The Element of Love, page 20
Laura knew being knocked out wasn’t the worst of what Jilly feared.
Something slammed against the door so hard, Jilly jumped back.
Melinda screamed, and her baby shrieked along with all the other children.
CALEB ROUNDED THE CHURCH, looking for a vulnerable spot to . . . what? Get inside? Get the women out?
Three men kicked at the door.
“You women will come out. If you don’t, you’ll burn to death.”
A scream sounded from inside.
It wasn’t Laura, but it was an adult woman. Her terror echoed in her scream.
Caleb saw three men stretched out unconscious. Then he saw a fourth. Rick. He was moaning, trying to get to his feet.
“There are children in there,” Caleb shouted. “Two are babies. You can’t burn this church. You can’t harm these women and children.”
Another solid kick landed on the door.
Someone screamed again. Children wailed.
Caleb came around the corner of the church building to find three men stoking a small fire that had already begun to crawl up the log walls.
“Please, for the love of God. By all that’s decent in any man. Stop this. Don’t throw in with this madness. Won’t some of you help me stop this?”
A mob. Caleb tried to think through such a thing as this. Men gathered together, whipped up into a frenzy. All sense and order, all law cast aside, both the law of God and man.
It echoed in his ears. “Crucify him. . . . We have no king but Caesar.”
A mob could do terrible things.
Desperation had Caleb searching for a weapon. A gun. A knife. Was there one that Gretel used for cooking? He thought of the man who had one in his belt. Could Caleb get it? Could he stab all these men to death?
God, that can’t be what you’d want from me.
A long line of flames climbed the side of the church, and the roof caught fire. The crying from inside rose.
A woman, he thought it was Laura, shouted, “Smoke rises. Get low to the ground. You can breathe down there.”
The women had only minutes now.
To come out and face who knew what nightmarish abuse.
Or stay in and burn to death.
The devil’s own choice. And yet it was the choice God set before these poor women.
The side Caleb could see was engulfed. He went to the three men by the door and charged the nearest one. He swung a fist. Took one that knocked him back, and the other two men came at him. Grabbed his arms. The third one swung one fist into his gut and the other under his chin. He used the men holding him to lift his feet and kick the attacker hard in the face.
Now, his lip split and nose bleeding, the man came at him for the last time. They could kill him.
Grimly, Caleb knew they’d have to.
“NOW!” JILLY SHOUTED.
Laura slapped the little ball of fabric that had a small balloon of air in it with a very small measure of dynamite.
She heard Michelle do the same.
A blast knocked Laura on her backside.
The explosion had worsened the fire. Several chunks of roofing collapsed. Smoke was choking them.
“Let’s go.” Laura could only hope they’d knocked enough men out to handle the rest.
Jilly unlatched the door and swung it wide.
Laura scrambled to her feet. She and Michelle ran to the front of the church, where the women and children huddled by the altar.
The women broke like a frightened herd of elk and rushed for the door.
THE MEN LET GO OF CALEB when the church exploded.
Caleb collapsed to his knees.
A horse crashed out of the trail at the far side of the settlement.
Caleb wrenched his head around. Zane.
With only a second to take in the situation, Zane had his gun out. Spurred his horse. The men giving Caleb the beating ran. Two more cowpokes came out behind Zane, both armed. Then the Hogan sisters. More cowpokes.
The church door swung open, and he yelled, “It’s safe. This is Caleb. Get out. Fast. The church is coming down.”
The women stumbled, choking and crying, tugging their children.
Laura! Where was Laura?
Gretel emerged with her baby shrieking in her arms.
Still no Laura.
Jilly came out, fighting for breath as the building’s roof dropped a burning log. Michelle had her back to Caleb, screaming, “Laura! Laura, get out.”
Michelle started coughing, and Jilly turned back. The fire roared like an enraged beast. The logs crackled, and flames snapped until the noise was deafening.
“Get out of the way.” Caleb as good as tossed Jilly behind him. He dragged Michelle out of the doorway. Another part of the roof rained down in fire.
He dashed in and stumbled over something. No, someone. Laura.
With the last of his own breath, the church collapsing around him, Caleb grabbed Laura under her arms and struggled to reach the door while he choked on the wickedly hot air.
He passed the doorframe, but the inferno seemed to chase him.
Too much heat, too little air. His knees wobbled.
Then Zane was there. He swept Laura into his arms. Someone else grabbed Caleb by the arm and pulled him along.
He heard the church roof collapse and glanced back to see the whole building coming down. He sped up as much as he was able. Cinders shot forward into the air and flew past him. Something heavy and blazing hot slammed into his back.
His shirt caught fire, and whoever had him slapped at the flames, shouting for Caleb to move.
Then the pressure of the fire and the church coming down blew with explosive force. It threw him forward along with the man beside him. They landed facedown on the ground.
More hands hit him.
“Fire! He’s on fire.”
Then Caleb was breathing clean air. Finally dragged far enough away that the fire couldn’t get him.
He heard Zane shout, “Watch the fire! Don’t let the forest catch.”
Caleb managed to lift his head and see, through eyes nearly swollen shut from the beating, that Laura was out. But she lay unconscious on the ground. Her sisters working over her. Everyone coughing.
His burning eyes wouldn’t stay open a moment longer.
CHAPTER
Twenty-Five
THE COOL CLOTH REVIVED LAURA.
She blinked her eyes open to see Nora Hogan bathing her face.
Nora’s expression was all kindness and worry. “Are you going to be all right, Laura? You and your sisters were the last ones out. And Parson Tillman, of course.”
“Th-they made it? Everyone made it?”
Nora gave her a gentle, rather awkward hug. That’s when Laura realized she was stretched out on the ground. Nora, always serious, looked around, assessing everyone’s condition.
“Everyone made it. Two of the children have burns, not serious but painful, and Clara can’t seem to stop coughing. Seven of those wretched men were knocked cold by your explosion. Your sisters told me about the dynamite. That last explosion was the rest of your dynamite blowing up. The men you knocked out came around faster than you did.
“The babies have finally stopped crying. Rick and Gretel have gone into a cabin. I heard them arguing in German. I’m afraid they’ll quit the mission group. Gretel is terribly upset. Terrified really, and who can blame her?”
Now that Nora mentioned it, Laura heard the unfamiliar language. It wasn’t loud, but there was a strident quality to it when Gretel spoke. Yes, they might leave.
Laura thought of what had happened. “Will we all have to leave? Will we have to give up the mission? Or arm ourselves against the next mob?”
Shaking her head, Nora wrung the cloth out, then scrubbed Laura’s face with more diligence than seemed necessary. Probably trying to clean her up. Laura didn’t mind.
“I’m afraid Parson Tillman has a few serious burns on his back.”
“Burns.” Laura sat up and was wracked with a cough from deep in her chest. Nora eased her back, and Laura didn’t have the strength to resist.
“Tell me how he is.” Laura coughed again but waved a hand at Nora to get the woman talking.
“He ran into the building and pulled you out. You’d collapsed. Jilly and Michelle were heading back in after you when he shoved them away from the church and went in. Zane was running in to help just as Parson Tillman reached the door with you in his arms. Zane took you, and Bo caught the parson as he was falling.” Nora told Laura all the horrifying details.
“Is Caleb unconscious?”
Nora gave her a strange look, and it took Laura a second, her mind was a little foggy, to realize she’d used Caleb’s first name. Nora must not know they were married.
Before Laura could make that announcement, Nora said, “No, he came around. But he took a terrible beating from those miners, and he’s got serious burns on his back and arms. He’s in rough shape. He’ll need rest. But Parson Tillman is a strong man. He’s got the Lord fighting on his side. Or perhaps better to say Parson Tillman is fighting on the Lord’s side. He’ll make it.”
Laura reached out and took Nora’s hand. “Parson Tillman and I got married yesterday.”
Nora’s expression broke into a smile. “That’s wonderful to hear. He’ll need a strong woman at his side when he’s working in his mission field.”
Laura thought of all the secrets he’d kept from her while pressuring her to be open and honest with him. Had she married a man just like her stepfather?
Nora’s remark about needing strength popped back into Laura’s head. “Does something like that mob of men happen very often?”
Laura wasn’t looking forward to blowing up a church every time there was trouble.
“Zane had one of his hired men in town overnight. When word got out about the mine closing, his cowhand came running for the ranch. Yes, it seems there’s always trouble when jobs are lost, and it happens regularly. No money coming in. Men without any cushion of savings to live on. There’s rioting and often mobs form. Men apparently often come up to these shantytowns and hunker down until the mines reopen. And sometimes when they come, they can be dangerous. Zane was afraid of what might happen here. He got us moving as soon as word arrived.”
And he’d saved them all from a terrible death. If the women had come out of that church, even with Laura’s dynamite knocking quite a few of the men out, they might still have been in deadly danger, and they might have faced something monstrous before they died.
“And what of the women up here?” Laura asked. “What if we hadn’t been here? Our presence is what drew Zane’s attention. What would these women have faced if they were here alone?”
And had they faced those dangerous men before? Laura hated to even think of it. She struggled against Nora’s hold as she sat up, and this time she stayed up without the coughing fit.
“You were in an unnatural sleep for a time, Laura. You should rest a bit.”
“I think I’ll be able to help. I can’t lie here while there is a need. What happened to those men?”
“Zane had them taken away. He can’t expect much. What law there is in the nearest mining town has to be overwhelmed. But he’ll get them away from here, then he’ll leave a guard posted up here. He’s talking of building a line shack at the bottom of the hill and keeping a few men there so they’ll always be close at hand if there’s trouble.”
Zane couldn’t guard them forever. And if this kind of thing happened every time a mine fell on hard times and shut down, facing a mob might be a normal part of their lives. Laura didn’t want to live like this.
Michelle came to her side. “Are you all right?”
Jilly was a step behind. “We were scared to death when you wouldn’t wake up.”
“Help me up. Let’s see if my legs are sturdy. How are you two?”
“Fine, both of us,” Jilly said. She took Laura’s left arm. Michelle took her right. Nora stepped back, watching, ready to rule over all three of them if Laura looked like she should be lying down. Although Nora couldn’t be more than fifteen years older than Laura, the woman’s behavior was motherly, and Laura found a deep fondness for the stern woman.
They hoisted her to her feet. Michelle slid an arm across her back. Jilly held on to her on the other side.
“Zane almost had to yank you out of Caleb’s arms,” Jilly said.
Caleb’s arms. Mercy, she was a married woman, and her husband was a swindler.
“It was a tug-of-war,” Nora smiled. “But Parson Tillman was all in, or you’d’ve been snapped like a wishbone.”
Laura looked around and didn’t see Caleb. “Where is he? How is he?”
She twisted in her sisters’ arms and was stunned into silence. The church lay in a smoldering heap. The women scattered all around, sitting, lying down, kneeling over their children and bathing sooty faces. Harriet was holding Melinda’s baby and talking quietly with her.
Gretel and Rick, in the cabin they’d slept in the night before, continued their conversation in German.
All this pain. So many hurt. The damage a mob could do was a kind of madness, and Laura didn’t know how to work with madmen, how to make anything better.
She saw Zane and Caleb talking, a few steps away from what had become a makeshift hospital on the ground in front of the shanties. Caleb was sitting on a stump, shirtless. His chest and belly were wrapped in white bandages. Red blisters stood up on his shoulders. If they’d left those ugly blisters uncovered, what must the burns they’d wrapped look like?
He had one eye swollen shut and turning black. His mouth was swollen, his nose red and bulbous. He held one arm against his stomach. She couldn’t decide if it was because his arm wasn’t working right or his belly hurt, but it wasn’t a natural pose.
He and Zane were having an intense conversation. Laura hoped, whatever went on in between, it began and ended with thank you.
“Is anyone else hurt badly? Are there any dangerous burns?” Laura looked between Michelle, Jilly, and Nora.
“We all survived. A couple more minutes in that church, and we’d’ve had to come out.” Michelle gave the building a grim look.
“I think I’ll build the next one out of stone,” Jilly said. “There are plenty of rocks around here.”
“I’m a married woman now,” Laura said. “I think I’ll go home to Mama. I might not have the controlling interest in our company, but I can hire bodyguards and take up residence. Mama will be safe.”
“What about Caleb? How will you get rid of him?” Jilly didn’t sound like she was opposed to getting rid of him, just considering the details.
Nora gasped in shock. She was very loyal to Caleb, but she hadn’t heard of his time in prison and the lies he’d told to cover them up. Or maybe not lies. But he hadn’t admitted who he truly had been.
Laura reached out and patted Nora’s hand. “I found out Caleb has a past that he didn’t tell me about. I’m not sure I’d have married him if I’d known, and I don’t quite know how to handle it.”
“You mean that he was in prison?”
Laura blinked as she looked at Nora. “You knew that?”
“Yes. We’ve never told him we were aware. But it wasn’t a well-kept secret. And Parson Tillman is a sincere man. I crossed the continent with him, and I trust him.”
Laura sure wished she did.
“I’ll just go,” Laura said. “Maybe Zane will sell me a horse. He already let one of his cowhands leave to help Mama. Maybe he’ll let me have a couple more cowhands. Caleb can come if he wants. We can’t stay here, not if a mob forms regularly. We need to get these women away from here, too. And their children.” Laura shook her head. “And their husbands and every woman in every shantytown, and their husbands and children.”
Laura looked at her sisters. “It feels like there’s a whole world that needs saving. How can we do it all, and how can we quit without at least trying?”
“I wonder if Zane needs more cowhands.” Nora studied the scene around them. “And if these women have husbands who could do that work. Except for a very lucky few, gold mining just seems like a stupid way to make a living.”
“To think roping cows pays better. It’s a strange world,” Laura said. “Jobs working a ranch would solve the troubles for these women. But what about all the other women in danger in these shantytowns?”
“That cowhand who went to protect Mama, Nick, with those heterochromatic eyes? He’d be there to help you.” Jilly seemed to remember him overly well.
“Then I’ll go. You two find husbands and come when you can.”
“I’ve got a funny feeling about you just taking off,” Michelle said.
“Are you worried about being safe?” Laura asked. “Maybe you’d better come with me. Maybe I should take Melinda. If Rick and Gretel are quitting, maybe they’d like to come. Oh, let’s just take the whole settlement. We can leave a note for their husbands.”
“It’s not us I’m worrying about, it’s you.” Michelle let loose of Laura, and she stood on her own well enough. Though she missed the support.
“Me? Leaving will be the first step to being really safe.”
“I watched Caleb do his tug of war with Zane,” Michelle said.
Nora crossed her arms and snorted, but it was a laugh, and there hadn’t been much of that around here. “I watched too. Next time I’m afraid he’ll hold on to his end of the wishbone and never let go.”
“SHE’S UP.” Caleb quit jawing with Zane about the insanity that’d gone on around here and groaned as he stood. There wasn’t a square inch anywhere on him that didn’t hurt, but he needed to reclaim his wife.
Zane grabbed his arm and turned him right back around.
Caleb let Zane stop him because the pain overruled his longing to get to Laura, make sure she was all right, and convince her to trust him again.
“We’re not done.” Zane just would not shut up. “You need to get away from here. I knew it wasn’t safe. I’ve heard of these mobs forming, but I’ve never really seen it before. It will happen again, Caleb. You can’t stay here. Or if you do, you have to make very sure the rest of your mission team is given a choice to leave. Maybe having women here, and outsiders who weren’t married to miners, made it worse, but probably that mob would have attacked anyone. But even if the women in your group leave, you’ll still have to stand between the next mob and the women who live in these shacks. And that position is dangerous. They’d’ve killed you if I hadn’t come.”
