by Bobbi Smith
Sitting under the light of the single lamp in her living room, Rose was diligently working on her mending when she was startled by a knock at the door. Fearful of who it might be, she peeked cautiously out a window. Seeing Delight, she rushed to open the door to her friend.
“Delight! Oh, thank God you’re back! I’ve been so worried!”
Embracing her with loving affection, Rose pulled her into the warmth of the small room, closing and locking the door behind them.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Rose,” Delight reassured her as she took off her coat and went to stand before the stove.
“Good. You look half-frozen, though. Make yourself comfortable while I get you some hot tea.” Rose quickly poured the warming brew and brought it to her. Sitting down with Delight on the sofa, she asked, “Where did you go? I looked everywhere for you.”
“You went looking for me?”
“I felt so guilty just letting you leave like that…I wanted to do something more to help you.”
“But you did help me,” Delight insisted, relaxing as the steaming tea warmed her. “If it hadn’t been for you, Martin surely would have caught up with me that first night.”
“Thank God he didn’t.” Rose spoke solemnly, fear evident in her voice.
“He did come here, then?”
“Yes, he came and he was so furious.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“No…” Rose paused, remembering his bruising grip and his hate-filled words. “No, he didn’t hurt me. But he would have hurt you if he’d found you that night.”
“I don’t doubt it. Have you heard anything since? How’s my mother?”
“Your mother is much better.”
“Good. But what about Martin?” Delight was ready for what ever news there was. “I need to know what’s going on at home.”
“Martin must have panicked when he couldn’t find you, because he had to explain your disappearance to everybody.”
“What did he say?” Fear struck at her again.
“Don’t get upset,” Rose calmed her. “For once the man did a good job. His lie was very logical, really. He told your mother and anyone else who asked that you had gone to help your aunt. He said that your uncle had been injured and that your aunt wanted to go to him, so you went to stay with the children.”
Delight nodded. “It certainly is believable. I have helped them on more than one occasion. Maybe his lie will work to my benefit.”
“I hope so. But where were you all this time?”
“I’ve been doing odd jobs on the riverfront.” She shrugged and changed the topic. “My mother really is better?”
“Much,” Rose confirmed again, knowing how anxious Delight must have been, worrying about her mother’s health and not being in a position to find out anything.
“Good. That means Martin wouldn’t dare come near me” Delight pondered what action to take.
“You’re not considering going home, are you?”
“I have to go back, Rose. If not today, then next week or next month. There’s nothing else I can do. The longer I stay away, the harder it will be for me to explain my absence. Martin’s story will only hold up until Mother hears from Uncle Joe or Aunt Faith.”
“That’s true enough, but do you really want to?”
“No.” Her answer came flatly, with little emotion. “I hate the thought of living in the same house with Martin again.”
“I can imagine; that’s why I left. But you don’t have to accept that behavior from him.”
“I know.” Delight’s expression hardened. “He caught me off guard. I was naive. But I’m not anymore.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“I know it’s going to be hard, but I’m going to face him down.”
“How?”
“I’m going to tell him that if he ever comes near me again, I’m going to my mother and let her know just exactly why I left so abruptly.”
“Why don’t you tell her now?”
Delight was thoughtful. “She loves Martin, Rose. She really does. And with her just recovering from such a serious illness, I’d worry about the effect of such news on her.”
“So you’re going to give him another chance?”
“I have to, for Mother’s sake. But I won’t hesitate to tell her if he ever tries anything again.”
“But he might hurt you.”
“I doubt it. Not now that Mother’s better. Martin may not be one to forgive and forget, but he’s certainly not stupid.” Delight looked Rose straight in the eye. “And neither am I.”
Rose shivered at the intensity of feeling Delight exuded. “You’ve grown up.”
“Before I wanted to, that’s for sure. It was nice being safe and cosseted. But I doubt that my life will ever be that ‘nice’ again.”
“Surely you’ll be happy,” Rose hurried to cheer her. “Why, you’ll meet a nice young man and get married…”
A pain grew within Delight’s breast at Rose’s predictions. No, she could never marry, not after what she’d shared with Jim…not after last night.
“Well, that remains to be seen,” she returned, her voice cold and clipped.
“Do you want to go home tonight?”
“No. Tomorrow will be soon enough. We’ve some shopping to do before I can go anywhere.” Delight grinned as she thought of going home in her boy’s pants.
“You’ll need some kind of a hairpiece, too.”
“I hadn’t even thought about my hair.” She ran her hand through her short curls.
“It’s going to need something, unless you want to try to start a new rage?”
“I don’t think so.”
“How are you planning to handle Martin tomorrow?”
“First, I want you to get a letter to him for me. Do you have some paper and a pen?”
“Right here.” Rose brought her the necessary instruments.
“Thanks.” Delight quickly set to work.
A short time later, she looked up at her friend and smiled. “This should do it.”
“I’ll take it over right away.”
“No, not yet. If you deliver it now, he’ll spend the whole night looking for me. We’ll get it to him first thing in the morning. That way he won’t have time to plan anything.”
“You’re right. He’d come straight here if he thought you were back.”
“It’s still light outside; do you want to go shopping now? If I’m supposed to be returning from a trip, I’d better have some baggage with me.”
“Do you need money? I’ve got a little you can have.”
“No, I can charge everything. Do you still have my old clothes?”
“Right here.” Rose retrieved the dress and under things she had left behind the fateful night, and Delight began her transformation from cabin boy back into Delight de Vries.
Ollie looked at Jim skeptically. “I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it, Ollie.”
Their expressions were grim. “But where would he have gone.”
“I don’t know.” Jim sounded as worried as he felt. “I wish I did.”
“He’s too young to be out there all alone. Didn’t he say anything? Did you two have a fight? He seemed fine last night.”
“Last night?”
“Murphy came up to my cabin and we had a few drinks.” Ollie smiled as he remembered the youth’s first slug of whiskey.
“Murphy was drinking last night?” Jim stared at his friend. “Had he ever done it before?”
“No,” Ollie chuckled. “I kinda thought that that was why he was so late coming down this morning. I was sure he was going to be quite hung over…”
Jim could have groaned…she had been drinking. She probably would never have done what she had, except for the liquor. Damn her! How could she just up and leave? Didn’t she realize that he’d worry about her? That he cared?
On second reflection, Jim realized that she didn’t know how he felt. All she ha
d known was that he had been furious with her this morning for her deception, and that he was now engaged to another woman. Seeing things from her viewpoint, he understood how hopeless her situation must have seemed to her.
“We have to go look for him, Ollie.” Jim was too embarrassed to tell his friend the truth.
“Let’s go. There had to have been a good reason for him to take off like that without saying good-bye, and I intend to find out what it is,” Ollie declared heatedly, and they left the boat anxious to locate Murphy as quickly as possible.
For four hours they searched the entire riverfront, combing all the possible places Murphy could have gone with no money and few clothes, but no one had seen a boy matching his description.
“Now what, Jimmy?” Ollie’s concern was written all over his tired features.
“I wish I knew,” Jim said slowly, trying to figure out where she could be.
He wanted to tell Ollie the whole truth, but he held back. Jim had all the trouble he could handle right now without invoking Ollie’s ire, for once the older man discovered what had really happened, he was afraid there would be no peace between them.
“Let’s walk uptown. He was probably running away from us.” Jim tried to sound like he was guessing.
“But why?” Ollie argued.
Jim was silent, and the question went unanswered as they walked in the direction of Marshall’s office, hoping to catch a glimpse of the slender, defenseless youth.
Delight climbed into the hired carriage beside Rose and pulled the door shut behind them.
“Delight, do you really want me to move back home with you?” Rose asked, stunned by her offer.
“Absolutely. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.” Delight smiled at her. “Don’t you want to do it?”
“Of course. I loved working for you and your mother.”
“Well, good. Then it’s settled. And between the two of us, I think we can manage to stay a step or two ahead of Mr. Martin Montgomery!”
“I hope so.” Rose grimaced.
“I know.” She grew serious. “We still have to make some plans before I meet with Martin tomorrow. We…”
Delight let her gaze drift out the carriage window as she started to speak and the words caught in her throat. There, strolling past as if they didn’t have a care in the world, were Jim and Ollie.
“Let’s head down to Harry’s and get us a drink. What do you say, Jim my?”
“Sounds goods to me,” came Jim’s seemingly lighthearted response.
Delight quickly sat back in her seat, her color paling.
“Delight? What’s wrong?”
She didn’t answer right away as her mind went over the bit of conversation she’d just heard. Jim wasn’t looking for her…he was going drinking with Ollie. Last night had meant nothing to him…
It occurred to her then that she had been secretly hoping he would somehow track her down, declare his love, and steal her away in a romantic elopement that would stun all of society.
Delight gave a harsh, brittle laugh that echoed hollowly in the carriage. Such childish dreams! Such foolishness! No longer could she sit back and believe that her dreams would come true. She was a woman now…a woman who had to face the cruel harshness of life as it really was and act upon it. Jim Westlake was no hero…no knight in shining armor. He was just a man who had taken what had been so eagerly offered. That was all. Disillusionment mingled with great sadness settled in her heart, yet she turned to Rose and gave her a tight smile.
“Nothing’s wrong. Everything is going to be just fine. You’ll see.”
Chapter Fifteen
Jim took only a small drink of his scotch as he sat with Ollie at a table in Harry’s saloon. He had never before felt so completely frustrated. She was gone, and all he had left of her was the note. His hand strayed to check his pocket and he was relieved to find that it was still there. It was his only connection with what had been the most beautiful experience of his life.
He frowned, remembering that morning and his bewilderment upon finding out that Murphy was a female. What a god-awful shock it had been to him to wake up with Murphy sleeping there beside him…Jim would have smiled if it hadn’t been so tragic. She had given him so much, so freely, and then, in his embarrassed confusion, he had turned on her, accusing her of wanting something from him. How could he have been so stupid? His later discovery that she had been a virgin had only served to compound the guilt he was experiencing. Her loving had been a gift…a gift that he had tried at first to reject but one that he knew he would carry in his heart forever….
“What now, Jimmy?” Ollie’s question dragged him back to the present.
“I don’t know if there’s anything else we can do, Ollie. We’ve searched everywhere and we asked people to keep a lookout for him. Do you have any other ideas?”
“No,” Ollie sighed. “But if we knew why he’d gone, we might be able to figure out where he’s gone.”
Jim fixed his friend with a serious gaze. “I’ll tell you why, Ollie.”
The sound of Jim’s voice, so deadly earnest, startled Ollie, and he turned to face him directly.
“You know why?”
“Yes. But you’re not going to like it.” Jim prepared to tell him the whole story.
“What happened? What did you do?” Ollie charged.
Jim was momentarily shocked. “Why do you think I did something?”
“Because we’d talked about you last night. The boy nearly worshipped you. He wouldn’t have left. He liked his life on the boat.”
“You were as blind as I was, old man!” Jim snarled, bristling under Ollie’s criticism.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ollie returned heatedly.
“Murphy wasn’t a boy…Murphy was a girl!” There, he had said it. Glaring across the small table at Ollie, Jim downed the rest of his drink and quickly poured another.
Ollie stared at Jim, unmoving, and then extended his glass to be refilled, too.
“Murphy? A girl?”
“Yes.” Jim’s words were final, and a heavy silence fell between them as they both reviewed their own private memories of Murphy.
And, while Jim was almost distraught with worry, Ollie suddenly burst into laughter.
“That’s terrific! A girl!”
“Shut up,” Jim said threateningly, but Ollie only looked at him over the rim of his glass and laughed harder.
“You slept in close quarters with her for almost two weeks and you never knew?” Ollie retorted between chuckles.
“Not until this morning,” Jim affirmed.
“What happened this morning?” Ollie suddenly turned serious. “How did you find out?”
Jim tensed, not wanting to reveal more. He wanted to protect her. He didn’t want to sully Murphy’s reputation, even though he knew Ollie would never think any less of her. In fact, if Ollie was going to think less of anybody, it would be him.
Jim fixed him with a piercing look. “Suffice it to say that I made a few mistakes this morning. Mistakes that I will rectify as soon as I find her.”
“Jimmy—” Ollie grasped the situation without anything further being said. “How are we going to find her? I’m really worried about her now. As a boy she had a chance, but a girl? Alone?”
“I know, Ollie. I know.” Jim’s answer was almost a groan, and their eyes met in silent communication. “I’ll find her,” he pledged. “Somehow, some way.”
It was late. Night had enveloped the city, enshrouding it in darkness, and the cutting northwesterly wind howling through the streets proclaimed the threat of another winter storm.
The houses on Lucas Place were shuttered and deserted-looking this night, and they added to the sense of desolation that was overpowering Jim as he made his way down the walk. Moving on, Jim ignored the dropping temperatures and the first falling snowflakes. Head down, he strode purposefully toward Marshall’s home, his mind set on finding answers. Jim wasn’t sure how his brother could help,
but he hoped that he might have some idea of what to do next. The Lord knew he’d tried everything he could think of….
A lamp was burning invitingly in the parlor window as Jim mounted the front steps, and he was glad when the maid quickly admitted him.
“Good evening, Captain,” she greeted him. “They’re in the parlor. Go on in.”
“Thanks.” After shedding his coat, he headed quickly in the direction of the welcoming light.
Marshall looked up from where he sat in front of the fireplace reading the newspaper. “Jim? This is a surprise. Come on in.” He rose to greet his brother. “Have you recovered from last night?”
“Jim,” Renee came to him, too, and gave him a hug. “Sit down. Would you like a drink?”
“Coffee would be great.” He kissed her cheek and shook hands with Marshall before sitting down in a wing chair.
“To what do we owe this honor?” Marshall asked after Renee had gone to get Jim’s drink.
“I need to talk with you.”
Marshall was immediately struck by the seriousness of Jim’s tone.
“Do you want to go into the study?”
“I think we’d better,” Jim said flatly.
Renee returned just then with the tray of coffee. “Here you are.”
“Thanks, that’s great.” Jim poured himself a cup.
“We’ll be in the study for a while,” Marshall told her as they left the room.
“Business, again?” she moaned in mock protest.
“Again,” Marshall grinned as he led Jim down the hall.
When the door was firmly closed behind them, he turned to face his brother.
“What’s the matter? Is there bad news? Has something happened to one of the boats?”
“No, no,” Jim hurried to reassure him as they both sat down before the roaring fire in the fireplace. “In fact, I’ve just come from dinner with Mark. Everything is on schedule and there have been no further reports on the spies.”