by Tara Johnson
Penelope sniffed and brushed away more escaping tears. “It hurt losing my first mother, but now I have you and Papa Gish, James and Etta and Miriam. And now, even a grandpa and uncle.” She gave a toothy grin. “A grandpa who owns a toy shop!”
Cadence laughed. “Exactly. And because of the hurt you felt losing your first mother, you’ll be able to help others who’ve lost their parents too. Like James and Etta.”
James winked. “Admit it, you like me, Penny.”
She scowled, though a twinkle sparkled in her eyes. “Perhaps a little.”
Smoothing Penelope’s tangled red curls, Cadence asked, “So the man who interrupted us that night in the alley was Joshua?”
She nodded and swiped at her runny nose. “Yes. We were out because I told him of a place where some of the street children looked for shelter. He wanted to take them food, but none of them were there that night. When he said it was time to return home, I got mad and tried to run away from him.” She hung her head. “That’s when you found me.”
Cadence rubbed her back. “All’s well that ends well.” She looked around their gloomy prison. But would it end well for them when it was all said and done? Her heart twisted. The thought of Joshua walking into a trap made her retch. She couldn’t, wouldn’t let it happen.
An idea niggled. “Say, what would you two think of trying to find a way out of here?”
James’s brows rose. “How? The door is chained and locked. The only window is far too high.”
“What if we tried to build a way up to that window? We might be able to pry it open and escape. I know you two could get through easily.”
James frowned. “We wouldn’t leave you here.”
“Let’s not get the cart before the horse. First we need to see if these shelves are nailed down. If they aren’t, we can push them across the room and hopefully be close enough to reach the window.”
Penelope bit her lip. “It’s worth a try.”
James agreed with a determined nod. “Let’s try.”
“We must make haste then. The men could come back at any time.”
James stalked to the closest shelves and began yanking the dusty jars from them with gusto. “We can do it. With the Almighty’s help, we can.”
Chapter 35
JOSHUA’S BREATH CAME IN SHORT PANTS. He forced it to even out as he stared down the dark street leading to Hoffman’s warehouse. Midnight was quickly approaching.
Not a soul stirred. No sound could be heard against the gritty pavement, but he knew they were there. He, Tate, and Zeke had made sure of it. It had taken all day, but he had rounded up as many as he could. Their presence made him feel safer than the gun in his pocket did. He looked up into the star-sprinkled night sky. All of it paled in comparison to God’s protective hand.
Be with us all through this night, Lord.
Miriam’s muttered words from early in the morning rolled through his brain like a pounding drum. “‘The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.’”
He expelled a cleansing breath. Fight for us, Lord. No bloodshed or violence if it can be avoided. More than anything, please keep Cadence and the children safe.
“James, you’ve almost got it!”
From atop the shelf they’d managed to push against the far wall, James wobbled on a rickety crate. He strained on his tiptoes and brushed his fingers against the window’s base. “I can feel the latch.”
“Does it have any give?”
Grunting, he tugged. “No. Locked.”
Penelope groaned. James carefully descended from the crate and crouched on the high shelf. He swiped at the dust sticking to his sweaty forehead. “Hand me a jar, please.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to bust the window open.”
Cadence shook her head. “No. It’s too risky. You’re just as likely to break the jar and slice your hand open. And what if they are outside? If they hear the break, they’ll come running.”
He huffed and scratched his curly hair. “We’re almost out of light. We ought to try something.”
“Maybe we should pray and ask what God wants us to do.” Penelope’s voice was soft.
Cadence turned to her with surprise. The child’s faith was growing. “I think that’s an excellent idea.”
James pursed his lips. “All right, but before I come down, I’m going to feel around this window some more.”
Climbing on top of the crate once again, he pushed to his tiptoes and felt around the length of the window. Cadence held her breath. If he were to fall from that height . . .
A rattle jerked their attention to the door. James’s sharp intake of air stole the breath from Cadence’s lungs.
“Get down. Now!”
He scrambled as the locks clanked.
“Hurry!”
He dropped to the floor in a puff of dust just as the door swung open wide. Five men entered, three of them well-dressed and clean. The other two looked as savage as mountain lions.
A blond fellow with pomaded hair and an immaculate suit narrowed his eyes. “Well, you three have been quite busy, I see. Trying to escape?”
Penelope hunkered behind Cadence’s skirt, but James attempted to push to the front, shielding both of them with his thin body.
Cadence lifted her chin. “Can you blame us? When our friends at the Capitol find out what you’ve done, you’ll be lucky not to find yourselves at the end of a hangman’s noose.”
The man’s lips quirked into a sneer. “Brody told me you had spirit. Perhaps it’s time to see if we can break that nasty streak.”
He nodded to one of the savage-looking men, who lurched forward and grabbed James by the arm. She rushed toward them, but another man with dark, curly hair and a mustache snaked his arm around her waist and pinned her against his chest. With a snarl, the first man picked up James and slammed him into the wall with a sickening crack.
“No! Stop!” she screamed, but the arms restraining her held fast. Penelope lurched forward, but a third man scooped her up, doing his best to wrestle her into submission despite her screams and kicks.
James groaned and slowly rose from the floor. The bully grabbed him by the throat and squeezed. Cadence tasted salt. “Please don’t hurt him. Please!”
The blond man smiled coldly. “We have an accord then.” He nodded to James’s tormentor, who promptly dropped him back to the ground. James coughed and sucked in deep drafts of air.
Cadence choked against her sobs. “Why are you doing this?”
“All of this is your husband’s fault, my dear.” The blond man smoothed his hair and fixed her with a hard glare. “He brought it on your heads when he began entertaining ideas. Ideas that the black man is equal to the white man. Ideas that he and his ilk should rob honest Southern men of their property to advance his own causes, like some kind of twisted Robin Hood.” The man’s eyes narrowed to slits. “He angered some powerful men, and now he’ll pay.”
The man holding Cadence tightened his grip and inhaled against her neck. She stiffened and squirmed against his hold. He chuckled, the sound of his voice near her ear causing shivers of revulsion to traverse her spine.
“If you knew who I was, you wouldn’t be so hasty to get away.”
She gritted her teeth and pulled her arm, but he held fast. “Oh? And just who kidnaps innocent women and children other than criminals?” she asked.
He growled. “The only criminal involved here would be your husband. No, I’m an actor. An actor of some renown. Someday I’ll be world-famous. Ever hear of John Wilkes Booth?”
“I have not.”
“More’s the pity. Someday everyone will know my name.”
“Not for something good, I’d wager.”
With a grunt, he yanked her toward the group of men as the children were pulled alongside.
“Where are we going?”
“To give your husband what he deserves.”
Joshua waited in the darkness. He had no intention of showing himself
until his family’s captors were visible. The distant sounds of Washington’s nightlife rose up around him . . . the faraway cry of a baby, the clatter of a passing wagon. Nothing strange, yet every scrape, every noise made the hair rise on the back of his neck.
Was that the sound of footfalls? He peered out from the alley. Shadows moved toward the front of the warehouse. Lanterns bobbed, casting eerie orbs of light along the street. His breath hitched. How many men were there?
“Come out, Ivy, if you’ve a spine.”
This was it. “Not until I see my family.” His voice alone would give them a fair clue to his whereabouts, but he didn’t care. He’d not move a muscle until he saw for himself that Cadence and the children were not harmed.
More scuffling sounds. Penelope appeared in the lantern light, her face pale, held by a thin man with a crooked nose. Next James appeared, his hands bound behind him. His lip looked to be split and he shuffled slowly, as if moving was painful. Joshua’s gut flamed. Where was Cadence?
After torturous seconds, another man tugged her forward, one arm snaked around her waist and the other holding a pistol to her temple. A cold rage unlike anything Joshua had ever known licked through him. He fought for control, nostrils flaring.
“Come out, come out wherever you are.” The kidnapper’s voice grated. “If you’re too cowardly, trust me, we have plans for your family.”
The men chuckled, and the one holding Cadence stroked her waist. She stiffened, and it was all Joshua needed. He lurched from the alley and stalked toward them with deadly intention. Penelope cried out, “Papa!”
He kept his gaze fixed on the leader of the twenty or so men who circled him. “I’m here. Let them go.”
Cadence called to him, her voice a tremor. “Don’t do it, Joshua! They’ll kill you!”
His gaze slid to hers and held fast. “I would die a thousand times over if it meant saving you and the children.”
Liquid silver escaped down her cheeks. He returned his glare to the leader. “You have what you want. I kept my end of the bargain. Release them.”
“I suppose I could, but what would stop them from running to the authorities?” The blond man shook his head and tsked. “No, perhaps we should let them see your demise first as an incentive to keep quiet.”
Penelope’s sobs rent the air. A muscle ticked in Joshua’s cheek. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Your recommendations don’t factor into the equation. You lost that privilege the minute you began stealing our slaves.”
“Buying slaves on the auction block and choosing to free them is not stealing them.”
A potbellied man stepped forward, his bald head gleaming in the lantern light. “Abolitionist trash! You didn’t buy a slave from me in Richmond! You stole her right out of my hands!” George Proctor, the slaveholder he’d taken the girl from after his card trick failed him.
Joshua curled his fists. “And what were you planning to do with that child? I heard you bragging to your friends, you know. You said you needed another young girl to warm your bed.”
Uncomfortable silence descended. Some of the men took a step away from the angry slaveholder. Joshua pressed his advantage. “That’s who stirred all of you up, gentlemen. A debased man with vile intentions. Yes, I’m an abolitionist, but God help me, I have worked through lawful measures whenever possible to set slaves free. What this man planned to do was more than I could bear. No man worth his salt should excuse such an abomination.”
The man holding Cadence sneered. “Yet you take in this boy as your own child? That is an abomination.”
Murmurs followed the declaration. Joshua was losing ground.
“I promise, you do not want to do this thing.”
The leader sneered. “Why not?”
Tate’s voice called out from the shadows. “Because he has an entire army on his side.”
The sound of close to a hundred guns clicking punctuated the air. The kidnappers’ eyes went wide before they drew their own weapons, though they turned in circles, unsure where to aim in the darkness. Slowly blue-clad Union soldiers stepped out from the shadows, guns trained on the small cluster of men surrounding Joshua. Some bore eye patches and others walked with the aid of canes, but their firing arms were steady.
“What is the meaning of this?”
From Joshua’s right, Steward Swindle spoke, his gaze sighting down his gun’s barrel. “It’s simple. We fought for the Union and paid dearly. Doc and his wife saved our lives. We don’t take too kindly to you threatening to kill ’em.”
One of the kidnappers cursed. “We’re surrounded by demon Yanks!”
The leader seethed, pinning one soldier with a sneer. “You think you’re a threat? You’re missing a leg!”
The soldier smiled. “My trigger finger’s just fine.”
The man paled and took a step back.
Tate kept his own pistol steady. “There are at least forty more in the shadows, gentlemen. I doubt any of us are hankering to visit the undertaker tonight, so why don’t we call it even?”
The leader glanced at his friends and gave a stiff nod. The men holding the children and Cadence released them. The three of them ran toward Joshua with a cry. He hugged the children, kissing their heads, before crushing Cadence in his arms.
He cradled her face and smoothed the traces of dirt from her soft skin. “Did they touch you? The baby? Are you—?”
She shook her head and kissed him between questions. “I’m fine. We’re fine. Thank the Lord, we’re all fine.”
Tate took a threatening step toward the group of Knights. “Come near them again and we’ll shoot first and ask questions later. Remember, we’ve seen your faces, and I, for one, never forget a face.”
The leader fixed him with a glare. “You haven’t heard the last of the Knights of the Golden Circle.”
“For your sake, I better have.”
The soldiers moved in as the Knights scattered like rats back into the darkness. When they’d left, the soldiers relaxed and offered handshakes, but Joshua’s eyes were for only one woman.
He claimed Cadence’s lips before releasing a breath. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. You were right. My priorities have been wrong. If I had been there the night of the benefit, none of this would have happened. Can you ever forgive me?”
She cupped the rough, unshaven lines of his jaw. His pulse skidded at her touch.
“I forgive you. Forgive me for making you feel like you had to choose. From now on we work together.”
“Together.” His voice dropped low as he nuzzled her neck. “I like the sound of that.”
“Papa Gish!”
Penelope was jumping up and down in her excitement. Laughing, he scooped her up. She squeezed him tight.
“I prayed and prayed for God to keep you safe and he did! And James almost escaped through a window, but those mean men tried to hurt him. But then Mama Cadence told them off good and I’m not mad about the baby anymore because I know God is going to keep Cadence safe, and say . . . did you know she is the same lady who sang to me in the alley that night?”
Joshua struggled to keep up and looked to Cadence. She shrugged helplessly. “It’s all true.”
He shook his head. “Perhaps when we’ve had a good night’s sleep I’ll be able to understand all of that.” He knelt and hugged James before studying him with a critical eye. “Are you okay, Son?”
James smiled, even with his split lip. “Yes, sir. Much better now that I know you’re okay.”
Joshua’s eyes burned. “Did they hurt you?”
“They tried, but God was with me.”
Joshua swallowed, squeezing James’s shoulder with a gentle touch. “I’m so proud of you.”
James hugged him tight. “You know, I’ve been thinking. Sometimes I think you’re busy doing what you do because you were an orphan and all. Trying to rescue children and whatnot.”
Joshua rubbed his chin. “Yes, I suppose that’s true.”
“But sometimes I won
der if maybe you keep so busy because you’re scared of our family.”
Joshua stole a glance at Cadence. She nodded toward James in assurance. He looked back at James, trying to understand. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “It’s just that for so long you didn’t have a family. You were constantly moving and running, looking for food, looking for shelter, looking for a family. When Papa John took you in, you were older. I wonder if maybe the idea of having a real family scares you.”
The words pierced like an arrow. James placed a hand on Joshua’s shoulder. “You chose to be a father to Penelope and Etta and me and a husband to Cadence. We talked about it and we think it’s just as important for you to know that even though you chose us, we chose you too.”
Joshua’s throat convulsed. He nodded and tugged James into another hug. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Papa Gish.”
He kissed Penelope, then stood and wiped his eyes as Cadence reclaimed his arms. Her smile lit up the night. “You’re stuck with us, Doc.”
He chuckled and tasted her lips. “I knew you were trouble the moment you walked into the hospital.”
“You did?”
“Of course. That’s why I worked so hard to push you away, but it was a futile effort. My heart had already chosen you.”
Epilogue
JUNE 1863
WASHINGTON, DC
“She’s so tiny.”
Cadence smiled as James watched her new daughter curl her small finger around his.
Miriam chuckled. “Eight and a half pounds going on nine ain’t tiny.”