Free Sins of the Fathers by Susan Howatch

get it. Vicky, Alicia’s little pipe-dream is her problem. But it’s not yours.’
    A faint tinge of colour was returning slowly to her cheeks. ‘I’d still like to get away from home for a while … Uncle Sam,
     would you take me to Europe?’
    ‘Europe!
Me
? What a great idea! However I doubt if your father would approve of me taking more time out from the office when I’ve been
     away so recently. Look, why don’t you go down to Florida for a while and stay with your mother? Your mother’s in town right
     now, as a matter of fact – I was talking to her earlier this evening and I was impressed by how concerned she is for your
     happiness—’
    ‘That old hag? Concerned about me? You’ve got to be kidding! She’s concerned about nothing except how to hold on to her latest
     lover! Why, I’d rather take a vacation on the Bowery than in Fort Lauderdale with my mother!’
    My housekeeper tapped on the door and looked in. ‘Excuse me, Mr Keller, but Mr and Mrs Van Zale are on their way up.’
    ‘No!’ shrieked Vicky.
    ‘God help us all,’ I said in German.
    The doorbell rang in the hall.
    [2]
    ‘I can’t face them!’ sobbed Vicky. ‘I can’t!’
    I gripped her shoulders and gave her a short sharp shake. ‘Calm down at once, please. That’s better. Okay, I’ll talk to your
     father in the living-room but I want you to stay right here in the den. Can I trust you to stay here and not run away? I’d
     hate to have to lock you in.’
    She said in a small voice: ‘I’ll stay.’
    ‘Good. Now just remember this: fantastic though it may seem to you, all your father wants is your happiness. And remember
     this too: no one can force you into marriage. All you’ve got to do is say no – or at the very worst keep your mouth shut when
     you’re expected to say “I do.”’
    ‘Yes, Uncle Sam,’ she whispered. Her great grey eyes, shining with unshed tears, regarded me as devoutly as a true believer
     might gaze on a minister declaiming the word of God from the pulpit, and for a briefmoment I thought again of all the children I had never had in the split-level home which had never existed on the outskirts
     of Bar Harbor.
    ‘Right,’ I said abruptly, giving her hand a quick squeeze. ‘Now just you keep your promise and stay here. No eavesdropping.’
     Turning up the volume of the music, I escaped into the hall and opened the front door just as Cornelius rang the bell a second
     time.
    They were standing side by side in the corridor, Cornelius looking pale and exhausted, Alicia looking pale and bored. I knew
     Alicia well enough to guess that the bored expression was an affectation masking other more disturbing emotions, and I knew
     Cornelius well enough to realize his exhaustion was no affectation. He was wearing the black suit he had worn at the office,
     a plain indication of his domestic chaos since he always changed into casual clothes as soon as he arrived home. Alicia was
     faultless in mink and diamonds.
    ‘She’s here, isn’t she?’ said Cornelius. ‘One of my security guards saw her climb out of the window, and rather than restrain
     her by force he followed her here before reporting back to me.’
    ‘Come in.’
    I led them into the living-room. They looked around expectantly.
    ‘She’s in the den listening to Glenn Miller,’ I said. ‘Neil, Vicky seems very sure she wants to get away from Fifth Avenue
     for a while, and I’m becoming increasingly convinced that she’s right. I think the best thing she can possibly do at this
     point is to take a long vacation so that the dust from this explosion has time to settle. Do you think your sister could help?
     If Emily were to invite Vicky to Velletria—’
    ‘I think it’s time Vicky stopped running away,’ said Alicia in her most expressionless voice. She was straightening the seam
     of her glove and not looking at me. ‘Anyway she detests the mid-west and Emily’s girls drive her crazy.’
    I had a brainwave and remembered