by Zina Abbott
Chapter 11
~o0o~
E liza Wells meant far more to Kit than an assignment. He sensed it almost from the start of his acquaintance with her. That longing to be with her had grown over time. He felt no surprise over the anticipation coursing through him while he waited for her to join him among the Valley Oaks. His eyes had adjusted to the nighttime darkness hours before. He could clearly make out movement in the house. He saw a form he knew must be Eliza’s pause by the kitchen stoop. The longer he watched her progress up the hill, almost completely hidden from detection this time by a dark head covering, the more his thoughts turned from his assignment to the prospect of holding her in his arms. He licked his lips in anticipation of kisses he expected them to share before she returned to her room for the night.
As Eliza stepped into the copse of trees, her eyes seeking him where she remembered he hid the last time they met, Kit called to her. “I’m over here this time.”
Kit stepped forward and claimed her in his arms. He pulled her in for a kiss, not willing to wait. They pulled away from each other slowly—reluctantly—the flesh of their lips clinging until distance forced the parting.
Kit pulled Eliza’s ear to his lips in the same manner in which they had talked at the May Day social. “Do you have a letter for me to forward?”
Kit felt more than saw her nod. Next, she fumbled in a pocket and, much like the night in the storage closet, found one of his hands, leaned back and placed the envelope in it. Kit immediately released her, unbuttoned his neckband and tucked it inside his shirt. As he refastened his clothes, he smiled at her soft giggle.
“This is so secretive.” Her voice grew serious. “It would almost be fun if it wasn’t necessary. I still don’t understand why I can’t send a letter through the mail like everyone else and trust it will reach my grandmother.”
Kit bit his lip and declined to enlighten her as to why. “Eliza, did your grandmother say anything you wish to share with me?”
Her voice grew wistful. “Yes. She hasn’t gotten any letters from me except the one I sent with you. She said she knows you and I can trust you. She said you’re from Ohio, too.” Eliza’s voice caught. “Kit, why didn’t you tell me you’re from Ohio? I thought all this time you were from California.”
Kit reached over and kissed Eliza’s cheek. “Eliza, do you still trust me?”
This time her voice sounded more hesitant than it had in the past. “Yes. But, I’d like to understand.”
Kit sighed as he considered how much to tell her. “Eliza, I know your grandmother, but we aren’t close. However, when I sent your letter in another envelope addressed in my handwriting, I also sent her a letter. I knew you wanted to go back to Ohio, and I offered to help you. However, I also told her you were having trouble getting answers to your letters and I suspected your uncle wants to keep you here. I told her if you agreed, we might have to wait for the right time to get away.”
“Thank you, Kit. You’re right. My uncle doesn’t want me to leave, but I don’t understand why. He keeps saying Grandmother is still too ill. I read her letter, and it seems like she is almost well. I don’t know what to think.”
After his earlier investigations, Kit knew what to think. He felt reluctant sharing his findings with Eliza out of fear she might confront her uncle prematurely. “When I send your letter, I’ll also send one from me telling her I’m willing to escort you home.”
Eliza threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight against her. “Thank you, Kit. I’ll go by myself if I have to, but I’d feel so much safer if someone I know…”
Kit placed his fingertips across Eliza’s lips. “Shhh. I heard something.” He gently pulled her deeper into the shadows of the shrubbery and pulled the dark shawl up to cover her hair and face. They both stood motionless and stilled their breathing as they listened. He knew if he was by himself, he would slither through the brush to hide somewhere else. If necessary, he would confront the intruder. Having Eliza with him changed his options.
Keeping his lids almost closed to prevent what little light existed from reflecting of the whites of his eyes, Kit’s gaze followed the path on which the footsteps approached. The moon backlit the form of a large man. Although Kit could not see the man’s face, he suspected Joseph had coming looking for Eliza. He heard her soft sigh of relief and felt her turn once the form passed their hiding place.
Kit next heard the flare of a match. Joseph’s face revealed itself in the light of the flame. Eliza turned her face away, but too late.
“Eliza! Come out here and explain what you are doing up here in the middle of the night.”
As the light died away, Kit felt Eliza drape her shawl over his head and nudge him away from her. She turned and approached her uncle at an angle before Joseph could strike another match. “Don’t make me repeat myself, Eliza. Why are you up here in the middle of the night?”
“I’m going back to the house now, Uncle Joseph. I just like to come up here sometimes to see the stars and enjoy the quiet.”
“Do not turn your back on me! Turn around and face me.” Another match flared. “You can enjoy quiet in the room you have all by yourself. I want to know what brings you up here. Aren’t you aware there are predators that might come over this hill on their way to the river for a drink? What if you surprised a rattlesnake?”
“I…I didn’t think of that.”
“That’s the problem, Eliza. You don’t think.”
As much as he appreciated Eliza making an effort to shield him so her uncle would not know of his presence, Kit refused to hide like a coward from this situation he brought her into. While she edged away from him towards the house, drawing her uncle after her, he disentangled himself from her shawl and silently crept up behind Joseph. As long as Joseph let her go, he would do his best to fade away into the darkness with the millwright none the wiser about his presence. However, he had every intention of protecting Eliza from the worst of his wrath.
“Please, Uncle Joseph, I want to…”
“Don’t you ‘Uncle Joseph’ me.” In the dim light of the half moon, Kit, and he guessed Eliza also, saw the hand raised in preparation of striking Eliza. “I’m your father. Do you understand? I’m your father and you will do what I say!”
The man’s words startled Kit motionless. He glanced at Eliza who, her eyes wide and her lips parted in disbelief, shook her head.
“No. That’s not right. I appreciate you think of me like a daughter, but I’m your niece.”
Joseph brought his hand around and tapped his chest. “You’re my daughter! Mine!”
Eliza’s voice reflected her tears. “You can’t be. Benjamin’s my father. Mama and Papa told me you married Aunt Phoebe about the same time they married, and then you moved away. You’ve been gone all that time until you came back last October.”
Kit watched Joseph slowly shake his head. With a derisive laugh, he stepped forward. “No, Eliza, they lied to you. I did come back another time. I came for the stones. You were born nine months later.”
“No! No, you’re lying!”
When Eliza took another step back, her heel caught on either a branch or a rock. She stumbled and nearly fell before she righted herself. Instinctively, Kit reached toward her. His motion towards Eliza alerted Joseph to his presence and the man spun around to face Kit. He reached towards his pocket where Kit suspected he carried a pistol.
Kit called out to Eliza. “Go!”
Out of the corner of his eye, Kit watched her turn and run away from her uncle. She stumbled and almost lost her balance before she regained it as she fled towards the house.
Joseph squinted into the near darkness. Kit stood his ground. He turned his face so the moonlight revealed his features.
“You! She came up here to be with you.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll have her hide for this.”
“Your complaint is with me, Mr. Wells. Since you made it clear you would not welcome me calling on her in a proper mann
er, when she asked how she could visit with me, I suggested here where it is close to her home.”
Joseph jabbed his fist, aiming for Kit’s face. Kit raised his forearm to block the blow. He staggered back from the force of it. Joseph punched Kit with his other fist, which Kit attempted to block with his other arm. Joseph caught the side of Kit’s cheekbone with his knuckle. Kit ached to return the blows in an effort to knock the man flat on his back. He chose to hold back. He kept Joseph focused on him as long as possible.
His breath heaving, Joseph growled his disapproval. “If I wanted her to visit with you, I would have allowed it. I told you to stay away from her, yet you danced with her at the town social.”
Shaking off the ache in his face, Kit managed to keep his voice calm. He did not wish to antagonize the older man further. He only wished for Joseph to release his anger on him, not on Eliza. “Yes, sir. Once. I also danced with several other women, including your two daughters and your wife. Since she knew you would not allow me to approach her at church, she asked how we might meet again. She’s homesick, sir. She found out I’m from Indiana, not far from where she grew up.”
His fists still balled, Joseph again stepped towards Kit. “So, you’ve had her up here every night, compromising her…”
Kit shook his head. He kept his body ready to defend himself. Even as he sought to diffuse the situation with words, he prepared for another physical attack, “No. I would never treat her that way. This is the second time we met. The first time was two weeks ago when it was a half moon. I wanted there to be enough light she could see. I told her not to come during the new moon.”
Joseph made no attempt to hide his sarcasm. “I’m sure you’ve been the perfect gentlemen, considering her safety, but ignoring her reputation should your behavior become known. I don’t believe you never kissed her.”
Kit debated, but he decided to not stretch credibility too far. “I admit, I did kiss her once tonight.”
“I told you she’s promised to another.”
“She told me you had in mind a particular gentleman, one I have seen visit you at the mill, but the man chose to court her cousin instead.”
Joseph stepped forward and pointed at him.
“That still doesn’t mean I want you anywhere near her. You’re fired. I don’t ever want to see you or your wagon near my property. If I ever see you close to Eliza again, I’ll fill you full of lead. Do you understand me this time, Mr. Halsey? Stay away from Eliza. She’s my concern, not yours.”
Kit relaxed his arms, hoping Joseph accepted the gesture as one of compliance. “I hear you, Mr. Wells.”
“Then get off my property.”
Kit watched Joseph spin on his foot and start down the bluff towards his home. No longer seeing Eliza in the distance, Kit assumed she returned safely into the house. He only hoped for her sake that Joseph would wait until morning to confront her, and by then most of his anger would have dissipated.
Kit turned and walked the opposite direction. Once he reached a point beyond the Wells property where he had tethered the black horse he occasionally rented from the livery, he leaned against the trunk of the stately Valley Oak tree and considered what had taken place this night.
Somehow, Joseph had seen movement and followed Eliza up the bluff. Kit dare not meet Eliza there again. Doing so would put her at risk. The next time he joined Eliza, it must be to help her leave the Wells family and return to Ohio.
Kit thought of the adaptations he would need to make. Losing the freight-hauling job was not a problem. It had only been a means to have a reason to be on Wells land to begin with. He would take the wagon and team of mules back to Stockton and sell them back to the man from which he had bought them.
Then there was the question of whether or not he could ethically and lawfully remove Eliza from Joseph’s custody. Joseph’s claim he was Eliza’s father disturbed him far more than being caught with her or the confrontation that followed. Was claiming a parental relationship his latest scheme for convincing the courts to accept his appeal for guardianship and control over her estate? Or, did the man speak the truth? If Joseph, instead of his brother, was indeed Eliza’s natural father, did he have a legal claim over her until she was of age? Could he prove the relationship, especially with Eliza’s mother deceased?
If Joseph’s claim was false, was he really so depraved or desperate to make such claim considering how it would cast a pall over the circumstances of Eliza’s birth? What of his own family? How would his wife feel? His children?
Kit had suspected from the start there was more to this case than the information given him. He decided it was time to travel back to Ohio and visit Caroline Arnold.
.
.
.
.
Dayton, Ohio – July, 1882
Chapter 12
~o0o~
A t the sound of footsteps upon the stairs, Kit peeked around the corner long enough to see Caroline Arnold descending them with the aid of her cane in one hand and her nurse holding her opposite forearm. Kit smiled as he quietly resumed his seat in the receiving parlor. His employer still struggled, but she was on her feet.
Kit stood when she entered the room. Ignoring him, Caroline waited until she was seated before she turned to the other woman. “You may leave me now. I’ll call for you if I need you. Close the doors on the way out.”
Once the two were alone, Caroline, her pursed lips communicating her displeasure, turned her gaze to Kit. “Did you see what you wished to see, Mr. Halsey? I do not particularly welcome others watching my awkward movement upon the stairs.”
“Quite frankly, I felt happy for you, Mrs. Arnold. You appear stronger and much improved in the weeks since I last saw you.”
Caroline flipped her hand to brush off his comment. “Yes, well, I told you before I have recovered sufficiently enough to take care of my own matters.” She fixed a demanding gaze upon him. “Why are you here without my granddaughter, Mr. Halsey? I received no word other than your report, Eliza’s letter, and a warning you would arrive in Dayton as quickly as the rails allowed.”
“Because I learned something that caught me off-guard. If there is any truth to the matter, then it may change everything.”
“And what is that, Mr. Halsey? My attorney indicated you offered no clue in your correspondence as to why you wished to return to speak with me personally.”
“I was told Joseph Wells is Eliza’s father.”
Caroline, her gaze focused on Kit’s face, slowly leaned back and stretched her neck. Her voice lost some of its starch. “Who told you that?”
“Joseph Wells.”
Silence descended upon the room as the two stared at each other.
Caroline turned away first. Anger lit her eyes. “The wretch.”
Kit leaned forward. “Mrs. Arnold, I need to know if his claim is true. Is it possible Joseph Wells is Eliza’s father?”
Caroline’s voice snapped as she glared at Kit. “For what purpose do you need to know? I am paying you to stop Joseph Wells from harming my granddaughter. I want you to bring her home.”
Kit inhaled and shook his head. “Mrs. Arnold, as I wrote in my report to your attorney, Joseph did apply for guardianship of Eliza. From what I found in the docket at the courthouse, the matter is to be heard before a judge within the next few weeks. If he adds to it his allegation he is her natural father, it may strengthen his case. If he prevails under those circumstances, and I help Eliza leave, then he might very well come after me for abduction. He knows I have been seeing her. If I am to continue, I need to know the full details of what is involved.”
“Are you belatedly developing scruples, Mr. Halsey? I cannot believe from the information you have obtained you have never committed an illegal act.”
Kit offered a sheepish grin. “I’m afraid I must confess some of the tactics I’ve used to obtain information may be viewed as less than legal. However, in this case, none of it so far has harmed anyone, legally or otherwise. In spite of
my knowledge that he undercut the rate he offered me for hauling, which I could have refused if I cared to, my report to you verifies Joseph Wells for the most part conducts his business according to acceptable business practices. He is under financial strain, though, because his sales are falling off for lack of supplies and competition in his markets. He needs another source of income to make changes to meet those challenges. He looks to Eliza’s estate, part of which he believes is money that should have been bequeathed to him at the time of his father’s death.”
Caroline waved her hand to brushed away the claim. “Phffft! The man mistakenly believes the Ohio mill was worth more than it was. If Isaiah Wells left more to Benjamin who stayed to take care of a business that needed considerable repairs even before the war took its toll instead of splitting it equally with the son who ran out on his birthright, he had the right. Joseph has always displayed the attitude that he deserves to have everything, even at the expense of others.”
“Be that as it may, the California courts may accept Joseph’s petition and recognize his right to be Eliza’s guardian. Especially if he pursues the claim she is his natural daughter, me helping her escape would no longer be me helping her return to her rightful guardian. It would be viewed as unlawful abduction from her parent. I need to know the truth so I know what I’m facing.”
“Joseph Wells left Ohio years before Eliza was born.”
“He said something about coming back for the stones.”
Silence followed Kit’s statement. He watched Caroline’s form slump and sink into the back cushion of her chair. He sensed her despair, and felt it travel across the room to invade his inner being. Even though he now felt certain of the answer, he asked again, dreading to hear the words. “Did Joseph Wells father Eliza?”
Caroline closed her eyes in resignation. “Yes.”
Kit continued to keep his voice soft and non-confrontational. “How did it come about?”
“When they were all younger, Joseph pursued my daughter’s hand, but she chose his brother. She never did love Joseph, or even consider marrying him. Unfortunately, Joseph is so overbearing, he is a hard man to convince the answer is ‘no.’ Once he did realize he’d been thwarted, and by his own brother, he grew irrational. He stayed in Ohio until after Rachael and Benjamin married even though he refused to attend the wedding. Not long after, he bid his father farewell, insisting he could no longer work the mill with his brother. He married Phoebe, and the pair left for California to make their fortune in the gold fields.