Accidental Family

by Lisa Bingham

  And with the other train employees spending time with the miners in the hall...he could watch Charles’s home without attracting attention.

  The man sobbed again, a heartfelt expression of grief that even Charles knew was sincere.

  “I met Jenny in England last spring when I went back for my father’s funeral. She lived next door to my mother.” He shook his head. “She was so beautiful. So spirited and kind. I... I couldn’t resist her charms.”

  “You were a married man!”

  “I know, I know. But Delphinia and I...the marriage was encouraged by my parents when we were young, so young. She changed once we came to America. Especially when my work took me away from her so frequently.”

  Delphinia. “D.”

  “Then you should have done the honorable thing and stayed away from Jenny.”

  He hung his head in shame. “I was sure that, once I left for the States, it wouldn’t matter. Jenny would forget me. A-and my wife...my wife would never find out.”

  Charles clenched his teeth, disgusted at the way that one man’s selfishness had destroyed so many lives.

  “But Jenny found a way to write to me care of the railway company. She told me she was pregnant, that she was coming to the Territories, where we could be together.” He looked up at Charles with pleading eyes. “I couldn’t allow that to happen, don’t you see? She and Delphinia went to school with each other. And I couldn’t leave Delphinia. We have five children. A-and Delphinia is due to receive an enormous inheritance upon the death of her parents. I couldn’t possibly leave her in favor of a woman without means, could I? Especially since I have...gambling debts.”

  Charles thought of Jenny, of her still body lying in front of the mine offices. When had she realized that things had gone horribly wrong? When had she acknowledged that her dreams of a happy ending were turning to dust around her? Judging by her journal entries, she’d grown to fear this man. She must have known that his greed and his perfidy would be her undoing. Yet even when she was most afraid, she hadn’t felt brave enough to come to any of them for help. She must have thought, with all the lies she’d already told about a husband waiting for her in California, that no one would believe her.

  Or maybe things had happened too fast. Maybe she’d thought, by hiding at the cabin, she could buy herself a little time. Maybe she’d thought that once her baby was born, she could change this man’s mind.

  Instead, things had gone horribly wrong, and she’d summoned the last of her strength to take her children to safety, to yank away Niederhauser’s wedding ring, to provide them all with the clues to her attacker.

  A thundering filled Charles ears and it took him a few moments to realize that it wasn’t his blood pounding in his ears. Looking up, he saw two riders galloping toward him. He lifted his revolver, prepared to defend his family yet again. But then he recognized Gideon’s familiar blue uniform and Jonah’s fierce expression.

  He waited until the men skidded to a halt and dismounted.

  “We heard the shots,” Gideon said, unholstering his sidearm.

  “This the guy?” Jonah asked, his brows furrowed over his dark eyes.

  “Yeah. Edgar Niederhauser.”

  “You’re kidding.” Gideon squinted at the man in the shadows.

  “He’s got a rifle over there.” Charles gestured to the spot with one hand. “Get him back to the camp before he can hurt anyone else.” He suddenly became aware of the high-pitched wailing of the twins. “I’ve got to see to my wife and children.” Charles was already walking backward toward the sound.

  “Do you need help?” Gideon asked.

  “I don’t think so. I’d rather have this fellow as far away from them as possible.”

  “Are you going to head to the homestead?” Ramsey shot him a concerned gaze.

  “I don’t know yet.” He scrambled to think. Willow might need medical attention. But Charles couldn’t ignore the powerful—almost primal—need to see them all safely home.

  Seeing that the men had things in hand, he ran as fast as he could to the sledge, skidding around the back so that he could approach the bench from Willow’s side. To his infinite relief, he saw her reach out and brace a hand against the rail. Then she straightened, bringing a hand to her head.

  “Willow!”

  She looked at him, blinking, then offered him a woozy smile. Her eyes grew clouded in concern. Her fingers tenderly probed a goose egg that was swelling on her forehead. “The babies...”

  “They’re unhurt. I think they’re scared from the horses bolting.”

  Willow frowned, as if suddenly remembering. “There was a noise. Then Adam cried out. I reached to steady the basket, but I must have hit my head on the arm of the bench.”

  Charles lifted questing fingers. “Are you sure you’re all right? I can take you to Sumner. She can examine you to make sure.”

  She shook her head, then winced. “No. I’m fine. Really.”

  Willow bent to pull the quilt aside. As soon as the twins saw her, their cries eased and they looked up at her with brimming eyes and trembling chins.

  Despite the cold, she scooped Adam up, handing him to Charles, then reached for Eva. Within minutes, the twins’ frightened sobs disappeared beneath weary hiccuping sighs.

  “There, there, little love,” Willow whispered to Eva.

  “And look here at our brave laddie.” Charles found himself drinking up the sight before him. Two contented children.

  And a wife.

  In that instant, she met his gaze and blurted, “I love you, Charles Wanlass. I don’t want to ever leave you.”

  She loved him.

  He wanted to shout the words from the mountaintops, then offer his own words of adoration. But first, he needed to be honest. Completely honest. If this whole affair had taught him nothing else, it was that secrets could have unintended consequences.

  When she would have spoken again, he said, “Wait, Willow, wait. Before you say anything more, there’s one last thing about me that you need to know. When I told you of my past, I wasn’t completely honest. I was up front about the teasing and the boy that I pummeled. But I didn’t tell you everything. I...” He took a deep breath, surprised at how so many years of silence had made his confession all the more difficult. “The fact of the matter is... I hit that boy. Again and again and again. His words—the name he’d called me—filled me with a rage like I’ve never experienced before or since. I watched through a red haze as my fists struck him over and over.”

  Her eyes grew dark. Troubled. And he rued the fact that he’d been the one to dim their light.

  “If Phineas Bottoms hadn’t been walking down the street that day. If he hadn’t decided to intervene, to pull me off... I would have killed that boy.”

  Charles waited for her to say something. Anything. But rather than speaking right away, she bent to place Eva in the basket. Then took Adam from his arms. When the two were safely tucked inside and covered by the blanket again, she climbed down from the sledge.

  Charles braced himself. Since she’d taken such pains to speak to him, face-to-face, he knew that she would reject him. In the past few days, he’d shown her that he could have a formidable temper.

  But to his surprise, she cupped his face in her hands. “But you didn’t kill him, Charles.”

  “Willow, I’m no better than Edgar Niederhauser. I could have beat that boy to death.”

  “But you didn’t. And you’re nothing like Edgar Niederhauser. You learned from your mistakes and vowed to do better. Be better. How could you compare yourself to that man? You care, Charles. You care for these miners. You minister to their spiritual needs and provide them with friendship and support. You dote on these twins. You’ve offered them a home and safety and love.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “And you care for me, Charles.”

  “I love you, Willow. I love you.�
�

  In a moment, the shadows in her eyes disappeared. Joy filled her features, enveloping her much like the ethereal glow he remembered from the painting of the ghostly protector that had fascinated him so much as a child.

  She was so beautiful.

  “Will you marry me, Willow?”

  She grinned.

  “We’re already married.”

  “Then will you stay married to me? Forever and ever?”

  “Yes, Charles, yes.”

  He pulled her into his arms, absorbing her happiness, her warmth, her love.

  “Are you sure?” he murmured against her ear.

  She drew back, her arms still looped around his neck. “Yes. I love you, Charles Wanlass. You. Just as I know you love the real me with all my faults and foibles. The journey we’ve taken before meeting one another doesn’t matter. What matters is how we continue from now on. Together.”

  They embraced again. Soon, they were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing his throat. Looking up, they found Gideon and Jonah grinning at them. Between them, Edgar Niederhauser stood, handcuffed, his head hung low in defeat.

  “Have you made up your mind about whether or not you’ll be going on to the homestead?”

  When Willow would have stepped away, Charles kept an arm looped around her waist. “If it’s all the same, I think we’ll be going home.”

  He glanced down at Willow and she offered him a quick nod of agreement.

  “Then would you mind giving Niederhauser a ride as far as the jail?” Gideon asked.

  Within minutes, Edgar Niederhauser was trussed unceremoniously in the back of the sledge with a length of rough rope they’d found in the box. Gideon tied his horse to the side rail, then climbed in, taking up the spot opposite the man, his revolver held loosely in his lap.

  “Don’t you move, you hear?” He nodded in Charles’s direction. “That one might think twice about shooting you, but me? I wouldn’t bat an eye.”

  Gideon looked up at Willow and offered her a faint wink, then said, “Whenever you’re ready, Charles.”

  “If you two don’t need me tonight, I’ll head home to Sumner and tell her what’s happened,” Jonah said. “We can sort out everything else in the morning. Batchwell and Bottoms will want to be briefed, so we may as well meet together. Say, the private dining room at the cook shack? Nine o’clock?”

  Gideon looked hopefully in Charles’s direction. Charles knew that he and his men had been watching the women’s comings and goings round the clock for the better part of a week. He doubted that any of the Pinkertons had enjoyed more than a few hours of sleep a night, and he was sure that Gideon, as their leader, had amassed even less. Clearly, he was hoping to lock Niederhauser up, post a guard, then give his men permission to stand down.

  “Nine o’clock will work fine for me—as long as Willow won’t need me to help with the bairns.”

  She smiled, her mitten-covered hand stealing into his.

  “I’m sure that I’ll have a houseful of brides, by that time. You won’t be the only ones needing to give a briefing. The women will want answers, as well.” Her eyes twinkled. “And they’ll probably have a lighter guard than usual.”

  Gideon’s laugh bounced off the hills and mountains.

  “Aptly put, Mrs. Wanlass. Aptly put.”

  * * *

  Long before they entered town, they heard the sound of the alarm bell in the distance.

  Willow gripped Charles’s arm.

  “What else could have happened?”

  He grinned, his teeth flashing in the gathering darkness.

  “I think that bell is letting everybody know that Jonah and Gideon might need help apprehending Jenny’s murderer. The whole town probably heard the gunshots.”

  Just as he had supposed, as they entered the main road that led to the mining offices and then to the mine, men began gathering on the boardwalks, the alleyways and the street. As the sledge neared the livery, Smalls burst out, jogging alongside the conveyance. Women rushed from the cook shack and more came running from the direction of the Dovecote.

  As Charles pulled to a stop in front of the offices and Gideon ushered Niederhauser into one of the jail cells in the stone basement, the crowd pushed closer, clamoring for an explanation.

  Finally, when it became apparent that no one intended to leave, Gideon held up his hands to silence them.

  “Settle down, settle down! We’ve got a pair of sleeping babes nearby, and we wouldn’t want to wake them.”

  The noise instantly decreased, becoming a soft murmur instead.

  Gideon sighed and stared at the tips of his boots. When he looked at the crowd again, he said, “I’ll give you ten minutes in the cook shack to explain everything. Then each of you will return to your own homes. We’ve had enough excitement here at Bachelor Bottoms to last a lifetime. Tomorrow, you can gab, gossip and discuss all of the events to your hearts’ content. But this evening, unless you’re doing a shift in the mine, you’re all going to get a good night’s sleep.”

  He led the way toward the cook shack, and the group followed as if he were Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt.

  Willow fought the urge to giggle. Poor Gideon. He looked grumpy and grumbly and ready to turn in—just as he’d urged everyone else to do. But she also knew that his efforts would provide the distraction for Charles and her to slip away unnoticed.

  As if to validate her suspicion, the Pinkerton briefly glanced over his shoulder and touched a finger to the brim of his hat. Then he reached to pull open the cook shack door.

  “Ladies,” he murmured, as the miners allowed the women to precede them. “Please tell me you have cookies left from dinner.”

  “We have pie, Mr. Gault,” Iona replied, reaching up to pat him on the cheek like a doting aunt. “Cherry or apple.”

  He slapped a hand over his heart in a showman’s display of delight. “You are an answer to prayer, Mrs. Skye.”

  As the last of the women stepped inside and the miners pressed in behind them, Creakle toddled toward Charles and Willow.

  “How ’bout if Smalls and me put the team away fer you, Mr. Wanlass.”

  “That would be a monumental favor, Creakle. Smalls.”

  Smalls gripped one of the horses by the bridle.

  “We’d be glad t’ be of service, Charles,” Creakle said with a doting smile. “The two of you are prob’ly plumb tuckered out.”

  Smalls nodded, waiting patiently as Charles jumped from the bench, then circled the sledge to lift Willow down. As soon as her feet had touched ground, he reached for the basket.

  For a moment, he nudged the blanket down, just to check. Willow felt a surge of joy when the two babies blinked up at him, then grinned.

  It didn’t matter to Willow—nor, she suspected to Charles—that Sumner had said the babies couldn’t smile yet. Willow chose to believe that they somehow knew that they were safe. They were loved.

  “Only a few minutes more,” Charles murmured, touching Eva’s nose so that she blinked, then Adam’s chin.

  The baby made a noise that could have been a coo of contentment.

  He tucked the blanket around them again, then hefted the basket against his chest. “They’re growing fast. Jonah said he’s just about finished making them proper cradles. Now that the blasting has been a success, maybe I’ll linger around the house for a day or two while the ore crew catches up. Besides a place to sleep, the babes will require somewhere to store their clothes—and I’m thinking you’ll want a wardrobe for all your dresses. I’m not the craftsman that Jonah might be, but I can still get the job done.”

  “I’d like that.”

  When Charles would have handed the basket to Willow, Creakle quickly offered, “Don’t worry ’bout yer trunk none. Smalls an’ me will bring everything by as soon as we’ve seen t’ the team.”

/>   “Thank you, Mr. Creakle. Mr. Smalls.” Willow shot each of the men a grateful look. “I am so indebted to you both. I don’t know what I would have done without all your help these past few days.”

  The men nearly glowed from pride, their chests puffing out in importance.

  Willow linked her hand through Charles’s arm and they pointed themselves toward home. But they’d gone only a few yards when a shape stepped out of the shadows.

  For a moment, Willow started as she recognized Theo Caruso. But the man’s expression was so miserable that she forced herself to relax.

  They had Jenny’s murderer. If Theo Caruso had been connected to the events, somehow, Niederhauser would have said something.

  Wouldn’t he?

  Theo had his hat in his fists, and his broad fingers mauled the brim. “I wanted to apologize, ma’am. I realize now that I must have scared you. In the Meeting House. That wasn’t my intention, honest it wasn’t. And if I unsettled you... I am so, so sorry. You see, the last correspondence I received before the pass closed up was a letter from my mother. Gladys, my sweet dear wife, had just given birth to twins—two boys!” He beamed with pride, but then the joy dimmed ever so slightly. “My mother said that Gladys was poorly after the births and the children were small. Then... I didn’t hear anything more. I thought... I hoped...that if you wouldn’t mind, I could hold your babies. Just to...be close to my own babes, even if it was only for pretend.”

  Willow felt her eyes prick with tears. Sumner had often lamented over the sacrifices that the miners endured, living away from their wives and sweethearts, fathers, mothers and children. It was a lesson that the good doctor had learned the hard way, while she had balked against the rules of Bachelor Bottoms. This poor man represented all that these men endured in order to provide a better life for their loved ones.

  She released Charles, crossing to stand near the large miner and put her hand on the man’s arm. “Mr. Caruso. Would you like to join us for dinner tomorrow?”

  He opened his mouth, but struggled to make any sound come out. Finally, he nodded.