Silas rubbed his thumb over her ring. She looked down at it and then back at him. He pulled her over to a corner where they could be alone in the crowded dining room, leaned down, and whispered in her ear, "You are right. I promised to hold your hand when you were afraid. Outside just a second ago," he pointed toward the front of the house, "when you were yelling at me, calling me an ostrich," he grinned at the words that had made him so angry only minutes ago, "your eyes looked scared as h.e.l.l." He held up her hand that he"d refused to let her pull away and kissed the ring he"d given her last night. "So, this is me, holding your hand. Even when you don"t want it."
Emmie c.o.c.ked her head to the side and glared up at him. "You know good and well that this is not what I meant."
His only reply was a grin as he turned to lead her back toward the dining room table.
"Wait, Silas," she said, planting her feet on the ground.
He stopped and turned back to face her.
"I"m not afraid for me. I"m afraid for them, Silas. Bo and his family, they are no match for the kind of people that would have an issue with you." She leaned in and added, "I don"t think you"re a gangster like that revenuer said but I also know that you walk in a different world than the one Bo and I grew up in. He needs help."
"The Johnsons are not as innocent as you"d like to think they are," Silas answered.
"Silas you know what I mean." She ran her free hand down his chest and touched the straps of his leather holster she knew he"d be wearing underneath. "The Johnsons don"t walk around with guns strapped to their bodies."
"Emmie, I know what those people mean to you. I"m going to keep my eye on them. Which is even more of a reason you cannot come along. I"ve only got two eyes. I can"t keep a watch on eight things at once without making a mistake. I will not make a mistake when it comes to you. I need you here where you"re safe," he said, pulling her hand down from his holster.
"Are you worried that you only have two eyes to watch or that you only have two guns to fire, Silas? How dangerous is it at home right now?" she asked.
He sighed. "I am done with this conversation, Emmie. We are here for a celebration."
She wanted to contest, but didn"t get the chance. He took her back to the dining room without another word. He did finally let go of her hand when they were eating but kept a tight grip on her knee under the table. She could feel him there with her every moment. Taking a deep breath she realized he would be gone tomorrow. A sense of fear gripped her. Worse than what she had worried about with Bo. These men were after Silas. What if he didn"t come back to her? Without a second"s hesitation she reached down and wrapped her hand around his. He paused in conversation and turned briefly to look at her. It was like he knew what she was thinking. He shook his head and squeezed her knee. Emmie felt her throat start to burn and swallowed back her fear. She couldn"t give in to her emotions right now.
Dinner ended and the party moved downstairs. Her father"s billiards room was ma.s.sive and had been converted into a fancy speakeasy. It was nicer than the one Emmie had seen at the Tealbach in Louisville. Drinks were served in proper gla.s.ses. The entrance was through a bookshelf in the library but other than that, there was no secrecy. There was no need for that in the comfort of their home.
Emmie had briefly helped Ava by sewing a tear in the lace of her dress. She"d worked hard to smile and tell Ava what a beautiful day it was. If Ava noticed her words were a lie she didn"t let on. Jemma and Silas"s mother had asked her to go back next week to work at the Bell House and Emmie agreed but wondered if she was making an empty promise. A part of her felt determined to go back to Kentucky with or without Silas"s blessing. Of course, she had no money for a train ticket but when had she ever let money stop her before? She would work it out.
Everyone around her seemed to be having a good time. Even Trick, who had been so upset earlier, was in the middle of some big story, entertaining his family. Silas was laughing with Gabe about something. Although Emmie was glad to see they were beginning to be on better terms, she couldn"t believe the way everyone was just going on with business as usual. Never mind that her world at home was burning down. Dangerous men were hurting those she loved in Kentucky. Her friends needed their help. Yet here they all were, at a party.
How could she be mad at them when just yesterday she had done the same thing? Bo"s cabin was burned down and all his goods were gone while she was out skating like a teenager, making a fool of herself. She realized the angry words she"d thrown at Trick were not as much about him as they were about herself. She needed to apologize to him.
As she was walking over to him someone caught her attention, a boy who looked familiar. He was in the corner of the room standing next to an older man. Silas walked up behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist. She leaned into him but never moved her eyes from the boy in the corner.
Silas followed her gaze. "Yeah, sorry about that. I can"t believe he actually showed up. We are second cousins."
It dawned on Emmie who he was. He was the freckle-faced boy from the Irish speakeasy who Silas had fought. The one who"d made the crude comment about her. Silas"s words made Emmie notice something: there were very few Irish families in attendance. An older uncle, the freckle-faced family, and Silas-that was it. Surely Molly had more family here than this.
"Why aren"t there more Irish families here? Clearly you have a lot of family. You were related to nearly everyone I met the night you took me to that party in Chicago," Emmie asked curiously.
"Molly and Al"s wedding wasn"t exactly a happy occasion for a lot of their family," Silas answered quietly.
"Was she pregnant with Vincent?" Emmie asked, jumping to the first conclusion.
Silas laughed quietly. "No. It wasn"t like this one. Neither of their families were exactly excited they had married outside of their community."
Emmie frowned, not following his words.
"Irish and Italians didn"t marry then. Look at my pop, he married a nice Irish girl. Look at Al"s family here, Italians marry Italians. It was an unpopular choice for their family. In the beginning, Pop didn"t care for Al. But around the time she started having babies, he began to let his anger go. I think Ma helped him see that it didn"t matter who his sister had married. As long as I can remember they"ve gotten along pretty well. But a lot of the family couldn"t see past it. It"s ridiculous but that"s why I"m surprised they are here. They were always lukewarm to Ava and Vincent," Silas said, nodding to the freckled family.
Emmie couldn"t believe Ava had never told her any of this. As far as Emmie had known everything in Chicago was perfect for Ava. She looked over at her friend who was dancing with a wide smile spread across her face. Ava had a unique ability to see the best in life. She wished she could be more like her. For the rest of the night she tried her best. Emmie danced, smiled, and moved through the motions but her heart was already back in Kentucky.
Chapter Thirty-five.
Molly and Al"s Chicago home had at least ten bedrooms. So it should have come as no surprise that most of the wedding guests stayed the night. Emmie thought it was probably best, judging by the amount of wine she"d seen consumed at the reception last night. She had no idea how they even got that much wine into their house. She probably didn"t want to find out either. Emmie had carried a gla.s.s around all night but little more than a swallow actually made it down her throat. She didn"t have a taste for the stuff and even if she did, she wouldn"t have drunk it. Emmie wanted her head clear. She needed to make a plan. Silas wasn"t going to take her back to Kentucky with him and she had no money of her own to get there. For the first time she found herself wishing she had taken a little bit of the moonshining money that Silas had tried to give her. Without access to cash you were forced to depend on the good graces of others. Right now Silas didn"t have the good graces to send her home. Her first thought had been to borrow the cash from Ava but barging in on her wedding night, asking for a few dollars probably broke some unwritten law.
Last night Silas had walked her to her bedroom, barely touched his lips to hers to say goodnight, and then went downstairs. She"d waited up for hours thinking he might sneak up to see her but he never did. She could only a.s.sume that meant he was downstairs with the others working out a plan for whatever was going to happen in Kentucky. A plan that would involve those she loved.
Emmie tied one of Ava"s silky robes around her waist and walked out into the hall. Her bare feet padded softly against the cool wooden floors. The only sound in the silent house was the creaking wood beneath her feet as she traveled downstairs. She walked to Al"s office half hoping Silas would be in there still at work. He wasn"t. She searched the living room, the library, and ended in the kitchen. If Emmie hadn"t seen all the cars lining the driveway and cul-de-sac, she would have a.s.sumed everyone had left. Judging by the quiet house, the partygoers were still sleeping off the lingering effects of the wine.
Moving to the stove she started making a pot of coffee. Her heart panged with fear again at the thought of the fires. She chewed her lower lip, thinking about her friends back home and the danger Silas could be facing. Emmie got out a bowl and started mixing some biscuits. Surely someone would be hungry when they woke up and she needed something to do besides sitting around and worrying. She worked the batter with her hands and thought back to that awful day at the cabin. She closed her eyes and saw it all. Steve Johnson, Mr. Thomas, Will, the revenuer, and his friend named Smith: ghosts from her past moved around her as she forced herself to remember their actions.
She remembered that they were angry, uneasy, and watching out the window for something. Emmie tried to remember what they had said and if they had given her any clue as to who would be coming. They had never really told her in so many words. Will Thomas had been wearing his uniform. Surely if he was dressed in uniform they were waiting for more officers. Emmie slid the biscuits into the oven and poured a cup of coffee.
The Smith man said they had baited Silas in Louisville when they arrested her and Ava at the Halloween party. Emmie took a swallow of coffee and saw herself coming down that tunnel with him. Her eyes popped open as she remembered something that hadn"t been important at the time. Smith hadn"t delivered her to the main paddy wagon where all of the other people were taken. He had delivered her to two policemen in exchange for money. Those two policemen had been waiting for her. They were involved in the little test to see if Silas would return for her. Which meant they were likely still involved.
But there had to be more people in the revenuer"s plan. Silas hadn"t picked her up at the station that night. He had met her back at the hotel, which meant the group of people behind this had more eyes than just the ones at the police station. She supposed the Smith man could have been watching at the hotel that night. Regardless, she now felt sure there were more people involved in this than the few in the cabin that day.
Emmie twisted her ring on her finger as she thought. She had to find Silas to tell him he was right. Yesterday he had told Trick he thought a police officer might be involved because they"d had a harder time covering this up. Not only did she need to tell him he was right, she needed to give him a description of the two men who paid off the Smith guy the night of the Halloween party.
As she walked back through the house looking for Silas, she froze in the entry hall. Something outside caught her eye.
"No," she whispered to herself. A car was pulling out of the driveway. She ran to the door and thrust it open. A blast of frozen winter air greeted her. He was leaving her without a goodbye.
She ran out of the house down the driveway. The frozen bricks were cold and rough, sc.r.a.ping the soles of her feet as she chased after his car, waving her hands in an attempt to stop him.
"Silas," she shouted.
She would have missed him if he hadn"t slowed down to maneuver between two cars blocking his way to the street. He looked startled as he saw her running up to his car. He pulled to an abrupt stop in the middle of the road. Emmie pulled open the door.
"You"re just leaving me, Silas? Without even saying goodbye?" Okay that wasn"t what she meant to say, but it was the first thing that popped out of her mouth.
His mouth dangled open for a moment before he turned the engine off and got out of the car. Silas was fully dressed in a three-piece suit, shiny shoes, and a hat, the whole package. She crossed her arms around her body as she stood there in her bare feet and thin dressing robe.
"Emmie, you need to take a breath for a second and calm down. The sun has only just started to rise; I thought you"d still be asleep. Is everything okay?" he asked, looking back toward the house as if he expected more people to run outside in their pajamas.
"You were really gonna just leave me here, Silas, without a goodbye, without any mention of my friends and your plan to help them?" she repeated.
"I left you a note. I thought you were asleep. Emmie, I don"t have time for this right now. We have a train to catch," he said, annoyed.
Emmie heard Trick laughing inside the car. Silas kicked the door closed with his foot. Stealing a glance in the car Emmie noticed it wasn"t only Trick in the car. Vincent and Al were squeezed into the backseat.
"I wasn"t asleep. I was making breakfast for you," she said, realizing that she sounded like a complete ninny.
"Emma, I don"t have time for this right now." His patience was wearing thin.
Her robe flapped around her legs as a frigid blast of winter air moved around them.
"Silas I can help you. I know someone who is involved," she said, shivering.
"Who?" he asked, staring down at her.
"Remember at the Halloween party when I was arrested? Remember the Smith man that trapped me?" Her teeth chattered as she continued. "He told me at the cabin that they were baiting you."
Silas unb.u.t.toned his coat and pulled her into him, wrapping the flaps of his thick black coat around her. "You are going to catch your death out here. I"m going to never make it back to help your friends because I"m going to be stuck up here at your funeral," he muttered. "I"d already put that together. Smith is dead, Emmie. I promise you that."
Emmie leaned back and looked up at him. She shook her head. "No, I know he"s dead. I"m not talking about him. Smith took us to two men. I know those men were waiting for us. I"m sure of it. Remember that night when you came back, how you were so mad, convinced our arrest was more than just an unfortunate coincidence? You were right. The men waiting for us outside that tunnel were police officers and they paid him off. I saw him take money from them. Those two police officers have to be involved in all this. One was about your height with blond hair. The other was shorter with a big round belly. That"s all I can remember, but I thought it might help you. They might not be the ones starting the fires, but I guarantee you they are involved. In the cabin, Will was dressed in the very same uniform they had on that night."
Silas nodded and thought through her words. He didn"t say anything at first. He just leaned forward and kissed her forehead softly. Someone beat on the window as if to say hurry up.
When he pulled away from her, he brushed a strand of sleep-matted hair from her face. "I love you, Mo Chuisle, but I do have to go. Your information is helpful."
"If you take me with you, I"ll stay out of your way. I could help you identify the men," she said as he pulled away from her. The bitter cold wind ripped through her again as she left the warmth of his coat.
"Never going to happen, Emmie. Get in the house before you catch your death out here. I"ll give you a call this week," he said, lowering himself into the car.
"Silas, please. I want to go home. You cannot just leave me up here with no way to get home when my friends are in trouble," she pleaded with him, tears p.r.i.c.king her eyes.
"I will take you home when it is safe." He reached out the door, grabbed her ring, and gave her a level stare. "I promise you I"ll be back soon. You promise me to stay out of Bowling Green."
"Silas, please," she said but the door was already closed. She smacked the window with the palm of her hand. "Please, don"t leave me here alone," she begged.
He pulled away, picking up speed as he headed down the road, leaving her barefoot and alone in Ava"s driveway.
Chapter Thirty-six.
All four of the men were silent as they pulled away from the house. Trick turned and glanced behind them and then looked at his brother.
"That went well," he sighed and turned to face the front. "When you return home I"m not sure little ball of trouble is going to be an accurate description of her. I"m thinking it"ll be something more along the lines of little devil"s sphere of wrath and fury."
"Dry it up, Trick." Silas worked hard to form the words and speak them aloud.
He couldn"t believe how he felt right now. He should have been able to drive away from that house feeling nothing but satisfaction because he had done the right thing. He had made the right choice to keep her safe. He had done exactly what needed to be done. There was no way she could go back to Kentucky right now. So, if he had done the right thing, why was his heart in his throat? He felt like he"d been sucker-punched as he watched her standing there in the driveway, begging him to take her. d.a.m.n it, he needed to get it together. He fought back the pain and swallowed hard, never taking his eyes off the road.
"Emmie"s a curious girl but you"re doing the right thing for her," Al said from the back seat.
"Yeah, I"m leaving her alone and barefoot in your driveway, begging me for something I won"t give her. I"m a real stand-up guy."
Trick looked over at his brother. "Do you think she will stay in Chicago?"
"I left her with no money to ensure she had no way to get home," Silas said, keeping all trace of emotion from his voice.
"Do you think that will stop her?" Vincent asked.
"There"s not a person in that house crazy enough to buy her a ticket home when she would be in so much danger there," Silas answered.
Emmie couldn"t say how long she stood in the driveway. She no longer felt the cold air, only the hollow feeling in her chest. She looked down at her ring and screamed in the direction of the car that was now completely out of sight.
"d.a.m.n you and your empty promises, Silas McDowell. I promise you nothing," she shouted with her fists clenched at her sides. "I promise you nothing."
With that she turned and walked into the house. As soon as she entered the smell of burning biscuits engulfed her. She ran to the kitchen to find a man bent over the oven, pulling them out.
"I am so sorry. I completely forgot I"d put them in . . ." she said, but her voice trailed off as the older man turned around to face her. He dropped the black biscuits on the counter and looked at her with a concerned expression.
Emmie pulled out a kitchen chair and turned her back to him, mumbling to herself, "Of course I see you here. As if this morning couldn"t get any better."
She sat at the table and hated the tears escaping her eyes. These people didn"t deserve her tears, yet here she was crying buckets for them.
To her surprise the older man pulled out a chair next to hers and sat down. She peeked up and saw he sat stone-sober with his chin rested in his hands. He didn"t look at her as he began to speak.
"Your mother always made biscuits when she was upset. It could be the middle of the night and she"d be in the kitchen making biscuits," Marco Del Grande said softly.
Emmie gritted her teeth as she said, "Well you sure would know about upsetting her, wouldn"t you? You are a sorry excuse for a man, you know that?"
Marco only nodded for a moment before he said, "I suppose I am but you should know I loved Ruby."
"Loved her? You call what you did to her love? You have no right to talk to me about my mother, Mr. Del Grande," she shouted, looking him right in the eye. She had no patience left today for lying men.
He turned and looked at her. "You can be mad at me. But you do need to know that we loved one another. When you were first born, before everything got all messed up, it was one of the happiest times of my life. I was as happy with your birth as I was with Gabe"s. You deserve to know that."
"Oh yeah? How is knowing that supposed to help me? I know you lied to her. Your wife told me that you told my mother you were a widower. Well buddy, in case you didn"t know, a widower means your wife is dead. Your wife was very much alive in that hospital. Suffering from a horrible loss. You are talking about being happy when Gabe and I were born but what about that baby you lost? Did you not feel the proper emotions at that one, Mr. Del Grande? It sounds like when things got tough you went and forced yourself on my mother." She couldn"t believe the hateful words that had just come out of her mouth. Emmie could tell by the look on his face she had said too much.
He stood, towering over her and gritted his teeth. "I know I have hurt you with my absence in your life. But you speak of things you know nothing about, girl. We all feel pain differently. I a.s.sure you I mourned the loss of your sister," he said, emphasizing the word sister. "We all process pain differently, Emma. Your mother grew to understand that. I suppose that is part of the reason she eventually forgave my lies."
Emmie couldn"t believe her mother had ever forgiven him. She opened her mouth to tell him so but he continued talking.
"I know my wife told you a little about the truth of your past, but there is more," he said, attempting to calm down.