Her dress, stocking remnants, and boots lay at her feet. Emmie didn’t feel like cleaning them right now, so she pushed them in a pile against the wall. She sat up and undid what was left of her braid. It felt good to be free from the pins. Now, if she could just manage a bath. What she wouldn’t give for a proper one at Ava’s house. She closed her eyes and imagined it, the claw-foot tub, hot fresh water, and those big fluffy towels. She was thrown out of her imaginary bath by the shrill ring of her phone. It was awful late for it to be ringing.
Oh no. Walter. It had to be Walter—she was supposed to call him. She jumped off the bed to beat Silas to the phone. Her bare feet padded down the steps. The cut on her thigh stung with each flex of her muscle. It didn’t appear that any of the three had made a move to the phone. How could they just go right back to whatever they were planning at that table? Like nothing had passed.
When Silas saw her coming his eyes narrowed and he frowned. He stood and reached a long arm out to pick up the phone.
“No. I’ll get it.” She hopped down the last couple of stairs.
He ignored her and answered anyway.
“Hello,” he said with a deep voice.
She walked right up next to him and put her hand on her hip, tapping her bare foot in an angry rhythm. “My house, not yours,” she mouthed.
“Oh, hey. Hold on just a second. She’s right here, okay.” His voice was hurried.
He passed her the phone and sat down, picking the conversation right back up, making notes on a sheet of notebook paper. That was unexpected. It clearly wasn’t Walter. Emmie turned her back to the boys and answered.
“Emmie… So, Silas is staying with you. All alone. Ooh la la.” Ava sang into the phone.
“Hello, Ava.” She tried to be polite.
“God. I have missed you up here. I’d expected you to call me by now,” Ava said. “I’ve tried to call you a few times but you’re never home. So I thought to myself, just call her in the middle of the night.”
Emmie felt a little guilty. Truthfully, she hadn’t even realized it had been a while since she’d talked to Ava. She probably would have felt worse if she wasn’t in the middle of her own drama.
“I’m sorry, Ava. I’ve just had a lot to take care of here.”
Silas snorted, “That’s an understatement.” But he never looked up from his paper. So, he was listening to every word she said.
Ava ignored her reply and went straight to the meat of the conversation. “Emmie, I need you up here. You have to help me plan this wedding. I am feeling so overwhelmed. It’s your job as maid of honor you know.”
“You’ll be back for Christmas, right? We can plan then,” she said, trying to appease her friend. She really didn’t give a rat’s behind about dresses or flowers right now.
“Well, that’s the good news I’ve been trying to tell you. We’ve moved the wedding up. We’re going to go ahead and get married at Christmas. It will be lovely don’t you think? That’s why I need you. I talked to mom and pop, we will buy your ticket, you can just come on up here now. We’ll have Thanksgiving together, plan the wedding, go shopping, and I’ll get married,” she crooned into the phone.
Emmie snapped her head around and looked at Gabe. He was staring at her with wide eyes. He knew what she’d just heard; he gave her an unsure smile and a shrug. “Christmas? Why in the world would you do that?”
“You know I love Christmas. It will be lovely, really. I think we can have red flowers, and everything else white. If we’re lucky it will snow and everything will be the perfect canvas of red and white.”
“Ava, you hate the cold. You love the sun and summer. Just think this over,” Emmie said.
“There is nothing to think over. It’s done okay, and I need you here. You are my best friend. You are my sister. I need you. I cannot plan all this without you,” Ava pleaded.
“I can’t,” Emmie said. She did not have time for Ava’s games. “I can’t do this right now. Maybe I can come by Thanksgiving but I’m going to have to be sure things are fine here.”
“What do you mean you won’t come up? Emmie please. I need your help. You’ll keep me sane. It’s crazy all the work there is to be done.”
Emmie couldn’t believe her. It was a wedding that shouldn’t be happening right now. Ava was the most impatient person she’d ever met. And selfish. She just expected Emmie to drop her life and run up there to help her plan a wedding. She had no idea what was going on and probably didn’t care. Emmie sighed into the phone.
“Look Ava. I really can’t do this right now. I’ll give you a call next week. Good luck with your planning.”
Ava said nothing on the phone for a moment. Emmie knew she was surprised. She rarely ever turned her friend away but thinking of a wedding at this moment was a ridiculous notion. When she saw Ava and could explain, it would be different.
“Gabe is here, why don’t you talk to him,” Emmie said.
“Fine,” Ava answered with a bite.
Gabe stood and walked to the phone. He kept his voice so muffled Emmie couldn’t make out what he was saying, but it sounded soft and reassuring. She felt guilty that she’d upset Ava, however, she was at her limit with petty drama today. She walked to the back porch and grabbed her large washtub. It was ice. She really should have brought it inside already. She cared it to the fireplace to warm it up before she filled it with water.
She went to the sink, filled a kettle and a couple of pans with water and set them to heat on the stove. She wanted a scalding bath. Silas looked up and watched her move around the kitchen and carry things into the den. At first he had no idea what she was doing or why she was moving around them half naked, like it didn’t bother her a bit. He shrugged out of his coat, stood, and dropped it on her shoulders.
The motion took them both back to their first meeting at the pool. It had been a similar action that had united them all those months ago. But this time, she did what she hadn’t had the courage to do then. She brushed it onto the floor, rejecting his offer with her shoulders high and chin out. She carried the hot water in trips from the kitchen to the den. It was heavy on her tired arms. Silas picked his coat off the floor and tossed it to the chair.
Trick looked over at his brother while Emmie was in the den. “She shouldn’t have gone behind your back today.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Silas asked.
“But you said things you shouldn’t have.”
“I’m tired of seeing her bend over backwards for those people. Put herself in danger for those people. And I am not talking to you about this.” He ignored his brother.
“If you were done with her and this fight we’d be gone. There are too many other places we could be… but here we are hulled up in this tiny house.” Trick grinned. He knew his brother better than anyone.
Silas dropped his pencil. “She doesn’t want to talk to me.”
“You sure about that?” Trick asked with an arched brow. “Cause she’s parading in and out of this room in her slip. She seems to be fixing a bath and is apparently going to be naked in a few minutes in that room.” Trick wadded a piece of paper and tossed it into the den. “And I can see a lot further than I can throw. Now you think she’s after Gabe’s and my attention or yours?”
Chapter Thirty-three
He was an idiot not to see it but Trick was right. She was parading for his attention. On her next trip to the kitchen, Silas stood and grabbed the kettle with one hand, grabbed her elbow with the other and led her back to the den.
“So you’re taking a bath?” he asked.
“Yeah, unless you think there is something else I can do with all this hot water and wash tub,” she spat at him.
He grinned and she fought the impulse to smile back at him. She was mad. She didn’t want to see his charm.
“You gonna just get naked with me and my brothers right here?” he asked.
She stood and reached her hand behind the tall chest and pulled out a fabric sheet that was attached to w
ire that hung from the ceiling. The chest had concealed it perfectly. Blue floral now separated the den from kitchen.
She stared at him with a hand on her hip and put her arm out to showcase the curtain.
“Oh,” Silas said. “Well, that’s handy.”
“My mom did this for me when I started getting old enough to need some privacy in the tub,” she said. “My mom.” She shouted. “I had a family. Different than yours but I had one. She loved me. I knew love. I know love. Part of love is doing things for people, Silas. She made me this curtain out of love. And she may have made a mistake with his father but she was a good mom to me.”
Emmie hated the tears falling down her cheeks. She angrily brushed them away with the back of her hand.
He stood and wrapped his arms around her. “It didn’t come out how I meant it to.”
“Yeah, well how did you mean it to sound when you said I was looking for love because I never had a real family?” she asked, her voice full of venom.
“I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just get tired of watching you work so hard for these other people that may or may not be using you. I mean look at your best friend Ava. When is the last time she just did something for you? My guess on the phone tonight, she was asking you for something?” he asked.
Her silence told him he was right.
“Max is not Ava. Walter and Mae are not Ava. I want to help them. I make my own choices, Silas. But of course the people I love will be a factor in them, whether they are blood family or not. You have to understand that.”
He put his hand on her cheek and brushed away the tear that fell as she was talking. “I know that. I just wish I could be one of those people.” He gave a laugh with no humor.
“What?” She was confused.
“Did you think how I would feel with you running off with Bo everyday to make your little apple pie? Was I a factor in your decision?”
Her mouth dangled open in an “O” a moment or two. She wasn’t sure how to answer that question.
“Of course, I thought of you,” she whispered.
“Did you think I was going to be happy with this?”
“No. But I thought you’d understand once I told you about Max.”
“I’ll never understand you doing this just for money for him when I have the means to give you whatever you want. And even if I did, I still wouldn’t let you do this, not right now. It’s bad timing.”
“Why?” she asked curiously. “Is it because you’ve got some misguided idea I’ve got eyes for Bo?”
He laughed and pulled her toward the water. “No. I’d like to shoot him and still may find good reason to do it, but it’s not even about Bo. Your water’s getting cold.” She knew him well enough to know that he was shutting her out of the conversation.
She felt her body warm as he brushed his fingertips down her neck and she started to melt. Her brain fought with her emotions. He was distracting her. There was something he didn’t want her to know—why he said he couldn’t help her right now. Emmie thought of the newspapers she’d seen spread on the table. It was about revenuers.
He leaned in and kissed her neck, leaving wet trails to her shoulder. Her body melted but her brain screamed again, trying to force the words out her mouth. She reached her hands up and put them on his chest. “Wait. Why not right now? Why is now not a good time?” she asked.
He groaned as he pulled away. “You and your questions.”
That was when she knew she’d asked a good one. “What is all that about?” She pointed to the kitchen. “Is it connected to why you don’t want me making apple pie?”
“No. We are not having this conversation. I am keeping you out of that world.” He grinned and pointed to the kitchen mocking her earlier motion.
He picked her up and plopped her down in the tub.
“Silas McDowell.” She laughed. “You got my underclothes all wet.”
“It’s just like the day I met you,” his laughed turning to head back towards the kitchen. “I’ll give you some privacy.”
She did her best to keep her body as far down in the tub as possible. Partly to keep warm, partly out of fear someone could see through the fabric that closed off her room. Finally she plunged her head under the water, washing her hair as quickly as possible. It was absolutely frigid when she stepped out of the water. Despite being so close to the fire she was chilled to the bone with her hair wet. Her teeth chattered instinctively. She pulled on her nightgown and wrapped a shawl around her shoulders before pulling back the curtain that separated the rooms. She was surprised to find that Silas was standing there waiting.
“You’re freezing.” Silas said.
“No relaxing baths in the winter.”
Silas was in awe of little reminders that showed how different they were. This was the first time he’d ever stayed in a house that didn’t have a bathroom. He realized for the first time he didn’t completely understand where she came from or the choices she made.
“That’s not doing much to keep you modest,” he said, pointing to the nightgown and crocheted shawl.
His eyes darkened and he ran his fingers through her wet hair. He leaned in and kissed her. She shivered. Silas went to the chest and pulled out one of the old quilts she’d let Trick use last night and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Please don’t close me out of your life. What’s got you all in a stew?” she asked.
“You know that I cannot tell you that.” He said.
“Help me understand what’s going on. Maybe I can help.”
“No. I don’t want your help with this. It’s dangerous. Why can’t you be like Ava, happily oblivious.”
Emmie frowned. “You want me to be like Ava?”
“God, no,” he said with a laugh.
Trick walked into the doorway. “Silas, it’s not exactly a secret. It’s been in the papers.”
“Ugh.” Silas groaned. “Alright. But no questions, I’ll tell you the basics.”
Chapter Thirty-four
Emmie sat at the kitchen table with one leg curled under her body while she read the article from the paper. She looked up and thought for a moment, chewing her bottom lip. As she leaned over the table to grab the second newspaper the quilt slipped from her shoulders, landing in a puddle at her waist. Emmie flattened the paper in front of her, reached over to Silas’s chair and pulled his suit coat off it.
“Do you mind?” she asked.
He grinned and shook his head. She shrugged into it. The sleeves came a good six inches past her fingertips. She pushed them back to her elbows and dove headfirst into the newspapers again. Silas loved watching her when she was thinking. She was a smart girl, a real problem solver. If she’d been a guy, she was someone he would have wanted on his crew. He shook his head as soon as that thought entered his mind. He could not think about her like that. Sharing these newspapers were about him gaining her trust. Not taking her help.
She read the second article and then flipped back to the first. He wanted to start telling her about the similarities in the cases but he held back. It was better to not unload any more information on her than she could figure out herself. She reached for his file but he grabbed her hand to stop her. He had notes there that weren’t for her eyes. Names of distributors, income, and officials that were bought off; that was more than she needed to see. Hell, as soon as they worked this out he would be burning the file.
She gave him a playful frown.
“Nope. Not that one,” he said with no apologies.
“So, revenuers have been busting up stills? That sure is a lot of waste. That amount of mash could produce a lot of shine.” She chewed her lower lip again. “Lots of money.”
“Yep,” Silas said.
“They seem to be really proud of themselves in these pictures.” She pointed to the smiles on their faces while they busted the barrels.
“Yes,” he agreed.
“There would have been more than enough money in those stills to
send Max to the hospital,” she said without looking up at Silas. “That’s a shame. That money could do a lot of good for kids.”
Trick snorted a laugh. She looked up to see Silas was just as amused. “What? It’s true.”
“It’s just that I’m pretty sure you’re the only person that looks at this picture of a bunch of moonshine and thinks of all the children that could be helped with the lost profits.”
“Well, it’s true isn’t it? If they’d just make that stuff legal again they could use the money for some good,” she argued, thumping the paper.
“If they made it legal again there probably wouldn’t be as much money to be made from moonshining. It would go back to the businesses.” He couldn’t believe he was having this conversation with her.
A quiet moment passed between them again and Emmie looked back down at the location of the stills. “So both of these were a good piece from here, nearer Louisville than here. Why are you worried about me being here with the Johnsons?”
He didn’t want to scare her and tell her he already had knowledge that the Johnsons had been discussed by the tall skinny revenuer grinning in the front of both of these photographs. Or that these particular revenuers were not just busting up shines on moral value, they were weeding out the competition. She didn’t need to know that there was a connection to these two suppliers and the speaks that Silas was in charge of. He didn’t want her to know there had already been two of his men killed trying to protect their liquor.
Silas watched as Emmie cocked her head to the side and ran a hand along one photograph and then the other. She leaned across the table for a closer look.
Rise and Shine (Shine On Series, Book 2) Page 17