Deadlier Than the Rest

by Shirleen Davies

  Alicia moved to help calm Grace as Jericho moved to within a few feet of Delaney, between Dodge and Chaz.

  Dodge scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’ll explain, if you’ll let me.” He paced to a chair, slumped into it, and stared at the floor. “I didn’t die that night, although everyone thought I had.”

  Connor had no idea what his statement meant. “Grace, I’ll let you go if you let Delaney speak. If you act up again, I’ll haul you out of here, hand you over to Sheriff Browning, and come back so that I can learn what’s going on. You understand?”

  She let out a disgusted breath. “Yes, of course I understand. Let me go.”

  Connor dropped his grip and walked over to stand before Dodge. “I want to know everything before I’ll let Meggie get anywhere near you again.”

  “God, Meggie. She’s been alive all this time,” Dodge mumbled, more to himself than to anyone else.

  “Yes, she’s alive but life’s been hard. Very hard,” Connor pulled up a chair in front of Dodge. “Now. Tell me why.”

  It took Dodge thirty minutes to give a short version of his life with Meggie, ending with what most thought was his death. “I was in a hospital for weeks. Meggie was gone. I had every one of my men looking for her. Hired a private detective. Nothing. She’d vanished. A few months after she disappeared I received a letter telling me Meggie was dead.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a chain with a small locket. “This came with the letter.” He dropped the necklace into Connor’s hand.

  He stared at what most would consider to be nothing special. “It was our grandmother’s. She gave it to Meggie on her fifth birthday.”

  “If she wasn’t wearing it, she had it in a pocket. She was never without it.” Dodge leaned back against the chair then stood and turned suddenly, slamming his palm into the nearby wall. “Damn it. The letter said she was dead.”

  Chaz had stood silent. He’d heard the story of Meggie many times and knew his friend had never stopped loving her. He’d never heard Dodge mention her last name, only Meggie. Until now, he hadn’t connected her to his friend. Chaz had been in Europe for an extended stay and missed the death of his other good friend, Eugene Jackson, as well as Dodge’s almost death. He’d arrived back in Charleston in time to help nurse Dodge back to health, physically if not mentally. It had taken a couple of years before his friend was ready to face life again. This time without Meggie.

  “Do you want me to check with the doctor?” Alicia asked. She turned to see Caleb McCauley walk out of the room.

  “She’s awake,” Doc McCauley informed everyone. “Extremely disoriented and agitated.” He looked to Alicia. “I want her to stay in town tonight. You may take her home in the morning.” He shifted his gaze to Dodge. “She’s asking for you, Mr. Delaney. Or, more accurately, saying your name.”

  Dodge pushed away from the wall. “All right.” He walked through the door on shaky legs and closed it behind him. She was in one of the upscale guest rooms, in a huge bed with expensive linens. She looked like a child, laying on her side, facing away from him.

  “Meggie?” he whispered as he got closer. “Can you hear me?”

  She turned slowly and stared at him, accusation and pain on her face.

  He pulled a heavy upholstered chair next to the bed and sat down, trying to calm his racing heart. He reached out to caress her cheek, pulling back when she flinched.

  She licked her lips and shifted to her back, staring at the ceiling.

  “Are you thirsty?” He grabbed a nearby pitcher, poured water into a glass, and held it out to her. She didn’t move. He sat on the edge of the bed, glass in hand. When she didn’t acknowledge his presence he set it on a table and leaned over her.

  “I was told you were dead, Meggie. They sent me your grandmother’s locket as proof.”

  Her eyes shifted to his. “I saw you die.”

  “One of the kitchen staff got away and went for help. They took me to the hospital, where I stayed for weeks. By then, you were gone.” He searched her face, looking for any sign of forgiveness or understanding. “I looked for you until I received the letter and locket, then I believed you were truly lost to me.” His voice broke.

  She reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tight. “I never stopped loving you.” Her voice had the same soft lilt he remembered.

  Dodger reached into a pocket to pull out the gold band he’d planned to give her that night. He opened her hand and pressed the ring into it. “Ah, Meggie, I’ll always love you.” He pulled her to him and held tight. “I’ll never let anyone take you away from me again.”

  ******

  Connor insisted Meggie go back to the ranch with him. Dodge insisted she wasn’t leaving. In the end, Grace suggested that Connor take a room at the hotel, with Meggie in a room next to him. Dodge took a room on the other side of Meggie. It wasn’t ideal, but it was progress. Alicia and Jericho excused themselves to ride back to the ranch, wanting time to explain to the rest of the family what had happened.

  Chaz waited while Grace said goodbye to Meggie. She closed the door to her friend’s room and knocked on Connor’s. He opened the door and stared at her, a question in his eyes.

  “Did you want something, Grace?”

  She hesitated. Her feelings for him hadn’t changed. Not one bit, even though he wanted nothing more to do with her. She cleared her throat. “I just wanted to say that Meggie has loved Dodge for years. I doubt she’d have ever been with another man, not willingly. That’s how much she still loves him.” She turned to leave.

  “Grace?”

  She looked back. “Yes?”

  He struggled for words. What he wanted to say was that he wanted to work it through with her, figure out a way to put the past behind them and move on. “Thanks for being such a good friend to Meggie.”

  “You don’t understand. I’m the lucky one.” This time she did walk up to Chaz and let him escort her home.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Everything is beautiful, Torie. You and the others worked miracles to have our retirement party so soon.” Anna Wright hugged her only child.

  “What are your plans, Mother? Will you and Father travel?”

  “We’d like to, as soon as everything is set with Mr. Delaney. He understands the hotel business quite well, and his friend, Mr. Yarbrough has experience in the mercantile trade. We hope to leave for New Orleans in a few weeks. I’ve always wanted to visit that city and now we have the chance.”

  Torie watched as her husband and her brother-in-law, Niall, talked to Pierce. She knew they wanted him to stay at the ranch. He was smart and a quick learner. Jamie had told her that he asked lots of questions, many of which caused the brothers to look at the way they operated and consider changes for improvement. She noticed that Jerrod Minton had joined the men.

  “Tell me more about your background, Pierce. I understand you’re an expert at several trades.” Jerrod Minton handled everything from land issues to criminal charges.

  “I wouldn’t say I’m an expert, but I’ve had a variety of jobs. I started out apprenticing in a small tool shop. The reasons for the tools fascinated me. Come to find out the owner had a side business—breaking into homes. It was more of a hobby than because he needed the money. I accompanied him several times, watched, and started doing it on my own.”

  “You were a thief?” Jerrod choked out.

  “Let’s just say I took from people who owed my employer money and refused to pay.” Pierce sipped his beer and watched the reactions of the men who stood around. “You must understand, the docks around Red Hook were rough. It was hard to make a living. When someone contracted with the shop to make tools, then didn’t pay, it affected a lot of people. They usually thought that because they came from money they could stiff the owner. He’d try to collect, but when nothing came, I’d help out, and became pretty good at it.”

  “You never got caught?” Jerrod was fascinated. Pierce’s background was so opposite his own.

  “Well, n
ot exactly. At least, not by the law.” Pierce thought back on the time Jericho had followed him. He’d caught Pierce as he left a home with a sack of jewelry. Made him return every piece. From then on, Pierce was more careful about being followed.

  “You gave it up?” Niall asked, as curious as Jerrod was to learn about his cousin.

  “No, not completely. Alex McCann had hired Connor to help with his investigation business. Alex hired me to gather information others couldn’t get. By then I’d learned how to open safes, most anything that had a lock. I didn’t steal, just found information and relayed it to Alex.”

  “Why’d you quit?” Jamie asked.

  “I was offered a job working for a man who was a decoder during the war. He’d also become proficient at spotting counterfeit bills. He taught me all he knew about both. It’s amazing how many coded messages are still used. People don’t completely trust telegrams for important communications so they have the messages written in code. We coded and deciphered a lot for the government, private businesses, and wealthy individuals. Also helped a couple of government offices when they’d confiscated what they thought were counterfeit bills and needed someone to confirm if they were authentic or fake.”

  “Now you’re ranching? Quite a change.” Jerrod took note of all of Pierce’s different skills. Skills that people Jerrod knew could put to use if Pierce was interested.

  “Wouldn’t say I’m ranching, not yet, but I’m learning.”

  “Yeah, he’s learning to tear up his hands and grow callouses just fine. Good thing he already knew how to ride and handle a gun or we’d be in real trouble,” Niall chided his cousin. He admired the younger man and his older brother. He and Connor had done it all on their own.

  “Come see me this week, Pierce. I’d like to run some things by you, get your input.” Jerrod had been contacted a few weeks before by a gentleman looking for specific skills. Pierce might be interested in what the man had to offer.

  “Does this have anything to do with Delaney?” Pierce asked the attorney.

  “What makes you ask?”

  “Nothing. Just curious, that’s all.”

  “In a roundabout way, yes. I’ll explain it all when we meet.”

  “Works for me. Well, looks like the ladies are ready to serve up the food. Anybody else hungry?” Pierce eyed Jerrod, wondering what the attorney had going on that required his help. Guess he’d find out in a few days, but his gut told him it had something to do with the newest business owner in Fire Mountain.

  Meggie and Dodge hadn’t gotten more than five feet away from each other all day. She continued to finger the gold engagement band on her right hand, the one he’d carried all those years. They’d made plans to marry the following weekend. A simple ceremony at the ranch with her family, followed by supper at the hotel. She’d move into his suite at the hotel until he had time to build her a house. He wanted lots of children.

  Now, Meggie watched Connor standing alone on the porch, his arms crossed, leaning against a wall, and watching Grace visiting with a group of women.

  Meggie’s heart ached for the two of them.

  She knew Grace was putting up a brave front, pretending not to notice the way his eyes followed her everywhere, and acting as if it didn’t bother her when another pretty woman tried to engage Connor in conversation. Meggie knew not one of them interested her brother. His eyes were fixed on Grace.

  ******

  Connor tapped on the downstairs bedroom door the women were using.

  “Who is it?” Torie asked.

  “Connor.”

  “All right, come on in as long as Dodge isn’t with you.”

  He turned the knob, pushed open the door, and stopped to take in the sight. “You look beautiful, Meggie.”

  She wore a magnificent cream and light gold colored silk wedding dress with pearls sewn across the bodice and down the skirt.

  Meggie turned to flash a brilliant smile toward her brother. “You think he’ll like it?”

  “I think Dodge and everyone else will find you stunning.”

  “Come on, Meggie, turn back this way so that I can finish applying the last of the pearls,” Amanda said as she gently placed her hands on her cousin’s shoulders to turn Meggie toward her.

  Kate and Tess walked into the room, preparing to make the final touches to Meggie’s hair. The ceremony was to take place in the front room in thirty minutes and everyone was milling around outside.

  “Where can she be?” Meggie asked no one in particular.

  “Who?” Connor asked.

  “Grace, of course. She’s my maid of honor.”

  “She’ll get here, don’t worry. Stand still,” Amanda chastised.

  “She was supposed to ride out with Dodge and Chaz.”

  “Both just arrived, but without Grace. I’ll go check with them,” Connor said as he walked outside with brisk strides and down the front steps. Dodge was with Jamie, Drew, and Will, laughing about something one of them had said. “You know when Grace plans to arrive?” he asked Dodge without preamble.

  “Isn’t she here? Her landlady said she’d left quite a while before Chaz and I came to pick her up. Is something wrong?” Dodge asked.

  Pierce and Niall walked up to join the men to catch the last of what Dodge had to say.

  “She’s not here. Meggie is worried.”

  Everyone turned at the sound of shouting as a rider, who was pushing his horse hard, came to a stop. “Fire, downtown. We need all the men we can get!”

  “I’ll go tell the women,” Will said and dashed into the house.

  The others ran to find their mounts, Drew grabbing Will’s horse, Justice, and leading him to the front steps. Will bounded down the steps, jumped on Justice, and the two were off, following the other men to town.

  The sky darkened as they rode closer. Big billows of black smoke appeared. They rode straight toward the center of town, where most of the smoke seemed to be coming from, and saw several buildings consumed by unrelenting flames. A wind from the southwest encouraged the fire, sending balls of flaming debris from one building to another.

  Niall was the first to dismount and ran up to Sam Browning, the sheriff.

  “Where do you want us?”

  Sam held a damp bandana over his face and coughed before answering. “Our one fire wagon is on Curtis. Why don’t you form a water brigade on Walker, the next street over? You won’t have much support. All the other volunteers are doing what they can on the other streets.”

  The men dismounted and let their horses go, not wanting to keep them in the area of fast moving flames. Each dipped their bandanas in a nearby trough and tied them around their faces. It was two blocks to Walker Street and they took off at a fast pace, skirting other volunteers, grabbed anything that could be used as a bucket, and located water pumps.

  They stopped in unison at the horror before them. Flames engulfed virtually every building on the street—it was hard to know where to begin. The sound of crashing timber and screams sent them back into action.

  Chaz, with Dodge beside him, found Connor, grabbed his arm and pulled him around. “That’s Grace’s boarding house.” He pointed to a building consumed in flames.

  Connor didn’t stop to talk but grabbed another bucket and made his way to the inferno that only minutes before had housed several young women. He filled the buckets, but knew his efforts were wasted. The structure was already destroyed. He threw the water onto the flames and ran around to the side of the building. The heat was unbearable and breathing was difficult. He was vaguely aware of other men around him, yelling at him.

  “Grace! Grace, are you in there? Can you hear me?” His frantic attempts continued until his throat was parched and raw. He climbed over a burning pile of wood and continued his efforts, wiping a hand across his forehead, trying to see through the dense smoke.

  He pulled his bandana tighter around his face and began to charge into what was left of the burning rubble when two sets of strong arms grabbed him from beh
ind. He fought before two more men ran up and helped haul him away from the wreckage.

  “Grace!” he screamed repeatedly as the four men physically lifted him and dashed to a safer location. They set him down but continued to restrain him.

  “Connor, listen to me,” Niall said in a quiet voice. “If she was in the building, there’s nothing you can do. You’ll only kill yourself. Better to wait and see if she made it to safety.”

  Connor looked at his older cousin, accepting that he was right, and hating it. He watched the flames turn to ash as the others ran to help form a break further up the street. He stared at the charred building, running both hands through his soot filled hair, not believing he’d lost her.

  His dreams had become clear over the last couple of weeks. Watching his cousins and their wives he’d realized that was what he wanted—a stable life, a woman he loved, and children. No more coming up against those too mean to function in normal society. An end to the constant travel. A place to feel welcome without the need to look over his shoulder. To have it all—he needed Grace.

  He’d planned to talk with her after the wedding, take her aside and try to work things out. She needed to understand how her lack of trust had affected him. He needed to know that she’d trust him in the future and not carry secrets.

  Connor felt the presence of others near him. He looked to see Pierce and Jericho, both dirty with streaks of ash and soot across their faces. They stood next to him, coming to terms with the destruction and death around them.

  “Sam Browning says that Dodge has opened the hotel for the injured to be treated. Doc McCauley and his new assistant are working non-stop,” Pierce told him. “The women rode out from the ranch and are in there helping out. Mollie Jamison from the Desert Dove and a few other ladies are there also.”

  “And the dead?” Connor’s voice was weary, ready to break.

  Pierce indicated the large town square where some tents had been erected. “She’s not there. Jericho and I already checked.”