Captive Heart (21 page)

The miner Thayne hit was on his feet again. His lip was bleeding, and he looked angry enough to kill someone.

“Get outside, Emma,” Thayne ordered. He ducked as the miner swung at him. The punch caught the ear of one of the men on the outskirts of the circle.

Men on either side of the dessert table were grabbing up pies and cakes, plates, cups, and forks, and throwing them at each other as fast as they could. A fork hit one of the fiddlers just as someone bumped him from behind. The fiddler lifted his bow and promptly jabbed it in the ribs of the man beside him.

The women started screaming. Somewhere a baby cried.

“My china! Not my china,” Mrs. Harvey wailed.

Thayne supposed he’d better offer to pay for the damage, seeing how he’d started the fight.
Worth every penny, no matter what it costs. Been a long time since I’ve had a good brawl.
He spun around, barely avoiding a kick to the head, and punched his attacker in the stomach.
Maybe this’ll get my mind off Emma for a while.

Across the backs of two men bent in a headlock, Thayne hollered to Orville, who didn’t look too inclined to try and enforce any sort of law just now. “I’m taking her home, Grady.”

He shook his head. “I brought her. I’ll take her home.”

“Don’t make me hit you too,” Thayne yelled. “She’s mine, and I’m taking her home.”

He turned toward the door, throwing one more punch—just for fun—and stomped out to the porch. Emma was sitting prim and proper, hands clasped in her lap, on the wagon seat. Thayne climbed up beside her, half expecting a lecture. Instead, she leaned over and threw her arms around him in an impulsive hug.

“Thank you.”

“You’re not mad?” he asked warily.

She shook her head. “On the contrary. I’m grateful. I heard what that man said and was thinking of punching him myself. You saved me breaking a finger or two.”

Thayne laughed. “You surprise me, Brownie.” He realized he should have known she’d not mind the fight, after all the complaining she’d done about her
spineless
fiancé. Thayne guided the horses out of the yard—before the fight spread outside and someone came after them. He glanced at Emma, looking tousled and tired after a long night of dancing. “You know, for such a citified girl, you do continue to surprise me.”

Chapter 33

“How was the dance last night?” Marcus asked, stretching as he sat down at the table.

Emmalyne left the stove to set out plates. “It was delightful. Thayne started a fight.”

“What?”
Pearl asked as she stomped into the kitchen. She hung her coat on a peg and blew on her hands. “I’m thinking twice about my decision to come north. A body could freeze up here.”

Thayne came in carrying Joshua.

“What happened at the Harveys’?” Marcus asked.

Still pleased with how the evening had ended, Thayne looked over at Emma and grinned. “One of the men insulted Emma. I was defending her honor.”

“That so?” Marcus said, his eyebrows raised.

“That is exactly what happened,” Emma confirmed. She pushed a row of jars to the far end of the table and carried over a pan of bacon.

“You still haven’t found a place for that applesauce?” Pearl scolded. She turned to Thayne. “You got to get this woman a cellar built—somewhere to store your food besides this table and the floor.” She looked pointedly at the jars lined up against the wall on either side of the hutch. “The place Marcus bought has a fine room built right into the side of the mountain. It’s just a few steps outside the door, and it’s big, with lots of shelves. I can go out—see what I got—anything I need’s in there and kept nice and cold too.”

“I’ll get right to work,” Thayne said sarcastically. He set Joshua in his chair and began spooning oatmeal into his bowl.

“Defender of virtue by night, builder of pantries by day.” Emma giggled.

“And while you’re at it,” Pearl continued. “Fix that outhouse of yours. It was bad enough a month ago, but now that it’s so cold—” She shuddered. “A body could find herself frozen to the seat in no time at all—specially someone like Emma, who don’t have much in the way of padding back—”

“Pearl!”
Emma brought her hands to her face, already pink with embarrassment.

“What’s the problem with the outhouse?” Thayne sat down beside Marcus.

“The middle board in the back is loose—flaps like a kite in the wind,” Pearl said. “And I don’t enjoy no breeze when I’m about my business.”

Emma sank into a chair, leaned over the table, and buried her face in her arms. Thayne couldn’t tell if she was embarrassed or laughing or a little of both.

“Well then, Marcus. You going to be around for a bit today?” Thayne asked.

“Can’t.” Marcus said. “Only four more days this quarter, and I’ve got to spend at least two of them at the mine to keep my claim.”

Thayne nodded, understanding. “Too bad,” he said. “Because it looks like I have a fun-filled day ahead of me, building a storeroom and fixing the privy.”

* * *

“Bye, now,” Pearl called, waving from the wagon seat. “We’ll look for you early on Christmas Eve.”

“Yes,” Emma called excitedly. “I can’t wait.”

Standing beside her, Thayne said nothing. The last thing he wanted was to spend Christmas anywhere near Deadwood, but Emma had seemed so eager to accept Pearl’s invitation that he hadn’t told her no.
Maybe we’ll get snowed in,
he thought hopefully.
Though, maybe it is better if we do spend the holiday with others instead of here at the house, just the three of us.

He’d watched this morning as Emma had handed a letter to Marcus and asked him to please mail it for her. Thayne had noticed she seemed a bit weepy when she made the request.
Maybe she’s finally getting homesick. And being with Pearl at Christmas might be the thing to keep her spirits up.

Emma carried Joshua into the house, and Thayne went to the barn for tools. He knew just the location to build a root cellar into the mountain as Pearl had suggested. It was a little farther than a few feet from the house but almost visible from the kitchen. It would be the perfect place for storing not only Emma’s preserves but also the deer he hunted and butchered that would see them through the long winter.

Envisioning the shelves he would build laden with plenty, Thayne noticed one snowflake and then another floating in the air around them. A sense of urgency came over him, and he decided to work only half a day on the cellar. Thus far he had avoided leaving Emma and Joshua completely alone for any length of time, but beginning today that would have to change. If they were to eat this winter, it was time he looked to the land and animals that lived there to provide what he, Emma, and Joshua would need in the coming months.

Chapter 34

Thayne paused to wipe his eyes as the dust from the last charge settled. Bandana tied over his face, he made his way back to the entrance of the mountain storeroom. A new four-foot pile of rock and debris littered the ground, and for the next thirty minutes, he loaded cart after cart, wheeled them well out of the way, and dumped them. Finally, there was only the small debris at the rear of the tunnel left to shovel. When that was finished, he had the walls to smooth so Emma could begin whitewashing tomorrow.

I don’t miss mining one bit,
Thayne realized as he worked.
I’ll take riding these hills and rounding up cows any day over the backbreaking labor of excavating a mountain.

The mountain in question was proving to be nearly solid rock. Fortunately, he’d only planned to extend the now five-foot-wide storeroom about twelve feet. Heavy timbers braced the walls and ceiling, though as solid as the mountain seemed, he doubted even that was necessary.

Thayne dug in the shovel once more and turned to the cart behind him. As the dirt and rock slid to the floor of the cart, something caught his eye. Thinking it was his imagination, Thayne pivoted away and scooped up another load. Again, he turned to dump it but this time could not ignore the familiar color glimmering amid the rock and dirt.

Laying the shovel across the cart, he bent for a closer look. His fingers pawed through the soil, and within a minute, he’d collected three thumb-sized nuggets in his palm. Thayne let the remaining dirt and rock sift through his fingers into the bed of the cart. His fist closed around the nuggets, and he closed his eyes, suddenly wishing he had never started the cellar.

Stepping outside, he opened his hand once more and stared at the rocks in his palm. The shine he’d caught in the lantern light was reduced to a dull bronze out in the sunshine, and Thayne felt his last hope vanish.
Not fool’s gold, then.

He pocketed the nuggets and returned to the near-finished storeroom. Holding the lantern in his hand, he walked along the back wall, becoming more disheartened by the minute as the evidence of his discovery became clear. He hadn’t made a cellar at all. He’d started another gold mine.

Immediately, he started calculating how best to cover it up. The past two weeks of work were for naught. The jars would have to remain stacked against the kitchen wall this winter. Using the storeroom wasn’t worth the risk of having someone discover the gold.

Indian legend said that he’d be punished for taking from these sacred hills, and Thayne had no doubt it was true. He’d already seen firsthand what havoc could be wreaked upon a man’s life—all from a simple nugget of gold.

* * *

After making sure Joshua was asleep, Emma came out into the hall and saw that Thayne was still waiting for her. Smoothing her skirts, she descended the stairs, stopping about halfway down and sitting carefully. Three steps below, Thayne leaned against the rail, a disconcerted look on his face.

“You wished to talk?” Emma asked. This was out of their routine, and it had her worried. Usually, the only times she could count on Thayne for conversation were when they ate meals together, and even those times had become infrequent of late because he had been hunting every few days.

He glanced up the stairs at her. “There’s a problem with the storeroom.”

“All right.”
What can possibly be so worrisome about that?
“It really isn’t as necessary as Pearl made it sound. We can move the jars elsewhere—the parlor perhaps?” she suggested, purposely baiting him. She knew he hated that she’d put the hall tree in there. At least once a week, she heard him muttering under his breath—or worse—when he caught his shirt on one of the obnoxious hooks as he walked by.

“I’ll attach a lean-to on the kitchen next summer,” Thayne promised.

Will I be here next summer?

“In the meantime, I’m going to seal up the root cellar and do my best to make it look like it was never there. I don’t want anyone—not even Pearl or Marcus—to know it’s there.”

Bewildered, Emma looked at him. “Why? Is it dangerous?”

“Very.” Thayne reached into his pocket and withdrew a small pouch. He handed it to her.

She untied the string and pulled it open. Turning the pouch on its side, she dumped the contents into her hand. Her eyes widened, and she looked again at Thayne.

“Is it—”

“Gold,” he confirmed. “More dangerous than you can imagine.”

“You found this here—there—just outside?” She turned a nugget over in her fingers and brought it closer to her face for inspection.

“I did. This afternoon.”

“Are there more like this?” she asked.

He nodded.

“A lot?”

“Looks that way.”

Is he saying the gold itself is dangerous, or did something else happen?
“Was there a cave-in or a slide?”

“No. Though I imagine you might think that from looking at me right now.” Thayne slapped his pant leg and dust flew in the air. “That isn’t the kind of dangerous I’m talking about.”

Emma folded her arms and sat back against the step, waiting for him to elaborate.

“When gold the size of those nuggets is discovered, word travels like a wildfire. And before you know it, you’ve got a boom mining town like Deadwood sprung up around you. That’d ruin what we got out here for sure, Emma.”

We?
“Why does anyone need to know?” she asked calmly, though he’d sent her heart to racing with that one simple word.

“You think I can drop by the store in Myersville and pay for the flour with a gold nugget?”

“Well . . . no, but—”

“No buts. Aside from the rush it would start, it would also put you and Josh in constant danger. Wealthy miners and their families are targets. And that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”

Families.
“But what about your other mine?” she argued. “You’ve done so much good with the proceeds. I hate to see these,” she picked up the nuggets and rolled them in her hands, “go to waste.”

“The mine up north belongs to Marcus now, and he does as he sees fit. As for me, I want no part in the business.”

“But why close up the cellar?” Emma asked. “No one has to know about the gold, and we could use it, Thayne.”

He shot her a disappointed frown and held his hand out, waiting until she’d returned the nuggets and pouch. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Emma. I know this place isn’t fancy like what you grew up with, but since we’ve been home, you’ve had food to eat and everything else you need to get by. It’s my experience that much more than that tends to make a man—or woman—go bad.”

Emma returned his look with an angry glare of her own. “Don’t you dare insinuate that I’m selfish. I wasn’t talking about using that gold for myself. It’s Joshua who needs it.”

“What do you mean?” Thayne’s brow furrowed as he pocketed the pouch once more.

“I can only do so much for your son,” Emma said. “His speech is coming along, and he knows enough signs that we can both tell what he wants, but I can’t fix his legs.” She paused until Thayne finally looked up at her again.

“He’s trying so hard, but the leg that was broken just won’t support his weight. I think it’s healed wrong, and it hurts him terrible just to stand on it. There are doctors back East who could help him.”

Thayne leaned forward, elbows on his knees, as he considered what she’d said. He’d come to accept that Joshua was never going to hear well. The constant earaches he’d suffered as an infant, coupled with Christina’s abuse, made it very likely that Josh would always struggle. But the thought that he might never walk . . .

“What do you know of the procedures and doctors you speak of?”

“Not much—yet,” Emma admitted. “In my last two letters home, I’ve asked my father to research for me. Though, as I haven’t yet given him a return address, I don’t know what he may have found out.” Her voice was soft, the anger she’d displayed just a minute ago all but gone.

“The travel alone would cost a lot of money, and staying in a big city and putting Josh in the hospital—it would all be very expensive,” Emma continued, pleading her case. “I’ve saved every penny of the money you’ve paid me—and I intend to return it so Joshua can have what he needs, but even that might not be enough. If there is a way to help him sooner . . .” Placing her hands on either side of her, she scooted down the stairway until she was only one step above Thayne. “Promise me you will at least consider it. If I was meant to come all this way to help Joshua speak, perhaps you were meant to find the means to fix his leg. It isn’t wrong, taking what God has offered.”
What I’m offering.

Thayne reached over and took her hand in his.

“Unfortunately, Emma, sometimes it is.”