Rebecca Hagan Lee - [Borrowed Brides 02] (17 page)

“See you soon,” Tessa replied.

Coalie ran back to her and hugged her around the waist once more. “It won’t be for long,” he reminded her. “Just till this is over. Don’t cry.”

Tessa sniffled.

“I love you, Tessa,” Coalie said, trying to control his own tears. “Don’t forget to come and get me.”

“I won’t,” she promised.

“Good-bye, then.”

“Good-bye.” Tessa waited until Mary and Coalie were out of sight before she allowed all her tears to flow. She’d done the right thing, she told herself. It was best for Coalie. Mary would keep him safe at the ranch. He’d be treated as a member of the family. Mary had promised.

Coalie’s future was secure. Tessa could breathe a little easier. He was safe and no matter what happened to her at the hearing, Coalie would have a real home and a family of his own. He wouldn’t have to work to support himself.

Work. Tessa suddenly remembered the chores David was paying Coalie to do. She squared her shoulders and bit her lip. David might not like it, but she wouldn’t allow those chores to go undone. He and Coalie had made a bargain. Tessa planned to see that the terms were fulfilled. She was going to do Coalie’s chores herself. Then David wouldn’t have any reason to complain about taking her on as a client.

And somehow she’d find a way to prove her innocence to David and to the rest of the citizens of Peaceable.

Tessa was struggling to maneuver a fifty-pound bag of flour off the rear of the wagon when David returned.

“What the devil do you think you’re doing?”

“Unloading supplies.” Tessa grasped the bag and tried once again to lift it.

David took the bag out of her hands and hefted it onto his own shoulder. “I’ll do it.”

Tessa didn’t look at him. She climbed into the back of the wagon and grabbed the corners of another sack. “I don’t need your help.”

“Maybe not,” David conceded, “but that’s what you’re going to get.” He watched as Tessa doggedly tugged on a bag of sugar. “Leave it.”

Tessa ignored him.

“Dammit, Tessa, can’t you do as I ask for once?” He balanced the sack of flour. “You and Mary are two of a kind. Mule-headed stubborn. Where do you want this?”

“Inside.”

David carried the flour inside the office. Except for Horace Greeley, sunning himself on David’s desk, the place was unoccupied. It was quiet. Too quiet after the earlier excitement.

He lowered the sack of flour onto the table and walked back outside to the wagon. “Where’s Mary?”

“She’s gone.” Tessa busied herself sorting the supplies.

“That figures.” David raked his fingers through his thick black hair. “Since I specifically asked her to wait here until I got back.” He’d missed his sister and would’ve liked to spend some time with her. Her leaving so abruptly disappointed him, but Mary was known for doing the opposite of whatever he asked. David looked at Tessa. “Did she tell you why she was leaving?”

“She thought it best to go quickly.” Tessa turned to face him. “Before I changed my mind.”

Her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen from crying.

“You’re crying because my sister left?”

“No.”

Prickles of alarm lifted the fine hair on the back of David’s neck. Few things had the power to make Tessa cry. But Coalie was one of them. “Where’s Coalie?” He looked around. “Has something happened to him?”

“I sent him away.”

“You sent Coalie away?” David stood up, then raked his fingers through his black hair. “Where?”

Tessa smoothed her hair back off her face and rubbed at the wrinkles in her skirt. “I don’t know,” she said evasively. “I told Mary to take him someplace safe. Away from here. I didn’t ask where.”

“But you love him,” David replied. “Why send him away?”

“Because I love him,” Tessa answered fiercely, grabbing hold of one of the crates. “Because I’ll do anything to protect him.”

“Protect him from what?”

She shoved the crate with all her might. “Liam Kincaid.” Tessa glared at David. “He wants to take Coalie away from me.”

David caught the crate before it slid off the back of the wagon. “Why would he want to do that?” he asked. “Why would a bartender want to take a boy away from his mother?”

He knew. David knew.
Something in his tone of voice warned Tessa he had learned her secret. And now that he knew, would he continue to help her or hold it against her?

“Tessa, answer me. Why would Lee…Liam want to take Coalie away from you?”

“I don’t know,” she answered defensively. “I just know he does.”

“I don’t think so.”

Tessa shot him an angry look. “I don’t care what you think. He’s after Coalie. I know it. He followed us from Chicago. He was on the same train.”

“It could have been a coincidence. There were lots of people on the Chicago train.” David had heard Lee’s version of the story. Now he hoped Tessa would trust him enough to give him her version. He didn’t want to believe she would deliberately implicate Lee any more than he wanted to believe Lee would point a finger at Tessa.

“And most of the passengers got off in Cheyenne,” Tessa informed him. “Only three people left the train in Peaceable. Me, Coalie, and Liam Kincaid.” She threw David a smug glance. “He followed us.”

“You could have followed
him
,” David suggested.

“Don’t be daft. I came to Peaceable because I thought—” She stopped abruptly, ending the discussion.

David picked up one of the crates and carried it into the office, then returned to the wagon for another one. This was the opportunity he’d been waiting for. David knew he could press Tessa for the answers he needed. Tessa knew it as well. But he decided not to press her. He decided to be patient long enough for Tessa to tell him her story on her own. That was what he wanted. He wanted her to trust him.

Taking a deep breath, David decided to change the subject. “Maybe it’s best you sent Coalie away.” He’d tried to think of a better way to tell her, but the words slipped out with no warning. “Your hearing’s a week from today.”

Tin cans rolled in every direction as a box of canned goods slipped from her grasp. “So soon?”

“The circuit judge is making his rounds. He’ll hear all the cases since his last visit, including yours.”

“What will happen?” Tessa knelt in the bed of the wagon and began gathering the cans.

“The attorney for the territory will submit the evidence against you. We’ll present ours. Then the judge will decide if there’s enough evidence to hold you for trial.” David picked up a can and handed it to her.

“Is there?” Tessa asked.

“I’m afraid there might be,” David answered truthfully. “We’ll need all the help we can get. I need
your
help,” he added gently.

Tessa thrust the armload of canned goods at him, then picked up a small box. She jumped down from the wagon, box in hand, and started for the door of the office.

“We’re not finished,” David reminded her, his arms full of food. “Where are you going?”

‘To make some tea.” Tessa waved the box at him. “I wasn’t planning to unload everything. I just wanted to find the tea. My mother always said problems seemed clearer over a cup of strong tea.” She paused in the doorway, turning to look at David. “I need to see my way clear.”

David followed her inside. He set the canned goods on the table next to the flour and watched as Tessa filled a kettle with water for tea. Now that Coalie was gone, she’d have to deal with him. He needed more answers.

“I’m sorry about Coalie, Tessa. I know you’ll miss him. I’ll miss him, too. But I think you’re wrong about Kincaid.” David watched her expressive face for a reaction. “He doesn’t seem like the sort of person who would steal a child.”

“People steal children for lots of reasons.” Tessa spoke as if she knew. “Sometimes they steal them when their owners won’t let them go.”

“Owners?” David asked. “Don’t you mean parents?”

“No. I mean owners—men who take little children from orphanages, then put them to work at all sorts of horrible jobs.” The water began to boil. Tessa lifted the kettle from the stove and set it aside while she measured the tea.

“Coalie isn’t your son. Why did you steal him?” David asked softly.

Tessa stopped.

“Give me a reason, Tessa. One simple reason.” He recognized the look in her eyes. It was the same look she’d worn yesterday morning when he kissed her—cautious and wary, yet soft, vulnerable. He wanted to take her in his arms again and kiss away the fears, the apprehension.

“Because his owner beat him.” She whispered the words quietly, defeated. She’d been holding them inside too long. “Because that angry brute of a man beat Coalie every single day of his life. For working too slow, for working too fast, for smiling, for crying, for breathing. I was afraid one day he’d kill him. I used to watch for Coalie from my window every morning. He delivered coal to our apartment.” Tessa sighed. She knew she was taking a chance, but she was willing to gamble. By now Coalie was far away from Liam Kincaid. She would trust David with her story and hope he understood why she’d had to break the law. And hope, too, that David wasn’t working with Liam.

“Of course,” David murmured in awe. He should’ve guessed. “Coalie.”

“Yes,” Tessa said, “that’s what he was called, ‘the coalie.’ The boy who delivers the coal. He doesn’t remember his real name. Just Coalie.”

“So he came to your apartment? That’s how you met him.”

“Yes. He was so thin. I’d always save him a pastry or two for breakfast. You know how Coalie loves sweets.” She smiled. “Eamon and I lived above a bakery, you see, and I often bought day-old bread and pastries.” Tessa spooned tea leaves into the teapot. “Would you like some tea?”

David nodded. “After all the trouble you’ve gone to to get it, why not? If you guarantee it will help me see my way clear, too.” He managed a smile.

She added another spoonful of tea to the pot. “I tried to buy Coalie’s work contract. I spent nearly all my savings. I couldn’t bear the thought of waking up one morning to find another little boy delivering the coal. The man Coalie worked for was so mean and big.”

“Like Arnie Mason?”

“Bigger.” Tessa shuddered. “Coalie nearly always had a black eye and horrible bruises.”

David walked to the table. He pushed the sack of flour to one end and stacked the crates on top of one another, clearing space.

Tessa placed the mismatched cups and saucers and two spoons on the table. “Sit down,” she directed.

David seated himself in his usual chair.

Tessa carried the teapot to the table and leaned over him. She liked performing this homey task. She felt a tingle of excitement race through her when she brushed against his shoulder. Her hand trembled a little as she poured the tea.

She filled his cup, then sat down across from him and poured some for herself.

David took a sip of the tea, shuddering at the strong, bitter taste. It was awful, but he couldn’t bear to hurt her feelings by telling her. He’d drink it. Somehow. “I left the sugar on the wagon,” he remembered, “but we’ve got plenty of milk if you want it.” Reaching for one of the cans, he pulled a small knife from his pocket, punched two holes in the top of the milk can, and poured some into his cup. “See?” He held the can so Tessa could see the picture of a cow on the label. “Evaporated milk.”

She took a sip of tea. It was strong and bitter, but she forced herself to swallow it.

“Try it with this,” David urged, passing her the milk.

Tessa poured a small amount into her cup, then handed the container back to David.

Greeley rose from his place atop David’s desk, arched his back, and jumped down. He padded over to the table to investigate the enticing smell, leaping onto David’s lap. David removed his cup, then poured some of the canned milk into his saucer for Greeley. The cat meowed appreciatively as David set the saucer to the side. Greeley leapt onto the table, trotted over to the dish and began to sniff the treat. Tessa watched, fascinated, as David stroked the orange fur covering Greeley’s neck and the edge of one mutilated ear, sipping his tea while the cat lapped up his treat. She liked David’s hands. They were big and strong, but gentle as well. She remembered the way she’d felt when he caressed her, and she envied the ugly orange cat.

“What happened with Coalie’s employer?” he asked thoughtfully.

“He took my money, but he wouldn’t let me have Coalie,” Tessa answered carefully. “He cheated me. I didn’t care about the money. Just Coalie. I had to do something!”

“So you decided to take him?” David guessed.

Tessa nodded without looking at him. “I packed my things and waited for two days until Coalie came to deliver more coal. I asked him if he still wanted to live with me. He did.” She peeked at David to try to gauge his reaction. “We sneaked down to the train station, bought Coalie a ticket, and boarded the train going west.”

“That’s why you used your brother’s ticket to come to Peaceable.”

“Yes.”

She realized now that she’d planned to leave Chicago from the moment she learned of Eamon’s death. She didn’t mind the city so much, but she missed the country. She longed for fresh air and freedom and a home of her own. She’d only stayed in Chicago because her brother needed her. The plan to spirit Coalie away had come to her when she discovered she ached at the thought of leaving him behind. She planned to escape the city and rescue Coalie at the same time. Together they would start a life for themselves in the country. Peaceable seemed like just the right place. The ticket from Eamon was a legacy that meant everything to her. It was the ticket to a new life.

Tessa hadn’t understood the value of Eamon’s belongings when the nurse at the hospital gave them to her. She’d barely listened when the nurse carefully listed each item as she handed it over—a train ticket to Peaceable, Wyoming Territory, twelve dollars in cash, and a receipt for lodging in a place called the Satin Slipper. But later on, in the lonely apartment after Eamon’s funeral, Tessa remembered she had the means to leave. And a reason. She didn’t want to stay in a Chicago apartment without her brother. She wanted a home and a family of her own, and she dreamed of finding a new life in Peaceable. With Coalie.