Diane R. Jewkes (19 page)

Alec stepped outside, poking his head in a moment later to indicate the way was clear. Hawke took her by the elbow and strode swiftly down the hall to her room.

Reaching for the doorknob, she turned to look at him. Before she could say anything, he leaned over and gave her a quick hard kiss.

Drawing back, he smiled. “Be assured we will discuss what happened and what is to be done. Now hurry up.” He gave her a quick pat on the bottom as she opened the door, then turned to head down to the lobby.

• • •

The lobby was a frenzy of activity. In the center of the maelstrom, Case was trying to organize those who would go out to the mine and those who would stay behind and help the town doctor as the injured were brought down.

He signaled Hawke and Alec to his side when he saw them enter the lobby.

“This is what I have heard,” he explained in between directing others where to go. “Apparently the trammer was returning the ore car to the main shaft and saw the fire. They think one of the large kerosene lamps they keep lit at the top of the mine gallows in the hoist house set the structure on fire.”

He looked grimly at the two men. “It’s bad. All the timber is bone dry and the flames are spreading fast. If they can’t get the men out of that deep shaft they won’t have any air left.”

“How many men are in the shaft?” Hawke asked.

There had been mine fires in England and the results had been devastating. The cost in lives was always terrible. It was one reason he hesitated to invest in mining.

“The foreman said twenty men were in the shaft. It’s eight hundred feet to the bottom.” Concern tinged the older man’s voice. “Even if they had warning when it first started,” he said gravely, “the climb out will not be easy.”

• • •

Austin walked over as Kara stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking at the swirl of activity.

“If you don’t want your father to kill a certain Scotsman,” he growled low so only she could hear, “you’d best cover up those marks on your neck.”

She could feel a furious blush race up her neck to her face. Her hand flew to the open collar of her dress, as if by touch she could see what Austin was staring at.

“Hell, I think I’ll kill him myself.” He turned but was stopped by Kara.

“Austin, please,” she pleaded. “Don’t do or say anything. It’s not your place, and it would destroy our friendship if you interfere.”

A man entered the lobby, shouting that a wagon had returned to take more volunteers out to the mine.

Austin looked deeply into her eyes. “We are not done with this … understand? He’s not getting away with it.” He turned and strode towards the front door.

Closing the button on her collar, Kara crossed the crowded lobby to her father.

“Honey.” Case pulled her aside. “You help Sarah, Alicia, and the others. We’re heading out to do what we can.” He quickly kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t worry about us, just pray we can help those poor men.”

He and the other men hurried out of the hotel.

“Where in blazes have you been?” Alicia came up beside her, whispering frantically in her ear. “I was forced to lie to your father!” She nailed Kara with an irate glare, “Lie to your father! Do you have any idea how hard it was? I was so anxious; I don’t know why he believed me. Then I saw Austin come up to you. He looked furious.”

Alicia leaned back and looked, really looked at her. “Oh my gosh!” she gasped. “You were with Hawke,” she said, her voice rising. “You were in his room … alone — in your nightgown.”

Kara grabbed her by the arm and dragged her over by the staircase, out of earshot.

“Look, if you don’t quiet down everyone in this blasted hotel is going to know. I’m not prepared to deal with your mother, my father, or anyone else right now.” Kara felt her patience wearing thin. “I think we need to concentrate on helping. I will tell you everything later.” She raised her hand to stop any further questions. “I promise.”

Alicia’s mother was talking to a soot-covered man when they returned to the lobby. He was outlining plans to erect tents out at the mine for the injured, and for the people fighting the fire to rest and to get a meal.

Sarah began coordinating with the other women to collect the supplies and arrange for wagons to take them to the mine.

The women walked out into the early dawn. The sky was a mass of white, boiling smoke; a hellish red-orange light glowed close to the ground in the direction of the mine.

The land around the mine was full of people. Bucket brigades were passing pail after pail of water up the hill to the opening of the shaft attempting to beat back the flames roaring from the opening.

This must be what hell looks like, thought Kara.

The scarred land around the blazing hoist house was black with soot as fine ash rained down around the frantic rescuers. The gallows over the hoist house where the fire began was a blaze of bright orange flames rising from skeletal red and black burning timbers. Smoke bellowed out of the mine shaft opening and many a person was seen crossing themselves to ward off the feeling of damnation.

For two days everyone fought the blaze. Case and the ranchers who lived close enough to the town sent riders to bring in more men and equipment. Kara, Alicia, and the other women worked tirelessly treating the wounded and trying to feed the many tired souls working to free the miners … their friends.

Kara saw hands from the ranch working alongside the miners and people from town. They came by to grab a cup of coffee or a bite and they let her know her father and the others, while exhausted, were fine. She longed to ask about Hawke, but was embarrassed to single him out from the others. Others came with stories of what was happening at the shaft.

The fire had burned so ferociously it had consumed all the oxygen in the mine. As far as anyone could tell, the eleven men that emerged from the shaft shortly after the fire began were only survivors. Many of the miners refused to leave the opening of the mine to rest, or eat.

Kara and several other women decided to take canteens of water and bundles of food to the men working at the opening of the shaft. The smoke was heavy as they approached the charred remnants.

Men, black with dirt and ash, eyes haggard with exhaustion and shoulders bent with defeat, undistinguishable from one another, continued to move the collapsed timbers and look for survivors or bodies.

Kara turned from a group of weary workers, all her water gone, her heart breaking at the look of defeat in the men’s eyes.

Shielding her eyes from the sun’s glare with her forearm, she looked towards the top of the hill. There she saw her father, the Roberts men, Alec, and Hawke.

Her heart thudded against her chest in a mixture of relief and excitement. She began climbing towards them, scrabbling through the loose soil and rock, wishing she were wearing her work pants and boots instead of a skirt. She felt herself beginning to slide back down the hill when a hand reached out and grasped her by the arm. She met Hawke’s eyes, almost colorless, in a weary face blackened with ash.

“What are you trying to do?” His voice was hoarse; she could see deep lines of exhaustion etched around his mouth.

“I came to see how my father and Mr. Roberts are doing. They’re not as young as the rest of you.” She looked down quickly so he couldn’t see her concern for him.

“Lass,” a smile burst through a dirt-encrusted visage, “those two men could still outwork most of us.”

They reached the top of the hill. Kara ran to her father, threw her arms around him, with a small cry pulling him close. Hugging her tightly and assuring her he was fine, Case set her back down.

“It’s a sad day for the town,” he said wearily. “Once all is finished here, we will be staying in town for the funerals.” He looked at the scene below, his shoulders sagging, and face drawn. Several bodies lay side-by-side wrapped in tarps. “Brings back too many memories of other lives wasted needlessly.” He reached up and rubbed his forehead with soot-blackened fingers.

One of the mine foremen approached the group to let them know the fire was out, and all the workers had been accounted for.

“Nine of our men didn’t make it,” his voice was solemn.

“Good men all. Their bodies are being taken back to prepare for the funerals. Our thanks to you and your men for the help.” Nodding to the group, he turned and headed back down the hill.

• • •

At the church, the bodies were laid out side by side. Family members and friends grouped around their loved ones, grieving.

Alec walked over and grasped Hawke by the elbow.

“Come with me,” he said urgently. “There’s something you need to see.”

They walked down the line of blackened and in some cases unrecognizable bodies. Hawke noticed no one was mourning over the last man.

“Damn,” he swore, understanding what Alec was going to show him. “It’s Tompkins, isn’t it?” He looked down at the young man so recently found, his eyes lifeless in a face blackened and blistered.

Hawke bent his head and said a quiet prayer. Instead of a message full of hopeful news, he would be sending a death notice back home. He wondered if he should return to deliver the news himself, if it would ease the heartache not only for Tompkins family, but also for Bethany.

Kara and her father walked up and Hawke explained who the man was. He caught Kara’s gaze. The tenderness in her eyes made him long to take her in his arms and lose himself in her warmth and understanding.

The mortician and John Hewitt, one of the mine owners, approached them. They were identifying the dead for death certificates. Case explained the other two men were acquaintances of Tompkins, recently arrived from England.

“Will you be taking the body back to England then?” Hewitt inquired. “If so, I will be happy to pay for the expenses and see all his personal effects are packed for shipment. It’s the least I can do. They were good men all.” His voice was ragged with exhaustion.

“I believe Geoffrey would want to be buried here next to his friends,” Hawke replied, knowing this was the right thing to do. “He said this was his true home, the place he felt he belonged. I’ll wire his family with the news and see about shipping his belongings home.”

• • •

A crystal blue sky greeted the day of the funeral; a day of both glorious beauty and crushing sadness. The entire town packed into the church where the nine plain coffins sat side by side. Quiet sobbing could be heard throughout.

After the sermon, everyone silently followed nine wagons to the cemetery. Nine graves had been dug in the dark red earth, the plots unmarked but for a piece of wood.

“Well, what are you going to do about what happened between you and Hawke?” Alicia sat in the chair in Kara’s bedroom the day after they returned from the funerals in town.

“I don’t have to do anything,” Kara replied waspishly. “It happened and it’s done. Really, I don’t see why it matters?”

She leveled a stern look at Alicia. “Why shouldn’t I give my body to whomever I want without the world falling apart, or being called loose?”

Kara sat on her bed. This was a conversation she didn’t want to have. “Attitudes are changing; women are working and supporting themselves. We’ve grown up knowing women who have run their own ranches and their own lives. Look at Mrs. McSween Barber.”

After her first husband had been killed in the Lincoln County War and her second husband died, Mrs. McSween Barber had single-handedly run a ranch with over five thousand head of cattle. Kara had always seen her as a role model.

“It’s so unfair. Women have come so far. In Colorado and Wyoming they already have the vote, it’s not improper to live alone or to go about unescorted anymore.”

“Well, that’s fine and dandy, Miss Suffragette.” Alicia snipped back. “But have you thought about what will happen if you’re pregnant? Just what will you do then? Better yet,” she continued, “just what will your father … or Hawke do? Hmm?”

Pregnant? Her mind reeled at Alicia’s words. Blast! She counted silently in her head. It wasn’t that she didn’t know it could happen. She had grown up on a ranch, and while she was in Virginia, the women involved in the suffrage and women’s rights movement had talked openly about sexual matters. She had heard countless stories about women, who like her, had forgotten themselves in a moment of passion and wound up pregnant. Panic rose in her chest.

“I couldn’t be,” she said weakly. “I just couldn’t be.”

“Well, if you are, you know your father will make Hawke marry you, whether you want to or not.” Alicia reached over and took her hand. “Your father loves you, and he’ll want what is best. And to him marriage and the protection it offers is the answer. Anyway if your father finds out you have lain with Hawke, whether you’re pregnant or not, he’ll make him marry you.” She added with an impish smile, “You don’t know, Hawke could think the same thing.” Kara felt her stomach clench as Alicia spoke. “He does strike me as rather proper that way.”

“What have I gotten myself into?” Kara groaned. “Why do I have to think about it and why can’t he just forget about it? I’m not planning on telling Papa, and even though Alec did say Hawke would,” her lips narrowed to a grim line, “I don’t think he will. At least not until we talk.”

• • •

Hawke was far from forgetting. He had been trying to get Kara alone ever since they had returned from town. Damn obstinate woman had insisted her friend stay with her. He knew she was doing it to avoid him. Realizing he wouldn’t be able to confront her until Alicia went home, he agreed to go with Alec and Austin to do some hunting and some thinking.

The ride had been quiet, although Hawke caught Austin glaring at him from time to time. Alec had brought down an elk, while Austin and the men had bagged some white-tailed deer. Hawke’s mind wasn’t on the hunt. The only creature he wanted to trap had beautiful blue eyes and a body made only for him.

They had finished for the day and were gathering to eat after setting up camp. Some of the men were still cleaning the elk and deer they had killed, leaving Alec, Hawke, and Austin alone by the fire.