“I’m ready to go home,” he said softly. “Are you?”
She breathed deeply and he felt her cheek tighten in a smile. “I just need to pack a few things and I’ll be ready. Let’s go, Danny. You and I, we’re not meant to be city folk.”
“I think you’re right. We’ll go in the morning. Nothing to keep us here.”
FORTY-FIVE
Danny slept lightly, his mind caught up in so many circles. He awoke finally at five a.m. to the sound of the front door slamming shut.
“Everybody up!” he heard. “It’s a day to celebrate!”
From the sound of it, Mick had been out all night. Danny hopped out of their room, not bothering to attach his peg. His head pounded. He scrubbed his fingers through his hair and glared at Mick.
“What’s this all about?”
Mick stared at Danny. “Whoa. Can’t say that’s much of an improvement to your face, pal. Horse kick you or what?”
Danny grunted and cocked an eyebrow, but it hurt to do it, so he let it drop. “It’s nothing. What are you going on about? Better be important. You’ve woken Audrey, and she needs her sleep.”
Mick shrugged, then swept off his hat and plopped it on Danny’s head. His coal black hair was pasted down against his skull, which told Danny the hat had been in place all night long. “Oh, it’s important, Danny, my boy. Bring that pretty lady out here, if you please.”
Danny turned toward their room, but Audrey was at the door already, wrapped in Danny’s dressing gown. He loved when she wore that. She looked tiny, almost drowned in the long sleeves.
“Good morning, Mick,” she said, her voice a little groggy. “Have you been out all night?”
“I have, I have,” he said, grinning broadly. “Take a seat, would you? Do we have something to drink? Tea?”
“We were sleeping,” Danny growled.
“No? Oh, well. Maybe I’ll just—”
“I’ll get it,” Audrey said, turning toward the stove.
“No, no, no. Come here first,” he said, indicating two chairs by the table.
They sat close together, always touching. Danny leaned forward, frowning, his elbows on the table. Audrey leaned toward Danny, her fingers on his neck, his back, his bruised and swollen face, flitting everywhere. When they were comfortable, Mick opened the black leather bag he always carried and pulled out a folded newspaper, which he laid flat on the table in front of them. He smacked the front page with the back of his hand.
“Right. Well. What is it my grandfather used to say? If you lie down with dogs, you’re liable to wake up with fleas. Well, I can tell you right now, this dog has had his day.”
HALIFAX BUSINESSMAN PIERRE ANTOINE: FRAUD.
THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF DONATED SUPPLIES SKIMMED AND SOLD FOR PROFIT. AT LEAST SIX LOCAL BUSINESSMEN TO BE INDICTED ALONG WITH ANTOINE.
“Mick,” Danny said, his voice low, his mouth curved up at the edges. “You’ve done it.”
Audrey was staring at the newspaper, eyes wide.
“Nice guy, huh?” The words escaped before Danny could stop them. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes followed the lines of type, skipping from line to line.
“He did all this?”
“He did indeed,” Mick said. “And more. Sorry, Audrey.”
Danny stared with awe at the article. “How’d you figure it all out?”
Mick chuckled. “Oldest trick in the book. Follow the money.” He opened both hands, palms up and lifted one, then the other, as if they were part of a scale. “Money comes from somewhere, and it goes somewhere. It kept going to Antoine. Actually, Danny, you got me going on it.”
He explained how Danny’s comment a while back about missing donations to the orphanage had raised Mick’s interest. He found out that Pierre Antoine’s business had garnered practically every government contract for rebuilding the city, including managing the incoming supplies off the docks. Mick had gone down and spent time at the docks, watching food come in, counting boxes, watching distribution.
From what he’d seen, Antoine hadn’t been satisfied with government money alone. The businessman paid off everyone he could think of at the docks, but the simple employees whose job it was to unload and load crates were overlooked. Those fellows had been more than happy to accept Mick’s offer of cash for information. Everything they told him pointed to Antoine skimming off the incoming donations. After that, all Mick had to do was watch the ball roll. In time he discovered that the items Antoine’s hired men stole were being sold to buyers on the other side of the border.
Mick had burrowed deep into an investigation of Antoine’s side projects, and there were a lot of those: construction bribes, bootlegging, fraud, and more. Pierre Antoine was not the great, community-minded man others had thought he was. Using friends and contacts, he had won contract after contract to distribute goods donated by the government to aid the victims of the explosion. One shipment here, one shipment there, and no one seemed to notice. No one but Mick. But Antoine was devious, and his deeds seemed practically impossible to reveal. It was frustrating, because Mick knew they were there. Just couldn’t quite reach them.
Audrey’s unexpected connection had been a gift from heaven.
“What will happen to him?” Audrey asked.
“Well, he cooled his heels in a cell last night, so we’ll see how he feels about that. He’ll be indicted this morning, locked up again, and to be honest, I hope they throw away the key. He took food off a lot of people’s plates.”
Audrey was quiet, and Danny drew in beside her. “I feel stupid,” she admitted.
“Everyone makes mistakes, Audrey,” he said quietly. “You needed someone to believe in, and I wasn’t there.”
She sat back, looking deflated. One hand rested on her stomach. “What have I done?”
He laid his hand over hers, though it took effort. “You’ve given us a head start on being a family. That’s all.”
“Bet this changes the story on the rest of your family plans,” Mick said, grinning.
Danny stared at him for a moment. “You think . . .”
“Can’t hurt to check.” He gave Danny his one-eyed wink. “But you might want to wait a few hours. Sun’s not even up yet.”
Mrs. Munroe’s cheeks flared red when Danny and Audrey approached her desk about five hours later. Danny tipped his hat and flashed her his widest smile. One of his front teeth ached from the beating, and he hoped he wouldn’t lose it. She stared, open-mouthed at the variety of bruises and cuts covering his face.
“Good morning again, Mrs. Munroe. I hope you had a pleasant evening.”
“Em . . .” She was flustered, trying to peel her eyes from his damaged face and pull her paperwork together in front of her at the same time. Her discomfort made Danny feel strangely satisfied. “Mr. and Mrs. Baker. Good morning to you both. I’m . . . I’m glad you’ve come back this morning. It seems, well, I’m in a bit of an embarrassing position. I hope you understand.”
“Oh, really?” he said, feigning innocence.
“Seems I spoke in haste the last time we met. Your papers have been reviewed.” Her sudden smile was painfully bright. “And I’m very pleased to inform you that you have been approved to adopt all three boys.”
Danny and Audrey grinned at each other, then turned back to the woman.
“Fancy that,” Danny said.
Papers in hand, the couple stepped into the street. A mist hung over the city, but the sun was trying hard, burning the fog in places. The air seemed clearer by the big black door to the orphanage, as if someone had swept the gloom away.
“After you, my dear,” Danny said, holding the door open for her.
The boys sat side by side at the big table, munching on crackers and cheese. Danny took a seat across from them, and Audrey sat by Harry.
Danny gave them a serious look and start
ed right in without even saying hello. There didn’t seem any need for formalities with these two.
“Do you fellas like fish for supper?” he asked.
The boys nodded, disregarding the crumbs that dropped from their mouths. Their matching eyes stared at him. “What happened to your face?” Eugene asked.
“Aw, it was nothin’,” Danny assured him. “Pretty, huh?”
The boys shook their heads. Danny shrugged. “Do you like fishing?”
They looked at each other, and Harry blurted out, “Never fished before,” shooting bits of cracker flying across the table.
“Don’t speak with your mouth full,” Audrey said, and Harry obediently snapped his mouth shut.
Danny scratched his head, appearing to consider something of the utmost importance. When he spoke again, his words were deliberate. “Do you think you’d like to try fishing? A couple of strong boys like you would be a big help up at my house.”
The nodding started again and both pairs of eyes widened further. Eugene swallowed hard. “Can we come live with you, Danny?”
He leaned toward them, still frowning. “Would you like that? Would you like me and Audrey to be your new mother and father?”
“Can you?” Harry squeaked.
Audrey beamed. “We would like that very much. It would be a big change for you—”
“And Norman too?” Eugene glanced at the little boy, slumped comatose against the wall, snorting with baby dreams.
“Of course Norman too. Couldn’t very well go without him, could we?”
“Can we go on a boat?”
“I might even let you steer.”
“Can we go right now?”
“You’ll have to be a little patient, Harry. Audrey and I are going to go to Jeddore to build us a nice big house on the ocean. You fellas would like that, right? And we’d live right by your new grandparents. Can you wait that long?”
Both boys shook their heads, and their eyes simultaneously filled with tears. Danny and Audrey exchanged a glance, silently debating what to do. Then Danny shrugged.
“Well, we’d be pretty busy building that new house. Do you think you’d be good helpers?”
“I can hammer,” Eugene said, then glanced doubtfully at the sleeping Norman. “He can’t do much, but we’d take care of him and keep him out of your way.”
“I can carry stuff,” Harry said quietly.
Audrey smiled then hugged the little boy. Danny was speechless, watching the sweet round face squeeze against her. This was everything he had wished for and more.
“Yeah,” he said. “You know what? Let’s go home today.”
The boys stared without speaking, hardly daring to believe, then they jumped to their feet and ran in circles, chanting, “We’re going fishing! We’re going fishing!”
But there was something Danny had to do first. He drew Audrey close against him and she smiled. “What?” she asked, blinking up at him with that beautiful, open expression of trust he lived for.
“I gotta go do something, okay? Take care of something.”
“All right,” she said. “Where are we going?”
He kissed her forehead, then stood. “Alone, Audrey. I gotta go alone. You stay with the boys and see if we have to do anything with papers or whatever. I’ll be back soon.”
He liked the shadow of worry that flitted over her face. It meant she cared. “Where are you going? Why can’t I come?”
“Just gotta visit an old friend is all. Don’t you worry.”
She walked toward the door with him, her expression full of concern. “You’re not going to—”
“Don’t ask, Audrey. You don’t want to know.”
“Oh, you fool!” she cried. “Leave it alone. He nearly had you killed the last time.”
They stopped by the door, and Danny held her face between his hands so she couldn’t look away. He felt her instinctively pull back, but he held her close. “Listen, Audrey. This is something you have to understand. I am a man. I have a man’s pride. And in order to keep that pride, I have to believe I am still strong. That I am not a coward. This man took everything from me, then you went behind my back and tried to make it all right. Well, it’s not all right. It will never be all right. But at least if I finish it my way, I will be able to move forward. Do you understand?”
She shook her head, eyes filled with tears. “No, I don’t.”
“Do you want to be married to me?”
“Of course, Danny! But look at you! Your poor face—”
“It’ll heal. But you gotta let me do this. Even if you don’t understand why, you have to understand that it’s important to me. You don’t need to worry. I’ll be safe. I’ll be careful, and I will come back here for you. But you have to let me do this.” He hesitated. “If you don’t, we’re done. Because I won’t be me anymore.”
She stared at him, hardly breathing. A single tear trickled down the side of her nose and clung to the side of his hand. She nodded.
“I’ll be back in an hour. Maybe you could see what needs doing here so we can cast off later today.”
“Okay,” she said, then closed her eyes when he kissed her.
“I love you, Audrey. Always have, always will.”
“I love you too,” she whispered into his ear. “Come back soon.”
FORTY-SIX
No one at the desk said much when Danny arrived at the jailhouse. He signed in and an officer accompanied him down a long cement hallway. His peg was loud; its familiar clop clop clop echoed off the walls. But for the first time, Danny wasn’t ashamed of the sound. For the first time he realized the chunk of wood at the bottom of his leg wasn’t anything to hide. Sure, it was ugly and uncomfortable. Sure, he would have done just about anything to get his original leg back. But what he had, well, it was like a medal of honour. He had gone over there and given all he had, and they’d given him this kind of a life in return.
Pierre Antoine? Well, he had a beautiful house and a lot of money. And now he was ruined. He had a criminal record and a reputation that would stay with him for as long as Danny’s peg leg stayed with him. There were consequences to everything a man did, and for the first time Danny was satisfied with his.
Antoine sat alone in the back of a cell, elbows on his knees, face to the floor. He looked up when he heard Danny’s steps, his expression dark with loathing. His face didn’t look much better than Danny’s did, blooming into layered bruises of black and purple, which Danny’d put there before the goons had grabbed him. That made Danny smile. The man bruised just like any other mortal. Antoine shook his head slowly, scowling up at Danny through thick black brows. Danny stopped at the bars and stuck his hands in his pockets. He gave the Frenchman the smile of a saint.
“I gotta say, you don’t look too comfortable in there, Mr. Antoine.”
Pierre’s eyes narrowed. His voice was a growl. “What are you doing here?”
“Just came to visit. Like I did last time, before we were so rudely interrupted.” Danny touched his cheek gingerly. “By the way, that bald man of yours has a mean uppercut. You can tell him that from me.” He shrugged. “I know some guys with better ones, though.”
“I’m sure you do. Should be you in here, you son of a bitch. You probably know most of the scum in this place personally.”
Danny leaned back and perused the cells in his view. He nodded at a couple of the familiar men behind bars.
“Actually, I do,” he said, grinning back at Pierre. “And if you’d like a little advice, well, you might wanna treat them a little nicer than you treated me. They aren’t as well-mannered as I am.” He winked. “And not so patient with sucker punches.”
Antoine sneered. “So what? Who the hell asked for your advice? You think I care why you’re here? What is it you want? You come here to gloat?”
Danny looked thoughtfully at the cei
ling, then rocked a bit between his foot and his peg. “Uh, yeah. I guess I did. See, because I got the girl. She chose me, despite everything you’ve got. You can’t ever have her again. And I got the kids and the home and the life I always wanted. And you, well, you got this.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Wow. I wish I could say I felt bad for you, Mr. Antoine, but I sure don’t.”
“Yeah? Well, that’s just fine. You’ve said what you wanted to say.”
“Oh, I’m sure there’s more.”
Pierre spat to the side. “Get outta here, Baker. Run along now, fisherman. Oh, that’s right. You can’t run like other men can. The thing is, you’ll never run, you pathetic, crippled boy. You’re a sorry excuse for a man is what you are. So you can say all you want, but you’ll never, never be the man I am.”
Danny tightened his jaw and met the man’s eyes with his own fury. “And I thank God every day that I won’t. You are a stupid little man, Antoine. And very, very small. I hope you never get out of here. But if you do, I’ve got a message for you.”
“Yeah?”
He lowered his voice to the dangerous tone he kept hidden behind the wall in his heart. The dark voice rumbling in the trenches, cold, forbidding, and lethal. “Stay away from me and my family. And stay away from the orphanage.”
“Or what? You gonna kill me?” Antoine’s eyes were jet black in the swollen lids. “Listen up, Baker. Listen good. When I get outta here, I’m gonna mess you up something bad. And then I’m gonna mess up Audrey. I’m gonna come after your entire bloody family. I’ll make your lives hell. You’re gonna regret you ever met me.”
Danny grabbed the bars of the cell and pressed his face against the cold metal. The contact thrilled through the cuts and bruises, feeding Danny’s energy. He grinned at Antoine, who had risen to the bait and now stood only a few inches away. He could smell the ripe stink of the man’s breath and fought the urge to spit at him.
Tides of Honour Page 34