A Texas Promise

by Laura Conner Kestner

  Maggie was so focused on soaking in the sights and sounds, that at first she thought she’d dreamed up the image of her dearest friend. She blinked. No, this was real. Avalee Quinn was walking down Main Street and headed around the corner near the bank.

  She watched as the woman crossed and turned onto the less congested side street. When Nathaniel slowed to allow another team of horses to turn first, Maggie jumped from the wagon, sprinted toward Avalee, grabbed her arm and tugged her toward the alley.

  In her excitement, Maggie hadn’t considered the possibility that her friend wouldn’t recognize her in her new disguise. She figured it out when Avalee swung her purse, hitting her hard across the head.

  “Ouch.” Maggie put her hands up to shield her face.

  “Unhand me this instant, you miscreant,” Avalee screeched. She swung the purse again, and then kicked Maggie in the shin. “Help! Somebody help me!”

  Hopping around on one leg, Maggie hissed, “Avalee, stop! No, don’t scream!”

  The blows ceased as suddenly as they’d begun. Maggie peeped through her fingers. Eli had grabbed Avalee and was holding her up off her feet, one hand across her mouth.

  Avalee was kicking and struggling, and Eli was growling and glowering, obviously unsure what to do with this threat to Maggie’s safety.

  “Eli, it’s all right. She’s my friend.”

  Avalee’s eyes rounded in surprise as she stilled. Eli removed his hand from her mouth. “Maggie?” she whispered. “Is that you?”

  “Yes. That’s what I was trying to tell you.”

  “Oh, Maggie, I’ve missed you.” Still squirming, Avalee added, “Put me down this instant, you big ox.” Then she looked up at Eli, drew in a breath and stopped struggling. “Oh, my.”

  There was something about the look on Avalee’s face that Maggie didn’t care for. The speed with which Eli released the woman made her feel better.

  On her feet again, Avalee straightened her bonnet and continued to stare at Eli.

  Eli gave Maggie a questioning look. “Who is this?”

  “This is Avalee Quinn. We’ve been friends since childhood.”

  Eli straightened his own hat. Avalee had nearly knocked it off in the struggle. “I thought our deal was that you wouldn’t let anyone get a good look at you,” he said. “You don’t know who all Anderson has under his thumb.”

  Now that Eli didn’t have his arms wrapped around Avalee, Maggie was feeling sentimental about her old friend again. “Believe me; she would never cause me harm.”

  Maggie and bubbly little Avalee had sat side-by-side on the first day of school. They’d shared a slate and their lunches. Maggie’s mother had filled her lunch bucket with sandwiches and fruit. Avalee had brought boiled eggs and two cookies. They’d split their bounty and became fast friends that day.

  “Where have you been?” Avalee squealed now.

  Maggie crossed her arms. “I was drugged, shackled and placed into a mental asylum.”

  Avalee stared at her for a moment before tears sprang to her eyes. “You’re serious.”

  “Yes.”

  Eli had been hovering, but the genuine shock and horror on Avalee’s face was obvious. If he’d had any doubt about whether Avalee was truly Maggie’s friend, that look should have erased it. He returned to the wagon, and left them to their conversation.

  “Oh, Maggie, I’m so sorry,” Avalee whispered.

  “Why didn’t anyone come looking for me?”

  “I did,” Avalee insisted. “I went to your house. I was worried when you didn’t show up for the Society Sisters meeting. But that stuffy friend of your father’s, Hollis Anderson, told me that you’d gone on a shopping spree to New Orleans. He said y’all were getting married.”

  Her words brought renewed anger to Maggie. “Hollis lied.”

  “I thought it was strange that you missed the meeting,” Avalee said. “And that you didn’t invite me to go with you, or even say goodbye. I decided you must have been in a big hurry.” She made a little sniffling sound. “To tell the truth, I was hurt. I didn’t even know that my dearest friend was getting married.”

  Maggie hugged her. “I’m not. And I didn’t go shopping. I had no idea that Hollis was saying things like that.”

  “There were other ladies around town who were concerned,” Avalee said. “Several even telephoned your father. He said the same thing that Hollis did. Why would your father lie? What is going on here?”

  A wagon pulling in from the other end of the alley had Eli returning to Maggie’s side. Several men exited the back door of one of the largest buildings and began unloading crates. One of the men looked at Avalee with an appreciative smile.

  “We need to get a move on,” Eli said. “Too many people here. We can’t take any chances.”

  Avalee gave him a dimpled smile. “Maggie, you didn’t introduce me to your friend.”

  Ignoring Avalee, Eli shot Maggie a look of warning.

  Although Maggie knew full well she could trust her old friend with her life, she understood the sheriff’s concern. If Hollis had managed to convince her father, her own flesh and blood, to go along with his schemes, there was no telling what he could do.

  “He’s a friend of mine,” Maggie told her. “That’s all I can say for now. He’s on my side. I escaped the asylum and I’m perfectly safe. I’ll explain everything as soon as I can.”

  “But, Maggie…”

  “I’ve got to go, but no matter what Hollis Anderson says or does, don’t believe him, and whatever you do, please don’t tell him you saw me today.”

  “I won’t,” Avalee promised. “When will I see you again?”

  “If everything works out like I’m hoping, I will be home for good soon. If not, I will figure out a way to send word.”

  Avalee nodded. “I’ll be praying for you.”

  “Thank you,” Maggie said, giving Avalee another hug. “I can’t wait for life to get back to normal.”

  Yet even as she said the words, Maggie had the strangest feeling that normal might never be the same.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Eli tensed as they rounded a corner near the Radford house. Nathaniel held the reins, and Eli was watching Maggie over his shoulder. She was looking with longing at the grand structure from under the brim of her hat. Be patient, Maggie.

  The plan was to pass the place once, looking it over to see if anyone was outside, and then leave the wagon on the next block and return on foot. That way they could each approach the house separately, and from different directions.

  Suddenly Maggie’s head snapped up and she gasped.

  “Get down,” he hissed, before tracking her gaze to the front porch where a man sat in a chair with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

  The gasp she’d given should’ve been warning enough for Eli, but before he could stop her Maggie jumped from the wagon and bolted toward the house—dashing in front of a fancy carriage with a pair of matching black horses, narrowly missing being run down in the street. After what she’d pulled earlier, he should’ve been prepared.

  By the time the carriage and the irate driver had passed, Maggie had neared the edge of the lawn. Eli couldn’t call out to her for fear of alerting someone inside the house. He jumped from the seat and dashed after her, praying he could reach her in time.

  Didn’t she understand the risk? If Hollis Anderson caught her she could disappear again. And this time there might be nothing that Eli could do to help. His heart stopped when the front door opened. No.

  He made a last desperate lunge for her, but Maggie halted so suddenly that he nearly plowed her over. Grabbing her upper arms, Eli jerked her backwards and down behind some shrubbery just as two men stepped through the front door.

  One of the men was Hollis Anderson. Eli didn’t recognize the other fellow. But he was grateful for their rather spirited conversation. Otherwise they would’ve seen Maggie. Eli pulled her further away until they were out of the men’s sight. As soon as he caught his breath,
he intended on giving her the griping out of a lifetime.

  But he never got the chance. Maggie stared up at him, eyes huge, all color gone from her face.

  “It’s him,” she whispered.

  “Your father?” Had his appearance changed so much that it frightened her?

  Maggie shook her head.

  Eli glanced in the direction of the house. “You knew Hollis Anderson was staying here, right?”

  “Not him. The other man. The one Hollis is talking to. I thought he was dead. I thought I killed him.”

  “Killed him?”

  “Yes, that’s one of the guards from the asylum. He’s Tiny, the one who beat me. When the fire broke out and I made a run for it, he grabbed me.” Her words tumbled out in a whispered rush.

  “What made you think you’d killed him?”

  She gulped. “I hit him in the head with a fireplace poker. He was pulling me away from everyone else. I had to get away…from him and the fire. I knew Lucinda was probably in worse danger than I was, even though the blanket protected her some. I picked up the poker with my free hand and hit him as hard as I could. I left him there, and I ran.” She looked at him with a tortured expression. “I left him to die.”

  “Is that the secret you’ve been keeping from me?”

  She nodded, still trembling.

  “Didn’t you hear the Pinkerton agent say that except for the doctor all the staff and employees made it out alive?” Eli said.

  “No, but I wish I had. I’m so glad I didn’t kill him. I’ve seen his face in my dreams. He must have come to and crawled out on his own.”

  Eli put his arm around her. “It’s okay, you made the right decision. Even if it would’ve turned out differently, you did the right thing. You had to get the baby out.” He swallowed hard thinking about what could have happened. “You had to get out of there.”

  “But I left him to die.”

  “It’s okay,” he soothed. “We can talk about it later. We need to leave.”

  She pushed back from him, a look of devastation on her face. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to my father.”

  “It’s too dangerous right now, Maggie. Remember, I have no authority here. And I don’t know who Hollis might have on his side. We can try again, soon.”

  Still visibly shaken and disappointed, Maggie made an effort to pull herself together. “Okay. Where are Nathaniel and Brody?”

  “Hopefully, they’re waiting around the corner.” With a firm grip on her arm, Eli led her away from the house. Her sorrowful expression hurt him, but it didn’t sway him.

  They found the wagon waiting on the next block. Eli hoisted Maggie up into the back, and climbed in after her.

  “Everything okay?” Nathaniel asked.

  “Yep, but it was a close call,” Eli said. “We’re going to scratch this attempt and get on back to Moccasin Rock. We can try again another day.”

  Nathaniel nodded.

  “Brody, why don’t you sit up front,” Eli said. “I need to talk to Miss Radford.”

  While Brody clambered over the seat, Eli murmured for Maggie to keep her head down. Then he leaned back against a burlap bag, pulled his hat low over his face, looking, he hoped, like a man about to catch a little shuteye as the wagon rumbled along toward the edge of town.

  Under the brim of his hat Eli couldn’t see much of Maggie, but he could see she was trembling. Without changing his position, and keeping a distance between them for any curious town folk they passed, he reached out and took one of her hands in his.

  She gripped it and held on as if he’d pulled her from a raging river. No words were exchanged.

  As soon as they cleared town, Eli sat up straighter. Glancing over his shoulder at Nathaniel and Brody, who were deep in discussion about the day’s events, Eli moved closer to Maggie.

  This was the nearest thing to privacy they would have until they reached Moccasin Rock. He didn’t want to wait until then to say what was on his mind.

  Maggie tilted her hat back and looked up at him.

  Eli leaned in, and then hesitated. What if she didn’t trust him after this?

  He had long ago stopped caring what people thought of him. In fact, he’d still been a kid when he realized that some people would look down on him simply because he was poor, hungry and dirty most of the time. Even if none of that had been his choice.

  He and Nathaniel had been called every name in the book. It had taken him time to realize that said more about the name-callers than it did him and his brother. So why was he so worried about Maggie’s reaction? He’d have to sort it out later.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Maggie, I understand what you’re going through,” Eli said, “I’ve been there.”

  Her golden brown eyes were troubled. “You have?”

  “Yes. As I told you before, I know how it feels to be on the receiving end of abuse. To be smaller, weaker than the other guy.”

  “That’s difficult to believe,” she said, looking him up and down.

  “It’s true. Remember when we were fishing and I told you about some of the things that Nathaniel and I went through? And how we met a man who was worse than Mr. Pedlam?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I was talking about a man named Jasper. We were still young when we ended up in San Angelo, scared to death.” Even though he’d never told anyone about that time in their lives, Eli found himself telling her everything. “Nathaniel had lost weight, he wasn’t eating, wasn’t sleeping. When Jasper offered to take us in, I was wary. We’d been through so much in the few years since we’d fled from that old man’s house near Taylor’s Crossing. As I mentioned, we’d had some close calls.”

  “Yes, it seems a miracle that y’all survived.”

  “I suppose it was,” Eli admitted. “Anyway, Jasper didn’t hit us, which was a big improvement over some of the places we’d stayed. I was so relieved that we weren’t dodging flying fists, that I mistook lack of violence for kindness. He wasn’t a kind man. In fact, he was the definition of evil.”

  “So why did he let y’all stay?”

  “He said we could run errands for him. He owned several businesses at the time, although I didn’t really understand what they were, at first. They weren’t the sort of places kids should be living.”

  “What were they?”

  “Brothels, saloons.”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh.”

  “I made deliveries for Jasper and his friends—sometimes large amounts of cash, sometimes alcohol, sometimes worse. I was young, but I could drive a team of horses and a wagon. Boys grow up fast in that kind of environment. I often hauled drunks away from the place. One of Jasper’s men would load them in the wagon, and I would take them to the edge of town and roll them out. And I left them there, like I was told. At least once it was a dead man that I dumped off. He’d died in a fight. I suspected Jasper had a hand in that, too.”

  Eli swallowed hard. “I didn’t just leave him, though. Before I left, I took that man’s gun. In my mind I justified it by saying he didn’t need it anymore. But I did. I stole from a dead man.”

  “Oh, Eli.”

  “I practiced with that gun every spare minute I had. I watched men who were fast draws, and I learned how to emulate them. I also became cold, distant. Men like that seemed to live longer.”

  So far, Maggie’s eyes were filled with compassion, not judgment. But he had to tell her all of it.

  “Jasper kept us around because I didn’t talk to anyone, and was cheap labor for him. He paid us in food and gave us a place to sleep. I honestly thought heaven couldn’t be any finer at the time. I gradually realized what all was going on there, but I was beyond caring. Until something happened that still haunts me.”

  “What?” she breathed.

  Eli paused, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the others were still engrossed in their own conversation. “One night Jasper told me to take a message to someone who owed him money. I recognized the name right away. Mr. Gaetti wa
s an Italian man who ran a shoe shop. He was a nice old fellow. He’d borrowed money from Jasper right after he got there from Italy. He was having trouble paying it back. Mr. Gaetti refused to go see Jasper, he was scared of him. In fact, the old man got to where he’d hardly leave his shop at all.”

  Eli paused. At some point in the past few minutes he’d begun rubbing his thumb across Maggie’s hand.

  He glanced at her, but she seemed to be waiting patiently for him to finish his story. Either she hadn’t noticed his touch, or she didn’t mind. He hoped it was the latter.

  “Jasper instructed me to make Nathaniel lay down in the alley and cry, and I was supposed to go knock on Mr. Gaetti’s back door and beg him for help. When I worried aloud about what would happen to the old man, Jasper told me to do as he said and fake Nathaniel’s injury, or he’d give him a real one.”

  Eli’s voice dropped. “It was the first time he’d ever threatened either one of us. The lack of bluster, the quietness with which he said it, made it all the more deadly. To add a little weight to his threat, Jasper took hold of my arm and twisted it behind me, hard enough that I thought I’d pass out.”

  A chill swept over Eli, remembering the look in Jasper’s eyes. The man hadn’t lost his temper and lashed out in a moment of anger. He had calmly, casually, tried to break a child’s arm.

  “When he let go of me, I fell,” Eli said. “I was literally shaking in my boots. I hated that feeling, and if I’d been on my own I would have taken off right then. But I had Nathaniel to think about. He’d gained weight—for the first time ever there was plenty of food available. And he was sleeping through the night again. So I did as I was told.”

  Maggie’s eyes held compassion as she squeezed his hand.

  “I knew that Jasper was going to beat Mr. Gaetti. I didn’t have to fake the tears that were running down my face when I banged on that back door and the old man answered. In fact, I was crying so hard that I couldn’t say anything. I pointed to Nathaniel. He was lying in the alley, as he’d been ordered to do. Mr. Gaetti rushed toward him. He hadn’t made it three feet when Jasper stepped out of the shadows and shot him.”