Her cousin Edwin limped over, a cane in one hand and an empty martini glass in the other. “Sounds good,” he said to Liam. “I like the changes you’re making. I never could stand caviar, but Poppy isn’t happy about losing it. She thinks pork is lowbrow.”

Poppy sat at the stern of the ship, swathed in robes and accepting congratulations on the birth of her son, who was safely ensconced in his grim nursery back home. She was surrounded by the elderly aunts and boasting of little Alexander’s astonishing accomplishments in communicating when he was hungry.

“Next thing you know, Poppy will say he is fluent in Greek,” Bertie said and turned back to Edwin. “Say, did you bring that antique vase you owe me?”

Edwin looked momentarily annoyed, but it vanished quickly. “Sorry, old man, I forgot it back at my place. Next week, I promise.” He turned his attention to Liam with a huge smile. “I must congratulate you on the U.S. Steel appointment. You’ve taken us all by surprise.”

“A good one, I hope,” Liam said.

“Good, indeed!” Edwin threw a friendly arm around Liam’s shoulder. “Say, how about we put together a group of people to go bet on the horse races? There’s a fine little racetrack nearby, and I can show you the ropes.”

A hint of irritation flashed across Liam’s face, but it came and went so quickly that Gwen thought she might have imagined it.

A waiter emerged onto the deck with flutes of champagne, drawing Bertie and Edwin to him like a lodestone. Liam watched them leave with a pensive look on his face.

“You were right,” he said once they stood alone at the railing.

“Right about what?”

“The way people treat me is different since I got rich. The wife of the guy who runs the marina keeps throwing herself at me. A married woman, and she never misses a chance to lob a proposition at me. The girls at the diner where I get lunch come after me too. Everyone wants to be my friend now. Edwin wants me to join his racing club, but he’s all full of fake smiles and backslapping. It kind of makes me appreciate Poppy. She’s a horror on wheels, but at least she’s honest.”