The Lightkeeper's Bride

  “I thought it was understood,” he said. “Your father gave his blessing for me to court you. As soon as I’m in a position to marry, I intend to ask you to marry me.”

  In a position to marry? He was nearly thirty, the only son of a wealthy father. She kept a smile pinned to her face and said nothing to encourage him. If he waited a bit, she hoped to be able to summon more enthusiasm for a life shared with him. Though their future needed to be settled soon. Her parents were counting on her.

  Still, perhaps he was feeling as much indecision as she. The thought did little to comfort her. If he wasn’t totally enamored with her, and she had conflicted emotions too, what hope was there for a relationship? This indecision was so unlike her. All her life she’d been groomed to make a wise choice of husband. Bart would be the perfect spouse.

  When she didn’t answer, he rushed on. “I’ll be in a position soon. I don’t want to be dependent on my father when I take a wife. I intend to strike out on my own and start my own company.”

  His ambition encouraged her. “Doing what? Open another sawmill?”

  He scowled. “Not in a million years. I hate the noise, the dirt. I want to open a Macy’s.”

  She’d love to be part of that kind of enterprise. “Wouldn’t that take an exorbitant sum?”

  His earnest blue eyes sought her face. “I have some backers. It’s figuring out how to tell my father I’m not following in his shoes— that’ll be the tough part.”

  “I’m sure you’ll explain it so he understands.”

  He pressed her hand. “You’re so easy to talk to, Katie. When I’m with you, I think I can do anything.”

  She smiled and clung to his fingers. “I know you can do whatever you set your mind to, Bart.” If only the touch of his hand moved her the way being with Will did. She was so confused. Addie’s words had haunted her lately. God had a plan for her and she would feel peace when she found it. She longed for that peace but it seemed so nebulous and unattainable.

  She saw a figure standing on the sidewalk, walking away from them down a side street. The men on the benches watched the woman saunter past, and Katie heard a low whistle. Even before the sun pierced the shadows under the woman’s hat, she knew it was Florence.

  She must have clutched Bart’s hand because he studied her face.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  “N–not at all,” she said. She asked him a question about the potential Macy’s store to distract him, and he immediately launched into his plans, warming to the subject.

  Katie had to find some way to get Florence out of town. Katie had no idea where she could find the kind of money the woman demanded.

  Not unless some of the papers she’d found in her father’s safe were worth something. She should have examined them more closely.

  “Would you mind if we stopped by my father’s shop a moment? I need to get into the safe,” she asked.

  “As you wish.” Bart leaned forward and gave the driver directions.

  Minutes later the carriage stopped in front of Russell’s Haberdashery. Bart exited the carriage and helped her alight. “Please, just wait here,” she said when he acted like he was going to accompany her. “It won’t take me but a moment.” She smiled and brushed past him to the door, which she unlocked before stepping inside. The shop was closed for the day.

  She stepped through to the back room, where she rotated through the safe’s combination and unlocked it. The papers were on the bottom. She lifted them out and retrieved her glasses from her pocket. A brief scan showed her hope was in vain. These were all old contracts and nothing that showed any money due. She replaced them and spun the lock, and her heart was leaden as she retraced her steps.

  Blinking in the bright sunlight outside the shop, she locked the door. Bart was chatting with two gentlemen, not looking her way, and the bank was just at the end of the block. She walked quickly to the bank and approached the teller.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Russell,” the young male teller said. His mustache twitched as he spoke. “You’re quite brave to be out and about with the epidemic still raging.”

  Katie had been so preoccupied, she hadn’t stopped to think about why the bank was practically deserted. “I’d best not stay out long. I wondered if you could give me the balance in all of my father’s accounts?”

  “I’ve heard of his condition. Me and the missus have been praying he’ll awaken soon. It will just be a moment while I consult the ledger.” The teller vanished down the hallway.

  Katie clutched her gloved hands together. Though she knew it was a futile hope, she prayed there was more money than she’d been told. Perhaps Papa had another account where he’d saved money for their future. She turned and glanced through the plate glass window into the street. There were few passersby. She hadn’t heard of any new smallpox outbreaks, but people still feared stepping outside their homes.

  The teller returned and slid a piece of paper across the counter to her. “Here you are, Miss Russell.”

  “Thank you.” She glanced at the slip of paper as she turned toward the door. When she saw the total, she stopped and glanced back. “You’re sure this is all his accounts?”

  “Yes, miss. I know it’s not much.” His brown eyes were apologetic.

  Not much was an understatement. One account held only a thousand dollars and the other held two thousand. Perhaps her father would know more. She retraced her steps to the buggy and asked Bart to take her to the hospital.

  “I can’t allow you to go there, Katie,” he said. “Not while it houses people with the pox. Surely you’ve been telephoning to check on your father’s condition.”

  “Of course I have,” she said. “I thought a visit from me might bring him around to a more lucid frame of mind.”

  “The nurse will tell you when you’re allowed entry,” Bart said.

  “I should like to see my mother. I could speak to her through the window.”

  “The road to your house is blocked, and I’m quite unwilling to see you endanger yourself. I’ll take you back to the lighthouse.”

  There was no arguing with him. Katie would have to come back by herself. She sat staring silently out the window until Bart’s carriage drew up outside the lighthouse.

  “I do hope you will think about moving to our house for the remainder of this smallpox outbreak,” Bart said, helping her alight from the buggy.

  “I shall take it under consideration,” she said. When he might have bent to give her a kiss on the cheek, she stepped back. “Thank you for lunch,” she said. “I must go.”

  She fled up the hillside before he could protest. When she reached the lighthouse, Lady Carrington met her at the door.

  “Katie, my dear, the doctor called. Your father is beginning to regain consciousness. Dr. Lambertson says not to come until the smallpox is past, but he wanted you to know of Albert’s improvement.”

  “I have to talk to him,” Katie said.

  “They won’t let you in.”

  “Then I shall have to sneak in.” She had to know the truth of the events swirling around her. She turned and retraced her steps. Will’s bicycle was lying at the bottom of the slope, so she grabbed it and climbed onto the seat. She rode back to town and turned down the street to the hospital. The barricade ahead warned her she couldn’t go through that way, so she dismounted, left the bicycle parked under a tree, then darted through several yards and down an alley to finally arrive at the hospital’s back entrance.

  She tugged on the heavy door but it was locked. If she went around to the front, she would be turned away. Before she could decide what to do, the door opened and a woman dressed in a maid uniform stepped out. Katie seized the handle and slipped inside, though the woman called after her.

  Papa’s ward was on the second floor. A back stairway opened off the hall, and she peeked into the stairwell. Empty. Lifting her skirts, she scampered up the steep steps to the second floor landing. The hallway held a lone nurse pushing a cart with bedpans. Ka
tie lifted her head and sailed into the hall as though she had every right to be there. The nurse barely gave her a glance before disappearing through a doorway. Katie peeked in after her but the ward held only women. She hurried along until she found one inhabited by six men. Her father’s bed was the last one on the right.

  She approached him lying there. He bore little resemblance to the vital father she was used to. His thin hair was in disarray on the pillow. His normally florid complexion was pasty. His eyes were closed.

  She touched his hand. “Papa?” she whispered. “It’s Katie. Are you awake?” She noticed a curtain by the bed and pulled it closed to shield her presence from anyone passing by.

  Her father’s lids fluttered, and he opened his bleary eyes. He blinked then focused on her face. “Katie?” He returned the grip on her hand.

  He knew her! Tears burned her eyes. She pulled up a nearby chair and put her head close to his. “How are you feeling, Papa?”

  “Thirsty,” he said, licking his lips.

  She saw a glass of water on the table beside his bed and helped him sit up. He drank greedily then fell back against the pillow as if the effort had exhausted him.

  “Papa, what happened?” she asked.

  “When?”

  “You were found in the pond at the base of Mercy Falls. Has the constable been over to talk to you?”

  He rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know, Katie.”

  “Did someone shove you into the falls?”

  His pale blue eyes studied her face, then he nodded. “Don’t ask me who pushed me. I don’t know. I have my suspicions though.”

  “Were you involved with the theft of gold from the Paradox?” she asked. When he flinched, she had her answer. “You were, weren’t you?”

  This would hurt her mother terribly.

  “My business is in trouble,” he said. “No one was supposed to get hurt. We were just going to take the money to survive the recession.

  When they killed those sailors . . .” He swallowed hard and shook his head. “I was going to turn them in.”

  “You can still do that.”

  “No, I can’t. A man stopped by here last night. At least I think it was last night. It was dark and I was so confused. He said if I talked, he’d kill you and your mother.”

  “What about Eliza? Your watch was found on the island where her body was dumped.”

  He shook his head. “We argued and she slapped me. I grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away. Later I realized my watch was gone.

  She must have had it in her hand or pocket when she was killed. I had nothing to do with it.”

  “What did you argue about?”

  “It’s not your business.”

  She hadn’t thought he would tell her. “Did you recognize the man’s voice who called on you? If you can tell the constable . . .” She didn’t want to tell him she’d received threatening phone calls.

  “I can’t tell anyone and neither can you. There are more people involved than this one man. If he’s identified, they’ll just hire someone else to take his place. I don’t even know how many are a part of it. Too many.”

  “But the constable suspects you of killing Eliza! You’ll go to jail.”

  “I have no choice.”

  She bit her lip. “There’s more, Papa. Florence is in town.”

  His lip curled. “Your mother? So that’s why you’re here asking these questions? I knew the time would come when you’d revert to her ways. Like mother like daughter.”

  She’d heard it too many times. “She’s not my mother!”

  His eyes narrowed. “What does she want?”

  “Money.”

  “I am nearly bankrupt.”

  Katie sat back in the chair. “I told her that, but she is threatening to tell Bart’s family about my heritage.”

  Panic filled his eyes. “You must not allow that to happen! How much does she want?”

  Katie told him and watched his eyes cloud over. “Is there any way to get that amount?”

  “I don’t know where. We are mortgaged to the hilt. Perhaps I can get a loan from Bart without telling him what I need it for.”

  “I’d rather not be beholden to him.”

  Her father frowned, but before he could speak, a hand swept the curtain back to reveal a scowling male orderly. He glanced from Katie to her father then jerked his thumb. “Out,” he said. “No visitors allowed.”

  Katie rose. “Good-bye, Papa.” She rose and swept past the orderly but his dark gaze followed her all the way to the door.

  TWENTY-ONE

  THE BABY GRABBED Will’s ear and chattered something full of vowels and totally incomprehensible. He managed a smile though he’d been in a bad mood ever since Katie had left with that blond dandy.

  “You are so cute,” he said. He showed her the pap feeder and she grabbed it. He settled on the sofa with her and dribbled the pap into her mouth. He glanced up and met Lady Carrington’s soft smile.

  “You’re wonderful with children, Will,” she said.

  He tugged on his tie and glanced out the window without replying.

  “I don’t expect her back for at least another hour,” she said.

  “Who?”

  Her smile widened and her skirt swished as she walked into the room and settled in the armchair. “I’m not quite blind and doddering yet, young man. Anyone with eyes can see how you watch Katie.”

  “She’s just a . . .” He searched for the right word. It wasn’t friend and it wasn’t acquaintance. His head felt a little funny when he remembered the way he’d awakened to the press of her warm lips on his frozen ones. Could he actually be harboring strong emotions for Katie?

  Lady Carrington chuckled. “Love is like that, Will. It sneaks up on you.” She sobered and took a sip of tea. “I’ve often wondered about the sadness I sometimes glimpse in Katie’s face. I don’t see it when she’s with you. There is something special between the two of you.

  Nurture it and see how it grows.”

  Were his feelings so clear that even Lady Carrington could see? His chest tightened at the thought that he could be so transparent. “I think I’ll go see if my balloon has descended, if you don’t mind watching the baby. I need to run down to the harbor for a few minutes too.”

  Her eyes were wise and held amusement. “Run along, my dear. This will all catch up with you sooner or later.”

  He grabbed his hat and escaped into the sunshine with heat rising on his neck. The balloon had fallen on the beach, and he set off at a brisk jog. Once he wrote down the readings on the instruments, he glanced at the sky. Rain was coming, if his readings were correct. He dragged the remains of the balloon out of the way of the tide. He would dispose of it on his way back. The tide was coming in, and he veered away from the encroaching foam on the waves as he walked toward the harbor.

  The quay teemed with activity. Stevedores hauled crates to waiting ships, and fishermen sat on the pier with their poles dangling into the water. One of the fishermen would be most likely to have the time to answer a few questions.

  He walked to where an older man sat in dungarees. “Catching anything?”

  With a glance from under gray brows, the man said, “Yup.”

  Will settled on the boards beside him. “You live around here all your life?”

  The fellow jerked a bit on his line. “Born and raised.”

  “You hang out here a lot?”

  “Look, young fellow, just spit out what you’re looking for. I ain’t got all day.”

  Will grinned. He liked the direct approach himself. “I heard there’s an important shipment coming through tomorrow. You know anything about that?”

  “Even if I did, what’s it to you?” The man studied him from under his battered hat. “I ain’t seen you around.”

  “I’m the lightkeeper.”

  The man’s face changed and he actually smiled. “That’s good work you do, son. The old lightkeeper saved my bacon back in ’80. Storm tore my ship from s
tem to stern. I was clinging to a piece of the boat and he came rowing out to get me. Best sight I ever saw.”

  “About the ship? I want to be on my guard after the last instance of piracy.”

  “Can’t be too careful,” the man agreed. He spat a dark stream of tobacco into the clear blue water. “Way I hear it, the Hanson Queen is due in here late afternoon. She’s carrying the pay for the navy. Don’t reckon she’ll be docked long, and I hear she’ll have guns mounted just in case.”

  “That’s good news. Perhaps the pirates will hear of it and stay away.” Will watched the old man another moment. “You hear any scuttlebutt about the last ship? Any idea who did it and how?”

  The man spat again. “Sometimes it don’t pay to listen too close.”

  The guy knew something. Will could see it in his clouded eyes.

  “You think they’re still around?”

  “They ain’t going nowhere.”

  “Residents?”

  The man shrugged and jerked on his line. “Got a big one. Been nice talking to you, but I do believe we’re done.” He rose and reeled in his fish, a big rockfish.

  Will was out when Katie returned in the afternoon. Her spirits dragged along the ground with her skirts. She inhaled the salty scent of the sea a final time before stepping into the house.

  When she walked into the parlor, Jennie squealed in delight. Katie scooped her up and kissed her soft cheek. “I thought you’d be napping,” she said. Katie’s smile faded. It would be most difficult to leave this place and not see the baby every day. “Where is Will?” she asked Lady Carrington, who was seated in the armchair with a book in her hand.

  “Down at the harbor. Philip is in town.”

  She wished she could share with Will what she’d learned from her father. Katie put the baby back by the blocks. “I believe I’ll change then go for a walk.”

  She went to her room and changed from her dress to a white shirtwaist. As she buttoned the skirt, she heard a rustle in the pocket. When she slipped her hand inside, she found a slip of paper. She pulled it out and glanced at it. It was the note she’d found in her father’s safe. The one about the ship docking an hour earlier. Now she realized what this note had to be referring to. She’d forgotten all about it.