An Engagement: A New Pioneers Short Story

An Engagement: A New
Pioneers Short Story

Book 2.5 of The New
Pioneers

by Deborah
Nam-Krane

Smashwords edition | ©
2014

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SPOILER
ALERT

CAST OF
CHARACTERS

DEDICATION

THE ENGAGEMENT OF ANNABELLE
HENDRICKSON AND STEPHEN ABBOT

ABOUT THE
AUTHOR

This is Book 2.5 of The New
Pioneers series. This story takes place in 1980, before the main
characters of The New Pioneers were born, but the events in this
short story will reverberate into the third full
installment,
The China Doll,
when Jessie, the youngest of my characters, comes
into adulthood.

Please don't read this
until you've read Book Two,
The Family You
Choose
. Otherwise, be spoiled at your own
peril!

Annabelle
Hendrickson
—Socialite daughter of Gerald Hendrickson and sister
of Jim Hendrickon

Stephen Abbot
—Son of Michael
Abbot, beloved of Annabelle and Alex's best friend

Michael Abbot
—Stephen would
never tell anyone why he loathed his father, but Annabelle knew
enough

Gerald Hendrickson
—Jim and
Annabelle's financier father. The heart of shrewd, he knew, was
patience

Jim Hendrickson
—Gerald's
son, Annabelle's father and too damned decent for most of
them

Tom Bartolome
—Lucy's brother
and John's son. At least Michael Abbot had the decency to hide his
sins…

Lucy Bartolome
—Tom's sister,
John's daughter and perched on a pedestal too high for Jim to
reach

John Bartolome
—The son of a
Boston Leighton and a Louisiana Bartolome

Alex Sheldon
—Annabelle
doesn't trust her father's employee—and Stephen's best friend—any
further than she can throw him

For Dani and Erin, my
partners-in-crime

Annabelle Hendrickson ran down the
stairs. Her father Gerald smiled and leaned back in his chair.
"Yes?"

She saw Jim’s breakfast dish and
empty juice glass. She sighed as she sat down. "I missed Jim again,
didn’t I?"

Gerald sipped his coffee. "I’m
afraid he doesn’t keep the same hours you do."

Annabelle cleared her throat.
"Sorry, I tried not to make too much noise getting in."

"Well, of course, it wasn’t just
you."

Annabelle placed a piece of toast
on her plate and reached for the jam. "Aren’t you glad Stephen
didn’t let me walk home by myself?"

"What kept you out so
late?"

Annabelle took great care spreading
her toast. "We had dinner and then a movie."

"Where did you eat?" She hid her
smile as she bit into her toast. He wasn’t going to make her lie
about the movie.

"That little Italian place on
Beacon Street."

"Excellent choice. I’m sure you
picked it."

Annabelle put down her toast. "I
picked Stephen too."

The smile was replaced by the calm,
measured expression he wore so often. "I won’t stop you, but you’re
not stupid. He has trouble controlling his drinking now and he’s
only twenty-five. What do you think he’ll be like when he’s
thirty?"

It depends on whether his father
is still alive
, Annabelle thought. "How would you know how much
Stephen drinks? Are you paying bartenders now to keep tabs on
people?"

"Word gets around if you’re not
discreet."

Annabelle clenched her juice. "Dad,
how many times do I have to tell you? Don’t listen to anything Alex
Sheldon"
—
she practically spat the name
out
—
"says. Everything he does is for his own
gain. Why you hired him I will never understand."

"He has the potential to be a
successful investor, and so far I’ve been impressed with his work.
He’ll go far. Of course, I’m not the only one who thinks highly of
him."

Sometimes Gerald was cruel.
"Stephen’s too kind to push Alex away because they’ve known each
other so long."

"Really? Because I thought he was a
good complement for your young man. I’ve never seen him be anything
but upstanding in public, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him
drunk."

"Stephen doesn’t want to admit that
Alex uses him. Since when are you blind?"

"Sometimes, my dear, you have to
find ways for people to be useful."

Annabelle sat back. "What use could
you have for Alex?"

Gerald picked up his coffee. "One
never knows."

~~~

Annabelle met Stephen later that
day for lunch at the Ritz. After they ordered, Stephen leaned
in.

"Stop teasing me," she whispered
involuntarily.

"Now why would I tease
you?"

"Because I said lunch and not
dinner."

"Did you get in trouble when you
got home?"

"Just a slap on the wrist this
morning."

"Does that mean that you haven’t
told him yet?" He sipped his drink.

She shook her head, unable to stop
looking at him. "I wanted to tell Jim first."

Another sip. "Good plan. Jim
doesn’t hate me."

"He doesn’t hate you
—
"

"He just doesn’t think I’m good
enough for you."

"Most men aren’t thrilled with
their daughter’s boyfriends."

"Is that all I am?"

She smiled. "Well, most fathers
aren’t crazy about their daughters’ fiancées either."

"Really? I’m pretty sure John
Bartolome would be ecstatic if Lucy picked one from her many, um,
suitors."

She frowned. "I can’t stand that
woman."

"Well, she’s not your
type
—
"

"I have no idea why she thinks Jim
isn’t good enough for her, but I’m glad."

"Shame your father doesn’t feel the
same way."

"Poor Jimmy," she sighed. Her
brother had pined over haughty Lucy Bartolome for the last two
years. She was pretty sure he’d get over it if their father would
leave him alone.

"He’ll come around as soon as Lucy
marries someone else."

"Then let’s hope she picks a
suitable victim quickly." She tilted her head. "Why don’t we fix
her up with Alex?"

"Ha ha ha," Stephen said, squeezing
her knee. "Trying to kill two birds with one stone?"

"Do you think they’d kill each
other? I hadn’t thought of that."

"Sorry, Belle. If Lucy doesn’t
think Jim’s good enough, she won’t think Alex is. And he’s not
ready to settle down yet."

Alex made it a habit of being seen
with a different beautiful woman every week. She made a face
thinking about him appearing in the "Society" section of the
tabloids. Why had her father hired him?

"No accounting for taste," she
murmured as their food came.

~~~

They took a walk through the Public
Garden after lunch. "So where are we going to live?" he said as he
took her hand.

"You have a perfectly nice
house."

He tightened his grasp around her
hand. "Are you joking? It’s my father’s house."

"I’m not afraid of your
father."

"Then you’re a fool."

No
, she thought,
I’m just
not a teenager
. "Fine, we’ll live with my father."

"Perfect, because your father
doesn’t want me around you. Why don’t we get our own
house?"

"What kind of a house could we
afford?"

Stephen sighed. "Couldn’t we ask
Jim for a loan?"

"And pay him back with
what?"

"I’m not entirely destitute. I do
have my income, and Alex has been nudging me to make some changes
to my investments
—
"

"Do not listen to one word that man
has to say about money."

"Anna, it’s his job."

She put up her hands. "Why don’t we
go on a long honeymoon and wait for your father to die?"

He laughed, then she laughed. He
brought her hand to his lips. "This is why I love you."

She stroked his cheek. "And here I
thought it was because you thought I looked like Jackie
O."

"Added bonus."

She came closer to him and kissed
him. "Stephen, you worry too much. It’s going to be alright, I
promise."

He wasn’t smiling now, and
Annabelle’s heart tightened in her chest as she saw the sadness in
his eyes. It was always there, even when he was smiling.

He kissed the top of her forehead.
"It already is," he whispered.

~~~

Gerald liked to give the impression
that he arrived late and left early, but the truth was that he
usually stayed at his firm until six o’clock. Jim, on the other
hand, got into his office early and left on time. Annabelle always
had thirty minutes alone with him before their father came
home.

She jumped out of her seat when Jim
came through the door, took his coat and handed him a drink before
he could say anything.

He grinned over his glasses. "Hello
to you, too."

"Um, how was work?"

"Stop, start. Hurry up and wait.
The usual. What’s going on?"

"Stephen asked me to marry
him."

Jim put down his drink and hugged
her. "Congratulations! And let me guess, you want me to break it to
Dad?"

She pulled away and shook her head.
"Of course not. I’m a grown woman. Which is exactly what I’m going
to tell him."

"I don’t think that’s going to be
his problem."

"Oh, Jimmy, do you really think
it’s going to be a problem? I don’t want Daddy to pull one of his
little aces out."

"Anna, it’s 1980. What could he
do?"

"Cut me out of his will, and then
Stephen would be dependent on his father even after he’s
dead."

"I won’t let that
happen."

"You’re taller than Daddy, but I’m
afraid that’s all you have going for you in a fight with
him."

"If he did something pig-headed
like that, I’d make sure you and Stephen were taken care of and you
know it."

Annabelle hugged her brother again.
He was kind like their late mother and intelligent like their
father, but she had no idea where his decency came from. "How come
I’m the only woman in Boston who knows how wonderful you
are?"

Jim groaned. "Don’t you start in on
me too!"

Annabelle stepped back. "Did Daddy
say something to you today?"

He nodded. "He hasn’t given up on
Lucy."

"Don’t listen to him. She’s
cold-blooded."

"She’s doing a lot of fundraising
for her alma mater."