Moisture sparkled on Allie’s cheeks, and he didn’t think it was seawater. “Yes, you did, Gillian. Well done.”
Gillian bounced in Clay’s arms. “Let’s do it again!”
Clay set her down on the sand. “All right, Gillian. But this time, how about I catch you?”
She giggled again and ran off up the beach.
“Thank you,” Allie said. “You gave me back my daughter.”
“I’d like to give her a father, too,” Clay said, voice tight in his throat. “I’ve fallen in love with you all over again, Allie.”
She sucked in a breath, pressed her lips together as if to keep from speaking. He plunged ahead anyway.
“I want you beside me in Seattle. I never needed a wife who sits on the sofa looking charming while she entertains. I don’t own a sofa, and I doubt I’ll ever entertain like our parents did. You’ve shown me what it can be like to have a helpmate, a woman I love who will stand with me, support me just as I support her. I know you don’t want to marry, but is there anything I can do or say to change your mind?”
In answer, she stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss against his cheek. “I’ll consider your proposal,” she murmured in his ear. “But first you have a promise to keep.”
Clay frowned as she lowered herself again. “What promise is that?”
Allie pointed up the beach where a small figure was growing smaller every second. “You have to catch a mermaid, sir, before she gets away!”
Chapter Nineteen
Allie had never felt more alive as they returned to the ship. Gillian’s eyes still glowed with the adventures of the day, and Allie knew she would always remember hearing her daughter’s laughter floating in the golden air.
She also knew who had brought about the changes in Gillian. From the first, Clay had encouraged her daughter to play, to dream. And though he had distrusted Allie’s dreams in the beginning, she thought he finally understood why Seattle was so important to her.
She was beginning to understand why he was important to her, as well. She could always count on him to be waiting if her strength failed her. But marriage? And to a Howard?
Father, how am I to answer him? My heart beats with his, but my mind says beware!
As they reached Allie’s stateroom, Clay bent and kissed her cheek.
“I look forward to hearing your answer,” he murmured, and that deep voice vibrated with hope. With a nod to Maddie, who was waiting in the doorway, he headed for the stairs to the upper salon, his salt-crusted trousers snapping with each step.
“And what answer would that be now?” Maddie asked as Allie entered the room to change herself and Gillian out of their own salty clothing.
“I’ll explain later,” Allie said, all too aware of Gillian’s presence. She knew her daughter adored Clay, but she didn’t want to encourage her to believe in so tenuous a future. It wasn’t until she had settled the little girl to sleep that evening that she had a chance to talk to her friend.
“You should have seen Gillian today,” she murmured as she watched the even rise and fall of her daughter’s chest under the wool blanket. “She had so much fun!” She and Maddie were wrapped in their flannel nightgowns and sitting on the bench across from the bunks.
“Sure’n her dress tells the tale,” Maddie said. “I’m not looking forward to washing out all that sand and salt!”
Allie couldn’t summon the guilt that would once have accompanied that statement. “And I don’t care! I saw her smile today, Maddie. I heard her laugh.”
Maddie clasped her hand and held it tight. “Praise the Lord for that!”
“There’s more.” Allie pulled back her hand and rubbed it with the other. “Clay asked me to marry him.”
“And?” Maddie fairly bounced on the bench. “Well? How did you answer?”
“I didn’t,” Allie confessed. “I told him I had to think about it.”
Maddie nodded, curling her legs under the red flannel once more. “Good. You’ve no need to be rushing into anything.”
Allie couldn’t help a laugh. “I’ve known him since I was born, and we almost married six years ago. I’d hardly call that a rush.”
Maddie’s eyes crinkled. “It makes a fellow humble to be kept waiting, so it does. Just be certain this is what the Lord intends for you before agreeing.”
Allie couldn’t argue there. She’d always felt this trip was God’s leading. Could it be He had intended her to reunite with Clay all along?
She thought and prayed about the matter as the next two weeks passed and the Continental continued her course north. Each day, she felt more annoyed with herself that she could not settle on an answer. Where was the strength she’d worked so hard to build? Why couldn’t she reason out the right response?
Clay, for his part, did not press her, though it seemed to her he spent even more time than usual in her and Gillian’s company. His hand reached for hers as they stood by the railing looking for mermaids with Gillian, his voice joined with hers at worship services. Gillian’s laugh became an everyday occurrence as Clay chased her around the ship, teased her at meals and read to them in the evenings, his warm voice drawing in others as well.
“Sure’n the fellow’s smitten,” Maddie assured Allie with a wink.
Allie found it hard to doubt Clay’s devotion. She found it equally hard to question her own. Clay challenged her, made her think about her plans, her approaches, helped her see the best path for her. When he gazed at her, she felt like the most beautiful, talented woman in the room, which was saying a lot considering the beauty and talent among the ladies of the Mercer expedition.
Yet something held her back. Marriage meant bending her will to another’s. Having just escaped such a trap and with her strength still new, how could she submit herself again, even to Clay?
She was getting heartily tired of her thoughts chasing her in circles. The next stop, she knew, was San Francisco. Surely Clay deserved an answer by then.
Knowing her intentions was one more reason for her stomach to start fluttering when the purser announced at breakfast one morning that they would reach the famous city by nightfall.
“We’re almost at the end of our journey,” Maddie said, eyes shining. “I can see those streets of gold now.”
“You are confusing San Francisco with utopia, Madeleine,” Catherine said with a smile. “But I am looking forward to seeing this great metropolis myself.”
So was Clay, it seemed, for he was already extolling the virtues to Gillian as they finished the meal.
“Islands more fair than the Galápagos,” he promised her, “with plenty of trees and rocks to climb and shells to collect. And playhouses to watch stories come to life.”
“We’ll be staying for a week so Captain Windsor can bring more food and coal aboard,” Allie told her daughter. “We can see all the wonders if you like.”
Gillian nodded with a smile. “Yes, please, Mother.”
Mother still. It was the last vestige of her trauma in Boston. But Allie held out hope that the word Mama would return one day, perhaps when they saw some of Clay’s wonders.
Which started that very afternoon.
Through a rising mist, the Continental approached American soil for the first time in months. All the passengers lined the railings, hats and hankies at the ready.
“They call this the Golden Gate,” Clay told Gillian as the Continental passed between two tall wooded headlands into the bay. “It’s the gateway to all the gold found in the hills outside San Francisco.” Her daughter was up on his shoulder as usual, peering about her in her plaid dress, while Allie stood beside them in her blue-and-white gown and Matt squeezed between.
Maddie, who stood with Catherine on Allie’s other side in her best russet dress, gave her friend a nudge. “Now are you seeing what I meant about gold?” As Catherine smiled and shook her head, Maddie pointed to a rocky isle that appeared to be blocking their way. “And is that one of your favored isles, Clay?”
“No, that
’s Alcatraz,” Clay answered. “It holds a military garrison with more than one hundred cannons to protect the entrance to the bay.”
Matt whistled. Gillian looked impressed, but at Clay’s fact or her friend’s whistle, Allie wasn’t sure.
Maddie grinned. “One hundred cannons ought to take more than a hundred soldiers to handle.”
“Few of whom are allowed to visit the city at any time,” Clay assured her with a smile.
Allie was craning her neck for a glimpse of San Francisco itself. Everyone had been talking about this Boston of the West, Mr. Reynold’s shining city, Maddie’s golden land. From the deck of the Continental, all she could see were stocky stone and clapboard businesses crowded together in shades of gray, as if someone had started building at the water’s edge and hadn’t stopped until they reached the highest hills. There were no trees, no grass in sight, the land baking under the warm spring sun. Though wide board sidewalks lined the lanes, the streets were made of dirt, and every passing wagon or carriage raised dust that hung in the air.
This was the great metropolis?
“Look at the wharf, will you now?” Maddie said, pointing to one of the many docks that stuck out into the bay. “Who’d have thought the whole town would come out to meet us? It’s like when we reached Coronel all over again, so it is.”
Allie could see the crowds now, too. Not a square inch of planking was visible along the dock. As the Continental made berth, willing hands tied off the ropes, waved in greeting.
“But they’re all men,” Catherine marveled as the other passengers flapped hankies and cheered their arrival.
She was right. Allie could see bowlers and Stetsons bumping each other as their welcoming party jockeyed for position.
“Throw down the gangway!” someone yelled, and the cry was immediately taken up and chanted. Men climbed on each other’s backs to get closer to the ship. As if he didn’t like what he saw, Clay lifted Gillian from his shoulder and set her down next to Allie. Matt hurried off for the bow as if to gain a better vantage point.
Allie pulled her daughter close as Clay put an arm about her waist. For once, she didn’t fight his protection. She had a sinking feeling she was going to need it.
She couldn’t help her sigh of relief when Captain Windsor appeared at the railing. His long face was grim; his gloved hands gripped the wood as if to assert his right to the space.
“This dock belongs to the Holladay shipping line,” he informed the waiting men, voice stern with command. “You have no authority here, and you are preventing me from off-loading.”
“Then throw the ladies over the side,” another man yelled. “We’ll be happy to catch them!”
Allie saw Catherine and Maddie exchange glances and heard other women gasp.
“We won’t let that happen,” Clay murmured beside her.
“We most certainly will not,” Allie agreed, and Catherine snapped a nod, as well.
“No lady will leave this ship until you clear out,” Captain Windsor insisted as if he had heard the exchange.
“Then let us aboard!” the man demanded, and his comrades chorused their agreement as they pushed closer to the edge of the dock.
“Sure’n they’ll tumble in,” Maddie said with a shake of her head.
“And if they do, their friends will walk across their bodies,” Catherine predicted. “We may need to go below, ladies.”
Allie couldn’t make herself move.
“I’ll give you fifty dollars in gold,” someone shouted.
“No, one hundred!” another man yelled.
“Five hundred!”
“A thousand!”
“Glory be,” Maddie said, eyes wide. “You really can strike it rich in California.”
Clay turned to the captain. “Put me ashore. I’ll find the police station, bring back help.”
“I can’t lower the gangway,” Captain Windsor replied, frown on the men blocking them. “They’ll only rush it. As it is, I may have to enlist your help to repel boarders.” Then he raised his voice and pointed ahead. “Ho, Weinhardt, get those men off the bowline!”
“What nonsense!” Catherine cried. “Have they no self-respect?”
“No wives, more likely,” Maddie replied. “Though, mind you, I’ve never been much for desperation. It makes a gent do crazy things.”
Allie shook her head. Already the men on the dock were casting about as if looking for another way aboard. Some had cut the ropes holding the supply boats to the wharf and were making ready to put out into the harbor. Did they intend to capture the Continental like pirates?
As Captain Windsor finished directing his staff to protect the ship, Allie caught his arm.
“Must we stay here, Captain?” she asked. “Can we take on the supplies we need and simply sail on to Seattle?”
He touched his cap in respect. “I’m afraid not, Mrs. Howard. My orders are to go no farther than San Francisco. You will all be let off the ship shortly. It will be up to Mr. Mercer to find another way to Seattle.”
*
Clay stiffened even as Allie washed white.
“Now, see here, my good man,” Catherine said, raising her chin. “We paid our fare to Seattle.”
“If you’ll forgive me for saying so, ma’am,” the captain replied, “most of the people on this ship paid less than the actual price, and your Mr. Mercer failed to make up the difference per the contract he signed with the Holladay line. You can’t blame Mr. Holladay for taking what measures he must to keep his company solvent.”
“Solvent!” Maddie cried. “Sure’n you’ve fed us nothing but salt beef and beans for three months! I don’t see how that could have cost your Mr. Holladay such a fortune.”
“If you have an issue, madam,” Captain Windsor said, face stiff, “I suggest you take it up with Mr. Mercer.” With a nod, he strode off, calling orders to his crew.
“This is outrageous!” Catherine fumed. “What, are we to make our way north on foot?”
“I won’t,” Maddie said. “There must be more than one man in that rabble who has need of a baker or a laundress. My future’s made right here.”
Clay waited for Allie to protest, but her gaze roamed the crowd. She was so pale her skin matched the white collar of her gown. Now she turned her gaze to his, and he felt as if he could see her concerns written in the expansive blue of her eyes.
“You said they wouldn’t force us to marry, Clay,” she reminded him, “but what do you call this? They’re like wolves after sheep. Will Seattle be worse?”
“No,” Clay promised her, “for the sole reason that we have a smaller population. You’ll likely have a welcoming committee in the dozens rather than the hundreds.”
By the deepening of her frown, the fact did not comfort her.
He had to admit it didn’t comfort him, either. San Francisco was held up as the center of commerce and culture along the West Coast. If this was how the bachelors behaved here, he wasn’t sure he wanted to see what would happen in Seattle.
Captain Windsor refused to let anyone leave the ship, so Clay escorted Allie and Gillian back to their stateroom, then spent the rest of the evening patrolling the deck with the crew. Word must have reached the local police, for a contingency arrived as night fell. The constabulary set up a perimeter around the ship, ordered the boisterous welcoming party to cease and desist. By midnight, all that remained were the watchful policemen. At least that meant Clay could get some sleep.
But even then sleep was hard to find. He’d seen the dismay on Allie’s face as the Continental steamed into the harbor. The sight of San Francisco had darkened her dreams. Once, he would have pressed his case, encouraged her to take the next ship to Boston. But after finally understanding what she’d faced there, he couldn’t in good conscience send her back. And in all truth, he didn’t want her to go. He wanted her at his side.
But is Seattle truly the best place for her, Father? She faced dangers to her daughter in Boston, but the dangers in Seattle are no less real
. She’ll have to deal with a lack of doctors, possible skirmishes with the tribes, fire and floods. Am I just bringing her and Gillian to where they’ll have to brave more heartache and hardship?
Immediately a verse came to mind. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
He’d always believed that. Look at how Frank had laid down his life protecting others. Look at how Allie had left all she’d ever known to protect her daughter. Clay had built a new life for himself in Seattle. Now it seemed that life could be dangerous to those he loved, which meant he had to lay it down. If the answer to his prayer was to find another home or even take Allie and Gillian back to Boston, face down his mother and cousin, his own past, then so be it. He was ready to lay everything down and look to the future.
He’d talk to Allie in the morning, and they’d make the decision together.
*
Allie held Gillian close as the night crawled by. Clay had tried to warn her Seattle would be different from her expectations. She simply hadn’t believed him. She’d been sure some part of him was trying to scare her back to Boston. But after seeing San Francisco and all those men crowding the ship, she could no longer deny the truth. Seattle would be more primitive than this. How could she keep Gillian safe in such a wild, lawless place?
She felt cold all over and pulled the covers around her and her daughter. A subscription lending library might provide income, but her livelihood suddenly seemed the least of her worries. She’d refused to be daunted until now, sure she could master any challenge. But what did she know of struggle? She hadn’t done more than embroider and arrange dinner parties before running away from Boston.
Her body began to tremble, her heart to pounding. Her breath came short. Fear wrapped around her tighter than a blanket. Why?
The Lord had brought her safely here. These fears, these worries, they weren’t hers. They’d been planted by Mrs. Howard and her poisonous nephew, whispered in her ear even as they assured her they were acting in her best interests. They wanted her weak so she would do their bidding.
She was not that person anymore. She closed her eyes, dug deep for the verses she had heard over the years.
Love Inspired Historical November 2014 Page 45
