Come Rain or Shine (23 page)

“Trick, let me just have an hour or two to think this through, okay? I’m not sure we need you in buttons. That would take even more cash to work the fake transfer. You burned a few bridges up here when you left.”

“I’m a good copper, Si, and you know it. We have as much a need for a cop in the family as we do for an attorney.” Trick sighed and turned to stretch his back. As he did so he caught sight of Emmie’s face peeking around the back of the car. He laughed under his breath and rolled his eyes as he turned to face Silas. “Speaking of your little troublemaker, she is eavesdropping.”

Silas spun around to face her. He took one last draw from his cigarette and exhaled slowly before he began to close the space between them. Emmie tried to find words to explain herself but couldn’t make a sound.

He rubbed his jaw and tilted his head to the side slowly before he said, “Why in the hell are you hiding behind the car listening to our conversation?”

Chapter Thirty-three

“I
wasn’t eavesdropping,” Emmie said, propping a hand on her hip and jutting out her chin.

Trick busted out laughing. She frowned at him.

“Okay, so you tell me what were you were doing ducked behind my car,” Silas said, keeping his tone flat.

“I thought you promised no more secrets,” she said, flashing her ring at him.

“I thought you trusted me,” he said.

“I do until you give me a reason not to,” she said, throwing her arms out to the side.

“What reason have I given you, Emmie? I’m out here having a conversation with my brother. Sometimes when you sneak around like a little mouse you might not like the things you overhear,” he shouted.

“I wasn’t sneaking around. I came out here to say hello and caught an earful. Things you should have been telling me, Silas. Those are my people. If they are in danger, I need to know,” she said, putting her hands back on her hips.

“Emmie I was going to tell you but I haven’t had the chance.” Silas lit another cigarette.

“Oh really, because we were together all night last night. When were you going to tell me that somebody burned down Bo’s cabin? What if he’d been hurt? Or like Trick said, what if Millie had been hurt? We’ve got to stop this,” she said, her voice high-pitched and angry.

Trick turned to join them. “See, she’s on my side. I like the way she thinks.”

Emmie frowned at Trick. “I’m not sure I’m on your side. If you’re really carrying a torch for Millie, what in the world were you doing up here drinking beer with your friends last night while her world was burning? That doesn’t sound like a very good beau to me.”

Trick’s brow knitted together and he gave her a piercing stare. He put his finger out at her. “You don’t know anything about anything, Emmie.”

She was sorry for her words the minute they left her mouth. She’d hurt Trick. She could see he was pining to get back to Kentucky and she’d hit him where it hurt. She opened her mouth to apologize but didn’t get the chance. He stormed off toward the house, angrier than she’d ever seen him.

She looked up at Silas to find him staring down at her through an arched brow. She looked at the ground and sighed loudly.

“You’re just like an angry little bee right now, ready to sting anyone in your way, aren’t you?” Silas asked as he took another draw from his cigarette.

Emmie shook her head. “I’ll find him and apologize. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s you I’m angry with, not him.”

“Before this morning there was nothing to tell you Emmie, trust me,” Silas said.

“The fires in Smith’s Grove and Bardstown. That butcher shop you mentioned, was it the butcher shop of those men that helped you in the cabin?” She swallowed hard as she asked the question. She didn’t like to think about the job of the butchers at the cabin.

Silas stared at her a long time before he answered, “Yes.”

“And two of your places have been burned? One in Bardston and one in Smith’s Grove?” she asked.

Silas let loose an annoyed grunt and walked away from her.

“I’m taking that sound as a yes,” she said, closing the space between them.

Silas merely nodded.

“It’s still them isn’t it? It’s the same group of men that came after me, isn’t it? They weren’t all dead.” Emmie’s heart pounded in her ears as she asked each question.

Silas took in her panicked expression. He wrapped his arms around her for a second then grabbed her chin gently and pulled it up to face him. The leather of his gloves felt smooth and cold against her cheek.

“You have no reason to be afraid. You don’t have to worry about those men anymore. They will not hurt you again,” he said softly.

“Then who’s doing this Silas, their ghosts? There are more, right? There must be. God, that revenuer was looking out the window expecting people. I thought he was expecting some cops to come take out the moonshine, but he was waiting for his friends, wasn’t he? He knew he couldn’t take you alone. He needed those men to get there before you did. That’s why he was so anxious watching out the window. God, I’m such a fool. I’ve spent all of my time afraid of the memories of that cabin. Afraid that Mr. Thomas had died at my hands. That was never the threat was it? That was never the reason you didn’t want me to think about it. You didn’t want me to put this together. You didn’t want me to be afraid of the ones that were left,” Emmie said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Wait, stop, you are putting words in my mouth. I didn’t want you to talk about the cabin because I didn’t want you to live chained to a belief that you had done something wrong. Even if your actions had left Paul Thomas dead, that was not for your conscious to bear. He was going to take you. He would have hurt you. You were protecting yourself.” When she looked down he pulled her face up to his. “It was my bullet that went through his body, my kill, my soul, my conscience, not yours.”

Emmie frowned and looked up at him. He was trying to cover her actions in the cabin with his own to protect her. She laid a hand on his chest. “I’m a strong girl, Silas. You don’t have to protect me from what happened. Because the truth is: it did happen. No matter how ugly it was, it happened and as much as you would like to take that away from me, you can’t. It’s a memory we share and we need to put it in the past together.” Silas rubbed his jaw and looked away from her, his eyes full of pain. “It’s like you said last night. I don’t need you to keep me from being afraid, Silas. I just need you to hold my hand through it, rain or shine. That is my family down there. And they are in danger. I need to be there too. Were you planning to take me with you?”

When Silas spoke his voice was deep and throaty, full of emotion. “I can’t do that Emmie.”

“Why, because you’re afraid I’ll get hurt? We’ll make a plan. I’ll be careful,” she pleaded.

“You know I can’t do that. You’re safer up here,” he said.

“No, Silas. This isn’t your choice to make. This is personal. They’ve done more than mess with your business. They’ve messed with my friend’s property. They burnt the cabin. How much moonshine was stored down in that cellar, Silas? They’ve lost a lot of money too. I know Bo Johnson. I bet he’s out looking for them right now and we’re up here like an ostrich burying our head in the sand.”

How could she accuse him of avoiding a confrontation? Silas’s teeth clenched together. She knew how to say just the right thing to set him off. Just like his brother, she was always quick to jump into action without thinking things through. Well, this was one thing she knew nothing about. If she had been one of his men he’d have laid her out for that comment. He exhaled the last of his smoke, taking a minute to cool himself down before he spoke to her.

“Damn it, Emmie. We are not hiding. Come on. In case you have forgotten, your best friend and your brother are in there, celebrating their marriage. They’ve had a hell of a time lately too. Bo Johnson is not the only friend you have that needs you,” Silas said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the house.

She attempted to keep her feet rooted on the ground but failed. He pulled her past the car and to the sidewalk. When they reached the door she tried to pull her hand away from his but he gripped it so tightly she couldn’t. When she frowned at him, he gave her a crooked grin. She turned her face away from him. He led her through the house and toward the busy dining room. He smiled as he talked to his family and introduced her to each person. A few of the people she thought she may have met before but most of them were strangers They spoke to his parents, nodded hello to the Del Grandé family, and kissed Ava and Gabe, telling them how beautiful the ceremony was.

All the while Silas never once let go of her hand, no matter how hard she tried to pull it away from him. What was he afraid she was going to do, take off walking to Bowling Green without him? She sighed. But the sound made no difference to him. He kept his hand wrapped firmly around hers with a vice-like grip.

Chapter Thirty-four

S
ilas rubbed his thumb over her ring. She looked down at it and then back at him. He pulled her over to a corner where they could be alone in the crowded dining room, leaned down, and whispered in her ear, “You are right. I promised to hold your hand when you were afraid. Outside just a second ago,” he pointed toward the front of the house, “when you were yelling at me, calling me an ostrich,” he grinned at the words that had made him so angry only minutes ago, “your eyes looked scared as hell.” He held up her hand that he’d refused to let her pull away and kissed the ring he’d given her last night. “So, this is me, holding your hand. Even when you don’t want it.”

Emmie cocked her head to the side and glared up at him. “You know good and well that this is not what I meant.”

His only reply was a grin as he turned to lead her back toward the dining room table.

“Wait, Silas,” she said, planting her feet on the ground.

He stopped and turned back to face her.

“I’m not afraid for me. I’m afraid for them, Silas. Bo and his family, they are no match for the kind of people that would have an issue with you.” She leaned in and added, “I don’t think you’re a gangster like that revenuer said but I also know that you walk in a different world than the one Bo and I grew up in. He needs help.”

“The Johnsons are not as innocent as you’d like to think they are,” Silas answered.

“Silas you know what I mean.” She ran her free hand down his chest and touched the straps of his leather holster she knew he’d be wearing underneath. “The Johnsons don’t walk around with guns strapped to their bodies.”

“Emmie, I know what those people mean to you. I’m going to keep my eye on them. Which is even more of a reason you cannot come along. I’ve only got two eyes. I can’t keep a watch on eight things at once without making a mistake. I will not make a mistake when it comes to you. I need you here where you’re safe,” he said, pulling her hand down from his holster.

“Are you worried that you only have two eyes to watch or that you only have two guns to fire, Silas? How dangerous is it at home right now?” she asked.

He sighed. “I am done with this conversation, Emmie. We are here for a celebration.”

She wanted to contest, but didn’t get the chance. He took her back to the dining room without another word. He did finally let go of her hand when they were eating but kept a tight grip on her knee under the table. She could feel him there with her every moment. Taking a deep breath she realized he would be gone tomorrow. A sense of fear gripped her. Worse than what she had worried about with Bo. These men were after Silas. What if he didn’t come back to her? Without a second’s hesitation she reached down and wrapped her hand around his. He paused in conversation and turned briefly to look at her. It was like he knew what she was thinking. He shook his head and squeezed her knee. Emmie felt her throat start to burn and swallowed back her fear. She couldn’t give in to her emotions right now.

Dinner ended and the party moved downstairs. Her father’s billiards room was massive and had been converted into a fancy speakeasy. It was nicer than the one Emmie had seen at the Tealbach in Louisville. Drinks were served in proper glasses. The entrance was through a bookshelf in the library but other than that, there was no secrecy. There was no need for that in the comfort of their home.