Distant Dreams by Tracie Peterson, Judith Pella Page A

complete, it is time you start a family and take up the banking business.”
    James rolled his eyes.
    “Don’t be disrespectful of your mother, boy!” growled Leland.
    “I’m sorry.” James seemed contrite enough. “But I’ve hardly been ‘flitting around the country.’ A few trips—”
    “Every holiday from school you are off somewhere,” countered Edith. “Your father has had precious little time to teach you the business. And as far as courtship goes—well, many of the families in the area hardly even know we have an eligible son. Sometimes I think there ought to be coming-out parties for young men as well as girls.”
    “How positively ridiculous,” said Leland.
    “Well . . . what else can we do?”
    “And that’s what this dinner party is all about?” James asked warily.
    “I have invited a handful of the best families, all of whom have perfectly delightful daughters of the marrying age. You may have your pick. See, I am willing to be flexible in this matter.”
    “Do we need to discuss this now?” asked James. “The dust is still clinging to my traveling cloak.”
    “No time like the present,” said Leland, moderating his impatience. He was no less anxious than his wife to have James settled and married, preferably to a wealthy debutante. It was a closely guarded secret—even James was unaware of it—but the Baldwin personal financial situation was even more precarious than the bank’s. For years Leland had been living way beyond his means, and it was now beginning to catch up to him. “Tell James about these families, wife.”
    “There is the Milford girl, Kate,” said Edith, a hint of triumph in her eyes. “She’s seventeen and quite accomplished. True, her waist is a bit thick, but that could be remedied with a better corset. The family’s fortune easily makes one forget her minor imperfections. Next is Sarah Armstrong. She lacks a bit in refinement because the family money is rather new, but again there is enough of it so as to cause other considerations to dim.” Edith counted the young women off on her hand as she spoke. She was clearly in her element. “The secretary of the treasury has a charming ward, his niece, or is it cousin? I forget and it doesn’t matter. The girl is absolutely lovely and has the social standing and financial security to make a good wife. And lastly, but certainly far from being least worthy, is Virginia Adams of Oakbridge. Her credentials are impeccable, and though I mention her last, she is my first choice. As you well know, the family is old and well established, the fortune is old and sizable, and in spite of the distant ties to the presidential Adams, they are in quite tight with the present administration. The fact that they were close friends and neighbors before we moved to the capital makes them that much more appealing.”
    “My, my, Mother,” James said in sarcastic wonder. His father threw him a cautionary glance, but James continued anyway. “Have you picked us a house, as well, and named our children?”
    Leland wasn’t surprised when his wife went on, undaunted. “Dear James, do be sensible. A good wife is an important asset.”
    “You’ve been around banking too much,” said James.
    “Would you rather make a poor choice you would regret the rest of your days?”
    “I’m not looking for a wife at all right now,” said James. “And I have no desire to settle down.”
    “You will have to settle down in order to properly run the bank,” said Edith.
    “I don’t plan on running the bank,” James said in an even, barely controlled tone.
    Leland scowled. This wasn’t the first time he’d heard this. James had been scoffing at the banking business for years. Yet it was the first time Leland heard it declared with such assertive resolve.
    “Don’t talk nonsense, young man,” said Leland. “What other means of support do you have? You wasted your college on ridiculous courses in science and history.”
    “Because I have