Frederick was once again a hard man of business as he walked to the fireplace, bracing a hand against the mantel, but he lowered his head and closed his eyes as if in prayer.

Liam wiggled out of his new oxford shoe and reached down to tug off the sock, then presented his bare foot on the coffee table.

Frederick crossed the distance to stand on the opposite side of the coffee table. His face was inscrutable as he inspected the old scar on the bottom of Liam’s foot.

The examination didn’t take long. After five seconds, he straightened, crossed to a chair, and lowered himself into it. His hands were shaking. “Well, well, well,” he said, showing neither dismay nor delight. “This changes things.”

Liam lowered his foot and tugged his sock back on. “I agree.”

“I trust this marks the end of your flirtation with revolutionary nonsense,” Frederick said. “We have no use for unions or anarchists in this home. But I would welcome Theodore’s son.”

Liam still looked hesitant. “You’ll accept me, then?”

“As my grandson? Yes.” Frederick turned to stare out at the sea, taking a few ragged breaths as a range of emotions flashed across his face, but when he turned to Liam again, he was entirely composed. “As for accepting you as a partner in the boardroom, that remains to be seen. Now, tell me about yourself.”

Gwen held her breath. Liam could be such a wild card, but for once he comported himself with restraint. Over the next hour he recounted how he came to be a part of the Malone family, then followed in Crocket Malone’s footsteps to become a welder and then a union leader in the steel industry.

“This is going to shake things up,” Frederick said once Liam finished his story. “I suppose you will want half of everything.”

“All I really want are my father’s voting shares,” Liam said.

“For now, that is out of the question. Only men fluent in corporate finance and the leveraging of investments can attain a position on the board.”

“Gwen said the trust awards bank shares to the oldest male heir.”

“It does,” Frederick said. “And if that male heir was an infant, do you think we would invite him to the table? Of course not. It won’t happen until he has a college education and years of tutelage in the banking industry. Right now you are something of an embarrassment to the family.”

She stood. “That’s not fair.”

“But it’s the truth. Look at him, Gwen! His entire life has been spent working with his hands, not his brain. He has no understanding of the banking industry, no connections in the world of finance, and he speaks like a vulgarian.”

Liam sat motionless in his chair, appearing to shrink beneath the barrage of insults, and her grandfather’s tone softened a bit.