by Cassie Hayes
“Millie! I thought you would be on my side!”
“Course, I’m on your side, Dell, but having me on your side means sometimes hearin’ hard truths. I’m truly sorry if you feel that means I ain’t got your best interests at heart, ‘cause I love ya likin’ you was my own child.”
Millie tried to pull her back onto her shoulder but Delilah resisted.
“Are you saying you think Jack simply stumbled into Miss Sweet’s lips? That a bag of gold just dropped from the sky into her hands?” She stared at her friend, incredulous at her naiveté.
“‘Course not, Dell. But Jack’s got a good heart, deep down. I gotta believe it ain’t as bad as you’re makin’ it out to be.”
The truth struck Delilah like a hammer.
“You just want me to be as miserable as you!”
She stood up, backing away from Millie as if she had the plague, staring at her in horror.
“You married a dipsomaniac and your life has been wrecked by alcohol and debauchery. This is normal for you! Well, I tell you, Millie, this is not what I want from my life!”
Shame filled her at the tears she saw in Millie’s eyes but it was so clear to her now.
“Dell, you don’t know what you’re sayin’, and I’m tellin’ you right now, I forgive you. You go on now, go on outta here and do whatever crazy thing you was planning, but I want you to know, that my arms and heart will always be open for ya.”
Delilah didn’t loiter, but she saw enough to see tears streaming down Millie’s cheeks. Something wasn’t right but she’d gone too far. Millie was right, she needed to leave.
Avoiding the main thoroughfares, she scurried through town without so much as a hint of Jack. Going back to Sam’s wasn’t a good idea because that would be the first place Jack would look for her — if he was even bothering anymore — and she needed time to think. She had no idea where she was going until she ended up at the little fountain Sam had told her about.
Laughing at the irony, she sat on a rock and dropped her head in her hands.
“Well, I guess I got my wish after all, didn’t I?”
She’d wished for her paper to be printed — and it was — but the toll it took on her heart was almost more than she could bear.
It dawned on her that for the second time in her short life, she’d put her faith in a man. That they both would betray her with the same woman was much more than coincidence. She had no choice but to believe it was God trying to tell her something…but what?
Staring into the fountain’s mesmerizing bubbles, Delilah came to the understanding that her path was not meant to be that of a wife and mother. For a while, she thought maybe it would, but God’s plan for her was to help others find their mates, and spinsterhood would be the price she would have to pay for becoming a broker of true love.
The entire focus of her life must be The Nuptial News, with no outside distractions. There was certainly enough work to keep her busy, and once the paper was a success, perhaps Mr. Kimble or one of the other printers in town would see that it was not a vehicle for harlotry and agree to do business with her.
There was no possible way she could continue working with Jack now, not that he would want to. It was obvious that he was missing his old habits, so it was quite likely that the print shop would be sold or gambled away to a new owner in short order. As adept at the profession as he seemed, Jack had let it be known that he wasn’t one to settle down. Not with a steady, secure business and not with one woman.
The last rays of the sun dipping below the headlands dazzled Delilah’s eyes. She had passed the entire day staring into the waters of the fountain, wishing things had turned out differently but finally coming to accept the way they were. And now it was time to get back to business.
The papers were due at Millie’s first thing in the morning so they could be loaded onto the steamship for shipment back east. Jack most likely spent the day in Fanny’s arms — her stomach roiled at the image — which meant that poor Aidan was left with all the work.
Well, no longer. Holding her head high, she marched through the scruffy undergrowth until she was back on the dirt-packed streets of the rapidly growing San Francisco.
Buildings shot up almost overnight here, and ships full of hopeful miners disembarked daily. Throngs of people roamed the waterfront and fights among the drunks lingering there were not uncommon. But the combination of hundreds of wooden buildings, flimsy construction and carelessness led inexorably to destruction, many times over.
Fires often broke out among the many hastily-built structures and flammable goods that littered every street, burning whole sections of town to the ground, only to have them rebuilt and expanded within days. In fact, three blocks of buildings along Kearny Street — close to their shop near Portsmouth Square — had burned to the ground in May and another large portion of the same area down to the wharf was razed in June, with new construction already being nearly complete. When the bells of the fire brigade rang out, as they were on her walk back to the office, you simply made sure you were not in danger of being run down by one of the department’s three hand-pump engines and continued on your way.
Rounding the corner onto Clay, Delilah was stopped in her tracks for the second time that day. But this time it wasn’t Jack kissing another woman that nearly stopped her heart. It was seeing flames licking at the windows of The Nuptial News.
Chapter 13
Before she even realized what she was doing, Delilah found herself running toward the burning building. A small crowd had gathered across the street, out of reach of the flames in case they went out of control, as they often did when summer winds were blowing. The fire engine’s bells were still off in the distance, and Delilah couldn’t even be sure they were even responding to this fire — it was entirely plausible they were heading to a different fire in the opposite direction.
As she drew closer, she could see through the windows that the fire was concentrated near Jack’s desk. Everything was inside — the customers’ files, the printed papers, everything — and it was all going up in smoke. She’d worked so hard to get to this point, and to just let it go without even trying was impossible. Surely something could be done.
In her heart, she knew it was too late to save the papers themselves — there was no way she could carry them out of the building by herself, and she didn’t see any sign of Jack or Aidan — but there might just be enough time to salvage the galleys of each page she’d so carefully put together, if she was quick. That would be enough because she could then find some printer, maybe one in Sacramento, to simply reprint the paper. Where the money to pay for such a service would come from was a mystery but she’d come this far and she wasn’t going to give up now.
Glancing around to make sure no one was close enough to stop her, Delilah took a great breath and burst through the front door and into a wall of heat, the sounds of shouting echoing behind her. They were quickly drowned out by the crackle and growing roar of fire consuming the dry wood of the building.
Thick, black smoke boiled from the walls and floors and furnishings, threatening to overpower her. She ducked low and scurried toward the back, where they stored the galleys. Coughing and gasping for air, she pulled each of the plates from its resting spot, stacking them on the floor. Her eyes burned and watered from the acrid smoke that was filling the shop. It was becoming hard to see, and much harder to breathe.
She tried lifting the pile of plates but the metal typeset made them too heavy. There was no time to make several trips for them. They all needed to be saved, and she had only one chance to do it. The time was now.
Kneeling down on the rough wooden floor, she applied a steady pressure to the bottom of the stack with the hope of sliding it across the floor without toppling it. Far too slowly, she made progress but she grew weaker with each nudge of the stack. If she could just reach the door, all would be well, but each push forward was shorter than the last.
A glowing ember landed near her hand, transfixing her. It
was so beautiful. Pulsing orange and red and black. She could gaze into its mesmerizing depths forever. But she was just so tired. It was all she could do to keep her eyes open to stare at the slowly dying ember. She laid her head down — just for a moment’s rest — and a deep peace washed over her as darkness filled her vision.
Sleep had finally come.
~*~*~
Jack ran up to the growing group of bystanders watching his shop go up in flames.
“What happened?” he yelled, grabbing fists full of hair.
The closest man to him shook his head. “I dunno. Think I saw a woman walk out a heartbeat before a flash went off inside. Struck me as odd she didn’t turn around, just sauntered off without a care in the world.”
Fury filled Jack to overflowing. Fanny had done this, and he would spend the rest of his life making her pay. All their hard work, all of Dell’s dreams, were up in smoke.
Dell. She’d be devastated by this. He had enough left from his strike to start The Nuptial News a dozen times over, but this first one was her baby, her dream. It about killed him that his selfish actions had led to this end.
“But the woman I’m worried about,” continued the stranger, “is the one that ran in there a few minutes ago. She ain’t come back out yet and that fire ain’t getting any smaller. ‘Fraid she might be done for.”
Jack grabbed the man by the shoulders, frantic.
“What woman? When? What did she look like?”
The man was taken off guard but answered, pointing to the inferno. “Pretty little dark-haired thing in a light-colored dress. Blue, I think. Ran in there just after the fire took hold.”
Before the man had finished speaking, Jack was bolting across the street toward the front door, knocking away any hands that tried to restrain him. Dell was in there and nothing was going to stop him from getting her out.
Leaping through the door and straight into hell, he raised an arm to shield his face from the intense heat and the choking smoke. Just a few feet away lay Dell, her head resting on her outstretched arm, as if she was taking a nap. A stack of galleys rested in front of her.
In a tick, he understood everything. She’d risked her life to save the galleys but was overcome by the smoke. And he would be too, if he didn’t grab her and high tail it out of there.
In his rush to gather her limp body into his arms, he knocked over the galleys, sending tiny metal letters skittering across the smoking floorboards. He didn’t even notice. Once he had Dell, he ran out of the shop like a scalded cat — which he nearly was — and into the fresh air.
Two fire engines arrived, with volunteer firemen scrambling for hoses, but there was nothing they could do to save the print shop. Instead, they concentrated their efforts on the neighboring structures in an effort to contain the blaze and prevent yet another catastrophic fire.
Jack laid Dell on the ground, away from the smoke, away from the fire brigade and away from the crowd. He’d never felt so desperate in his life. He’d faced death a dozen times during his travels but they were nothing compared to the possibility of losing Dell. The world — not just his life — would be a worse place if she wasn’t in it. Of course, he couldn’t give a hoot about the world, he just wanted her for himself.
“Dell, can you hear me? Wake up, Dell!”
Patting her ashen face to rouse her, Jack’s heart lurched when a low moan escaped her pale lips. Her eyelids fluttered open for a brief moment before huge, hacking coughs wrenched her body. There was nothing for him to do but hold her close until the fit eased.
After an eternity, she was finally able to take a breath.
“Jack?” she whispered, her throat hoarse.
He drank in her sooty features, smoothing her brow and smiling down at her. He’d never known his heart to beat so fast.
“You’re safe, darlin’. I got ya out before—“ He choked up at what might have happened if he hadn’t been there. “You’re safe,” he managed.
Still in a stupor, Dell’s gaze wandered until they lit upon the print shop, now fully engulfed in flames. Her body stiffed and she struggled to sit up, her eyes frantic.
“The galleys! Jack, the galleys!”
“Hush, Dell, be still now, y’hear? Those galleys are gone. The papers are gone. There’s nothin’ for it now. Shh, don’t cry, Dell!”
Muffled sobs mingled with coughs as she buried her face in his chambray shirt.
“Dell, I swear to you this ain’t the end. We’ll start over from scratch. We’ll—“
“No, Jack,” she said, pulling back from him, tears streaking their way through the soot on her cheeks. “It’s over, don’t you see? It’s all gone, burnt up. Everything that went into making up the paper was in that building. That’s why I was trying to get the galleys out, because at least then…”
“But, Dell—
The pleading look she gave him stilled his tongue.
“I don’t have it in me, Jack. I put my heart and my soul into The Nuptial News and now it’s gone.”
“What’s gone?” Aidan kneeled down by them, concern filling his face when he saw Dell’s state. “Dell, me sweet. What kind o’ devilry y’been up ta, lass?”
Jack’s fear for her life turned to irritation that she would risk it so wantonly. “She nearly killed herself to save the galleys for the paper, that’s what!”
“Now why would ya go ’n do a darn fool ting like dat?”
Dell looked between them, her eyes flashing. She managed to sit up on her own, though Jack kept one arm around her waist.
“Why?! Because that was my only chance to get the paper out, that’s why. Now the galleys are burned, the papers are burned, the files are burned. What am I going to do now?”
Jack’s heart ached as she buried her face in her hands and her shoulders shook with fresh sobs. Her misery was his misery, and he would do everything in his power to take it away.
“What d’ya mean, da papers burnt? Da papers din’t burn.”
That didn’t make sense. When Jack had gone running after Dell that morning, the papers were drying and Aidan had gone home for a well-deserved rest. This was the first time Jack had returned to the shop all day, but even if Aidan had come back right away, there’s no way he could have collated, folded and bundled the papers by himself, much less deliver them to Millie. Besides, hadn’t he seen them dangling from the strings when he ran in to save Dell? He couldn’t remember now.
He was about to ask Aidan to explain when Millie bustled up, crouching down next to Dell and fussing over her.
“I just heard! What happened? Why do you look like you’ve been through fire and brimstone? What did you do, Jack Dalton?!”
The flames shooting from Millie’s eyes were nearly as hot as the ones he’d just run through. Holding up his hands in defense, he said, “It wasn’t me, I swear!”
“Millie, Jack pulled me from the fire,” Dell interrupted, turning her teary eyes to Millie. “I tried to save the papers but I couldn’t.”
Millie’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “What…?”
“Das what I been tryin’ t’tell ya,” Aidan shouted. “Da papers din’t need savin’. Dey twern’t in da shop!”
They all sat mutely as he explained that he’d been too excited to sleep earlier so he’d returned to the shop. There was no sign of Jack or Dell, so he paid three boys who’d worked at Kimble’s on occasion to help get the papers bundled and delivered to Millie’s for shipment in the morning. He was just returning from the final delivery.
“So…the papers are…fine?” Dell was having a hard time sorting out this news. So was Jack, for that matter.
“But I swear I saw papers hanging in there,” he said.
Aidan winked. “Aye. Gotta have one fer da archives.”
Jack could have kissed his smirking face for the happiness that filled Dell’s. Hope lit her eyes and color returned to her cheeks. Smiling and laughing, they all hugged in turn, Dell pulling back from Millie and giving her a long, hard look.
“Millie, I didn’t even know you owned a black dress. It’s quite fetching, though it does make you look like a bit like a widow,” she teased.
Millie’s downcast gaze spoke volumes, and Dell gasped in horror.
“No! Oh, Millie!” She launched herself into the older woman’s arms. “I’m so sorry. What happened?”
“It was time for Otis to go home to Jesus, is all. Funeral was today. I woulda invited ya but I know how you felt about the man and I didn’t want to ruin your special day.”
“Oh, Millie, you should have told me. And what I said earlier! I’m so ashamed.”
Patting Dell’s back, Millie shushed her.
“There, there, child. No need to get worked up. Told ya then that my arms is always open for ya.”
Jack motioned for Aidan to follow him, leaving the women to mourn together. When they were out of earshot, he asked, “Did you see Fanny prowling around when you left last time?”
Aidan’s brow knitted. “No, can’t say…wait! You tink Fanny done dis?”
“Most certainly do. That man over there saw a woman leaving the building just before it caught fire and Fanny had an axe to grind with me.”
Aidan shook his head in disbelief. “Wonder where she got to…”
Jack gave Aidan a hard look. “Yup, I’m wondering the same thing.”
Eyes narrowed, Aidan stared back for a moment before giving a curt nod and scurried into the growing shadows of the night.
Millie was wiping the tears and grime from Dell’s cheeks with a handkerchief when Jack returned to them.
“See, child, I told ya it’d all work out in the end,” he heard Millie coo as he approached.
“Well, it didn’t all work out. Jack’s still a cad, and my heart’s still sore from it.”
She jumped when he took a knee in front of her. “Oh!”
“Dell, I know we got off to a rocky start when I first come here, and I honestly don’t blame ya for thinkin’ so poorly of me. But I ain’t the same man now, Dell, and that’s thanks to you.”