Chapter 21
Deke didn’t bother to tell Rose how he got Mason to talk. She wouldn’t be interested and would only want to know if her daughter was all right and where to find her. “If Mason told the truth, he had Lucy taken to his gold mine, the Majestic. It’s above Hangtown. The family that lives there is taking care of her.”
Rose slammed her hand to her heart. “She’s in the mountains?”
“Yes, but that’s the problem. It’s stopped raining around Sacramento, but higher up they’re saying it’s been raining steadily. It fell eighty hours straight at Hangtown. Around Downieville, the north fork of the Yuba River has carried away most of the bridges.”
“But we can get up there, can’t we?”
He could hardly look into her pleading eyes. Hated to say what he had to say. “The trails are impassable. Nobody can get up there right now.”
“But soon?” she asked in an agonized whisper.
“The minute I can.” He wasn’t telling her all of it. Far from it. He hadn’t told her what he’d heard about the calamitous storms that had struck the entire mountain area. Many homes had been destroyed, bridges gone, roads washed away. No supplies had gotten through for days, and people were starving. He wouldn’t tell Rose that, although she’d probably find out soon enough. “They’re getting together a rescue party that’ll leave as soon as it can. I’ll be part of it.”
“So will I.”
“You? I know how worried you are about Lucy, but it’s not a good idea. Judging from what they tell me, it’ll be tough getting up there. I hate to say it, you being such an independent woman, but there are some things a man can do that a woman can’t.”
“This woman can.”
“Stubborn, aren’t you?”
“I want my daughter back.” She cut him a sharp look that dared him to argue.
If he didn’t take her, he wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to get up there by herself. “I’ll see what I can do.” Something else weighed on his mind. “That’s not all you should know.”
She managed a wry smile. “More bad news? Haven’t I had enough for one day?”
“The Egyptian Hotel is gone. Collapsed and carried away by the flood.”
“That beautiful hotel? What a shame.”
“That’s not the half of it. Looks like Mason Talbot’s gone, too.” He described the last time he’d seen Mason, heading up the stairway to the second floor, not seeming to care his hotel was about to collapse on his head. Only a minute after Deke had made his way outside, the walls of the Egyptian had caved in. The building had broken apart and portions of it swept downstream. “I didn’t see Mason Talbot get out, and I don’t think he did.”
Her reaction was what he expected. Not wasting time on false sentiments of regret, she whispered, “Oh, my God,” and stared at him in alarm. “How will we know where Lucy is if he was lying?”
He couldn’t find a good answer. “I don’t know, Rose. There must be others who know where she is. We’d have to find them.”
He thought she might start to cry, but she didn’t. With a deep, shuddering breath she declared, “I can only pray the rain stops soon. Oh, Deke, what if we never find her?”
* * * *
When Gaston and Gus rowed back to the River Queen, they weren’t alone. Ben, Coralee, and Raymond huddled wet, cold, and miserable in the back of the boat. After an ecstatic greeting from Rose and Drucilla, the three refugees were made comfortable on the second floor. Coralee explained what happened. “Landsakes, we could all have drowned! The water came up so fast we had to run to the second floor. For two days we were trapped up there, cold and nothing to eat. If it wasn’t for Mr. Bernier, we would be there still.” She cast a meaningful glance at her daughter. “He’s a fine man, Drucilla.”
“Yes he is, Ma,” she said quietly. “He’s not as tall as I am, but I’m finding there’s more than one way to look up to a man.”
Coralee described how Gaston had insisted they check the family next door and found Tom Murphy and his mother had also been trapped on the second floor. “That Dulcee! Everyone tried to get her to leave but she refused to budge. That was her home, and she saw no reason to leave even though the water was creeping up the stairs to the second floor. Mr. Bernier made sure Dulcee and Tom had plenty of food, so they should be all right.”
Rose laughed to herself when she pictured that stubborn old lady refusing to go. She hoped she could be that independent when she reached Dulcee’s age. Relieved though she was that her in-laws had survived, as each hour passed, her anxiety grew. Nothing mattered more than getting to Hangtown to rescue her little girl.
* * * *
By the end of the second day, the water began to recede. “We’ll be forming the rescue train,” Deke said. “Are you sure you want to go, Rose?”
“You can’t stop me.”
“It’ll be cold up there. Better wear your warmest clothes.”
She found one of the old wool dresses she’d worn on the wagon train along with gloves, boots, and a heavy wool scarf to cover her head. She’d ignored the newest of fashions, but when Tillie offered to loan her a pair of white flannel bloomers, she gave it some thought. “But, Tillie, wouldn’t I look ridiculous?”
“Yes, you would, but if you want to keep your you-know-what warm, you’ll wear them.”
Rose took the bloomers.
Deke and a big Swede named Axel Johansson had joined together to form the pack train. Axel lived in Hangtown with his wife and children but had been trapped in Sacramento when the flood came. He was as anxious to get up there as Rose was. He’d been a reluctant guest at the River Queen where he spent his days loudly railing at God, Mother Nature, and whoever else he could think of who was keeping him from getting home. He and Deke easily recruited three more men who also lived high in the mountains and were anxious to get back to their families.
Most of the livestock had been moved to higher ground, but Deke managed to find fifteen mules to form the train. Not only did local stores volunteer food and supplies, as word of the devastating flood spread, donations were arriving from as far as San Francisco and all over the state.
At dawn, the day after the water receded, Rose left Sacramento with the pack train. At first, all the men except Deke regarded her with barely contained amusement. Who was this woman wearing those strange-looking bloomers under her dress? She’d never survive such a hard journey and would soon turn back. She was so set on getting to Hangtown, so relieved to be doing something other than sitting around imagining the worst, she didn’t care what they thought. Riding Star, she kept close to Deke, who maintained a steady pace on Sidney. Since the rain had melted all the snow on the lower slopes, the first day’s journey was easy. On the first night, everyone wrapped themselves in blankets and slept around the campfire. Rose had assumed she’d sleep alone, for propriety’s sake, if nothing else, but she got so cold she couldn’t sleep. Shivering, she slipped under Deke’s covers. Without saying a word, he arranged the blankets over them both and pulled her tight against him. Sinking into the warmth and security of his arms, she fell asleep in no time and hadn’t a care what the others might think. They had never discussed that terrible scene when he found her in the arms of Mason Talbot. What with everything else, they had yet to find the time. Sooner or later they would, though. Deke wasn’t much on talking about himself and his feelings, but she would insist.
The trip took four days. Easy at first, the higher they climbed into the soaked and muddy Sierra Nevada Mountains, the more obstacles they encountered. Roads washed out. Bridges gone. Two of the men wanted to turn back, but Deke and Axel persisted, and on the fourth day the train entered the storm-devastated town of Hangtown. The starving citizens gave them an ecstatic reception. Rose would have enjoyed the outpouring of praise and gratitude, but only two questions occupied her mind: where was the Majestic Mine and how could they get there?
While Deke helped unload the mules, Rose paid a visit to the general store, where she found an elderly male clerk eager to talk. Who hadn’t heard of the Majestic, one of the biggest, most profitable mines around Hangtown? It was owned by a man named Talbot who’d made his fortune off the Majestic. He gave Rose directions. “You can safely go up there during the day, but better not go at night.”
When she asked why, he explained, “Because of the high-graders. Talbot’s got an armed guard who lives up there with his family. From what I hear, he’s got instructions to shoot first and asks questions later.”
When she asked what a high-grader was, the clerk shook his head in disgust. “High-graders are lowlife thieves who sneak to the mines at night and steal the rich pieces of ore already mined. They’re a big problem around here. Hang ’em all, I say.”
Rose had just spent four days traveling on a journey that couldn’t have been more exhausting. Her body ached with fatigue, cried out for a good night’s sleep. But none of that mattered, and when she left the general store to go find Deke, she had to keep herself from running.
* * * *
Tom Watkins, his wife, and two children lived in a log cabin overlooking the entrance of the Majestic Mine. As Rose and Deke rode up and dismounted, her heart pounded in her chest. As they walked to the door, from inside she could hear children laughing. The door opened before Deke had a chance to knock, and a short, plump woman with a kindly face peered out. “Yes? You wanted something?”
Rose could hardly get the words out. “I’m looking for my daughter. Her name is Lucy. Is she here?”
After the two longest seconds of Rose’s life, Mrs. Watkins beamed. “Why yes, dear, she is. What a lovely little girl. Tom and I have so enjoyed having her.”
* * * *
When Rose, followed by Deke, stepped inside, she found her daughter playing with dolls on the floor with another little girl. When Lucy looked up and laid eyes on her mother, she stared with disbelief and burst into tears. “Mommy! I thought I’d never see you again.”
Rose swept Lucy into her arms. “Never mind, I’m here now. From this day on we’ll be together, and I mean that with all my heart.”
“You promise?” Lucy asked through her tears.
“I promise.”
“Is Grandpa still mad at you?”
“No, and neither is Grandma. Everything’s fine now.” She held her daughter at arms’ length. “Your cheeks are a bit thin, but otherwise you look fine.”
Lucy broke into a smile. “You look fine too. I had fun playing with Luke and Sally.”
“She’s talking about my two children,” Mrs. Watkins said. “They got along well together.” She shook her head regretfully. “I’m afraid we’re all a bit thinner. Like everyone else who lives up here, our pantry’s nearly bare. For the past few days we’ve existed mainly on watery porridge and the last of my peach preserves.”
Deke turned toward the door. “We’ll soon take care of that. I packed enough for a good meal tonight, and then some.”
That night, they all sat down to a dinner Mary Watkins called “the best meal we’ve had in weeks, maybe ever.” Later, after the children had been put to bed, Rose and Deke sat before a fire blazing in the huge stone fireplace and listened as their hosts expressed their shock. “I can’t believe Mr. Talbot would do such a thing,” Tom said. “One of his employees brought her up here. Said Lucy was an orphan. Mr. Talbot wanted us to keep her until he could find her a new home.”
“Good heavens, I never dreamed,” Mary Watkins declared. “Tom and I had no idea Lucy was stolen.”
Rose kept trying to reassure them that they weren’t to blame. “I’m so happy to have her back, I wouldn’t hold a grudge against anyone.” Except for Mason Talbot, she thought, but he was likely dead and not worth thinking about. “I’m so very grateful to you both. You took good care of Lucy, and that’s all that counts.”
Rose had been living with the darkest of fears, that she would never see her daughter again. Now she had to keep telling herself this moment was real. The nightmare was past. How incredibly lucky she was. Whatever the future might hold, she knew beyond doubt this day was the best, most wonderful day of her life.
* * * *
When they returned to Sacramento, they found the entire riverfront area in a disastrous tangle of collapsed buildings and heaps of debris. But despite the devastation, Rose took heart at the manner in which business owners, from the smallest shops to the largest hotels, were out on the streets, feverishly clearing the muddy mess. Not once did she hear anyone say they were pulling up stakes and leaving. All the talk was of rebuilding, and fast.
At the River Queen, Rose found everyone had pitched in to clear the floors of the residue of mud that had seeped in and covered most of the first floor. Some of the gambling tables were ruined but most had been saved. The restaurant suffered the worst damage, but Gaston seemed not the least distressed. “Mon Dieu, quel foutoir! Even though the carpet’s gone, we’ll be up and running in a week, madame.”
That night, Rose luxuriated in a hot bath and delighted in crawling into her snug, warm bed. As she fell asleep, Lucy curled beside her, she couldn’t have been more content.
Except for one thing.
She and Deke had spent the last ten days together, hardly apart for a moment, yet they still hadn’t had that talk. Maybe they never would. Maybe he didn’t love her after all, and had been helping her for no other reason than out of the goodness of his heart.
* * * *
After Deke escorted Rose and Lucy to the River Queen, he hastened to Fleming & Carter’s Ice House. Or what was left of it. When he got there, he found Mitch, hands on hips, surveying the wreckage. Deke burst into a joyful yell. “Hey there, mate! So you didn’t drown in Suisun Bay after all.”
Mitch filled him in on what had happened after he made off with Mason’s art collection. “I took that barge clear to San Francisco. Stored the paintings in a warehouse.”
When Deke told him Mason had likely drowned in the flood, he wasted no time on sympathy. “So now we’ve got us a warehouse full of fancy artwork. Did he have any relatives?”
Deke had no idea, and right now it didn’t matter. They turned their attention to what was left of the ice house, deciding it wasn’t worth saving. “We’ll start all over again,” Deke said. “From what I’ve seen, the saloons will be up and running again in no time, and they’re still going to want ice.”
For now, only one subject took up most of Deke’s thoughts, and that was Rose. She’d been so worried over Lucy that he kept putting off that talk he planned. Long speeches made him uncomfortable, but he would wait no longer. For better or for worse, he’d talk to her tomorrow.
* * * *
The next morning, Deke found Rose alone in the still-closed saloon with a mop in her hand. She was wearing the blue dress he liked. She smiled when she saw him and stopped mopping. “Hello, Deke. What brings you here so early?”
He peered down at the hem of her dress. “What happened to the bloomers?”
“Do you miss them?”
He kept his face straight. “They drove me wild.”
“Oh, did they now?” She started laughing.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you.”
She got serious. A kind of knowing look crept into her eyes. “And I’ve been wanting to talk to you, Deke.”
He took a deep breath. Now was the time for the speech he’d practiced. “It’s about that night that I—”
“Stop.” She let the mop fall to the floor. “You’re going to tell me you made a mistake that awful night when you thought I was kissing Mason. Well, I know that already, so why should we discuss it?” She stepped closer, reached out, and gently clasped his arms. “Is there anything else?”
The tenderness of her touch told him all he needed to know. No long speech necessary, thank God. He knew what he was going to say and would have no trouble saying it. “I love you, Rose, and can’t think of living my life without you. Will you marry me?”
Her lips curved into a delighted smile. “Now that you mention it, I do believe I will.”