Bicycle Built for Two (16 page)

He didn’t have to worry about it for more
than another few minutes, because his carriage arrived at the
hospital, and his coachman pulled as close to the front stairs as
he could. Recalling the first time he’d driven Kate to the
hospital, Alex was pleased to note that she didn’t seem inclined to
leap out of the carriage and run away from him this time. Rather,
she waited for him to open the door, let down the stairs, and take
her arm to assist her. Just like a real, honest-to-God lady.

It wasn’t much, but it was something, and he
felt irrationally encouraged.

# # #

Kate hurried down the hospital corridors in
front of Alex, unwilling to walk at his side or allow him to hold
her arm. Embarrassment and rage seemed to be her constant
companions around him, and they were wearing her to a frazzle.

She’d always pretty much accepted the way
she had to live before she met him. Nowadays, every time anything
bad happened to her—like that guy outside the Egyptian
Pavilion—Kate saw it as a reflection on her way of life, her moral
worth, her character, and her overall unfitness to be among the
living. It wasn’t fair. Nothing was fair.

And now he was taking her mother away from
her.

Aw, nuts. She was being totally irrational.
Ma would never abandon her Katie. Never.

She pushed the door open before Alex could
open it for her like the gentleman he was, and tiptoed into the
room. She noted with relief that her mother was sitting up in bed,
talking to a nursing sister. She looked awful, but maybe not quite
as awful as she had that morning. Kate took heart.

“Hey, Ma,” she called out in the cheeriest
voice she could create, given her state of nerves and exhaustion.
“You’re sitting up.” Sitting up was an encouraging sign; Kate knew
it in her bones.

Her mother’s face brightened. “Katie. I’m so
glad you came.”

“I always come, Ma. You know that.” She took
her mother’s hand, bent over to kiss her cheek, and stood again.
She smiled the nun, who had stepped back and was beaming down upon
them, as if she were witnessing a touching family reunion. Little
did she know.

Kate told herself not to be sarcastic, or
she’d turn into a bitter old woman before she was out of her
twenties.

“And Mr. English came, too.” Mrs. Finney’s
cheeks took on a tiny bit of color. “You’re too good to me, Mr.
English. But I’m so grateful.”

“Nonsense. It’s good to see you looking more
the thing.” Alex came over to the bed, took Hazel Finney’s hand in
one of his and patted it with the other.

Kate experienced an uncomfortable twisting
in her gut and tried to ignore it. She turned to the nun. “How’s
she doing?” Kate had become accustomed to taking on the
responsibilities her mother and father would have assumed if her
mother had been healthy and her father a decent human being. She
didn’t really mind—well, except about her father—and she’d be
darned if she’d relinquish her duties to Alex English, a man who
had been a perfect stranger until he got a bug in his ear about
her.

“Much better.”

The nun had a soft voice and a slight
accent. She was kind of pretty, and Kate wondered why a pretty
woman would give up the chance to have a husband and family in
order to marry Jesus and join the church. Then again, maybe the
woman had been born on the wrong side of the tracks and had been
cursed with a father like Kate’s. Kate’s father might affect
anybody’s willingness to undertake the bonds of matrimony.

There she went again. Kate scolded herself
for being cynical.

“Did the new doctor come to see you today,
Mrs. Finney?” Alex asked.

“New doctor?” Kate glanced from the nun to
Alex, her worry gauge quivering. “What new doctor?”

“I have a friend whose brother is a
physician, Miss Finney. I asked him to recommend a doctor who
specializes in tuberculosis. I wanted him to examine Mrs. Finney
before we take a long trek to the country.”

Blast and hell! The damned man was, by God,
taking over her life. Kate had been in charge of things relating to
her family for as long as she could remember. She’d only met Alex a
couple of weeks ago, and already she felt as if everything was
slipping from her grasp. She didn’t like it. “I see.”

“He was a very nice doctor, Katie. He only
wanted to make sure I was getting the proper rest and
medications.”

The tone of worry in her mother’s voice
smote Kate on the conscience. Nuts. She forced a smile. “That’s
good, Ma. I’m sure he was nice.” It cost her, but she had to ask.
“Did he say you were getting the right medication?”

“He prescribed a cough syrup he thinks will
be better for soothing the spasms.”

“Good. That’s good.” It was good; Kate
couldn’t deny it. Turning once more to Alex, she said through her
teeth, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

He looked as if he recognized her attitude
as one of jealousy and resentment, softened by unwilling gratitude,
and found it amusing. Kate didn’t think anything about her mother’s
situation was amusing. She really didn’t like strangers outside her
family taking over, either. Oh, yeah, sure, he had money and Kate
didn’t, but that was no reason to do things without consulting her,
and she aimed to tell him so as soon as they left her mother’s
room.

Alex pulled up a chair and indicated with a
gesture that Kate should sit on it, so she did. She tried to
unclench her teeth at the same time. She didn’t want to show Ma how
upset she was. The nun murmured something and left the room. Kate
was glad to see her go.

“Did you discuss our proposed trip to the
country with Dr. Daugherty, Mrs. Finney?”

There he went again. Taking over. Because
she didn’t want to start a fight in front of Ma but wanted to show
Alex who was the boss here, Kate stuck in an oar. “Yeah, Ma. Mr.
English told me he’d talked to you about a trip to his farm. What
do you think?”

“I think it sounds heavenly,” Mrs. Finney
said. Her eyes were shining, which was something they hadn’t done
very often in Kate’s lifetime.

“Did the doc think so?” Kate squeezed her
mother’s hand, determined to resume her proper role as leading lady
in her family’s own personal play on the stage of life.

“He said that if I don’t overdo, the country
air might be good for me.”

“Good!”

Alex’s hearty voice startled Kate. She
glanced over to find him rubbing his hands together. He reminded
her of The Great Fontini, a man who called himself a magician and
who used to play the street corners in her neighborhood. People
tossed coins at him when he did his tricks. After he collected
enough coins, he went to the corner saloon and loaded up. “Yeah,”
she said. “That’s real good, Ma.”

# # #

Mrs. Finney’s strength gave out soon after
Kate and Alex arrived at the hospital, so their visit didn’t last
long. Alex felt exceptionally good about Mrs. Finney, though. He
was doing all the right things for her, and the knowledge made him
glad. Even if the younger Finney woman didn’t appreciate him.

He knew—and he knew Mrs. Finney knew—that
the eventual result of her illness was death, but he was doing all
he could to make her final days as pleasant as possible. Thanks to
him, they were going to be a lot nicer than she must have expected.
He couldn’t understand why Kate was in such a fuss this evening,
though. She ought to be pleased that her mother was looking forward
to something for once in her unhappy life.

They’d exited the hospital and were
approaching the stairs down to the street. Alex’s coach awaited his
pleasure, as usual, and Alex anticipated driving Kate to her
apartment. He was curious about how and where she lived. She
couldn’t afford much of a place, he supposed, and he wondered if
her brothers helped her out. From his viewpoint, Alex thought the
men of the Finney family ought to make her live with one of them,
although his own experience with their sister had taught him how
little Kate cottoned to the roles most people accepted as
appropriate for males and females.

Before she set foot on the cement steps
leading to the street, Kate turned around and stopped walking.
Alex, wondering what had prompted her to stop walking, looked
around to see if anything was amiss. He knew something was wrong,
or Kate wouldn’t be looking like a pot about to boil over.

Kate enlightened him. “Listen here, Mr.
English, I don’t like it when you do things for Ma without talking
to me about them first.”

He goggled slightly. “I—I beg your pardon?”
What in the name of mercy had he done this time to annoy the
infuriating Kate Finney? Dash it, everything he did for Kate’s
mother was . . . well . . . for Kate’s mother, dash it! “You had no
right to call one of your friends about my mother! Pick on your own
mother if you want to send doctors to somebody!”

“What? Miss Finney . . . For heaven’s sake,
you’re making no sense!”

“Oh, yeah? Well, how’d you like it if some
stranger waltzed into your life and took it over? You wouldn’t like
it any better than I do!”

“Take over your life? Good Lord, woman, are
you crazy?”

“No!” Kate turned precipitately and ran down
the stairs.

Alex followed her, more slowly. “Miss
Finney, come back here. We need to discuss this.” She was a
madwoman. Alex was sure of it this time. He could account for her
behavior in no other way.

“I don’t want to discuss anything with you!
The time for discussion was before you sent a strange doctor to see
Ma.”

This was idiotic. Alex sped up when she
detoured around his coach. Obviously, the wench intended to walk
home, whether the streets were safe for ladies after dark or not.
It was as if she didn’t care to accept even a ride from him. And
all because he’d had a specialist visit her mother. Lunacy. That
was the only explanation.

His legs were considerably longer than
Kate’s. She’d managed to skim around the horses, her little feet
pumping like pistons, when he caught up with her. Since she didn’t
appear inclined to wait for him, Alex reached out and took her arm.
She tried to wrench herself away, but couldn’t break his hold.

“Wait a minute, Miss Finney. You can’t walk
home in the dark.”

She swirled around so fast, Alex almost lost
his grip on her arm. “I can, too, walk home in the dark, damn you!
I’ve been doing it all my life! Let me go!”

This was really quite distressing. “Dash it,
why are you in such a rage? I didn’t and don’t intend anything but
kindness to you and your mother.”

Her whole body seemed to be trembling.
Alex’s befuddlement grew. “Doggone it! Go find some other poor
people to help, will you? Leave me and my family alone. We don’t
need you!”

“Like fun you don’t.” Alex’s own temper was
shredding fast. “Before you met me, your mother was languishing in
the Charity Ward. I can’t understand why you’re being so irrational
about accepting my help.”

“Oh! You . . . You . . . Damn you!” Kate
wriggled and pulled, and still she couldn’t loosen Alex’s grip. He
feared he was bruising her wrist, but he didn’t dare let her go for
fear she’d dash out into the street and get run down by a newspaper
wagon or a milk truck or something.

“Stop squirming, dash it.” He absolutely
hated scenes. He’d never been a part of one until Kate Finney
showed up in his life. But Kate seemed hell-bent on creating a
spectacle of herself—and of him—every time they were in each
other’s company. “Come here, to the coach. We can talk in
there.”

“I don’t want to talk to you!”

If he weren’t so occupied, Alex might have
rolled his eyes. “Nonsense. You just said we need to discuss
things. Well, I’m not going to stand here while you discuss things
at the top of your lungs. We’ll get into the coach, I have my man
drive you to your lodging, and we can talk on the way.”

“No!”

Good God, people were beginning to notice
them. Frustrated beyond anything and tired of being Kate’s target,
Alex finally gave in to temptation, plucked her right up off the
street, and carried her to his coach. He noticed Frank, the
coachman, grinning, but decided to take him to task later. Kate was
enough of a problem for any man to tackle at one time.

She fought like a fiend, but was so much
smaller and lighter than he that Alex had no trouble getting her
into the coach. Once inside, knowing she couldn’t get out except by
the door she came in, he let her go and blocked the door. With a
furious bellow, Kate wrenched herself away from him and flung
herself on the carriage seat. She glared at him savagely for
approximately ten seconds, during which precious few moments Alex
tried to catch his breath.

Feeling sour and not caring to disguise the
fact, he snapped, “There. Are you sane again yet?”

“
Damn
you!”

Kate leapt up from the bench cushion like an
enraged fury, stood stock-still for a heartbeat, her mouth gaping
and her eyes wide, then crumpled to the floor at his feet.

“Good Gad.”

As he picked her up and laid her on the coach
seat, Alex thought darkly that at least life around Kate Finney
wasn’t dull.

Chapter Eight

Alex had learned Kate’s address
from Hazel Finney. After he was pretty sure Kate was out cold—he
didn’t suppose one could ever be completely certain about anything
around Kate—he leaned out the window and told his driver where to
go. Frank, who still sounded as if he were finding all this vastly
funny, said smartly, “Yes, sir!” and drove off.

As far as Alex was concerned, nothing about
this latest incident was at all funny. Irate and frustrated, he
crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at Kate as the coach
jolted along.

She was a pretty thing once one got past her
prickles. He knew she had bright, bright blue eyes. He also knew
she had a sense of humor, although she was so defensive about
everything, sometimes the humor got buried under the strain of all
the other things going on around her. That she had a capacity for
great love and loyalty was a given. That she’d suffered greatly in
her life was also a patent truth.