Whirlwind (34 page)

“I’ll be sure to check back in. Thank you.”

The gentleman left, and three more customers came through. Daniel tended them all, then went to check on Millicent. “That bracelet we gave away at the grand opening has brought us all sorts of business.” He handed her a catalogue. “I was thinking perhaps we ought to stock a wider variety—maybe carry a few more wedding rings and a few lockets and stickpins. Could you take a look and let me know if you see anything pretty?”

“Of course. Daniel? Widow O’Toole needs some birdseed. Could you stop by the feedstore and buy some for her?”

He studied her carefully. “I still wonder if I should have kept those birds for you.”

Millicent shuddered. “Goodness no! I had no notion just what a mess a bird and birdcage could be!”

He let out a booming laugh and drew her into his arms.

The bell over the door jangled. Jakob, Hope, Phineas, and Annie entered.

Suddenly self-conscious, Millicent disentangled herself. She patted her hair and scampered over toward Annie. “You look lovely! Is that a new dress?”

“It’s my Sunday best, but Hope made me a new collar.”

Phineas tugged Annie toward one of the cases. “We’ve come for two reasons. I want to buy Annie a wedding band.”

“Oh, felicitations!” Millicent embraced Annie.

Annie hugged her back. “It is to be a quiet wedding at the parsonage. Just us. But Johnny and Arthur will grow up together. You and Isabelle and I are friends now, and Phineas and Daniel are, too. We’d be proud to have you come, if you don’t mind closing the store for a few minutes.”

“We’d be honored to come.” Daniel took Phineas over toward the jewelry case. Millicent grabbed Annie. A spritz of lemon verbena, a tiny spray of silk flowers pinned into her hair, and a new white Bible to carry had her set.

As they stood in the parsonage, listening to the vows, Daniel encased Millicent’s hand in his. When she looked up at him, he wondered if the longing in his eyes would be evident. For the first time since their own wedding day, though, he felt like there was actually hope for them.

The kerosene lamps cast an eerie glow around the feedstore. Eight men sat there—seven of them silent out of disgust. Orville hadn’t stopped fast-talking since they’d all gathered.

Patience lost, Daniel rose and stalked toward him. “Shut your mouth.”

“It’s easy for you to swagger around. You’re rich! Some of us have to work for a living.”

Daniel roared, “You consider bilking a widowed mother of five out of a third of her funds ‘working for a living’?”

“She can read and cipher just as good as I can.” Orville folded his arms across his chest. “Nothing’s wrong with a man doing a business deal that sways in his favor.”

“Sheriff,” Jakob Stauffer demanded, “do something. We cannot stand for this.”

“He hasn’t done anything I can charge him with in a court of law.”

Tim Creighton and Karl Van der Vort both looked ready to tear Orville limb from limb.

Knowing full well what the answer would be, Daniel leaned back and allowed Orville one last moment to gloat. He then wondered, “Why can’t he be charged, Sheriff?”

“The bank didn’t have Mrs. Vaughn sign the loan papers on the business or transfer the funds. Mr. Blevens planned to see to the matter before closing the bank, but a family emergency came up, and he hopped aboard the train. Until those papers are signed, the feedstore legally still belongs to Mrs. Vaughn.”

Orville shot to his feet. “This place is mine!”

Daniel asked one of the bank trustees, “So the down payment Orville planned to pay Mrs. Vaughn was never taken from his own account?”

“Nope. Every last cent is still there. None of it changed hands, and Mrs. Vaughn didn’t complete the papers since Mr. Blevens wasn’t there to advise her on signatures.”

The sheriff stroked his beard. “So let me get this straight. You’re saying that Orville tried to pull a fast one on the widow Vaughn and it didn’t work.”

“Yep. That’s it exactly.” Mr. Richardson served Orville a dark look. “I’ve got me six daughters. Any man who’d cheat a woman out of money just because he thought it was easy pickings is lower than the stuff I scrape off my boots. The trustees have met and voted you’re not a reliable risk, so we won’t be loaning you the money for the remainder of the mortgage on the business. You’ll have to move on down the road.”

“I’ll get a mortgage loan from another bank.”

“That’s not necessary.” Daniel straightened.

Greed lit Orville’s eyes. “That’s right! You’re my cousin! You can give me the money! You tell them!”

Daniel shook his head. “You mistake my meaning. Before this meeting tonight, the feedstore was purchased in full. Blev-ens isn’t in town, but his presence wasn’t required. Mrs. Vaughn owned the business free and clear; the buyer paid cash.”

“This ain’t right.” Sweat ran down Orville’s temples.

Piet snorted. “So you will tell us all what is right? You, who would cheat a widow woman?”

“I was making smart business decisions.”

One of the tellers spat a wad of tobacco into a spittoon. “Like you did when you took top dollar from your cousin for the mercantile, then ran it into the ground before he got here?”

Murmurs swelled, and Orville shouted, “It was smart business.” Then he shook his finger at the teller. “And it was none of your affair.” He turned back to Daniel. “I bought stuff for the feedstore here with my own money—those hoes and rakes, and I put up those shelves and bricks, too!”

“It’s unwise to invest in a holding until it’s legally yours.”

“Guess you ain’t so good at that smart business stuff after all, huh, Orville?” someone jeered.

Eyes narrowed, Orville spat at Daniel, “You did this to me, didn’t you?”

“No, you did it to yourself.”

“I’ll take my boy home for his bath.” Millicent tried to take Arthur from her sister.

Isabelle wouldn’t turn loose of him. “You can’t carry him upstairs when you get him home.”

Millicent laughed. “It’s a good thing you’re having a baby of your own. You’re getting possessive!”

Mercy Orion crooked her finger at Heidi. “Go get a towel and soap. We’ll give Arthur a bath in the kitchen!”

“Baff!” Arthur clapped his hands, then looked stricken. “Bow, Amma?”

Millicent thought of the telegram she’d received promising a picture of her girls. She wriggled the bangle from her wrist. “Yes, poppet. Aunt Isabelle will help you have pretty bubbles.” Millicent embraced Mercy Orion. “I’ll send Daniel over to pick them up when he gets home. If I dash home now, I can do several little chores so I can spare Daniel from having to write them down on my list.”

The gas lamps lit the street with their warm glow, and Millicent looked at the town with contentment. Things were turning out well. Isabelle had the wonder of her baby to help soften her grief, and Arthur was a constant source of joy and pleasure. She and Daniel, after a painful patch, were doing well.

Deep in her heart, she wished their marriage was . . . different. More.

I’m wrong to feel this way. I knew what I was agreeing to. This afternoon, I felt there was hope, and now I’ve decided I can’t expect anything. Lord, what am I to do?
Her steps lagged. The doors to the church lay wide open, and someone was inside, practicing the piano for their Sunday special. The lyrics to the hymn came to mind as Millicent stopped and listened.

If earthly parents hear
Their children when they cry,
If they, with love sincere,
Their children’s wants supply,
Much more wilt Thou Thy love display,
And answer when Thy children pray.

Pray. She’d prayed for everyone but herself. She’d prayed about everything except the aching loneliness she felt. She hadn’t even been able to speak to her own sister about it. Isabelle had told her a man needed the comfort his wife could afford him—but never had she even alluded to a wife wanting to be embraced, cherished, to sense the sweetness of knowing someone’s eyes searched for and met yours. The fairy-tale stories she recalled Mama reading to her had never dimmed—and somewhere deep inside, she’d never outgrown those childish fantasies.

God, you’re my heavenly Father. I’ve felt so silly, so I’ve not prayed over this. I’d be so sad if Arthur wouldn’t come tell me something because he feared I’d think he was silly—yet I’ve been too proud to be honest with myself and with you. Lord, I love my husband. I want him to love me back, so I’m laying my heart before you now and putting my trust in you.

She stumbled up to the store and let herself in. Tears blurred her vision, and she soaked the corner of her apron.

A man stepped from the shadows by the counter. “I came for the bracelet.”

Twenty-Four

T
error streaked through Millicent. Then just as quickly, a sense of calm poured over her. Isabelle and Arthur were safe. “I’ll have to ask you to give me a moment. I have something in my eye.”

The man stuck out his hand. “Just give it to me.”

“I’ll set aside the entire shipment so you’ll have a selection from which to choose.”

He kept coming toward her. He stuck out his left hand. “Don’t play with me.”

“I don’t understand.”

Click.
A wicked-looking knife swung open. “I’m sure this will refresh your memory. Now give me the bracelet.” He kept coming toward her.

Millicent shuffled backward. “Oh, Lord,” she prayed.

“He gave it to you before he died. He had to. It wasn’t anywhere else.”

He must mean the bracelet Mr. Eberhardt gave me. But why would anyone want that?
“Before he died? Mr. Eberhardt—”

“We took care of him.” He brandished the knife. “Give me the bangle, else I’ll do the same to you.”

Millicent reached for her left wrist, but her right fingers found nothing there.
It’s with Isabelle and Arthur.
“O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord.”

“Shut up and give it to me.”

“I don’t have it.” She lifted her arm so he could see her wrist. “See? I don’t have it.”

“You have to. I searched all over the store. It’s not here.”

Pressing her hand to her bosom, Millicent sagged against the wall.

A lurid chuckle hovered in the dim store. “So it’s upstairs, huh?”

Millicent prayed his greed would make him leave her. In a faint voice, she trembled, “False back. Top dresser drawer.”

He wasn’t taking such a chance. Dragging her upstairs, he growled, “You’d better not be lying. You can’t get past me. If this is a trick . . .” The knife slashed through the air in a potent threat.

The whole business with Orville left him disgusted, but Daniel was glad to have it over. Mrs. Vaughn wouldn’t have to worry about finances any longer. Daniel would have to hire someone to run the feedstore, but that oughtn’t be too difficult. More than anything, he wanted to get home to his wife and son.

Halfway down the street, something made him look at the store. His heart stopped, but his feet stumbled forward as he saw his wife crawling out of the upstairs window. “Millicent!”

Startled, she looked out at him and teetered.

He couldn’t take his eyes off of her as he ran down the street toward the store. “God, please—”

She fell. Onto the awning.

It split.

Daniel caught her shoulders. One of her boots was stuck in the ironwork. As he reached up to free it, she babbled, “Man. Knife!”

Until that moment, Daniel hadn’t appreciated that most Texans wore a gun. The men who’d been at the meeting swarmed about them.

“How many men?” Daniel demanded.

“One. I think.” Millicent tried to keep him from plowing into the store. “He has a knife!”

“What about a gun?” Piet demanded.

“I-I don’t know.”

“Hey!” someone yelled from behind the store. “Gotta man down back here. Landed on his knife when he jumped out the window. Don’t look too good.”

Millicent kept straightening out her skirts and slapping Daniel’s hands away. “I’m fine.” She then patted him. “Did I hurt you? Daniel, you can’t touch me like that. It’s not decent.”

“You have half the awning hanging off of you. The town could have a revival meeting under all this canvas, and there’d still be room for a circus.”

“Revival meetings and a circus are fine, but we’re never having a grand opening drawing again!” She burst into tears.

Daniel lifted her up and carried her back inside. “Why’s that, Millie?”

“Because I don’t like jewelry anymore!”

Daniel was determined not to let go of her. He sent Parson Bradle over to the boardinghouse to arrange for Isabelle and Arthur to spend the night. Before the assailant was hauled over to the jail, the men argued about whether to have Dr.Wicky render aid to the criminal. Wanting simply to care for Millicent, he snapped, “Get him out of here and give him medical care.”

Jakob Stauffer rubbed the back of his neck. “Dan, that is the problem. The doctor—he’s so bad, it might be better not to use him.”

Daniel left them to decide and carry the man away. Three volunteered to stay and keep watch over the store in case the man hadn’t been acting alone.

After dispensing with Millicent’s apron and shoes, Daniel made sure no real harm had befallen her, then tucked her into his own bed. She wasn’t in any state to object. She couldn’t get over her shivers, so he bundled her in the quilts and pulled her onto his lap, where she nestled into his keeping until she finally fell into an exhausted sleep.

Parson Bradle tapped on the door. “How is she?” he whispered.

“Terrorized.” Daniel bit out the word in wrath.

“But she’s not harmed—else she wouldn’t lean into you so trustingly.” The pastor looked at him. “Your calm assurance will give her peace, just as God’s serenity gives us a resting place in the storms of life.”

Tenderly fingering her tresses, Daniel asked, “Have you ever wanted anything with all your heart and had God tell you no?”

“I suppose it depends on what you mean by ‘all your heart.’ Folks toss that phrase around pretty cheap. Matthew seven, verse eleven says, ‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?’ God is our Father, and He sets desires within us. When God gives us gifts, it pleases Him for us to accept them. It would be a travesty to turn away from a gift He offers because we feel we are making a spiritual sacrifice out of a mistaken sense of loyalty.