Garnett sat back down, putting his head back and closing his eyes. He didn’t know how something that felt so good to do felt so bad this morning. Garnett’s eye was swollen shut but the headache had lessened unless he turned his head too fast. His knuckles were scraped and he kept trying to remember exactly how many faces he connected with last night but couldn’t. James on the other hand looked a lot better but was moving slower due to the bruising along his left side where he obviously landed on something other than a person. James thought it might have been the edge of the bar but it could have been the table.
James got up and went into the kitchen and removed the bandage over his side and looked in the pantry for Mirisa’s herb book to see what she had used so he could make more. He found the book and was going through it when Mirisa walked up to him.
“How do you feel this morning?”
“Better now that you are standing in front of me.” James closed the book as she raised his arm to look at his side. “If you can tell me what you used last night I’ll make more.”
Mirisa didn’t respond to James as she walked over to the pantry bringing out a dozen bottles and put them on the counter. James watched her as she reached for the large red bowl and put it down next to him. She started adding different things into the bowl and reached under the bar lifting the bottle of whisky and added enough to make a paste.
Mirisa used her fingers to mix everything very gently then walked over to the sink to wash her hands before coming back to the counter. She opened the cabinet under the counter and took out the clean clothes and tape and set them next to the bowl and stood up. James lifted her chin and kissed her. Mirisa reached up and put her forehead against his knowing that they really didn’t have to say anything. After putting the new paste on James’ bruise she wrapped and taped it as gently as she could.
“Mirisa.” James brought her into his arms avoiding his left side. James knew when Mirisa became this quiet that she was trying hard to either deal with reality or to avoid thinking about reality. “Maybe it’s time to have a serious talk with you about living in the real world. We have spent so much time keeping you to ourselves in our own little existence that you have put aside all you ever knew about society and the cruel things they do when you least expect it.”
“James, I do know but you are right.” Mirisa sounded so defeated and sad that James wanted to hurt someone. “I can either live the life I prefer out west where etiquette and social standing has less bearing or I can pretend that Elizabeth is Alexander’s daughter and we can start living like a normal family.”
“Dominic and the boys will be leaving in January and Garnett and I can move into my apartment which will make it better.”
“Mirisa.”
Mirisa turned to Garnett and laughed. “I don’t think my eye ever looked that bad. I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about nor was any of this your fault.” Garnett sat up on the counter next to them. “We can file papers in New York certifying her birth with you and Alexander as the natural parents. No one is going to even think of checking in Mississippi since she was born in Colorado. I think it’s the only thing we can do at this point to prevent any problems Elizabeth will have as she gets older.”
“Where’s Alexander?”
“He had an appointment and said he would be home later.”
“How does he feel?”
“I haven’t talked to him yet but he’ll do whatever is necessary to protect the girls.”
“And Maggie?”
“I think because of the difference in the size of Maggie and Jonathan that as long as they aren’t referred to as twins no one will think about their parentage.”
Meeks dismounted handing the reins to the stable boy before climbing the steps to the door. He waited as the butler opened the door. Meeks handed him his card. The butler looked at it and asked him to please wait in the foyer as he walked down to the library knocking on the door. The butler handed the card to someone before he came down the marble entry bowing to Meeks.
“Mr. Sampson will be with you in just a moment.” Meeks nodded. He waited about twenty minutes when several gentlemen came out of the library, nodded to Meeks and left the house. Louis’ lawyer came out and asked Meeks to step into the library. When he did, Louis asked his lawyer to close the door on the way out. The lawyer protested but knew that Louis wouldn’t listen so he left the room closing the door.
Louis was standing and pointed to a chair. “Please sit down.” He had a small strip of tape across his nose and it was slightly swollen. Meeks assumed it was from the brawl at the card table. “As you can see, your wife has a good right cut. It was the last thing I expected this morning when she walked in.”
“I apologize, she is extremely emotional when it comes to the children. I’m sure she didn’t mean to cause you any harm.”
“Oh, I disagree. I don’ think I have ever seen a look that deadly in my life.”
“I’m here to ask you to please stop pursuing her and to straighten out the misconception that everyone has regarding our daughter Elizabeth.”
“She’s your daughter?”
“All of the girls are mine.”
“Mr. Alston insinuated that Garnett was the father.”
“Elizabeth is my daughter.” Meeks took out a cigar and lit it without asking permission. “My greater concern is your obsession with my wife. I believe your behavior in leaving the fund raiser was inappropriate and totally unacceptable. I am going to ask you as a gentleman to cease any interest you think you might have in her. Your behavior is already well documented and reaction from me would not be considered unwarranted by the authorities.”
“Your approach is a little more civilized than your friends.”
“This is not an approach. My friends always give warnings before they react, however, I don’t. If you do not cease your behavior toward my wife, I can guarantee that you will not like my reaction at all.” Meeks stood up but didn’t put out his hand to shake.
“Don’t you consider this a warning?”
“No. I’m giving you the only courtesy you will get from me as a gentleman. This is a threat and you should take it as same. Another incident and I will kill you.” He walked out of the house and mounted his horse.
Louis walked out and watched him leave. He always thought that Dominic was the most dangerous of the four but now Louis knew that he should have known better. It would take a very strong man to take Mirisa away from Dominic and still remain friends. Louis had never before been so involved in New York society when he was without a wife as he had been when Mirisa was in town and Meeks was right that his behavior had been very well documented and considered inappropriate.
Meeks heard them talking in the kitchen as he came through the back door. He walked in to find Mirisa with James and Garnett. Meeks kissed her before pouring a cup of coffee and leaning up against the sink. Mirisa let go of James and walked over to her husband going into his arms.
Meeks held her tight and kissed the top of her head before he took her right arm and pulled it from around him and took her hand in his. “Not bad. It seems you only bruised two knuckles.” Mirisa looked up at Meeks and knew where he had gone. She loved him more in that moment than she could ever express and Meeks smiled as her lip quivered before he pulled her tight against his chest.
“What did you do to your hand?”
“Seems Mr. Sampson has a broken nose.”
“I hope no one was present when you did that.”
“There was a whole room of gentlemen in the middle of some type of meeting. I recognized several but not all of them.”
“Are we attending the gala Saturday night?”
“Not only are we attending but I’m sure that my wife will be more than happy to dress appropriately. If there are going to be rumors of the brawl, it’s only fitting that the woman in the center of it be more stunning than she’s ever been.”
Dominic stood in the doorway. “Don’t you think you need t
o take a low key approach at this point?”
“No, I told Louis today that Elizabeth is my daughter and that the rumor was because Mr. Alston was extremely rude to her at a meeting. I am sure there were enough people at the Club and at his home today that our not showing up will just confirm the rumors.”
“But Alexander...” Meeks put his finger on her lips.
“We’ll do whatever needs to be done so the girls never have a problem.”
“But I want another baby.” They all looked at her and Meeks just smiled.
“Then before you have her everyone has to understand that my name will be listed as the father unless you plan on divorcing me first.”
“I will never divorce you.” Mirisa pulled herself out of his arms.
“Did you have enough strength to back him up when you hit him?”
Mirisa looked at Garnett. “I landed him on the floor.”
“Not a very smart man to not expect it.”
“No, but then I don’t know what Louis thought I came there to do since I walked in unannounced.”
“Mirisa, I believe you have been hanging around with James too long because you seem to have picked up a lot of his characteristics.”
“In more ways than you know.” Mirisa turned back around and got down her big bowls and James just smiled.
James and Garnett stayed in the kitchen with her baking and Meeks worked on his books as Dominic left with the boys to ride in the park. The weather had held all week but it was starting to get colder a lot earlier in the evening. The one thing Mirisa loved about the brownstone was that it was in the middle of the row and held the warmth so much better than a regular house. Meeks had put new logs in all the fireplaces and finally brought the girls down to the living room to play. They were very sympathetic when they saw Garnett but Elizabeth wouldn’t go near him. It snowed on and off through the week.
Garnett walked out of the library and sat down on the couch putting his feet up as he closed his eyes. It had been a long day of working on documents and his head was pounding. Mirisa walked over to him and looked at his eye which was still shut but the swelling had gone down a lot and the bruises were becoming darker. “I think that’s the worse black eye I have ever seen.”
“I’ve had worse.” Garnett reached up and took Mirisa’s hand and looked at it. “You need to learn how to curl your hand the right way before you hit." He massaged the knuckles and she went to pull her hand away because it hurt a lot.
James looked up at her and laughed. “You really have a low tolerance for pain.” He reached over and took her hand and folded it to look at the swelling. “He’s right; you didn’t curl it tight enough when you landed the punch.”
“Don’t I get credit for landing him on the floor?”
“Well you get a hell of a lot more credit than we do since we couldn’t even get to him to land a punch.” Garnett looked at her. “I’ve finished the paperwork on Elizabeth.”
“Why did they think you were her father? Was it because I was so arrogant at the trust meeting?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, she’s not old enough to look particularly like you though she does have your eyes. Can they find her birth record?”
“No.”
“But isn’t it in the Clerk’s books? I asked the Judge to register her.”
“He did but not in the public books.”
“Why?”
“Probably because he likes you a lot.”
“Then no one will ever find anything no matter how hard they looked?”
“Only you, me and Elizabeth until she turns 18 when it will be put into the public records.”
“I don’t think we need to file anything here.”
“I think we do.”
She looked up in Garnett’s eyes and knew even though he struggled with being a father it was the one thing that softened his heart. Mirisa ran her fingertips along his face and smiled sweetly. “You are a wonderful father and I’m sorry you spent all day trying to come to terms with this. I don’t think we need to file anything.”
“Mirisa….”
“You don’t comprehend that your love for Lizzie is always in your eyes when you hold her. The miracle of a child is they never question why when they are loved.” Mirisa looked at the girls. Soon she would complete their world but never did she think she would love anyone more then she loved their fathers.
Mirisa went shopping with her husband for a new gown for the gala on Saturday. He took her to a new boutique on the back street that was European and bought her a beautiful dress that gathered low on one hip before flowing to the floor and fitting tightly against the other hip. It was made from burnt orange brocade and set off the color of her hair perfectly.
“I think we deserve to have lunch out.” Meeks took Mirisa’s hand and they walked across the street to the restaurant. Meeks asked for a table near the window and they were seated immediately. Everyone in the restaurant watched them cross the room. Meeks held out Mirisa’s chair before he bent down and kissed her. She let him do the ordering and they had a long enjoyable lunch like two people who only got to spend a few hours alone during the week. Meeks touched her often and if you didn’t know they were married you would think they were lovers.
Even when Mirisa got up to go to the powder room, Meeks’ eyes followed her across the restaurant and when Mirisa returned Meeks stood and pulled out her chair. Meeks finally took out a small box and put it in Mirisa’s hands. Mirisa reached up pulling on the silk ribbon and slowly lifted the gold top. Inside was a beautiful diamond and emerald ring. He took it out of the box, removed her wedding band putting on the ring then slid her wedding band back on her finger.
“Is this what I get for being bad?”
“Well, I guess it would appear that way but no I ordered it months ago but didn’t want to wait until your birthday after I saw it today.” Meeks picked up her hand and kissed her fingers.
“Well, what do I get for being bad then?”
“You get me when you are bad.”
“Alexander, I think you might want to rethink that since I always want you which means I will have to always be bad to get what I want.”
“You’re right; you should only get me when you are good except I really love you when you are being very, very bad.”
They left the restaurant with everyone straining to see what he had put on her finger as they walked by.
By Saturday night both James and Garnett were feeling more like themselves though Garnett’s eye was still an ugly shade of yellow and green. They had moved some of their things into James’ apartment that was less than half a mile from the brownstones. They decided the first night to invite friends over to play poker knowing that it would off-set the rumors. The apartments were very large and comfortable.
MIRISA AND MEEKS entered the foyer that was filled with guests. Meeks nodded to Louis when their eyes met. He was talking to an elderly couple and when they walked on Louis walked up to them. He shook hands with Meeks and addressed Mirisa by her married name. Louis no longer had the tape across his nose but it was still swollen. Mirisa tried not to stare but it was hard not to and it was equally hard not to smile. Louis noticed the diamond on her finger and had heard all about how he had given it to her. It was quite obvious that Meeks would kill for this woman without so much as thinking about the consequences where the others would just make his life miserable.
Garnett, James and Dominic entered a half hour after Meeks and Mirisa walked into the ballroom.
“I am glad you were able to attend.” Louis looked at Garnett who was the only other one who showed obvious signs of the fight at the Club. “Garnett, I owe you an apology for my rude behavior last week. I hope we can put it behind us.”
Garnett just nodded and they moved past him into the main room. The dinner was long and half way through Mirisa asked her husband if they could go to Washington in January to just get a change of scenery.
“You’ll have to ask Garnett because I
don’t know if he has plans for the townhouse or if we will need to book a hotel room.”
Garnett looked around her. “What about the townhouse?”
“I want to go to Washington after the holidays.”
“Sounds good to me. At the moment, I like politicians a lot better than New Yorker socialites.”
Mirisa thought it was unusual to see dozens of men with various shades of bruising on their faces and she asked her husband if they had all been in the brawl. He told her that most were the regulars at the monthly high staked games so he imagined that they either jumped in or couldn’t get out of the way fast enough.
“Will that cost us a lot of money?”
“No. Louis is paying for all of the costs since he was responsible for it.”
“Alexander.”
“Yes darling.” Meeks pulled out her chair and took Mirisa into the ballroom where the first dance had started. He led her out onto the floor and kissed her as he took her in his arms.
“Never mind. Some questions are just better off never hearing a voice.” Mirisa looked up into his eyes as he lifted her off the floor while rounding and then set her back down while her skirts floated around her. Where Dominic had always been so proper in public, Meeks was the opposite in displaying his affection. Meeks danced with her for several pieces before James took her hand. Mirisa put her hand on his shoulder rather than around him like she usually did. James talked to Mirisa as they danced and Garnett watched her eyes darken from a distance. None of them were playing tonight which caused a murmur among the women who counted on the fun that always came when they attended an event. Dominic was the only one who was even dancing with other women but mostly it was with the wives of long time acquaintances.
They were all working the crowd and it was obvious that not only had the rumors of the brawl at the Club spread but also what Mirisa had done at Louis’ house. Despite the unspoken rules of the rich and powerful of the city, the fact that Louis had so blatantly pursued a married woman did not sit well with most when it was now obvious that she had no interest whatsoever. A gentleman always uses discretion with a married woman unless his intent was to cause harm. And since there were few men of the Club who did not have a possible illegitimate child somewhere the remark had actually backfired on Louis. Meeks had met with the firm and had Mr. Alston removed from any trusts involving his wife and asked that Mr. Sinclare be put in charge. They started to object since Mr. Alston was a partner until Meeks made it perfectly clear that Mr. Alston had not only insulted her at the business luncheon but has spread the rumor harming her reputation, the reputation of the trusts and their youngest daughter. He finally told them that if they did not remove him that they would sue the company.
The Visitor_The Bell Tower 1873_1875 Page 16
