Regency Romance: An Intriguing Invitation (Historical Billionaire Military Romance) (19th Century Victorian Romance) by Sarah Thorn Read Free Book Online Page B

for your baby, like a crib and you’ll have to clean out one of those rooms in the back where Mark’s been keeping all of his junk.”
    “It’s amazing how much junk he has.” Margaret said. “I don’t know where he collects all those things.”
    “Probably from his track. Sometimes people don’t have the money to pay him. I’m kind of surprised that he even has anything left from the money he’s lost.”
    Margaret stopped walking and looked at her friend. “What do you mean?”
    “You don’t know?” Ellie’s eyes opened wide. “Margie! Mark has been gambling on every race ever run at that track since it opened up. Didn’t you know that?”
    Margaret felt a chill run through her. He had been gambling? Questions jumped to her mind and she felt the words tumbling from her mouth. “What money is he using to gamble? He’s been doing it for all this time and I didn’t know?”
    “He hasn’t mentioned it at all?” Ellie sounded shocked. “I thought you two were so close. You looked like you fell in love with him right away. He looked the same. Why wouldn’t he tell you?”
    Ellie frowned and then her face turned to one of anger. “So you don’t know that he has that stables mortgaged all the way, and that the bank is not wanting to give him any more money to cover it? He’s been running two or three races a week, haven’t you noticed? That’s way more than usual.”
    Margaret felt ashamed. She hadn’t been paying attention to the racetrack side of the business at all. She had fully engrossed herself in the care of the horses, from their health to their grooming. She never thought about the money. It had been her father’s job in Virginia to run the finances.
    Ellie noticed her friend’s change of mood and put her arm around her shoulders. “Margie, I don’t want to be the one to scare you this way. But you will have to do something about what’s going on if you plan to have a family with Mark.”
    “How recently did he lose a lot of money?”
    “Well, like I said, he keeps running races and betting on the horses so he can get the money to pay the bank loan. And some of the races he’s winning but some he’s losing. I know he’s good at finances but he’s not the best at picking horses.”
    “Oh no, this is so terrible.” A wave of sadness swept over her and she felt tears come to her eyes.
    Ellie shook her head and took Margaret’s small face in her hands. She looked directly at her and spoke in a firm tone. “Margie! This is no time to start acting like a little girl. I thought you knew about all of this and I actually admired how you were handling it. Now you have to show me how you really handle something like this. And you have your baby to think about, too. You have to pull yourself up and be the strong woman I’ve come to know over the past couple months!”
    Margaret still felt like crying. She did want to be strong, but the thought that the business would fail and she and Mark would be left penniless, without horses or a home, made her despair. She started to walk again, her mind racing. Ellie kept up with her and just down the block, steered Margaret into a small church with a beautiful white steeple that ended with a cross way up in the air.
    “We need to pray,” Ellie said.
    The church was so quiet and there were candles on either side of the podium on the stage, which was only a step up from the rest of the church. There was a bench at the front of the aisle, with a red velvet cloth draped over it and a beautifully carved wooden cross standing before it.
    Margaret was glad there were no crucifixes. She was not a fan of seeing her Lord and Savior in such a position. She preferred to think of him as he was after he was resurrected. She went with her friend to the podium and both of them knelt down at the same time.
    Ellie began to whisper a quiet prayer. Margaret kept quiet, listening to her friend’s prayer and realizing she didn’t have to say anything, Ellie was saying