by Deeanne Gist
When he had her going pretty good, he grabbed the ropes and jumped on, his feet straddling her hips.
She squealed, then laughed, then pumped her feet. He swiveled the seat with the force of his legs, propelling it higher. When they’d gone as high as they dared, they both stopped driving and simply enjoyed the momentum. She rested her head against his legs. He gloried in the feel of her and the freedom of flying through the air.
At last they slowed. She dragged her feet on the ground. When the swing came to a stop, she slid off and turned to look at him. “That was fun. I haven’t ridden double since I was a child.”
A jagged streak of lightning tore across the sky behind her, followed by a distant bark of thunder. Her hair had been mussed before, but their ride had loosened the moorings even further, leaving locks of dark blond hair trailing over her shoulder and down her back.
He slid down to the seat, then planted his feet on the ground. “Come here.”
She eyed him. “I don’t know how to swing on somebody’s lap.”
“Neither do I.” Widening his knees, he patted his leg.
Looking around, she took a hesitant step toward him.
He snagged her hand and gave a gentle tug.
She sat.
“The day was perfect,” he said. “One those kids will remember the rest of their lives.”
Folding her hands in her lap, she looked down. “Yes, I believe they will.”
He picked up a curl and held it to his nose. Apples, peaches, and summer berries.
“I’d thought you wouldn’t be able to do the playground without me.” She looked up. “But the truth is, I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you.”
Putting a hand behind her neck, he kissed her. It had been the first time since they’d found out about Joey. The first time since she’d proposed to him. The first time since he’d sent the wire to his mother asking for the ring.
Scooping up her legs, he draped her over both of his and slid her closer. She hooked her arms around his neck. He tightened his around her waist. Sweet Mackinaw, but she tasted good.
He wrapped his arms even farther so they completely encircled her back. He wanted her like nothing he’d ever wanted before. He should have said yes when she’d asked him. If he had, he’d have her in his bed by now.
A droplet of rain fell on his shirt, penetrating the fabric.
He ignored it and ran a hand down her hip to the bend in her knees, then drew her close. She tucked herself around him, the rope of the swing anchoring her bent legs.
He wanted to ask her. He wanted to ask her right now, but he didn’t have the ring. He needed to wait for the ring.
His hand began to wander. She reached around and brought it to safer ground. He pulled back from the kiss and buried his face in her neck, nibbling, tasting, imbibing. Her fingers drove into the hair at his nape, knocking his hat askew.
Marry me. Marry me. But he didn’t say it out loud. Not yet.
Another raindrop. And another.
She rocked back, straightening her legs. “It’s starting to—”
“I know. I don’t care.” He captured her lips again.
A flash of light, immediately followed by a shattering clap.
She pushed away and jumped to her feet. The skies opened up. Plucking his Stetson from his head, he jammed it onto hers, grabbed her hand, and they ran from the playground.
“The ribbons!” she shouted.
“Leave them!”
They continued to run, his feet splattering mud with each footfall. When they reached the back steps to Hull House, they were soaked, muddy, laughing, and out of breath.
Tipping her head back, he bracketed her face. “Death and the deuce, but I love you, Billy girl.”
He kissed her again. She pressed herself against him. Neither noticed the rain, only the storm that brewed inside them.
ELECTRICITY BUILDING29
“The guard sought Hunter out in the Electricity Building where he’d picked up an extra shift.”
CHAPTER
34
Within a fortnight, delinquents had taken over the playground. The very area she and Hunter had carved out was now providing a setting for precisely the sort of behavior they’d been hoping to decrease.
Derry handed her the day’s catalog. “They drink up their grog by the sand pit and make you pay a penny to get in the gate, then another penny to play on anything.”
Outrage filled her. She glanced at the Woman’s Building, wishing Hunter were there, but another guard had long since taken his place.
“Have you told Mr. Scott?” she asked.
“I tried to stop him this morning, but he was in a big hurry. I told him it was about the playground. He just kept walking, and over his shoulder said he wouldn’t be able to do nothin’ about the playground no more.”
She nodded. He’d probably thought something needed repairing. He’d told her he was going to try and pick up some extra shifts in hopes of earning his way back onto the day shift. And with his captain’s assignment to distinguish himself and Colonel Rice’s order to not be involved with anything other than the fair, the last thing he needed to do was become involved with whatever was going on with these delinquents. She’d simply have to take care of it herself.
“How many of them are there?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Four, eight, ten. Depends on when ya go.”
“And no one gets in without paying?”
“Nobody but the girls. The girls get in without pennies. All they have to do is play a game.”
“What game?”
“I don’t really know. The girl gets in the middle and the fellows form a circle around her. That’s all I know. My sister did it once. She don’t go back no more, though. I don’t know why. I’d go if all I had to do was play some game.”
Chill bumps raced up her arms. “I didn’t know you had a sister other than Alcee.”
He gave a huff. “I got two more sisters. Brothers, too. I’m the only one who’s not in a factory, though.” He straightened, his chest jutting out in pride.
She wondered what would happen to him once the fair ended. “Were your brothers and sisters at the playground opening?”
“Most of them, I think. I don’t really know.”
She paid him a nickel for the catalog. “You stay away from there, all right? At least until I figure out what to do. You tell your brothers and sisters to do the same.”
He scratched his side. “Don’t worry. Pa would give us a whupping if we spent any of our pennies.”
His nonchalance saddened her. She couldn’t imagine how dismal it must be to never have a childhood. To never buy a licorice drop at the mercantile. To never go to school. To only have Sundays off. And to work every day from the time you were six until the time you died.
She took a deep breath. “Thank you for the paper, Derry.”
“You’re welcome, doc.”
With a heavy heart, she headed to the infirmary.
“Dr. Tate asked me to show her how to protect herself if she were attacked.”
Hunter gave Carlisle a sharp look. The guard had sought Hunter out in the Electricity Building, where he’d picked up an extra shift.
Waving a line of people toward the entrance to Alexander Graham Bell’s theatorium, he scowled. “She what?”
Carlisle shrugged. “I asked her who was bothering her and she said nobody, she just wanted to learn how.”
“That dog don’t hunt.”
“I know.”
“So what’d you tell her?”
“To kick him in the shin, hit him in nose, knee him in the groin, then run.”
Hunter blew out a breath. “When did all this happen?”
“Just before she left today. I asked Imogene if the doc had said anything to her, but she hadn’t.”
It took Hunter a minute to realize Carlisle was referring to Nurse Findley. He glanced at his pocket watch. “Between Billy’s schedule and the way I’ve been working, I’v
e not seen her but in tiny snatches. My first instinct is her trouble is with somebody on the West Side, but with Joey being gone, she hasn’t been over there since the playground opened. Said she’s been too busy working on some paper about a germ theory or something. You sure she didn’t say anything else?”
Carlisle nodded. “Nothing. Though Imogene told me the doc’s going to the West Side tomorrow.”
Hunter swore under his breath. Tomorrow was her day off and he was working another double shift. He stopped the line. “I’m afraid that’s all for this show, folks. But you’ll be first in line for the next one.”
Good-natured grumbling skittered between those who’d just missed the cutoff. Before closing the doors, he glanced inside. The crowd found their seats below a mammoth telephone receiver built into the roof of the theatorium. In a few minutes an orchestra in New York would begin playing. Yet everyone in the room would be able to hear it as if they were right there beside it instead of a thousand miles away.
Making eye contact with a guard on the inside, Hunter nodded, then backed out and pulled the doors shut. “Thanks for letting me know, Eddie. I’ll try and catch her in the morning in between my night shift and the shift I’m picking up for Pete Stracke.”
Carlisle nodded. “I’d pick up Pete’s shift for you, but I’m due to be at the Woman’s Building.”
Hunter shook his hand. “Thanks anyway, buddy. Maybe she was asking on someone else’s behalf. Either way, I’ll find out tomorrow.”
But the next morning, the matron at the front desk of the Women’s Dormitory refused to wake Billy up. He glanced at his watch. He didn’t have time to wait on the front steps for her. So he left a message with the matron, then headed back to the fair.
ALLEY, WEST SIDE CHICAGO30
“Instead of taking Halsted, he kept to the alleys and their shadows.”
CHAPTER
35
Derry chained his sister to the table. He hated doing it, but last week one of the babies next door fell out of a window because it had been locked in a room, but not chained up. There was still a stain on the street where she’d fallen. He shuddered. He didn’t want that to happen to Alcee.
He squatted down in front of her. “Ma will be home before you know it. So you be good. Okay?”
He didn’t get an answer, nor did he expect one. Making his way through the other rooms of the apartment building, he hurried toward the stairwell, then waved to the grocer on his way out. He’d just made it to Halsted Street when he saw the doc sail past Hull House and round the corner at Polk.
She must be going to the playground. And she was walking like she was mad. He’d only been there on Sundays. But the other kids told him those boys were there all the time.
He looked up and down the street for Mr. Scott but didn’t see him. Derry was going to be a Texas Ranger like Mr. Scott when he grew up. And he knew Mr. Scott wouldn’t let the doc go over to that playground by herself, even if they did let the girls in for free.
Turning around, he raced back inside, grabbed his slingshot and a handful of rocks, then hurried toward the playground. Instead of taking Halsted, he kept to the alleys and their shadows. Once he reached Polk, he collected several more rocks, then ducked into an apartment one of his friends lived in.
Nobody was home, but he went in anyway and opened the window that looked out over the playground. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but those fellows didn’t like whatever the doc was telling them. He pressed a rock into his slingshot, took aim, then held it taut, waiting.
The bigger fellow grabbed her arm.
She kicked him. Hard.
Derry let his rock fly. He missed, but the fellow heard it whiz by. He jerked his head toward the street.
Derry shot another. And another. The fellows held up their arms, shielding themselves.
The doc ran through the gate.
The leader spotted Derry and shouted.
But Derry continued to shoot until the doc had a good lead. Then he made his own escape. Texas Rangers may not run, but those fellows on the playground were really big and really mean. Especially when they’d been drinking. The last thing he wanted was to be caught alone by them.
Hunter paced the landing in front of Billy’s dormitory waiting for her to respond to his summons. The minute he’d gotten off work, he’d come over only to find she wasn’t home and his message had never been delivered.
He’d immediately ridden to the West Side. But she’d already come and gone.
So he’d ridden back dog tired and fit to be tied. He’d not shaved nor bathed nor slept nor eaten.
Finally, she stepped through the doors, her smile wilting the moment she saw him. “You look awful. Are you running a fever?” She lifted a hand as if she were going to feel his forehead.
He dodged it. “Who’s threatening you?”
She frowned. “When’s the last time you’ve had a full night’s rest?”
“Don’t answer my question with a question.”
“Then don’t bark at me.”
Opening and closing his fists, he moderated his tone. “Who’s threatening you?”
“Nobody.”
“You want to lick that calf over?”
She scrunched her brows. “What does that mean?”
“You want to try answering that one more time?”
Rubbing her temples, she let out a whoosh of air. “Fredrick Kruse and his friends have seized the playground. They’re charging the boys a penny to gain entrance and another penny to play on the equipment. Any who don’t pay the toll are beaten.” She gave him a pointed stare. “The payment required of the girls is of a more personal nature.”
Anger surged through him. “How do you know?”
“Derry told me.”
His jaw began to tick. “And I suppose you went down there today to see for yourself?”
“I did.”
“Tell me you didn’t confront them, Billy.”
She held up her hands in a shrug. “I didn’t know it was going to be them. By the time I did, I was already through the gate.”
Whipping off his hat, he squeezed the rim. “Didn’t you learn big wood from the brush the last time?”
She tightened her lips. “I said I didn’t know it was going to be them.”
“For the love of Peter, woman, who else did you think it would be?”
She stiffened. “Derry said there were anywhere from four to ten boys. So, I assumed it wasn’t them.”
“Ten? Ten? And you went anyway?”
“I’m not going to let them control me or the children, Hunter. Not with fear or anything else.” She crossed her arms, her chest rising and falling.
“That doesn’t mean you go driving your horse like you’re in a hurry to get to heaven. You need a plan. A strategy.” Sighing, he gentled his tone. “You know what I’d really like?”
“I have no idea.”
He captured her gaze. “I’d like you to come to me first before you go off half-cocked. Just once, would you give me a chance? I know you’re smart. I know you’ve got a fancy education. I know there’s a lot of things you can do just as well—if not better—than some men. But there are also a few things us men can do that you can’t. And dealing with bullies is one of them.”
She looked down.
“Will you concede that point, at least?”
“You’re stronger,” she said. “I’ll give you that.”
Not the full endorsement he was hoping for, but it was a start. “Then you’ll let me deal with them?”
“It’s already been taken care of.”
He lifted his brows. “How?”
“After visiting the playground, I went to Hull House. We decided the playground needs to be supervised. Miss Addams agreed to provide volunteer staff as soon as she can work out a schedule. It will mean the playground will only be open certain hours, but it was the only solution we could come up with.”
He nodded. “It’s a good solution, except how are you going
to keep the interlopers out in the meantime?”
“We’re going to put a lock on the gate.”
“And if they decide to invade the playground while it’s being supervised?”
“Miss Addams is going to ask a police officer to help until things settle down.”
“One of the ones who was there on opening day?”
“I’m assuming so. She didn’t say.”
He put his hat back on. “What about today? Did Kruse do anything to you?” He didn’t see any bruises, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.
“He tried, but I kicked him, then ran.”
He waited a couple of beats, forcing himself to keep calm. “They didn’t chase you?”
“No.” She gave him a confused look. “I’m not sure what happened exactly. Just that he let go and I ran.”
He could take care of Kruse. The boy and his gang had kept well out of sight, but Hunter knew he could flush them out. The problem was what to do once he had them.
He couldn’t arrest them because he had no jurisdiction. He couldn’t report them to the police, or Rice would hear and so would his captain. He supposed he could give the boys a pretty good scare, but if word got back to Rice, he’d once again be putting his job and the Rangers in jeopardy. And for what? For four ne’er-do-wells the officers on the playground could handle without any trouble?
No, he needed to stay out of it. He needed to let the Chicago police handle it.
He slipped his hand into Billy’s, entwining their fingers. “Kruse is dangerous. I don’t want you near him. So, no more confrontations with him or any of his ilk. All right?”
Biting her lip, she nodded. “All right.”
Pulling out his watch, he flicked it open. “Listen, I’m going to try and get a little shut-eye before my shift starts tonight. I’ll be free for lunch tomorrow, though. You want to go to the Agriculture Building? Have some of that free food the exhibitors are giving out? I’ve heard Quaker Oats is making fresh muffins and cakes.”
“I’d like that.”