by Avery, Joan
“Yep, fanciest one I could get my hands on. And a wagon for the luggage. I’ll see to that. Don’t trust these scoundrels none.” Dusty eyed the porters warily.
Through the steamy clouds Kate approached with Andy in her arms. Fiona trailed behind with a small satchel.
“Lordy, Lordy. But ain’t they a start.” Dusty whistled softly. “The boy looks just like you. No question ‘bout that.” His gaze shifted. “And I ain’t seen such a beauty in all my born days. She’s about the pertiest thing I ever seen. Looks nothing like her poor sister.”
Stephen didn’t answer.
Kate looked up. Her eyes were hard, challenging. Dusty was right. This woman bore no resemblance to Lizzie. Not in looks or temperament.
“Well, I’d know the boy’s yours from across a canyon. Wait ’til Peg sees him. She’ll be happier than a pig in a trough.”
Stephen laughed. Then sobered with a warning. “Remember what I wrote. Not a word to her about the past. Not until I’ve had time to tell her myself.”
“You ain’t told her yet?”
“Don’t look at me that way. I’ll tell her in my own time.”
“Well, that time better be pretty soon, ’cause she’s gonna cause quite a stir in this here town and they’ll be more than one busy body willing to tell her all about you.”
“I know. I know.” He would be living dangerously until he told Kate. But the time wasn’t right. Not yet.
…
“Welcome to Denver, Miz Barker.”
“Katherine, this is Dusty Krebs, a long-time associate of mine.”
“Mr. Krebs.” Kate nodded as she took in his ill-fitting trousers, collarless shirt, and odd vest which was made of a kind of animal hide trimmed in beads. His salt-and-pepper hair was well beyond his shoulders. He had not bothered to tie it back, preferring a braid or two near his face to keep it out of his eyes. The best thing she could say about him was that he seemed clean enough.
Andy squirmed in Kate’s arms. “Down, Mama. Down.”
She placed the child on the wooden platform and took his hand.
Dusty effortlessly crouched down on his haunches as if he had spent a lifetime in the position.
“I brought you something, little feller.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a beautiful figure of a horse no more than three inches long. It had been hand carved out of wood.
“Whittled it myself. Do you know what it is?”
Andy studied the man and then the wooden figure. “Horse,” came his quiet reply.
Dusty slapped his thigh, startling both Andy and her. “Smart as a whip, just like his daddy,” he cackled. The boy took refuge in the folds of Kate’s skirt.
“Here, it’s yours, Andy.” Dusty held out the small horse. “Take it now, don’t be shy about it.” Dusty looked up at her. “He’s as skittish as a new colt, eh?”
“Andy, Mr. Krebs has made you a beautiful horse. You can take it if you like.”
The boy slowly unfurled himself from her skirt and stepped forward, one hand keeping a secure hold of the skirt’s fabric. With his other hand, he reached out for the figurine.
“What do you say, Andy?” Already the boy was lost in inspection.
“Horse, Mama. Horse.”
“Yes, darling. But what do you say to Mr. Krebs.”
“Thank you.” The child mumbled the words, distracted by the present.
“You’re very kind, Mr. Krebs.”
“Miz Barker, if you keep calling me Mr. Krebs, I’m gonna have to stop my cussin’ and cut my hair. Neither of which I care t’do. So I guess you’ll just have to call me Dusty and be done with it.”
She found herself smiling. “If you wish, but then you must call me Kate.”
“Yes, Miss Kate. It’ll be my pleasure.” Dusty touched his hat.
The clatter of harnesses behind them halted the conversation. “That there’s yer rig. Told you it was a fancy one.” He beamed and looked to Stephen for approval.
“It’s beautiful,” she said without thinking. Far too elegant for a backwater town, she thought. She had not expected such luxury in Denver.
“I must warn you, Kate, Dusty will be the first one to brag about Denver and its accomplishments. Isn’t that so, Dusty?” Stephen laughed.
“We’re nigh on thirty-five-thousand people now. The best town between St. Louis and good ole San Fran.”
Before her, the City of Denver bustled with activity. Delivery wagons and private carriages hurried up and down the wide streets. Brick buildings some three stories high lined those streets. Beyond them lay a range of white-capped mountains so breathtaking that she was momentarily stunned.
“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Stephen was at her elbow.
“Yes, they are.”
“In my youth, I visited the Alps and felt that I would never see mountains more beautiful. But I had not seen these mountains.”
He had the look of a man returning home after a long journey. His face had relaxed and his eyes, his beautiful eyes, had softened. For the first since she’d met him, he appeared happy.
“Come on now, come on. Don’t be dawdlin’.” Dusty held open the carriage door. “Tell Peg I’ll be bringing the bags directly.”
Stephen lifted Andy into the carriage and offered an arm to the excited Fiona. When Fiona was seated, he offered his arm to Kate. There was a moment, just a moment, when she thought he sought a truce. She couldn’t offer him that, not yet. But she acknowledged that the game had shifted to a new playing field, and the next move was his.
…
“Oh my word! Oh my word! I can hardly stand it! Look at you! Are you all right, son?” The heavy-set woman almost tripped on the porch steps as she rushed from the imposing two-story house.
“I’m fine, Peg. Fine.”
The large woman threw herself onto Stephen with a smothering hug that she held long after Stephen seemed comfortable with it. Despite her enthusiasm, the woman touched his back lightly. Clearly she knew about his disfigurement.
The sight of it had never left Kate.
The older woman finally pulled away, dabbing at her eyes with her voluminous white apron. However distant she hoped to remain, Kate found herself drawn to the unbridled show of affection.
“Are you sure yer all right, then? I was afraid we’d never see you alive again. Mighty afraid.” She patted his arm as if to reassure herself of his presence. “Well, where is he? Where?”
“Calm down, Peg. You’ll die of apoplexy.” Stephen smiled at the woman, then placed a kiss on her florid cheek. “It’s good to see you again. You know you’re my favorite girl.”
“Aw, pshaw. You always were a devilish charmer.” Once more she grasped his arm. “We thought we’d lost you, dear boy. Lost you for good.” Tears welled up in the woman’s eyes again. This time she wiped them away with her sleeve. “God’s been good to us, seeing you safely back. Good indeed. But enough of this. Enough of this.” She batted at his sleeve. “Where is he?”
Stephen walked back to the carriage. “Andy, come here, there’s someone I want you to meet.”
Kate felt helpless as the boy smiled and ran into his father’s arms. He carried Andy back to where the woman stood.
“Oh...oh...oh. Look at you now. Oh, but he’s a beautiful boy, Stephen. A beautiful boy. Look at his hair. His eyes.” Peg clapped her hands together in delight. Then covered her mouth. Her eyes were bright as unchecked tears streamed down her face.
“I want to hold him, but I’m afraid I’ll scare him, poor thing, with all this blubberin’.”
“Wait a moment, Peg. There’s someone else I want you to meet.” Stephen took two steps back to the carriage.
“Katherine.” He extended a hand to her to help her out. Reluctantly, she took his hand and stepped out of the carriage. “Peg, this is Katherine Barker. Katherine, this is Peg Malroney.”
Peg grew very quiet for a moment. Then a smile lit the woman’s face as she seemed to recover. “But where are my wits? Poor gir
l. Welcome. Welcome.”
Kate found herself in a bear-hug of an embrace. Peg’s whispered words in her ear stripped her even more of her equilibrium. “Poor Lizzie, we miss her so. I can’t tell you how sorry we all were, but we knew you was the one to raise the boy, however much it broke my heart to send him to you with the good Reverend and his wife. He’s a beautiful boy and it cheers my heart something fierce to see him growed up so.”
She fought the desire to push the woman away. She didn’t want to hear this. None of it. It only served to confuse her.
The older woman put a familiar arm around her shoulder. “Well, come on in. We’ve been makin’ a pure spectacle of ourselves out here. That’s for sure. Me and Dusty fixed up a bedroom for you and one for the boy. Hope you all like ’em.”
Kate walked mutely toward the magnificent home. Behind her, Fiona trailed with their hand luggage. The house was not at all what she had expected. The trip from the station had not been long, but it had stripped her of any notion that Denver was a backwater frontier town. A horse-drawn street railway plied the city. On one corner, the foundation was being laid for what Stephen had described as a five-story hotel that would eventually fill the entire block. It was being built by a Horace Tabor, a former shopkeeper who had struck it rich when he staked a pair of German prospectors to seventeen dollars’ worth of tools, grub, and whiskey for a one-third share in whatever they found. What they found was the Little Pittsburgh silver mine, of which even she was aware.
She told herself that it didn’t matter how large, how expensive, how ostentatious Denver became. It would never be Andy’s home.
Now that she was confronted with Stephen’s own home, her fears became more focused. It was beautifully proportioned, a city mansion to rival any in St. Louis. The main house was made extravagantly of dressed sandstone, and a wide and inviting porch swept gracefully around three sides. Above the porch, tall wide windows strutted across the second story with beautiful marble arches gracing the tops of each. A mansard slate roof with fine wrought iron work completed the exterior. It reminded her of a home she had once seen in a book of European architecture.
Peg hurried her up the steps and across the porch. She opened the door and allowed Kate to step inside first.
The house smelled of lemon wax and cinnamon. The polished oak floor of the entry hall gleamed. A delicate Queen Anne cabriole legged table was set to the right; above it hung a simple gilt-framed mirror. Across from the table, double doors opened into the formal parlor. A brightly colored Oriental rug covered most of the polished floor.
The antique furnishings might have been found in a fine English country home. Most of the pieces were Chippendale. One split back chair’s delicate oriental design and carved mahogany legs were exquisite. The room was painted a warm yellow and, as the morning light streamed in, the color made it more inviting.
“You must be tired after your long trip,” Peg said. “Let me show you your room. I hope it’s to your liking. We followed his instructions to the letter but it wasn’t that easy a thing to do with so little time.”
Kate turned to Stephen and offered to take Andy.
Stephen looked as if he were reading her every reaction. He set the boy down and took his hand. “I’ll watch him for a bit. Go with Peg and get settled.” He addressed Andy. “I could smell Peg’s molasses cookies a block away. Would you like a cookie, Andy?”
The two-year old’s face lit up. “Cookie?”
“Yes, the best cookie you’ll ever taste. Come on.”
Without a look back at her, Andy headed to the back of the house with Stephen.
The clatter of a wagon in front of the house created a stir.
“Well, here’s Dusty. About time too.” Peg smiled at her. “Go on upstairs. I’ll see to your things. It’s the first room on the right. I’ll be up in a jiffy.”
Kate moved up the stairs with leaden feet. She closed her eyes and let her hand slide lightly up the polished mahogany banister. She could hear Andy’s excited conversation at the back of the house. For a moment, with her eyes shut, she could have been back home in St. Louis. Nearing the top of the stairs, she opened her eyes. A child’s room lit by the morning sun beckoned warmly. A small brass bed had been tucked into a corner. Across it lay a handmade quilt depicting an assortment of animals—bear and bison, elk and antelope. A small wooden table and two chairs sat on a hand-braided rug. A wooden rocking horse made with care and artistry inhabited one corner, his yarn mane and button eyes awaiting a child’s caress.
In the darkened hall she began to comprehend her situation. Fear enveloped her like a cold shroud. For the first time, she admitted to herself that it was possible that she could lose Andy.
Chapter Ten
“Where is she?” Stephen strode down the upstairs hall, his voice echoing loudly back at him in the narrow space.
“She’s gone out, sir.” Fiona stopped dead at the entrance to Andy’s room, a pile of clean laundry in her arms.
“Out where?”
“She said she wanted to get a few things for the boy. I’m not sure where she went exactly.”
“Damn.” Stephen turned on his heels. “Peg?” He took the steps two at a time, pivoted in the entry hall, and marched to the back of the house where he threw open the kitchen door. “Peg?”
“Lordy, what’s all the commotion about?”
“Where has she gone?” Stephen demanded.
“Who?” Peg looked puzzled.
“Katherine.”
“She said she wanted to pick up warmer clothes for Andy, so I told her to try Chamard on Larimer or the Empire Clothing House.”
“You let her go out?”
Peg stopped rolling out the crust for the pie she was making and placed a balled fist on each of her hefty hips. “Listen here, Stephen, my boy. I ain’t about to hold the girl captive in this house because you can’t work yourself up to telling her something she shoulda known all along.”
“Peg...”
“If I was you, I’d be afraid she’d find out from someone else and if she does, she ain’t going to give you the boy without a nasty fight. Least if you tell her—”
“If I tell her... What am I going to tell her?”
“The truth is what you’re to be telling her.”
He laughed bitterly. “Just give me a little while longer. I spoke with Otto Mears. He says Morse went back to Silverton after the hearing. I’ve got to head there early next week. Winter is almost here. It won’t be long before all the passes are closed and there will be no traveling until spring.”
“Ah, don’t tell her fer sure, then.” Peg used a flour-covered hand to push back a graying strand of red hair. “With any luck, this time Morse’s men will finish what they started and when you’re dead, Kate can just take Andy back with her. That’ll make life a mite bit simpler for you, won’t it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’ve seen the way you look at her.”
He looked away, out the back window of the kitchen where Dusty and Andy played with a newly whittled spinning top.
He felt he had to protest. “You were dumbstruck yourself when you first saw her. She’s a very beautiful woman. It’s hard to overlook that.”
“That simple, eh?” Peg brushed off the flour on her hands and walked around the big pine table until she was in front of him. She was almost as tall as him and broad at the shoulders from years of mining.
“I’m not a fool. I’ve knowed you going on ten years now. This one, she’s a fighter. And you know it too. I ain’t never seen the look you have on your face when you look at her ever, not even before.”
“Don’t say that, Peg. Do you think I’d ever betray Lizzie?” Guilt drove his anger.
“Ah, you see it that way.”
“What other way is there to see it?”
“If I got to tell you, you ain’t ready to hear it.” Peg resumed rolling out the pie crust. “Well, are you going after her then? I’d try Merseberg
& Zalinger’s over on Blake as well. Seems I may have mentioned that, too.”
He didn’t care that he slammed the kitchen door on his way out. Andy and Dusty looked up briefly as he passed before returning to their game. He headed for Larimer. What the hell was Peg babbling on about? The look on his face. The woman was hallucinating.
…
Kate inhaled deeply. The crisp mountain air cleaned her soul and lifted her spirits. It was good to be outside the house. She had been cooped up for almost a week now. Stephen had come and gone. Even Peg and Dusty had gone out on errands, but she had spent her days at needlepoint and reading. It felt like sinful idleness. She was used to being involved in so many things. Her volunteer work, her father’s business, Andy...
Even Andy needed her less these past few days. The boy was enamored of Dusty and she had to admit the miner kept her in stitches as well with his tales of the West.
Dusty and Peg had been a surprise. The warm-hearted souls shared one thing in common—a rabid devotion to Stephen Worth. Peg would watch Stephen as she herself watched Andy. Mirrored in Peg’s eyes, there was the same concern, the same love—and the same pain.
Kate couldn’t look at Andy without thinking of Lizzie. Why was there the same pain in Peg’s eyes when she watched Stephen?
She stopped in front of the store Peg had recommended and studied the display window. A boy’s gray-checked wool suit trimmed in gray gallon was displayed with knee-high spats. The small ensemble was a copy of a man’s Norfolk hunting suit. It piqued her interest. Andy was just out of dresses and into shirtwaists. He had grown so quickly it pained her. Now she had to anticipate buying him still more grown-up things.
She reached for the door to the Empire Clothing House and a small brass bell announced her arrival.
“May I help you, miss?”
“I was interested in the child’s suit in the front window.”
“Yes, miss. It’s a lovely garment. Fine, fine fabric. We sell it with matching hose, and a cambric shirt with a large fold-over collar. We also recommend a silk bow tie.”
“Yes, yes I see it. I think I’ll take them... All of them, please.”
