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help.”  He was more determined to get Amelia out of this world than ever.
    “She has no sense of loyalty whatsoever,” Sophia growled, gloves definitely off.
    “Is that so?”
    “It is.  She will turn her back on you and leave you high and dry the first chance she gets, so don’t think you’re going to keep her.”
    Eric glared at the woman, but before he could protest she said, “She left her family.  Look at the condition we’re in.  If she doesn’t care about us, she won’t care about you.”
    “Ma’am, I’m not asking her to care about me.”  Eric stepped past Sophia into the hall as Olivia stood to follow.  “Maybe if you’d tried to help her she woulda stayed loyal and not run off to something better.”
    “A leopard does not change its spots, Mr. Quinlan,” Sophia said, cold as ice.  “My daughter will never change.  She will always be who she is.”
    “Miss Amelia!” Eric called up the stairs.  “We’re going!”
    When he turned back to face Sophia she had her hands on her hips and fury in her eyes.
    “Be it on your head then,” she tossed at him.  “Reputations rise and fall in this world on a dime.  If you had any hopes of going into business here….”
    “Ma’am, I’m leaving this upside-down country on Friday, so I don’t see what my reputation matters anyhow.  And any hope for going into business that I had already been dashed before you started spouting your nonsense at me.  Maybe my cousin Curtis is right and I just don’t have a lick of business sense.  But I have common sense, and common sense says you don’t treat your family like yesterday’s garbage, no matter what troubles they get themselves into.”
    Footsteps sounded in the hall above him, heading for the stairs.  Before Amelia could reappear he finished with Sophia by saying, “I reckon getting Amelia out of this crazy place is the best thing anyone’s ever done for her, and I’m not saying that outta self-pride.”
    “But … but you can’t just walk out of here and take my darling daughter away from everything she’s ever known!”  Sophia changed her tune, darting her glance to the top of the stairs and putting on a long-suffering air.
    Eric might have been inclined to feel a morsel of pity for the woman if her eyes hadn’t then dropped to his coat pocket.  It was a damn shame what some people would do for money.
    “Miss Amelia!” he shouted up the stairs.
    “I’ll thank you not to shout at me, Mr. Quinlan.”
    Eric had never been so relieved to have someone tell him off in his life.  Amelia and Eve appeared at the top of the stairs.  With more dignity than he figured the house had seen in years, Amelia floated down to the front hall.
    “Come on.  We’re getting out of here.”
    Manners or no, he grabbed her hand and marched her to the door.  He threw it open and continued out into the rain before he could remember to fetch the umbrella.  It didn’t matter.  He had no intention of laying eyes on Amelia’s crooked family again.
    He didn’t let out his breath until they were secure, if wet, in the carriage.  He couldn’t say a word to Amelia.
    “My mother was a pill, wasn’t she.”  Amelia finally started the conversation as the carriage drove away.
    “Yeah, you could say that,” he replied.  There was no way he was going to repeat what Sophia had told him.  There was no way he would pay a word of it any mind.  If only he could forget about it.
     

 
     
    Chapter Four
     
    The Majestic rose up out of the water in its Liverpool dock with all the glory of its name.  Amelia held one hand to her hat and stared at its iron sides, its two dun-colored funnels and three tall masts.  The ship was a strange thing to her, a mixture of old and new, progress with hints of the past.  It had sails that could be unfurled in a pinch, but with its powerful new engines, the ship could cross the ocean in a week.
    Seven days to a new world.  It was an exact description of