Sadie's Secret: 3 (The Secret Lives of Will Tucker) (55 page)

He had. Jefferson winced. “I also said we should live a little. And we will. But you need to stay right here while I handle a situation.”

“Valletta.”

“Could be. Or someone else who isn’t keen on us arresting your old friend Gabriel.”

“No,” she whispered. “It is Valletta. He was in the hallway. I heard it when he hurt the boy. Went out to investigate.”

“And he shot you.”

She shook her head. “He ran into my bedchamber and pushed away the maid…then…” She paused. “Then he went out the window. I followed.”

“And then he shot you.”

“Yes.”

An ache began in Jefferson’s chest that had nothing to do with bullets or broken glass. “I’m going to settle this, Sadie. I promise.”

Reaching into his pocket, Jefferson retrieved Kyle’s eyeglasses and put them on. The first thing he saw was her smile. The second was the blood.

Retrieving his handkerchief, he pressed it against the wound and watched the white cloth turn crimson. Casting about for something else, he tugged at the bed sheet until he could tear off several wide strips. From these he fashioned a bandage and folded it on top of the handkerchief. Then he wrapped several strips around her and knotted them tight, and the bandage held.

If only he could remain to see to her safety. Or better yet, to remove her from the place and into a doctor’s care. Neither could happen at this moment. Not with the gunman still outside.

He leaned down to kiss her softly. “I love you, Sadie Callum. When I get back I’m going to marry you. Then we will live a little.”

She did not answer. And he did not have the courage to check her pulse.

Instead, he stood and found his weapon. Then he went to the window. There was nothing to lose if Sadie was no longer drawing a breath. And if she was, then he must ensure she never had another moment’s fear.

Stepping out onto the balcony, Jefferson heard another bullet hit the house just to his right. A figure down on the lawn moved between the trees. He took aim and pressed the trigger.

The figure fell, but not before he raised his gun one more time and fired a shot.

A lamp blazed to life down on the lawn, and a uniformed officer raced toward the shooter. “We have him,” the officer called up to Jefferson.

He waved in response and then hurried back inside to Sadie. When he found her pulse, he let out a whoop. A moment later, the door flew open and the lamps lit the room.

“They’re in here,” one of the Hampstead servants called. “It’s Mr. Tucker and the Pinkerton lady, and they’ve both been hurt.”

Jefferson gathered Sadie against him again. Her nightgown was stained a bright red, but the blood seemed to be coming from her shoulder or perhaps her arm.

“Jefferson?” she said weakly. “Was it Valletta?”

“It was,” the officer at the door said.

“The maid and the boy?”

“Both will be fine, ma’am.” The officer fixed Jefferson with a look. “Your brother, sir?”

“Yes, what about him?”

“Well, he was a hero, sir.” He looked down at his boots and then back up at Jefferson. “According to that man there…” He gestured to the butler. “While you were fetching Miss Callum from the balcony, your brother…well, he stood in her bedroom window and drew the shooter’s attention away from you. On purpose.”

The meaning of the man’s words sank in slowly. Deeply. He said the first thing that came to his mind. “I need to thank him.”

“I’m afraid that isn’t going to be possible, sir.” Again the man studied his boots. “He didn’t…that is…”

Jefferson knew what he was unable to say. He slanted a look down at Sadie, who was watching him with her beautiful dark eyes. She smiled.

Her expression told Jefferson that she hadn’t understood. Didn’t know what John Tucker, the man she and the Pinkerton Agency knew as Will Tucker, had done for her.

“We are us now, aren’t we?” she whispered.

He returned her smile, though it took all he had to manage it. “Yes, sweetheart, we are us now.”

Forty-One

T
hree days later, Sadie walked out of Newport Hospital and into Jefferson Tucker’s arms. She still didn’t know about John.

He would tell her. Soon. Just not today.

Sadie held him tight as they walked to Mr. Astor’s carriage and then refused to let him go until they arrived at the docks. When she spied the
Lizzie,
she smiled.

“How wonderful,” she exclaimed. And then she saw her family.

All five brothers fought one another to be the first to run down the gangplank. While the other four were arguing, Donovan pressed past them to reach his sister. “Ready to go home now?” he asked.

“Yes, I believe I am.” Jefferson helped her out of the carriage, and Donovan assisted in getting her situated in the main salon.

The captain captured Jefferson in a gentle embrace. “It’s fine, Dad,” he told him. “I’ve got a stitch or two where the glass cut me, but otherwise I’m unharmed.” He leaned close. “John was a hero. You would have been so proud of him.”

His father held him tighter then. “I know. I’ll be taking a medal home to your mother. The mayor thought it appropriate, considering.”

“Yes,” Jefferson managed.

Dad put on the beginnings of a smile. “I have collected a stack of letters and telegrams for you. Several from Scotland Yard and at least one from a Sir Edward Maunde Thompson of the British Museum.”

“Thank you. I will read through them later.”

“There’s something else.” The captain nodded to the passageway, where
his mother stood. “Guess I ought to have said
someone
else.” He turned to Sadie’s family as Jefferson went to embrace his mother. “Looks like the gang’s all here.”

Penn Monroe was the first to notice. “Lizzie Tucker, it has been far too long.”

Jefferson held his mother against him. “Mother, how do you know Sadie’s uncle?”

She laughed. “Well, now. That is an interesting story, isn’t it, Mary?” she said, looking at Sadie’s mother.

“Is there room for one more?”

Sadie looked up and shook her head. “Henry?” Her attention went to Jefferson. “Have you met Henry Smith of the Pinkerton Agency? He’s the man I work for.”

Jefferson released his mother and laughed. “Uncle Hank?”

“Wait!” Sadie exclaimed. “Henry Smith is your uncle?”

“It’s a long story,” Uncle Penn said.

“And one that can wait until later.” Seamus Callum clapped his hands. When that did not quiet the chattering crowd, he resorted to the whistle that he used to call the boys home for supper.

“I suppose it’s time to get this started. Jefferson, I believe you’re up. Unless you want me to handle this for you.”

Sadie shook her head. “Daddy, what’s going on here?” Her father winked but said nothing.

“I can handle this just fine, sir,” Jefferson said as he moved across the room to stand before Sadie. And then he dropped to one knee. “In front of God and everyone gathered here, I have a question I need to ask of you. Sadie Callum, will you marry me?”

“Marry you?”

The breath went out of her, and it had nothing to do with the bullet that had lodged dangerously close to her lungs. She looked into those blue eyes and found that words were impossible. So she nodded.

“That’s a yes,” Ethan said. “I saw it, and this time she can’t change her mind.”

“I saw it too,” Aaron agreed as the other three Callum brothers nodded in agreement.

“Then it’s official. There’s going to be a wedding,” Mama said.

“And right now,” Daddy added.

“Right now?” Sadie shook her head. “But that’s impossible. I don’t have a dress or a preacher or…” She looked to Jefferson for help. “Where will we live?”

“Your mother brought a dress and my father is a ship’s captain. He can marry us legally. I need to pay a visit to Scotland Yard to settle things, but we can discuss all that later. If you want a church wedding back in Louisiana, we can do that. Make it big and fancy with all the trimmings.”

“No. I would rather marry you today.” She attempted to stand, and Jefferson hurried to help her. “I can do this. I’m not completely helpless.”

He smiled. “I know, but humor me. I like taking care of you.”

She leaned up to press her lips to his ear. “We have a lifetime of that ahead, Jefferson.”

Though she ached, Sadie straightened her spine and walked to her stateroom without help. The three other ladies followed after her. Mama fussed and worried about her bandages while she helped her only daughter into her wedding dress. Jefferson’s mother and Aunt Pearl sat quietly and watched.

Mama paused to look past Sadie. “Do you approve, Lizzie?”

“You know I do.”

Sadie shook her head. “All right. I refuse to leave this room until you two tell me what is going on here. How do you know one another? And why does Jefferson call my boss Uncle Hank?”

The three older women exchanged smiles. “You first,” Lizzie said.

Mama settled Sadie on the chair nearest the bed and then sat down across from her. “Your daddy and Harrison Tucker are old friends. They have known each other since the war. Penn too.”

“But Uncle Penn was in the Union Army.”

“Technically, yes, but once he met up with Pearl here, his loyalties were a bit divided.” Mama paused. “Those three decided they would join together and they did. Daddy was raising cane and Penn, he had a little money coming in from who knows where. He bought Harrison a boat, and the three of them started shipping cane and cotton to England.”

“Harrison and I were already married,” Lizzie said, “and my father had connections in the business world that provided our men with the buyers for their products.”

“So Daddy, Uncle Penn, and Jefferson’s father were business partners?”

“Yes,” Mama said. “And there was a fourth.” She looked over at Lizzie.

“Henry?”

“Goodness, no,” Mama said. “Henry and Penn were roommates at Amherst.”

“As was Harrison. Henry Smith spent enough time at Harrison’s house in Mobile that the judge and his wife started calling him son.” Lizzie chuckled. “I always did like those two. I mean to go and visit Harrison’s mother before I return to London.”

Sadie already knew that Henry Smith had a lasting friendship with Uncle Penn. But he was also well acquainted with Daddy? And Jefferson’s father?