In Search of a Memory (Truly Yours Digital Editions) (14 page)

“I’m no sissy, and I read books.” Roland thought the boy’s arrogant attitude toward education was much like his brother’s. “An education will always benefit your mind and will keep working for you as you grow older.” He felt Angel’s stare and wondered if he was being too hard on the youngster.

The boy shrugged. “Can’t go anyhow. Not since things got so bad. Mama needs me at home while Pa looks for work and Rex, too. That’s my brother. I’m Sam. I’m runnin’ an errand for Mama now.”

Roland felt remorseful for his stiff words. After living a privileged lifestyle when it came to assets, it was too easy to forget the nation suffered a depression. “I’m sorry, son.”

“How long will the carnival be here?”

“A couple of weeks, I imagine.” Roland glanced at Angel, who shrugged. The flyers didn’t say. He looked back at the boy. “I hope things go better for your family. We need to hang the rest of these posters now.”

“Okay.”

The boy dogged their steps up the road. He talked a mile a minute, and Roland thought a career as a carnival barker might be a strong prospect for his future. Their small, self-appointed guide pointed out buildings, talked about their owners, whether he did or didn’t like them, and expressed a strong desire to visit the carnival. Roland wondered if Sam was forgetting his errand.

Together he and Angel pasted another flyer to a building, and the boy watched, engrossed. He followed them as they completed two more. Once they finished, he grinned.

“I gotta go now.” He moved toward the druggist’s, next door to the wall where they had hung the poster.

“If you come to the carnival, look me up,” Roland said before Sam could disappear. “I’m a caretaker of the animals. We even have a live elephant.”

“No foolin’? An elephant? Hot diggety dog! Wait’ll I tell Joey. And he thought finding that turtle was so great!” He rushed into the building, and Roland smiled, remembering his own boyhood excitement and curiosities.

If only the warm feeling could have lasted.

Roland’s blood froze as he caught sight of a thickset man wearing a three-piece, pin-striped suit and fedora five buildings away, near a lamppost. He slipped the bucket handle over his wrist, took the brush leaning against the building, and grabbed Angel’s arm with his free hand, turning her quickly with him in the opposite direction.

“Hey!” She looked at him in confusion but didn’t try to break his grip.

“Just keep walking.”

He kept his voice low but couldn’t mask his alarm. Her eyes widened, and she started to look over her shoulder.

“Don’t look, Angel.”

Quickly she focused ahead. Once they reached the corner of the next building and darted around it, he peered around the side, then he pressed his back against the wall and closed his eyes in a dizzying mix of anxiety not to be found and relief to have escaped.

“I should have known the conductor might say something about my sudden disappearance,” he muttered. “My grandfather has close ties with the company.”

All color drained from her face. “Your f–family? H–here?”

“He was too far away to make out, but a man back there looked like one of Grandfather’s associates.” Roland doubted many citizens of New Milford wore such expensive suits or had the ox like build Giuseppe did. And Grandfather’s men traveled in pairs, which meant Giuseppe’s partner, Lorenzo, wasn’t far. “We need to get back to the carnival. Now.”

She gave a jerky nod, her eyes round with the same apprehension he felt.

“It’s all right, Angel. He didn’t see me. If we head around the back and circle the buildings, we should be safe. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” Again he clasped her arm, this time gently, his manner intense. He noticed her state of shock and gave her shoulder a shake to break her out of her daze.

“Are you with me?” He kept his tone calm but firm.

“Yes,” she whispered.

He smiled to reassure her, though he felt just as anxious, and pulled her with him through the first phase of his plan. To his relief they found their way back to where they started, unobserved.

On the open road Roland felt like a sitting duck. He doubted Giuseppe would shoot; in all likelihood, his orders were to bring him back unharmed. But Giuseppe had no respect for women, those not connected with the family, and Roland dreaded the idea of him coming in contact with Angel, uncertain what the goon might do. The best-case scenario would be if he demanded she come with them; the worst-case… Roland didn’t dare imagine the worst case.

Not once did he release his hold on Angel’s arm, and he felt the tremors of fear that moved through her. She managed to keep up with his rapid gait but didn’t say a word. Once the carnival tents came in sight, he felt her relax and heard her protracted sigh of relief.

“I’m really sorry about all this,” he said grimly before they joined the others. He looked back at the road to make sure they weren’t followed. “I guess you had the right idea all along about staying as far away from me as you could.”

Instead of fleeing his company, as he was sure she would do once he released her, she whirled to face him, her eyes intense. “Are you in danger if he finds you?”

Shocked that she should care, it took him a moment to respond. “He probably only has orders to bring me home. But Angel…” He took a deep breath. “I told you once that you weren’t in danger. With Giuseppe I can’t make that promise. Of all the men my grandfather could have sent, he’s the worst of the bunch.”

She didn’t ask him to explain, and he didn’t care to.

“What will you do now?”

“I’ll leave the carnival. I can’t put anyone else in danger.”

“But—where will you go? Won’t you be in even more danger if you leave, since you said that here you can blend in and that your grandfather’s men wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this?”

“I can’t take that risk now.”

She grabbed his arm, again startling him.

“You can’t put yourself at risk either. You’ll be easier to spot if you leave such a crowded place. And you said they could be ruthless, even to family.”

“It’s
my
family, Angel. I’m not going to let anyone here suffer because I had the luckless curse of being born a Piccoli.”

“You can’t leave,” she insisted. “Talk to Mama; tell her about this. She’d be easier to talk to than Mahoney, and she
is
his mother. I’m sure she’d agree. And if you don’t tell her, I will.”

His mouth dropped open.

She nodded in emphasis. “She should know, Roland. She should know if there’s a predator out there who might come to the carnival, in order to be prepared for whatever happens next. And she can tell her son if she feels there is a need.”

He let out a harsh breath followed by a mild oath. “You’re right. I’ll tell her. Then I’ll go.”

“How? By train? They’ll find you for sure. No, Roland. If you leave now, it could be the end of all you wanted. To break away from your family and what they stand for.”

He looked at her curiously. “Why should you care? Ever since we met, all you’ve wanted is for me to steer clear of you. Now that opportunity has arrived, and you want me to stay? Why?”

She blinked, taken off guard, her gaze dropping to the ground. She seemed to realize she still held his arm and released it, her manner almost shy. “I… don’t know.” She looked up again, determined. “Yes, I do. I don’t want to see you get hurt either. So I guess now the shoe’s back on the other foot.”

“You, playing my guardian angel?” he asked softly, still trying to grasp the sudden switch in her feelings.

“Yeah.” She grinned. “If you want to call it that. Would you like me to go with you to talk to Mama?”

He cocked his brow. “Don’t trust me to stick around?” Such words, delivered to Angel of all people, seemed incredible. He couldn’t understand her change of heart. Thrown into the mix of danger, she hadn’t pushed him away or fled.

“I just thought you might like some support.”

Again she surprised him, and he realized he wanted her beside him more than anything. He managed a faint grin. “Yeah, I would.”

For the time being he would honor her wishes. But their near escape made him realize that in order to do what he needed and become his own man while severing family ties, he would have to find a place where no one could locate him.

He withheld a groan, wondering if such an asylum existed anywhere on the planet.

Angel watched Mama Philena slowly nod, her eyes steady, not one change in her stolid expression as Roland finished informing her of the facts.

“You don’t seem all that surprised.” He regarded her with disbelief.

“With what? That you’re a Piccoli? Or that your grandfather sent his men to hunt you down?”

“Either. Both.” Huffing a confused breath, lifting his hands, he shook his head in bewilderment.

“I knew you were hiding something the moment I saw you. Remember”—she smiled and pointed to her temple—“I can read a person well. That said, I think you should stay.”

“That’s what I told him,” Angel said, relieved, and Mama turned her smile on her.

“Maybe I didn’t make clear to you the dangers,” Roland explained patiently. “If I stay, my presence at your carnival could put everyone at risk.”

“Maybe you don’t understand the power of God,” Mama responded just as tolerantly. “He brought you here; I’m sure of it now. And whatever His reasons, He can handle the situation.”

Both Angel and Roland stared, speechless.

Mama chuckled. “Guess you two don’t know much about Him, from the looks on your faces. That, too, can change.” Her smile was secretive, the twinkle in her eyes somehow comforting.

“I have a friend, Nettie,” Angel said. “She feels the same way you do and spoke to me about the Bible, though I never understood half of what she said. But she said the same thing—that I should trust God to work things out. That He always would.”

Mama nodded. “It takes experience sometimes to understand the root of things people tell you. But once you’ve seen the Almighty at work—and by the way, He doesn’t just have that name as an exaggerated hook to draw in the crowds, like some performers here do—you’ll know what I say is genuine.”

Roland cleared his throat. “I should talk this over with Mahoney and Pearson. Neither of you seem to understand the dangers. These are trained men. With guns. And without scruples.”

“No reason to talk to the boys.” Mama, for the first time since Angel met her, looked sheepish. “This is the time for confessions? Well, all right, I have one, too. The carnival is mine. I own it.”

The resulting silence came brief but so thick Angel felt wrapped inside it.

“My husband left it to me,” Mama continued, “but I let my son run things. It gave his life direction again. After his wife died, so young, he needed something to set his mind to, and I’m no good with figures and such, so it was the perfect arrangement. His partner is my nephew—it’s all a family affair.” She grinned. “I don’t broadcast that I’m the true owner—only those few carnies who’ve been with us the longest know—but I have controlling interest and all important decisions go through me first. So, since this is my carnival, I say you stay. Now…”

She clapped her hands and stood, a sign that the urgent meeting Roland had requested was over. “We have work to do if we’re going to have things up and running by tonight. Get busy. Roland, go help the other men raise the tents. Angel, you can help me.”

Angel and Roland stared at each other. Clearly he was also at a loss at being so quickly reassured, dismissed, and assigned orders.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Mama asked Roland. “The tents aren’t going to erect themselves.”

“Talk to you later?” He posed his soft question to Angel, and she nodded. He smiled. “All right then. Ladies.” He tipped his hat to them both and left.

Angel watched him go.

Mama chuckled from behind, and Angel heard her mutter “Oh no. Not a thing going on there at all!”

Feeling heat flush her cheeks, Angel didn’t dare face Mama.

Over the next few hours Angel found out what a strong support the woman was to the carnival. No job was beneath her. If she had the stamina, she did it, and Angel helped. They aided carnies in setting up the insides of their tents, fed the animals, scrubbed cutlery and dishes when Millie complained of feeling poorly, hoisted poles through metal rungs secured at the ends of banners to fly high overhead, set up tables and booths, shoveled in dirt to pack and flatten a dangerous pit that was part of the midway where a customer might fall—and when Angel was sure nothing was left to be done, Mama surprised her and took her on another round of odd and sundry chores. Angel was speechless with awe at Mama’s tenacity mixed with a strength she never would have suspected in a petite, reed-thin woman in her sixties.

With her cheeks sore from blowing air into balloons for one of the game booths, Angel took a cooling drink of cream soda and observed how each of the carnies treated Mama with respect. Even those who wanted little to do with anyone else gave Mama a listening ear.