Rainy Day Dreams: 2 (39 page)

Will gave a miserable nod. “I thought if I discredited her, people would discount her claim when she finally made it. I wouldn’t have struck a match, Jason. I wouldn’t do that.”

He squeezed the man’s shoulder. “I know.”

A movement below them drew their attention. A woman moved slowly among the frightened people, bending here and there to whisper a word of comfort. Jason recognized Miss Everett—Helen—as she ran a hand across the forehead of a crying child. The gesture calmed the child, and his mother squeezed Helen’s hand gratefully. As she moved away, Helen lifted her gaze to the platform where they sat. For a moment Jason thought she was looking at him. Her expression softened into one of compassion, and beside him, a soft moan escaped Will’s throat.

“How will I ever face the people of this town?” The man lowered his head and covered his eyes with a hand.

Jason was still searching for an answer when the crack of gunfire
sounded from the direction of the forest. Within a few breaths, a second followed, and then a third. The men stationed around the perimeter of the blockhouse leaped into action. Jason snatched the rifle from where he’d leaned it against the wall during the lull. Apparently their attackers had finished lunch and were ready to fight again.

Nineteen

T
he afternoon stretched into evening, and the tension inside the blockhouse approached unbearable proportions. As evening fell, Kathryn joined those gathered around Reverend Blaine for a time of prayer, a sleeping John William draped over her shoulder. He had attached himself to her and refused to leave her side all day.

The worst part, Kathryn thought as the minister concluded his prayer, was the silence. Though she would have never dreamed that anything could be more terrifying than the sounds of battle, the absence of those sounds stretched her nerves taut. After the fierce morning’s battle, the fighting had never regained momentum. Throughout the afternoon the men protecting them had exchanged a few shots with their enemy, firing blindly into the forest, but nothing that approached the frenzied fighting of before.

She left the prayer circle and returned to the corner in which she and her friends had gathered all day.

“Do you think it’s over?” Louisa clung to Evie’s arm for support as she lowered herself to the ground.

“I hope so.” Evie settled beside her and arranged her skirts around her legs. She lifted a worried face toward her husband, who stood watch on the platform. “Do you suppose there’s anything left of our town?”

Susan roused out of the solemn silence she’d maintained for most of the day. “I sure hope they didn’t get in the hotel. Everything I have in the world is in there.”

Kathryn hugged the sleeping child in her arms and said nothing. The story of John William’s birth had come out slowly, in snatches whispered between volleys of gunfire. All afternoon her thoughts had circled around a single question. How could her own sister, her
twin,
walk away from her baby? In fact, how could she do any of the things she described? The woman seated beside her, once the closest person in the world to her, had become a complete stranger.

The sound of men’s voices reached them from outside. Not the urgent, intense whispers they’d strained to hear all day, but men speaking in normal tones.

Louisa jerked upright. “Something’s happening.”

A moment later, the blockhouse door opened. Twilight flooded the gloomy interior, along with crisp, cool air scented with that distinct blend of the sea and forest that was uniquely Seattle. Kathryn drew deep draughts of it into her lungs.

David stepped into the center of the doorway. “It’s over, folks.”

A cheer rose from every throat, male and female. Kathryn’s gaze flew upward, where Jason stood between Noah and Will, his fist raised in victory. The triumphant grin he fixed on her sent her heart soaring.

“You can come out,” David told them. “Captain Gansevoort’s men have scoured the whole area. No sign of an Indian warrior within five miles of here. We’ll post a watch throughout the night, but it looks like the hostiles have lost their thirst for white men’s blood.”

Holding tight to a still-slumbering John William, Kathryn filed outside, where she stepped to one side and drank in the sight of the swiftly darkening sky. She scanned the relieved faces of the steady stream of people exiting the fort. Not until the last of the townspeople had exited did her gaze light on the one she longed to see.

Jason’s head turned as he searched the area. When he caught sight of her, his face lit and he hurried to her side.

“Kathryn.” He spoke her name in a husky whisper that sent her heart into a wild dance.

In a moment they were surrounded by their friends. Noah’s arm circled Evie’s waist protectively, while David gently lifted Inez from Louisa’s arms and then wiped a tear from her face.

“We’re safe.” He tore his gaze from hers and looked at Evie. “Our homes are unharmed, and the restaurant. I’m afraid the dry goods store was ransacked.”

“Oh, no.” Kathryn scanned the crowd. “Poor Letitia.”

“One of Gansevoort’s lieutenants is already accompanying her there to assess the damage. At least it’s still standing.” His expression became grim. “Most of the outlying homes have been burned.”

Evie tightened her arms around her husband’s waist and asked in a fearful voice, “How many people were killed?”

Wonder crept over David’s features, and his lips softened into a wide smile. “Not a single one, as far as we can tell.”

“It’s a miracle,” Kathryn whispered.

Jason nodded, a look of fierce wonder on his face. “It truly is. With all those bullets and arrows flying, that’s the only explanation.”

Kathryn smiled at him. “God heard your prayers.”

“Well, we didn’t all escape unscathed.” Jason reached toward her face, and her heart slammed to a stop as she anticipated the touch of his finger against her skin. Instead he grasped a ragged lock of short hair and tugged on the burned end. Everyone laughed.

“There’s no way to tell if our attackers will come back, but Captain Gansevoort thinks they’ve run out of ammunition for the time being.” He grew serious. “I think it would be a good idea to build another blockhouse, and maybe even a stockade.”

After the day just past, confined in close quarters in a dark building, Kathryn couldn’t agree more. A noise behind her alerted her to someone’s approach. She turned…

…and looked directly into the face of Will Townsend.

He looked miserable. For a second he fixed a tortured gaze on her, and then his head dropped forward as though he could not bear looking at her.

“I owe you an apology.”

Kathryn glanced at her sister, who stood a little apart from the others, watching him through narrowed eyes. Pity for him stirred in her. Imagine the fear the man had lived with since her arrival. How horrible to have the threat of losing his grandson hanging over him.

“You don’t owe me anything,” she told him softly.

“Yes, I do.” He stared at his boots, but spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “I thought you were—her. I took your bottle from the hotel’s back porch and planted it in the blockhouse to incriminate you. I hoped that if the townspeople suspected you—or her—of a terrible crime you would be forced to leave Seattle.” He looked up at her. “I spoke badly of you, both behind your back and to your face. Then I threatened you, accused you of deception.” His glance flickered sideways, toward Susan, and then settled back on her. “I was wrong. I truly hope you can forgive me.”

Those around them remained silent, waiting for her answer. In the faces of Evie and Louisa, who had become her friends, she saw that they would staunchly support her no matter what she answered.

But of course there was no question of withholding her forgiveness. “If my father was in your position, I hope he would be just as staunch in his support of his grandson. Of course I forgive you. I hope we can be friends.” She stepped forward and transferred John William into his arms. The boy tossed his head, eyes still closed, and then nestled into the soft skin of his grandfather’s neck.

He gave her a grateful look, and then his forehead creased. “One thing I don’t understand. Why didn’t you speak out when I accused you that day at my house?”

Now it was her turn to avert her eyes. Her secret would come out
one day. Why not today? She couldn’t live with the threat hanging over her head any longer.

“I mistook your accusation for something else. I thought you were threatening to tell everyone”—she clasped her hands together in front of her apron and looked up at Jason—“of my arrest in San Francisco six months ago.”

Jason’s eyes widened. “You were
arrested
? For what?”

She swallowed hard. “For chaining myself to a flagpole along with two dozen other demonstrators protesting the unfair treatment of women. I spent an afternoon in jail.”

Evie stepped forward, eyes alight. “You’re a suffragette?”

“How exciting!” Louisa actually clapped her hands. “As soon as the baby is born, let’s all make ourselves trousers and parade down Mill Street.”

“What?”

The look of consternation on David’s face elicited peals of laughter from his wife. “Come on, dear. We’ll talk about it on the way home.”

She looped her arm through his and they wandered off, Evie and Noah right behind them. With an unreadable look in her direction, Jason followed, but did not leave the knoll. Instead he joined a group of millworkers talking with some sailors, but his eyes strayed continually in Kathryn’s direction. What did he think of her now? Before the night was over, she would find an opportunity to pull him aside. After all, she had yet to thank him for carrying her to safety. The idea sent her pulse into an acrobatic tumble.

For a few seconds after they left, an uncomfortable silence fell between the remaining trio. Will shifted his weight from one foot to another so often he almost appeared to be dancing with the sleeping boy.

Finally, he blurted to Susan, who had maintained a distance of several feet from the others. “I’ll pay you.”

Susan’s head jerked toward him. “What?”

“To leave Seattle and never come back. Leave John William with me. I’ve got some money saved up, and I’ll give it to you.”

A scornful snort blew through her lips. “You can’t buy a baby.”

He took a forward step. “I wouldn’t be. I’d be paying your expenses to start a new life somewhere else. Somewhere far away.” When she would have said something else, he cut her off. “Don’t turn me down outright. Think about it. The ship you came in on leaves tomorrow.”

Before she could answer he hurried away, clutching the boy close. Kathryn and Susan stood watching as he strode through the small number of townspeople who remained in the vicinity. At the top of the knoll, a waiting figure separated herself from the crowd and joined him. After exchanging a brief word, he and Helen disappeared down the hill together.

“Huh. I never thought I’d see my kid again.” Susan’s chest heaved with a silent laugh. “Or you. Imagine you spending a day in the hoosegow. Never would have guessed.”

Kathryn bit down on her lip. “Papa would have conniptions if he ever found out.”

A smirk twisted the lips so like her own. “Honey, Papa would have conniptions about a lot of things if he ever found out.”

Since that was blatantly obvious, she had no answer. They stood a minute, a marked strain between them. It made Kathryn sad. In their younger days they had been so close. But Susan was a different person. And so was she.

“What will you do?”

Susan cocked her head, her expression thoughtful as she stared in the direction Will had gone. “Do you think I’d make a good mother?”

“No.” Kathryn suppressed a shudder. “I don’t.”

“Thanks for the support.” Her lips twisted again, and then she shrugged. “You’re right. I’d make a lousy mother.”

Susan’s shoulders sagged, and the sass seemed to drain away. For the first time since her arrival Kathryn glimpsed the sister she remembered. “But you would. You could raise him. It would almost be like having his real mother, only better.”

“Will is a good grandfather, and he loves John William more than anything. They have a happy life together.” She spoke as gently as she could. “I could never interfere with that.”

Susan’s teeth appeared and clamped down on her lower lip. “But you’ll watch out for him, won’t you? You know, stick around here and make sure the kid’s taken care of.”