Keara’s gaze rose to Elliot’s as he stepped into the room behind Millie.
“Is this true, Doctor?”
“If you’re going to call him Alex…” He pointed to his friend. “…you’ll have to start calling me Elliot.”
Millie clapped her hands. “I’d say we should all be on a first name basis by now.”
Except for a few new lines on his face, Alex still looked the same with his rich brown hair and well-trimmed beard. Katie sat beside him balancing an infant on her lap. Keara sat across from them, holding a little girl.
Elliot stepped to Keara’s side. “Can this be Isabel?” The baby beamed, her red-gold hair tied up in a bow.
“She is.” Katie smiled. Although a bit older and curvier, she still looked like the woman he’d first met when she’d brought Alex into his camp on the back of a horse after he’d been shot. He’d thought her a boy at the time, because she’d been dressed in Rebel uniform.
Elliot lifted the little girl. “I haven’t seen you since just after you were born.”
Keara peered up at him as he cradled the toddler.
“And this…” Katie indicated the infant she held. “…is our new son, Jonathan. Just two months old.”
Elliot slapped Alex on the shoulder. “A son! I’ll have to congratulate you properly tonight.”
“There’ll be no spirits,” Millie chided.
Elliot grinned. “No, Aunt, I was thinking more of a congratulatory cigar.” He smirked at Alex.
****
Later in the evening, after the women had put the children to bed, Elliot and Alex settled in the parlor.
Alex drew on his cigar. “So, do tell, how did you meet the charming Miss Fagan?”
“You’ll never believe it.” Elliot sat back and blew out a stream of smoke.
Alex sat up. “It can’t be any more bizarre than how I met Katie.”
Elliot grinned. “Suppose not.”
Alex leaned forward.
“I met Miss Fagan on a train.”
Alex frowned. “That’s not unusual.”
“When she fainted dead away at my feet.”
Alex bit the tip of his cigar. “Well, that is a story.”
Elliot related the entire tale to his friend, including the visit from the Irishman who claimed to be her husband.
“And you believe her?” Alex asked.
Elliot shrugged. “I’m not sure what to think. But the man had no proof. I would never release a woman into a stranger’s custody without absolute proof.”
“Good thing the sheriff backed you. Do you think the man’s gone?”
Elliot sucked on his lip. “Can’t say. If he really is her husband, I can’t believe he’d leave without a fight.”
“And if he isn’t?”
“What reason would he have to try to take her?”
Alex shook his head. “She’s a lovely woman, but just off the boat. A ruthless man might try to take advantage of a young woman alone.”
“You mean…?” The idea of Keara being abused and held against her will hadn’t occurred to him.
“Never been to New York City, but heard tell of stories of immigrants being herded to brothels and such.”
“Would explain a lot,” Elliot mused. “But if that’s the case, she may be too humiliated to tell me or even my aunt.”
“Perhaps my wife could be of assistance to you.”
“You think she’d tell Katie? A complete stranger.”
Alex shrugged. “They are both from Ireland. Katie went through a lot both before and after I met her. She’d be the most likely one to get your lady’s story.”
Elliot sat back. “Might be worth a try.”
“I’ll speak to her tomorrow about it,” Alex said.
****
Keara cuddled little Jonathan to her breast, cooing at the infant. On the other side of the room, Katie sang to her little girl, Isabel. The sweet Celtic tune tugged at Keara’s heart. She’d never see her home again and had to forget that time in her life, as well as the past few years of misery. She needed to go forward and live in peace in her new country.
“Here,” Katie said, reaching for the baby. “I’ll take him and feed him.”
Keara glanced up. Isabel lay across the room tucked into bed, her pretty lips set in a pout. “She’s asleep,” Katie said. “You can go ahead to your own room.”
Keara handed the babe to his mother but didn’t make a move to leave. She loved being around small children, and her spirit lifted at the idea of having a few of her own. And the man she imagined as their father was Dr. James. What was she thinking?
Katie sat across in the rocking chair and unbuttoned her gown to feed her infant.
“Aunt Millie told me you fought in the war,” Keara said.
Katie’s gaze slid from the baby to Keara. “That I did.”
“And you lived as a man?” Keara’s pulse quickened at the idea.
Katie shrugged as the baby suckled. “It wasn’t so hard. Men see what they expect to see.”
“I don’t understand.”
“They see someone clad in trousers, so it has to be a male. They thought me to be a young boy and assigned me as a letter carrier. Me brother-in-law protected me from discovery after me husband was killed.”
“I’m so sorry, Katie. How did you find the will to go on afterward?”
Katie lifted the infant to her other breast. “I had nowhere else to go. Me family lived in the slums of New York City, and me parents had died of cholera years before. Me in-laws had died also, at the hands of the Yankees raiding their farm. I had nothing else but Patrick.”
“Patrick?”
“Me brother-in-law. He joined with Rory and me after the farm was raided.”
Keara nodded, trying to understand and hold back the horror of her own pitiful life. This woman had been through as much, if not more, than she.
“Do you and Alex still see him?”
Katie’s gaze dropped. She slipped the sleeping baby from her breast and laid him beside his sister. “Patrick was killed by an evil man.”
“A Yankee?” Keara asked.
“No. A Confederate captain.” She sat and slowly buttoned up her gown. “He died saving me and Alex from a man who’d stolen Alex’s former fiancée and wanted to capture him as a spy.” Katie swallowed. “Patrick died and we escaped.”
“How awful!” Keara said.
“It was. I’ll never forget Patrick and what he did for me.”
As Keara left to prepare for bed, she wondered if the happy ending Katie and Alex now shared would ever happen to her.
****
“He told us his name is Rogan Morrissey,” Elliot confided to his friend. “He told me and Sheriff Buckley he’d married Keara in Ireland and they’d traveled to New York on an immigrant ship. Shortly after they’d arrived in this country, Keara had gotten homesick and run off.”
Alex frowned. “It could be possible. If the man abused her, a woman like Keara might have tried to bolt to escape him.”
Elliot shook his head. “The story seemed contrived. Particularly since he had no proof of any marriage. And she, of course, denies ever seeing him before.”
“I’ll see if Katie can dig up anything.” He stroked his fine beard. “She’s very good at subterfuge.”
Elliot grinned. “I can only imagine. She hid her identity for quite a while, so you’ve told me.”
Alex chuckled. “When I first met her by the creek, I thought she was a boy. Until I wrestled her out of the water.”
Elliot shook his head. “You really have had an exciting life, my friend. How are marriage, children, and a placid life treating you? I think you’d be bored by now.”
“Oh, no, Katie keeps me on my toes. We still travel and plan to visit the entire country, including the West. Maybe I’ll find a spread of land to my liking and raise horses and cattle.”
“You? Suppose it would be a bit like the life you left down south before the war.” Elliot eyed him. “Do you ev
er visit your family?”
Alex shook his head. “The war divided us for good. Too much bad blood left behind.”
“I suppose it’s for the best. You have Katie and the children now.”
“They’re my family.” Alex leaned forward. “But what about this Rogan Morrissey? Do you think he’ll come back and start trouble?”
“Can’t say for sure, but I will be on the lookout for the man. I fear if he returns, he’ll try to spirit Keara away against her will…or worse.”
“As long as I’m here,” Alex said, “I’ll be at your back if he dares to show his face in town again.”
****
Mrs. Hobart had given Keara Thursday morning off to spend time with Dr. James’s guests. She enjoyed playing with the children and doing chores alongside Katie. After she put the little ones down for their naps, Keara helped Katie with the laundry while they reminisced about Ireland.
“So, Keara…” Katie shook out one of the bedsheets they’d washed to hang on the clothesline to dry. “…I’ve told you me story, after coming to America. Tell me yours.”
Keara’s face heated. How could she tell her new friend her story of shame? “I—there’s not much to be telling, I fear.”
Katie frowned. “How did you meet Elliot?”
“I…I was on a train…” Keara turned away, not wanting to reveal her flight from Rogan.
“And…?” Katie turned to face her. “Keara, don’t be afraid to tell me anything. I may be able to help.”
Keara shook her head. “I was on me way to York, and I fainted. Doc James helped me, then when I got off the train, he offered to bring me here.”
“Because you had nowhere else to go?” Katie drew close and patted Keara’s arm.
“I never told him.”
“Told him what?” Katie took Keara by the hand and led her to the back porch so they could sit and talk.
“What about your children?” Keara asked. “Shouldn’t we be checking on them?”
“It’s their naptime, and Millie has them well in hand. You needn’t worry.”
“It’s just…” Keara stopped.
“I suspect it’s your background you’re trying to hide from the doctor and his aunt. What terrible thing could you have done?”
“I didn’t exactly come here from Ireland,” Keara admitted.
“Then where did you come from?”
“Australia.”
Katie chuckled. “Is that such a terrible thing?”
“It is if you were sent there as an indentured servant to pay for a crime.” Keara’s cheeks burned.
Katie patted her hand. “I’m sure you didn’t do anything so bad Elliot would scorn you. What were you sent there for?”
Keara’s eyes stung. “For loving the wrong man.”
Katie gasped.
“I fell in love, and he was accused by the British of insurrection. I was with him when they arrested him, and they took me, too.”
“But didn’t he tell them you were innocent?”
Keara glanced at the ground. “He lied to protect himself. He never loved me.”
Katie slid her arm around Keara’s shoulder. “Oh, my poor dear! And your family?”
Keara shook her head. “They couldn’t help me. The British convicted me and sent me to Australia to work as an indentured servant for an older couple.” Keara shuddered at the memory.
“For how long?”
“Seven years.”
“You spent seven years in Australia?”
“No. I couldn’t stay there, so I escaped on a ship headed for America.”
Katie gasped. “It must have been horrible for you on such a long voyage.”
“Not as horrible as my existence in Australia. The woman worked me to the bone and found fault in everything I did. And the man…” Keara couldn’t voice what he had done to her.
Katie shushed her. “You did what you had to do. It’s not your fault. Elliot would understand.”
“I can’t take the chance.”
“Is there more you’re not telling him?”
“I…after I came to America I met a man...he said he’d help me find a place to stay.”
Katie rubbed Keara’s arm, encouraging her to go on.
“He frightened me and I ran.” Keara couldn’t admit he’d taken her to a brothel and locked her in a room. And then…She drew away from her new friend.
“Before you ran, did this man hurt you?”
“No…I can’t speak about this now. I should be getting to the Hobarts.”
“We’ll talk again later,” Katie agreed.
But Keara saw the look in her new friend’s eyes. Katie knew Keara wasn’t telling her the entire truth.
****
After an exhausting afternoon aiding Mrs. Hobart with feeding the children and getting them down for their naps, Keara cradled little Abby as heat rose from her small body.
“I fear she may be coming down with something,” she told Dorothy.
“Oh, dear.” She felt the child’s forehead. “I think you may be right.” A worried frown crossed her face.
“I’ll fix a compress to draw out the fever before I go.”
Dorothy smiled her thanks and prepared to strip the child so she could be cooled down. By the time Keara had soaked the compress in healing herbs and sang Abby a lullaby to soothe her off to sleep, the sky had darkened.
Mrs. Hobart surveyed the stars overhead. “I think you should wait for Jeff to come back from town. He can drive you home in the wagon.”
Keara shook her head. “I’ll be fine. It’s but a short walk to the doctor’s house.”
Dorothy wrapped her arms across her chest, still frowning.
Keara waved off her concern. “Goodnight to you, Dorothy.” She strolled down the path toward the road leading to the doctor’s home at the edge of town. Once again, she wondered what it would be like to be married to Dr. James and have his children. If he knew the past she’d been too ashamed to admit to Katie, he’d never consider her wife material. Wouldn’t even want her to soil his home.
As she drew away from the soft lights in the windows of the Hobarts’ house, clawing darkness sent gooseflesh creeping up her arms. She drew her shawl tighter around her body. Maybe she should have waited for Mr. Hobart to return. She turned back toward the house. A dark shape rose from behind one of the wide oak trees. She gasped.
A large hand closed over her mouth and a steel like arm wrapped around her middle. She fought, trying to kick, but he dragged her away from the house into the surrounding woods.
****
Elliot paced from the parlor doorway to the entry door.
“You’re wearing a hole in the carpet, Elliot,” Aunt Millie warned.
“But it’s dark. Shouldn’t Keara be home by now?” He strode to his aunt, who stood outside the kitchen door.
“I’m sure she’s just fine. Maybe one of the children took ill, and she stayed to help Dorothy. Jeff will see her home.”
Elliot shook his head. “I think I should take a ride over there.”
A knock sounded at the front door. He flew to the door and yanked it open. Jeff Hobart supported a very pale Keara. Elliot reached for her. “What’s happened?”
Aunt Millie stepped around him as he guided Keara toward the parlor. “I’ll see to her,” Millie said. “You find out what you can from Jeff.”
Millie supported Keara until both women disappeared into the kitchen.
Elliot motioned Jeff into the parlor. The man sat on the edge of the settee, while Elliot perched on the chair.
Jeff shook his head. “He came out of nowhere.”
“Who?” Elliot’s mind whirled.
“A big man with an accent. Irish, I think it was.”
Elliot clenched his fist. “What did he do?”
“When I came round to the house, Dorothy told me Miss Fagan had just left. She wanted me to go after her and see her home…” Jeff ran a hand through his hair. “By the time I reached the gate, I saw a man ca
rry her off into the woods. I yelled and fired off a shot. He ran off.” He grimaced. “Good thing I’d taken my shotgun with me. We’ve had critters coming round at night. Dorothy worried.”
“And Keara?” Elliot’s pulse raced.
“She was disheveled and frightened, but not hurt. I think she knew who the man was but wouldn’t tell me. She just wanted to go home.”
Elliot nodded. “I think I know who it was. The man goes by the name of Rogan Morrissey. The sheriff knows about him. If you see him again, let me or Jim know.”
“Sure will.” Jeff nodded.
Elliot rose, extending a hand. “Thank you for aiding Miss Fagan and seeing her home.”
“No need to thank me.” Jeff shook Elliot’s hand and bid him goodbye.
Elliot returned to the kitchen to find Aunt Millie alone. “I saw her up to bed, and I’ll make her some strong tea. She’s had quite an ordeal.”
“Jeff told me. It must be Morrissey. I’ll tell Jim to be on the lookout for the man, and we’ll have to take extra precautions with Miss Fagan.”
Millie set the teapot on the stove to boil and turned to face Elliot. “You have to marry her.”
“Pardon me?” Elliot’s mouth gaped.
“It’s the only way. If you believe she’s not married to the brute, you must marry her. It’s the only way you can protect her from him.”
“I do believe he’s not her husband, but, Aunt Millie…marriage?”
“If you marry her, he’s got no claim on her. She’ll legally belong to you, and he’ll be forced to go back to New York City.”
Elliot stroked his jaw. Millie did have a point. His heart thrummed with the implications. Keara as his wife.
Millie wiped her hands on her apron and retrieved the boiling kettle. “And you must marry her as soon as possible, so the scoundrel doesn’t make off with her.”
“But Aunt, I can’t force her to marry me. She has to agree.”
Millie winked as she filled an empty tea cup and placed it on a tray with small containers of milk and sugar. “I’ll soften her up to the idea. You just mind your role.” She picked up a spoon and laid it on the tray.
“Surely you’re not going to propose for me.” Elliot scowled.
“Of course not, nephew. I’ll just warm her up to the idea. Then you can proceed with the proposal.”
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