Chapter 23 #2
“Forasmuch as Sam and Ally have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company of witnesses, and thereto have given their pledge, each to the other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving a ring and by joining hands, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” Reverend Green closed his Bible.
“Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” He smiled at Sam. “And you may now kiss your bride.”
Sam did just that.
Afterward, Mrs. Green invited us to their simple canvas room behind the church for an early luncheon, but as soon as it was over, we returned to the hotel, where Sam had a dozen men working to install the windows, build the interior walls downstairs, and make beds in the hotel rooms upstairs.
Hazel and I changed into serviceable dresses and spent most of the day cleaning up after the work crews.
If I couldn’t stay with Sam longer than a few weeks, I wanted to make sure I helped him as much as possible to repay him for taking me to Downieville.
The money he could have made those three weeks at Bess’s Place would have been more than enough to finish the hotel with some to spare.
I offered him the gold, but he said it was for Father and Hazel if I left, though he vowed to care for them.
Evening set, and we finally quit working to have a bit of supper. Since Father was the most adept at cooking, and he was still too weak to do a lot of the heavy lifting, he volunteered to make our meal.
I sat next to Sam at the kitchen table. Paddy sat across from us, and the children sat to our left and right. As I took my seat, my thigh pressed against Sam’s, and he glanced up at me, warmth in his brown eyes.
I loved feeling him close and sharing secret glances. Every time we had passed each other that day, he’d offered me a tender smile or a fond look. I wanted to please him more than anything. To show him the same love and sacrifice he’d shown me.
After supper was finished, Sam and I washed the dishes as Father got the children ready for bed and Paddy went off on his own.
My hand touched Sam’s as I passed him a plate that needed to be dried, and the simple brush of our skin was like electricity as tension and awareness mingled between us.
He put the plate in the cupboard, and when he came back to the worktable, he stood a little closer to me as we finished our chores.
After checking on the children, who were in the bedroom that Hazel and I had shared the night before, we walked across the hall to our room.
Anticipation hummed through my body as Sam opened the door and let me precede him. The longing was so keen between us, I could hardly breathe.
The room was dark, and my heart was thumping wildly. The desire to be in his arms was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. There was something profound in knowing that I was his and he was mine.
“Do you remember that night I lay on the floor in your room?” he asked after he closed the door and slipped his arms around my waist. “After Bill foolishly tried to break into Bess’s Place?”
“How could I forget?”
“I didn’t sleep for a moment that night.” He drew me closer, and I went willingly. “I lay there and listened to the sound of your breathing, wondering what I would have done if something had happened to you.”
His arms were strong and gentle as he held me.
“And that was the moment I knew,” he said, lifting one hand to rest it on my cheek, “that I was in love with you. And from that day until this one, I’ve marveled that God brought you into my life, and I’ve wondered how I could possibly live without you, should that day come.”
I clung to the lapels of his shirt as he captured my mouth in a kiss filled with passion and longing. I responded, every part of my heart and soul melding with his as he deepened the kiss.
The sound of shattering glass downstairs tore me from the gossamer of fog that enveloped us.
Sam lifted his head and looked toward the door as more glass shattered.
He grabbed his gun and then said, “Go to the children.”
Panic filled my heart as he opened the bedroom door and disappeared.
I didn’t hesitate and ran into the children’s room. They were still awake and sitting up in their beds. Father stepped out of his room, fear in his eyes.
“What was that?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Sam went to look.”
There was a commotion downstairs, and then I saw a hint of light flickering off the base of the stairway.
“Fire!” Sam yelled. “Get the children out!”
Fire.
My heart fell as panic took hold. This wasn’t supposed to happen today. It was supposed to happen the day after my birthday.
“Hurry,” I told the children as they climbed out of their bed.
Father took Hazel’s hand as I grabbed Johnnie’s, and we ran down the steps.
“You asked for this,” English Jim yelled at Sam as the men circled each other. “You helped Rose run away, and I have a feeling you had something to do with Cole leaving, too. You’ll pay for my loss in income.”
“How will destroying my hotel pay for anything?” Sam asked as he sidestepped around a toolbox. Where was his gun?
Fire was already licking up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, which had just been built that day. I frantically scanned the room and saw his gun in the far corner, making me wonder if Jim had hit it out of his hand.
“We need to put out the fire!” Father yelled.
“Where will we get water?” I asked, smoke already filling the room.
“The troughs outside.”
The noise intensified as the lumber in the ceiling caught fire. We needed help, but would anyone in Portsmouth Square help Sam save his hotel?
“We have to get the children out.” Father lifted his arm to cough into his sleeve.
Jim lunged at Sam, and I screamed, but Sam jumped out of his way.
“Get the children out!” Sam said as he kept his eye on Jim.
I wanted to help Sam, but what could I do? The children needed to get to safety, and I had to find help. My heart hammered as I followed Father out of the hotel, pulling Johnnie along with me. He coughed and stumbled, but he continued.
When we arrived outside, fresh air filled my lungs as Johnnie fell to his knees on the road. Hazel tore away from Father’s side and sat next to him.
Several people had come out to the square, and a bucket brigade had already started. People were running in every direction as they gathered containers and formed a line.
Relief overwhelmed me. “I thought they’d let it burn.”
“They won’t risk losing their own buildings,” Father said, coughing. “No matter what they think of Sam.”
I turned to reenter the building, and Father grabbed my arm. “Where are you going?”
“I have to help him.”
“There’s nothing you can do. You’ll only get hurt, or worse.”
“I can’t let him die.” The Annals of San Francisco taunted me. Had the authors gotten the date wrong? I’d never considered that.
Or worse, what if this part of history had somehow changed because Cole left?
“Sam can take care of himself,” Father said.
I stopped fighting long enough to convince him to let me go—and then I ran back into the hotel.
I couldn’t let Sam die.
The smoke was so intense, I couldn’t see beyond the entry hall. Fire had spread to the dining room and was climbing the stairs.
“Ally!” Father yelled as he appeared at my side. “Come out—”
“Go outside, Father,” I yelled back. “Stay with the children.”
I moved farther into the hotel and found Jim and Sam still fighting.
Sam looked my way, and Jim used the distraction to lunge at him. He barreled into Sam’s chest and knocked him down.
I screamed, but the smoke was thick, and the air was so filled with the noise of the fire that I couldn’t even hear my own voice.
Sam fell hard and hit his head on the toolbox. His body went limp.
“Sam!” My voice cracked, and tears ran down my cheeks, both from fear and smoke. I got on my knees and crawled to him as Jim disappeared into the smoke toward the back of the room.
When I reached Sam, I shook him, but he was unconscious.
I had to get him out of the building, but how was I going to pull him to safety without help? Was this how I was going to die in this path? With Sam?
Despair filled me as I thought about never seeing him again, of living the rest of my life in 1929 grieving the loss of the man I’d come to love more than any other.
“I won’t give up,” I said as I lay next to him. Burning lumber crashed to the floor next to me, and the heat had become unbearable.
All of Sam’s hard work—his entire fortune—was going up in flames.
I tried to pull Sam onto my back, but he was so large, it was impossible. Tears filled my eyes as hopelessness set in.
Suddenly, out of the smoke, Paddy appeared. I cried out in relief as he grabbed Sam’s hands and began to pull him toward the front door.
I was weak and disoriented, but I scrambled to follow them, tripping over items that had been lying on the floor from construction. Embers fell all around us, but we continued to the front door.
Father was still there, looking frantic.
He put his arm around me as we stepped outside under the canopy of stars and the billowing smoke.
The bucket brigade had already turned to the building next to Sam’s hotel, dousing it so it wouldn’t catch fire. They’d abandoned trying to save the hotel, knowing it would be futile.
Several people stepped forward to help Paddy move Sam farther away from the burning building as I followed, taking Hazel’s and Johnnie’s hands and moving them with us.
I couldn’t bear to watch the hotel burn.
The sun had started to creep toward the horizon as our ragtag family trudged toward Bess’s Place in Sydney Town. Tears streaked down the children’s soot-stained cheeks, and Father limped from turning his ankle as he ran buckets for the brigade.
I tried not to cry as I pictured Sam’s hotel and all our things in a pile of ashes on Portsmouth Square.
The quick thinking of the business owners and neighbors had stopped the spread of the fire, but it hadn’t prevented us from losing everything.
Our trunks with all our clothes, books, and personal belongings were gone.
Sam had regained consciousness not long after we took him outside, and he had tried valiantly to join the fight, but he was unsteady on his feet as Bess’s Place came into view.
None of us said a word. What was there to say? There was no law or justice in San Francisco. No one to arrest English Jim. The only thing Sam could do was retaliate, and by the look in his eyes, I knew he was tempted, but I prayed he wouldn’t do anything foolish.
We’d already lost so much.
“I’ll take the kids to the well and wash up before we try to get some sleep,” Father said. His body was still recovering from his illness, and he looked exhausted and pale.
Among my list of prayers was that he wouldn’t relapse.
As Father led the children around to the back of the property, Sam climbed the steps to the porch.
There, he unlocked the front door and pushed it open.
He’d had offers from people interested in purchasing the building and lot, but he’d been too busy to see to the sale.
Thankfully, we still had shelter. But what would stop English Jim from putting a torch to this place?
Was one building enough vengeance for him?
We stepped into the dim interior, and Sam took a seat on the first stool he found.
Paddy stood for a moment as if he didn’t know what to do next.
I closed the door and took a deep breath, inhaling the smell of soot that covered our bodies. Then I walked over to Sam to inspect the wound on his head. “You need a doctor.”
He moved away from my hand, his body stiff with anger. “I need to find Jim.”
“Please don’t do anything foolish.” I sat on a stool next to him. “I can’t lose you.”
“Why not? You won’t be here for long.”
His words stung, but I knew they came from a place of bitter disappointment and anger. I glanced at Paddy, but he couldn’t understand what Sam meant because he didn’t know I was a time-crosser.
“What about Hazel and Johnnie?” I put my hand on Sam’s arm. “They need you.”
Sam put his face in his hands and shook his head. “What will we do? We lost everything.”
“We still have the gold and this place. And we still have the lot on Portsmouth Square.”
“I won’t take your gold.”
“Why not? It’s there for this very purpose.”
“It belongs to your father and Hazel.”
“Father told me he wants you to have it. We’re family now, Sam.”
“I-I sleep.” Paddy pointed to the stairs.
Sam stood, swaying a second on his feet, and then walked to Paddy. Putting his hand on Paddy’s shoulder, he said, “Thank you for saving my life.”
“Friend.” Paddy grasped Sam’s arm, a smile pulling up one side of his face. “For-for-ever.”
“Yes.” Sam nodded. “Forever.”
With a glance at me, Paddy left the dining room and walked up the stairs.
“We should all get some sleep,” Sam said as he turned back to me, the weight of his cares heavy on his shoulders.
I stood, needing to give him my love and encouragement. “I’m sorry, Sam.”
He opened his arms, and I stepped into his embrace. “I’m sorry, too, Ally. This wasn’t how I wanted to spend our wedding night.”
As I held him, I couldn’t stop thinking about what was bothering me.
Was this the fire that was supposed to kill Sam and me? Had the authors of The Annals of San Francisco gotten the dates wrong? And, if they had, did that mean history had changed? Could I stay in 1849 now?
I would try to find out tomorrow.