Free By The Sea, Book Two: Amanda by Antoinette Stockenberg Page A

his
ham-sized hands. "I'm begging you, Geoff," he said plaintively.
"Don't make me have to pluck my own flesh and blood from a jail
cell."
    Geoff uttered a very compressed, very silent
oath and said, "All right, Mr. Fain. I'll fetch Amanda for you. But
please don't take the trouble to make out a time card for me at the
Ironworks. I won't be staying."
    "I like the way you put that, Geoff. You
slap a person back, but first you lay out a feather pillow for him
to fall on. We'll talk later. Let me see you to your car."
    Minutes later Geoff was driving east,
feeling like a shuttlecock in an ongoing match between Amanda and
her father. No doubt Jim Fain knew an easy mark when he saw one,
but Geoff had his own reason for going: simple curiosity. No one
seemed to know why, exactly, Amanda had been arrested. Geoff's own
guess was that she'd dabbled in some form of nonviolent protest,
but then again, one never knew. He'd have to drive there to see for
himself.
    He wasn't sure why he cared. Presumably it
had to do with his fascination with a family utterly different from
his own. Amanda was right: his upper lip was stiff, and so
was his brother's, his father's—even his mother's. He thought of
Mrs. Fain, whose upper lip trembled at the drop of a hat. He
thought of Jim Fain, who was as optimistic as Geoff's father was
bleak. And of David—thin, nervous, scheming—who had nothing in
common with Geoff's determined, far-sighted brother Henry. Then
there was Amanda, filled to the brim with untested ideals:
overeager, overbearing, overconfident, oversensitive Amanda.
    His polar opposite, Amanda.
    ****
    "What exactly were the charges,
sergeant?"
    The desk sergeant looked over the list.
"Resisting arrest, assaulting a uniformed officer, speeding,
parking in a restricted zone, disorderly conduct, driving without a
license, driving an unregistered vehicle, and being a pain in the
ass." He looked up. "Get her outta here."
    "I think that would be best," replied Geoff,
wincing. "I have a car."
    "Hers has been towed. Here's the name of the
garage." He handed Geoff a business card.
    Geoff turned to see Amanda, trailed by two
or three men from the press, being delivered to his care. She was
being bombarded with questions, which she ignored. When she saw
that it was Geoff waiting to receive her, she blushed to the roots
of her black bobbed hair.
    I should think you would, you little
reprobate, he mused as he folded a receipt for bail into his
pocket. The reporters surged around them both.
    "Is it true you were caught trying to blow
up your father's shipyard?"
    "Have you at any time signed an oath of
allegiance to the Communist Party?"
    "There are reports that you're living in
your studio with a married man. Do you care to comment?"
    "Is this the man?"
    "There are reports that you're living in
your studio with a married woman. Do you care to comment?"
    Geoff was being pushed and poked and
photographed along with Amanda. Eyes smarting from the acrid smoke
of a magnesium flash, he cast his eyes beseechingly at the desk
sergeant, hoping, in his English way, that order would be made to
prevail. The sergeant just shook his head admiringly and said,
"Great copy."
    Exasperated, Geoff took Amanda firmly by the
arm and smiled thinly into the teeth of the pressing horde. "Miss
Fain is a staunch patriot, an accomplished artist, and a devoted
daughter. This has all been an absurd misunderstanding. A statement
will be issued later." He began to elbow his silent charge through
the crowd.
    Under her breath Amanda murmured, "I'm
surprised you didn't choke."
    "Put a lid on it, Amanda," he muttered.
    "Who the hell is the guy with her?" one
reporter shouted over their heads.
    "Someone said her lover."
    "Her lawyer? What's his name?"
    "Would you spell that for us, sir?"
    Amanda pulled up short like a pack mule and
flung Geoff's name at them: "Geoffrey S-e-t-o-n. His dad's a
baronet," she added with satisfaction.
    "So you know that, too," said Geoff as he
yanked her back