Tom was certain that they both knew it wasn’t going to happen.
Day by day, Virgil was growing weaker. He still managed to get dressed and come downstairs, but the effort was greater every day. The struggle to make it back up the steps to his bedroom was more and more painful to witness.
“Take this, lad.” Virgil was holding out a crumpled dollar bill, probably the last one he had. “You’ll need a mite extra, what with payin’ rent an’ all.”
Tom’s heart swelled up in his chest, and he wanted to weep. “Thanks, Virgil, but I’ve got enough.”
“Long as you’re sure. Don’t be scared to ask, if ya come up short.”
Tom took the calloused miner’s hand with its broken nails and myriad scars tight in his own, trying wordlessly to convey all that he felt in that simple clasping, afraid that he was failing dismally.
“Thanks so much for everything, Virgil.” The words were inadequate, but in the end they were all he could find. “I’ll be back to move you out before the end of the month. You need anything, send Eli for me.”
“Right you are.” Virgil sank back on the pillows as the interminable coughing started, waving Tom out of the room when he hesitated at the door.
Tom made his way down the stairs, pausing in the kitchen to stoke the stove with coal so the fire wouldn’t go out. Zelda was nowhere around, but he hadn’t expected her to be. There was nothing friendly about this parting, and nothing he could say would make it easier.
He stared down into the flames in the firebox. Deep inside, he’d always known he was incapable of sustaining a loving relationship with a woman. He’d never planned to hurt her, but he’d succeeded anyway. He replaced the stove lid with an impotent bang and shoved his arms through the worn sleeves of his coat.
At the kitchen door he turned and looked around the kitchen.
He’d spent such happy hours in this room, in this house. It was the first house he’d ever lived in that felt like home, but that was due to the people who lived here with him. He loved them, all of them, each in different ways.
Virgil was the father he’d never had.
Eli had somehow eased the guilt over the brothers he’d lost long ago.
And Zelda…Oh, God, when he thought of Zelda, the sense of desolation in his gut was so vicious and powerful he wanted to double over and retch.
Instead, he made his way to the Miner’s Hotel and paid for five weeks’ room and board, the five weeks he had to get through somehow before he left Frank forever.
Two weeks passed, then three. Lars Olsen sought Tom out to say goodbye. He’d been hired by the owner of a construction company in Fernie, a town sixty miles west of Frank, to build a hotel and a number of houses. He was taking Isabella and the children with him, and he was elated.
“Now I vill have steady vork, and near Fernie, I have found a farm. The house is not good, but I vill build a new one for Isabella and me. You vill come and wisit, Tom, our honoured guest.”
Tom had never been able to convice Lars that the town of Frank was doomed. He was immeasurably relieved now that his friends wouldn’t be around to witness the Slide when it happened. Tom had spent hourse trying to plot a way of making certain that Lars and Isabella and the children would be safe when the time came, and it seemed that fate had taken over for him.
The two men grapsed each other’s hand. “Except for our friends, Isabella and I are glad to be leaving this place,’ Lars confessed. “Still there is no vord of this swine Isabella is married to, so from now, in this new place, ve vill use my name and forget all about him. She is my vife now, common law, yah?”
Tom nodded approval. “That’s the best way to go, Lars. Vandusen will likely never show up. He’s propably gotten himself shot or something. Unless the law’s changed from what I know, you can have him declared dead legally after a certain amount of tome goes by. I wish you a lifetime of happiness, my friend.”
“And you, Tom.” A shadow passed over Lar’s cheerful face. “I am sorry about you and Zelda. I had hoped to dance at your vedding, yah? Can you not take her some daisies, say you are sorry for vatever it is between you? Vomen, they need petted, now and aghain, Tom. She is a fine voman, Zelda. I vould marry her myself if I did not love my Isabella.”
Tom’s smile was stiff. “Thanks for the advice, buddy. Tell Isabella good-bye from me, and hug those kids, okay?”
“And you vill come and wisit, yah?”
“If I can, I will.”
Tom watched Lars stride off. H’e become a good friend, and Tom would miss him.
Tom went to the Ralston’s house three times during those weeks, desperate to see Zelda, talk with her, and if possible, mend the breach between them. Each time, she met him at the door with a cool hello, her manner polite and formal.
Twice, Virgil was sitting at the kitchen table, pitifully glad to see Tom and gossip with him for an hour, and Zelda immediately put on her coat and left, saying she had errands to run.
The third time, Tom deliberately arrived late in the evening.
“I’m afraid Dad’s in bed already,” she said, standing in the doorway, barring his way. The lamplight behind her turned her hair to flame, and he couldn’t see her features clearly, but just the sound of her voice fulfilled an aching need in him.
“I figured he would be. It’s you I want to talk to, Zelda. Can I come in?”
“No. I’m sorry, Tom. No. Nothing’s changed between us. As far as I’m concerned, we have nothing more to say to one another.”
“You may not have, but I do.” It was all he could do to stop from reaching out and dragging her into his arms. As if she sensed it, she took a careful step back so that she was out of his reach.
“Whatever it is, I don’t want to hear it.” The steely note in her husky voice was suddenly gone, and she sounded close to tears. “Please, Tom,” she begged in a ragged whisper that broke his heart. “Please, please don’t come here anymore. I can’t bear it.”
She closed the door softly, and for a moment he contemplated smashing it down. His fists clenched and it took moments before he had control again. Then he turned and almost ran down the steps.
She was right. Nothing had changed. Nothing could change.
He didn’t go to the house again, relying on his frequent visits with Eli to keep abreast of what was happening with Zelda and with Virgil. They met whenever Tom’s shifts and Eli’s work at the police barracks allowed, usually once or twice a week.
Eli had become equally obsessed with law and order and the forthcoming Slide. He questioned Tom about every detail, particularly the story of the miners trapped inside the mine.
“I’ve tried to tell Corporal Allan what’s going to happen, but he remembers you from when you first got here and he thinks it’s all a story you made up. He believes you’re not right in your head, Tom, no matter how I try to tell him different.”
There had been times during the past weeks when Tom himself had wondered about his sanity, but he didn’t say so to Eli.
They were sitting in the Frank Café. Tom ordered them glasses of milk and slabs of apple pie.
“How’re things with you and Zelda?” He needed to hear about her, to know that she was safe and well. He knew that she’d finally rented a house on several acres on the outskirts of Frank, in a location he was certain was far from the Slide.
He’d been appalled that she was staying in the vicinity at all. He’d advised her to move to Blairmore, when they were still talking, but as usual, she was doing things her own way. Unfortunately, the house she’d rented wouldn’t be vacant until the twenty-seventh, just two days before the Slide.
“She still mad at you for quitting school?”
Eli shrugged. “She’s still mad, all right. But not like she used to be, when she’d holler and yell, then get over it. She just doesn’t act like she used to. She’s real quiet, she never laughs like before. And she seems kind of far away all the time.”
He frowned. “I keep tryin’ to get her to start packi
ng up to move, but all she says is that Dad’s too sick, that if she waits maybe he’ll get feeling a little better. But I think it’s her more ‘n Dad. Her eyes are red a lot, like she’s been crying. I can’t get her interested in nothing at all.” He forked up a huge mouthful of pastry, chewed slowly, and swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I wish you and Zel could get back together, Tom,” he said in a plaintive tone. “She was real happy when you were there.”
Tom had given up any pretense of eating. It felt as if a lump had lodged in his throat. “Yeah, well, sometimes these things just don’t work out. Is your dad worse, d’you think?”
Eli’s young face became somber, and he laid his fork down as if the pie had suddenly lost its appeal for him as well. “He’s not very good, that’s for sure. He mostly spends the days in bed or just sitting the parlor by the stove. He’s always cold, and his cough is worse. He can’t get his breath too good.”
Tom took several folded bills from his pocket and shoved them across the table to the boy. Eli had objected to the money when Tom had offered during their first meeting, but Tom had made him understand how much he needed to feel that he could help, in some small way.
But this time Eli shook his head. “Zel asked where I got the money the last time, and she kept on and on at me till I had to tell her. And she says to tell you we’re managing fine, and she won’t accept no more money from you.”
Impotent rage almost choked Tom. Why in God’s name did she have to be stubborn? “I’ll be over early on the twenty-seventh to help you move.”
Eli frowned. “Zel isn’t gonna like that, either. She walks outta the room if I so much as mention your name, for Pete’s sake.”
“She doesn’t have a lot of choice in the matter this time. You and she can’t do it alone, and I want her and your dad settled and safe.”
Before I go. The words were unspoken, but they were there all the same. There was silence between them. Tom signaled the waiter for coffee, and after it arrived, Eli said, “Can you draw me a map, Tom?”
“Of what?”
“You told me the miners tunneled out the night of the Slide. I need to know the exact route they used. You said seventeen out of twenty men on the night shift tunneled thirty-six feet up, to where a seam of coal outcropped. I want to know where.”
“I’m not certain I can pinpoint it exactly. What I’ll do is try and locate it underground. What’d you plan to do with the map, Eli?”
“Give it to Smiley, or one of the other foremen. Even if they don’t believe me, maybe just looking at it will help when the time comes.”
Tom sighed in frustration. “I’ve told Smiley and everyone else I could get to listen to me exactly what’s going to happen, but they just figure I’m a well-meaning crackpot. Maybe you’ll have more luck.” Tom smiled at the earnest young man. Being at the police barracks had brought out the best in Eli, proof that the choice he’d made was the right one for him. “I’ll draw what I can and try and find the place inside. I’ll give it to you the next time I see you.”
Drawing the map for Eli reminded Tom that he’d also told Jackson he would write down all the details he could remember of the train robbery. He’d deliberately held off doing so, hoping that Jackson would come to his senses in the meantime.
Now he wrote out everything he could remember. That evening he shoved the closely written sheets in his jacket pocket and walked to the Imperial where Jackson was working behind the bar.
Tom hadn’t seen his friend since the morning they’d quarreled. He sat on one of the bar stools, sadly aware that behind the wide, welcoming grin, Jackson was wary of him.
“Hey, Tom, how’s it goin’, good buddy?” He tapped Tom’s shoulder with his fist and plopped a brimming mug of draft down.
“Have one on me.”
The bar was quiet. Jackson polished an already spotless glass with a white towel, his every movement reflected in the long mirror behind him. “Heard you’ve moved from the Ralstons’. Leona was talkin’ to Zelda.”
“You probably know what went down then.”
Jackson nodded. “Yeah. Sorry to hear about you and Zelda. Hear you’re bunkin’ over at the Miner’s. You coulda come here, y’know. I’d’ a got you a room. My old one’s empty now that Leona and I are sharing a suite.”
It was obvious that Jackson was ill at ease. For the first time in their long friendship, Tom, too, felt awkward.
“Thanks, but I’m fine where I am. It’s not for very long, anyhow.” Tom waited while Jackson served whisky to two rough-looking men at the other end of the bar. “You remember that matter we talked about last time I saw you,” he said in a low tone when Jackson came back. “You still going along with it?”
Jackson’s easy smile didn’t waver, but the glance he shot Tom was cautious. “Same plans as before,” he said softly. “Same time, same place.”
“I wish you’d change your mind.”
Jackson moved his head slowly from side to side. “Sorry, partner. Not a chance.”
Tom stuck his hand in his pocket and withdrew the pages he’d written out, handing them to Jackson. “Maybe this’ll help then.”
Leaving the beer untouched, he walked out of the bar.
A Distant Echo: Chapter Thirty-Three
“Good afternoon, Miss Ralston.” Corporal Allan stood just outside the studio door, and as soon as Zelda opened it, he stepped inside.
His massive bulk made the room suddenly too small. His eyes made a swift survey behind Zelda, lingering on one photograph and then another. She’d been planning to pack everything into boxes this afternoon, in preparation for the move, but she hadn’t started yet.
Her heart slammed against her chest, and fear blossomed. “Oh, my goodness. It’s Eli, isn’t it? He’s been hurt--- ”
Allan gave her a startled look and shook his head. “No, no, the lad’s fine. He’s running an errand for me at the moment. No, Miss Ralston, I’m here on police business.”
Instantly, the thought of Leona and Bill Miner and train robberies ran through her head, and her stomach roiled. She fought to keep her expression from revealing any of her thoughts, and the animosity she felt toward Allan now took precedence over fear.
This was the man who’d had her arrested and flung into a filthy cell like a common criminal, she reminded herself. Well, he’d get nothing out of her.
“May I?” Without waiting for an answer, he stepped neatly around her. He moved directly to an enlargement she’d made of a provocative photograph of Leona, reclining on a chaise lounge with rather a lot of bosom and leg exposed and a feather boa draped across her arms.
Zelda’s hear sank as Allan studied it in silence. She would say absolutely nothing, of course, no matter what atrocities he threatened her with. But what would become of Leona? Surely they couldn’t imprison a woman big with child. She’d have to contact other members of the Women’s Temperance Union immediately, and see if they would assist her in coming to Leona’s aid.
“Hmmmm.” His already florid face was crimson when he at last turned to another photo, giving it the same intense scrutiny. “Eli tells me your father is not well. I hope his condition is improving?”
If only it were. “I’m hoping the warm weather will help,” she said evenly.
“Extend my regards.” He went from one photograph to the next, studying them as if they were police exhibits. “Yes. Well. Your brother told me you were an exceptional photographer, Miss Ralston, and I see he didn’t exaggerate. Well, now.” He clasped his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels.
Zelda felt like screaming with frustration. Why didn’t he just come out with whatever it was he wanted?
“I haven’t had occasion to speak with you in quite some time, Miss Ralston. Am I to understand that you’ve given up your attempts at closing down the local drinking establishments?”
Zelda lifted her chin high and looked at him defiantly. “Without the support of the law, there wasn’t much chance of success, was there, Corporal? And a
s I’m sure you know, my neighbor’s husband fortunately left town before he succeeded in murdering her, so the motivation hasn’t been as urgent in recent months.” She didn’t add that her convictions weren’t as clear-cut as they once had been.
“I see.” Zelda could have sworn there was a gleam of humor in his eyes. “Well, since you’ve become a law-abiding citizen, I wonder if you’d consider doing photography for the North West Mounted?”
Taken aback and totally confused, she repeated stupidly, “Photography? Me? For the Mounted?”
“Yes. I’m afraid some of it isn’t all suitable for a lady, but your brother assured me you were a professional, not given to hysterics or the vapors. You see, we need photographs taken occasionally, portraits of our members, of criminals we’ve arrested, of crime scenes, and unfortunately, sometimes of the victims of violent crimes as well, bodies and so forth. We’ve contracted until now with Mr. Beaseley, but unfortunately, he’s developed something of a, ummmm, a drinking problem, and is no longer reliable.”
His gray eyes met hers in an assessing stare. “Are you interested in taking on the contract, Miss Ralston? The Mounted will pay whatever reasonable rate is mutually acceptable.”
“Yes. Yes, of course, I’m interested.” She’d have to be a fool to refuse. It was exactly the sort of work she’d dreamed of getting, both steady and lucrative. It would help immeasurably with the doctor’s bills, steadily increasing as Virgil’s illness worsened. “I’m---we’re---moving soon, to a house on the other side of town.”
“Eli mentioned that. It’s actually much closer to the detachment, so that will be an advantage, should we need you in a hurry. That’s good then. Settled.” He nodded, turned to the door, and hesitated. He whipped around to face her. “Your young brother is a fine young man, Miss Ralston,” he said in a formal tone. “We’re very fond of him at the barracks. He’ll make a good policeman when the time comes. He’s both honest and intelligent, and hardworking to boot. I understand you helped raise him, madam. You are to be commended.” He shot her a keen look. “He’s indicated you are less than pleased at his being associated with the North West Mounted.”
Now and Forever: Time Travel Romance Superbundle Page 90