Texas Tiger TH3

by Patricia Rice

  The chest was filled with yellowed manuscripts. She hoped they were ones already published because she couldn't possibly carry them. The gunbelt was there. The rifle wasn't. She didn't know what that signified, but with Daniel and his rifle missing, and the man downstairs shutting them down, it smelled of warfare.

  Adding the belt and guns to her satchel, Georgina took one last glance around and found nothing else that she could carry. She glanced over her shoulder at Daniel's printing press. Surely there was some way he could come back and save that. There had to be.

  She marched down the stairs with Max in one hand and the satchel in the other. Somebody would hear about this, and they weren't going to enjoy one minute of it.

  "Who's responsible for condemning buildings?" Georgina demanded as soon as she hit the bright light of the street.

  The workman shrugged and took the hammer from her. "Mayor, I imagine. I just take orders from my boss." He backed away from Max's threatening growl.

  Georgina gave him her best vapid smile. "Then I'd suggest you don't trouble yourself too much with those boards. They'll be down again tomorrow. The mayor is a friend of mine."

  "That's what they all say." The man went back to hammering.

  Fuming, Georgina stalked down the street. She couldn't go to the mayor's house dragging a satchel and Max, and looking like this. She needed to know where Daniel was. She needed something in her stomach. She was about to starve. And she needed to know where she was sleeping tonight.

  She certainly hadn't got much sleep the night before. Remembering what Daniel had done to her last night, Georgina felt the heat rush through her cheeks. She was still sore, but it was a soreness she was more than willing to suffer again. If this was what it meant to be a wife, she was sorry she hadn't started years ago. Even now, her need to know where she would sleep tonight had little to do with sleep and much to do with Daniel. She wanted his arms around her right now.

  She didn't even know where to begin to look for him. He had always been right there, where she needed him. It felt very odd to be wandering around without him, without even knowing where to find him. It was like losing a part of herself, the better part.

  But she couldn't stand in the street, looking lost. She had to do something. And the nearest place she knew to go was the Harrisons.

  When she reached the street where the Harrisons lived, she knew she had made a wrong decision. The narrow dirty alley was swirling with angry young men, screaming women, and crying children. As Georgina approached, some turned their attention from the center of this chaos to glare at her and yell curses.

  Max growled and kept the worst of the crowd at bay. A stone sailed over her head, but it had been a halfhearted throw at best. The worst of the fury was focused on something just out of her sight—something terrifyingly close to the Harrisons' little hovel.

  Having just experienced what it was like to be arbitrarily thrown out of her home, Georgina felt fear leap to her throat. Daniel had managed to produce his paper despite threats and shotguns and intruders in the night. The person behind those threats would have to vent his fury and frustration in some way, especially since the contents of that paper would now be the talk of the town. The Harrisons had already been targeted for vengeance, and they weren't as strong as Daniel.

  With Max's help Georgina shoved her way through the crowd. Just as she had feared, she could see Janice holding a weeping Betsy in her arms, while Douglas danced up and down on a table, screaming and cursing at the top of his lungs. The objects of his curses calmly continued dumping loads of furnishings into the growing pile in the street.

  With relief, Georgina discovered Daniel filling a wheelbarrow with some of the Harrisons' smaller possessions. Behind him a man filled a pony cart with furniture. Other men arrived with wheelbarrows and carts as she pushed through to this inner circle, and an insane idea began to dance in Georgina's mind.

  As if there were some magnetic current between them, Daniel's gaze lifted to her as soon as she broke through the crowd. Sweat was pouring down his forehead, and his partially opened shirt clung to his back. Georgina could see the helpless fury in his light-colored eyes as their gazes locked, but she reacted with a laughing smile that set him back.

  Throwing her satchel into the nearest cart, Georgina sent Max into Douglas's waiting arms, then approached Janice and Betsy with an insouciance she could portray easily in her rich traveling silks, but one she couldn't feel inside. The men carting furniture from the house snickered at her approach, but she ignored them. Janice looked immediately suspicious, and Audrey turned away, but their aunt met Georgina's laughing approach with a bright look. The old lady was ready for anything.

  "Remember that parade we talked about earlier?" Georgina addressed the question to Janice who responded with weary bewilderment. "The one across my father's front lawn?"

  Recognition lit Janice's eyes briefly, but wariness replaced it. She nodded, and her gaze went to the procession of carts and barrows and donkeys forming in the alley.

  "Since Daniel and I have just been kicked out of our rooms, we have to go somewhere. You might as well go with us." Georgina grinned as Janice looked startled and Douglas jumped down to join them.

  Daniel came up behind her then, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it. Georgina glanced up and gave him a slightly wavery smile. "They condemned the newspaper building," she whispered. "They're boarding up the doors right now."

  Daniel's hand was hot and sweaty, and Georgina could see the weariness in his eyes as he nodded in understanding. She was so physically aware of him that she knew his leg hurt even without seeing his limp. She could smell the male musk of him beneath the odor of perspiration, and she would have given anything to be able to dive into his arms right now. But she couldn't stop to think about things like fear or she would collapse in sobs right here in the middle of the road.

  "I thought it would be a nice night for a parade. We have to march past Mulloney's before we reach my father's house. I don't think the servants can stop us from getting in, can they?"

  Even through his weariness, Daniel grinned. "You have a malevolent mind, Miss Merry. I really do appreciate it."

  No one had ever appreciated her mind before, and Georgina felt an extra jolt of electricity as Daniel pressed a kiss to her hair. And coming from a man as smart as Daniel, it was an extra special compliment. She just hoped she could live up to it.

  As word spread through the crowd of what they meant to do, the anger of the mob shifted to a holiday jubilation. In a gesture of defiant insolence, hats appeared to adorn the heads of the donkeys and ponies pulling carts. Bright streamers of cloth were tied to wheelbarrows and wagons. Women dashed into their houses to pull on their gayest blouses and fasten ribbons in their hair before running out to cart an armload of linens or a box of clothes. Children carrying nothing at all responded to the gaiety with laughter and excited headstands and cheers of happiness as they traveled beside the ungainly procession working its way down the alley.

  The men who had been sent to empty the house scratched their heads in puzzlement, but diligently continued their duties. Janice insisted that her elderly aunt sit with Betsy in one of the carts and sent it on its way while she helped fill others with the last of their precious possessions.

  With his arm still around Georgina's shoulders, Daniel supervised the loading, yelling at Douglas and his friends when their overexuberance threatened to topple a wagon, assuring Audrey that she could take her cat, and casually keeping an eye on the crowd. It was that casual eye that warned Georgina, and she glanced around, finding Daniel's rifle leaning against the house, close at hand. He was expecting trouble.

  "Can't we leave now?" Georgina whispered, nervously watching as the procession started off without them. "I'll need to be in front when they reach the house."

  "We need to keep Janice and Audrey with us, and they won't leave until they've seen everything safely in the carts." Daniel's tone was preoccupied.

  He was wait
ing for Egan. That knowledge sent Georgina into action. She wasn't standing here and watching Daniel fight with the bigger man when it was evident he was already dropping from exhaustion. Whatever damned possessions the Harrisons had left could take care of themselves.

  Giving Daniel a look of irritation, Georgina removed herself from his hold and hurried to Janice. With a few whispered words she apprised the other woman of the situation. Janice sent a quick look to the quiet man staunchly guarding the crowd, nodded her head, and went after her sister.

  By the time Georgina returned to Daniel's side, the sisters were smiling and waving their good-byes to their neighbors and running to catch up with the boys yelling and laughing at the front of the procession.

  Daniel frowned, but Georgina returned a dazzling smile. "We're going to do it, Daniel," she informed him happily. "We're turning this whole town on its ear, and we'll do it smiling."

  As Daniel watched the parade of gaily decorated carts and people chattering in half a dozen languages snaking their way out of the dingy alley into the broader thoroughfares of the town, he nodded agreement. There were better ways than violence, and his own Miss Merry would find them. He was damned proud of her.

  As he hurried her down the alley to catch up with the others, he raised his head to catch sight of Egan standing in the shadows of a cross street. Daniel grinned, grabbed a ribbon from Georgina's hair, and stuck it like a banner into his rifle barrel. The other man scowled and turned away.

  Chapter 32

  The parade attracted considerable attention as it wended its way through city streets on the way to the better residential section of town. Janice and Audrey waved cheerfully to acquaintances among the clerks pouring from Mulloney's at day's end. Others among the crowd waved at friends and neighbors and relatives emerging from other stores along the streets. And carriages and horses lined up to take their owners home were caught in the traffic as the parade spilled through the crowded thoroughfares.

  Georgina caught sight of one of Peter's younger brothers astride a horse trapped by the masses, and she waved gaily. He looked startled, then grinned so much like Daniel that she warmed to him instantly.

  She poked Daniel and pointed. "That's your youngest brother, John. Wave."

  Daniel turned to where she indicated and was startled to see a younger version of himself staring back. All the boy needed was a pair of spectacles and a bad haircut and he could almost be the eighteen-year-old Daniel had once been. The youngest in the family hadn't followed the Mulloney tradition for Irish good looks, then. With a rather foolish grin at that thought, Daniel waved as directed.

  The boy looked mildly puzzled, but he nodded back, then eased himself through a break in the crowd and disappeared down a side street. Daniel watched him go with a feeling of disappointment that he would never have the chance to know the lad. It had never really bothered him before that he hadn't had an opportunity to know his brothers. He wouldn't dwell on it now, when it was too late. He turned his attention back to the disorderly parade.

  The straggling procession of carts and poorly dressed people seemed to be growing in size. Neighbors joined neighbors as word spread, and there was an air of defiant celebration as they passed Mulloney's with ribbons flying. Daniel glanced up and caught the brief shadow of a man in an upper-story window, and he lifted a victorious fist with thumb upraised at his father This wasn't the significant moment he had hoped to share with the man, but it certainly was what he deserved.

  As they moved into the quieter residential area, the party became a little more subdued. Many of them had never been here before, and they stared around at the immaculate grounds behind iron fences with awe. They passed respectfully around an elegant carriage containing an elderly lady, making a path for it to continue on its way undisturbed. The woman didn't even turn her head to acknowledge them.

  Janice worked her way around the crowd to walk beside Georgina. "This idea is beginning to lose its appeal," she murmured. "We don't belong here."

  "Just as I don't belong on your side of town?" Georgina challenged her. "Just as Betsy won't belong in Mulloney's when she grows up?"

  "Betsy can be anything she wants to be when she grows up. I'll see to that," Janice replied boldly.

  "Then you'd better start teaching her about this side of town. It has the same kind of people in it as your side; they're just dressed fancier and more of them speak English." Georgina waved at a startled Loyolla Banks as the mayor's wife stood on her porch to see what was happening. Loyolla only stared back.

  "Your father will have us all arrested for trespassing."

  Daniel stepped between the two women and took their arms as he pushed them toward the head of the procession. "Her father is in Chicago trying to borrow money, a little bird tells me."

  Georgina threw him a suspicious look. "How do you know that?"

  "The little bird works in the telegraph office." With a wink Daniel linked their arms and steered the parade up the driveway to the Hanover home.

  Carts and wheelbarrows spilled over the lovingly groomed lawn as the newcomers stared up at the sprawling mansion with its hundreds of mullioned windowpanes glittering in the late afternoon sunshine. Screaming with laughter, children scrambled up the stately maples and pelted one another with pine cones gathered beneath the towering evergreens. Women stopped to stare at the wanton beauty of dozens of multicolored roses filling beds along the walls. The men assessed the number of lifetimes they would have to work at current wages to earn a structure only half as magnificent as this one.

  Georgina scrubbed away a tear and marched up the front steps. She tried the door and finding it locked, she removed a key from her pocket and unlocked it. With a welcoming gesture she bade them enter.

  The crowd held back. Noting the tremble of Georgina's lower lip, Daniel caught Audrey and Janice by the arms and led them up the stairs to join her. Their aunt followed with Douglas and Betsy.

  "We need food and drink," Daniel whispered to Georgina. "What do you think they have in the kitchen?"

  Georgina instantly beamed again. "Punch by the gallons. I'll see about food."

  The Harrisons were staring in stunned awe at the gleaming foyer, their gazes sweeping from the crystal gaslights on the walls to the delicate Aubusson carpets covering polished oak floors. Even though he was familiar with the comfortable homes in the neighborhood in St. Louis where he had grown up, Daniel still found himself impressed with the extent of the riches displayed in Georgina's home. And he had brought her to live with him in an empty warehouse. He was just beginning to realize the enormity of his folly.

  Terrified servants began scampering through the hall with buckets of punch and trays of crystal glasses and cups under Georgina's direction. Daniel imagined all that expensive glassware in the hands of children who had scarcely known anything better than a tin cup and shuddered. But it was doubtful that the Hanover household had anything so humble as tin cups, so he let them pass. He'd figure out how to pay for the damage later.

  "Audrey, you and Douglas see everyone receives a cup. Janice and I better go back to the kitchen and see what we can do to help Georgie. Our guests deserve a little refreshment for their hard work, don't you think?"

  Jarred from their stunned awe by this request that spoke to their inbred courtesy, the Harrisons immediately threw themselves into the spirit of the occasion. Within the half hour, the front lawn was filled with women sitting in spread skirts, men crouched and sitting crosslegged, and children capering over the grass, all snacking on tiny sandwiches and sipping at fruit punch while admiring the summer beauty of this parklike yard.

  "Just imagine how many people we could crowd onto my father's front lawn," Daniel mused out loud as he sat on the front step, munching a sandwich much too delicate for his tastes. He peeled open the bread and tried to identify the pastel-colored paste, wrinkled his nose, and gallantly bit into it.

  "The whole Independence Day parade." Georgina didn't dare look at Janice as she made this pronouncement.
Ideas were spinning in her head so fast she didn't dare look at herself.

  "We won't change anything," Janice replied gloomily. "We can't stay here. Someone will call the police sooner or later. Everyone will go home shortly, and we'll still be out of a house."

  "As far as that goes, Mulloney will probably come to take possession of this place as soon as he finds out we're here, but at least we're here for the night. It's a pity we can't keep everyone here. I'd like to see him throw everybody out."

  Even as Georgina said it, they could see people drifting out through the gates, seeking their homes before it grew too dark. It had been a spectacular gesture and a kind of holiday for otherwise humdrum lives, but it wasn't reality. Reality was waking up in the morning and wondering where the money was coming from for the next meal.

  The Harrisons' store of possessions was unloaded and left in tidy piles on the porch where they wouldn't get wet if it stormed. What had made such a magnificent parade now seemed pitifully small and shabby in comparison to the grand structure around them, but no comments were made. Each person depositing another small piece of the past shook one of the small family's hands, made comforting gestures, and disappeared into the growing dusk.

  "I've put Betsy and your aunt to bed in the nursery," Georgina said to Janice as she returned to join the dwindling party on the front stairs. "A maid is making up a guest room for you and Audrey. Douglas says he wants to sleep in the stable with the grooms. Do you think that's all right, or should I have a room made up for him?"

  Janice blinked back a tear. Georgina's elegant gowns had always made her feel grand, larger than life. But standing here now, bedraggled and tired, her hair falling in dishevelment about her shoulders, she was just a woman, like any other, and Janice nodded wearily.