Forever and Always by Leigh Greenwood Read Free Book Online Page B

know.”
    Sibyl sighed with relief when she closed the door behind Laurie. She loved her cousins, was thankful for the support of other relatives, but she needed quiet and to be alone. Her life had taken a dramatic turn, one she was unprepared for regardless of the years she’d spent dreaming about it. This wasn’t about the bank or even about Kitty. It was about herself. She was twenty-three years old, yet she’d never lived by herself or been allowed to make her own decisions. No one had asked her opinion or encouraged her to have one. She’d spent years trying not to think, not to have opinions or ideas because it made life easier. Every time she’d become so frustrated and angry she was tempted to rebel, she thought of the effect it would have on Kitty and swallowed her resentment.
    That had changed when Norman decided to send Kitty away to school. She had been prepared to fight for her daughter’s future. Now she had one question that needed an answer.
    What did she want to do about her own future?
    * * *
    Sibyl caught herself wishing Naomi had chosen this evening to pay her a visit, but she knew she had to handle this by herself. If she was ever going to stand on her own two feet, she had to begin with her parents. Her father was striding about the parlor like he owned it while her mother studied the furnishings with envy. Sibyl thought she just might tell her mother to take her pick. It would give her an excuse to buy furniture of her own choosing.
    â€œYou know you can’t run the bank,” her father was saying. “You must turn it over to me. If I can’t find the time to manage it, I’ll sell it for you.”
    Sibyl thought she must have loved her father at some point in her life. Surely a young girl would love the man who protected her, made her feel safe and loved. Only he’d never made her feel loved and not even particularly safe. He was unhappy that she was his only child. He was even unhappier she was a girl. She couldn’t recall that he’d ever put his feelings into words. Looks she caught before he turned away, things not said or shared, times she was ignored or considered deficient of understanding, being left entirely in female company—all of these spoke to his belief that she was a disappointment to him. She could probably have accepted all of that because that was the way most men thought of women.
    But all of that changed when he killed the man she loved and forced her to marry one she didn’t.
    â€œYou wouldn’t want to be thought the forward kind of woman who would go into business,” her mother was saying. “It’s very unladylike.”
    Her mother conveniently glossed over the fact that her cousin Mae Oliver owned a millinery shop, Polly Drummond ran a bakery, and Amber Johnson worked in the mercantile. But making hats, baking bread, and selling household goods were considered suitable work for women. Setting herself up as the head of a bank—a job that would put her in competition with men—was something else entirely.
    â€œNaturally I’ll handle all your financial matters,” her father said. “Norman didn’t take me into his confidence on all his dealings, but as his lawyer, I have a good understanding of his holdings. You’re a wealthy woman. You don’t have to worry about anything.”
    â€œI don’t want to be left out of all the decisions,” Sibyl said.
    â€œYou owe a debt of gratitude to your father,” her mother said.
    â€œWhy?” Sibyl asked.
    â€œNorman’s will,” her mother said. “As bad as it is, it would have been worse without your father’s influence.”
    â€œHow do you mean?” Sibyl asked her father.
    â€œNaturally Norman didn’t believe he could leave you to handle any of his business interests. After Noah died, he planned to tie everything up in a trust to be handled by a distant cousin. I managed to convince