MB01 - Unending Devotion (21 page)

“Carr usually reserves a couple girls for his special clients.” Stuart glanced sideways at Tierney. “That means the ordinary shanty boys wouldn’t know much about her other than hearsay.”

“It must be her.” Lily grasped Stuart’s arm. “We need to go get her. Now.”

“Right now?” Stuart asked.

“I can’t wait another moment. If it’s really her, then I need to go
now.
” She tugged on Stuart’s arm.

Stuart didn’t budge.

Lily linked her arm through his and pulled him harder. “Come on. I’ve been waiting for this moment for months.”

“You can’t march up there and demand to see Daisy,” Connell said. “You remember what happened with Frankie.”

“That’s the problem.
Nothing
has happened with Frankie.” Her voice was edged with frustration. “Absolutely nothing. And I can’t let that be true of Daisy too.”

With that, she spun and began to stride away from them, her boots crunching in loud defiance, the white puffs of her breath coming in short bursts.

Tierney stepped back, crossed his arms, and watched them, his eyes sparkling with merriment—as if he were watching a scene unfold on the stage at the theater.

If Lily got in trouble, Connell was going to hold Tierney responsible. If only the scoundrel had minded his own business.

“Go home, Tierney!” Anger pounded through Connell’s chest with a ferocity that rivaled what he’d felt the day he’d discovered Tierney with Rosemarie, both half clothed and flushed with their passion. “Just go away. And don’t come back.”

He didn’t wait to see Tierney’s reaction to his harsh words. If he never saw Tierney again, he’d count himself a happy man.

He sucked in a breath of air that froze his lungs and plunged after Lily, easily overtaking her. He circled his fingers around her arm and forced her to a stop.

“Let me go,” she said between clenched teeth, holding herself as rigid as a hardwood beech. “I need to go get her. That’s my baby sister. She needs me. I can feel it.”

“You have to understand you can’t go up there by yourself and expect Carr to let her go. Not Bella—his big moneymaker.”

Along Main Street, faces peeked out of frosty windows. Some even opened their doors to watch the commotion. He didn’t have to try to imagine what people were thinking. He knew the scene would only stir up more gossip.

“Go ahead and get mad at me,” he half whispered. “But I’m not letting you go up there.” Her safety was too important to let her run off to the Stockade. “After the way Carr kidnapped Frankie in broad daylight, I don’t trust the man. Not in the least.”

Her eyes wavered.

“I’m not the enemy, Lily,” he said softly. “Believe it or not, I really do want to help you.”

She trembled, just slightly, but it was enough for him to feel all the worry, excitement, and sorrow coursing through her.

“Let’s come up with a plan together. Okay?” Even as he said the words, he knew he could do nothing less than help her. Maybe he’d regret the decision later when he was sane. But at that moment, with her heartache over Daisy so plain in every tense muscle, he couldn’t resist. “We’ll figure out something—some way to get her out of there. Together.”

She hesitated and searched his face. “If you want to help me, then come with me now. I can’t bear to think of her being in that place another minute. Even another second is too long.”

“But Carr won’t let her go without a fight. If we have any hope of getting her out alive, we’ll have to do it in secret.” If Daisy even wanted rescuing. But he didn’t dare douse Lily’s hopes.

She shook her head, impatience battling across the lovely features of her face. But then she glanced to the growing crowd they were attracting. She quickly broke free of his grasp and took a step back.

“I suppose as hard as it is, I’ll need to tie up my impulsiveness?”

“If you tie it up, then you’ll prevent me from having to tie
you
up.” He hoped she could hear the banter in his voice. “And I don’t think you want me wrestling you to the ground and hog-tying you in the middle of Main Street.”

“Since everyone is already talking about us, why not give them something more?” The wry grin that tugged at one corner of her lips sent relief blowing through him.

“Then you’ll wait?”

She nodded, but all trace of humor dissipated. The expression in her face said she’d wait, but it wouldn’t be for long.

Tierney was still standing next to Stuart. Still smirking. Everything Tierney had just warned him about came careening back through his gut like a horse-drawn logging sled racing out of control on icy roads.

Tierney had made it very clear he wasn’t supposed to interfere with Carr’s business again. If he did, Carr would find a way to punish McCormick Lumber.

He didn’t even want to begin to imagine what Carr would do to anyone who helped steal one of his lucrative girls.

Connell swallowed hard.

How could he possibly help Lily rescue Daisy?

But how could he live with himself if he didn’t?

Chapter
16

U
nder the dim oil lamp in the dining room, Lily stared at the rough sketch of the Stockade, trying to ingrain every detail into her memory.

“He keeps his dogs here.” Stuart tapped the large piece of newsprint. “They’re at the back entry of the compound.”

“Does he keep them chained?” Connell peered over the edge of his spectacles to the
X
with the word
dogs
scrawled underneath.

“Bass didn’t say.” Stuart reached for another molasses cookie from the plate Vera had brought out from the kitchen when the men had arrived. In several quick bites, he devoured it.

Lily had lost count of how many he’d eaten—at least half of the heap. Of course Oren had helped eat a few but was now sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace, his feet propped on a crate and his pipe in his mouth.

“Good cookies,” Stuart said again, as he had after each one he ate.

From her spot across the dining-room table, Vera narrowed her eyes on Connell. “At least one of you will go home with a full belly.”

From the way Vera hovered over Connell every time he came into the Northern, it was clear she missed him.

Since the day he’d moved out, guilt had crawled in Lily’s stomach and made a home there.

It was her fault for the upheaval, for the disruption to everyone’s lives, for Vera having to lose her favorite boarder, for the drop in Stuart’s newspaper circulation since they’d announced the start of the Red Ribbon Society. She’d even cost Oren some business the past Sunday, when one of the camps refused to let them set up and take pictures.

She’d caused them all unnecessary trouble. And if they helped her now, she’d make things even worse for them, much worse.

She traced a finger along the diagram of the Stockade. Well, it wouldn’t be long before she’d be gone and out of their lives. With Daisy.

Her finger found the small square on the map with the word
Bella
scribbled inside. Her pulse pattered with the same staccato as the ice-snow mixture that pelted the window. Daisy was there, in that very room.

Stuart’s assistant, Bass, had willingly provided them with all the information they’d needed about the Stockade. He frequented the place often enough to draw an outline of the inside of the building, including the stairways and rooms, the livery, the distances to the palisade, and even the location of the outhouse.

And over the weekend, Bass had managed to get one of his regular girls to tell him more about Bella, where her room was located, and how to get to it. For extra cash, he’d even bribed the girl to deliver a note from Lily.

During the past several days since then, Lily had expected Daisy to try to smuggle a note out to her. She’d waited and hoped for some sign her sister had received her message and that she would be alert and ready for their rescue attempt.

But there had been nothing from the Stockade except silence.

And yet, Lily had decided she wouldn’t let the lack of news discourage her. After all, how could Daisy manage a note without putting herself in danger? She was likely trying to stay safe and waiting expectantly for the rescue, as Lily had instructed her.

“What about the bouncers?” Connell pulled off his glasses. “If Carr’s got them at every stairway and in each of the girls’ hallways, we’ll have a difficult time sneaking past them.”

Stuart stared at the diagram and rubbed his hand across his beard, wiping away cookie crumbs. “That’s going to be one of our biggest obstacles.”

“According to Bass,” Connell continued, “no one can get past the bouncers unless they’re with a girl and have already paid for the time with her.”

“Then each of us will just have to pay for girls—”

“Come on, Stu. You know that won’t work.” Connell’s voice was punctuated with a frustration that only seemed to grow with each passing evening they met to discuss the rescue plans. “If either of us takes one step inside the Stockade during business hours, Carr will suspect we’re up to something. He’ll have his bouncers all over us.”

Lily sighed and wished she could tell them to go back to Stuart’s house, that she didn’t need their help, that their plan to sneak inside was completely foolish. If she allowed them to carry through with it, they’d be walking into a deathtrap.

She stifled a sigh and tried to convince herself again that her decision to make the rescue by herself was right. She’d have a much easier time sneaking through the shadows unseen and unheard compared to the two of them.

Besides, hadn’t she already successfully rescued several girls that winter?

Yes, her plan was much safer. It was the only one that would work, especially if she hoped to keep Connell and Stuart alive. But if Connell figured out she was going into the Stockade by herself, he’d tie her up and lock her in her room.

She studied the diagram again. She’d need to know every bump and corner so well that she could traverse it effortlessly in the darkness of night.

“So what do you suggest we do?” Stuart had asked that exact question so many times she’d lost count.

“We’ll have to sneak in after visiting hours are over,” Connell replied. “Next Saturday. After the boys are all passed out drunk.”

“But we’ll still have to get past the dogs and the bouncers, no matter what time we sneak in.”

“I’ll have my knife,” Connell said, but there was something in his tone. Something that said he didn’t think they really had much of a chance of succeeding.

Or maybe he hadn’t dedicated his heart to the plans to begin with. Hadn’t he told her that anyone who took a stand against Carr would face dangerous reprisals and loss of business? If he helped her free Daisy and lived to tell about it, he would make an enemy of Carr.

Sure, Connell said he wanted to help her. She’d sensed his sincerity when he’d stopped her from going up to the Stockade in broad daylight. But she also realized in spite of all her talk about sacrificing for what was right, she didn’t want Connell to get hurt. Or Stuart. She didn’t want to put either of them in danger.

“Your yap’s been extry quiet over there, young lady,” Oren said gruffly between puffs of his pipe. “As quiet as a fox sneakin’ up on a hare.”

“I’m just tired,” she said. And she was. “I haven’t been sleeping well the past few nights, thinking about Daisy.”

“If you’re not sleeping,” said Vera, heaving herself up from the bench, “then I’ve got just the thing for you. A special sleeping tonic I made from motherwort.”

Lily tried to suppress a shudder at the thought of having to take any more of Vera’s medicines. “I’m sure I’ll be just fine tonight.”

She stared at the diagram of the Stockade again, not daring to meet Vera’s or Oren’s gazes. She wasn’t planning on having any trouble sleeping. Mainly because she wasn’t planning to sleep one wink.

“Now, no sass from you, girl.” Vera crossed the dining room. “We can’t have you getting sick again.”

“I’m not going to get sick again.”

The woman only snorted before she disappeared through the kitchen.

“So next Saturday night then?” Lily asked the men, knowing she needed to say something or she’d raise Oren’s suspicions even more.

“Seems like it will be the best night.” Stuart reached for another cookie. “Can you wait until then?”

She hesitated. How could she answer without lying? They all knew how anxious she was to get Daisy out of the pit of hell.

“It’s an awful long time to have to wait,” she finally said.

“It’s only five days.” Connell met her gaze head on. “One hundred twenty-six hours to be exact.”

The intensity in his eyes probed her, and she quickly looked away. He was always too perceptive, and she couldn’t chance his reading anything in her face. Not when so much was at stake.

“If Daisy’s been there this long,” she said, struggling to find honest words, “I don’t suppose she’ll die if she has to wait for the rescue.”

“Here we are,” Vera said, coming through the doorway. “I’ve got a vial of motherwort tonic and a tiny bottle of a special chamomile potion with enough power to knock out a pack of wolves for a week.”

Lily started to shake her head, but Connell spoke to Vera first. “Too bad I didn’t have your magic potion when I was fighting off the wolves a couple weeks ago.”

“Aw come on, big guy.” Stuart socked Connell in the arm. “Wasn’t it more fun to have to fend them off with your bare hands?”

Connell grinned. “You’re right. That was infinitely more enjoyable.”

Vera held up a square bottle of yellow-tinged glass. It was filled halfway with a clear liquid. “All anyone needs is a couple drops of this, and you’ll be asleep before you can whisper your prayers.”

“I’ll be fine without it,” Lily started to protest but then stopped. What about the dogs? Would the potion work on them? They were still the biggest obstacle to her plans. Her
carefully
laid plans.

No one could accuse her of not learning her lesson from her attempt to rescue Frankie. This time she wasn’t rushing off without considering every possibility and problem.

Vera pushed the two bottles toward her. “I won’t take no for an answer.”