Neil rushed to the back, recognizing the irritated tone in Cassie’s voice. That was never a good sign.
“You don’t love me. You left me. Pa would never have left me!”
“You ungrateful brat.”
He heard the slap as he rounded the corner, and he grabbed Cassie’s hand before she could slap Emily’s cheek again.
Cassie whirled around and slapped him with her free hand.
He grabbed her other hand. “You’re not allowed to lay a hand on Emily,” he snapped.
Cassie struggled against him. “Let go of me, you brute.”
“Listen to me.” Keeping his voice low, he continued, “I won’t let you hurt her.”
Emily ran over to Neil and stood behind him. “Take me home, Pa.”
His heart ached to do just that, to pick her up and leave with her. “I wish I could, honey.”
Cassie jerked her hands out of his. “I don’t get it, Neil. She’s not yours. She’s mine.”
“You didn’t want her.”
“That’s why she is hostile to me. You’ve polluted her thinking.”
“No, he didn’t,” Emily cried, holding onto Neil. “She’s hit me before, Pa. I didn’t know it was wrong before, but I know better now.”
Neil glared at Cassie, reminding himself that he couldn’t strike a woman.
“Oh, she’ll lie to get whatever she wants,” Cassie argued.
“You won’t get her, Cassie.”
Cassie straightened her back and adjusted her blue hat which matched her lacy dress. “The decision’s already been made. You are unfit to be a father.”
“I love her. That qualifies me.”
She shook her head. “You have another child and one on the way. It doesn’t matter if you have Emily or not. You can obviously have ten more if you want, but I can’t have any more children. She’s all I got.”
“Don’t you mean, she’s all John’s got? I know he stands to inherit a pretty sum of money if he can give his father a grandchild. Jack Silverman did his homework before you and John had your lawyer set me up at the saloon.”
Rolling her eyes, she sighed. “I’m giving her the opportunity of a lifetime. A school back east will do her more good than a mediocre education out west.”
“I don’t want to go to that stupid school!” Emily shouted. “I keep telling you that but you won’t listen.”
Ralph arrived, looking shocked. “May I help you folks?”
Neil closed his eyes for a moment, willing himself to calm down.
When he opened them, he saw Cassie pasting on one of her terrific smiles. “Mr. Lindon, how nice it is to see you again. I swear you haven’t aged a day since I left.”
Stopping himself from rolling his eyes, Neil said, “It’s personal business. There’s no need to get involved in it.”
Cassie shot Neil a dirty look.
Ralph glanced between them but shrugged off any other questions Neil suspected he had. “All right. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Yes,” Cassie sweetly replied, turning to him. “I would like to buy these two dolls for my daughter.”
“I don’t want them!” Emily screamed.
Before Neil could stop her, she ran out of the store. He lunged forward to go after her when Cassie grabbed his arm. “You let me have her, Neil, or I’ll make sure John takes away your farm.”
Neil shook her off of him and hurried to catch up with Emily.
Cassie groaned but ran after him.
As he opened the door, he saw Emily dodging some people on the boardwalk, ignoring questions people asked about where she was going. He called after her and ran, pushing past a couple of men who refused to get out of his way. He was aware that Cassie followed, though her heels hindered her from getting too far.
“Emily!” he yelled when he saw a horse nearly run her over as she darted across the street.
The rider shouted at her.
“Watch your language!” Neil snapped. “She’s just a girl.”
“Yeah, well if you’re her father, you’re doing a lousy job of making sure she stays out of the street,” the man bickered.
Neil grunted but decided to let the matter go. He caught up to Emily once she got to the other side of the street. “Emily,” he said as he turned her to face him. He knelt in front of her. “Honey.”
She hugged him. “I hate her,” she cried. “She’s mean.”
“I’m doing everything I can to get you back.”
“Just take me home.”
“It’s not that easy. If I take you home now, I’ll get sent to jail. Then I won’t have any chance to appear before the judge. I have to make it to court, honey. If I don’t, then I’ll lose you for good.”
“I wish you were my real father. Then this wouldn’t be happening.”
He brushed the dark curls out of her eyes and kissed her cheek. “As far as I’m concerned, I am your real father.”
Cassie caught up to them, panting. “This is enough disobedience, Emily. You have to come with me.”
“I’ll run away,” Emily argued. “I’m not going with you.”
“And where do you think you’re going to go?” Cassie scoffed.
Emily jutted her chin forward. “I have places I can go.”
She crossed her arms and smirked. “How cute. I know where your grandmother lives.”
“I have other places.”
She didn’t look convinced.
Neil stood up, holding onto Emily’s hand. “Can’t you let her stay with me until Monday?”
Cassie narrowed her eyes at him. “Why? So you can have time to run off with her the way you did once before? Only that time, you also ran off with Mary Larson.”
“Cassie,” he warned.
“What is she talking about, Pa?” Emily looked up at him.
“He didn’t tell you?” Cassie pressed her hand to her chest and shook her head. “The man you insist on calling ‘Pa’ isn’t all he appears.”
“Stop it,” Neil barked.
“Why? You filled her head with all sorts of bad things about me. I might as well return the favor.” Turning to Emily, she smiled. “Your pa took you and left me. You were a baby when it happened. So you see, he never loved me.”
“That’s not true. I did when we were first married.”
“And we all see how well that worked. Within a year, you were trying to marry another man’s wife.”
“I don’t want to go into this.” He tightened his hold on Emily’s hand.
“Why should I have stuck around with you after that?”
“Fine. You want to call a spade a spade? You wanted to run off with another man right before Emily was born. There. Are you happy that you just told Emily all our secrets? She’s only nine for goodness’ sakes.”
“I don’t care,” Emily intervened. “I just want to go home.”
“And you will,” Cassie agreed. “With me.”
Emily let out a high-pitched shriek, startling Neil. Cassie pressed her hands to her ears.
A lawman and Dan Adair approached them.
“Sir, is there a problem?” the lawman asked them.
Neil examined the fat man with a bushy beard. The man wore a deputy’s badge, but Neil hadn’t seen him before. But that didn’t cause him unease. The deputy was with Dan Adair. Dan looked at Neil and scowled. Neil hid his apprehension. Was Dan Adair talking to the deputy about what happened at the saloon? Neil couldn’t handle any more problems.
Cassie motioned to the lawman. “Mr. Craftsman is under a court order to let this girl come home with me. I’m her mother, but he’s trying to take her.”
To Neil’s horror, a group of onlookers began to form a circle around them, and one of the faces in the growing crowd was Judge Johnson, the same judge who was presiding over his case. He grew tense, realizing that this would hurt his case if he didn’t watch his words.
Forcing his voice to remain calm, he turned to the deputy. “I’m not taking her home. I know Emily has to g
o with Mrs. McCarthy. She was with her at the mercantile when I stopped by to see Ralph Lindon. I caught Cassie and Emily in the middle of a disagreement. When Emily ran out, I followed her.”
“A likely story,” a woman muttered to one of her friends.
He gritted his teeth. Couldn’t people mind their own business?
“It’s true,” Emily told the woman. “I want to be with my pa.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “Hmm...Seems to me that a girl could learn manners when speaking to her elders.” She shot a searing look at Neil.
Ignoring her, he turned to the judge. “I assure you, your honor, that I have no intention of disobeying the law.”
Cassie nodded in satisfaction and reached for the girl’s hand. Emily let out a high-pitched cry, causing several people to back up.
“What am I supposed to do?” Neil asked, frustrated when Emily refused to let go of his hand while Cassie pulled at her other hand.
The deputy approached the judge and said something to him, but Neil couldn’t make out his words over Emily’s continual shrieking.
Preacher Peters and Beatrice walked up to the crowd. Neil glanced at the preacher, wondering why he’d be talking to Beatrice. Did he believe Beatrice? Had Neil lost his support too?
Emily’s frantic kicking at Cassie took his mind off of them. Forcing aside his unease, he knelt by his daughter. “Emily, honey, you can’t do this.”
Instead of listening to him, Emily continued to kick at Cassie, who stepped back, looking bewildered.
The deputy tapped Neil on the shoulder. “Sir, the bartender said that there was a ruckus at his bar involving you and Mr. Adair over there. All I need you to do is confirm that this is the man who attacked you at the saloon.”
“What?” Neil asked.
“That is Dan Adair, correct?” the man replied.
“Yes.”
Cassie wiped her tears with a lacy handkerchief. “I don’t know what to do, Judge Johnson. Can we get this deputy to bring my daughter home?”
Mary Larson, who’d been watching, stepped forward. “May I say something, Judge?”
Judge Johnson looked her way. “Of course, you can.”
Mary glanced back at her husband and her three children before she proceeded. “I was there when Emily was born, and over the years, I have seen how things were in the Craftsman household. Cassie didn’t want her daughter, sir. When Emily was born, Cassie didn’t take care of her. But Neil did.” Her youngest child ran up to her and she picked him up. “I had to make the girl’s clothes and when I brought them over, I saw some things I wish I hadn’t. Cassie was harsh with Emily.” She took a deep breath. “Sir, I don’t want to go into detail, but one time I had to stop Cassie from beating the girl. Cassie kept screaming that Emily dumped flour on the kitchen floor and deserved to be taught a lesson. Emily had bruises all over her body. Neil was gone when it happened. I told him about it. I never saw Emily without him after that day.”
Neil had a sudden desire to take Emily away from there. She had been three when it happened, and by the look on her face, he realized she had forgotten that incident.
Cassie glared at Mary.
Mary shifted her eyes from Cassie and back to the judge. “Maybe I was wrong not to say anything, but when Sarah Craftsman told me what happened, I couldn’t sit by and let Emily return to her mother without telling the truth.”
Several women in the crowd whispered to each other.
To Neil’s surprise, Ralph Lindon pushed through the crowd until he stood by the judge and deputy. “I have something I need to report. This girl should not go home with that woman.” He pointed at Cassie.
Huffing, Cassie crossed her arms.
“What do you mean?” Judge Johnson asked.
“I saw Mrs. McCarthy slap her. She was about to slap her again when Mr. Craftsman stepped in to stop her,” Ralph continued. “The girl kept saying she wanted to go home with Mr. Craftsman. I also overheard Mr. McCarthy telling another customer about the money he was due to inherit once he gained full rights to Emily. Now, I try not to intrude in other people’s lives, and I know you’re due to hear this case on Monday”—he sighed and shook his head—“but I can’t wait until then to tell you that a child needs to be with a parent who loves her.”
Cassie’s eyebrows furrowed as she stared at Ralph. “How can you possibly know all of this?”
“Mirrors. I have them located throughout the mercantile,” Ralph explained. “And I hear things, even when people are whispering.”
“Sir.” The deputy nudged Neil in the arm. “We need you to sign some papers. Then we can get the court proceedings underway.”
“Court proceedings?” Dan asked. “You mean to sue Neil, right?”
“No.”
“But you said that we were going to make things right with Craftsman.”
“That I did. And that I will. The bartender at the saloon is demanding that the wrongful party in yesterday’s brawl pay him for the broken tables and chairs. Once I take Mr. Craftsman’s witness into account, the case will be underway to sue you for the damages.”
“You’re kidding,” Dan said.
“Nope. He’ll need all matching tables and chairs, so you’ll have to replace all of the old ones in the place. He also has to replace the mugs. A couple were chipped.”
“What do you mean he wants matching tables and chairs? None of his old things matched.”
He shrugged. “I guess he wants to match them now. I believe the total comes to $64.”
Neil inwardly cringed at the amount.
“That’s a whole month’s wages,” Dan retorted.
“The bartender has fine taste,” the deputy replied.
John McCarthy walked by with a man Neil didn’t recognize. The man with the spectacles and graying hair under his black hat stopped John and pointed at Neil. Something in the stranger’s gait seemed familiar. His eyes widened as he realized his mother was dressed in a man’s outfit, wearing a wig and a hat. He recognized her because of her slight limp.
Dan turned and saw John. “Is this what I get for my trouble, McCarthy?”
John scanned Dan and the onlookers. “What are you talking about? Who are all these people? Why is Mr. Craftsman with Emily?”
“I’m not going to pay the bill, McCarthy.” Dan stepped forward so he was in front of John. “You didn’t give me nearly enough money to cover the damage at the saloon.”
“What are you talking about?” John asked.
The deputy placed his hands on his hips and motioned to Dan. “Your friend over here started a fight in the saloon that resulted in the loss of valuable inventory. The bartender’s demanding restitution.”
Neil’s eyebrows furrowed. He’d seen that posture before. And the deputy mentioned matching items. What man cared if tables and chairs matched? He squinted until he recognized Sarah’s brown eyes. His heart leapt. She did believe him!
Dan looked at the judge and threw up his hands. “I confess. John McCarthy paid me to lure Mr. Craftsman to the saloon. I was supposed to get him to drink and hire a prostitute to get near him. Then, when McCarthy’s lawyer showed up, Neil would look bad. It was so Mr. McCarthy could get custody of Emily. He paid me to do it.”
John frowned. “You need to learn to keep your mouth shut.”
“I won’t pay for the damages.”
“There is no bill,” Sarah, still in the deputy disguise, said. “But now we have proof that yesterday’s situation was contrived to make Neil Craftsman look bad.”
John shook his head at Dan who winced.
Judge Johnson looked at Cassie. “You don’t want Emily, do you?”
Cassie hesitated and looked at John.
“Forget it,” John muttered, taking her hand. “Apparently, we just lost the case. And quite frankly, little girl,” he said, turning to Emily, “you’re not worth the trouble.”
Neil was so overcome with relief that he didn’t notice how the crowd reacted. He picked Emily up and hugged her.
“Oh honey, I’m sorry you had to hear all that.”
“She never loved me,” Emily whispered, her tears wetting his neck.
Blinking back his own tears on her behalf, he watched as Sarah pulled off her wig and beard, causing a hush to fall over the excited crowd.
“Thank you, Mary,” Sarah said.
Mary nodded and smiled at the judge. “It helps when my brother-in-law is a judge.”
Judge Johnson returned her smile. “You’re right. It’s not everyone I leave my chamber for.” He shook Neil’s hand. “I’m glad you get to keep your daughter.”
Neil thanked him as the crowd dispersed.
Sarah walked over to him. “I’m sorry I had to deceive you. I was afraid if John’s lawyer knew my plan, he would find a way to stop it. I didn’t know how else to get Emily back.”
He wrapped his free arm around her and kissed her, feeling so grateful that he was ready to cry. Steadying his emotions, he pulled away from her. “So you do believe me.”
She laughed. “Are you just now getting that? I don’t wear pants and a beard for just any man.”
He chuckled at the oddity of her statement.
As the crowd slowly dispersed, Beatrice, Preacher Peters, and his mother joined them.
Beatrice cleared her throat. “I hope you’ll forgive me, Neil. I understand now that what I’ve been doing to you and Sarah is wrong. She and I had a long but good talk last night, and it became clear to me that you are a good husband to her and a good father to Luke. I hope you’ll let me continue to come out to see him.”
“Of course, I will, Mrs. Donner,” he told her. “And thank you for the apology. All is forgiven.”
She looked relieved.
“Where is Luke?” he asked Sarah.
She motioned to Willow Mills who lumbered down the street with the small boy. “I believe she began her walk over here a half hour ago.”
Luke stopped, bent down and picked something off the boardwalk.
Neil’s mother laughed. “Between an old woman and a small boy out to discover the world, it’s no wonder it’s taking them so long.”
Preacher Peters patted Neil on the back. “I’m glad it worked out. Sarah was up all night devising the plan. I’ll tell you, a woman that stands steadfast behind her husband is one worth keeping.”
His Redeeming Bride Page 23