All You Could Ask For

by Angeline Fortin

  “Anything they like,” Jack offered drily. Francis laughed and he reluctantly joined him.

  “Something must be done about Hayes, however,” he added, rubbing his bottom lip thoughtfully.

  “Indeed,” Francis agreed, looking at the door of the office, knowing Hayes waited to pounce on the other side. “He seems almost…I don’t know exactly. Delusional? He truly believes after all that has happened, she will come back to him.”

  “Insane is more like it,” Jack grunted, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “It’s unnatural.”

  A chuckle shook Glenrothes’ shoulders. “’Tis not unnatural to love a woman, my friend.”

  Jack shook his head stubbornly. “That’s not love, MacKintosh. It’s obsession. It’ll not end well.”

  Eve joined them shortly. Francis wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, pressing a kiss to her temple. “About done then, my paradise?”

  “Almost.” She leaned into him and sighed wearily. “Da was an incredibly generous man, was he not? I am so proud of him for thinking of others.”

  Curious, Jack could not help but ask, “You’re not upset he gave away so much of your inheritance?”

  Eve shot her former nemesis a wry look. “Not everyone is as enamored with money matters as you, Jack Merrill.”

  “Says a woman who has never done without,” he shot back, disliking the implication that he cared for little else. It might be his top priority of late, but so it would be to anyone in his position.

  “Don’t start with me,” she sighed tiredly. “For your information, we were not always rich. Da came here with nothing and was little more than a clerk when he married my mother. Our early childhood was no better than yours.” She looked over to her mother and sister, who still spoke with Mr. Jensen. “Perhaps that will help you understand Kitty’s offer to you, Jack. She does understand what it’s like to do without.”

  Haddington only grunted noncommittally. There were many levels of doing without. There was broke and then there was broke.

  * * *

  Kitty stood by as her mother thanked Jensen for all his work and assured him she would certainly retain him for all her personal needs once the details of the Preston estate had been ironed out. Maggie Preston shook his hand and they turned to go.

  “Mrs. Hayes,” Jensen cleared his throat. “I was wondering if you might have the time to stay and review another matter with me in private.”

  His look was speaking, and Kitty’s eyes lit at the prospect of hearing some news regarding her divorce petition. “Certainly, Mr. Jensen, I would be happy to.”

  “What is this all about, Katherine?” Her mother wanted to know.

  “Nothing you need to worry about, Mother,” Kitty told her, taking her arm and gently guiding her over to her sister. “Just that other matter we had spoken about.” She cringed even as she said it. The last thing she needed was her mother wailing about her shameful divorce right here where anyone might overhear her.

  To her surprise, Maggie just patted her arm in a conciliatory fashion, as if Kitty suddenly had her support in the matter.

  “Eve,” Kitty called to her sister as they approached the others. “I am going to stay and talk to Mr. Jensen a while longer.” The trio’s eyes widened in understanding and Jack flashed an encouraging smile. “Why don’t you all take Mother back to the house while I finish up here? I’d like to have this done before we go on to Newport tomorrow.”

  “How will you get back?” her mother asked fretfully.

  “I will just take a cab, Mother, you needn’t worry.”

  “I will be happy to stay and escort her when she is done here, Mrs. Preston,” Jack tendered with a slight bow, that brought a pleased but sly smile to Maggie’s face.

  “I would be grateful if you would, my lord. A lady should never be left unescorted, especially in the city where all sorts of dreadful things might happen,” the older woman answered, allowing Francis to escort his new mother-in-law to the door.

  “I’m glad you offered, Haddington,” Eve said, motioning to the now open door revealing Kitty’s husband, who still lingered in the hall, pacing back and forth. “I did not want to leave Kitty here with Mr. Hayes present. I do not know what he thinks, waiting as he is. I am afraid he will attempt to coerce her into going with him.”

  “Let him try,” Jack responded, clenching his fists. “I’d like to take a piece of him for what he has done to her.”

  “Just look after her,” she chided.

  “I intend to.”

  Chapter 25

  Kitty waited until her sister and mother departed, before Mr. Jensen indicated she should take a chair once more. When the secretary closed the door, she caught a glimpse of Jack sitting across from her husband, grinning at him in a way that was sure to raise his ire. Amusement tempered by worry raced through her, knowing Hayes’ unpredictable volatility, but if Jack wanted to play the protector, so be it.

  “May I offer you coffee, madam?” He gestured to the tray his secretary had deposited a moment before.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  The lawyer poured her a cup and offered sugar and cream, before preparing a cup for himself. “Have you news on the divorce petition, Mr. Jenson? I feared with my father’s death it might not have made the progress I hoped.”

  “On the contrary, Mrs. Hayes.”

  Kitty shuddered and shook her head. “Please, Mr. Jensen, call me Katherine, if you will.”

  “Very well.” Jensen dug into a drawer for another stack of papers and straightened them on his desktop. “Although this is not my normal focus in the law, your father apprised me of your intention to obtain a divorce from Mr. Hayes last month and asked me to see it done. I must admit a degree of surprise when he indicated he would not disapprove a measure of perhaps immoral dealings to have it accomplished quickly and quietly, with a minimum of fuss. Your father was always a stickler for honest business practices, ma’am. It was quite a shock to hear he would be willing to…er, grease a few wheels for this, when he would never do so before.”

  “No, I know he would not.”

  “It must have meant a great deal to you both, then, to see it done?” he probed, his curiosity evident. “Finding the appropriate grounds was difficult at first.”

  Kitty quirked her lips wryly. “You could not just use abuse? I’m sure my father relayed at least some of the details.”

  “That would have been difficult to prove beyond the law.”

  “What does the law allow?”

  “More than you might think.”

  She shook her head ruefully. “Very well, what grounds did you use then?”

  Mr. Jensen took off his spectacles once again and rubbed the lens with his handkerchief. “Adultery, madam.”

  “Adultery?” Her brows shot up. “On whose part?”

  “The divorce laws in America are a tricky thing, Mrs…uh, Katherine.” He rose and went to a shelf, retrieving a large tome and laying it before her. “As a rule, the aggrieved party cannot be the one to file. Say if Mr. Hayes had an affair, you, as the injured party, could not file on those grounds.”

  “But he could?” she wondered aloud, reading the precedents he had marked.

  “That is the order these things normally follow.” Jensen rubbed his lens once again. “The courts are very perverse, madam. They do not like to give people what they want.”

  “You have cast me as the adulteress in this little scenario then? So he might be the wronged party and can therefore I can be the one to file? Have I the right of it?”

  “You do.” He had the good grace to look at least a wee bit embarrassed by this. “Your father seemed to think that, despite this becoming public record, you might not care overmuch as to the grounds, so long as the thing was done.”

  Kitty’s lips twisted a bit and she sighed in defeat. “He was right, of course. In the end I don’t care how it’s done, merely that it is.”

  The lawyer went on then, “Perversely, your husband wou
ld have to contest the divorce, or the courts will deny the petition.”

  “Why, that’s ridiculous!” She was astonished by the laws of her land.

  “Indeed, what man would fight a divorce from a woman who betrayed him? The incidence of success on these grounds is not very high,” he told her, but his eyes twinkled just a bit.

  She gave a dry laugh. “Worry not, Mr. Jensen, Mr. Hayes will contest the petition. Whatever the grounds, he is very possessive and not at all the type to give in without a fight. I would just hate to be around when he received the papers. When will all this start?”

  “It has already started.” Jensen shuffled the papers once more. “The initial paperwork was pushed through very quickly and filed. We just fed it through the right hands, with the right amount of greenbacks to hurry it along. It wasn’t difficult.”

  “One should never underestimate the power of a cash bribe.”

  “Indeed. Additionally, your father knew many people in high places, had done many favors in the past, without asking for anything in return.”

  She was distracted from her own problems for a moment upon hearing the sadness in the attorney’s voice. “I know Da relied on you greatly these past many years, Mr. Jensen. He thought very highly of you.”

  The man cleared his throat and looked back at down the papers for a long moment before continuing. “Now, normally the courts would have to wait for your husband to contest the divorce at his leisure, which might normally take weeks or months, but in an odd coincidence, Mr. Hayes filed his contestation the very next day.” He selected a sheet of paper and turned it about so Kitty might see it.

  “But he didn’t seem to know anything of this yet! How did you get Freddie to sign it?” she asked in amazement, because it was Freddie’s signature on the bottom line, without a doubt. She stared at the lawyer with curiosity burning. If her husband did know about this, it would have been the first thing off his lips when he had seen her. He was clearly unaware.

  “It seems Mr. Hayes has neglected compensating his solicitor of late. Bad practice, that.” The man clucked his tongue with mock regret. “It took far less to bribe the fellow than one might expect the cost of betrayal to come. The man merely slipped it into a stack of papers for Hayes to sign and brought it to the courts himself as an agent of his employer. Not an uncommon practice, the delivery part, I mean.”

  Her jaw sagged in astonishment. It had all happened so quickly. “Is it done then?”

  “Almost—not yet,” Jensen told her. “Your father had been attempting to find the right judge to finalize the divorce at the time of his death. This week, an old friend of his on the circuit courts…”

  “Judge Fulmont?” she questioned, sitting straighter.

  “Why, yes. How did you know?”

  “He used to come out and summer with us from time to time,” Kitty told him with a smile. “He was like a grandfather to Eve and me. He quite reminded me of St. Nicholas.”

  “That explains it, then,” Jensen nodded. “Fulmont came to me about a week ago, saying he had a message from your father while he was away on business. Note said he needed a favor, a big one, and hoped Fulmont might be able to help. I explained to him that it was in regard to you, and he has agreed to take on the duty still, if it involved one of his girls.”

  “Then he’ll do it?”

  “He said he wanted the answer to one question before he would proceed.” Jensen shifted uncomfortably. “He wanted to know if the grounds, that is, adultery on your behalf, were valid.”

  “I can make them so, if he requires them to be.”

  For the first time all afternoon, the lawyer sat back and chuckled. “Madam, you are your father’s daughter, are you not?”

  “Indeed, I am.” She laughed lightly in agreement, absorbing the warmth that came with a comparison to Lelan Preston. “I know Judge Fulmont would not accept money for this. He and my father respected one another too much. But please tell him that while that is not the case, I am asking him simply to allow me my freedom. Please.”

  “I will see to it, madam, this very afternoon,” he told her. “All that is wanted for the proceedings to be complete is his signature. Another day or so will see the finalization complete.”

  Just the thought made her head swim.

  “Thank you, Mr. Jensen. I am so thankful that I have you to count on,” she gushed just a bit, since men seemed to appreciate a helpless female every now and then.

  “Thank you, madam.” They both drank their coffee for a moment in silence before Jensen settled his cup back in the saucer. “There is one other thing that I would like to add, if I might be so bold. I did not want to share it earlier while Mr. Hayes was in the room but…”

  “What is it, Mr. Jensen?”

  “Given Lord Haddington’s rather marked attentions to you…” Jensen cleared his throat, adjusting his spectacles once again uncomfortably. “I don’t mean to suggest anything untoward, of course, but if I might offer this? If you should choose to wed again in the future, there was a codicil made, after your sister’s recent marriage, with your father’s instructions regarding such an event.”

  “There was?” Kitty’s brow furrowed. “What does it say?”

  “That you or your sister may deem your spouse—or future spouse, as the case may be—fit to be an equal claimant of your inheritance,” he explained. “The condition being that your decision must be made without duress or coercion and contracted as such before witnesses.”

  “Meaning Lord Glenrothes might share in Eve’s fortune, should she so choose?”

  “Yes, or Lord Had– rather, you might allow a future husband that right as well.” He flushed from his bold assumption. “It does not change the instructions regarding your current husband however.”

  Kitty’s head spun. There was, of course, no chance she would agree to let Freddie have control over her life or funds without coercion, even if she wanted, but if Jack knew? A picture dashed through her mind of Haddington on bent knee, proposing to her. Her heart clenched in pleasure at the thought of becoming his wife. Surely if he knew…

  But wait, her heart cried. She didn’t want him marrying her for her money. She wanted him to marry her because he loved her as she loved him, because he couldn’t imagine spending the rest of his life without her. That wasn’t going to happen, she was certain. Kitty decided to keep this bit of information from Jack for now. If anything were going to happen between them, it wouldn’t be because of her bank account.

  “Thank you, Mr. Jensen,” Kitty offered at length. “I will be sure to let Eve know, should she choose to speak with you on that subject.”

  The lawyer cleared his throat once more. “You mentioned earlier there was another matter you wanted to speak about?”

  “Well, Mr. Jensen, that issue might be a bit more complicated.”

  * * *

  Jack stretched out his long frame in the small chair provided in the reception area of the lawyer’s office. Though the offices were well and richly appointed, the furnishings gave nothing in the way of comfort, despite their lush appearance. Crossing his legs at the ankle before him, he folded his hands behind his head and steadily regarded the man seated across from him.

  This was Kitty’s husband, Frederick Hayes. Not really what he expected. The picture he had developed in his mind had been of a rotund, butcher type with beady eyes and ham-like fists. Hayes was surprisingly tall, if somewhat slender of build, with fair coloring and even features most women would probably describe as angelic. Most who meet him probably assumed he wouldn’t hurt a fly. Nothing about him proclaimed him a violent offender.

  But there were minute signs of his abuse of alcohol in his puffy face, the tired bags under his eyes and veins on the nose. His bloodshot eyes might not have been beady, but they had a bit of fervency about them that bespoke a rash nature. He was probably impulsive about everything he did, which might explain his bad track record with his investments and business practices.

  Haddington continued
to stare at the man, putting just enough ridicule in his look to provoke. This was his point, after all. He longed for an excuse, any reason, to beat this man into a pulp for each time those fists had touched Kitty. Remembering her tearful confessions to him, his hands clenched involuntarily with the urge to provide vengeance for all this man had dealt. If the chap didn’t give him one soon, he was going to make the opportunity himself.

  His prolonged appraisal seemed to have finally worn on the man. “What are you looking at?”

  It had taken almost twenty minutes to needle Hayes into speaking. A measure of self-control from a man who seemed to have very little. Surprising.

  Jack took his time answering, assessing him up and down slowly with calculated arrogance, simply to aggravate the man even more. “Ye’re Kitty’s husband?” He deepened his brogue purposefully.

  “Yes? And who are you again?” he sneered, like a bully in the schoolyard ready to fight.

  “Haddington. I believe I mentioned that previously,” Jack drawled unrevealingly, with studied nonchalance.

  “I know that. Who are you to my wife?” Hayes’ manner was aggressive. His possessive tone when saying ‘my wife’ bordered on the maniacal to Jack’s mind.

  “A friend,” he answered, goading the man along. “A verra good friend.” Hayes growled audibly, rousing a satisfied smirk from Jack. “I hear dinnae like yer wife to have good friends, aye?”

  “She is my wife!” Hayes spat out, his face now crimson in his barely suppressed anger. “It is her duty to focus her attentions on me alone.”

  “Quite a conceited view of the world, my good man.” Jack studied his nails for a moment as if he were bored with the conversation. “Just because a man flirts with a woman, even if she flirts with him in return, it dinnae necessarily mean anything…most of the time. Why couldn’t ye ever let it go? Och, but woman like Kitty requires a bit more challenge from the world to be happy, aye?”

  “She was very happy,” Hayes protested. “We were happy together!”