Rebecca Hagan Lee (17 page)

“How on earth did she manage that?”

“By single-handedly wrecking his Washington Street opium den with a brown silk parasol.”

Mrs. G. pursed her lips in thought, then turned her attention to her employer. “Well,” she said, “that explains what she did to earn Lo Peng’s enmity. The question is: What did
he
do to earn hers?”

“Of course.” James stared at his housekeeper with an incredible sense of awe, the same sense of awe he would have felt if she had just created the heavens and the earth and presented it to him on the silver platter she held in her arms. It was so simple. “A proper schoolteacher like Elizabeth Sadler would never take her brown silk parasol to an opium den without reason. And religious zeal isn’t the reason. We know what Miss Sadler did to Lo Peng. What did
he
do to her?” And then it came back to him—that niggling memory that had plagued him since Elizabeth Sadler had quietly and defiantly informed him that she had her reasons for disliking the Treasures. James heard the answer clearly in Sergeant Terrence Darnell’s Irish brogue: “
Lo Peng’s out front swearing out a complaint, but we understand about your brother and Lo Peng’s and all. And the guys in the precinct are taking up a collection for you.
”
We understand about your brother and Lo Peng’s and all.
There was something between Elizabeth’s brother and Lo Peng. Something so terrible Elizabeth had taken her parasol and wreaked havoc on Lo Peng’s primary place of business. It wouldn’t be hard to check the facts. A telegram to Sergeant Darnell or the desk sergeant in charge of the San Francisco City Police Precinct should net results. If he scheduled the
inquiry into Elizabeth Sadler’s brother’s fate as first order of business when he reached his office this morning, he could probably have the facts in hand by late afternoon, and then he’d know what caused Elizabeth Sadler to go on her rampage at Lo Peng’s. But for the moment, he needed to know why his newly hired governess hadn’t started her work day.

James smiled down at Mrs. G. “Then, we agree, Mrs. G. As far as we know Miss Sadler has no one to rely on and nowhere else to go. For the moment she needs us as much as we need her. As long as she does no harm to the Treasures, we’ll allow her to stay.”

Mrs. Glenross tried hard not to smile at his high-handedness. “I don’t think you have to worry about Miss Sadler damaging the Treasures. She isn’t that sort of person.”

“What do you mean?” James asked. “You heard how she reacted upon seeing them.”

“Yes, I did,” Mrs. G. agreed. “And it was no worse than anyone else would react upon seeing three little Chinese girls when they were expecting blond-haired, blue-eyed beauties who looked like their father.”

“I don’t have blond hair,” James pointed out. “And you didn’t react badly at your first sight of Ruby.”

“I’ll wager you had blond hair as a child,” Mrs. G. retorted. “And like you, I’m accustomed to the looks and ways of the Chinese. My late husband was a construction engineer who supervised gangs of Chinese laborers during the building of the Central Pacific Railroad back in the late sixties. I traveled right alongside my husband and became quite accustomed to being around Chinamen and seeing the half-Chinese offspring of the soiled doves who set up camp behind the railroad construction crews. I’ve got nothing against the Chinese. They helped build this country, are still building it, but you introduce me to one of those Apache warriors I read about terrorizing the settlers, and I just might react the same way Miss Sadler did.”

“We’re not talking about Miss Sadler’s behavior toward
an Apache warrior, Mrs. G. We’re talking about innocent children and the damage she might do to them emotionally if her initial reaction continues.”

But Helen Glenross just smiled mysteriously and said, “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“You’ve said that before, Mrs. G.,” James replied. “Now, tell me what you mean by it.”

Mrs. G. nodded toward the door to the nursery, then turned and started down the hall toward the stairs and the kitchen. “See for yourself.”

Knowing he was being baited, yet unable to resist the bait, James walked to the door of the nursery, turned the doorknob, and entered. He walked through the play area to the Treasures’ bedroom, and his heart seemed to stop beating when he realized that the bed Ruby and Garnet shared—the bed he’d securely tucked the girls into last night—was empty. And one glance at Emerald’s crib told the same story. Ruby, Garnet, and Emerald were gone. Only Diamond lay sleeping peacefully. James calmly checked the closets and under the beds, then tossed the covers on the bed and the crib. He took deep breaths and fought the overwhelming sense of panic by reminding himself that Mrs. G. hadn’t seemed concerned. But Mrs. G. hadn’t shared his past. She had never returned from a business trip and discovered an empty crib. James opened his mouth to shout for the housekeeper and demand an explanation when he noticed the door leading from the Treasures’ bedroom through the kitchen, to the governess’s private quarters was open.

The balcony! James rushed through the kitchen alcove like a shot, intent on reaching the open balcony door before the Treasures stumbled upon it. The balcony! Bloody hell! How could he have forgotten to tell Elizabeth to keep the balcony door closed and latched? The wrought-iron railing surrounding the balcony was secure and the rails were close together—too close for small bodies to slip through—but James had a horror of discovering the Treasures had somehow breached the four-and-a-half-foot-high railing and
fallen onto the flagstones in the garden below. James rued the day he’d given the architect his approval to build it. He’d worried about the balcony ever since he’d brought Ruby home to live there.

James clenched his fists as he focused solely on the balcony, not bothering to glance around the room or at the half-tester bed as he crossed the room to the French doors in a few quick strides. He swallowed hard, and flicked his tongue at the tiny beads of perspiration on his upper lip, then squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to wipe away the grisly images of the three shattered little bodies he was afraid he’d find. I can do this, he told himself as he breathed deeply through his nostrils and opened his eyes again.
I can survive this.
He knew the sight would be terrible. But he also knew he’d seen worse. Survived worse. Still, James thought he would scream as the sheer drapes blew in on the morning breeze coming from the balcony and wrapped themselves around the legs of his trousers. He batted them away, then grabbed a handful of sheer fabric in a fit of frustration and started to rip the drapes from the rods.

“Hi, Daddy. Whatcha doing?”

The soft voice startled him.

James let go of the curtains and his breath at the same time. He glanced down to find Ruby curled up on the chaise longue near the balcony door. As he watched, she sat up straighter, rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hands, and yawned widely as if it were perfectly natural for him to find her on the chaise longue in her governess’s room every morning instead of in her own bed.

Suddenly James’s knees refused to support him. He sank down onto the end of the chaise.

“Hi, Daddy,” Ruby repeated, her tone of voice demanding an answer to her greeting.

James leaned over and hugged her tightly, pressing her warm little body against his chest, breathing in the baby-soft scent of her until she squirmed in his embrace. “Hi, Button.”

Ruby pushed at his chest until James realized he was holding her too tightly and reluctantly let go. “Whatcha doing, Daddy?”

“I came looking for you and your sisters,” James answered. “I went to your room to wake you up and you were gone. What are you doing here sitting all alone in the dark in Miss Sadler’s room?”

“Waiting,” Ruby replied matter-of-factly.

“Waiting for what, Button?”

“For Garny and Emmy to get up.”

“Where are your sisters?” James gently prodded.

“Over there,” Ruby pointed toward the big half-tester bed, where Garnet and Emerald lay sleeping, snuggled close to Elizabeth. “I waked up in the dark and Emmy and Garny were gone. I was sleeping all by myself. So I came to get you. Onlys you weren’t here.
Her
was.”

James automatically lowered his voice to a whisper to keep from waking Elizabeth and the other two girls. “Have you been here a long time?”

The grandfather clock in the hall downstairs chimed six times. Ruby turned toward the balcony, saw the pinkish streaks of sunlight lightening the sky and realized it was morning. “I been here since it was weal dark. When the clock didn’t make so many noises.”

“Are you hungry?” James asked.

Ruby shook her head.

“Thirsty?”

Ruby nodded.

James smiled. It was too early for Ruby to want to eat, but she had been awake long enough to want something to drink. “Why don’t we go down to the kitchen and see if we can scrounge some warm chocolate for you and a cup of coffee for me?”

“Okay.” Ruby scrambled off the chaise and made a beeline for the bed..

“Shh!” James put a finger to his lips to remind Ruby to try to be quiet, then whispered, “Where are you going?”

“Don’t we want to get Gamy and Emmy to go to the kitchen wid us?”

Staring at Elizabeth’s lovely slumbering form and watching as the lace trim on her virginal nightgown rose and fell with each breath she took, James realized the impropriety of his actions—the impropriety of entering the bedroom of an unmarried woman in his employ regardless of the reason. James weighed his decision. Should he risk waking Elizabeth to get his daughters and have her discover he’d disregarded her right to privacy and barged into her bedroom while she slept? Or should he allow her to awaken on her own and risk her reaction at finding two of his Chinese daughters in bed with her? Should he take matters into his own hands or trust Elizabeth to do the right thing?

James shook his head. After witnessing her first reaction to the Treasures yesterday, it wasn’t easy to walk away. But he’d decided to entrust his daughters to her care, and he had to start somewhere. He had to believe, as Mrs. G. believed, that Elizabeth wasn’t the sort of person who would intentionally cause the Treasures emotional pain. He had to trust her. And to trust her, he had to take Ruby and walk away and hope for the best. “It’s early yet,” he said to Ruby. “Let’s let them sleep a while. You and I can have our morning coffee all by ourselves.”

“Just us, Daddy?” Ruby asked, her little face alight with joy. “Me and you?”

“Just us,” he reaffirmed, reaching out to lift her into his arms. “You and I.”

“Good, Daddy,” she continued to beam at him. “But first …” Ruby leaned close and whispered in his ear.

James hugged her closer to him, planted a reassuring kiss on her cheek, bypassed the bath and water closet opposite the tiny kitchen which connected the governess’ quarters and the nursery, and carried Ruby down the hall to his bedroom and the water closet in his private bath.

ELIZABETH OPENED HER
eyes and found herself face to face with a small child—one with dark black hair and deep brown, almond-shaped eyes. Startled by her near proximity to an Oriental child, Elizabeth tried to move away, but as she watched warily, the delicate-featured child gently patted her on the face. Garnet, she remembered. The second daughter was Garnet. The third was Emerald and the infant was named Diamond. Precious and semiprecious gem-stones. Treasures.

“Wake up, lady,” Garnet said.

Elizabeth levered herself up from the mattress and leaned back against the feather pillows propped against the headboard. She blinked in confusion. Another, smaller little girl with one arm twisted at an awkward angle slept with her feet pointed at the pillows and her head pointed toward the footboard. And each time the feather mattresses shifted beneath Elizabeth’s weight, the smaller child roiled up against her.

“I’m awake,” she whispered. She glanced over at Garnet, then gingerly reached over and repositioned Emerald’s arm, turning her so that her head rested closer to the pillows and her feet pointed toward the foot of the bed. “What’s
wrong? What’s happened?” In her concern for the children, Elizabeth forgot all about her aversion to the color of their skin. “Are you all right?”

Garnet nodded. “Emmy broked her rails down. She gots out of her bed in the dark and waked me up, so we came to sleep with Daddy.” Garnet lifted the edge of the bed-spread and peered under the covers. “But I can’t find him. Where’s mine daddy?”

“I don’t know,” Elizabeth said.

“Mine daddy here.” Garnet patted the bed, then looked over at Elizabeth, tears sparkling on the base of her eyelashes as her bottom lip began quiver. “Daddy gone to work? Mine Daddy gone Sanfrwansco?” She asked, in broken little gasps. “Daddy leave? Daddy go back Sanfrwansco?”

“No,” Elizabeth told her. “I’m sure your daddy wouldn’t leave you without saying good-bye. I’m sure he’s here somewhere.”

“I want mine daddy,” Garnet said.

Eager to allay Garnet’s fears, Elizabeth shoved the covers aside, swung her legs over the side of the bed, grabbed her satin wrapper draped over the bedpost, and got to her feet. “Then, we’ll go find him.” She lifted Garnet and set her down beside the bed where she stood shifting her weight from foot to foot. Barefooted herself, Elizabeth realized the wooden floor was cold—too cold for a small child. “Do you have slippers?”

Garnet nodded.

“Where are they?”

“At mine bed.”

“Let’s go get them, shall we?” Elizabeth reached for Garnet’s hand, but Garnet refused to budge.

“What’s wrong?” Elizabeth asked. “Aren’t your feet cold? Don’t you want your slippers?”

Garnet nodded again. “Emmy.” She pointed to her sister, who still lay sleeping in the center of Elizabeth’s bed.

Elizabeth made a rueful face. “Of course! We can’t leave
Emerald up here all alone.” She looked to Garnet. “What do we do with her?”

“Put hers back in hers bed,” Garnet sagely replied. “And pull the rails up taller.”

Elizabeth leaned down and rolled Emerald from the middle of the bed toward the edge. The muscles in her back ached from the awkward angle, but Elizabeth managed to roll Emerald into her arms without waking her. She straightened and cuddled the sleeping child closer, suddenly aware of how small and vulnerable she was and how dependent she was on the tender care of the adults around her. Elizabeth looked to Garnet for further instruction. “Okay, we’ve got your sister. Now what do we do?”