The Ride of Her Life (41 page)

A bitter smile twisted Nick’s mouth. “I’m sure things will get better.”

“It’s all my fault Mama’s crying.”

“What do you mean?”

“I rode the roller coaster, and she got mad at you for letting me. That’s why she bought a house for just me and her and not you.”

“No, Levi, it isn’t your fault.” His heart ached for Levi. How could he make the little boy see? “Sometimes grown-up problems are hard to understand and explain, but all you need to know is your mama and I love you.”

“So you’ll be here forever?”

Nick sat down on the lunch counter’s stoop and drew Levi close. “Listen, buddy. I need you to understand something, and I need you to be brave, okay?”

“I’m brave.”

“I know you are.” Nick kissed the top of Levi’s head. “I will have to go to another place soon to build a new roller coaster. But if your mama says it’s okay, I’ll come back to visit you.”

Levi’s lower lip trembled. “You’re leaving?”

“Not for a while yet.” Moisture gathered in Nick’s eyes, and he blinked. “I’m sorry, Levi. I wish I could stay with you forever, but I can’t. I’ve got a job to do. Someday I’m going to own Perrin’s Park Amusements, and maybe you can come work for me. Would you like that? To build roller coasters?”

Levi shrugged, and tears trickled down his round cheeks. “Only if I can build stuff with you.” He threw his arms around Nick’s neck and squeezed hard. “I love you, Mr. Nick.”

“I love you too, Levi, and I always will.”

Why did things always go wrong on Tuesdays?

Lilly dumped the blackened bread pudding into the trash and set the pan in the sink to soak. Not only would she have to make another dessert, but cleaning that pan would take at least half an hour.

Breakfast had been a disaster. She’d burned the coffee, and her oatmeal looked like Eugenia’s early attempts. And seeing Nick stirred her already churning stomach into a frothing mess.

If guests hadn’t already been in the diner, she’d have let Eugenia do all the serving by herself.

Lilly wiped her hands on a dish towel and went outside to check on Levi. He’d been unusually quiet all morning. When she’d questioned him, he said he was sad about Mr. Nick.

She sighed. It was better this way. Saying goodbye to Nick now was best for both of them. She only wished it didn’t hurt so much.

Pushing open the screen door, Lilly glanced outside at Levi’s play area. Worms crawled out of one of the roller coaster cars, but Levi didn’t seem to be around to push them back in. His cast-iron fire wagon with its two white horses lay overturned in the mud. Where had he gone now?

With her hands cupping her mouth, Lilly called for him and waited for an answer.

None.

Her eyes fell again to the toy coaster, and Levi’s tearstained cheeks filled her mind.

Levi had been so upset. Would he have gone to find Nick again?

“Mark, what a pleasant surprise.” Marguerite opened the door and motioned her brother inside the boat shop. “What brings you here so early in the morning?”

“I doubt if you’ll think this is a pleasant surprise by the time I leave. Could we go somewhere alone to talk?”

“I guess.” She untied her apron strings. “Let me tell Trip to keep an eye on the children.”

A few minutes later, Marguerite found herself sitting on one of the boardwalk’s park benches outside the massive brick Rowing Association. She glanced at the tranquil lake, so different from the trouble she saw brewing in Mark’s eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“You sure know how to get to the point.” Mark leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands in front of him. “I think Lilly’s in trouble.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“I think I’ve made a big mistake, Marguerite.” He turned to look at her. “I’ve been helping Claude Hart.”

“Of course you have. You do law work for him.”

“No, I’ve been helping him in his efforts to get Lilly to send Levi to boarding school.”

Marguerite gasped. “How could you? Lilly is family.”

Mark stood. “No, she’s not. She was your personal maid, and I truly believed the Harts could provide more for Levi in both education and opportunities.”

“But Levi belongs with his mother. He’s all she has left. I don’t understand how you could help that man.”

Mark held up his hand. “I know you don’t, and you can box my ears later, but right now I need your help with something else.”

Marguerite sucked in a lungful of rain-freshened air and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “All right, what is going on? What kind of trouble are you talking about?”

“Promise me you’ll listen.”

“Okay.” She dropped her hand to her lap.

“My job was to make sure Nick and Lilly’s courting didn’t get serious. I’m the one who told Mr. Hart how close they were getting, and I’m the one who arranged for Ruby to come to work here this season.”

Marguerite glared at him but remembered her promise to be quiet. Besides, if there was more, she needed to hear it.

Mark sat down again. “After I learned they’d called off their courting, I figured Mr. Hart would be done with them because he’d told me he simply didn’t want Lilly marrying Nick and taking his grandson halfway across the country.”

“I can see his concerns, but I’m guessing he wasn’t satisfied.”

“He wasn’t. He does care about Levi, but I think he’s also worried about Levi being his only heir. He’s afraid Levi won’t know how to live like a Hart. But the more I’ve been around Levi, the more I’ve seen how happy he is, and this job kept getting harder to do.”

“So what’s the trouble now?”

“Mr. Hart hired another man named Mr. Black. I don’t know what Mr. Black is supposed to do, but I have a bad feeling about it, and I’m afraid whatever it is will happen today.”

Marguerite shook her head. “Like what?”

“Something involving the roller coaster, maybe? I don’t know.”

“We need to tell Lilly.”

“You’re not mad?”

She harrumphed. “Mark, I’m furious, but I’m even more disappointed. I also know we don’t have time to address this right now.” She started walking, and he fell in step beside her. “Let’s go tell Lilly what’s going on, and then we’ll have to talk to Nick.”

“Nick?”

“Well, yes, if you think they may do something to his roller coaster.”

“He’ll probably deck me.”

She raised an eyebrow. “He might, but I’ll do my best to protect you—little brother.”

The steady chug of the engine seemed like the only thing in Nick’s life he could count on. With the roller coaster set to open in less than fifteen minutes, it was time for his customary safety ride. Although he knew every twist, turn, dip, and plunge of the Velvet Roller Coaster, he found he still got a little thrill from the ride each morning. It was his creation—squeaks, clacks, and all.

“Percy, wheel that car on around.”

With a shove, the youth pushed the car to the loading position. “Do you want me to take the ride today? You look tired.”

Nick smiled. Maybe Percy would forgive him after all. Nick climbed into the backseat. “No, but thanks for the offer.”

“If you’re sure.”

Nick studied the chain as it turned while he waited for Percy to push the car to the bottom of the lift hill. One of the links seemed to have a bit of a kink in it. He’d have Sean check it out after his ride and before the patrons got on. It couldn’t be anything serious. Sean said he’d checked it all before breakfast, and little got past that man’s inspection.

The car jolted as the chain dog connected. Nick glanced at the Midway below as the car began to climb. He spotted the bandstand in the distance and heard the faint strains of Nordin’s concert band practicing a fast-paced tune. Clack, clack, clack—he counted the green anti-rollback boards as he passed each of them. Twenty of the twenty-three clicks. Only three left. He’d be at the top in seconds. Best view in the park.

A high-pitched
ching
made Nick grab for the safety bar. The car suddenly jerked backward, giving him whiplash. Air whooshed from his lungs. The car hit the first anti-rollback board hard, splintering it.

The car continued to plunge backward down the steep incline. Each time the car hit a green board, the decent slowed, but the boards snapped in the process. Nick’s chest constricted. He was traveling too fast. Would he run out of boards before the car slowed enough to come to a stop?

He whirled around. Only a handful of green boards remained. If the car didn’t stop, it would keep flying backward until it hit the waiting set of cars in the loading station. He’d heard of those collisions. They weren’t pretty.

Lord, please!

Snap!
Another green board gave way to the weight of the car. The car dropped, but the next board stopped it.

Deathly still, Nick waited. Would this one hold?

39

Below him, Nick heard Sean bark orders and then heard the footfalls of someone approaching, climbing on the rails.

Whatever you do, don’t shake it.

When he dared to look behind him, he saw Sean balanced precariously on the track, jamming a piece of wood behind the back of the car. What was he doing? If the car slipped now, Sean could be killed.

The car jerked, but the crunch of wood told him the brace held.

“Boyo, ya ready to climb out, or do ya need a minute to stop shakin’?” Sean asked.

Nick drew in a shaky breath. “I think I’ll take the minute and thank God.”

“Sounds like a good idea, but I dunna think God would mind if ya thanked Him on the ground either.”

Nick took the hand Sean offered, climbed over the back of the car, and lowered his feet onto the two narrow maple boards making up the track. They crouched low and backed the rest of the way down the incline.

Sean reached the bottom first and climbed onto the loading platform. He took Nick’s arm. “Easy now, boyo. Ya hurt?”

Nick rubbed his neck. “No, but I bet I’ll be sore tomorrow. Let’s go have a look at that lift chain.”

“You could sit down and rest a wee bit first if ya like.”

“No, I need to see what happened.” He turned to Percy and Forest, who had joined them. After answering some of their questions, he said, “You two go make sure the gates remain closed. Don’t let anyone in, and keep the reason why quiet. Tell them we have some repairs to do.”

When they’d gone, Sean and Nick headed beneath the lift hill. The chain hung from the trestle like a dangling kite string, with the end reaching the ground. Sean located the severed link and picked it up.

Nick joined him. “What do you think? Did we miss something?”

“You mean, did I miss something?”

“Sean, I’m not blaming you.”

“No need to. I’m doin’ enough of that all by me lonesome.” He turned the broken chain dog over in his hand and frowned. “What does this look like to you?”

“How could the metal give way like that?” Nick examined the link. His blood ran cold in his veins. “This didn’t break off. Someone cut this with a torch.”

“But why would anyone do that? Passengers could have been killed.”

“Go fetch the sheriff. We need to report this.” Nick nodded toward the gate. “Send Forest up. We’ll see what it’s going to take to fix this chain.”

“Ya realize, Nick my boy, we need to find the bugger who did this. Whoever it was had to have access, and only a handful of folks have a key to the padlock on the gate.”