by Mary Burton
Miss Adeline’s gown shimmered in the lantern light. “He’s down the hallway with one of the girls. He said he was tense and needed to relax.”
A tart remark sprang to mind but Ellie kept silent. Miss Adeline dealt with any kind of rebellion harshly. “Jade doesn’t have much time left. You may want to interrupt him. If there are any last words to be said, they’d best be spoken now. I doubt Jade will live through the hour.”
Miss Adeline nodded. “This is the last thing I needed today. The way my luck’s running, Monty will shoot up the place when he finds out and I’ll never see my share of the gold.”
“What gold?”
“Never mind,” Miss Adeline snapped. She started from the room and then stopped. “Is the child a boy or girl?”
“A girl.”
She sighed. “Monty’s not going to like that, either. He’s been talking about having a boy—Monty Junior is what he was going to call him.” She left, her full silk skirts swishing as she moved down the carpeted hallway.
Ellie closed the door, shutting out the noise and the smell of whiskey and tobacco. Lantern light flickered on the lilac-colored wallpaper. With a heavy heart, she faced the bed. Jade’s face was deathly pale. Her long black hair fanned out on the white pillow.
“Ellie,” Jade whispered.
Ellie sat on the small stool beside the bed. She leaned over and checked the baby, who lay sleeping next to her mother. “Shh, you must rest.”
Her eyes opened. “Where is the baby?”
“Right beside you.” She brushed the damp hair off Jade’s face. She and Jade had never been friends while Jade had lived in this house.
Jade didn’t have the strength to lift her head. “I can’t see her face.”
Ellie picked up the baby and, folding back the quilted blanket, held her up so that Jade could see her face. “She’s a beauty.”
“Is she all right?”
“Yes. A fine set of lungs. She’s got all her fingers and toes, and your black hair.” Ellie tried to keep her voice light.
A faint smile curled the edges of Jade’s lips. “As long as she doesn’t have her father’s nose.”
Ellie’s throat tightened. It frustrated her she couldn’t do more. “Have you thought of a name for her?”
“Rose. It was my grandmother’s name.”
The baby stirred and yawned, unmindful of the turmoil around her. “The name suits her. She looks like a little rosebud.”
Tears pooled in Jade’s eyes. A tear trickled down her hollow cheek. Two years ago she’d been surrounded by men and laughing as if she were holding court like a queen. “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“You did real well, Jade.”
Another tear rolled down Jade’s cheek. “I can’t believe the Lord blessed me with such a beautiful baby. I’ve done a lot of bad things, Ellie. I don’t deserve such a precious child.”
“You shouldn’t worry about the past, Jade. None of that matters now. You need to get strong so you can take care of Rose.”
Jade swallowed. “I’m dying, aren’t I?”
As ever, Jade was sharp as a bowie knife. Fooling her was next to impossible. “You’re very tired and need rest.”
Jade met her gaze. Her watery blue eyes possessed an intensity that shook Ellie. “Ellie, please don’t lie to me now.”
Unshed tears burned in Ellie’s eyes. She hesitated, unsure her voice would be steady when she spoke. “Yes,” she said, her voice a hoarse whisper. “You’re dying.”
Jade closed her eyes and a heavy silence settled between them. For a moment Ellie thought that Jade had slipped into unconsciousness.
“Take care of Rose for me,” Jade said weakly.
“Of course I will.”
Jade lifted her hand and grabbed Ellie’s wrist. She squeezed. Her grip had surprising strength. “I mean forever, Ellie. Don’t give her to Monty or Adeline. He doesn’t want a daughter. And Adeline will turn her over to an orphanage or sell her.”
Ellie didn’t argue with Jade’s assessment. “Jade, I don’t know anything about children. I’ve lived my whole life above this whorehouse.”
Jade moistened her full, pale lips. “You’ve always had a good heart and you do what’s right. Rose wouldn’t have survived the birthing if not for you. You’re the kind of mother my girl needs.”
Ellie stared down at the baby. The thought of raising a child was overwhelming. Bottles. Blankets. Clothes. Diapers. She didn’t know where to start. Lord, and what about milk? “Don’t you have any other family to take the baby?”
“They cut me off a long time ago. And even if they hadn’t, I wouldn’t give Rose to them. She deserves better.” Jade’s hand fell back to the mattress. “Rose will be all alone without you. There’ll be no one to keep her safe.”
A protective urge welled up in Ellie. Her own mother had died when she was six. Adeline had allowed Ellie to stay, but there’d been no one to love or to care for her when she was sick or afraid. It was a childhood she’d not have wished on anyone.
“Monty hasn’t seen her,” Ellie said. “He could fall in love with her the minute he sees her. He might not want to give up his flesh and blood.”
She shook her head. The slight movement seemed to be almost too much for her. “He won’t. Having the baby was my idea, not his. He couldn’t care less about a child, especially a girl.”
Ellie clutched the tiny infant. She pictured the child, alone and crying, desperate for someone to pick her up.
The child started to move her mouth around Ellie’s breast, searching for her nipple. A strong maternal instinct swept over Ellie. She’d delivered this child into the world. She’d been the first to hold her. Hers had been the first face the baby had seen. She wanted Rose safe and loved.
But how could she raise a baby?
“Swear you’ll keep her.” Jade’s voice was a faint whisper now.
Ellie had no business making such a promise to Jade. And yet she heard herself saying, “I swear.”
Jade smiled. “You won’t regret it.”
Ellie stared into the baby’s face. The child had stopped her rooting and fallen asleep. “No, I won’t regret it.”
“There is a Bible by the bed on the table. Do you see it?” Jade said.
She picked up the pocket-size book. “Yes.”
“It’s all I got for Rose. It belonged to my grandmother. I carry it with me always. Keep it safe and close to you. It’s worth more than you can imagine.”
“I will.”
“When Rose is old enough, give it to her. Tell her I loved her.”
Ellie tucked the Bible into her apron pocket. “I will tell her, Jade.”
Jade’s next words died on her lips. Her eyes closed. Within seconds her breathing grew shallow as the life drained from her body. And then her breathing stopped.
For a long moment Ellie cradled the baby, overwhelmed by the sudden turn her life had taken. The noise from the saloon seeped through the floorboards. She’d never been around children, not even when she was a child. Her whole life had been spent serving drinks, cooking meals and cleaning up after drunken customers. Lord, what was she going to do?
She’d saved just about every penny she’d earned, but it wasn’t much. And where would she go? Everyone in Butte knew she worked at the Silver Slipper and no one would give her a decent job. She’d have to leave town—start over somewhere else.
The music from the floor below stopped. The sudden silence caught her attention. She stood and moved to the door, listening.
“Where are Monty and Jade?” The loud voice came from downstairs. Ellie recognized it instantly. It was Frank Palmer, Monty’s brother.
Frank scared her far more than Monty did. The outlaw had been visiting the house for five years. He’d never bought a woman when he came. Instead he’d just sat in her kitchen, eating his meal, silently watching her.
Her heart thrumming, Ellie held the baby close and moved out into the hallway.
From th
e upstairs landing, she saw Frank at the foot of the stairs. He had a long scraggly beard and shoulder-length hair. He wasn’t very tall, but his upper body was thick and muscular. His clothes were coated in a month’s worth of trail dust and several of the girls moved away from him as if he smelled bad.
“Where’s Monty?” Frank shouted. “His brother wants him!”
Ellie tightened her hold on the baby. The girls had whispered that Frank, Monty and Jade had robbed the railroad. She’d been too busy with the birthing to listen, but now she wished she knew more.
Miss Adeline scurried out of her backroom office, a tumbler of whiskey in her hand. Shock registered on her face when she saw Frank Palmer before she plastered on her trademark smile. “Frank!”
“Where’s Monty?” he demanded.
“Upstairs with Kelly.”
“Monty!” he shouted.
Frank’s arrival couldn’t be good. Ellie moved to the door leading to the back staircase and opened it. Lingering on the top step, she stood ready to dash downstairs if need be.
Monty stumbled out of a room, fastening his pants. His face was a mirror copy of his brother’s. The only difference was that he stood several inches taller. Behind him, Kelly, dressed only in a chemise, strolled out. She took one look at Frank, backed into the room and slammed the door.
“Frank?” Monty said, panic in his voice. “How’d you find me?”
Frank drew his gun and started toward the stairs. “I want my gold back.”
Monty glanced around, as if looking for a place to hide. He shoved a trembling hand through his thick black hair. “I don’t have your gold, Frank. Jade’s the one that hid it. She got mad a few weeks ago when she caught me with a whore. While I was sleeping off a drunk, she stashed it somewhere. Don’t worry, once she cooled off, I was gonna talk to her. You know how I can sweet-talk her.”
“I’m tired of your talk, Monty. When you picked Jade over me, you saw to it that things would never be the same between us.” Without warning, he shot Monty in the heart. The man dropped to the floor dead.
Ellie jumped.
The girls screamed.
Miss Adeline swayed, pressing her hand into her stomach.
Casually, Frank replaced his gun in its holster. “Now, which room is Jade’s?”
Miss Adeline struggled to keep her expression calm. “Last door on the right.”
“Time ol’ Mrs. Palmer and Frank had a chat about my gold.”
Ellie pressed her back against the stairwell wall, her heart thundering in her chest. Frank would soon find out that Jade was dead. And then he’d start to ask questions. He’d want to know who was with her when she’d died. Miss Adeline wouldn’t hesitate to tell him Ellie was the one he wanted.
In that split second, Ellie decided to run.
She started down the back staircase, no longer questioning the fact that she and the baby had to leave the Silver Slipper and Butte for good. They’d have to disappear if they wanted to live.
Nerves nearly made her trip when she reached the last step. She caught herself on the railing with one hand, clutching the baby with the other. Quickly, she laid the baby in a large, shallow basket she used for shopping and bolted out the back door.
The night air was warm. A sliver of moon dangled in the black evening sky. Clouds drifted from the west. The scent of rain was heavy.
Ellie thought of the horses Miss Adeline kept at the livery. She could take one and be gone before anyone thought to look for her outside of the brothel.
She started to run. She’d taken just five steps when she ran into a wall of hard muscle. She’d have fallen backward if strong arms hadn’t captured her forearms and steadied her. It felt as if cold steel banded her arms. Naked fear nearly stopped her heart.
“Who fired those shots inside?” The cold, menacing voice had her lifting her gaze.
Dark eyes stared down at her from under a low-crowned black hat. The man’s rawboned face was all hard planes and angles. Several days’ growth of beard covered his square jaw. His nose looked as if it had been broken before.
She pulled back, a small choking sound in her throat. She couldn’t find it in her to speak.
The stranger tightened his long fingers on her arms. He gave her a small shake to snap her out of her fear. “Who got shot?”
“Frank Palmer shot his brother Monty,” Ellie blurted, hoping he didn’t hear the terror in her voice.
“Dead?”
“Yes.”
“Anybody else come in with Frank?”
“Anyone else?” Her confused mind wouldn’t work.
“Other outlaws.”
“No.”
He hesitated, as if considering what she’d said.
“Would you let loose of me? I don’t know anything else.”
The sound of her voice seemed to bring him back from his thoughts. “Why are you running?”
With the darkness around them, it seemed they were the only two people in the world. They stood inches apart and she could feel his hot breath on her skin. The baby in the basket was wedged between them.
“I’m not,” she lied.
His face hardened in the dim moonlight. He leaned closer to her so that his nose was only inches from hers. “I can smell the fear on you. You’re running from something, girl.”
She glanced toward the back door of the Silver Slipper, wishing she could run inside and lock the door. But she couldn’t go back. “Miss Adeline asked me to run an errand.”
“Did she?”
She tried to pull her arms from his grip. She might as well have been trying to break iron. “I really must hurry. She’s not a woman to be disobeyed.”
“But you are defying her, aren’t you?” His voice was as hard as granite.
She stopped her squirming, amazed he could peer into her brain and read her thoughts. Tonight she was breaking most all of Adeline’s rules. There’d be hell to pay if she got caught.
Rose squawked.
The stranger dropped his gaze to the basket. He flicked the blanket aside with his finger. Rose, still sleeping, yawned.
Without warning, he stepped back. “You better run fast, girl. All hell’s about to break lose.”
Ellie didn’t need to be told twice.
CHAPTER TWO
Spring Rock Coach Station
August 1883
“AND IF ANYONE looks at you cross-eyed, shoot ’em!” Annie Bennett said. Annie had hired Ellie almost two months ago as a cook at the Spring Rock stop, a place she’d run for almost twenty years. The two had become close friends in a short time and had learned to rely on each other.
Ellie nodded. “I will.”
Annie checked the cinch on her mare’s saddle. She had tied back her blond hair and donned a floppy hat, pants and a range coat. She reminded Ellie of a wiry cowhand, not a petite, slender woman who under all that gear looked much younger than her forty-five years. “I should be gone about three weeks.” Annie made an annual trek to the mountains to visit her mother and father, to make sure they were well before the snows came. “I worry that they’re getting too old to manage the place.”
“If what you told me about them is true, I suspect they will be fine.”
During the last couple of months, Ellie had enjoyed the stories of Annie’s childhood. Annie’s mother, Charity, had been married to a missionary when she’d moved to Thunder Canyon. Indians had attacked their caravan and everyone in the mission party had been killed except Charity, who was pregnant with Annie. Black Sun, an Arapaho warrior, had saved Charity and delivered Annie. Charity and Black Sun had fallen in love. Black Sun had adopted Annie and loved her as much as his sons.
Annie pulled leather gloves from her pocket and tugged them on. “You’ve got enough provisions for two months. But if something should happen and you need more, ride into town. I’ve an account at Douglas’s mercantile.”
“Rose and I will be fine,” Ellie said, careful to keep any hint of worry out of her voice.
Ellie had n
ever spent a night at the coach stop alone. The idea didn’t sit well with her, but she’d never tell Annie that. She didn’t like the woman worrying over her when she had such a trip to make.
“Annie, we need to get on the road now,” said Mike McKinney, striding out of the barn.
Mike was a tall, burly man with a full beard and broad shoulders. In his mid-thirties, he was a driver for the Starlight Express. He’d done so well, his boss, Holden McGowan, had given him the northern routes. This last year, he had visited the Spring Rock station often. In the last two months, he’d been by almost weekly.
“I know,” Annie said gruffly.
“If we don’t leave now, we won’t make the foothills by dark,” he said.
Despite the irritation in her voice, Annie’s blue eyes softened when she looked at Mike. He and Annie both said they were friends, but Ellie had quickly recognized that they were in love.
Mike had arrived at the stop yesterday on his regular run. When Annie told him she was heading north to see her family, he’d insisted on riding with her. Annie had agreed without an argument. Ellie suspected Mike was going to ask Black Sun for Annie’s hand in marriage.
“I’m ready to go,” Annie said.
Mike cocked an eyebrow. “Is that the fourth or fifth time she’s said that?”
Ellie laughed. “Sixth.”
He laughed. “Ellie, the horses are set and you shouldn’t have to fuss with them until sunset.”
“I know what to do,” Ellie said. Annie had showed her how to care for the six horses her first week here.
“Take care of that baby,” Annie said, hugging Ellie.
“And keep the shotgun close,” Mike said, preparing to climb up into his saddle.
Ellie had been at her wits’ end when she and Rose had arrived at Annie’s stop two months ago. Ellie hadn’t eaten in two days and she’d spent all her savings on canned milk she’d purchased from a wagon train.
Annie hadn’t asked any questions when Ellie had claimed to be a widow. Nor had she said a word when Ellie had pulled out the bottle at the dinner table. The next morning, there’d been a pitcher of freshly boiled milk and Rose’s bottle had been cleaned. Annie had offered Ellie a job that day. Ellie had accepted.