Oh, how I wish some other cab had come along that first night and I’d never laid eyes on Penelope Haldeman OR her rich father!
“Well?” Richard prompted. “What are you going to do? He’s liable to come storming out that door any second,” he tossed a thumb back toward the small house in which he had opened his business.
Panic exploded inside Dwight like a black powder bomb. Wide-eyed, he fixed his alarmed brown eyes on the older man. “What should I do, Mr. Harrington? If that girl is with child, it’s not mine. She’s trying to pin it on me. Maybe the father is someone Mr. Haldeman barred her from seeing… But I swear it isn’t me!” He swallowed dryly, but did not let his gaze waver as he looked the man straight in the eye.
His employer stood scrutinizing him, eye to eye, for several moments before finally turning his head and letting out a frustrated huff. “I believe you, DJ. I’ve seen girls like her before, completely caught up in their own wants and willing to do anything to get their way. I don’t envy her father, believe me.”
Dwight snorted at that. “He’s the one who made her that way!”
“Yeah, well, that’s beside the point. Look…my best advice is to go in there and tell it to him straight. Look him right in the eye and don’t back down. One thing on your side—a doctor can confirm whether she’s in the family way or not. If she’s not, that will lean toward the truth being on your side. If she is…maybe the doctor can get her to confess who it is. My guess is that she’s not and she’s thinking this little ploy will get her what she wants—you.”
Eyes wary, Dwight continued to hold his boss’s firm stare. He weighed his options, which were…run, or go in there and confront the bear. His father would have said running was the coward’s way, and that would also make him look guilty. He knew Dwight Senior would have told him to march right in there and lay the truth out to the man.
“I’ll back you up,” Richard offered, and Dwight again ran his hand back through his hair, huffed out a resigned sigh, and stuffed his bowler back on his head before giving his boss a crisp nod.
“All right. Here goes nothing.”
“You are accusing my daughter of lying!” Mr. Haldeman roared, his round face ruddy with anger. More than a tad toward being overweight, the situation obviously had his heart thundering with emotion.
Although feeling extremely intimidated, Dwight nevertheless stood his ground. “I’m sorry Mr. Haldeman, but yes—if she has told you I’ve made improper advances toward her, and more than that, that I took her innocence and left her with my seed—then she’s lied to you, sir. I swear on my father’s grave that I’ve never touched your daughter, other than to offer my hand to help her out of my cab. That’s the honest truth, sir, so help me God.”
“Mr. Haldeman, I can vouch for my driver’s veracity,” Richard added, standing stalwart at Dwight’s side. “He’s worked for me for over a year and I’ve never had any complaints from anyone regarding his conduct. He’s an exemplary employee and I’ve never known him to even stretch the truth.”
Dwight stood with his hat in his hands. His stance was not exactly humble, however, as he exuded the confident air of a man who was telling the truth. He hoped the girl’s father couldn’t see he was actually shaking in his boots at the thought that this man could easily call the authorities and have him arrested for something that he did not do, but couldn’t prove otherwise.
“May I ask, sir…has a doctor examined your daughter?” Richard inquired.
Mr. Haldeman’s eyes flashed with anger as he reached into the inner breast pocket of his stylish suit for his handkerchief to wipe his face, but he answered truthfully.
“I called my personal physician. He’s with her now. I’ve instructed my butler to send a boy here with a message for me once Dr. Heathrow concludes his findings. I just,” he stopped for the first time in the conversation, seeming a bit doubtful. “I wanted to get a jump on things and force this young man to own up to his actions. You will, of course, marry my daughter if the answer is positive,” he added with a glare at Dwight.
“Then, I suppose there is nothing to do now, but wait.” Richard glanced at Dwight and then gestured for him to take the remaining seat in front of his desk as he headed around to his own chair.
Dwight settled himself down gingerly on the hard seat, looking straight ahead and purposely not at Penelope’s father as Richard settled into his chair and cleared his throat. The tension in the room was so thick it could have been cut with a butter knife. Lifting an ornate humidor and opening the lid, Richard angled it toward the older man. “Cigar, Mr. Haldeman?”
“No, thank you,” the man mumbled with a dismissing flick of his hand. “Never smoked. Vile habit.”
Richard returned the box to its place and leaned back, clasping his hands over his stomach.
After that, the only sounds heard in the room for the next fifteen minutes were the voices of people passing by outside on the street, the shout of vendors hawking their wares, the occasional jingle of harnesses and squeak of wagon wheels, juxtaposed against the ticking of the clock on the wall and occasional gruff exasperation of all three men breathing as they waited impatiently.
It was the longest fifteen minutes of Dwight’s life.
He sat there silently praying and begging God that the girl would not be with child and that this situation would all be resolved. He pleaded with God that He work out every detail and create the
