Mail Order Devastation (Montana Mail Order Brides, Book 4) (25 page)

Eugenia was running right toward it.

Chapter
33

“
No!” Mollie shrieked, running after her.  “The cliff!  Watch out!”

The woman stopped a few feet from the edge.  She knew it was there. 

She’d known all along. 

“
Don’t come any closer!  If you do, I’ll jump.  I swear.”

Behind her, Mollie could hear the crunching of footsteps.  She whirled, holding out a hand. 
“Stop!” she cried.  “She’s on the edge of a cliff.  Don’t try to rush at her.  Let me talk to her.  Please.”

“
We tried that,” Sheriff Langston called.  “And we’re worse off than we started.”

“
She was upset, and got spooked by the horses.” 

The second half of the posse had arrived, dismounting. 

“She won’t listen to reason, Mrs. Jamison.  I don’t think she can.”

“
She can.”  Mollie turned and looked Eugenia in the eyes.  “I have faith in her.”

Eugenia laughed bitterly. 
“You just want to sneak up and take her.  She’s mine.”

“
I know you love her, Eugenia.  I’ve never doubted that.  You look at her and you see your daughter, don’t you?”

“
Of course I do!”  She looked down at Nell, stroking her cheek.  “What a silly question.”

“
But look at her, Eugenia. 
Really
look at her.  Remember what she looked like in the hospital.  Her hair.  Her eyes.  Remember how she looked when she stopped breathing.  When she died—”

“
She didn’t die, I told you!”  She clutched Nell harder, and Nell squirmed, whimpering.

“
She stopped breathing,” Mollie repeated.  “Did she ever start breathing again?”

“
No…but they took her away…”

“
How long did you hold her before they took her away?  How long was it, after Ramona stopped breathing, before they finally made you give her up?”

“
They…they called for more orderlies, from another floor, and…the other orderlies arrived…then they all came in.  I couldn’t fight them all off.”

“
Your baby stopped breathing.  Minutes went by…enough minutes for them to fetch more orderlies from another floor.  All that time, Ramona wasn’t breathing…”

“
Stop it!  You’re confusing me.”

“
All that time
, Eugenia.  Babies can’t live long without air.  If she didn’t start breathing again right away, how could she have lived all that time, before they took her away?”

“
I…I don’t know…but she did.  They took her away.  But I found her.  I got away, and I looked for her, for a long time.  I saw the advertisement for a wet nurse for the Deming family and I…I saw her…and I
knew
it was her.  They adopted their baby a week after Ramona was taken from me.  I knew it had to be Ramona.”

“
But the first day you took the job…do you remember what it felt like, when Mrs. Deming put the baby in your arms?  Remember how heavy she felt?  She was much heavier than your Ramona, wasn’t she?”

“
I…no…you’re just trying to confuse me…”

“
She felt heavier, Eugenia, because the baby that the Demings hired you to nurse wasn’t a newborn.  She was more than three months old, wasn’t she?  Isn’t that what the Demings told you?  That she was three months old?”

“
Yes—but—they were lying.  Or maybe I was confused about how much time had passed.”

“
It could only have been a few days that passed, Eugenia, otherwise you wouldn’t have had any milk left to nurse the baby with.  I know this is hard to accept, but you have to listen.  Remember when I told you my mother took my baby away?  She brought my baby to an orphan asylum, run by nuns.  I tracked her down to the Sisters of Mercy Infant Home, and they admitted they had taken in my Nell. But she had been adopted right away.  I stole a peek at the records, and it was Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Deming who adopted her.”

“
No…”

“
I found out where they lived, but by the time I got there, they had left for Montana.”

“
No.”  She shook her head, wisps of hair flying.  “I don’t believe you.”

“
And I had no money to travel so far.  So I agreed to marry a man in Helena, Montana who wanted a mail order wife, so I could get to Montana and find my Nell.”

“
You’re lying!”

“
I’m not.”  Mollie shook her head.  “When I got here, I looked for Mr. Deming, and finally found him.  And I saw you and Daphne through the window, holding Nell.”

“
Her name is not Nell!  They called her Cordelia.  But she wasn’t Cordelia, either.  She was
Ramona
.”

“
They changed her name to Cordelia.  But before they adopted her, the baby’s name was Nell.  She can’t be Ramona, and you know that, Eugenia.  When you met her, only a few days after you lost your baby, she was already more than three months old.  She was too big to be anywhere near newborn-size.  I know this, because she was a big baby even when she was born, and she’d grown quite a bit in the three months before she was stolen from me.”

Eugenia shifted from one foot to the other, looking down at Nell. 
“She can’t be your baby.  She’s Ramona.  I know it!  Don’t you see?  It was meant to be.  I was meant to find her again.”

“
I know it’s easier to think that.  It’s easier to have hope, to believe that you’ll see your baby again.  The idea of being separated forever is too terrifying.  But Ramona
is
dead.  You know that, in your heart.”

“
Nooo!”  Eugenia shrieked.  Nell flinched, and began to wail.  Eugenia took another step toward the edge.  “You’re not taking her, and you’re not talking me into giving her to you.  Just leave us alone.”

Behind her, Mollie heard shuffling and crunching.  She turned to see Alexander Deming rushing through the trees, with Noah hot on his heels. 

“No, Mr. Deming, don’t!”  Mollie whirled back to Eugenia.  “Watch out, don’t move!”

Eugenia didn
’t listen.  Instead, she took another step back, perilously close to the edge.

Mollie ran, throwing herself in Deming
’s path.  He ran into her, knocking her to the ground, but it slowed him down enough that Noah was able to leap forward, tackling him and pinning him down.

“
Let go!  She’s going to kill the child!  She’s mad, I tell you.  There’s no talking sense with her!”  Deming struggled, and Noah slammed his shoulders to the ground.

“
Get ahold of yourself, man!  If she goes over the edge, it will be thanks to you!”

While Noah held the man down, Mollie got to her feet and took a few slow steps toward Eugenia, who was watching the spectacle with complete surprise.

“W-why did you stop him?” she asked.

“
I promised that I wasn’t trying to take the baby from you.  I meant it.”

“
But you’re trying to convince me to give her up.  You’re trying to convince me she’s yours.  I won’t believe it.”  Tears streamed down Eugenia’s face.  Nell’s wails had quieted into sobs.

“
It’s the truth.  I would never for a moment try to take a child away from her mother.  Not after what I’ve been through.  I would never inflict that pain on someone else.  But if you refuse to believe it, can you at least believe this—that I want what is best for the child that is in your arms?”

Eugenia peered at her, then at Nell. 
“Maybe.  I suppose you must, or you wouldn’t have stopped him.”

“
I think you know why these men are here, Eugenia.  They
know
.  They know you were in some type of asylum…weren’t you?”

She looked away, not meeting Mollie
’s eyes.  “They can’t know that.”

“
But they do.  And even if you believe that’s your child, the fact is that legally, she is Mr. Deming’s daughter.  He adopted her.  He can have you arrested for taking her away.”

“
He doesn’t care about her!” she cried, clutching Nell, who squirmed again. 

“
He does, I promise that he does.  He may not care in the same way you and I do, but in his own way, he cares.  He risked his life making that lunge for you.  You all could have gone over the edge.”

Regarding Deming
—who was standing now, brushing snow off himself and glaring at her—Eugenia nodded reluctantly.  “Maybe he does.  But she belongs with me.”

“
But look around.  You’re a smart girl.  Do you think they’re going to let you go free?  They’re either going to put you in jail, or bring you to a place where you can get help.  But you won’t be leaving here a free woman.”

“
Then I’ll leave here my own way,” she said, edging a few inches closer to the precipice.  “And I’ll take my baby with me.  She belongs with
me
.”

“
She deserves to die?  Eugenia, you can’t mean that.  You’re a mother.  You love her.  A mother does whatever it takes to protect her baby.  No matter how painful it might be.  Remember?  She does whatever it takes in order to make sure her daughter lives a long, happy, healthy life.  Whatever sacrifices, whatever it costs, whatever pain she must suffer—a mother gives her daughter life.  Not death.”

“
I don’t know what to do.  I can’t live without her.”

“
I know.  Believe me, I know that feeling very well.  It seems as if your entire life is crashing down around you.  But your feelings don’t matter, if you love your child.  Only her welfare matters.”

“
But…she needs me.  She needs her mother.  How can I leave her?  How can I abandon her, and let her go to an orphan asylum all over again?”

Mollie understood that sentiment all too well.  It might be cloaked in madness, but it was a mother
’s fear of separation from her child, nonetheless.  “Isn’t there someone who could look after her
for
you?  Someone you trust?  Her father?”

She shook her head. 
“He won’t have anything to do with us.  He fired me as soon as he found out, and told his wife he caught me stealing, because he said he couldn’t have his wife know he’d been with her lady’s maid.  He gave me money to keep my mouth shut, but it didn’t last long, and that wasn’t what I wanted from him, anyway.  I
tried
talking to him.  I did.  I followed him to his office, and to church, but he didn’t acknowledge me.  Finally, he had me arrested—told them I was insane.  He’s a horrible person…”

“
Don’t you have family?”

“
They disowned me.  Said I shamed them.”  She swiped tears away and hoisted Nell up higher on her hip.

“
There must be someone you know, someone you can trust.  A neighbor?  A friend?”

Eugenia looked down at Nell
’s face for a long moment, then fixed her gaze on Mollie.  “You,” she said flatly.  “You’re the only one who’s never lied to me.  And you lost your baby, so I know you know how it feels.  I know you’ll take good care of her.”

Mollie
’s heart soared, but she pressed her lips, maintaining a calm façade.  “I would never let any harm come to her, I promise you that.”

Eugenia nodded once. 
“Alright.  But she’s not yours, you know.  You’re just taking care of her for me.”  She glanced up toward the men who stood stock-still at the edge of the trees, their hands out from their bodies, ready to pull their sidearms if need be.  “Only because I can’t, right now.”  She held Nell tight, giving her a kiss on the cheek, and heaving a shaky sigh.  “You be a good girl, Ramona.  I’ll come for you someday.  I promise, I’ll come, and we’ll be a family again.”  Tears dripped from Eugenia’s chin as she took a hesitant step forward.

It was all Mollie could do to remain where she was.  She didn
’t want to spook the girl.  Instinct told her to hold still, and let Eugenia make the decision to come with her.  Her hands itched to reach out, to snatch her baby from the arms of the disturbed woman.  Instead, she clenched her fists tight at her side, her nails digging into the fingertips of the gloves she wore.

Murmuring a few more words into Nell
’s ear, Eugenia slowly advanced, a step at a time, jiggling Nell as if she were a colicky newborn.  Nell had stopped weeping, but her breath still hitched, and she gazed wide-eyed with confusion as Eugenia gently held her out toward Mollie.

Mollie accepted Nell with slow and deliberate care.  At last, her daughter was wrapped in her embrace once more!  It was the most delicious sensation Mollie had ever felt
—having her child in her arms again.  She was so heavy!  She was all pudgy arms and legs beneath the heavy swaddling of blankets, and she struggled to free her arms. 
Where has my tiny little girl gone?