by Tracey Cross
He dropped to the floor next to her, reached inside his jacket, and produced a handkerchief. “You’re bleeding.”
She took the cloth without a thank you and wiped at the blood that had already begun dripping onto her nightgown. “Have you begun a search yet, or did you come straight from discovering they were gone to my bedroom?”
“Here.” His dark eyes flashed. “I shouldn’t have listened to you about Jenny. I should have put her straight to work in the saloon. And when I catch her, that’s exactly what I intend to do.”
“Then I pray to God she gets away. How can you hold a child responsible for wanting to run away from her source of pain?”
“Pain? I didn’t lay a hand on her, and neither did anyone else.”
“You’ve imprisoned her, Trent.” Jane just didn’t care anymore. She was so tired of the threats and pretense. “You kept her at the saloon through fear and bullying. Of course she wants to get away from you.”
“But she wasn’t even going with me. She was going to be with you for six weeks.”
“Maybe Danny didn’t want to go.”
He gazed thoughtfully at her. “You know something more than you’re saying.” Standing, he walked to the cradle and lifted the baby.
Fear gripped her stomach, and she scrambled to her feet. “What are you doing with him, Trent?”
“I suppose I could take him.” His expression left no doubt in Jane’s mind that Trent Bedlow was evil.
“Give me the baby and go look for Danny.” She leveled her gaze at him and fought for control. “I had nothing to do with his escape. What if he’s out there somewhere hurt or scared, or what if one of your enemies kidnapped him?”
A light flashed in his eyes. “Enemies?” To her vast relief, he had obviously considered a new thought and had grown tired of tormenting her with the baby. He handed the bundle over. “There’s only one enemy I can think of who might have my son! And we both know who that is. Get yourself cleaned up before I get back. You’re going with me.”
“Going where?”
“Just be ready.”
She watched him stride out the door and headed over to the window, watching as he went outside and spoke to two of his men. They mounted their horses and rode away. Rather than coming back to the house, Trent walked toward the direction of the stables. Did he wonder if Danny had taken his pony?
The baby began to squirm and search, so she sat in her chair and unbuttoned her gown. The door opened, and a wary Mam stepped inside and closed the door.
“Mam? What are you doing?”
“Listen, Miss Jane. I gots to tell you whut I done and whut we gonna do.”
“Is this about Danny?”
Mam came close and nodded.
“What happened?”
“I was bakin’ in my kitchen, and I seen those two headed toward the stable. So I goes after them, and they tell me they’s leavin ’cause Mistah Danny don’t want to go away from his ma.” A soft sigh left her. “A boy loves his mama.” A far-off look settled in the old eyes until Jane gently nudged her.
“Mam, what happened next?”
“So I ask them, ‘How ya’ll think you gonna run off without being caught?’” She shook her head. “They was gonna take that pony.”
And they would have been found easily. Jane nodded. “Go on.”
“So, Mistah Andy turn that pony loose so they think the children go on horseback. And I bring them back to my house to wait until my bread done bakin’.”
“Mam! They could have been caught.”
“Caught by who, honey? No one bothers ol’ Mam in her kitchen. ’Sides, if I’d left on my delivery b’fore I usually do, Mistah Trent’d knowed it was me.”
She had a point, but it was difficult to think of all the precious time lost.
“So when my breads and buns was done, I loaded them up and loaded them kids up under the sheet. We drove right past all Mistah Trent’s men.” She cackled. “I give ’em all a cinnamon bun and waved sweet as you please.”
“Where did you take them, Mam?”
“Where they was goin’ in the first place.”
“Franklin?” Where else would they go?
“That’s right. I delivered them b’fore the mornin’ light and went about my business, deliverin’ my goods.”
Jane rubbed the baby’s silky head as he nursed. Relief covered her, knowing Danny and Jenny were safe in Franklin’s care.
“Thank you for letting me know, Mam.”
Mam nodded. “Now we gots to figure out how to get you and that baby out the same way.”
Hope flared, but she shook her head. “I don’t see how that will be possible now. If I assumed Danny was with Franklin, so will Trent. He’s not a fool. He won’t let me make a move without his knowledge, and there are plenty of his men to make sure I don’t run off.”
Mam exhaled a breath. “I reckon you is right.” She patted her and was just about to stand when the door opened.
“What are you doing here?” Trent demanded.
Jane noticed her hands tremble, but you’d never know it by the way her chin shot up when she stared back at Trent. “I came to see my baby boy, of course.” She lifted her brow in curiosity. “Thought you was leavin’ today. Why you still here?”
He glared at Jane. “You mean she didn’t tell you all about it?”
Mam feigned innocence, so Jane decided it best to play along.
“Why would she tell me anything?” Mam asked.
“Danny and Jenny ran away.” He dropped to the end of the bed, and Mam went to him, pressed his ear to her chest, and stroked his head. “It feels like I’ve lost Solomon all over again.”
Curiosity filled Jane, but she didn’t pry. Not now, when Mam was doing such a masterful job of soothing him. The baby had drifted to sleep, so she deftly got him situated and buttoned her nightdress.
“Did they take the pony?” Jane ventured to ask. She needed to know which trail he was following.
Trent raised his head from Mam’s embrace. He stood and walked to Jane. She tensed, but he took her hands in his and captured her gaze. Bending, he pressed a gentle kiss to her swollen lip. “I’m sorry, Jane. When I saw him gone, I thought you had taken him. I never expected to find you in bed. I thought you would be gone.”
Did he honestly believe she would still be here if she thought there was any hope of escape? “I knew nothing about it.”
“I believe you.” His gaze raked over her, but for once, no desire sprang to his eyes. Letting go of her hands, he stepped back. “I’ll let you get dressed and then meet me in the dining room, please. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind having breakfast with me today.”
As though he hadn’t ripped her out of bed, slapped her, and threatened to put Jenny straight to work entertaining the men. But what choice did she have? “I’ll only be a few minutes.”
He nodded and turned to Mam. “I need Big George. Will you go to the saloon and fetch him for me?”
“Of course I will, honey.”
They closed the door behind them. A sense of foreboding shivered over Jane as she heard them speaking in hushed tones in the hallway. She prayed a prayer as she dressed. That Danny and Jenny would be safe at Franklin’s home, that Mam would be safe, and that she and the baby could somehow leave this place and find their way to safety.
Chapter Eighteen
As he knew would happen, Bedlow sent two men to Franklin’s home—Craig Shewmate and Bob Thacker. Franklin stood on the porch, hand on his six-shooter while they remained on their horses.
“Mr. Bedlow says you got something that belongs to him,” Shewmate called.
“Are you calling me a thief?” Franklin challenged.
Shewmate’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. He leaned forward, resting his forearm on the saddle horn. “I’m calling you stupid if you mess with Bedlow.”
Coop fingered his shotgun. “I say we send this Bedlow back a token of our esteem.”
Shewmate’s face drained of color, but he remained
stoic. Not the best poker face Franklin had ever seen, but he had to give the man props for not falling apart under Coop’s bluff.
“Don’t look so worried,” Franklin said. “We’re not the murderers here.”
The relief on the man’s face was unmistakable. He rallied quickly, and his hard edge returned. “Bedlow wants his boy back.”
Franklin’s stomach tightened at the description of Danny as Bedlow’s boy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Bedlow’s boy isn’t here. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t aware he had a boy.”
“Now isn’t the time to play dumb, Frank. I’m telling you, Bedlow thinks of that boy as his own son. As a matter of fact, he said to tell you there’s going to be a wedding at his home in a week. And we’ll be getting Danny back one way or another before then.”
Franklin could feel Coop’s cool perusal, gauging his response to the news. Franklin knew Jane wasn’t going to willingly marry Bedlow. But whether or not he had worn her down enough to agree, he couldn’t say without speaking with her.
“Mr. Bedlow is willing to make a concession.” Shewmate shifted in the saddle.
“What kind of concession is that?”
“He’ll let you keep the girl, Jenny, but you have to hand Danny over today.”
Franklin took a step forward. Thacker reached toward his belt. Coop shouldered the shotgun. “Easy there, Trigger-finger,” he said to Thacker. The two men had tussled before over a card game in Sidney—before Coop’s conversion. But this sort of situation was enough to make a man forget he had gotten religion.
“Tell Bedlow once and for all that I didn’t bring Danny here. He can threaten and bargain as much as he likes, but I’m not playing his games.”
“I reckon there’s nothing else to say, then.” Shewmate shook his head. “Never took you for such a fool, Frank. All this over a woman and a couple of kids. You know there’s not one man in Deadwood that’s gonna go against Bedlow. The man owns just about every business in Deadwood and Sidney. You don’t tussle with a man like that and walk away without a face full of dirt.”
“Thanks for the advice. But I think I’ll have to take my chances.”
“It’s your funeral.” Shewmate squared his gaze at Coop. “Yours too, if you stand with him. I’ll take Bedlow the message.”
The two men cantered away, sitting straight and alert in the saddles. Coop set down the rifle as Bess opened the door and flung herself into her husband’s arms.
Franklin couldn’t help but watch them, remembering his Martha. She and Bess were so close in appearance that at times they were difficult to tell apart. But seeing Bess in Coop’s arms left no doubt that he was in love with his wife and no other.
“I’m sorry you two had to get into the middle of this.”
Bess turned in Coop’s arms. “If you’re in trouble, this is exactly where we need to be. We’re family. We stick together.”
Coop grinned. “You see why she’s always been the only woman for me?”
“Yes.” A smile touched his lips. He did see how two people fit together so perfectly. The way he and Jane had from those first moments in her soddy when she’d come to the door in bare feet and flour on her cheek. His stomach ached at the thought of Bedlow forcing her to marry him. At least Franklin had Danny and Jenny tucked away safe. The house had been built with an underground room. From the library, under the rug, a latch opened from the inside out. The original owner had designed it in case of Indian attacks. Built with rocks to keep it fireproof, the room served as a cellar for Cheng. He stored all of the winter’s preserves and herbs down there.
It wouldn’t fool anyone who was looking with any amount of diligence. Not for long, anyway. But it might buy them some time if Bedlow’s men ambushed the house.
“We’d best put our plan into action.”
Coop nodded. “I’ll go now.” He turned to Bess. “Don’t do anything foolish, like go off alone today. I’d like for you to stay inside or on the porch.”
Franklin grinned at the nurturing. It only took falling in love for a man to shove down his pride and act mushy in front of another man. Coop whipped around. “What are you looking at?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s right, nothing.” Coop huffed.
Franklin chuckled and couldn’t help but tease. “Nothing but a big, soft puppy dog.”
“I’ve seen you act that way a time or two since we was youngsters.”
“Fair enough.”
Bess rolled her eyes. “Honestly, you two. When you get together, you revert to childhood all over again.”
Coop bent and kissed her hard. “I’m not a child. Don’t forget it.” He winked as her face blossomed. “Do as I say, and stay close. There’s no telling what Bedlow intends to do. But you can be sure he has a plan. We just need to get ours in place before he comes calling again.”
Bess lifted his collar against the early autumn chill. Rising on her toes, she kissed him again. “Be careful.”
It was a risky move to bring the men to Franklin’s barn for the meeting, but there seemed to be no other place where they could be sure no one would overhear. The miners left their mines when Coop told them about Jenny. Most of them knew Mr. Ames, Jenny’s pa, and to learn he’d been murdered by someone they could finger sent a river of anger through the men. Mr. Ames might have been unsuitable for the mines, he might have been scholarly, but he had taught several of them to read, and Jenny had become the symbol of their own little girls left at home while the men came looking for a way to make a living.
To Franklin’s surprise, word had spread through the mining camp above Deadwood, and over thirty men had shown up. They might not be skilled with a gun like the thugs on Bedlow’s payroll, but the sheer force of their numbers would help drive home the point they were trying to make. He hoped.
The buzz in the room softened to a hum, and then the barn grew silent as Franklin stepped up onto an overturned trough, the makeshift platform. “Thank you for coming, men.”
“Just tell us where that snake Bedlow is, and we’ll go take care of him.”
“Now wait.” Franklin raised his arms to calm the storm that rose from that comment. “We want to avoid violence and bloodshed if possible. It’s justice we want.”
“Only justice men like Bedlow and his band of thieves know is found at the end of a gun.”
Franklin shook his head. “Bedlow has three times the men working for him than we have right here. If you want a fight, you can have one. But it will end badly for us, and then where would we be? Worse off than we started, plus Bedlow can come back in here, take Jenny and Danny, and the woman he’s keeping prisoner will never be free.”
The men remained quiet and allowed Franklin to share his plan. Only one man spoke up and asked, “What’s in it for us? It’s not my kids or my woman.”
Coop stepped up. “What’s in it for you?” He stared the miner down. “How much dust have you cleared from your mine this week? I haven’t heard of anyone cashing in dust or nuggets in town.” He turned to Franklin. “Have you?”
Franklin shook his head. “Not lately.” Typically word got around whenever a miner got a strike. But that hadn’t happened in a long time. Months. “I’m offering you a fair day’s wages to ride with us. We need strong men who can keep from firing off their gun unless the signal is given. But more than that, it’s time to soften Deadwood’s edges. Every time decent folks move in, they end up leaving because the town is bawdy and corrupt. How about some decent men, who want to raise their families in a decent town, stand up and let Bedlow and his lot know that we aren’t going to stand for his kind of law anymore?”
“Okay. What’s the plan?”
Third week of September
With Big George watching her every move, Jane pulled out the white, silk material Trent had sent for from back East and continued the process of cutting out the pattern and sewing the stitches. One week. Now he’d given her just one week. With the children gone and his trip to Fort Sidney closed,
Trent had informed her there was no need to wait. She would have no choice but to marry him unless Franklin came through. She hated feeling helpless. She, Jane Albright, had always taken care of herself. She had Mama Rose to thank for that. The cantankerous old sow had taught her that any man worth his salt will kiss the ground a strong woman walks on. If he wants a weakling, he’s not a real man.
Mama Rose had taught her a lot of those things. Now, if only Jane had her bottle of laudanum, she’d sneak into the cook shack out back and dump the whole bottle in for the men. But there was no sense in thinking about things that were never going to come true. She had to focus on what was important for now—keeping herself and the baby safe and finding a way to get out of here before the wedding.
Trent had only one person left with which to blackmail her, and she had no doubt that he would stoop to threatening a baby to get his way.
Mam had taken over duties as nurse for the baby while Jane sewed. And, as if summoned by Jane’s thoughts, the old woman carried the baby into the dining room, where the dress pieces were all laid out across the sleek mahogany table. Jane felt her milk let down at the sight of the baby.
“He is hungry as a little baby bear wantin’ his mama.”
“I’m ready for him.”
She turned her back to Big George, who had turned away anyhow. For all the debauchery he saw from day to day, she had to wonder why he was so good. “Big George? I want to ask you a question.”
“Yes, Miz Jane?”
“Why do you stay with Trent? The war has been over almost fifteen years. I know you don’t like doing the things he makes you do.”
He released a long breath. “Miz Jane, you got no business askin’ stuff like that. It’s my business.”
Mam clicked her tongue against her gums. “Oh, George, you knows you can trust Miz Jane with the truth.”
“You tells her if you wants, Mama. I reckon I got nothin’ to say.”
Jane turned to Mam. “I didn’t mean to pry. Please forget I asked. I’m sorry, George. I won’t bring it up ever again.”
