Jayce halted them once more. He gazed at her and asked, “Where are these doubts and fears coming from?”
“There’s been trouble recently with the Indians, and now with evil robbers, and the war is still going on. I want all of these troubles and perils to cease so you won’t have to risk your life so often; I want peace and safety; I want us to get married and build a life together, have a family.”
“I want those same things, my love. As soon as the conflicts are settled here and in the South, we’ll have them.”
Laura sighed as she said, “If men put as much effort and energy into negotiating and compromising as they give to battling and staying stubborn, the war would end soon.”
“That’s difficult when both sides believe they’re right. There are some things an honorable man can’t compromise on, my love.”
As they walked their horses in silence for a while, Jayce’s mind drifted to the obstacles between them and their future. He had wormed his way into the villains’ confidence and gang, but he still hadn’t unmasked their leader: her uncle. He knew from Jim that Jacob Adams was that man, but only Bart Reno was allowed to meet with Jake, and only Jake knew the identity of those who sent the stolen gold and money along an unknown route to the South. Somehow he had to get closer to Reno so he could make contact with Jake and the transporters. Only then could he finalize this mission and begin a new life with Laura.
Jayce stole a glance at her; she seemed unusually quiet and reserved today. To coax her from her shell, he jested, “I was told you went to town alone on Wednesday; are you thinking about firing me from my position?”
Laura chose her words with care to mislead him instead of lying to him; she detested that necessity. “No, there was something I had to do and I didn’t want another man to escort me. Besides, the road isn’t normally deserted.”
“It’s still dangerous to be alone out here, Laura; that was risky.”
“I carried my weapons, and I’m good with them. If you doubt that claim, just ask my father; I can outshoot him and both of my brothers.”
Jayce noted the lack of a smile and how her voice sounded strained. “What’s bothering you, my love? You don’t seem like yourself today.”
“I’m a little tired and edgy; I didn’t sleep well last night,” she told him, which wasn’t an outright lie; but her response had a vast omission.
Jayce sensed there was more to her odd mood, but he let her excuse pass unquestioned for now. “We should head back. You could use some hot coffee, rest, and a nap. I don’t want you getting sick.”
“I’m fine, but thank you. Now, tell me, what do you think about my uncle?”
“Your uncle?” After she nodded, he asked, “Why?”
“He is one of your superior officers and my relative. I was wondering if the men have noticed the strain between Father and Uncle Jake.”
“Not that I’ve heard. If there’s trouble between them, they don’t show it around the troops. Is it a serious problem?”
“It’s a longtime personal rift, but I’ll explain it to you later. I just didn’t want the men to think badly of Father if they’d noticed a problem.”
“The troops appear to respect Colonel Adams, and most like him.”
“Despite the differences between you and Father, do you?”
“Yes, my love; I think he’s a good man and officer.”
“Father likes and respects you, too.”
“Under the circumstances, I’m glad to hear that.”
“What circumstances?”
“Me being a Galvanized Yankee, who will marry his daughter one day.”
“I’m sure Father will be lenient in both directions.”
“I’m trying my best to earn his respect and acceptance so he’ll be agreeable to turning his only daughter over to me after the war.”
Oh, Jayce, my reckless love, if only that were true. She gave him a subtle warning. “If you don’t disappoint him, your task will be simple.”
Will it, Laura, after I expose his brother as a criminal? Will he be so angry he tries to prevent us from marrying? If he refuses to give us his blessing and permission, willyou defy him? Willyou hold what I’m doing against me, my love? Will it change your feelings for me?
As they neared the fort, Laura murmured, “Jayce…Please be careful and don’t get into any trouble.”
“I stay alert, Laura, so don’t worry.”
“I can’t help it; our future is at stake. I don’t like that Captain Reno you’re with so much.”
Jayce tensed. “Has he said or done anything improper?”
“No, but whenever I’m around him, he makes me nervous.”
“I haven’t had any problems with him, but I’ll keep my eyes and ears open. I can’t help being around him; he commands my company, and I can’t request or demand a change. If he ever says or does anything to offend you, tell your father or uncle. But if he ever tries to harm you, tell me; and it’ll be the last time he makes that mistake.”
He’s already harmed me by endangering you! “I’m happy you’re so protective of me. You’ll be a wonderful husband.”
“And you’ll be the best wife a man could have. I love you, Laura.”
“I love you, Jayce. Now, I best hush since we’re almost to the corral.”
On Sunday afternoon after returning to the cabin, Laura and Howard sat on the sofa before a cozy fire, talked, and drank hot tea.
“I enjoyed the pastor’s sermon and was especially delighted to meet Mrs. Wiggins. I’m glad you asked her to join us for church and dinner at that restaurant. She’s a nice lady, Father, and very attractive. But I must say, it felt odd to worship in a boardinghouse that also serves as a courtroom.”
“It was quite an interesting experience. The new church will be finished soon, so we’ll be attending services there within a month.”
Laura had met for the first time that day the woman who had stolen her father’s heart. She was in favor of her father’s romance with the Army widow with curly black hair, expressive brown eyes, and shapely figure. The woman’s face was unlined, but her hands were red and chapped from laundry chores. Charlotte smiled quickly and easily, much as Jim Wright did. She was friendly and well-schooled and implied she was from a good family. Laura had wanted to know everything about the lovely woman, but didn’t flood Charlotte with questions on their first meeting.
After she finished sipping tea, Laura remarked, “That town certainly needs one; it has more than its share of places of ill repute and people who need to be civilized and Christianized.”
“I’m sure Prescott will be a fine town one day, but I’m eager to return to Fredericksburg and home. I know you’ll be glad to leave this rugged area.”
“Being here isn’t too bad, Father. It has a wild beauty.”
Howard halted his cup in midair. “I’m delighted to hear you say that, my dear, because I realize these living conditions are difficult for you.”
“Perhaps we have some pioneering blood in us,” she quipped.
“So, you also like challenges and adventures, do you?”
“On occasion.”
“Is that young private providing you with a challenge?”
“Private Durance?” She saw her father grin and nod; she hoped her expression didn’t give away her secret. “I’m not trying to tame or charm him, Father, so he isn’t a diversion for me.”
“I rather like that young man. I made a wise choice in him, right?”
“Yes, Father, you did, but you’re a smart man.” She took the focus off her and Jayce by teasing, “That’s why you’re seeing Mrs. Wiggins, right?”
“I must confess, Laura, she does make me feel good when I’m with her. I enjoy her companionship and conversation. She’s quite interesting.”
Laura noted a dreamy gaze in his eyes and wistful tone to his voice. “Are you getting serious about her?”
“It’s too soon to make that decision, but…she does have an enchanting way about her.”
&n
bsp; “You deserve love and happiness, Father. It’s time to put your past life with Mother to rest and to begin a new one. From what I saw and from what you’ve told me, she seems a person of the highest quality. In my opinion, she would make a good wife for you.”
Howard looked at Laura. “You think I should marry her?”
“Only you can make that decision, Father, based on love.”
“For a single and young lady, you sound as if you understand that emotion. I wonder if Private Durance has anything to do with it.”
“Are you trying to play matchmaker?” she teased.
“No more than you are, my dear.”
“He’s a Galvanized Yankee, you know, an ex-Rebel and exenemy.”
“The important word, if one may call it that, is ex, my dear.”
Laura’s heart beat with excitement and elation. “I must confess, Father,” she echoed his earlier words and laughed, “he is nice and intelligent and well-mannered, and he’s enjoyable company.”
“And handsome and single,” Howard added, and chuckled.
“We’ve only been here for a month, Father, so I really should get to know him better before I have serious thoughts about him.”
“Then I suggest you spend more time with him.”
“He’s a soldier, Father; he has other duties to attend. Besides, considering our opposing ranks, as I shall call them, it wouldn’t appear proper to spend too much time with him. I can’t invite him to dinner or to share a pleasant evening with us, not with you being the fort’s commander and him a Galvanized Yankee. It would cause gossip, sir, and perhaps dissension among the other men to show favoritism toward him.”
“But the war and my duty should end soon, and we’ll be going our separate ways. You should take advantage of our remaining time here.”
“Are you suggesting I should romantically pursue Private Durance?”
Howard chuckled and echoed part of her earlier words, “Only you can make that decision.”
“But you would concur with it?”
“Unless I’m mistaken about Durance, I most assuredly would, my dear. If, however, he isn’t the man I presume him to be, I pray you do not fall in love with him, for I would fight that mismatch to my last breath.”
Laura knew he was exaggerating his last sentence, but, in view of Jayce’s current actions, it caused chills to race over her body. She thought it odd that her father was pushing her toward an allegedly reformed Confederate soldier, toward a man whom, as far as he knew, was a near-stranger. What, she mused, had Jayce done to create such a favorable impression on her father? And why, her heart demanded, had cruel fate allowed Jayce to imperil it?
Somehow and in some way, Laura worried, she must make certain her father never made any discoveries pertaining to Jayce’s destructive actions. Without those grim complications, her father’s encouraging words would have made her the happiest women alive. Instead, she felt miserable, defeated, and frightened.
News arrived the following day that General Sheridan had joined General Grant at Petersburg to press the Federal siege there. It was the Union’s opinion that the Confederacy had little left to give except hope and spirit, and those feelings were vanishing fast with one million Yankees challenging only one hundred thousand Rebels. Although the South still held isolated areas and won occasional skirmishes, its businesses were broke and its economy lay in shambles; much of its land and many of its major cities lay in burned or looted ruins; its railroad system was almost destroyed; the blockade had tightened; and its people were suffering ghastly hardships.
Those reports distressed Laura. She prayed for an end to such horrors. With the war’s termination, the South’s need for support would cease, as would Jayce’s reason to commit crimes.
On March twenty-seventh, letters arrived from Tom and Henry who continued to remain safe and unharmed and involved in victorious duties.
* * *
On the following day, a daring and desperate Laura trailed Jayce and the gang to a location where her beloved’s fate darkened again. During the robbery of a gold shipment, an innocent man was killed…
Chapter Twenty-Two
Laura sneaked as close as she could to the men when they stopped following their escape from the scene of their crime. Despite her distance from them, she overheard an angry Jayce quarrel with Bart Reno.
“Damn you, Reno, you killed him!”
“We’re at war, Durance, and men get killed in war.”
“He wasn’t a soldier and that wasn’t a battle with our enemies! I told you I wouldn’t be a part of this if there was any shooting.”
“The Confederacy needs gold; we hafta take it any way necessary.”
“I’m not going back to prison or be hanged for murder, Reno.”
“This doesn’t happen often, so calm down.”
“A man hangs for murder whether he kills one person or ten. You’re an expert shot; you could have merely wounded him.”
“You trying to become leader now and give the orders?”
“No, but this riles me, and it puts all of us in danger. It’ll make them look harder for us and place more guards on the shipments we need.”
“You running scared or wanna quit because you’ve gone sweet and soft on the colonel’s daughter, is that what’s bothering you?”
“No, she’s just a pampered and spoiled southern belle and a lousy Unionist. I don’t like trailing her like a puppy and having to take orders from her, but I don’t have a choice. If you want that sorry duty, please feel free to ask the colonel for it and I won’t mind one bit. In fact, I’ll be grateful to you for taking her off my hands. I believe in what we’re doing for the Confederacy, so I’m staying in, but the killing has to stop.”
“Then don’t give nobody else a chance to pull a gun on me. All of you stay here and I’ll be back soon.”
“Why do we have to wait here? Why can’t we meet our boss? How do we know you don’t go off somewhere and hide the take for yourself?”
“You challenging me, Durance?”
“No, but I don’t like working in the dark. If I’m going to risk my neck, I want to know if the man we’re helping can be trusted. How can I, if I don’t know who he is and what he’s doing with the take? How about you, boys?” Jayce asked the other men. “Do you feel the same way?”
Laura saw the three Southerners glance at each other, then nod in agreement.
The Union captain scowled and stiffened, almost snarling at Jayce. “You trying to cause trouble, Durance? We ain’t had none until you joined up with us. We got rules to follow, one of them being nobody sees our contact. That way he can’t be exposed if one of you turns traitor on us.”
“It sounds to me as if you’re the one who doesn’t trust us, Reno, but you expect us to trust you and this mystery leader. We just want to make sure these takes go to the Confederacy as we’re being told. Why should that be a problem?”
“Like I told you, he can’t risk being exposed. He’s the one who knows where and how the gold and money are sent South.”
“What if he got killed? If we don’t know his travel route and contacts, we couldn’t keep up our work for the Cause; and if we don’t know where he hides the take until he sends it out, that gold and money’s lost forever.”
Laura witnessed the other men nod and murmur agreement, a turn in events that did not sit well with a frowning Reno, who glared at the instigator and seemed to ponder what to do. She hoped Jayce knew how to handle the cunning man. She didn’t take offense at Jayce’s words about her, assuming they were lies to protect her. At last, Reno shrugged and responded to Jayce’s query.
“I’ll ask the boss about you boys meeting with him next time. For now, wait here for me and I’ll be back soon. That suit you, Durance?”
Laura watched Jayce nod without looking cocky and victorious after Reno’s coerced submission and surly remark. As Reno started to leave with the loaded mules, she was tempted to remain behind to observe Jayce and the others. She resisted that idea
and trailed Reno, in case Jake met with those contacts today and she could learn their identities.
Laura was relieved that Jayce hadn’t challenged the gang’s leader, as the other three men could have sided with Reno, having known him longer. She knew Reno would never allow Jayce to quit and stay alive, and Jayce probably knew that fact when he conceded to Reno’s terms. But his anger about the murder and being kept “in the dark” were good signs; perhaps she could use his discontent to persuade Jayce to turn against the criminals and to exonerate himself by helping her expose them…
Laura was extra careful as she shadowed the edgy and furious Reno. When he rendezvoused with Jake, she didn’t dare get closer to eavesdrop on their conversation, which appeared a serious one from their sullen expressions. However, she did make two new discoveries: first, that Reno knew the concealment site, as he met with Jacob Adams at the old mine and helped her uncle hide the gold. Afterward, the two men talked for a few minutes before Jake left first and Reno lingered behind to destroy their boot and hoofprints.
Laura’s second discovery was learning the reason Jake didn’t worry about the cache being found by a nosy prospector: her uncle, she assumed, had staked a claim on the mine and area surrounding it, because signs marked the location as private property. She had intended to draw a map for Jim, but that was unnecessary since all claims, she had been told, were filed with the land office in Prescott.
Laura considered hiding in the tunnel before the next theft to see where Jake stashed the stolen goods. Even with warning signs posted, she reasoned, surely he put the valuables where he was assured no one would find them. She wondered if all of the stolen “takes” were stored there or if Jake’s contact already had sent some of them South and would come for this one soon to do the same. Yet, fears of snares and unknown perils prevented her from going inside to get answers to those various queries. She was brave and determined, but she must not be reckless or endanger herself.
Defiant Hearts Page 42