Rebecca Hagan Lee (43 page)

It was worse than he expected, James learned as he untied the man from the swing chair he’d fashioned. Ruby was wedged on a ledge of rock, too frightened to do anything but lash out at the man who hadn’t been able to make her understand that he was there to help her—to take her to her daddy.

James glanced around and saw Will with Elizabeth. “Thank God,” he breathed. “I’m too big to get down the shaft. So are most of the men here, and I don’t want to try to tunnel her out unless we fail to get her out this way. The shaft is narrow and dry and crumbly and I’m afraid digging will trigger a collapse.” He paused, then raked Elizabeth with his urgent gaze “I need you to talk to her while we
send the man back down,” he said. “See if you can calm her down. She won’t listen to me,” he said. “She just keeps screaming my name, begging me to come down and get her.”

Elizabeth took a breath. “What if I make it worse? She doesn’t like me, James. You know that.”

“I know,” he said, “but I’ve got to try something.”

He nodded to the next Chinese volunteer who climbed into the swing chair, then at Elizabeth. “Talk to her. Tell her that it’s you and that a nice man is coming down to get her.”

Elizabeth did. She lay on her stomach in the dirt beside James and talked to Ruby as the men lowered the second volunteer and then a third one, into the shaft, but Ruby didn’t listen. She cried. She screamed for James, and she fought the young men sent down to rescue her like a termagant.

Finally Elizabeth could stand it no longer and turned to James. “Pull him up,” she ordered, getting to her feet. “Pull him up. He’s terrifying her. She doesn’t understand.”

“I know,” James snapped.

“That’s why I’m going down to get her.”

“I can’t let you,” James said. “I can’t risk your life, too.”

“Try stopping me,” she challenged. Then ignoring the crowd of men gathered to offer help or to watch, Elizabeth unbuttoned her skirt and pushed it over her hips, untied her petticoats and bustle, and pulled her chemise over her head, stripping off clothing until she stood before James and the rest of the assembly in her camisole and drawers. When she’d shed all the cumbersome garments she could shed, Elizabeth climbed into the chair the last volunteer had vacated. “Strap me in,” she ordered James. “Strap me in before I have time to think about what I’m doing.”

She took a deep breath as James tied the ropes around her waist that secured her to the chair.

Alone in the shaft, Ruby began to cry.

“It’s all right, Ruby,” Elizabeth soothed as James carefully
lowered her into the dark, dirty tunnel. “Stay right where you are and don’t cry, sweetie. I’ll be there in a minute. I’m coming down to get you.”

“Daddy!” Ruby cried.

Dirt and debris rained down on Elizabeth, filling the air with dust as she inched her way down the shaft. Her eyes stung and her nose and throat burned from the dust she breathed. Roots and bits of rock and wood scratched her arms and legs as she scraped the narrow walls. She bit back a frightened cry as a clump of dirt broke loose and bounced off her shoulder.

“Be a brave little girl,” Elizabeth said to Ruby as her feet touched the ledge. She looked down to find Ruby crouched behind a broken beam. “I can reach her,” she called up to James to tell him to tighten the slack in the rope. “Come on, sweetheart, come to me and let me hold you.”

“Want Daddy,” Ruby said.

“Then come with me,” Elizabeth coaxed. “He’s waiting for you at the top of this nasty old hole.”

Ruby debated a moment longer, then lunged off the ledge and into Elizabeth’s arms. The swing rocked violently, bounced off the walls, and sent a cascade of dirt and pebbles tumbling down the shaft, but Elizabeth grabbed hold of her precious cargo and refused to let go. She hugged Ruby to her, burying her face in Ruby’s hair as a flood of tears poured unchecked down her face and left jagged tracks in the dirt on her face.

“I’ve got her,” she called out to James. “Bring us up.”

THE CELEBRATION BEGAN
as soon as Elizabeth and Ruby appeared at the surface and lasted late into the morning. James declared a holiday and ordered the cooks in the canteen to break out the barrels of beer, but for Elizabeth, the celebration ended the moment Ruby pushed out of her embrace and ran for James. Elizabeth would never forget
the expression of gratitude on James’s face as he fell to his knees, wrapped his arms around Ruby, and covered her little face with kisses, nor would she forget the pang in her heart as he reached out to include her in their embrace and Ruby pushed her away.

James started to speak, but there was nothing he could say, nothing he could do to change the fact that while Ruby had allowed Elizabeth to rescue her, she wouldn’t allow Elizabeth to share in his love. He covered his frustration and his embarrassment by yelling for the company doctor as he lifted Ruby into his arms.

Elizabeth stood off to the side, her heart nearly bursting with love for James and for Ruby, as she watched them together. Ruby was safe and secure in her father’s arms. Safe and secure in the warmth and knowledge of James’s love. And James was secure in the knowledge that he had dodged a horrible fate and been given another chance to take care of the child who had saved him by securing the place in his heart Cory’s death had left empty. James and Ruby were together. A family again—as they were meant to be. Elizabeth had done her duty and made up for her terrible mistake; now it was time to go on. She bent and picked up her discarded skirts and petticoats and slowly walked away.

“Wait, Elizabeth!” James called to her. “Where are you going?”

Elizabeth held up her discarded clothing.

“You should have the doctor look at you,” he said.

“I’m fine,” she told him. “I don’t need a doctor.”

Ruby wiggled in his arms and James turned his attention back to his daughter. “Are you sure?” he asked again, his voice laced with concern for Elizabeth.

Elizabeth managed a teary smile. “I’m sure,” she said. There was nothing the doctor could do for a broken heart.

By the time James returned to the cabin to put Ruby to bed, Elizabeth was gone.

“Where is she?” James demanded of Will when he turned around in Elizabeth’s empty bedroom and found
Will standing in the doorway looking at him.

“She’s gone,” Will said. “She left on the express train while you were with Ruby. I loaned her some traveling money and sent Delia and Garnet and Emerald and Diamond with her to keep her company. Delia and the girls are getting off at Coryville. But I don’t think Elizabeth is planning to get off with them.”

“How do you know?”

“She asked me to send her belongings.”

Stunned, James sank down onto the edge of me bed. “She didn’t say good-bye. She didn’t tell me good-bye.”

“I thought she said a rather eloquent good-bye last night,” Will told him.

“You knew she was leaving last night?”

“I suspected it,” Will said, “when she came in crying after making love with you.”

James raised an eyebrow at mat.

Will snorted. “Unlike some men in this room, I’m not a fool. All you had to do was tell her you love her and ask her to stay.”

“I couldn’t,” James said. “Ruby …”

“Ruby is a child. A jealous, spoiled little girl who wants her daddy all to herself,” Will answered brutally.

“Ruby went through a terrible ordeal,” James said. “She’s a little girl. It’s understandable that she wants me to herself for a while. Is there anything wrong with that?” he demanded.

“No, Jamie,” Will said. “Except that Ruby won’t always be a little girl. She’s going to grow up and meet someone and fall in love and leave you. So will Garnet and Emerald and Diamond and any others you adopt. And where will you be?” Will didn’t wait for him to answer. “Alone, Jamie, and just as lonely as you are now. And all because you let Ruby decide the course of your life, instead of following your heart.”

“I made a promise to Ruby when I found her in the ocean. I promised he that as long as I was alive, she
wouldn’t have to worry about the people around her not loving her.”

“You’ve kept your promise, Jamie!” Will thundered. “Do you really believe Ruby has suffered under Elizabeth’s care? Do you really believe that the woman who stayed up all night modifying a doll for your daughter doesn’t love her? For God’s sake, Jamie, open your eyes! Elizabeth risked her life for Ruby after she’d offered her heart to you on a platter and had it tossed aside. She did it willingly because she loves you and those children. How long are you going to punish yourself for something you didn’t do? How long are you going to deny yourself someone to love—and someone to love you back?
Christ
, Jamie, how can you let Mei Ling ruin the rest of your life? How can you let Elizabeth walk away?” Will waved his hand in disgust. “If I thought I could make her love me, I’d go after her myself.”

“Where?” James asked.

“I don’t know,” Will answered. “But she asked that I send her belongings to a Samuel Wright in Cincinnati.”

James didn’t wait to hear any more. “Have the extra engine and a passenger car readied,” James ordered as he exited the bedroom and headed across the hall to get Ruby.

“Where are you going?” Will demanded, a small smile turning up the corner of his mouth.

“To tell Elizabeth I love her and to keep her from trying to Samuel Wright a wrong!”

HE MISSED HER
in Coryville. Mrs. G. was furious with him, and the household was in an uproar. “What did you do to that girl up in that mining camp?” she kept wanting to know. “She left here crying as if her heart would break.”

“I’m going after her,” James said grimly. “The train’s at the water tank now. I’ve only got a minute to drop off
Ruby and say good-bye to the other Treasures.” He handed Ruby over to the housekeeper.

The little girl squirmed and pushed until Mrs. G. set her on the floor. She ran through the foyer, darted into James’s study, then ran up the stairs, clutching something in her arms, and screaming at the top of her lungs before she disappeared into James’s bedroom.

“You’d better go after her,” Mrs. G. said.

“I am.”

“I meant Ruby,” she clarified.

“I meant Elizabeth,” he said. “You’ll have to manage Ruby alone for a while.”

“What do you intend to do when you find her?” Mrs. G. shouted after him as James took the stairs two at a time.

“Marry her,” he shouted back. “And help her hire a new governess.”

“Thank the Lord,” Mrs. G. breathed.

The train whistle sounded once in warning as James kissed each of the Treasures good-bye and started out the nursery door. Ruby ran to him and held on, clinging to him and crying. “No, Ruby,” he said firmly, “Daddy’s got to go find Elizabeth.”

Ruby stared at him. “Libeth,” she said clearly, then reached out and grabbed hold of James’s hand and began pulling him toward his bedroom.

“What about Elizabeth?” he asked.

“Libeth.” Ruby pointed to the pillows on James’s bed. Portia rested against them, her hair slightly mussed, and her clothes rumpled, looking for all the world as if, like Elizabeth, she belonged there.

He scooped Ruby up in his arms. “All right, little imp,” he said. “Let’s go find Libeth and make her your mommy.”

ELIZABETH STOOD LOOKING
down at the new marble headstone marking the middle grave in the row of three.
Owen Sadler
, it read,
beloved brother of Elizabeth. Born 03 August 1852. Died February 1873. Our hearts grieve from the loss.
Tears stung her eyes. She had gone to Dorminey’s Stone Works to make the final installment on the headstone and to arrange to have it delivered and discovered the arrangements had already been made. Days ago.

“I knew you’d come here eventually,” James said, coming up to stand behind her. “I’ve been waiting and watching this place for days.”

“Have you?” she asked coolly.

“San Francisco is a big city. I tried the Russ House and Bender’s and every place I knew to try to find you before I came here.”

“You must have skipped the jail,” she said.

“Is that where you’ve been?”

“It seemed as good a place as any to get away from the pain of losing you. I’ve come full circle,” she said. “I went to the jail to serve my three days in lieu of paying my fine, and Sergeant Darnell took me home to stay with his wife and family. But I’ve imposed on them long enough. It’s
time I moved on, so I’ve come to say good-bye to Owen and to San Francisco.”