O'hara's Choice - Leon Uris [63]
Horace arose, anguished, unable to speak further.
“Upton has always known how desperately you want the Chesapeake monopoly.”
“As long as Constable holds a fifty-year option, they are in a position to drive too hard a bargain,” he mumbled, then threw up his hands. “What the hell does all this have to do with the Constitution Ball at the Potomac Mansion House?”
“What if Glen Constable were on my arm?”
“Glen Constable! Hugh Constable’s boy?”
Amanda nodded.
“That is disgusting! Glen Constable is a womanizer who has gone through a vile public divorce. He is more than twice your age and has a daughter who could be your sister. How would you enter the Mansion House—in a scarlet gown?”
“He is a charming fellow who finally got free of a drowning marriage.”
“And what about his reputation with doxies?”
“That seems to be rather standard tradition for most marriages.”
“I am about to strike you!”
“You are being your bully best, Father. However, Glen’s reputation will be quite enhanced if he can win me,” she answered.
“You think I’ll ever kowtow—,” he said.
“I think you are going to batten down the hatches, trim off the emotional fat, and come to the conclusion worthy of a man of your stature.”
Horace pouted a moment, wanted to laugh, wanted to cry. He’d never been worked over like this, not even by presidents!
At the core it made brilliant common sense. Let’s see, Glen Constable was in his early forties, an extremely good-looking, congenial chap. He was next in line in the Constable hierarchy and he had always been a sharp executive, certainly better than the grungy lot in the Kerr clan.
In truth, Amanda and Glen Constable would make a stunning couple, tall and elegant and blond, like Scottish lairds. What a message they would deliver. THE CHESAPEAKE BAY, ONE AND ALL, BELONGS TO KERR! THE PERFECT MONOPOLY.
A piece of personnel like Glen Constable married to Amanda could end Horace’s generation-long nightmare of succession.
They would be a Maryland family! Headquartered at Dutchman’s Hook. Inverness! Maryland had never gotten its full share. It was Massachusetts and Virginia always hogging the glory.
“Well,” Horace said, “we are all grown up now, aren’t we? What about that Marine?”
“He’s going on a long cruise of sea duty.”
“Out of our lives?”
“I’m trying, Father.”
“I trust there won’t be a bad aftertaste, like gossip that could cause you embarrassment.”
“Not unless it’s precipitated by an immaculate conception.”
“And you’re certain you’d be able to keep Glen Constable on a short leash?”
“He craves my youth and he’d die for the prize. Father, look at me. His days with doxies would be done and he knows it.”
This wonderment of a woman emerging before him made him close to teary.
“The Marine boy. How much does this hurt?”
“Enough.”
“Tell me, my precious girl, did Zachary O’Hara reject you before you put this long-simmering plan B of yours into play?”
“You’ll never know,” Amanda said.
“Well, you have learned the first lesson of a queen. Never fall in love with a commoner.”
• 20 •
BEAUTIFUL DREAMER
1891—the Marine Barracks—Washington
Beautiful dreamer
Wake unto me
Starlight and dewdrops
Are waiting for thee.
‘Tis said, with no prejudice, that if Corporal Daniel O’Moran had not chosen the Corps, he would have starred in every vaudeville house in the country and more than likely ended up on the concert stage.
O’Moran pressed his right hand firmly against his belly and swept the air with his left as his vibrant tenor and longing lyrics filled the chapel.
Beautiful dreamer
Queen of my song
List while I woo thee
With soft melody.
Corporal Zachary O’Hara, now wearing the red stripe down his trouser legs in memory of the blood of noncommissioned officers shed in the Mexican War, steadied his pal, Sergeant Varnik, whose new golden epaulets trembled.
The congregation arose as Beth Shaughnessy, on the arm of Captain Tobias Storm, marched down the aisle.
Varnik took up most of the kneeling pad at the altar and Beth very little of it while the steam between them hissed like overworked