The Christmas Eve Daughter - A Time Travel Novel: The Sequel to The Christmas Eve Letter

by Elyse Douglas

  “At the theatre on Tuesday night, Mrs. Gantly, you said you were a friend of my father. Were you lying?”

  Eve took a long sip, measuring her response. “No…”

  Maggie tilted her head a little to the right, her elegant eyebrows lifting as if to say, is that all? She took a drink. “And…? Can you please elaborate?”

  Eve glanced about. “Is anyone around?”

  “If you’re referring to Big Jim, no. Sometimes he comes by, sometimes not. Anyway, he leaves early. He has many businesses. Now, about my father. Unless you are communicating with a ghost, then I assume you are speaking—how should I say—metaphorically?”

  “Your father did not die in 1885, Miss Gantly.”

  “Oh, for pity sake, just call me Maggie.”

  “All right then, call me Eve.”

  Maggie tapped a foot. “And how do you know he didn’t die in 1885? Who are you really? And stop being evasive. Either you have something to say or you don’t, and if you don’t, you are wasting my sleeping time, and I have a performance tonight.”

  Eve stared into her glass, watching the bubbles rise and play. “Maggie, I have come to take you away from here. You’re in danger.”

  Eve didn’t shift under Maggie’s hard, thoughtful gaze. “Despite what you may think, Maggie, I am your friend.”

  Maggie slowly got up, fixing Eve with a frosty stare. “I don’t know you, and you are certainly not my friend. You need to go now.”

  Eve set her glass down on a lace doily. She set her lips firmly and clasped her hands in her lap, thinking carefully. She lowered her voice.

  “Maggie, between the two of us, we can get you away from New York and Big Jim. I saw the fear in your eyes the other night. You’re scared to death of him. You feel trapped. As part of the Gantly family, I want to help you. I want to get you away from here, so you can start a new life.”

  Maggie gave Eve an empty smile. “What part of the Gantly family are you from? I’ve certainly never heard of you.”

  The Champagne made Eve a bit bold. “As I said, your father did not die in 1885. He escaped New York and lived in another place.”

  Maggie drained her glass, her hands restless, eyes moving. “What place? Where?”

  “Ohio,” Eve lied. “I’m from Ohio.”

  “What happened to my father? Why didn’t he come? He’d be in his sixties now. Is he still alive?”

  Eve had tried to plan for this conversation, and she had even rehearsed various versions of it, but she had no way of knowing which way it would go or how Maggie would respond. Eve would have to lie more than she wanted to, but there was no other way. Eve hoped that if things worked out, and if she could convince Maggie to escape Big Jim, perhaps Eve could tell her the truth later.

  Eve continued. “No, he’s not alive, but his dying wish was for me to come to New York and help you. He read the newspaper articles about you. He was worried and feared for your life with Big Jim.”

  Maggie marched to the golden wine bucket, yanked out the Champagne bottle and poured herself another glass. She did not offer to fill Eve’s.

  Maggie’s eyes turned stormy. “Why didn’t he ever come to see me? Tell me that? If he loved me so much, why didn’t he come even once to see me for all these past twenty-eight years?”

  Eve had anticipated Maggie’s question. “Because he was poor and sick, and he didn’t want you to think that he came seeking money. He was ashamed of himself, but very proud of you, Maggie.”

  Maggie’s eyes teared up and she drank half of her glass. “I bet. When did he die?”

  “A short time ago. He wanted me to come see you. It was his last wish.”

  Maggie’s voice turned harsh. “Are you his daughter?”

  “No, Maggie. I was his wife.”

  Maggie began to tremble, her face white. The glass shook in her hand, and she swayed unsteadily for a few seconds, as if she might faint.

  Eve shot up, concerned.

  Maggie blinked, inhaled a sharp breath and then pulled herself to her full height.

  “Are you all right, Maggie?”

  Maggie drank the remaining Champagne down in a gulp. “No, I am not all right. I’m angry. I’m confused. And I’m…”

  She stopped, her now-flaming eyes burning at Eve. “I’m not sure I believe you or trust you. I wish I’d never met you. Get out of here and don’t ever come back!”

  Eve lowered her head, gathered her coat and started for the door. Maggie’s choking emotional voice stopped her.

  “No, stop. Don’t leave. Don’t go.”

  Maggie’s head dropped. Her body quaked, and the tears began to flow. She held up a hand, and Eve didn’t know what the gesture meant. Instinctively, Eve went to Maggie and stood next to her as her shoulders sank and the tears came pumping out, her body a spasm of anguish. Eve reached for her and drew her in with a gentle hug. They remained for long minutes as Eve allowed Maggie’s emotion to wear itself out.

  “Why didn’t he come to see me?” Maggie finally managed to say, her voice tight in her throat. Why?”

  Eve stayed silent. The conversation hadn’t gone the way she had planned or hoped. She thought that if Patrick had been there, he would have said all the right things. She had probably said all the wrong things. She’d fumbled the whole thing. How could she convince Maggie to leave New York and Big Jim?

  Minutes later, Maggie broke away and went to the windows, lost in thought, staring down at Fifth Avenue. In the silence, Eve could hear the drone of traffic, feel the thrum of her soft heartbeat, and see the sunlight fall in yellow planks on the marble floor.

  “I suppose I have to believe you,” Maggie said, in a low, sad voice. “But you are so young. Maybe thirty years old. He was in his sixties.”

  “He was a good man, Maggie. I still love him.”

  And now it was Eve’s turn to fight tears. The truth was, Patrick was gone. Perhaps he was dead.

  Maggie slowly turned, seeing the emotion in Eve’s eyes. She smiled weakly.

  “So, you came to save me?”

  “We were both coming to save you, but Patrick…” Her voiced dropped into silence.

  “Did he speak about me often?”

  Eve nodded. “He didn’t know about you for a time. When he found out what had happened to you, he spoke of nothing else. That’s why I came. That’s why I’m here.”

  Maggie turned back to the window, shading her eyes from the morning sun.

  “I can’t leave Big Jim. No matter where I went he would find me. You don’t know him. He wouldn’t stop until he found me and killed me.”

  Maggie turned to face Eve. “He will kill you too, Eve. I can’t let that happen. Big Jim will be watching you, you know. He is very perceptive and smart, like a cunning animal. He’s a violent man. He’s killed men with his bare hands, and he likes it. He probably has someone watching you. I am sure he knows you are here right now. That’s why I was hesitant to let you in.”

  Eve shivered.

  “You should leave town and go back to Ohio, Eve. You’ve done your duty. You can go now.”

  “No, Maggie. If we act fast, we can escape. Patrick used to say, ‘Act fast. Attack before the other guy attacks. The sooner the better.’”

  “Didn’t you just hear me, Eve?”

  “Yes, but Patrick wanted to get you out of danger, and that’s what I’m going to do, if you’ll let me.”

  Maggie’s gaze slid down. “I admire your spirit, Eve, but it won’t work. This is New York City, not some small town in Ohio.”

  “Are you too scared to even try?”

  Maggie bristled. “I’m not a little ole’ scared rabbit, Eve.”

  “Then let’s try. Let’s do it.”

  Eve watched possibility cross Maggie’s eyes. Then they changed and grew distant, and Eve couldn’t decipher their meaning.

  Maggie grinned, but it was sad. “Maybe I deserve to be trapped like a bird by a brute man like Big Jim. Do you know what kind of a woman I have been? The kind of woman I
am?”

  “Come on, Maggie. Stop the self-pity. None of us are angels. None of us are as bad as we think we are or as good as we want to be. Maggie, please let me help you get away from here.”

  Maggie still hovered on the edge of indecision. “And go where? To Ohio?”

  “Out west, I think. We’ll be hard to track and find out there.”

  “West. Where out west?”

  “San Francisco, or maybe further south near Mexico. There is a lovely town called San Diego. Have you heard of it?”

  Maggie showed the start of excitement. “No, but I have wanted to travel to San Francisco. There are many theatres there.”

  “If we move fast, I believe we can escape.”

  Maggie’s face lighted with sudden possibility. “Do you really think so?”

  Eve moved toward her. “Yes, I do, but we have to do it quickly.”

  Eve’s voice turned urgent. “But first, I need you to do me a favor. Do you have connections with a bank here in New York?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “I have a check I need to cash. Can you arrange it?”

  “Yes… You can sign it over to me, and I’ll deposit it and give you the funds.”

  Eve sighed in relief. “Great. Good. Thank you. With that money, we can buy our train tickets.”

  Maggie stared at Eve, as if seeing her for the first time. “Why are you risking your life for me, Eve? I don’t understand. Why?”

  Eve shuddered at the thought of Big Jim chasing after them. “Because Patrick wanted me to, and because I see the hope and fear in your eyes. You want to run away from Big Jim and this life as fast as you can, don’t you?”

  Maggie nodded. “Yes. I want to get away from here and start a new life. I want to be better than I am. Maybe I want to leave the theatre and meet a good man—a man who truly loves me. Who knows, maybe I even want to have children. I suddenly want to feel as if it’s all possible.”

  Maggie went to Eve and drew her into a hug. “Thank you, Eve, for coming.” She held Eve at arm’s length. “But I warn you, you may need courage for the both of us.”

  Neither Eve nor Maggie could see Biddy hovering in the next room, her anxious ear cocked toward the startling conversation she was hearing. Big Jim paid her well for information about Maggie’s friends, moods and behavior. She was to let him know, swiftly, if anything unusual or revealing went on in the apartment. Biddy liked Maggie, but she also liked shoes and hats, and she helped pay the rent on the Lower East Side tenement where she lived with her sick mother and 10-year old, pipe-smoking, bicycle messenger brother, who worked twelve-hour days for the telegraph company.

  Yes, Big Jim would pay her well for this information.

  CHAPTER 20

  Eve returned to the Casterbury Mansion just before 6pm on Thursday evening. Irene met her as soon as Charles opened the front door. She was all fluster and airy chatter.

  “Where have you been, Eve? I have been worried sick.”

  “Didn’t you receive my note?”

  “Yes, of course, but you didn’t say where you were going or when you’d be back. You were gone all day.”

  Irene gave Charles a knowing look, and he gently bowed and glided away.

  “Let’s go into the parlor.”

  Eve followed Irene into the parlor and they sat on the couch near the crackling fire.

  Irene lowered her voice. “I want to return to the hospital to see poor Duncan. I have been worried sick about him. What if he has taken a turn for the worst and I am not there to support him?”

  Eve had thought about dropping by to see him, but she and Maggie had been busy all day, first going to Maggie’s bank so Eve could cash her check, and then to The Biltmore Hotel, where Eve took a room for a week. Maggie had insisted on giving Eve a short tour of the impressive hotel, relating that it had opened on New Year’s Day 1913. She said she would have moved there herself, but Big Jim said no, giving no reason.

  After seeing Eve’s large and elegant room, the two ladies went up to the 22nd floor to see the grand ballroom, and then the Italian Garden, situated between the north and south towers and overlooking Vanderbilt Avenue and Grand Central Terminal.

  “You will love it here, and I will visit you,” Maggie said with a broad, enthusiastic smile. “I am told that this garden will soon become an ice skating rink.”

  Eve gave Maggie a cool glance as she lowered her voice. “Maggie, I won’t be staying here long. We are leaving New York, remember?”

  Maggie’s smile vanished, and fear returned to her eyes. “I don’t know... The more I think about it the more I’m having doubts.”

  Eve gently took her elbow and led her toward a row of exotic white and yellow flowers.

  “Maggie, we have to leave. You know we have to.”

  Maggie nodded, head down.

  After leaving the hotel, they walked to Grand Central Terminal, with Maggie frequently glancing back over her shoulder.

  “Do you see anyone following us?” Eve asked.

  “No… I don’t think so.”

  Eve had wanted to travel to San Francisco by ship, through the newly built Panama Canal, which opened in August 1914, but she was afraid they might be followed and then trapped, with nowhere to go except into the sea. At least on a train, if they were spotted, there was the possibility of escape.

  At the Grand Central Terminal ticket office, Eve learned that the New York Central 20th Century Limited ran from Grand Central Terminal to LaSalle Street Station in Chicago. The first-class ticket price for both would be $130.00 plus $20.00 for two Pullman berths. For safety reasons, Eve’s plan was to change trains in Chicago for the leg to Kansas City, and then change trains again for the final leg to San Francisco. They planned to leave early Monday morning, December 7th, after Big Jim left Maggie’s hotel for work.

  “Eve, you look so far away,” Irene said. “Are you listening to me?”

  Eve snapped out of her thoughts. “Yes, Irene. I’m sorry. I was going to go to the hospital today, but I ran out of time. I’ll go tonight.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Yes, Irene. I am leaving Casterbury Mansion. I have a hotel room.”

  Irene’s eyes widened. “Leaving? But how can you? How did you get the money? Did you meet Addison?”

  “No. Look, you have been an angel and I will be eternally grateful to you, but I must get on with my life now. I have much to do.”

  Irene’s eyes suddenly welled up with tears. “But how can you leave me like this? How can you? Where is the gratitude?”

  Eve reached to take Irene’s hand, but Irene withdrew it, pouting.

  “I told you I was going to leave as soon as I could.”

  “You are behaving very badly, Eve. Very badly indeed. First Addison, my beast of a brother, has forbidden me to ever see Duncan again, and now you are leaving me alone in this dreadful house. It’s a ghastly thing to do. Please stay. I thought perhaps you and Addison would get to be… well, friends.”

  “Irene, I am married.”

  Irene looked doubtful, adjusting herself and looking away toward the fireplace, folding her arms tightly against her.

  “Addison told me that you are not being entirely forthright about your husband. Of course, you must pretend to be married. I understand that as a woman alone in New York with no friends and no resources, you must pretend to be married. But my dearest Eve, you don’t have to pretend with me. You can always be honest with me. In this short time that we have been acquainted, I feel like we have become sisters, and sisters confide in each other, don’t they?”

  Eve straightened and stood up. “Irene, I don’t particularly care what your brother thinks about me. I am married. I do have a husband and his name is Patrick Gantly.”

  Irene’s voice gathered force. “Then where is he, Eve? Why is there so much mystery about you? You seem to live in shadows—in some mysterious world that, frankly, I find quite strange and disturbing. I don’t know why you will not confide in me.”

  Eve
’s gaze was stubbornly direct. “I have no more to say about this, Irene. I will return to the hospital tonight and check on Duncan, and then send you an update via telegram. Please give my regards and my gratitude to both your mother and brother. I will have your clothes cleaned and returned to you in a couple of days.”

  As Eve started for the front door, she heard Irene’s footsteps coming after her. Eve turned to see Irene’s face filled with conviction.

  “I don’t care what my brother says. I am going with you to the hospital to see Duncan.”

  Eve felt herself sink a little. Would she ever be rid of this family?

  “All right, but I have to stop off at my hotel on the way. You must stay in the taxi and wait for me.”

  Irene stared. Her eyes held questions, but she didn’t speak.

  CHAPTER 21

  The orange sun was sliding behind the cityscape when Eve and Irene arrived at Gouverneur Hospital. Before entering, a jumpy Eve threw a quick glance back over her shoulder. She had the uncomfortable feeling that they were being followed, probably because she’d been with Maggie earlier and had watched her darting, nervous eyes search the sidewalks and streets as they conducted their business.

  Irene too was on edge, afraid her brother and mother would find out what she was doing and cut off her funds.

  Luckily, the receptionist was a friendlier woman than the hag of a nurse Eve had met on Tuesday night. She informed them that Duncan had been moved to a room in another part of the hospital because his condition had worsened.

  Before the receptionist could complete her information, Irene gasped and darted away in a blind panic, Eve hurrying off behind her.

  With the help of an orderly, they found Duncan in a square, dimly lighted room with five other patients, all suffering from life-threatening illnesses. Three beds were against the wall under the windows and the other two pushed into separate corners, with privacy curtains drawn.

  A concerned nurse came over, her lined face suggesting she was perhaps in her 50s. “Can I help you? You shouldn’t be in here. These patients are contagious.”