before. “It’s nice to meet you, too,” he said, and stepped farther aside for Lucrecia to enter.
She walked into the room, making sure to keep her footsteps light. On a plush bed in the center of the room, was an old man. His eyes were closed, but Lucrecia could see the faint rise and fall of his chest. She joined Fausto at his bedside, although she was forced to stand while Fausto took the chair next to the bed.
He reached out and grabbed the old man’s shoulder to shake him awake, but Nolan was there in an instant. He smacked Fausto’s hand away with a stern glare.
“He’s sleeping,” he said, eyebrows furrowed. “I won’t let you bother him just because you’re looking to make a quick buck of your inheritance,” Nolan growled, his voice turning darker and darker with each syllable.
That ugly sneer that Lucrecia had seen before on her husband’s face returned, and he stood up in a flurry. Fausto pushed past both Lucrecia and Nolan, leaving the girl completely dumbfound.
“He’s always like that,” Nolan explained. He gestured to the seat, and Lucrecia warily lowered down into it. “I’m sorry that you have to be his wife. No good will ever come of that man. It doesn’t matter how rich he is, all he ever wants is more, more, and more.”
Lucrecia glanced between Nolan and his father as she allowed the words to properly sink in.
Chapter Six
“I’m sorry that your father is so sick and that Fausto isn’t here with him,” Lucrecia said after the silence had spanned out between herself and Nolan for too long. “It’s a shame that he got himself into such a bad mood before I was properly introduced.”
“Like I said,” Nolan interrupted, holding up his hand, “he’s always like that. Since childhood he’s had awful mood swings that never seem to go away or calm down. He’s always on top of the world or as angry as the fires of Hell themselves.”
“Is he really always like that?” Lucrecia asked, a twinge of fear creeping into her voice. When writing to Fausto and when boarding the train, she had convinced herself that it didn’t matter what kind of man he was. The kind of man that he was didn’t matter when she was faced with the opportunity of a lifetime. She had told herself over and over that even if he hit her, it wouldn’t make a difference to her. Right then, it made all of the difference in the world. “Always so… so angry?”
Nolan looked up at Lucrecia, sympathy spreading across his features. He had seen many a girl who thought that they were interested in Fausto. They thought that, despite his anger and his temperament, they could survive and understand that underneath it all, they were wealthy. Disgustingly wealthy. That would never change who Fausto was.
“Yes, he’s always like that,” Nolan said. It wasn’t a lie, and he wasn’t hyperbolizing it. That was just how Fausto was. “And I hate to break it to you, Miss Lucrecia, but I doubt that he even cares about you. In our father’s will, Fausto must get married and have a child before he can inherit his portion of the will. That’s the only reason he sought you out.”
Even though Lucrecia knew that it was the truth, the words stung her deeply. She smiled through it, and gave Nolan a little shrug. “I’ve known that,” she said.
“Then why are you here?” Nolan asked. He was shocked that a girl as nice as Lucrecia would suffer through someone like Fausto. “Don’t you know that you deserve someone so much better than he is?”
“When you find a man that’s better than he is and willing to take me in, you let me know,” Lucrecia said, a little laugh forming on her lips. “Truly, I would love to meet a man like that. It would make my day. I wouldn’t even care if he was poor or rich. All that would matter is that he would love me unconditionally.”
As Lucrecia spoke, Nolan felt a surge of emotion rush through him. He couldn’t pinpoint it, but he wanted to give Lucrecia hope. She didn’t deserve to be so broken already, not when she was so pretty and young. He wanted to tell her that she deserved the world, and absolutely nothing less. There wasn’t anything that she should want for, be it a beautiful jewel or a man that would know how to treat her right. She was worth more than the universe itself.
“Lucrecia, I…” he began, but trailed off, his confidence waning.
Lucrecia looked up, but Nolan’s luck couldn’t have been better. A shaky cough rattled through his father’s chest, making Lucrecia jump back. Nolan did the opposite, sitting forward and helping his father to lift his head. It always helped him to get rid of a particularly nasty cough. He wheezed like that for a long time, held in Nolan’s arms. Lucrecia had reached out and clasped his frail, bony hand in hers.
“Who might you be…?” he asked, his voice just as wheezing as his cough had been. He was trying to turn his eyes to look at Lucrecia, but he was having difficulty doing so. He hardly knew where the girl was. He only knew that someone new was there because of the racket that Fausto had made when the two of them had entered.
“I’m Lucrecia,” she said. “I’m going to be Fausto’s wife. I’m not certain where he ran off to, but I’m very pleased to meet you.”
A smile creaked onto Mr. Redman’s wizened, wrinkled face and a laugh pushed forward past his lip: “What a very polite young lady,” he said, making Lucrecia blush. He laughed a little more, turning his head in Nolan’s general direction. “A man like Fausto doesn’t quite deserve a woman like her, does he?” he asked.
Nolan blushed just as much as Lucrecia was. He didn’t have the heart to reply to the old man’s question. “Father, she came here from New York on a train. Isn’t that amazing?” he asked.
The old man nodded. “I remember when there weren’t any trains,” he said, a hum in his voice. “When I was your age…” a horrible coughing fit wracked his body for a good two minutes. “When I was younger, and not so sickly, we took horses and caravans all the way out here.”
“We know, Father,” Nolan said.
Lucrecia could imagine the same phrase from Fausto’s lips. He would be short with the old man, treating him as though he were lower and not worthy of his attention. It made Lucrecia’s skin crawl, but Nolan was exactly the opposite. He was smiling as he spoke, and it gave way to the true lightheartedness of his words.
“Don’t you interrupt me,” Mr. Redman scolded.
“I would like to hear the story,” Lucrecia said, beaming from ear to ear. “I’ve grown up in New York my entire life reading adventure stories. It would be nice to hear one that was actually true for once.”
A smile broke out onto Mr. Redman’s lips, showing his lack of strong teeth. He turned his head between Nolan and Lucrecia, a little laugh creeping up on him once more. “Nolan,” he said, catching his son’s attention, “I like this girl very, very much more than any other girl.”
Chapter Seven
