In the Shadow of the Mountains

by Rosanne Bittner

  Kirk put a hand on her arm. He found himself suddenly feeling sorry for her, realizing how hard she had worked for Denver, that she had done it because he had brought her here and wanted to stay. “There’s no sense laying the blame on us or Red,” he told her quietly. “This decision probably would have been made even without Red being in the picture. I have a feeling he asked to be the one to come and tell us, for his personal satisfaction. But we’re not going to take this lying down, Bea. You’re the one who told me Denver could survive anything. Don’t back out on me now.”

  She was heartened by his sudden, surprising need of her. “No…I won’t,” she told him.

  “Father, what can we do?” Irene asked. “I want to help.”

  “Yes, we’ll do whatever’s necessary,” Chad said.

  “We’ve got to start laying plans right away,” Kirk told them.

  “Plans for what?” Chad asked.

  “I don’t know yet. Maybe our own railroad, a link to the UP at Cheyenne.”

  “Our own railroad! Do you know the kind of money that would take?”

  “We’ll raise it,” Kirk answered. “Somehow we’ll rally Denver’s citizens together and raise the money through bonds. If we work fast enough, we could be ready at the same time the transcontinental is completed. We could even build a connection south to the Kansas-Pacific. Most of our cattle shipments could go that route.”

  Chad grinned. “By God, maybe we could do it at that.”

  “It will be a horrendous project,” Bea said.

  “We just have to get enough people together on it,” Kirk answered.

  “You’d better move fast,” Chad told him. “Hunter over there is already talking about pulling up stakes. As soon as this hits the News, all hell will break loose around here. People will head north.”

  “Then we’ll just head them off,” Kirk answered.

  Irene listened in total confusion. None of it made sense. She could understand the railroad’s decision, but she could not understand the animosity she had seen between Red and her parents, especially between Red and Kirk. What had happened to the warm friendship they once shared? She knew Red had paid back the money he had borrowed from Kirk, knew her father well enough to know Kirk never would have demanded that money.

  She glanced at Bea. There were few times that her mother looked totally shaken, but this was one of them. Had her mother done something to offend Red McKinley? The sawmill bore the Kirkland name now. Irene had always thought Red had given up the mill willingly, but perhaps he had not. Chad had already said Bea all but hated the man. Why?

  Kirk was ordering Chad and another man to go out and gather together certain builders, engineers, a few other men with power and money, calling a meeting for that very night. Something had to be done, and quickly. Other communities had to be contacted, to let them know this was important not just to Denver but to all of Colorado. The Union Pacific would not come through Denver! Such an affront would not be tolerated by the Queen City.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Elly lay in severe pain, but decided what she had done was worth the discomfort. How could she have explained her pregnancy to her mother? She would have lost faith with the family, maybe even have been disinherited. Besides, her baby might have looked just like Chad, for Chad most certainly had to be the father. If the family found out, everything would be ruined. Chad would hate her for giving away their secret. Irene would leave him, and Chad might in turn leave Denver, and she would never see him again.

  She grasped her pillow tighter, looking around her room, wondering how long she had lain passed out after the operation. What day was this? Was she going to live? If she did, she had already decided that the first thing she was going to do when she got back home was fire Jesse for telling her there were certain times she couldn’t get pregnant. Now that she knew that was not true, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do about her sexual adventures. She was not about to stop seeing Chad, or other men, for that matter.

  She lay in a state of confusion and remorse, not over getting rid of her baby, but over the pregnancy itself and near panic at realizing it could happen again. Why her? Irene was the one who wanted a baby. A child was the last thing Elly ever wanted.

  She curled up as another cramp rocked her. She had gone out into the streets of Chicago and found a woman who, for a fee, had taken her to a doctor who got rid of babies. The trouble was, the man had all but killed her. The violent sickness and bleeding that had followed the abortion had alarmed the school president, who had no idea what was wrong with her. A doctor had been called in, and that was about all Elly remembered. The doctor had performed some kind of operation on her. She wasn’t even sure yet what had been done to her, but now the president of the school knew she had had an abortion in some hideous back-alley room, an abortion she had hoped to keep secret. It surely wouldn’t be long now before Miss Oxford told her family.

  She fell into a light sleep, then opened her eyes when she heard the door open. Miss Oxford and the doctor came into her room, Miss Oxford looking pale and shaken. She approached Elly, touching her hair. “How do you feel, child?”

  “Terrible,” Elly answered. “You didn’t…you didn’t tell anyone, did you—the other girls, I mean?”

  The woman took a chair near her. “No. I’ve told no one.” She looked at the doctor. “This is Dr. Morrow. You were so sick when I brought him to see you, I wasn’t sure you would even remember him. He’s come to check on you, and to talk to you about something very serious, Elly.” The woman’s eyes began to tear. “Oh, Elly, why did you do this? Don’t you understand your mother’s power? She’ll have this school closed for good, and I’ll lose everything I have ever worked for.”

  The woman sniffled, and Elly frowned. She hated sobbing women. “You didn’t do anything,” she told Miss Oxford. “I’m the one who had the abortion.”

  “But you were out there in the streets without our knowledge. It makes us look bad, Elly, makes it look as though we don’t keep a good watch on our girls. And to think you almost died, let alone—” She glanced up at Dr. Morrow. “There is something you have to know, Elly. We had to make a decision on our own, without yours or your mother’s permission. When you learn the truth, it will go bad for the school, I’m afraid.”

  Elly looked at the doctor. “Learn what truth? What’s wrong? Am I going to die?”

  “No, Elly, you won’t die,” the doctor assured her. Miss Oxford watched Elly as the doctor talked, thinking how different the girl was from her sweet and beautiful older sister who had been there three years ago. Elly was belligerent, demanding, and snobbish, always rubbing it in to the other girls about how wealthy she was. She did not have many friends here except among those whose wealth matched or surpassed her own, and in four months she had managed to cause arguments among some of the others. Elly Kirkland was a clever schemer who knew how to create friction among the other girls while looking completely innocent herself.

  “I am afraid we had no choice, Elly,” the doctor was saying. He cleared his throat, looking nervous. “Whoever performed the abortion did a very messy job. He or she damaged the womb—the uterus, it is called. I removed it vaginally. It is a very rare operation, and you’re lucky the school called me, because I am an expert in this field. If I had not done what I did, you would have most certainly died. However, I am afraid you…well, my dear, you can never have children now.”

  Miss Oxford broke into more tears, and Elly just stared at the doctor, letting the words sink in. Never have children? She couldn’t get pregnant? She quickly surmised they expected this news to break her heart. She could think of no better news, but she put on a look of horror and dismay. “No babies?” she whimpered.

  “I’m sorry,” the doctor told her. “I had no choice, and there was no time to try to contact your parents first. Even if we had, the decision would have had to be the same, in order to save your life.” The man ran a hand through his hair as he walked over to get another chair and bring i
t closer to her bed. He sat down and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “You won’t have any more periods, Elly. I hate to talk so bluntly, but considering the fact you were pregnant in the first place, such talk should not be a total shock to you, and I want you to understand what has happened. It was an internal operation, so you will have no scars.”

  No scars! No one would even have to know! She could hardly contain her joy at the news.

  “You do still have your ovaries,” the doctor was explaining. “So there will be no interruption of your hormones. You will hardly know the difference, except for the awful realization you can never have children. I’m very sorry. It may not seem that terrible at the moment, but when you’re a little older, more mature, marry a proper man, you’ll want children. It will be up to you whether or not you tell the poor man that you can never give him any.”

  Elly managed a few tears, not from disappointment, but from her own pain, and the remembered horror of the abortion. “Can I—I mean—can I be a normal wife someday to a good man? Can I have…normal relations with him?”

  “Yes,” the doctor answered gently. “The operation in no way will affect your ability to—uh—to please your husband sexually. It only means you can’t give him children.”

  “How terrible for him,” Elly answered, a note of sadness in her voice.

  “It’s just too bad a good man will have to suffer one day for what some rogue did to you,” Miss Oxford spoke up between sobs. “It doesn’t matter to us personally who the father was, Elly, or who the horrible doctor was who nearly killed you. It will be up to you if you want to give your parents such information. The biggest problem for us is the fact that you sneaked out of here and went to see that quack, and that we have had to make such a dramatic decision about your entire future. I can only hope when we tell your family that they somehow understand we did our best.” She stopped to wipe at her eyes, a new wave of tears coming. “Something like this has never happened here before!”

  Elly’s mind whirled with the sudden information. She couldn’t get pregnant! She was completely free to have sex whenever she wanted! She didn’t even have any scars. No one even needed to know! She kept a sober look on her face as she spoke to Miss Oxford. “You mean, you haven’t contacted my family yet? You and Dr. Morrow are the only ones who know about this?”

  Miss Oxford nodded. Elly reached out and took her hand. “Miss Oxford, I don’t want the school to go under because of me. And I’d like to stay here and finish my schooling like Mother wanted me to.” She let a tear slip down her face. “Please, Miss Oxford, if you won’t tell, I won’t tell. My mother will send me any amount of money I ask for, so I can pay the doctor myself. I’ll even pay you something extra not to tell. I’ll make up some excuse to my mother for why I need the money.”

  Miss Oxford glanced at the doctor and back to Elly. “You mean…you don’t want your parents to know? You aren’t angry with us?”

  Elly turned on her back, staring up at the ceiling. “How can I be? It’s all my fault, not yours. Dr. Morrow did what he had to do. I’m the one who sinned, Miss Oxford, and I’m the one who tried to get rid of the baby.” She turned her head to look at the woman. “I brought this on myself. You shouldn’t be held responsible. As long as I don’t have any scars, I’d like to be allowed to decide on my own when and if I tell anyone. When the day comes that I meet the right man, it will be up to me whether or not I tell him I can’t”—she managed a sob—“give him children.”

  Miss Oxford rose, leaning over the girl. “Elly, are you sure? I wouldn’t want this to come out later.”

  Elly wiped at her eyes. “If I wait a few years, I don’t even have to tell when or where it happened. For now it will be just our secret—my own secret when I get home. Please, Miss Oxford. Please don’t tell. By the time I go home next year, I’ll be just fine. No one needs to know. I’d—I’d be too ashamed. I don’t want to hurt my mother. I promise to be a better student and to stay out of trouble. Just please don’t tell my parents about this.”

  Miss Oxford looked at the doctor, who looked relieved. “You know how I feel about it,” he told her. “I have a well-established practice, Miss Oxford. I don’t want to lose my license. From what I hear, this Kirkland family has enough money and power to put us both out of business.”

  Miss Oxford sighed deeply, looking back at Elly. “You’ve been through so much, you poor child. We’ll do whatever you want.”

  “What I want is for no one to know. And…I’d like to be alone for a little while, please?” She looked at Dr. Morrow. “Can’t you come back a little later? I’m so tired. I want to sleep a little more.”

  He smiled and nodded. “You’re a brave young lady,” he told her. “Foolish and too trusting, though, I’ll wager, and apparently you trusted some scoundrel who doesn’t deserve you. I’m just sorry you had to learn such a hard, cruel lesson from it. Thank you for understanding I only did what I had to do.”

  “I do understand.” Elly closed her eyes, wanting them to leave. Miss Oxford and the doctor looked at each other in secret relief, turning to leave the room quietly. As soon as they were gone, Elly wiped away the remaining tears and grinned in spite of her pain. Her worry over children and getting pregnant was gone! Without even knowing it, Dr. Morrow had done her a great favor! If she could just get well now, keep this secret from her family, everything would be perfect! The doctor and Miss Oxford would never tell. She could see it in their eyes. They were too afraid of losing their jobs. Even here in Chicago she could wield the Kirkland power!

  She put a hand to her stomach. No scars! Soon she would be well. She would go back to Denver a new woman, more free than she had ever been—free to be with Chad whenever she wanted!

  Eighteen sixty-seven and 1868 were years of turmoil and hasty decisions for Denver and Colorado. A few faint-hearted citizens quickly headed north, but Kirk and other Denver power figures worked with Byers through the newspaper to help calm the panic caused by the news about the Union Pacific. Meeting after meeting was held. It was agreed a new rail line must be built from Denver to Cheyenne, and the Denver Pacific Railroad Company was soon organized.

  Letters were sent to Washington, and Kirk was delegated to go to Washington and plead Denver’s case, resulting in a federal land grant that opened the route north. Bea and a number of Denver businessmen negotiated a series of complicated and intricate financial deals, raising over five hundred thousand dollars in bonds. To Bea’s personal delight, Denver even managed to acquire additional capital from none other than the Union Pacific, by agreeing to allow the railroad to use their tracks to come to Denver. Eventually the Denver Pacific would link up with the Kansas Pacific, and a virtual circular connection with the East and South would be accomplished.

  What appeared to be a tragedy had actually led to great progress for Denver. The city’s citizens, and those of outlying communities, had proven to themselves that by working together they could overcome great obstacles. Building the railroad line that would connect them to the rest of the country was proof that Denver would never fold as had so many other gold towns. They had been tempered now by fire and water, had come together, in spite of their differences, to fight toward one goal—the preservation of the Queen City of the West. And now that the Civil War was over, even the Indian problem had improved. More federal soldiers were sent west, and more forts had been erected. New campaigns were being waged against the Sioux and Cheyenne, and Denver citizens took hope that soon there would be no more threat from the “savages” of the plains.

  The hard work involved in seeing Denver’s railroad dreams realized kept Chad busier than ever, and working so closely with Bea and Kirk kept him closer to home. Irene actually felt a new hope that their marriage would improve and survive, and that hope was encouraged by their working together for the common cause bringing her own parents closer. Even Kirk had stayed home much longer than he ever had before, working night and day with her mother on the tremendous project of building a railroad
. Anyone could see Bea and Kirk had been drawn closer, that there was a new energy in their marriage, a new light in Bea’s eyes. For the first time in years, Kirk was putting all his energy into the business and into saving Denver. Irene was not sure of all the reasons. What had seemed to spark him was the break in his friendship with Red McKinley. It was almost as though her mother and father shared some secret, as though they were working to protect something—something more than just Denver and Kirkland Enterprises.

  Irene was saddened that Red McKinley had become an enemy, for reasons she supposed she would never understand. But she was happy to see her parents were closer than they had been in years. Kirk was turning to Bea for help in handling the financial aspects of the railroad. Bea was in turn looking to Kirk for strength and energy, and depending on his likable nature to create the enthusiasm necessary to raise money. It was Kirk who talked to individual businessmen, convincing them the railroad could be built and encouraging them not to abandon Denver. It was Bea who managed the money, making sure the entire project was so well handled that those who had invested the most heavily, including themselves, would eventually realize tremendous profits from the railroad connection.

  December of 1868 was a Christmas of celebration. To Irene’s great joy, her doctor told her that she was three months’ pregnant. The railroad was progressing rapidly, her parents were getting along famously, and Chad, who as far as Irene could tell, had not strayed in weeks, appeared to be delighted over the coming baby. She was sure that at last her marriage was on the right track, that the child would create a new bond between her and Chad, perhaps even help draw out his hidden emotions and make it easier for him to express his feelings. She had almost forgiven him for their wedding night, and his other women, for he had planted the seed in her womb that would give her the child she so longed to have.

  On Christmas Eve there was a warmth in the Kirkland mansion that Irene had never felt before. Denver was on the rebound, Irene was pregnant, and life was very good. After they attended Christmas Eve church services, and ate a late Christmas meal, Bea read a letter from Elly, who had decided to stay another year at the finishing school. Unlike Irene, Elly was determined to gain as much schooling as possible, planning to move into management of some aspect of Kirkland Enterprises as soon as she came back home. She explained in the letter that all she wanted was to be a knowledgeable businesswoman when she came home, to be able to contribute as much as Chad and her mother to the family business.