Joy on This Mountain (A Prairie Heritage, Book 2)
Page 29
Unsteady on her feet now, Joy looked over to Morgan. “It’s called subrogation. Liberty Indemnity could go after the personal assets of the arsonist to pay for the claim. You have bought quite a few properties in Denver recently, have you not, Mr. Morgan? Personal purchases. All cash. All free and clear?”
The collective eyes of Corinth turned on Dean Morgan. That single action told Joy all she needed to know. They knew in their hearts Morgan had burned her out. The tide was beginning to turn.
“But you should also know, good people of Corinth . . . this is not the first time Mr. Morgan has burned someone out. This is not the first time, is it, Mr. Morgan?”
“Or should I call you Mr. Franklin?”
Few people in the crowd understood the significance of that name, but for those few it brought great satisfaction. Arnie’s grin was ferocious. He had never been prouder of Joy. Then O’Dell yanked on his sleeve.
“Watch out—they’re making a break for it!”
Banner, Darrow, and a few of the more intelligent of Banner’s men were sensing a sea change in the assembly of townsfolk. They were backing away, attempting to melt into the crowd.
But a further commotion outside the town square brought Banner and Darrow to a halt. The sounds of scuffling and fighting erupted on the other side of the crowd and then,
“Halt!”
Voices in the dark announced, “U.S. Marshals! And deputized agents of the Pinkerton Agency! We have this area surrounded. Don’t anyone move!”
Joy wavered on her feet. Morgan, with an uncommon fury in his eyes, hissed, “We’re not done, by God. I will make you wish you hadn’t been born, Mrs. Michaels!”
He shouted some instructions in Chinese to his ever-present bodyguard, who launched himself toward the ragged group from the lodge. He grabbed Rose and, bending her neck unnaturally, held her that way, the threat obvious. He and Morgan began to back out of the crowd.
And then, standing small and alone between Morgan and his escape, was tiny Mei-Xing. She pulled the thin blanket away from her and let it drop to the ground. She stared at the man holding Rose.
“Su-Chong.” Her words ached. Her tiny hands clutched at her heart. “Su-Chong Chen!”
Morgan’s Chinese bodyguard stopped. He stared in disbelief.
“Mei-Xing . . . ?”
“What are you waiting for?” Morgan roared. He stood as close to his bodyguard and Rose as he could, knowing that anyone who fired at him risked hitting the woman.
But Su-Chong could not move. “Mei-Xing! How? I went back to make it right with you, to leave my father’s business and take you away to start a new life. They said you were dead. That you killed yourself.”
Mei-Xing bowed her head slightly. “Your mother told you this?”
“I—yes. She showed me your note.”
“Your mother has always been very clever, Su-Chong. And very vindictive. When I rejected you and then you left, she hated me.”
“She would never hurt you!” But Mei-Xing could see that he did not believe his own words.
“She lied, Su-Chong. And you must ask yourself how I came to be here. Like this.” Mei-Xing stared intently into his eyes, willing him to understand what she was telling him.
They stared at each other for a long moment until Mei-Xing gestured toward Rose. “This woman has loved me like a daughter. She has given me hope that I can live again . . . without shame. Please do not hurt her.”
Su-Chong glanced down and saw the woman whose life he threatened. Rose gazed unblinking at him, pain in her eyes but also calmness.
Morgan grabbed him roughly. “Go! Get me out of here! Go, you fool!”
Instead, Su-Chong looked from Mei-Xing to Morgan wonderingly. “Is this woman the ‘Little Plum Blossom’? Is she the woman who escaped from your high-class whorehouse?”
Su-Chong saw the truth on Morgan’s face. He dropped Rose and grabbed Morgan by the throat. His fingers squeezed mercilessly and Morgan’s eyes bulged—and then Mei-Xing’s delicate fingers were touching his arm, her eyes begging him.
O’Dell, Groman, and Groman’s men pulled Mei-Xing back and wrestled Su-Chong and Morgan to the ground. Su-Chong did not resist and he said nothing. He only stared sadly at Mei-Xing as they handcuffed him and Morgan and dragged them away.
Rose, rubbing her neck, drew close to Mei-Xing. They watched together as the marshals and the Pinkertons rounded up Banner’s remaining men. Rose tentatively put a hand on Mei-Xing’s shoulder and the girl collapsed in Rose’s arms, sobbing.
~~**~~
Chapter 41
David Kalbørg stepped up onto the monument’s base and addressed his town’s citizens. “For too long I have been afraid to speak out about the evil practiced in this town. No more. Tonight the men who run this town burned my cousin’s home. Those same men may have ruined some of you financially. And it would serve you well if they have. No man can be a friend of such unrighteousness and be a friend of God’s.”
“But those things pale in comparison to the wicked practices that are celebrated every night in those two houses.” David pointed down the street toward the two mansions.
“Burn ’em!” one man shouted. “Burn them like they burned Miss Thoresen’s place!”
“No!” David’s voice roared above the crowd. Then he whispered, and the crowd quieted to catch his words. “That is not God’s way.”
He sighed deeply. “Our Lord said this: ‘I have come to set the captives free.’ Inside those houses are young girls and women, some of whom were kidnapped and forced into a degrading life. They are slaves. Let us tend to them.”
He stepped down and then asked, “I am going to open the doors of those houses and take those girls out of there. Who will take them in?”
Rose stepped forward, her arm still around Mei-Xing. “Pastor, I have a suggestion. The lodge is gone, and we—” she pointed at the members of Joy’s household, “are all refugees at the moment.”
She turned to the people. “It will be daylight soon. Help us to clean those houses. Rid them of every wicked thing within their doors. Scrub the houses and their furnishings from top to bottom. We will move into the houses temporarily and speak to each woman about what she would like to do. If she has family, we can help to reunite her with them. If not, they may remain with us, or they are free to go.”
Rose said more and others joined in, some asking questions. Joy heard the discussion and understood part of it, but her mind was no longer functioning well. She sagged onto a bench, the pain of just breathing more than she could bear. Breona, Marit, and Uli emerged from the shadows.
“Joy.” She heard her cousin as though from a distance. “Joy, I’m to take you, Marit, and Will to our home. We need to see to your injuries.”
Uli’s face was somewhere in the haze in front of her. Trying to look at it made Joy dizzy and she closed her eyes against the nausea. “I can’t climb up into the wagon, Uli. Hurts . . . to move.” The shocks of the night’s events coupled with the cold night air were taking their toll. Her teeth began to chatter.
“I’ll take Marit and Will and then bring bandages to strap your ribs.”
Breona sat on the bench next to her. “I’ll be stayin’ w’ ye, miss.” She scooted as close to Joy as she could and gently wrapped her arms about her, trying to warm her.
“Thank you, Breona,” Joy managed. “Dear friend.”
“Shhh now.”
Joy leaned against Breona’s sturdy little body. The girl was quiet a moment and then whispered softly, “’Tis home I’d be takin’ ye . . . if . . .” She swallowed a little sob.
Joy knew what she meant. Their beautiful lodge, their happy home. The only real security and family Breona had ever known.
Ashes.
It was the sacrifice required to confront the hidden wickedness within Corinth. The sacrifice was a painful one.
“As long as you wish it, Breona, you will have a home with us,” Joy whispered. “We’ll begin again. We will move to Denver, and you will b
e with us. We can’t do it without you.”
Breona began to shake with silent sobs. Joy found her rough little hand and they wept together.
The bench they sat on faced east where a soft glow was slowly lightening the horizon. It would be daylight in an hour.
Breona had fallen into an exhausted sleep against Joy’s shoulder. Joy heard the sound of a wagon approaching and then the murmur of voices coming near.
“That was quite an oration, Cousin,” Arnie whispered near her ear. “Your closing arguments were top-notch. I might need to take you on as a partner.”
Joy, her eyes still closed, managed to smile. Dear Arnie would be forever teasing her.
“Come on, we need to get you and Breona back to David and Uli’s.”
Joy felt Uli’s warmth kneeling beside her. “Arnie and I are going to wind these bandages tightly about your chest, Joy. We don’t want you to move until that is done.”
Breona woke with a start and wiped her face. “I can be helpin’, Miz Kalbørg.” Working together, Uli and Breona strapped the winding cloths snuggly about Joy’s broken ribs.
With a jolt Joy remembered. “Blackie!” A dull stab of pain accompanied her cry, but the strapping had eased it considerably. “Arnie, do you know where Blackie is?”
She could make out Arnie’s doubt in the early morning light. “He was with us at the lodge before we walked here.”
Arnie began to call for the pup. He ran along the storefronts whistling for him but returned without him.
“He will turn up, Joy,” he reassured her.
Then Joy saw him. Not Blackie, but the man in the shadows. He stepped out from the trees near City Hall. Instinctively, Joy knew he held her puppy. And that same sense of . . . dread? wrapped icy fingers around her heart. Not dread for her dog, but something more momentous.
“Blackie! Come!”
The figure walked slowly toward them. Joy heard Blackie’s happy yips answering her back, but it was the shadowy specter she stared at. Her heart pounded in her throat. What was it? She needed the man to come out of the dark; she needed to see his face.
Arnie came close to Joy and she heard a sharp gasp from him. The man was closer now. Joy could see his features, still indistinct in the pre-dawn, but becoming clearer.
He stopped several yards away, stood without speaking. Something . . . something was rising up in Joy that she could not explain, could not define. Something both awesome and terrifying! Oh why did this man not speak?
“Your dog’s name is Blackie?” The man’s first words were tentative. Puzzled. And that something inside of Joy thudded wildly in her chest. She could not breathe.
“Come closer, mister,” Arnie invited. “You are welcome here.” His invitation was gentle, encouraging.
The man hesitated. Arnie spoke to him again. “I think you once had a dog named Blackie.”
The man’s demeanor perked up. “I did! I . . . I think you are right.” He buried his face in Blackie’s fur and the puppy licked him. “This isn’t him, though, is it? Blackie was an old dog. Good old dog.”
Joy sobbed in unbelief and began stumbling toward the man. She had to look into his face!
And then Joy could see brown hair within the gray . . . curling about his face, a face scarred on one side as if it had been scraped raw . . . She stared, heart hammering, at the man who stared back at her.
“It’s you,” he said wonderingly. “I’ve been looking for you for ever so long . . . I . . .”
Rusty as it was, Joy knew that voice. And then she saw his eyes.
Such lovely hazel eyes.
“Grant!”
~~**~~
The End
Defeating Human Trafficking in This Generation
I know that we Americans feel that we ended human slavery in the 1800s. Unfortunately, slavery world-wide—and in America—continues. Today more than 27 million individuals are held in slavery and more than 10 percent of those (2.7 million) are victims of sex trafficking, mostly women and children.
The situations of sex trafficking presented in this book are fictitious. Sadly, the methods described are not. Young women, in particular those who have little opportunity in their own community, are lured by the offers of good jobs into forced prostitution. This happened here in America during the period of this book and happens still.
If you have a heart to help those who have been ensnared by human trafficking, please seek information and ways to combat this wickedness. Below are some helpful links.
http://www.christinecaine.com/
http://www.thea21campaign.org/
http://www.caritas.org/Resources/Coatnet/Coatnet.html
http://wellspringinternational.org/projects/
~~**~~
Pronunciation Guide
Amalie................ Ah´-ma-lee
Báibín................. Baw-been (baby)
Fang-Hua .......... Fahng Hwah (Fragrant Flower)
Jan..................... Yahn
Kjell................... Chell
Mei-Xing ........... Mey-Shing (Beautiful Star)
Sigrün................. Sig´-run
Søren................. Soor-ren
Thoresen............ Tor´-eh-sen
Uli...................... Yoo-lee
About the Author
Vikki Kestell has more than 20 years of career experience as a writing, instructional design, and communications professional in government, academia, semiconductor manufacturing, health care, and nonprofit organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Learning and Instructional Technologies.
Vikki is an accomplished speaker and teacher and belongs to Tramway Community Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she teaches an evening Bible study for working women. She and her husband Conrad Smith make their home in Albuquerque.
To keep abreast of new book releases, visit her website, http://www.vikkikestell.com/, or find her on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/TheWritingOfVikkiKestell. Enjoy all the books of A Prairie Heritage as they become available:
Book 1: A Rose Blooms Twice
Book 2: Joy on This Mountain
Book 3: The Captive Within
Book 4: Wild Heart on the Prairie, February 1, 2014
Book 5: Stolen, June 2014
Book 6: To Be Announced
A Rose Blooms Twice
A Prairie Heritage, Book 1
by Vikki Kestell
Also Available in Print Format
Rose Brownlee has suffered more loss than most people can endure. Now she must find a way to move on with her life. Will she bow to conventional wisdom or will she, like Abraham, choose to follow where God leads her . . . even to a country she does not know?
Set in the American prairie of the late 1800s, this story of loss, disillusionment, rebirth, and love will inspire, challenge, and encourage you.
Read Wild Heart on the Prairie, the prequel and companion to A Rose Blooms Twice, and the exciting sequel to A Rose Blooms Twice, Joy on This Mountain.
Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.
Joy on This Mountain
A Prairie Heritage, Book 2
by Vikki Kestell
Also Available in Print Format
The little town of Corinth, Colorado, lies in the gateway to the majestic Rocky Mountains just west of Denver . . . just far enough from the city to avoid close scrutiny, but close enough to be accessible. Few know of the wickedness hidden in the small town, so picturesquely set in the foothills of the mighty mountains.
Joy on This Mountain is the eagerly awaited sequel to A Rose Blooms Twice. The legacy of Jan and Rose has far-reaching and unexpected consequences.
A Prairie Heritage, Book 2. Spoiler alert! You may not want to read this book until you have read its prequel, A Rose Blooms Twice.
Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.
The Captive Within
A Prairie Heritage, Book 3
by Vikki Kestell
Also Available in Print Format
The Captive Within opens the day after Joy on This Mountain ends. The two infamous houses of Corinth, Colorado, are closed and the young women who had been imprisoned there have been released. Soon after, Rose and Joy leave Corinth to establish a home and a haven for “their” girls in Denver.
Before long, Rose and Joy face a heartrending challenge: What does it take to unlock and free the soul of a defiled woman? And as they wrestle for a foothold in Denver, Rose discovers that the long-abandoned house given to them hides a dark secret of its own.
The Captive Within is Book 3 in the series, A Prairie Heritage. Read the beginning of this saga, A Rose Blooms Twice, and its moving sequel, Joy on This Mountain. The saga continues in Book 5, Stolen, June 2014.
Visit Vikki’s website, www.vikkikestell.com or find her on Facebook.
Wild Heart on the Prairie
A Prairie Heritage, Book 4
by Vikki Kestell
Also Available in Print Format
Jan Thoresen and his brother Karl have left their native land of Norway to bring their families to America—the land of freedom and hope. Like thousands of others, Jan and his wife Elli long for the opportunity of a better life and a future for their children.
After braving an ocean crossing and the arduous journey west, they encounter a land so vast and wide that it defies mastery. Jan finds that his struggles are not only with the land, but with a restless and unmanageable heart. Will Jan find a way to overcome this wild land or will the prairie master him?
Wild Heart on the Prairie, while designated Book 4 in the series, A Prairie Heritage, is chronologically the prequel and companion to Book 1, A Rose Blooms Twice.