Two Sisters and the Christmas Groom (

by Zina Abbott

  What annoyed Patrick the most about the situation was the feeling of being trapped. For years, he had anticipated his twenty-first birthday when he would reach his majority and the money he earned would be his to keep. No matter how much his father insisted on him turning his wages over to him, he would legally be within his rights to refuse. He might need to find a different place to live, but his life would be his own.

  Unfortunately, that would not help his mother and family. Then again, how could staying here, working himself to death at a job that barely paid enough for one person to live on, help his family in the long run? For sure, he could never afford to marry and have a family of his own as long as he felt an obligation to help support his mother and finish raising his father’s family.

  Sometimes, Patrick regretted that years earlier he had not done what so many young Irish men did. They got their hands on enough money—legal or otherwise—and took a train out West. They were no longer trapped in the city where increasingly they competed with the Italians and other newer immigrants for the relatively few, low-paying jobs available. And, assuming what he had heard was true, due to his sense of obligation to help his family, this latest business with his father would dig even deeper the pit that trapped him in lower east Manhattan.

  Patrick once again stood in front of the closed door while Molly, her gaze constantly flickering his direction, corralled Danny and Bridgette across the room and kept them distracted.

  Finally, the door opened. Patrick stepped forward, making no excuse for filling the doorway like a brick wall. He ignored Kate standing off to the side as he focused on his mother. “I’m needing a private word with you, too, Ma.” He turned to Kate. “I’ve not had my ear to the crack of the door listening, and I’ll be expecting the same privacy from you and the others.” He stepped aside to allow Kate to leave the room before he closed the door and encouraged his mother to step over to the far wall—away from the door and not too close to the thin barrier that separated their apartment from their neighbors, who might have their ears pressed to the walls to listen.

  “Ma, I’ve been hearing tales about Da. He’s not showing up at work. My friend who’s working one station over says Da’s been getting in trouble with the foreman for showing up too tippled to work. Da’s been telling him he’s needing his whiskey for medicine because of the pain in his back. I’m hearing he wrenched his knee bad the other day. The big boss came along and sent him home, saying that was it for Da, he was through working for them.”

  Patrick held his mother’s gaze as she stared at him for several seconds before she spoke.

  “Well, he wasn’t coming home during the day this week, now was he?”

  “I’m not doubting you, Ma. I was saying something to Thomas about it, then he started confessing he got off work and found Da sitting in Micky’s at a table with no one around him and only an ale glass in front of him. His usual drinking pals weren’t sitting with him. Thomas was thinking it strange, knowing Da prefers whiskey these days and was always treating his friends to rounds of drinks. After asking around, I found someone else telling me Da’s been seen in the middle of the day hobbling around the streets and sitting wherever he’s finding a crate on the sidewalk. I think he’s leaving and coming home his usual times, hoping you’ll not be figuring out he’s lost his job.” He paused while he watched his mother close her eyes and heave a discouraged sigh.

  “I’ll go looking for him tomorrow, now won’t I? If what you’re telling me is true, and he’s not working, I’ll be bringing him home, even though I know he’ll be fighting me about it.”

  “What about the money he’s not earning, Ma? Granted, he’s been drinking it up, but we’ve been using ours to keep the rest of us going. We can’t be affording his whiskey, too.”

  “Annie’s opened an account at the mercantile for our use, but only I can be charging against it. Your da and none of you are allowed to be touching it. She’s told O’Malley’s I’m not to be putting liquor or tobacco against it, but I’m sure Annie won’t mind me getting some willow bark tea, salve, and sleeping draughts for your da.”

  Patrick focused his gaze on his mother. “Ma, I don’t care what the law says. On payday, I’m not turning my wages over to him. I’m leaving work the back way, and I’ll be meeting up with Katie. We need to be paying our rent.”

  “You’ve the right of it. It’s a sad business, but we’ll be making do. Thank you, Patrick, for letting me know.”

  “We can’t be going on like this, Ma. We need to be getting away from here, finding something better.”

  In the dim light, Patrick studied his mother. Defeat written on her face, she nodded in agreement.

  “I’m hoping, with Annie forging the way, I’ll be getting all my children off to something better. I might be needing you to stay until I can be managing something for your sisters and Danny. They’ll be needing your help.”

  Patrick narrowed his eyes with suspicion. “What were you and Katie talking about, Ma? Seems like she’s been being keeping secrets, but she’s refusing to tell me anything.”

  “It’s Katie’s business, so I’ll not be telling you the details. She may be joining our Annie soon. Not a word of it to anyone, Patrick. With her not being of age yet, you know the problems we’ll be having if your da hears of it before she’s leaving us. When the time comes, I might be needing your help seeing her safely on the train.”

  “You’ll be needing to put Molly into service then, maybe Bridgette, too. We’ll be needing more than what I can be bringing in to be making it.”

  “As much as it’s breaking my heart sending them out so young, there’s nothing for it until I can be figuring something else. I’m hoping once Katie and Annie are settled, they can be helping their sisters leave here so they can be finishing their schooling.”

  “You need to be telling Molly something, Ma. Already I was warning her, but she’s needing to know why.”

  “I’ll be telling her. It will be breaking her heart, not graduating like she’s wanting. But there’s nothing else can be done. It’s not the future I’m wanting for my daughters, though. I’ll be wanting Danny and you, too, to be going, if you’re willing to leave your work and friends. I need to be getting as many of you away from here as I can.”

  “I’ll go. I’ll be helping you with the others when it’s time. But, you, too, Ma. Dealing with Da like this is killing you.”

  As much as Patrick felt a surge of hope when his mother agreed they all needed to leave the city and search for something better, it turned to dismay as he watched her shake her head.

  “I’ll not be going, Patrick. As much as I will be missing my children and hating not having you with me, it will be you, your sisters, and Danny who’ll be going. Years ago, when I was standing before the priest with your da, it was promising for better or worse. We’ve enjoyed some of the better; now it’s time to be dealing with the worse. I’ll be staying with him to the end.”

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  Chapter 13

  ~o0o~

  Between Cotopaxi & Jubilee Springs, Colorado ~ December 16, 1881

  G arland checked his watch once more as the uneasy suspicion grew within him that the train that should have arrived almost two hours earlier had run into trouble—serious trouble. At first, he figured snow from the previous night’s precipitation might have slowed the train down where the sun had not yet melted any ice or snow from the tracks. As he often warned passengers and those shipping goods, the rail schedule was less dependable in the winter due to the weather. It had only been half an hour since Garland had stepped through the door separating his office from the telegraph office and asked Quentin to contact both Cañon City and Cotopaxi for information on when the train had left those cities. As expected, they were behind schedule. However, based on the information from Cotopaxi, the train should have arrived a half hour ago.

  This delay had caused nothing but difficulties for Garland. Repeatedly, townsp
eople from Jubilee Springs, and even Monarch Bend, which was located at least ten miles from the rail line, had come to his window asking when the train would arrive. He increasingly found himself gritting his teeth in order to maintain a calm, professional manner as he repeated what he knew, which was next to nothing. Among those who had appeared at his window were Royce Bainbridge, the Prosperity Mine owner in charge of dealing with the brides coming for the miners, and Annie Flanagan. Garland realized then that Katherine Flanagan must have accepted Michael O’Hare’s marriage proposal. This was the weekend she would arrive in Jubilee Springs with the woman from the bridal agency.

  Underlying all the other concerns that faced Garland was the knowledge that the railroad’s manager assigned to Jubilee Springs, Martin Underwood, had left the previous Tuesday to spend the holidays in Denver and would not return until the new year arrived. That meant Garland was responsible for handling this situation—and there did appear to be a situation.

  Garland closed the shutters on his window that opened to the depot lobby. He stepped over to the door that separated his office from the telegraph office long enough to stick his head in and tell Quentin he was going to advise the railroad workers in the repair shop to prepare a handcar and warn them they might need to go looking for the train. He then shucked his black wool coat and grabbed his heavy outdoor jacket, as well as his thick Cossack-style hat with the earflaps and his thick, fleece-lined gloves. Dressed for outdoors, he left his office and locked the door behind him. He raised his hands to ward off the cacophony of voiced from those waiting in the lobby. He pushed past the surging crowd while yelling at them he had no news, but he was going to send some men to check on the situation.

  Shaking his head in frustration, Garland finally broke free and rushed toward the repair shop used for necessary track and equipment maintenance. Once there, he learned from a brakeman who walked to town that the train had hit an avalanche that blocked the tracks.

  Garland insisted he needed to go on the handcar to the site to check on the welfare of the passengers. After returning to the depot long enough to send a telegram asking for the construction train and crew that had made its winter camp in Gunnison to come and help, he called for the sheriff to handle the crowd in the lobby while he traveled by handcar toward the downed train.

  After the construction train arrived, Garland managed to organize the train passengers, instruct the construction crew to lead them over the bottom lip of snow close to the river, and get them boarded for the short trip to Jubilee Springs. A frantic Lizett Millard told him she could not find one of her brides, Kate Flanagan. He stayed and looked for her. She had returned to the relative warmth of one of the derailed passenger cars and had been left behind. In her comatose state, Garland suspected she now suffered from chilblains.

  Hours after he left the terminal, into the darkness of night and his body half-frozen, the wagon in which Garland had been riding returned him and the chilled woman to the train terminal.

  “I’ll take her now.”

  Still shivering, Garland looked into the face of Michael O’Hare standing next to the wagon.

  Wearing a frantic expression, Annie Flanagan stood at his side.

  “Thank you for bringing my Kate to me, Mr. McAllister. Is…is she well?”

  Garland, his limbs protesting, began scooting to the back of the wagon. He turned to the woman. Much to his dismay, his shivering aggravated his stuttering. “She…she was nearly frozen to d-d-death when I f-f-f-found her. You need to get her to the d-d-doctor.

  Garland craned his neck to look behind him as the wagon driver spoke up.

  “Maybe I should take both of you to the doctor right now. It’ll be faster. If he’s not there, we’ll come back here.”

  As reluctant as Garland felt about releasing his hold on the woman in his arms, he knew it was the quickest solution for getting her help. “That would be best. T-T-Take her with you. I’ll s-s-stay and see the fire’s built up inside. If you have to bring her back, the depot will be warm.”

  Garland transferred the woman to O’Hare’s waiting arms. He watched as the sister also climbed in the wagon. She pulled the blanket that she had wrapped around herself off her shoulders and draped it over Kate.

  Rubbing his arms covered only in his shirtsleeves, Garland watched the gawkers in front of the Corner Saloon across from the train depot standing at the end of the boardwalk as the wagon turned around and took the fastest route to the doctor’s office. He needed to return to his ticket office and don his wool jacket and then stand next to a hot stove, or he would end up seeing the doctor about chilblains himself. Hopefully, enough coal still burned in his heater for him to warm up before walking home for the night.

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  Chapter 14

  ~o0o~

  Jubilee Springs, Colorado ~ December 17, 1881

  K ate blinked as she awoke. Confused at the strange surroundings, she wondered where she was. The bed felt different than the one she slept on at home. She squinted her eyes as bright sunlight streamed through a window covered on the bottom with yellow curtains. Instinctively, she rolled away from the form that rose next to her bed and loomed over her until she realized Annie stood next to her. She closed her eyes and sighed with relief as she felt her sister’s warm palms enfold her hand that must have been resting on top of her bed coverings. She remembered she had been on a train traveling to Jubilee Springs.

  “Katie. Awake, are you? I’ve been worrying about you, you being half-frozen like you were. How are you feeling?”

  Kate scrunched her eyes as she focused on Annie’s face. “Still wanting more sleep. From what I’m seeing of the sun, sure it is I need to be up and getting some work done.” She twisted her head side to side as she studied the rest of the room. “Sure, it is a pretty room you have.”

  “This isn’t where I’m living, Kate. You’re staying in Dr. Adams’s spare room he keeps for patients. Don’t you remember us bringing you here last night?”

  Kate shook her head. She vaguely remembered being pressed tightly to another person’s body. Perhaps the man whose face she briefly saw the one time she recalled waking up held her. She remembered very little about the previous night, other than people kept waking her up when all she wanted to do was sleep. Someone kept burning her feet.

  “You were near frozen when Mr. McAllister was carrying you back from where the train crashed into an avalanche, Kate. When Michael and I found you, he was still trying to keep you warm. It was straight to the doctor we were bringing you, hoping you weren’t getting frostbite.”

  Kate knew enough about her feet getting too cold to realize the burning sensation had been someone warming her feet. Even now, they still felt cold, but nothing too different than how they often felt when she awoke early on winter mornings before anyone had built up the fire to prepare breakfast. As she realized her sister spoke to her, Kate turned to face Annie and struggled to focus on the words.

  “Sure, it is, we’ll be going to our room as soon as you’re feeling up to it. Mrs. Millard and the other bride is staying at the boarding house where Delly has been putting me up. Michael will be joining us for supper, and you’ll be getting to know more about him in person, now won’t you? Since you were missing breakfast, Mrs. Howard is holding biscuits and ham for you for when Dr. Adams says you can be leaving.”

  “Annie, I’m not having the money for paying the doctor.”

  “You’ll not be worrying over that. I’ll be paying the doctor, Kate. What I’m wondering is, why were you wearing Molly’s cape instead of the warm one you were using when I left home? And, where is your winter hat? Surprised I was to be seeing you in Ma’s old summer bonnet. As much as you weren’t liking the idea of wearing your maid’s dress, it would have been warmer than what you had on, now wouldn’t it?”

  Kate closed her eyes. “I left them for Molly. There’s nothing for it but her to be going into service. She’ll be needing them. I’m hopin
g, once Mr. O’Hare is knowing the whole story, he wouldn’t mind me buying the fabric to be making new.” She opened her eyes long enough to see her sister shake her head, a confused look on her face.

  “Delly bought me dresses she’s wanting me to be wearing while I’m working for her, so I can be buying you material for new clothes. But Michael told me he was sending you money for travel clothes and food for the trip. He said it was part of signing up for the bridal service.”

  “I received the money, and glad for it, I was. They were needing it at home for this month’s coal and to put toward the rent.” Kate sighed with discouragement and bit her lip as she searched for the courage to explain to her sister. “I’ve not told you the half of it, Annie. With me coming, I was figuring the bad news could wait until I could be telling you in person. Da lost his job. The word going around is, with his drinking, he’d grown careless. You know how Da’s been using his bad back to justify him keeping his pay for his whiskey. He ended up wrenching his knee. Fired, he was, and no one else hiring a man with a bad back and a hobble to his walk. He’s putting up a fight, demanding we buy him his whiskey. But Ma’s having none of it, keeping him in bed, using part of the money you’ve been sending for willow bark tea and liniment. I almost decided on staying home to keep working, but Ma made it clear she was wanting me to come here, that they’d be making do.”

  Silence filled the room as Kate watched her sister think about what was said. “I know you’ll be helping Ma, Annie. I wouldn’t be knowing how Michael would be feeling about me sending money back to them. He may be regretting asking me to marry him.”

  “I’ll not be needing my money for a home, now will I, Kate? I’ll be sending what I can for food and the like. If Ma is holding firm and not allowing Da to take Patrick’s money for his drink, perhaps, between our brother and Molly, their wages can be covering the rent and coal.”

  Kate turned her attention to the door as it opened and a strange man entered.