The Only Gold (46 page)

Winnie drew out his chair. “Sit, my dear.” She did not fuss, either—seeming to sense, as Liliane did, that he needed the gentlest touch. Over supper, he obligingly answered questions concerning the robbery, leaving out those details he thought might upset them. But relating it brought every moment back, and the memories followed him upstairs, where he fell to wistful study of the snow-draped sycamore glistening in the moonlight, and wondered whether there was any use in going to bed. His thoughts would not rest, no matter how his body longed to; they hastened the hot tears he had resisted earlier, and in his despair and exhaustion, he let them fall. He did not hear the rustle of skirts until Liliane was beside him, and he hastily pulled off his glasses and dried his face on his sleeve.

“It’s late to be visiting,” he said, knowing full well it would not put her off.

Liliane tucked her arm under his and smiled. “Such a foolish man. Why are you here and not with him?”

Shocked, Jonah couldn’t meet her eyes. “What do you mean?”

She clicked her tongue. “I am in love too.”

He looked at her then, alarmed. “Does everyone know?”

She patted his arm. “They would not think it.”

“But you would?”

Liliane laughed. “One thinks as one has lived—”

“Liliane!”

At his astonishment, she only laughed again. “My father. I was eleven, the year he befriended a merchant in town, and we spent summers at his chateau. As little girls do, I listened to my father talk to others—especially to Monsieur Henri, for Papa was happiest, then. I came to understand that Papa felt much more for him than the love of a friend.” She sighed. “We think ourselves wise and sensible. But the heart, it is defenseless.”

“I am neither wise nor sensible.” Jonah felt relieved to say it aloud. “Only foolish and weak—”

“No, you must have strength to love. And courage, when you must hide it from everyone but him.” She took his hands and her voice came, very soft. “Unless… you are hiding it from him too?”

Jonah gazed out at the bare branches shivering in the wind. “I hid it today. At least I tried to. He wanted to explain himself, and I wouldn’t let him. If you had seen him, Liliane—after all he’s been through. He’s spent so much time protecting me, he can’t stop it even when he should. I was angry and he was so regretful and bewildered and….”
Defenseless
. At the realization, his own heart spilled over with grief and regret. “What time is it?”

“After seven….” She stopped as he kissed her cheek and jumped to his feet. “Where are you going?”

“To say goodbye.” Jonah grabbed his coat and hat. At the door, he turned to her. “Liliane, you won’t ever….”

“I have always looked after you, yes?” She joined him in the doorway and, smiling, kissed him back. “Perhaps I will not need to much longer.”

He wanted
to share her optimism, but he knew Reid was likely already on a westbound train. He could only hope to find someone still in at the Exchange Place office. It was a good walk there, and it would be a longer walk back, if the office was shut for the night. Though the rasp of shovels still came from every direction, snow stood in resilient mounds along every road he passed. In tunnels dug under the snow, smoky bonfires crackled, casting a dreamlike glow to compensate for the still-dark street lamps.

An occasional wash of heat from the fires chased away the cold, but Jonah felt neither. Isolated from the boisterous crowds in search of an open restaurant, he strode from corner to windy corner until he at last turned onto Exchange Place. An undistinguished entrance led into a quiet office lit only by a wood-burning stove. Two men sat on either side of a large desk beside the stove, their conversation desultory as they played checkers and thickened the air further with cigar smoke. “Give it up. Two moves and I win.” The older man, wiry and balding, plucked the cigar from under his brush of a moustache. “Something we can do for you, sir?”

“Reid Hylliard.” Jonah glanced toward the stairs. “He’s not here, by chance?”

“Hylliard? I don’t recognize the name. You know him, Hugh?”

Hugh pinned a checker with one finger and held it there, hesitating. “Don’t know him.”

Obfuscation was apparently a valued trait in detectives. “You needn’t protect Mr. Hylliard from me. I’m not out to do him harm.”

Hugh moved the checker, sat back, and settled a dubious eye on Jonah. “Don’t imagine you could if you wanted to—”

Footfalls on the stairs cut him off. “Don’t underestimate Mr. Woolner, boys.” Reid came down, Detective Cressett at his heels, and grinned at Jonah as if he hadn’t a worry in the world. “This is the banker who brought down Morris Barton.”

Hugh jerked upright in his chair, while the other gentleman dropped his boots to the floor and awkwardly stood. Detective Cressett chuckled. “The very man,” he said, offering Jonah a hand. “A pleasure, sir. I’m sorry I had to take Reid away so quickly this afternoon. I know he wanted a word with you.”

“Did he?” Jonah turned to look into eyes as honest with affection as always, and wished fervently for a private word himself. “I knew he wouldn’t be back at the bank, so I came to bid him goodbye and….” He kept his voice steady with every last ounce of determination. “And wish him the safest of journeys.”

Reid unexpectedly laughed. “Jo—”

Jonah held out his hand, and Reid’s good humor gave way to surprise. Jonah’s gesture was not lost on him—and Jonah was glad of it, though Reid’s palm pressed to his engulfed him with longing. It was an effort just to find his voice. “If you’re ever in New York again, you will visit.”

Gratitude flickered in the hazel eyes. “I’ll do better than that.” Reid held out a telegram for Jonah to peruse, but the three short lines only added to Jonah’s confusion.

“‘Acceptable’?” He glanced at Reid, who nodded for him to continue. “‘Cressett will keep you busy. Good job. Robert.’ I don’t understand….”

“The minute I found out about the California assignment, I asked Jim to contact Robert Pinkerton. We’ve had a hell of a time trying, with so many lines down. I didn’t want to talk to you till I knew, but I never guessed it would take all day.”

Hope swamped Jonah all at once. “You’re staying in New York?”

Reid folded the telegram. “I’m home,” he said, the satisfaction in his voice a wonderful sound to Jonah’s ears. “I suppose you’ve had your supper?”

Perhaps indulgence in a small falsehood wouldn’t be amiss. “Not yet.”

It was clear from Reid’s expression that he saw right through it, but he smiled. Detective Cressett looked as pleased. “Good,” he said, giving Reid a push toward the door. “I will thank you, Mr. Woolner, to take this man out of my sight. He’s badly in need of some rest. And I meant what I said earlier, Reid. I don’t want to see you here until Monday. God knows we’ll be fortunate if the snow’s melted by then.”

A muttered apology from Hugh followed them out, and Cressett shut the door firmly after them. Jonah stood beside Reid on the sidewalk while the crowd surged past and the cold wind reminded him of the weather. “Well….” He glanced sidelong at Reid, allowing his own regrets to show. “Where shall I take you?”

Reid was quiet a minute, watching him with the look that could see so much. “You walked all the way down here to shake my hand.”

“I couldn’t let you go without being sure you knew….”

“What?”

“How much I wanted you to stay.” Jonah looked at him sidelong again, to see him smiling with more than mere satisfaction. “If you’re going to be unbearably smug about it, I will take back those words.”

“Too late for that.”

Reid grabbed his wrist and pulled him along, off the sidewalk and through the snow to snare a cab. His instructions to the driver took them up Broadway, well past Union Square before turning west. Puzzled, Jonah peered out just as the cab drew up to one of the newer brownstone apartment houses. “I thought you wanted supper. Are we visiting someone?”

Springing from the cab, Reid skirted the embankment of snow and led Jonah up into a well-lit front hall with a wide, carpeted stair. All the more intrigued, Jonah followed him to the second floor and was bemused to see him produce a key. “Have you engaged a flat?”

Smiling inscrutably, Reid opened a door and ushered Jonah into a darkened room. Moonlight slipped in through the partially draped broad bay window opposite, enough to reveal a sofa and, nearby, a cabinet filled with books. “Are you sure we should be—” Jonah stopped as gaslight brightened the room, casting its warmth over a spare but comfortably furnished parlor.

“There’s also a dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms, and bathroom.” Reid laid the key on the carved oak mantelpiece and turned to Jonah with decided mischief in his eyes. “How much have you laid by for your old age?”

Jonah looked at him in amazement. “You want to take a place?”

“Well, I could go on at the hotel, I suppose, but this affords more privacy.” Reid went to the window. “A little more,” he added with a wry glance to the buildings across the road. “Three of our agents who were posted at other banks stayed here. Jim told me they moved out this morning, and he thought I might want to find a more permanent address. I agreed to look at the place, anyway.”

Jonah raised an eyebrow. “Knickknacks and plant stands?”

Reid laughed. “Neither….” There was a wistful twist to his smile. “I might allow for one or two, if you want them.”

Jonah stood beside him and watched the fires burn in the snow. The ice-encrusted trees might have been made of crystal. With each sweep of the wind, they sparkled. “On a quiet street like this, I suppose rooms are quite costly.”

“Twelve hundred a year.”

Jonah nodded.
Expensive, but not impossible.
He shifted a curious glance to Reid. “Were you so confident I would come around?”

“I had to be. I love you, Jo.” He was quiet and resolute, his need plain in his face. “Do you….”

“I’m afraid so.”

The mischievous glint came back. “Though I’m steady as a weathervane?”

“Did I say that?” Jonah moved closer, with no greater wish than to lose himself in the tender brown, green, and gold so steadfastly set on him. “I heard a sermon once when I was young, to the effect that a thread once loosed is destined to unravel the whole cloth. It frightened me then—and for some years after. But in the past two months, I think I’ve unraveled utterly, to be knit back together in the most wonderful way.” He took chilled fingers in his, warming them. “Your doing, you know.”

“Not entirely.” Reid kissed him, then let him go and went to the door to shut off the light. When he returned, he had unbuttoned his coat. Sprawling on the sofa, he pulled Jonah down beside him. “The true test of a place is whether you can sit comfortably in the dark and feel at home.”

“Is it?” Jonah leaned against him. “I don’t know how I will tell the Muncys I’m leaving.”

“You can still go to supper there, like you did this evening.”

“How in the world did you find that out?”

“I knew you wouldn’t let them go on worrying about you.” Reid turned on his side and rested his head against Jonah’s. “Ready to take up bachelor’s quarters?”

“I’d like to. But if the Pinkertons send you away, I’ll be here alone.”

“You could come with me.”

Jonah considered it. “I suppose there are banks even in California.”

Reid laughed, a rumble muffled against Jonah’s neck. “So I’ve heard. But I’m not going anywhere for a while. I can’t see myself chasing off on another adventure when this one’s barely begun.”