“Only because they need what I sell,” Mr Gardiner replied. “Your aunt was not invited to the last quilting bee, and John Lucas has ceased his attentions to Jane.”
“Attentions? He walked home from church with her once, and she never liked him anyway.”
Mrs Gardiner shook her head. “Patience, Lizzy. You are correct that matters are sure to return to normal, but too soon—”
“But I am not speaking of working in the front or walking boldly down the street with the other girls. I just need something to do, some purpose! Please, Aunt, all this waiting is more maddening than facing whatever I must face. Besides, do you not think it would be better if you all did not hide me away? It makes me look more guilty, not less, and then you bear the public shame that should be mine.”
Mr Gardiner chewed his lip and looked long at his wife.
“I will stay out of sight once I am in the storeroom. Only a minute on the street, and I will walk when no one is about,” Elizabeth pleaded.
Mrs Gardiner lifted a hand of resignation. “Oh, very well, Lizzy. Just for today, and we will see what happens.”
Elizabeth shot to her feet to kiss both aunt and uncle on the cheek. “Thank you! I’ll go dress.”
Workingdidwondersforher spirits. A bit of sweat, some weary muscles, and her mind was soothed far better than it had been by pacing her room. Elizabeth hoisted the heavy sack of flour—the one Billy should have been carrying—and tossed it over her shoulder to take it to the loading dock.
“Lizzy?” Jane came through the swinging door from the front, a slip of paper in her hand. “Mrs Harris wants a sack of oats, and Mr Sutherland from the saloon sent an order for more salt.”
Elizabeth turned, balancing as best she could. “I’ll have Billy take it over.”
Jane gave her a look very much like the one Uncle Gardiner had given her earlier. “Just don’t lose your patience with him and do it yourself.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Elizabeth answered with a jaunty salute. She turned back and finished carrying the flour to the back door, where Billy was—slowly—loading a wagon.
After that task was finished and Billy had ambled off with Mr Sutherland’s salt, Elizabeth decided to tidy up the loading dock. A bag of corn meal had split earlier, leaving a gritty, slippery mess that was only partially cleared. No one was around at present to see her, so she reached for a broom and set to work.
Fifteen minutes later, the cornmeal was all swept away, but as is so often the case, Elizabeth continued to find more to clean, more to do. Her mind wandered, back over the last few weeks and everything that had happened. That evening of dancing, all those rides to see her father, Colonel Fitzwilliam… Her lips pinched.
She could still not fathom that she had married the man. Not that she would regret coming to know him better—if she ever saw him again—butmarried!This odd arrangement was so far removed from what she expected of marriage that she did not even feel comfortable using the word. And what if he did come back? What if he wrote to her, asked her to come to him in England someday? Could she do it? Would she even want to?
Her brow was knit over such ponderings, her mind entirely lost. When boots stomped up the steps behind her, she took them only for Billy returning from the saloon. A moment later, a stream of brown spittle landed at her feet. She stared, then slowly lifted her eyes.
“Well, if it ain’t the murderin’ trollop,” sneered the man.
Elizabeth’s fists tightened on her broom handle when she recognised Jerry, one of the hands who had worked under Jake Bryson. “Leave me be,” she rasped.
Jerry snorted and looked around to his fellows. “Hear that? The kitty can hiss. D’ya have any claws, kitty?”
Elizabeth raised her broom like a weapon, her eyes scanning the four men, and she slowly backed toward the door. “My uncle is inside, and the sheriff just across the street. Would you really trouble a woman in broad daylight?”
“Well, now, that all depends,” Jerry said. Moving quickly, he shot a cuff around her neck, while one of the other men snatched the broom from her hands. Jerry pulled her chin close to his. “Silas Bryson don’ like you, see. He’s going to watch you hang—you and that worthless pa of yours.”
Elizabeth shoved both fists against him and staggered back, then wiped the sweat from Jerry’s palm off her cheek with a snarl. “I’m not afraid of Bryson.”
“What about that pretty sister?” Jerry licked his lips. “I’ve seen her—Jake wanted the hellcat, but I always liked me a sweet blonde. Maybe she’d make Old Man Bryson happy, eh?”
Elizabeth kicked him in the kneecap. “Watch your filthy mouth, Jerry!” she shouted as he stumbled for his footing. An instant later, two men had her by the elbows as Jerry swore and tried to stand up straight. She fought, shaking her head back and forth and stomping on their toes whenever she could, but if they truly wished to restrain her, there would be nothing she could do.
Fortunately, they only meant to terrorise her, for one of them let his hands slip, and she pinwheeled against the other, who acted as if he would grope and kiss her. “Got your pistol today, Missy?” he sneered. “Come on, show me!”
Elizabeth spun away and ran for the door, but Jerry cut her off. She was panting now—whimpering, even—and she turned back. The only way into the safety of the storeroom that they had not blocked was the window, and she charged for it with every ounce of her strength. She picked up a block of wood and smashed it into the pane, beating it over and over until the window was entirely broken, and hoping at the very least to alert someone inside to her plight.
Glass showered all around. She shot a hasty look over her shoulder—the men were still close, crowding and taunting her. One started to reach for her waist to pull her away from the window, making her even more determined to climb through. She set her boot on a crate and reached up for the frame, but someone caught her skirts and tripped her. She fell, hands outstretched into the shards.
“I say!” Billy’s voice quavered over the jeering of the others. “Y-you there! Mr Gardiner, come quickly!”
Elizabeth pushed up to her hands and knees, shaking like a leaf. Never had Billy’s voice been so welcome! The alarm was all that was needed for the hands to pull back, but they did not seem overly fearful.
