Joy on This Mountain (A Prairie Heritage, Book 2)

by Kestell, Vikki

Morgan motioned Banner to the front of his desk. “Mr. Banner, Corinth is a very profitable segment of my businesses. However, the situation has become a little disquieting as of late. It would be tedious and troubling if I deemed it necessary to relocate my special club. I trust you can set things right?”

  “I can, Mr. Morgan.” It was a statement without boasting or hyperbole.

  “I expect you can, Mr. Banner. Please find the recalcitrant ‘Little Plum Blossom’ and return her to Miss Cleary. I desire a success with her, not a failure. Even with a broken nose, this will reestablish a proper tone in Corinth, don’t you agree?”

  “Yes sir, I do.” Banner’s words were devoid of emotion.

  “Oh. And if certain citizens have been concealing or otherwise aiding the little flower, I would like them to be suitably corrected.”

  “Yes sir. You can rely on me.”

  Shortly after the evening train arrived in Corinth that evening, Flinty pounded on the back door. Breona let him in.

  “Miss Joy, I come t’ tell yer som’pin.” His weathered face creased in concern. “New feller in town, name o’ Banner. Darrow’s thugs’r all kow-towin’ and Darrow’s a-lookin’ like he et a lemon.” He glanced around knowingly. “T’ big boss sent a new gun, that’s what.”

  O’Dell and Joy exchanged worried looks.

  Just before sunrise the next morning, Billy knocked on Joy’s door. “Miss Joy,” he hissed.

  “What is it?”

  “We got more company.”

  Joy wiped the sleep from her face and dressed hurriedly. When she entered the kitchen two women were standing nervously near the door. Billy and Mr. Wheatley stood outside their room, watching with caution. They had wisely not lit any lamps in the kitchen so it was difficult for Joy to make out their visitors’ faces.

  One of the figures, a girl with a deep coffee-and-cream complexion and tangled mass of dark hair shadowing her face, addressed Joy. “Please forgive me for waking you, miss. Would you be the lady who assisted Mei-Xing?”

  She was scared, Joy could tell, even if she couldn’t see her face clearly, and yet she was well-spoken and held herself erect with a stately grace. The other woman was excruciatingly thin, her brown hair lank and lifeless. She held her arms tightly around her middle, as if she were in pain.

  Joy chose her words carefully. “I believe that if certain people knew we had assisted the girl who ran away from Miss Cleary’s, it might lead to difficulties for us.”

  “On my soul, miss, I am no friend of theirs.” She swallowed hard, her fear palpable. “We are in mortal trouble, miss, and must get off this mountain soon or . . .” she shuddered.

  “Does this have something to do with the new boss in town? The man called Banner?”

  The brown-haired girl whimpered and Joy looked at her more closely. Something certainly wasn’t right with her.

  The dark-haired one nodded. “He is evil itself, miss. I-I beg your pardon.” Abruptly, her eyes teared and she pleaded with Joy, “Please help us! He’ll kill Helen if he discovers us.”

  Joy was a little amazed. This young woman possessed the manner and diction of a well-bred gentlewoman.

  At the name ‘Helen,’ Mr. Wheatley straightened. “Your name Helen?” he asked the brown-haired girl kindly.

  She looked as though she hadn’t heard him but finally nodded. And Joy remembered that Mr. Wheatley’s sweetheart had been named Helen.

  “What is your name?” Joy asked the dark-haired one.

  “Tory, Miss Thoresen. Mei-Xing was a dear friend. We just want to get away . . . as she did.”

  Joy nodded. “She spoke of you, Tory. She said you took care of her when they assaulted her.”

  “Yes, miss. I did.” She laughed without mirth. “We are all obliged to perform that service for another girl at some point. Then they return the favor . . . when it is our turn.”

  Her laugh quickly died. “It is different with Helen. It may be hard to see just now, but she was a great beauty only five weeks ago—she speaks French and even knows philosophy! But she’s grown sickly and . . . hasn’t been able to work.”

  “I overheard that man Banner tonight tell Roxanne he intends to make an example of her . . . because . . . because he said he ‘needs to set a proper tone’ and she’s not long for this world anyway.” She glanced sadly at Helen.

  Joy stared in horror at Tory. “He means . . . to kill her?”

  Tory nodded sorrowfully. “In front of the other girls! That’s why we had to leave right away. Please. You have to help us, miss. We are begging you!”

  Joy nodded again. “Wait here.” She went quickly up the stairs and into the little alcove they had fixed for Mei-Xing. The girl was awake and anxious. She had obviously heard Billy’s knock and his message.

  “It’s all right, Mei-Xing. You have some friends waiting for you downstairs.”

  They descended the stairs into the kitchen. As soon as Mei-Xing and Tory saw each other they embraced affectionately. Tory turned back and held out an arm to Helen who joined them as they held each other.

  At that moment, O’Dell entered the kitchen from the great room. “What’s the commotion?” He took in the scene quickly.

  Joy nodded to him and asked Billy to discreetly fetch Domingo and Gustavo from their watchman duties in the lodge’s stable. He stole out the back door. She looked up at the kitchen window. It was near sunrise but still dark outdoors. What if Darrow’s men had seen the girls come to their back door?

  “Dear Lord, please hide us,” she whispered.

  They waited quietly until the two night watchmen followed Billy silently into the kitchen. Domingo and Gustavo were bundled against the cold and spent a few moments pulling off their mufflers, hats, and gloves.

  “Did Darrow’s men see these girls come here?” Joy asked them straight out.

  Domingo rubbed his arms and hands but smiled. “No, señora. Those hombres left early. They have been cheating on their lookout duties lately and leave an hour before dawn most mornings.” He glanced curiously at the girls.

  Joy thought hard. “What about the girls’ tracks?”

  O’Dell motioned to Billy and Mr. Wheatley. “Dress warm. We have work to do.”

  Domingo and Gustavo began to put their gear back on also. “We will help.”

  Joy told herself to breathe and began to relax a little. She addressed Mei-Xing and her two friends. “All right. Please sit down. We’ll wait a little to put some lights on, but Mei-Xing, would you please start some coffee?”

  The girl immediately busied herself to do so. In the three weeks since Christmas Mei-Xing’s health had greatly improved and she was now able to get up and down the stairs without too much difficulty. She was also, of her own initiative, taking on more work about the kitchen and in the attic apartment, the only areas of the lodge where she could go.

  Joy trudged back upstairs to wake Breona. It would be an early day, but they would let Marit sleep a little longer since baby Will regularly woke her in the night.

  Where would she put these new girls? How would they get them out of Corinth? She didn’t have the room to add more girls and hide them forever. What if Darrow or this new man Banner discovered them here?

  Joy shuddered and then stopped halfway to the attic apartment to chastise herself. Wasn’t this what the Lord had brought her to Corinth for? He would not have put those girls “in their path” if Joy and the rest of them were not ready and able to help them. Stiffening her spine and her attitude, Joy finished her climb to the attic and gently aroused Breona.

  Later that day she and O’Dell found a corner in the parlor to talk. O’Dell had been walking about town as usual with his feelers out for news. The bartenders in his usual haunts always had news and bits of gossip to share.

  Flinty, too, had reported back on what he had seen and heard. He had seen a sullen Darrow and three mounted men riding the trails around Corinth that led off the mountain. O’Dell had heard from a loquacious bartender that “Miss Cleary’s place had
a lot o’ excitement goin’ on.” The bartender had overheard that “the new boss, Banner, slapped Miss Cleary’s face” and “she’s gonner hev a shiner, fer sure.”

  Joy envisioned Roxanne Cleary with a swollen, bruised face. She was surprised to find that, rather than exulting in the woman’s pain, she was feeling sorry for her. She reminded herself to pray for the woman.

  Breona and Joy discussed where to put the two girls. “’Tis seemin’ plain t’ me, miss. Ye and me mus’ be movin’ into two o’ the guest rooms. Put t’ two new girls in our’n beds. They’ll be safest up top, I’m thinkin’ an’ will be havin’ a bit o’ breathin’ room there.”

  Joy agreed. Breona and Joy, with help from Billy, moved their simple things into the two guest rooms closest the back stairs. Joy asked the two girls to remain in the attic apartment. Joy was worried about Helen. She was ill. Breona put her to bed in her room and tried to coax a little soup into her. Tory hovered nearby, concern etched on her face.

  “Mr. O’Dell, can you help us get those girls off the mountain?” Joy couldn’t bear the thought of Banner and his men forcibly searching the lodge and finding them. She pondered how cavalierly Banner had told Roxanne Cleary he would dispose of Helen and shivered. Darrow was bad enough—was it possible this man was worse?

  O’Dell touched her arm gently and Joy jumped. She had gone off into her thoughts again.

  “Miss Thoresen, if I can find a way, I will.” He was looking at her “that way” again. Joy averted her eyes and simply nodded her thanks.

  ~~**~~

  Chapter 31

  “Uli, we can’t manage the lodge and add more girls to the house,” Joy mused. “If the Lord keeps sending us girls—which is, of course, exactly what we want—we won’t have room for lodgers!” She chuckled ruefully. “I didn’t realize there might be something called ‘too much success.’”

  Joy and Uli were sitting in the lodge’s parlor enjoying a quiet moment. Uli stirred her coffee and nodded in agreement. “I understand that you want to help the girls to heal and then train them so they can support themselves respectably, but in honesty, Joy, I don’t think Corinth is the right place for such an endeavor.”

  Joy had to admit that Uli was probably right. She had been pondering this problem for a while and wanted to share her heart with Uli.

  “I feel the same way . . . not that I want to leave Corinth or shut down the lodge. I love this house! It is our home now. And it is a safe haven, the first place girls can escape to—those who were kidnapped and brought to Corinth and who manage to get away.”

  “In addition, the lodge stands against the sin in this town, even if we must tread softly and secretly for now. But, while I feel the lodge is an important step in God’s plan, I know there is a larger need.”

  She opened her arms wide. “I don’t want to be a sheltered, naïve, Christian who is blind to the pain and suffering of others—particularly women, Uli. And I feel like I am just beginning to understand how many women are trapped in . . . prostitution.”

  Joy had initially found it hard to use words like “prostitution,” but had no choice but to overcome that reticence so that she could describe what they were striving against. “Mr. O’Dell tells me that every city has hundreds of . . . places where the services of girls . . . are sold.”

  She laughed ruefully. “I think he meant to discourage me with the vastness of the problem but it had the opposite effect.” She fell silent for a long moment. “I know we cannot solve the ills of the world, but I must try to do the little part God puts before me. You know, I often stand on the overlook and gaze eastward into the distance. Lately when I do, I can almost see, in my mind’s eye, Denver!”

  “I can visualize the Market Street area, and I can almost hear the crying of women who daily sell their souls in back rooms and bordellos just to eat or because they are forced. They need Jesus, Uli! They need to be set free on both the inside and the outside. Who will take the Good News to them and break those chains?”

  She saw that Uli’s eyes were wide as saucers and chuckled. “I can see that I astonish you, dear Cousin.”

  Uli stared at her. “You have been thinking about this.” It was a statement.

  “Yes. And I have . . . ideas.”

  Uli smiled. “Of course you do. It’s God’s gift working in you.”

  Joy laughed at her. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s what I said. God has given you a gift for solving problems—not just solving symptoms but coming up with creative ways to fix things.”

  “Here David and I were thinking how wonderful we were to help one girl at a time escape. We were leaving all the hard work to others and cowering in fear that we would be found out. Who knows where those girls are now and if they were able to leave that life behind? You think beyond the immediate need, Joy; you look for real solutions. I see that as a gift from God.”

  Joy flushed with pleasure at the praise. “I don’t know. It just comes to me, so perhaps . . . yes, it must be the Lord. I’ve been wondering how to help not just the girls in Corinth but others. I realize it is not just a problem here, but in many cities . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  “Tell me what you are thinking, Joy.”

  Joy’s eyes shone intently. “I’m thinking . . . of a training facility and small businesses that can support several, perhaps many, women escaping from prostitution. And a house, likely a small one at first, but later a large one, arranged like a home for many young women. Guided by one or two mature, godly women who can love these girls and teach them how Jesus heals all wounds. Show them how to dress and live modestly and behave in a manner on the outside that reflects what God is doing on the inside. Teach them how to cook, manage a home, and provide for themselves.”

  Uli nodded encouragingly.

  “And the businesses. Not just one, but two or three. I still have a great deal of inventory in that warehouse in Omaha. I have a bit more money, too. Not enough for what I have in mind perhaps, but . . . Anyway, I could send for the inventory and set up a fine furnishings store with what I have. I would hire an experienced manager who can train the girls how to present themselves, to sell the furnishings, and to run the business. And then perhaps we could open a restaurant, just a small one, where the girls can cook and wait tables.”

  She took a breath and rushed on. “And a sewing shop. If we train some of the women as seamstresses, they can work at making clothing and doing alterations. And . . . and I can’t but help hoping that some of them will find godly men who will love them as the Lord loves them, marry them, and make happy families and homes.” She sighed.

  “Where would you get the money to do all this, Joy?”

  “I know. It is so much! But . . . wouldn’t other Christian people help us? People like Emily Van der Pol. She begged me to let her help somehow. If she helped us find one or two wealthy patrons, wouldn’t they want to see this work go forward and encourage their friends to help?” Joy rubbed her eyes. The enormity of the prospect was overwhelming.

  She was surprised when Uli chimed in enthusiastically, “And scholarships! Some of these women would make fine teachers or nurses. If we could help them get educations.”

  Joy clutched Uli’s hands. “Brilliant! Oh Uli, we need to pray on this and find God’s leading on how to start.”

  “Yes. Right now.”

  The two women bent their heads and earnestly prayed together, taking turns lifting each idea to the Lord and asking for his guidance and provision.

  Any hope of quickly removing Tory and Helen from the mountain faded as a strong storm pummeled Corinth that night. Snow buried the rails up the mountain and train service came to a standstill.

  While Joy fretted, O’Dell reminded her that most of the town was buried also. “Banner and his men can’t track the girls. In fact, the whole town is battened down tight. Flinty says a blizzard is ‘fixin’ t’ fly.’”

  He chuckled and tried to draw Joy out. “Seems that Flinty’s bum knee lets him know when the next
blizzard is setting up.”

  “It’s not just getting them off the mountain,” Joy explained. “Helen is doing very badly.” She hesitated and then spoke her worry aloud. “I fear that if she doesn’t see a doctor soon she may die.”

  O’Dell’s brows creased. “I didn’t realize she was that poorly.”

  Joy looked out a window. Snow was falling again in large, powdery flakes.

  “I’m wondering . . . when the trains begin running again, would you be willing to take a short trip to Denver?”

  O’Dell scrutinized Joy for a moment. “I can tell you are hatching some sort of plot, Miss Thoresen. Care to share with me?”

  A week of blizzards at last tapered off. Crews running steam-powered snowplows along the rails labored for two days to clear the tracks until the trains could run again. Mid-morning O’Dell stepped off the train in Denver and held up his derby to hail a cab.

  Although he was unannounced, Emily Van der Pol received him and greeted him cordially. She ordered tea and, after it arrived, she listened with growing amazement as he outlined Joy’s request.

  When he finished, she thought soberly for several long moments. “If I understand you correctly, this needs to be done quickly?”

  O’Dell nodded. “The sooner the better.”

  “It is dangerous. We could fail.”

  He nodded again.

  Finally she straightened her shoulders and answered. “Yes. I’ll do it.”

  O’Dell returned that evening. Joy and Breona had already made preparations. They only needed to wait.

  On Friday, the men Banner had assigned to watch the trains observed Mrs. Van der Pol and two of her close friends as they stepped off the afternoon train. In the winter twilight the men carefully noted three finely dressed women disembarking with their luggage. They were draped in warm wools and furs. All three women sported the most elegant hats of the season—large veiled affairs bedecked in feathers and bows.

  The men watched as Billy Evans handed the women into the lodge’s carriage and drove them the short distance to their accommodations.