“He was aiming to shoot my husband,” Susannah said.
“There’s a hole in the floor,” Noah added, running to it where it had begun to leak again. “If we block it up the boat should get to the shore alright.”
The sheriff reached into his pocket and produced handcuffs. Typical, Susannah thought, and had the urge to giggle. He was soaking wet but he had handcuffs. He was a credit to the police force, in the same way as Benjamin was.
“You swim well,” the sheriff said to Susannah. “And you’re very brave. Did you have a personal interest in this?”
“She’s my wife,” Noah replied, looking at her proudly. “She saved me from being shot.”
“Congratulations, ma’am.” The sheriff saluted. “We caught the other man.” He gave the prisoner a none too gentle push. “Go. I’m sorry we can’t get you dry clothes, ma’am, but I’m sure there are blankets.”
“I’ll find some,” Noah said. “Thank you.”
The sheriff left and he put his arms round Susannah. “However did you know I was here?”
“I followed you to the hotel because the minute you left I missed you. There was quite a crowd and a lady told me the boat was sinking and she’d seen little boats go towards it, also a tall young man. I knew that would be you because you’re always so brave. The sheriffs were waiting for a boat but when I dived off the pier they must have followed me.”
“Didn’t your skirts weight you down?” Noah asked.
“I took them off and wrapped this round my waist.” She patted her skirt.
“You what! In front of the sheriffs.”
“Well, not in front but they probably saw me. Would you have preferred me to have been sucked under the water in order to be discreet?”
He gave the little growl he would often give if she was frustrating him and held her even closer. “You always seem to attract danger,” he said.
“And you don’t? We appear to be moving but there’s more water coming up. Can you get blankets or something so we can block the hole?”
“It’s quite a sizeable one. There’s more tarpaulin over there and it needs something heavy on it. Maybe if we sit on it we can block it.”
“You sit and I’ll sit on your lap. How about that?”
“Yes, ma’am.” His tone was enthusiastic as he ran across for the tarpaulin. They blocked the hole as well as they could, he sat on it in the water and she sat on his lap.
She kissed him, drew back then kissed him again. “Mmm. I like that.” The boat rolled a bit and she nearly fell off him. “Are we alright, do you think?”
He grabbed her and held her tightly. “You go upstairs and I’ll stay and block the hole.”
She held him tighter. “Never! Where you go I go. Anyway, our double weight will block the hole more effectively. How wide is it?”
“About a foot. You were very brave to swim from the pier. It’s quite a distance.”
“Thinking of you made me keep going. Ouch!”
They both rolled this time and the obvious swell was a bit disconcerting. A sheriff waded in and looked down at them.
“We’re nearly at the pier,” he said. “Are you alright?”
“We’re blocking the hole,” Susannah replied, not moving from where she was.
“If you didn’t the boat would fill up quickly with water. Are you alright for a few minutes?”
“Oh, yes.” Susannah’s reply was enthusiastic. “Aren’t we, darling?”
“We are.” But Noah looked as if he was blushing and she wanted to eat him, she thought. She smiled up at the sheriff.
“We’re married. It’s quite proper.”
The sheriff grinned. “Quite proper, ma’am.” Though he had probably seen her dive in the water without skirts, she rather felt. “I’ll be back in a few minutes once the passengers are safely on the pier.”
“Take your time. We’re fine.”
“Lucky guy,” he said, turning away.
“Did he see you with no skirt on?” Noah growled.
“I have no idea.” She clutched onto Noah as the boat made a noise, almost as if they were hitting something. “What’s that?”
“Could be the pier. Go and see if it is while I keep blocking the hole.”
“Never!” She held him tighter. “Isn’t this fun?”
“Oh yes. I love sitting in a lake of water absolutely drenched and in danger of drowning.”
“So do I.”
She raised her eyebrows as he drew back a bit to look at her and he grinned, happy despite their situation though being a bit drier would be nice. He put his face against hers, began to kiss her and a voice came from the door.
“Everyone is off except us. Shall we go?”
“With pleasure.” Noah stood with difficulty, taking Susannah with him then falling back with her on top of him as they heard a crash above and the boat went ominously sideways.
“It’s easier if we do it separately,” she said. “Come on, darling. That doesn’t sound good.”
“I think the pier is beginning to weaken from the wind,” the sheriff said.
“In that case, let’s go.”
They tore up the steps to the deck and the wind was beginning to reach hurricane proportions. The boat was banging against the pier and Noah could see some pieces of wood under it cracking. He leapt onto it, put out his hand and Susannah leapt after him while the sheriff landed beside her.
“Run!” The sheriff yelled, Susannah lifted her skirt and they tore down the pier, a long one and Santa Barbara was very proud of it. Maybe history in a few minutes, Noah thought, and they must get off it.
The wind howled around them, sending them sometimes a bit off balance, but they kept going, desperate to reach the end. Ahead of them the group of people from the boat had just reached land but they had the advantage of leaving the boat before them. The wind hit them again and Susannah veered dangerously towards the edge of the pier.
Noah grabbed her hand while they kept running but she removed it, obviously finding it easier to run on her own. He had to let her do that because she was a resilient woman and she wasn’t helpless. But he had longer legs and the pier was shuddering. Turning abruptly he lifted her and virtually threw them off the end of the pier.
As they landed on the ground with the sheriff beside them they heard a splintering crash behind them. Scrambling to their feet they ran away from the pier and by now people had moved back into buildings as they watched in fascination the pier begin to collapse. Stearns Wharf and would it ever be the same again? It had only been built six years previously, both Noah and Susannah knew.
“It’s not the storm,” the sheriff shouted above the wind. “It’s a junk.”
“Junk?” Susannah said.
“Yes, look. It just ran into the pier.”
“Then there are people on it. We need to help them.”
Noah grabbed her as she ran back to the pier. “If you go back there it will be committing suicide. People are already getting off. What we need is a chain of men to reach to them.”
The sheriff ran to where a large crowd had gathered who were watching in macabre fascination and yelled. “We need men to make a chain along the pier.”
“I’ll help.”
“I’ll come.”
And there were men as well as women as a long chain was formed which enabled people from the junk to hold onto them as they exited the boat. When the last person staggered up the pier the chain of people were pulled in by those on land and by this time a long section of the pier had collapsed.
The hotel housed the Chinese crew from the junk though Susannah knew Chinese immigrants were not always welcome in California. But these were not immigrants but members of the crew and hopefully would be accepted as such. The hotel would house them for the night free of charge, the manager said, and Susannah vowed to return the following day to see what the outcome would be.
The walk back to the apartment was a bit hair raising as they sometimes ran a few feet from the force of
the wind. Hopefully the apartment would not suffer damage, Susannah said, because it was a single storey building.
Noah shut the door behind them and it was bliss to be out of the wind and rain. They were both soaking wet and had been for some time. He reached for Susannah’s clothes, desperate to get her dry.
She kissed him. “It’s alright, darling. You undress and we’ll soon be warm.”
“You’re shivering.”
“Because wet makes you cold and you’re shivering too. Let’s go in a hot shower and then dress in warm clothing.”
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you too. Do you think the men will be alright?”
“We’ll check tomorrow. I didn’t expect a honeymoon quite like this.”
“Nor did I but it’s all part of life and God has certainly looked after us today.”
“He definitely has. Can we now live a life of peacefulness?”
She put her arm round him as they made for the bathroom. “I doubt it. Is that what you want?”
“At least for the next twenty four hours though we’ll leave that and the rest of our lives with the Lord.”
“The safest place to leave them,” Susannah said.
------------------------------
The occurrences of the final chapter are basically true though fictitious details have been added.
If you enjoyed this novel you might like to read the next western historical romance ‘Light in the Darkness’ which, though mostly not set in Lower Pine, is a follow up of the book you have just read and tells the story of Blair as he tries to find the mother of the children he adopted.
It can also be read on its own, as can all the books in the
Lone Pine series. The book is on pre-order and is due to be released on September 2, 2018
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DJ95M8Y
If you would like to receive my newsletter which
will tell you about future releases the link is below.
http://eepurl.com/c2_2DP
These are the ‘Brides of Lone Pine’ novels in order. Although they are all set in the same town they are totally separate stories.
Lone Pine Bride
The Surrogate Bride
The Tentative Bride
Bride from Princeton
Just Follow Your Heart
The Lame Made Whole
The Broken Healed
The Minister’s Wife
The Surgeon Bride
The Detective Bride
Light in the Darkness
(Pre-order. Release date 2 September, 2018)
Sylvia Damsell has also written a modern day mail order bride novel and a sequel to it.
The Tangled Web
Will The Web Break
Website
http://sylviadamsell.wixsite.com/mysite
Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Sylvia-Damsell-183678102099490/?ref=bookmarks
Sylvia Damsell also writes Christian novels and Bible commentaries under the name of Sylvia Wheatley
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sylvia-Wheatley/e/B00KHY41TK
She also writes clean historical novels under the name of Elise Robbins
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elise-Robbins/e/B015HM6TD2
The Detective Bride Page 29
