“You.” Inez’s heart pounded as if it would come right through the metal and satin stays. “You are Mr. Brown.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“You are the one who abandoned them in Leadville. Antonia told me the story. Although she never met you face to face, she knew you visited her mother. You sent them away from Denver to a hotel in Leadville, with promises to take care of them and to support them. You promised Antonia’s mother you would follow directly. But you didn’t.” She advanced toward him.
He didn’t move, leaving them standing far closer than Inez preferred. They were nearly eye to eye, of equal height. She continued, “Instead, the monies stopped, and they were cast out into the street to make do however they could. You abandoned them.”
“That isn’t true,” he said finally. “It is a long story. One that took time to unravel once I arrived in Leadville. I did send them funds. Every month. The funds were diverted at the hotel desk.” A cold shadow crossed his face. “The desk clerk thought to enrich himself at Drina and Antonia’s expense. He lost much more than coinage as a result.”
Suppressing a shudder, Inez decided she would not pursue that particular line of questioning. “You told them you would join them soon. Half a year later, they were still waiting. Drina believed up to the end that you would come save them from the horror their lives had become. She never lost faith in you.”
De Bruijn looked away. “I was detained. I explained it all in letters, which, along with the funds, never reached them. I came to Leadville shortly after you left. In fact, it could be we crossed paths at the train station—you leaving, me arriving.”
With apparent effort, he dragged his gaze back to Inez, facing her suspicions, her open disdain. “It took me a long time to uncover what had happened to Drina and to determine Antonia was not in town. Although I eventually learned of your connection to the Gizzis, I did not know Antonia left with you. When I learned you were here, I hoped you might have information about Antonia. I did not dream she would be here as well. In any case, nothing excuses the fact that I promised but failed to protect and take care of Drina and Antonia. My failure led, in part, to Drina’s death. There is nothing I can do now, except fulfill the promise to the daughter that I made to her mother.”
Inez gave out a sharp laugh of surprise. “This is all very touching, but Antonia does not need your protection or your money or your…anything. She is my ward and my responsibility, a responsibility I take very seriously.” Granted, I am not doing the best of jobs right now, given I have no idea where she is and it is after dark. Inez covered her flash of worry with indignation. “In fact, Mr. de Bruijn, I can assure you that any attempt to insert yourself into her life, or should I say our lives, would be most unwelcome.”
“That,” said de Bruijn, “is for Antonia to decide.”
“Antonia doesn’t know you from Adam. Her mother shielded her completely from any details about you. She thinks your surname is ‘Brown’ and your initials are WRB. We only know that because the letters are engraved on what I believe is your pistol.”
He blinked, a hairline crack in the veneer of his composure. “You have the revolver I gave them for protection?”
The door squeaked open. The two of them turned to find Antonia standing in the doorway, her boots and skirts a wrinkled muddy mess, her coat half-buttoned, her bonnet hanging from its strings down her back. She looked defiant, tired, and scared, all at once.
She hesitated, looking from one to the other. “Uh, Mrs. Stannert, should I go upstairs? Wait for you there?” There was trepidation in her tone.
De Bruijn started toward her. “Antonia!”
Small lines of puzzlement pulled her eyebrows together. “Who’re you?”
Damn it.
Inez seized de Bruijn’s sleeve to halt his progress. “Wait here and keep your distance,” she said under her breath. She approached Antonia, put an arm around her shoulders, and guided her forward to stand before de Bruijn.
Inez said, “We have much we need to discuss, Antonia, you and I. I’m certain you know what I mean. But first, there is this. In life, sometimes events pile up all at once and we must learn to deal with them as best we can.” She took a deep breath and said, “Antonia, this is Mr. Brown.”
The small, thin shoulder tightened under her hand.
She added, just to make it clear, “Your mother’s Mr. Brown. WRB.”
Antonia’s knife was out in a heartbeat. She lunged for de Bruijn, slashing wildly. Inez, alerted by Antonia’s tensing muscles, gripped her tightly, one arm wrapped around the girl’s chest and the other around her waist.
“You! You’re Worthless Rotten Brown!” Antonia screamed, struggling. “Why are you here? Go away! Go away before I kill you, you rotten bastard!”
“Antonia, stop!” Inez shouted. She shot an I-told-you-so look at de Bruijn as she restrained the writhing girl.
He had recoiled in concert with Antonia’s lunge, his cane raised in defense.
Inez said, “Mr. de Bruijn, I think it best if you leave. Please shut the door behind you.”
He didn’t argue. Instead, he addressed Antonia. “Antonia Gizzi, I understand. And I am sorry. I hope later you will allow me to explain to you what happened. Perhaps you will forgive me, in time.”
Antonia spat. The glob of saliva landed on one polished boot cap.
Giving Inez and her ward a wide berth, de Bruijn crossed the floor and let himself out. The bell stayed dumb.
Chapter Twenty
It had not been a good night for Inez.
First, there
