The Time Heiress (27 page)

They were within several blocks of the church, and the billowing smoke was still before them, growing every minute. As they came closer, they saw people running toward it, others running away, but the fire wagons multiplied, pulled by horses racing along at breakneck speed.

“Oh my God,” whispered Evie, covering her mouth with her hand.  

Once they were within a block of the church, they could go no further. The street was clogged with fire engines and people, and flames were shooting into the sky.

Evie and Cassandra both clambered out of the carriage as the driver tried to hold his horses in check. Cassandra handed money to him.

“Wait here!” she told him.

They ran down the street as far as they could until they met with a barricade of policemen holding the crowd back. The rectory building was nearly engulfed in flames, and sparks were igniting the roof of the parish hall.  

“Reverend Williams!” Evie gasped, “Sarah!”

“Is anyone in there?” Cassandra asked a police officer.

“We do not know, ma’am,” was all he said before he turned away from her to deal with the mayhem.

Firemen directed their hoses at the flames, spewing water that came from a reservoir wagon. A line of people that Cassandra recognized from the congregation had formed a bucket brigade and were passing tubs of water forward from the well in the square in front of the church.

“Someone’s got to go in there!” screamed Evie. “Someone has got to save them!”

“It is too late, miss,” another officer said to her. “If anyone’s still in there, it is already too late.”

“Oh my God!” Evie cried, collapsing into Cassandra’s arms. “No! It cannot be possible!”

Suddenly the walls caved in, and the building was completely engulfed in flames. There was a cacophony of shouts and screams, bells clanging, whistles, the crackling of the fire, the roaring of flames. Cassandra dragged Evie back away from the searing heat, and pulled her towards the carriage far up the block.  

“We have got to get back to the house!” she yelled.

Pushing through the crowd, she got them to the vehicle and told the driver to head to West Fifteenth Street. As they drove, Evie wept into her hands, while Cassandra racked her brain trying to remember the outcome of the fires, or when and how the deaths of Reverend Williams and Sarah had occurred.

When they arrived at the house, Cassandra paid the driver, and he took the suitcase to the porch, while Cassandra helped Evie down. The door opened, and there stood Reverend Williams, his hair and eyes wild, his face and clothing smudged with soot.

“Oh thank God!” cried Evie as she rushed to embrace him.

“We just came from the fire,” Cassandra croaked, as she walked toward him, relieved beyond words.

Sarah was behind him in a second. “Where is my daughter?” she shrieked.

“She is…she is safe,” said Cassandra, “but, she is gone.”

“Gone! Gone where?” demanded Sarah.

“Come inside, dear ladies,” the reverend said, gently moving them past his daughter.

“I will explain.” said Cassandra.

“Yes, but let us get you some water,” he said. “Come, sit down in the parlor.”

“Cassandra!”

It was Nick, rushing through the parlor door.

It took Cassandra a moment to realize what she was seeing. “Nick?”

“Oh, Cassandra!” He moved past Reverend Williams and Sarah and grabbed her into his arms. “Cassandra! I am so glad to see you!”

Cassandra pushed back from him. “What are you doing here?”

“Nick, we are so glad to see you!” said Evie, hugging him. “Reverend, Mrs. Johnston, I cannot tell you how relieved we are that you are all right! Was anyone in the rectory that you know of?”

“Wait a minute!” said Cassandra. “What is going on?”

Nick began to speak.

“Was the church spared?” the reverend asked the two women.

“I think so,” said Evie.

They all went to sit in the parlor, Nick taking a seat next to Cassandra on the sofa as she stared at him in disbelief.

“Mrs. Reilly, I want to know where my daughter is,” pressed Sarah through her tears. She wiped her face with a handkerchief while she and her father sat. Evie pulled a chair near to Sarah and placed a hand on the woman’s arm.

“She went with them,” said Cassandra, looking at her lap.

“But why?” stormed the reverend. “Why would she leave our work? How could she leave us?”

Cassandra looked up into his eyes, now blue-gray. She understood that he didn’t know his granddaughter’s secret, nor did her mother.

“She wanted to see them to safety. She wanted to see them to Canada.” She watched relief spread over their faces.

“Then she is coming back!” Sarah exclaimed.

“I do not know,” said Cassandra. “Hopefully, yes.”

“It is just like her,” Sarah said to her father with loving exasperation, “to take it all the way. Not to leave anything to chance.”

“Yes,” said the reverend proudly. “It
is
like her.”

Cassandra thought about the letter Miss Johnston had written, and realized the woman had never given it to her. She imagined that Miss Johnston would send it from Canada.

“Yes, she is a remarkable young woman. It has been my honor to know her these past weeks.” She pulled her hand away from Nick’s.

“Oh, Mrs. Reilly, your fiancé is our hero!” exclaimed Sarah, recovering her composure.

Cassandra shot Nick a questioning glance, but the woman continued.

“He was with us at the rectory. We had finished dinner and were discussing what to do to find you two and my daughter. We heard a strange sound, then we smelled smoke, and suddenly realized the roof was on fire. I rushed to get some valuables and Father was gathering up the family bible and some important church papers, but Mr. Stockard forced us to leave the building and we did so just in time. We came here to recover our senses. If it were not for him, we might have perished!”

“It was nothing, please,” said Nick.

“But—” Cassandra began.

Caroline and Anna Mae came in with trays of tea and sandwiches and clucked over everyone, expressing joy at seeing the travelers returned safely.

Evie rose. “If you will all excuse me, I am not hungry. I need to have a little rest and begin preparing my things for our return.”

“She must be havin’ a hard time lettin’ go of Caleb,” said Anna Mae quietly after Evie was out of ear shot. “She had it bad for that man; can’ say as I blame her, either.”

“Anna Mae!” declared Sarah.

“Well, it’s the truth,” the cook muttered.

“Caroline,” Sarah said, turning to her. “Will you please send a message to Carter for us? I would like him to come for me and Father. Ask him if he would please take us to James’ house? We need to tell him about the fire and about Cass. We will stay there tonight.”

“Are you sure you will not stay here?” asked Caroline. “It is getting late, and you have had a hard evening.”

Cassandra held her breath. She did not want them to stay; she wanted to take Nick and Evie and go to the portal exit tonight. She didn’t want Nick hovering around these people any longer.  

“No, James keeps a room for us there, and he will want to know as soon as possible what has happened. It is better if the family is all there together. In the morning we can decide how we will proceed.”

Reverend Williams sighed. “It will be a huge expense to rebuild. I do not see how the church will manage it. We may have to plan to live here or with James from now on.”

“That discussion is for tomorrow, Father,” said Sarah. “Let us rest while we wait for Carter, and let our friends do what they have to do.”

Caroline hurried out the door.

“I have some things to attend to,” said Cassandra. “Do not leave until I have a chance to say goodbye.”

“Of course not, my dear,” said Sarah. “Please let us know how Miss Bay is doing.”

“Yes, I will.” Cassandra said with a sad smile. “Nick, will you come help me?”

They found Evie in her room, sitting on the bed.

 “We are leaving tonight.” Cassandra said.

“Yes, of course,” Evie replied sullenly.

“I think that’s best,” responded Nick.

“I only have a few items of clothing left here,” said Evie, “but I would like to leave them for Caroline.”

“I am sure that would be fine.” Cassandra turned to leave. “By the way, Sarah and Reverend Williams are leaving very soon. Do you want to say good-bye to them?”

Evie’s eyes filled with tears. “Will you do it for me, Cassie? I just cannot bear it.”

“Of course. I understand.” Cassandra beckoned Nick out of the room and into her own. Once there, Nick moved to embrace her but she backed away.

“What are you doing here, Nick?” she asked.

“What do you mean? I came to find you! You were almost a week late.”

“Almost a week. Not quite a week. I do not think that warranted you coming to look after us. We got back here, didn’t we?”

“Yes, but…what happened? Who is this Caleb that Evie got involved with and what about,” he stopped.

“What gives you the right to be my interrogator?”

“Cassandra, I love you. We are together. I suppose that gives me the right.”

“When I left, things were not good between us, Nick. We are not together anymore. I did not mean to tell you like this, but there it is.”

“Cassandra!”

“We are professionals on this project and nothing more. You are not my knight in shining armor.”

“I did not mean to be; I was just worried. Please, do not let it end like this.”

But she had turned from him and was pulling out the suitcases she’d mostly packed up before they’d left the house the week before.

“I cannot believe that Professor Carver approved you coming.”

“Well, he did,” replied Nick defensively.

“Unbelievable. At any rate, I will do my explaining to him and the others when we return. I am going to get my things together. Once the reverend and Sarah leave, we will get to the portal. Why don’t you go downstairs and keep them company since you seem to be such good friends?”

“Cassandra,” Nick pleaded. “I cannot believe you are reacting this way. I care about you and was simply afraid for your safety.”

She was looking through a suitcase for something, and didn’t answer him.

“Maybe you could tell me about this Evans character,” he said suddenly.

She stopped dead and looked at him, her face coloring. “There is nothing to tell.”

“That is not what your expression says.”

“Nick,” she sighed with exasperation, returning to her suitcase. “We will talk about it later. Please. Let me finish up here. I will be down soon.”

“Fine.” He went to leave the room, then turned back and grabbed her arm. “I just want you to know that I do not appreciate being treated like a fool.”

“What are you talking about?” she said as she tried to wrench away.

“I know you were with that man,” he whispered.

“You do not know anything,” she spat, pulling her arm free.

“You would be surprised,” he said, his face close to hers.

“Get out of here!” She took a step back.

He looked her over slowly and she felt a cold, unreasoning fear creep up her spine. He turned and walked away.

She went to the basin and washed her face. She did not want to take the time to change clothes, although hers were smudged with soot. She dug around in her suitcase for the latch in the false bottom. She extracted a key from her pocket, unlocked it and took out all of the money. With a piece of paper and a pen, she scratched a note to Reverend Williams and inserted $4,500.00 into the envelope. She thought it would be enough to rebuild. She didn’t know why she did it—it was contrary to all her training as a chronologist, but she knew the rectory was standing in 2122, a historic and revered building, and that the church must have escaped much harm from the fire. She could only figure that the Vanderhoff gang was responsible, and that they would have done it whether she and Evie had been involved with the family or not.

She wrote Reverend Williams’ name on the envelope and stuck it in her pocket. She had a few other details to attend to, and when they were done, she closed her suitcase back up and went down the stairs.

Sarah met her at the bottom. “Oh, I was just coming up to find you. Carter is here with the carriage. When do you depart for Boston?”

“First thing in the morning if possible,” she lied, “so let me say my goodbyes now, and thank you for all the kindnesses you have shown us.”

“Oh, we cannot leave without saying goodbye to Miss Bay!”

“Please,” Cassandra hurried to say, “she asked that I say her good-byes for her. She has said too many today. I will pass on your love to her.”

“Anyway,” Sarah remarked, “it is not forever, am I right? You will come back to visit us. Boston is not so very far away. Will you write, and ask Miss Bay to?”