The Bootlegger's Daughter (Daughters Of The Roaring Twenties Book 1)

by Lauri Robinson

  “How’s your uncle Dave?” Janet asked, plunking down two tall glasses so hard the frothy contents bubbled over the edges.

  “Fine,” Norma Rose said, picking up a napkin.

  “I heard he was arrested the other night,” Janet persisted. “Ossified on the street corner.”

  “You heard wrong,” Norma Rose said, without any prompting from Ty. “Dave’s at the resort and doing just fine. How’s Jeb?”

  The other woman spun around, but her glare could have cut through ice. A man carrying two plates holding soup bowls and sandwiches had come from the back room and was heading their way.

  “Well, Norma Rose,” the man said. “Janet didn’t tell me it was you here. I talk—”

  “Norma Rose is showing me the city,” Ty said, interrupting the man. “Ty Bradshaw,” he added as the man set down the plates before them.

  “Charlie McLaughlin,” the man replied.

  “I’m staying out at the resort,” Ty said, knowing Janet’s ears were pricked. “Since the day is quiet out there, Norma Rose and I decided to visit the city. Maybe take in a picture show.”

  Again, Norma Rose played along. “Ty wanted to try one of your infamous milk shakes.”

  “And see a picture show,” Ty added again with a grin that grew as Norma Rose blushed.

  Charlie laughed. “Ted Williams said he saw the one playing over at the Capital Theater last night, said he’d never laughed so hard. Janet, you went with him, didn’t you?”

  Janet, stunned and nervous, shook her head. “Me? With Chief Williams?” she said, attempting to cover up her secret. “Of course not.”

  Ty took in all the information. A soda girl whose brother was in jail was dating the chief of police, and going to a picture show at the most expensive theater, which was owned by the Hamm’s Brewing company, a company that was supposedly out of business due to Prohibition.

  Not wanting it to appear like he was prying, Ty turned to Norma Rose. “We might have to see that one.”

  She almost choked on her spoonful of soup and Ty grinned, imagining the fun of sitting in a dark theater with her. Ears alert, he let the conversation flow naturally as he and Norma Rose ate. It wasn’t yet noon and the establishment was empty except for the four of them, and he learned more each time either Charlie or Janet opened their mouths.

  Once their plates were empty, he paid the bill while Norma Rose slipped on her gloves. Taking her arm to assist her off the stool, he asked, “Shall we go see when the next movie starts at the Capital?”

  She frowned slightly, but at his silent urging agreed with what the others might have taken as real enthusiasm, though he knew it was false. “Why not?”

  He nodded toward Charlie. “The shakes were as good as she said they would be. Thanks.”

  “Stop in anytime,” Charlie said. “A friend of Roger’s is a friend of mine.”

  Feeling Janet’s glare, Ty asked, “How about a friend of Norma Rose’s?”

  Charlie laughed. “Hers, too.”

  Ty chuckled as if that delighted him. It did, actually. Especially the way she squirmed inwardly. He could read her as well as he could read himself. Perhaps even better.

  With one hand clasped around her elbow, he led her all the way to the passenger door of her car, which he opened for her. Before she had a chance to protest, he helped her into the car and shut the door.

  He walked around to the driver’s side and once settled behind the wheel, started the engine. In her haste to exit the car before him, she’d left the keys dangling in the ignition. He turned, prepared to point out the dangers of that, but didn’t. Janet’s nose was glued to the drugstore window, and as Norma Rose was already looking at him, he simply leaned over and pressed his lips against hers.

  She stiffened and Ty waited for her to pull back. When she didn’t, he moved away and smiled as she leaned forward, following him for a split second.

  Sitting back against the seat, she huffed out a breath. “Why did you do that?”

  He expected more. A full protest. But was glad she didn’t give one. “Because I wanted to,” he said, making no mention of Janet watching from the window.

  The half smile on her lips caused a grin he couldn’t hide.

  She tugged her skirt over her knees. “Don’t you mean because Janet’s still watching through the window.”

  He shifted the car and pulled away from the curb. “Didn’t see her.”

  “Right.”

  Ty laughed.

  “Enough foolishness,” she said then. “When are we going to start looking for who poisoned Dave?”

  * * *

  He claimed they were searching, doing research he called it, but besides eating lunch at the drugstore, where he’d asked no questions about Dave whatsoever, they hadn’t done anything besides drive around St. Paul.

  They traced the route from Charlie’s store to the Blind Bull and back again, the few blocks from the police station to the drugstore, and then the distance from the store to the Capital Theater. Where she had hoped he wouldn’t stop. She had no desire to see a picture show with him. None. She repeated that several times in order to convince herself.

  When he finally parked the car, she glanced around at the trolley cars and visitors. “What are we doing here?” she asked. “I know Dave didn’t visit Como Park.”

  “Perhaps not,” he said, pulling the keys from the ignition. “But we are.”

  Considering all the people about, Norma Rose waited for him to open her door and then accepted his arm to walk across the parking lot. Situated in the northern part of St. Paul, over three hundred acres of land along the shores of Lake Como had been dedicated as a city park. She hadn’t been here in years, but had heard of the vast improvements made lately. Walking paths, flower gardens, ponds, fountains and pergolas, even a fenced-off area with wildlife for city dwellers to observe.

  All her years of dreaming about things she wanted to do were manifesting in a mere two days. The amusement park, dancing, a lunch date, walking in the park. All silly things she could have done by herself any day, but hadn’t because she hadn’t wanted to do them alone, or even with one of her sisters. She’d wanted to do them like this. With someone.

  Norma Rose attempted to tell herself that someone should not be Ty, but she’d never been gullible, not even when it came to lying to herself. He was now holding her hand as they walked along a gravel pathway, and she couldn’t find anything she’d like to change. Especially not him, and she wasn’t overly sure why.

  “I can’t tell you who I am.”

  Her footsteps faltered and she stopped. “What?”

  “I can’t tell you who I am, who I really am.”

  She could swear there was regret in Ty’s tone, as she questioned all the while if she was hearing things. “Why?”

  “I can’t tell you that, either.”

  “Because I didn’t tell you everything about Forrest?” Although she’d had no intention of telling him earlier, now it seemed silly. Galen Reynolds was the one who’d turned the whole thing into a fiasco, and Forrest had never tried to stop him. That had eaten at her harder than Galen’s lies. Back then. Now it really didn’t matter.

  Ty squeezed her hand and started walking again, tugging her along. “No.”

  “Then why?”

  Ty kept walking and Norma Rose kept alongside him, around a pond with a pair of white swans swimming gracefully and past flower gardens full of yellow marigolds and purple and white pansies. There was a wooden park bench on the far side of the flowers, and Ty didn’t stop until they happened upon it.

  “You’re a beautiful woman, Norma Rose, and a smart one. You could go anywhere in the world, start up a legitimate business and—”

  “The resort is a legitimate business,” she interrupted.

  He shook his head, but she couldn’t leave it at that. He had to understand.

  “Yes, it is,” she insisted, “and it will continue to be after Prohibition is repealed, which it will be, mark my word. Ther
e is no black-and-white in the world right now. No defined line between right and wrong. It’s not that every American citizen wants to break the law, it’s just...” She couldn’t completely explain how things appeared in her eyes, but she had to. “It’s just that people know if they follow every law on the books right now, they’ll starve. It may not be that way everywhere. In Washington or other places, but it is here.”

  “You’ve been listening to your father too long,” Ty said. “People won’t starve.”

  “Do you know what it’s like to eat soup three times a day?” She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t really even soup. It was nothing more than water a few potatoes had been boiled in. Well, I do. And I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of judgments and lies.” Fury wasn’t filling her stomach this time, neither was regret or shame. “This is America, Ty. The land of the free and the brave, and if we give in, what then? We give up all our forefathers fought for. Give up the promises and hopes of millions of people who crossed rough seas and desolate lands to build homes and communities. Why? Because a few lawmakers think they know best? It’s not the people who are trying to make a living that are the bad ones. Making and drinking spirits has been a part of society since the beginning of time, all the laws in the world won’t change that. People can’t change that quickly.”

  “So the lawmakers are the bad ones,” he said with a shake of his head.

  She’d wrestled with these things for years, and had formed a few of her own opinions. “The laws they made, the ones they are attempting to enforce, won’t work. Surely you see that. How Prohibition has increased crime more than it’s decreased it. It’s failed, and no one knows what to do about that. How to make it right. But,” she added with a wave of her hand, “look around. The economy is booming. Schools are being built, as well as churches and parks. Not by the government, but by private people. Those who know this will end and are investing in the future. In businesses that will survive. In their communities. In the stock market. In their families.”

  Ty cursed. She was good. Damn good. “You should be a lawyer,” he said, meaning it. “What are you going to do when your father goes down? When the resort is seized?”

  She shook her head. “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Yes,” he said, his stomach in his throat, “it is.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  He’d discovered a lot today, getting close to putting a bead on Bodine. Ty should have been elated. He usually was at this point, but in the past, he’d never worried about people getting hurt. “Let’s go,” he said.

  Norma Rose shook her head. “Why’d you bring me here, Ty? To the park?”

  Because for a few minutes he wanted to forget who he was, what he was here to do. He just wanted to be a man on an outing with a woman. A beautiful woman who’d gotten under his skin and kicked his heart back into motion as if he had a hand crank sticking out of his chest like an old car. He couldn’t tell her any of that. But he did take a moment to appreciate her beauty.

  Stepping closer, watching him as closely as he watched her, she repeated, “Why did you bring me here?”

  Ty grasped her shoulders and this time he didn’t give her the option of pulling back. He went in with guns loaded, kissing her until there wasn’t an ounce of breath left in his lungs, or a section of her lips he hadn’t tasted. Then he stopped, took in a gulp of air and went in for seconds, parting her lips with his tongue to explore the sweet, intoxicating caverns of her mouth.

  When Ty came up for air, he needed more than a gulp to catch his breath. That’s when he noticed another couple on the other side of the pond, watching them. He was in deep and it was either sink or swim. He’d never sunk before. That just wasn’t an option.

  Curling an arm around Norma Rose’s shoulders, he said, “Let’s go.”

  She didn’t protest. Walking beside her, the silence weighed heavy. Whatever he’d expected to gain from kissing her was backfiring more than a six-cylinder engine hitting on only four cylinders. He now wanted her more than ever. Not just to kiss her, either, but to love her. In every sense of the word. Deep inside his heart, which had been dark and cold, a forgotten organ simply doing its job to keep him upright, until she’d come along. It now beat to a different drum, hammered at the thought of her and left him feeling alive for the first time since he’d seen the carnage of Bodine’s attack on his parents.

  His heart wasn’t all she’d opened up. He was taking things into consideration, too. Things he never had before. Prohibition wasn’t working, he’d known that for a long time, but he’d never looked at it from the other side. Through the eyes of those using it to feed their families.

  They arrived at the car and he opened the passenger door. The smile she flashed him was tender and as delicate as the flimsy flowers filling the beds they’d wandered past. It could be crushed so easily and he didn’t want her or her smile crushed.

  “Are we going home?” she asked, once he’d pulled out of the parking lot, onto the roadway.

  Home. That was something else he’d started to want. The knot in his throat threatened to strangle him and he barely managed a nod.

  “Then turn left at the stop sign. There’s a road going north that eventually angles over,” she instructed. “It’ll save us from going back downtown.”

  He followed the road and the signs directing them toward White Bear Lake. The scenery rolled past unseen. How had this all happened in such a short time? Her. The changes inside him. It would be nice to say he’d felt them coming, but he hadn’t. They’d hit him unexpectedly, like a club on the back of the head in a dark alley.

  She was watching him, her gaze burning the side of his face, which he kept forward, eyes on the road, hoping she didn’t speak. There was nothing he could say.

  They entered White Bear Lake. “Is there anything you need from town?” he asked, the tension about to snap inside him.

  “No,” she answered quietly.

  He couldn’t take the chance of glancing her way because there was something else he needed to consider. If he was feeling this way, how was she feeling? Norma Rose was no doxy. She didn’t give away her favors for free. Yet, she’d let him kiss her, more than once, and that said a lot.

  Actually, she hadn’t just let him kiss her, she’d been a full participant, and that said even more.

  Ty’s mind and insides grew more twisted as he drove the final few miles and pulled her Cadillac into the garage.

  “You can leave the keys in it,” she said, opening her door. “I’ll be in my office if you need me.”

  When he glanced at her over the hood of the car her lips quivered, as if holding the slight smile there hurt.

  “Father said to help you with whatever you needed.”

  Ty nodded. He should thank her for her help today, but figured it would sound as hollow as he felt. Out of respect, which he held strongly for her, he walked her to the front door of the resort and then he headed for Dave’s cabin to confirm his beliefs.

  * * *

  Norma Rose closed the resort’s front door behind her and leaned her head upon the heavy wood. The heat of Ty’s kiss still radiated inside her and proclaimed the one thing that was never supposed to happen had happened. But how? She couldn’t have fallen in love. Not with Ty. Not this fast.

  “I’m glad you’re back,” Twyla said, walking out of the ballroom. “I’m afraid I have bad news.”

  Pushing away from the door, Norma Rose planted her feet onto the floor in preparation. “What?”

  “Forrest refuses to talk to me,” Twyla said. “Says he’ll only talk to you.”

  Norma Rose took a step, and then another, each one growing more purposeful until she was marching across the foyer and down the hall to her office.

  “I’m sorry,” Twyla said. “I tried. I really did.”

  “I’m sure you did,” Norma Rose answered, collecting herself with each second that ticked by. “Thank you.”

  “For what?” Twyla said, following all the
way into her office.

  “For trying,” Norma Rose answered. “Please close the door.”

  Twyla did, and Norma Rose picked up the phone. “Thelma,” she said once the operator down the hall answered. “Please ring the Plantation, Forrest Reynolds.”

  “Right away, Norma Rose,” Thelma answered. “Hold, please.”

  She barely had time to sit down before Forrest’s voice carried through the wire and into the phone. “Forrest here.”

  Norma Rose waited a split second, just in case her body had a reaction she’d need to counteract. At one time she thought she’d been head over heels in love with Forrest, until he’d betrayed her, without saying a single word in her defense that night he’d left town so long ago. When nothing, not even lingering bitterness, appeared inside her, she said, “Forrest, it’s Norma Rose.”

  “I’ve been expecting your call.”

  “Then you know why I’m calling.”

  “We should talk—”

  “We are,” she interrupted. A sigh built then and she let it out. “What happened between us, between our families, was a long time ago and it’s past time it ended.” Before she lost her nerve, she continued, “We were teenagers who got caught alone together, something that happens to millions of people, and something that should never have escalated into a family war.”

  “Your father sent my father to prison because of it,” Forrest said.

  He sounded older, harsher than when they used to talk and laugh, but he didn’t sound angry. She wasn’t angry, either. She was just being honest. “My father may have paved the road, but your father drove himself there.” She paused briefly. “You know that, Forrest, as do I.”

  The line was so quiet, she wondered if they’d lost connection, until she heard a faint sigh.

  “Are you going to give me Slim Johnson for the next two Saturdays or not?” she asked, having said her piece.

  “On one condition,” Forrest said.

  Wanting to focus her time on other things, she was prepared to write a check for any amount he requested. “Which is?”

  “That I’m invited to the parties,” Forrest said. “Both of them.”