The Abortionist’s Daughter

In 1910, Dr. Horace Daniels is sent to prison for accidentally killing a woman during a procedure.  Six years later, the family are outcasts in their small Adirondack town. 

Melanie Daniels faces the prospct of being an “old maid”. When she meets James, a handsome stranger, she elopes with him to New York City.  Melanie is faced with a web of intrigue and lies.  Including lying to get herself into a Broadway show, an act that has far-reaching consequences.

James took a step closer to her, bent slightly, and kissed her on the lips. Melanie froze in confusion. She knew what she was supposed to do—­slap his face and call him names—but that wasn’t what she wanted to do. Not at all.

“How was that?” he asked, dropping his voice. He looked into her eyes.

“Are you making love to me?”

“Yes.”

“I liked it,” she replied, tilting her face up for more, thrilled with her own daring.

 “I’m glad,” he murmured.  He kissed her again, his lips soft, his mouth tasting of a hint of split pea soup. He put his nose in the hair just behind her left ear and took a deep breath.  The feeling of the tip of his nose on her skin was electric.  It had been so long—years—since she had felt a man’s touch.  And that had been back at school, before the trial, a few chastely clumsy kisses in cloakrooms and in stuffy parlors. 

“You smell so good,” he said, and kissed her again.  “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”  He lifted a finger and gently slid it from her chin to the top of her collar.  Melanie quivered.  She was afraid to make a move on her own. She = was awash with pleasure such as she had never known. She knew what she was supposed to do.  Melt against him (that was the alternative to slapping his face), but she couldn’t.  Her hands hung uselessly at her sides.

“James, you shouldn’t be doing this,” she whispered.

“I know.  I can’t help myself.”  He kissed her again, a long, slow, lingering kiss.

“Please—please stop.”  Her words came out a little gasp.  She didn’t want him to stop. 

James took a step back, smiling, holding her arms.  “You are a peach of a girl, Miss Daniels.”

“Thank you.”  Melanie averted her face.  “I don’t know what you must think of me.”  Oh, she wanted him to kiss her again!  And again and again.

His left hand ran up and down her upper arm.  She felt as if little shivers of desire were following along with it.  “I think very highly of you.  That’s why I kissed you.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I’d like to see you again, Miss Daniels.  Soon.”  His hand closed around her upper arm.

It was an outrageous request.  He had taken liberties with her.  “I’d like that.”