25. Twenty-Five
He was in no mood to argue. Daniel held out Mabel’s gloves and nodded to the door. “Time to go.”
She tapped the toe of her red shoe on the wood floor. Where had she gotten those? They’d barely had enough to feed everyone and keep the household running since selling the motorcar. “I already told you—I’m not going anywhere. You’ll not haul us off to some ratty boardinghouse. He was my grandfather too, and I’ve just as much right to this house as you.”
As though that had anything to do with it. From the dining room, Lucas’s chatter filled the void. “Think of your son.”
She arched a brow underneath the fine netting of a felt hat matching her shoes. “I am. Are you? While you are off playing childish games looking for treasure with your new mistress, I am the one here trying to hold our lives together.”
Her words landed like a hammer. Mistress? Childish? Everything he’d done had been to find a way to get her out of the trouble on her heels. He clenched his jaw. But of course she didn’t know that. He’d purposely made it so.
The breath heaved out of her chest, and her tone gentled. “That was unfair of me. I know you love Lucas and you are only doing what you think will help. But there must be an end to this foolishness. You’ll only end up forfeiting what remains of our family’s wealth trying to chase more. I can take care of Lucas and myself. You don’t need to.”
What did that mean? He narrowed his eyes at her tailored dress. Had he been too distracted to notice what had to be romantic gifts?
“Are you seeing a new man?”
She waved the question away with slender fingers. “If you really want to help us, then leave the house to me and Lucas and get the squatters out. Go back to your life. I promise I’ll be fine on my own.” Sweetness laced her words, and she stepped closer, heels clacking on the floor tread by generations of their family. “I know you want to help. This is what’s best.”
“You think what’s best is for me to leave you and Lucas alone to fend for yourselves?” His nostrils flared. “What kind of coward do you take me to be?”
A crease formed between her eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. If telling her the truth was the only way to get her to see the danger, then he had no choice. “Your husband was involved in dishonest dealings. Men came to your house looking for money he owned. They’ve since made threats. I’ve been trying to find a way to pay the debt, but I am running out of time. Something is happening, Mabel. Let me take you and Lucas away until I know it’s safe for you to return.”
She blinked repeatedly, and then a shadow crossed her pale features. “What men came?”
“Not the gentlemanly sort.”
“I see.” She fingered pearls at her throat. “I’ve changed my mind. You may take me to town after all.”
“I’m not taking you to town. You and Lucas are to pack your things, and we are leaving Natchez. I’ll put you in a hotel in Stanton or—”
“No.” Her haughty sniff raked his nerves. “You should have told me about this incident earlier. But like always, you think I’m some hapless woman with straw for brains who couldn’t possibly be of any assistance. Not that you have any trouble seeking the aid of an uncouth captain who can’t even dress properly for dinner and who eats with dogs.”
She shouldered past him and flung open the door.
His blood pumped in hot waves up his neck to scorch his ears. How dare she speak about Camilla in such a manner? Especially when the captain had been nothing but kind to his vain sister. “Where are you going?”
“To fix the problem you’ve caused me.” She tossed the words over her stiff shoulder.
He’d caused? Had she lost her mind? He started after her, leaving the door gaping behind him. “You don’t understand what these men are like. You can’t just sweet-talk them with honeyed words and think all your problems will go away.”
She spun on her heel, eyes flashing. “What would you know about it? My honeyed words have gotten me more than you can imagine.”
That didn’t sound good at all. “What have you done?”
“Only what I need to for me and my son.” She tipped her chin. “No different from what I have always done. While you were busy with your schooling and your career, I learned a different skill. How to use the only privileges granted to me in my favor.”
“What does that mean?” A sour stone settled in his gut. How much had she hidden from him?
“You always were blind, little brother. You never could see past the way you wanted things to be to the way they are.”
He crossed the distance between them and took her elbow, her gloves still clenched in his other fist. At least she didn’t snatch away this time. “For whatever I have done or haven’t done that has caused you this hurt and anger, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about those men. I was only trying to protect you.”
She sighed and patted his cheek like he’d aged no more than Lucas. “I know you were. But you need to stay out of this and let me handle it. There are things a woman can accomplish that a man cannot.” Her voice edged with steel as he began to shake his head. “Unless you plan on also manhandling me and tossing me into a locked room, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Heat scorched through his chest. “Did Lucas Sr. do that to you?”
Sadness dimmed her irises for an instant. “You never did see what happened in the rooms beyond the books you had your nose in.”
But he hadn’t lived with her since before he went to university. His mouth dried even as bile inched up his throat. She couldn’t mean what she implied. “Are you saying…?”
The sadness in her eyes hardened. “Finally you understand.” She stepped away from him and stalked through the gate and down the narrow road along the cliff’s edge.
Mind reeling, he stared as she marched off. Half-formed memories he’d subconsciously tried to bury did their best to resurface. Their father keeping her tucked away in her room for days on end. Her inability to go on social calls without Father present or receive any gentlemen callers he hadn’t first put through rigorous testing. Daniel had dismissed the behavior as a father’s concern for the safety and reputation of his only daughter. But had it been worse?
How had he not seen the truth? Why didn’t he shield her? The sour feeling in his gut churned.
What do I do now, Lord?
Focusing on the peaceful river beyond, he tried to offer up a better prayer but scattered little more than incoherent thoughts heavenward.
“What bee buzzed under your bonnet?”
The familiar teasing snatched him from a petition for his sister’s safety and for wisdom to move through this situation. He opened his eyes to Camilla tapping a finger on her crossed arms. How long had he been standing here with his eyes closed, gripping his sister’s gloves like they were his only anchor to sanity?
“Want to talk about it?” Camilla smiled at him from underneath the brim of a flat cap, her long hair tied up in its customary braid.
The muscle in his jaw twitched. How could he explain he’d been a complete fool and made things worse for everyone?
“Guess not.” Camilla rocked back on her heels. “All right, then. I’ll talk instead. I’m going to be staying with Hattie until we figure out what to do about Alma May. Mr. Copeland still owes me a goodly sum. After restocking, paying my crew, and doing the necessary patch jobs, we still have a little left over from the first portion of your payment. Enough, I believe, to cover the extensive repairs and dry dock fees.”
“Good.” He returned his gaze to the river. One worry to lift from her shoulders.
“House is a mite cramped, what with Hattie, her son and Finn and Buck there.”
He glanced her way, but the statement didn’t need a response, so he watched a lazy paddle wheel dip into the water. Did the people on the boat down below know how lucky they were to spend the day drifting along a peaceful current?
She shifted to catch his gaze. “I’ll come right out and ask, then. Can Finn and Buck take a room here? They are good at repairs and can work to earn their keep. I couldn’t help but notice the house could use some fresh paint and sanding and the yard hadn’t seen a gardening tool in some time. My men can help with other chores as well to earn their supper. It won’t be for more than a few days, I hope. At least until I can figure out something else.”
Wait. What? His attention snapped to her. She wanted the crew of the Alma May to stay here?
“You know them to be good Christian men.” She spread her hands. “Just in case anyone might be worried about boarding men in a house with so many women.”
“What?” He shook his head. “Of course I know they are good men. That’s not it.”
She touched his arm. “What’s wrong?”
“You might have been right about my sister.” Hurt and anger seared each syllable, but he couldn’t keep the emotion from his tone. Not from her. Not when she looked at him with such boundless compassion. “And likely my father.”
“Oh.” Her lips puckered.
His fingers clenched into fists. “How could I have been so blind? I should have seen how possessive he could be. How he went to any lengths to be obeyed.”
From the house, the soft sounds of Stella’s rich voice wafted through in a beautifully haunting tune. At least Lucas didn’t know anything about the turmoil.
Camilla stepped closer. “Who wanted to be obeyed?”
“My father. Maybe Mabel married a man just like him. Possessive. I never saw that side of Lucas Sr. Had no reason to suspect. But you never truly know what a man might be behind closed doors. His involvement with operations outside the law is proof enough I didn’t know him. Still, I don’t think he hurt her. But he might’ve tried to control her. Make her do things she otherwise wouldn’t. I should have seen it. At least with my father if not with Lucas Sr.” He shook the gloves. He wasn’t making much sense. But his thoughts and memories jumbled and took logical sentences out of his grasp.
She rubbed a soothing stroke along his sleeve. “Did you and Mabel have an argument?”
He pulled away from her and ran a hand over his face. “She knew about those men who made threats. I told her today about them looking for a debt to be repaid, and she didn’t seem surprised. Whatever was going on, she knew about it. She’s gone to do something to handle it.”
Camilla pressed her lips into a line, her gaze following the trail. Wherever Mabel had gone, she must not have crossed paths with Camilla. He should’ve followed her, but he’d been too twisted up.
How like him to center his focus on his turmoil and ignore others’ needs.
Help me to be better, Lord.
“I must stop refusing to see what is in front of me.” He steeled his spine. “I should’ve been thinking like a lawyer on a case all along.”
“You already do. You’ve always had an objective way of seeing things. Mostly.” Her wobbly smile faltered when he didn’t respond. “Do you think what’s going on with your sister is connected to your father and his hunt for the treasure?”
“One line from my grandfather’s writings keeps haunting me.” He couldn’t get it out of his head. All last night, he’d tossed as the words pressed upon his brain. “‘He’s close. Too close. Can’t let him see what died with the gold.’ That’s what Grandfather wrote. The more I think about it, the more I am sure he couldn’t have been talking about lost gold a half-century old. So, what died with the gold?”
Camilla tucked her hands behind her and faced the river. The paddle wheeler had made its way past, leaving nothing but ripples. “I’m not given to believing in coincidence, so the fact that a band of outlaws is currently occupying the location on the treasure map doesn’t bode well. I was too preoccupied with the untimely death of my boat to sift through those implications at the time, but I’ve had plenty of time since.” Her tone took on a cautious edge. “Should we go talk to the detective again?”
He clamped the gloves tighter. They should. But knowing what he should do didn’t make it any easier.
“Sorry.” Her cheeks colored. “I don’t mean I want to go to him and fling around accusations about your family. But if Mabel might be connected to those men we found when we followed your grandfather’s map, then she could be in danger.”
Daniel faced his grandfather’s house—and faced a different, more ominous picture. “I don’t think our fathers were ever looking for the Hollis treasure. They were after something else. Likely, they ran into the criminals we discovered, and it got them killed.”
“Which means my father died for a lie.” Camilla’s pain knifed through him. “Mr. Gray—under the false name of Mr. Dixon—tricked him into thinking they were looking for a treasure. He wouldn’t have helped otherwise. What do you think they were after?”
“Still gold, if my grandfather’s words are to be believed. And since I’m not given to trusting the concept of coincidence either, it must be connected to the men we happened upon. Those are probably the same men who have been following us.”
Camilla shivered despite the heat. “Was your father after whatever those men were smuggling? What about the gold coin you found in Papa’s cabin?”
“I don’t know. But it all must be connected somehow, and my sister is a part of it.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Bring your crew and your belongings. Until this is over, we stay together.”
“I told Hattie I would stay with her.”
“And bring danger to her door?”
Her features tightened. Would she refuse? Like Mabel?
But he couldn’t force her to listen either. No matter what she decided, he would find a way to protect her. And those she cared about.
Somehow.
Camilla studied his face, then gave a nod. “Very well. I respect your judgment. Tomorrow we’ll pack up and relocate here.”
He hated the slump of her shoulders. “If it hadn’t been for that man who came offering to make repairs…”
She rested her hand on his arm again. “I know. We are both tangled in whatever this is. We stick together.”
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry I brought you into this mess.”
“All part of the adventurous life of a riverboat captain.” She winked.
Her poor attempt at humor didn’t fool him, and he pulled her into an embrace. She melted against him as though she’d been made to fit into that very spot near his heart.
He spoke against the top of her head, determination welling from his core. “I’ll fix it, I promise. Just…stay with me. Please.”
She wrapped her arms around him and stroked his back. “I’m here.”
Daniel eased back a few heartbeats later and cupped her chin. “You’re a good woman, my dear captain. Better than a man like me deserves.”
Words to express what had been gathering within him tried to make their way up his throat but were rerouted when her lips brushed his.
Achingly soft, the kiss held a promise deeper than their growing friendship. A million words were spoken in that simple touch and the brush of her thumb along his jaw. Lord knew he didn’t deserve her trust or her heart, but he would do everything in his power to shield and honor both. The weight of the darkness shrouding him lifted as she lowered back onto the flat of her feet and offered him a warrior’s encouraging smile.
No matter what challenges still lay ahead, they could face them.
Together.