Chapter Twenty-Three
The girl barely weighed anything, and Nate could feel bones poking him in the chest as he lifted her into his arms, cradling her as he had done with Rachel only a few moments before. She was shaking, her eyes barely open. Was she suffering from the cold or from an illness?
He should be taking her to see the doc, but he would be at the dance.
He carried the girl into the house and found Rachel stoking the fire, the flames jumping as they burned brightly. Already, he could feel the room warming. He hurried over to the settee and laid the girl down, crouching beside her as Rachel put the poker back into its stand.
“I’ll get the blankets. How many do you think we’ll need?”
“As many as we can give her.” Nate pressed his fingers to the girl’s cheek. “She’s ice-cold.”
“I’ll get some cocoa as well. She needs something warm to drink.”
Rachel hurried away, and Nate took a moment to look the girl over. She was definitely very young and emaciated. She looked like she hadn’t been fed properly in quite some time. Her dress looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. She also smelled of alcohol.
Was she drunk? Leaning in, Nate sniffed. It took a moment to realize the smell was coming from her clothes and not her mouth. So she wasn’t drunk, but she’d been around others who had. It was as if they’d soaked her in drink.
Her breathing was raspy, and it sounded as if she had something lodged in her chest. How long had she been outside without a coat? It was not the weather to be out without something to keep warm in. Whatever had happened, she had left in a hurry and hadn’t had time to get a coat.
What was she running from?”
The girl’s eyes fluttered open, and her expression was glassy as she looked up at him. Nate smiled.
“You’re safe now. You’ll be fine.”
“Where…?”
“I’ve got the blankets.” Rachel hurried back into the room, carrying an armful of blankets. She passed some to Nate and began to shake them out, laying them over the girl. “Just lie still for now, dear. Get yourself warm and take a moment to gather your thoughts.”
“But…”
“You don’t need to say anything just yet. Just conserve your strength until you’re warmer.” Rachel nodded at Nate. “You keep putting blankets on her, and I’ll make some cocoa.”
She hurried out before Nate could respond.
He hadn’t anticipated being given orders, but Rachel was taking easy charge of this.
Slightly ruffled, yet this hadn’t made her bat an eyelid.
Maybe it was something she was used to; Nate could only imagine looking after multiple children and keeping them safe had to be hard work.
The girl was still shaking under the blankets, and he rearranged them again.
“Don’t try and talk,” he urged. “We’re going to get you warm. Then you can talk to us.”
She was biting her lip so hard Nate was surprised she didn’t break the skin and make it bleed.
Then she nodded, looking as if she was complying.
Nate found her hand under the blankets and squeezed it.
It was so bony and frail that he feared breaking it, and her hands were still cold.
She was beginning to get warm, but the tips of her fingers were like ice.
He didn’t know what else to do except hold her hand until Rachel returned with a tray carrying three steaming mugs.
She placed it on the coffee table, absently brushing her hair from her face.
Her hair was beginning to fall from its pinned position, making her appearance look haphazard, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Here you go,” she said gently as the girl sat up gingerly. “It’s a bit hot, so be careful.”
The girl took the cup, flinching at the heat, and blew on the cocoa before taking a sip. She let out a sigh of relief, her eyes closing for a moment.
“Thank you,” she croaked. “I needed that.”
“Drink some more,” Rachel urged, handing a mug to Nate before sitting down. “Then you can talk. There’s no rush.”
Rachel seemed calm and collected. Her gentleness with the girl surprised him.
The girl managed to drink down the cocoa quickly, gasping and clutching at her chest as she lowered the mug. The color was returning to her cheeks.
She managed to speak after a moment.
“Thank you. I feel a bit better now.”
“You’re the town marshal here, aren’t you? I saw you when you came to the Silver Lantern.”
Nate was aware of Rachel looking at him curiously, but he decided to ignore it. He concentrated on the girl.
“I am. Were you looking for me?”
The girl nodded.
“I need your help.”
“What’s your name, dear?” Rachel asked.
“Daisy. Daisy Cornwall.”
“And how old are you?”
Daisy blinked hard, and there were tears in her eyes. One fell and trickled down her face.
“I… I’m nineteen.”
Nate squeezed her hand gently.
“You don’t need to cry. You’re safe here, Daisy.”
“I don’t feel safe,” Daisy sniffed, wiping her nose on her sleeve. “I feel like I’m going to be running forever.”
He shifted to sit on the edge of the settee, careful not to crowd Daisy too much.
“You came from the Silver Lantern?”
Daisy nodded.
“I did. I was there when you came for Mae. I saw you confronting Mr. Pike, and I thought… I mean, I believed…” She swallowed hard, her cheeks flushed with shame. “I thought you would be able to help me. I had to get out of there. I can’t take it anymore.”
“You need to slow down a moment.” Nate held up a hand. “Start from the beginning. How did you end up at the Silver Lantern?”
Daisy cleared her throat.
“I wouldn’t have gone there had I known what I was going to become. I was lied to. He betrayed me, and then he deserted me.”
“Who did?”
Her eyes flashed, and Nate saw the anger flicker on her face.
“Isaac Vane.” She practically spat the name out. “He came up to me when I was living back home in Tucson.”
Nate recognized the name right away. He could tell by the expression on Rachel’s face she did too.
“Tucson?” Rachel looked surprised. “Isn’t that in Arizona?”
“It is. I was born and raised there with my three brothers and my other sister. It was a horrible time. I was the eldest, and I was expected to forgo anything except to look after my siblings. Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but they were so rude and disrespectful to me.
They beat me, thinking it was funny. When I told my parents about it, they said that I shouldn’t trouble them with trivial matters.
” Daisy’s lip curled. “It didn’t help that Mother kept having children.
She claimed she wanted a large family, but as soon as a baby was born it was passed onto me. ”
Rachel drew a sharp intake of breath.
“You were essentially the nanny?”
Daisy could only nod.
Nate glanced at Rachel, wondering what was going through her head.
“They wouldn’t let me go and get a job,” Daisy said miserably, staring at her hands clenched into fists on the blanket. “They said I had to watch the children. I couldn’t even go to school.”
“I’m sorry.” Nate patted the back of her hand.
“I began sneaking out of the house. I went for walks and looked in the shops. It was at one of these excursions that I met Isaac Vane.” She blinked hard, but it didn’t stop the tears, which were now falling freely.
“He seduced me. Said I was beautiful, and that he loved me. He wanted to take me away, to give me the life I deserve. And I fell for it. I believed all of it. I thought I would have someone who showed me the love and attention I deserved.”
Nate could feel his blood boiling. Vane had been doing the same in Tucson, singling out girls who looked vulnerable and in need of help. He’d done the same to Mae, and had attempted to do that to Rachel.
It was terrifying to know that someone like Vane could do this and get away with it.
“But he didn’t show you love and attention,” Rachel said slowly.
“No, he didn’t. He took me to the Silver Lantern Saloon down the slope.
He said that it would be my home. I didn’t know what he meant until we got here.
That was when he told…” She broke off and put a hand to her mouth, fighting back the tears.
“He told me that my parents wanted to get rid of me, that I was useless and they wanted me out of their sight.”
Nate felt the dread settle in his stomach.
“So they sold you to him.”
“Apparently so. And Vane said the only way to get out of this was to buy my way out. And I’d have to…” She looked away, clearly ashamed. “I’d have to… sell my body to get the money, and he and his friend Mr. Pike would take the largest cut, leaving me with pennies.”
Rachel let out a slight gasp, but Nate didn’t pay attention. He was coming to the realization that Mae had been let off lightly when he rescued her. She was adamant that she hadn’t been taken advantage of like that, and Nate believed her. Daisy hadn’t been so lucky.
Rachel looked at Nate, her expression troubled.
“There’s a Silver Lantern Saloon near where I grew up,” Rachel said. “Miriam always told us when we left the orphanage to go into town or on excursions that we must always stay together, preferably with one of the boys as a chaperone. We thought it was silly at the time…”
“But she suspected that you could be targets,” Nate finished.
He didn’t want to think about Rachel being one of the women forced to work her way out of servitude. That turned his stomach more than he cared to admit.
“How long have you been there?” Rachel asked, sitting forward as she watched Daisy.
“I… six months I think.” Daisy’s bottom lip trembled.
“I should’ve paid my debt off by now, but according to Vane, it’s going to take years.
I wasn’t told any of that, nor that I would be paying for the interest as well.
I couldn’t take it anymore, and knew I had to escape.
I didn’t know if there was another town nearby.
I had no idea where I was but then you came in looking for Mae.
I realized that there had to be a town somewhere close.
I saw you from the window, going back up the mountain. ”
“And you came here in this weather with no coat on?” Rachel looked shocked. “You could’ve frozen to death.”
“I didn’t have time to grab a coat. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, and I didn’t want people to know I’d left. It’s so busy there that they can’t always keep track of us. I knew I would have some time, even if I did freeze. I didn’t care, I just had to get out.”
She reached out and grabbed Nate’s hand with a strength he hadn’t anticipated. Daisy kept a tight hold on him, her expression desperate.
“You’ve got to get them out of there. All of them.”
Nate knew he couldn’t turn away from that. How could he when he had the distressed girl in front of him? He nodded and squeezed her hand.
“We’ll protect you,” he promised. “And we’ll get everyone else out of there as well.”