Hell's Belle (23 page)

To Twila's
surprise, Del tipped his hat and grinned. "No problem at all, ma'am. Thank
you for the information. If you could just point me in the right direction,
I'll take my wife right over to find Miss Vogel there. Maybe we can lend a hand
in the community efforts."

"Why, young
man, that's a capital notion! The minister's not as young as he once was. A
strapping young fellow like you will be much appreciated. You go to the next
cross street, then over one block south."

They left the rig
hitched to a nearby post and followed the sounds of activity to a rear hall
connected to the apse. They discovered a number of females  bustling about with
mops and brooms and paper flowers. The minister scaled a ladder that seemed in
danger of crashing down as Lucius' had done. Del rushed over to steady it.

Twila spotted Hilde
beneath a voluminous length of green cotton gauze. "Miss Vogel!"

The girl turned and
squinted. Her face brightened and she dropped the fabric to rush over.
"Miss Bell! I'd hoped you could come soon, but when I didn't hear from you
again I thought perhaps you'd run into some difficulty."

"Nope. Just a
church like this, where she exchanged vows and became Mrs. Mitchell," Del
answered for her. "How do you do, Miss Vogel? I've heard about what
happened, with you and your grandfather and that mess on the train. Name's Del Mitchell."

Hilde's eyes
widened and she gushed at Twila, "My lands, look at him! How is it I ride
West and lose everything precious, while you ride on the same train and end up
finding a man like that?"

Twila knew she was
blushing. Del's very masculine chuckle didn't help. "Oh, well…" She thrust
out the satchel. "Here you are, at last."

Hilde grabbed it
and popped the top open. She rummaged through it, then glanced back at Twila.
"Oh no." Her expression instantly changed to one of dismay. "I'd
hoped…a slim chance, I admit. With all the confusion and whatnot, you probably
didn't have your eye on my bag every minute. I'd packed something very old and
important under my other things. A necklace Grandmother left me. It's not
here."

Twila straightened
her shoulders and savored the moment.

Other than last
night, when she'd confessed her pregnancy and Del had responded by telling her
he loved her, Twila thought this might be the shining moment of her life. The
one time she'd be able to point to, years later, when she had done the right
thing. The best thing. And everyone would be amazed, rather than dismayed, that
Twilagleam coordinated the situation.

"Yes, it
is," she replied. "
He
has it."

"What? How
could
I
have it? I've never even seen it," Del sputtered.

Twila bit the side
of her tongue to keep from laughing. "It's in your coat." She calmly
reached for a shoulder and tugged the garment down his arm. "Remember when
I fixed the lining? I sewed the necklace inside it."

While Del and Hilde
stood transfixed like a pair of statues, Twila opened the coat, found the
little French knot she'd left as a marker near the side seam, and plucked at
the knot with her teeth. It snapped. She tugged the loose thread and carefully
pulled the fleece lining away from the outer leather coat.

Neatly tucked in
several places, the necklace caught the sun from the church's high arched
windows and sent a dazzling sunburst bouncing off the gleaming tile floor.

"Merciful
heavens!" The minister shuffled over, gaping at the display.

Hilde stared at the
necklace a long moment, then crushed Twila to her bosom, weeping tears of joy. "I'll
never be able to thank you enough. Wait until Grandfather hears about
this."

Del tugged his coat
back out of Twila's hands and held the necklace close to his face. "This  thing
is…Twila, those look like diamonds. A hell of a lot of diamonds, and pearls,
and—"

"Sapphires,
" Hilde supplied in a giddy tone. "My grandmother inherited it from
her grandmother. It's worth a king's ransom. Grandfather was certain we'd lost
it in the train robbery. The insurance agent said he wasn't sure we could be
paid what it's actually worth, since we hadn't had it appraised recently. They
even assigned a special agent to investigate the train robbery because this
necklace was believed to be stolen, too. Oh, Twila, you're amazing!"

"Diamonds and
pearls and sapphires…You had that out at the ranch the whole time, Twila,"
Del said in bemusement. He sat down heavily. Twila realized his eyes appeared
oddly unfocused. He'd gone pale as a ghost, too.

She broke away from
Hilde. "Delancy, are you all right? You look quite wan, of a sudden. You
didn't eat much last night."

The clergyman
chuckled. "Young woman, I've seen this effect before. I believe the
fellow's simply in momentary shock. Gives a man pause, realizing he's been
guarding a fortune. I suspect he's just now opening his mind to the tremendous
risk you took, traveling with such an expensive piece."

Twila watched Hilde
dig a pair of scissors out of her apron and begin snipping at the stitches holding
the necklace inside Del's coat. It was actually convenient that Hilde had been
hanging decorations, Twila noted. She was carrying scissors and twine in her
apron pockets. Sometimes the same quirk of fate that made everything careen so
out of kilter could propel events to come together just as nicely. She was ever
so glad this appeared to be one of those nice times.

But she still
worried about Del. She'd never seen him look so…baffled.

Then she replayed
the minister's words, and realized she should correct one mistaken impression.
"It wasn't such a risk, really. After all, no one except me knew we had
it, and thieves would never take Del's coat. He'd never let them."

As she anticipated,
this snapped him back to life. "Never
let
them? Twila, I don't understand
how you can say that. For all we know, the whole train robbery could've been
staged by outlaws who knew the Vogels had this necklace on that train! Hell,
they could've been trailing you and the Bells—Jesus, the store! The Emporium
was broken into not even a month back. They were looking for this, weren't
they, Twila?"

He looked mad
enough to shake her, but Twila never flinched. She leaned even closer and
stared at him so hard, his spine slapped the back of the wooden pew. "They
most certainly were
not
! I told you that I never admitted to anyone that
I had it, Del. Not my uncle, not Lucius, not even Hilde or her grandfather in
my advertisements or letters…not even
you
. And while it bothered me for
a long time to have it at the ranch, once I decided what should be done about
it, I resolved not to worry, but get it back to Hilde. You asked me to trust
you, Delancy. My trust was one of the essential elements I agreed to when we
married. Remember?"

"Yeah, but—"

"I didn't
tell
you. Does that mean I didn't
trust
you?"

The ministered
answered for him. "She's got a reasonable argument there, good fellow.
Appears as though you're the only person she trusted completely, to act as
courier. Even believed you'd thwart a robbery attempt if one was made."

"But you couldn't
have been certain I'd come after you," Del protested, rising to his feet
now and scowling back at her. Inside, Twila beamed. She particularly loved this
side of Del. The Del who could step over a fool wearing a corset on his head
and get rogue ponies in gingham curtains to calmly follow where he led. This
ferocious, wonderful Del.

"If you
hadn't, I would have sent Lucius home with a message asking you to come fetch
me from Hilde's. I wouldn't have gone back to Wadsworth until you came for
me."

"Well, how
would you know for sure I'd wear my coat? Were you going to say in your
message, '
Oh, and bring your damned coat
'?"

A collective gasp
rose as mops and brooms stilled.

Twila clucked her
tongue in reproach. "Delancy, this is a house of worship and there are a
number of ladies present. Please have a care with your language. Being
emotionally overset is no reason to—"

"There's no
reason for anyone to be upset," Hilde interrupted, pressing the necklace
to her chest. "You've both done the most wonderful thing for my
family!" She glanced at the clergyman and a pair of older women standing
behind him. "Forgive me, but I really feel I must see these people home
and share the news with my grandfather. He hasn't been well, and this will
cheer him immensely. Perhaps if—"

"We'll carry
on in your absence, my dear," the minister assured her. Then he beamed at
first Twila, then her scowling husband. "And you two fine folks must come
for the social tomorrow. You'll stay with Miss Vogel and accompany her back
here. I'm not taking no for an answer. Everyone will want to meet our
heroes!"

The knot of fury
low in Del's belly had moved across his chest and even snarled the working
parts of this throat. His tongue strained, his mind begged for him to form the
simply word "no" and have done with it. He wanted to go home to the
ranch, not to any church social. He wanted to be alone with Twila so he could
decide whether to strangle her or kiss her senseless. He wanted to shout that
he couldn't believe her grit, her faith in him, even that she'd claimed to be
in love with him and had been hiding that truth.

Then he remembered
he'd confessed his own volatile emotions to her just the night before. After
she'd told him they were to become parents in a few months.

His eyes met hers,
and in their amber depths he saw a calming deep conviction. Maybe even
admiration.

Damn that woman,
would she never stop getting things backward? All he'd done was put on his coat
and ride his horse.

He was the one who
should be in awe of her. When he thought of how folks had treated her, how her
own family belittled her and degraded her, telling her she could never do
anything right…When he thought of how she'd stoically withstood all that, until
the moment when a horse's ass of a daredevil asked her to leave her uncle's
house and become his wife…Also stupidly, arrogantly demanding she trust him.

Twila trusted a
world that had done nothing to earn her faith. She trusted in people, even
though many of them had done everything to undermine her belief in the good
side of human nature.

She'd given her
trust, her faith, her loving woman's body—which even now harbored the seed of
his unborn child. What had he given her in return? A truly hideous wedding
ring, a show of male bluster when she'd done something as simple as ride out of
town with her male cousin. He'd never given her a proper wedding or a festive
party to celebrate their union. Never danced with her or shown her off in
public so she could know he was immeasurably proud of her.

"We'll be
there," he heard himself answer.

Twila just smiled,
and Del's heart thumped. How little he'd valued that smile. It outshone the
pearls and diamonds, put the sapphires to shame.

"Come on, Miss
Vogel. I'm looking forward to meeting your grandpappy."

Tucking Twila's arm
through his, Del straightened his shoulders and picked up his coat from where
it had been tossed, forgotten, in a nearby pew. He mentally shook his head.
He'd always heard churches were places of true miracles. Today he'd witnessed
one. And discovered another had been living on his ranch for months. He'd just
been too blind to see her.

* * *

Lucius paused in
front of the location fitting the stranger's description. It looked nothing
like the bordellos or gaming hells in Wadsworth, or even those of Reno. This was
a traditional, three-story house, festooned with abundant railings, decorative
trim moldings, and shuttered windows. It looked like an elegant funeral parlor.
Maybe even a governor's mansion.

But it wasn't the
home of the California governor. It was the house reputed to be the premiere in
this bustling city for gentlemanly pursuits of a certain flavor.

He fingered the
coins in his pocket and his folded stash of notes. His father would naturally
be frantic when he discovered the empty till. However, Lucius didn't think that
moment would come until a few days from now. While no one else in town seemed
to pay any attention, Lucius was fully aware that Fletcher's focus of late
seemed to revolve around a certain shapely widow.

Lucius hadn't been
fooled when Fletcher claimed to need the horse and wagon for a mysterious
"delivery" some two dozen miles outside of Wadsworth. There was
nothing beyond the town limits except rocks, rattlesnakes, and scorpions.
Unless one counted the meandering Truckee River, which curved and ended in a
nice lake where lovers were known to steal away for private picnics.

As long as Fletcher
was fervently "delivering" to the widow, he wouldn't return to the
emporium. And when he did, he'd jump to the conclusion that the store had been
broken into again. This impression aided by the fact that Lucius made sure to
leave the upstairs kitchen window open—something Twila had overlooked in their
rushed departure.

For all Lucius
knew, maybe the store
was
being ransacked and searched again. If those
Englishmen had returned to confront him, they would have found no one minding
the place. They could pore over his father's idiotic journals at their leisure.
Lucius laughed out loud. They still refused to accept that his father had less
clue to where gold lay buried than most of the Spanish explorers centuries
before.