Authors: Jill Marie Landis
The doors of the church opened and members of the congregation poured out. They were families mostly, but there were also a few single individuals like her. She was weaving through the crowd when she recognized the jaunty white cap and thatch of gold hair of Ezekiel Stevens. Before she could disappear into the throng he saw her.
“Kate!” He jostled his way through the crowd until he reached her side. “Merry Christmas!”
“I’m surprised to see you here.”
His grin widened. “Don’t you believe I’m a God-fearing man?”
“Actually, I have suspected you aren’t.”
“Because I’ve flirted with you unmercifully? What are you doing here, Kate? Were you inside?” He stepped aside to allow a woman with an overly large bustle pass between them.
“I was walking and got caught up in the crowd.”
“A bit brisk out for my taste.” He caught her off guard when his smile faded. “You should be with your family, Mrs. Delany.”
Loneliness swept over her and he noticed.
“Oh, Kate, I’m sorry.” He took her arm. “Let me make it up to you.”
She forced a brighter smile. “I’m fine. Really.”
“Have an early dinner with me. It’s nearly two.”
“Really, I can’t.”
“Why not? It will just be between friends. Or between client and architect, if you like.”
“I’m sorry, Captain.”
“I owe you an apology. Let me make it up to you.”
“An apology?”
“The day I appeared on your doorstep at
Belle Fleuve
I teased you unmercifully and I baited your husband. But only because you are tempting. If you were only free …”
“But I am not.”
“It’s obvious you love your husband, though I can’t imagine why.”
“Captain—”
He held up a hand. “I’m sorry. Really. I’ll settle for your friendship because I enjoy your company, and I refuse to let you spend Christmas Day alone. We can at least share a meal and talk about how the house is coming along. Which is very well, I might add. You are making my vision come to life even though I know you actually abhor it.”
Kate couldn’t deny it.
“Thank you, Captain. I’m glad you like the way it’s turning out.”
He offered his arm again. “So, come with me. We’ll have dinner and a nice, long chat, and you’ll be on your way. I’ll be on my best behavior. I promise.”
If it hadn’t been Christmas Day, if he hadn’t just walked out of the church and shown her another side of himself, she would have
turned him down outright. What would it hurt to share a meal with a business associate?
He added, “If I wanted to make more of it I would invite you for a tour of the steamboat and dinner in my cabin. But I won’t. This is completely an innocent gesture.”
Kate sighed. The alternative was a lukewarm soup in her room.
“I’d be happy to join you,” she said.
“Is Antoine’s all right with you?”
“Antoine’s on Christmas? Do you have a reservation?”
“Oh, we’ll get in, I assure you.”
As usual, Ezekiel’s confidence brimmed over. That they would get in she had no doubt.
C
olin walked into the St. Charles surprised to find the lobby somewhat empty. Then again, most New Orleanians had been out on the streets until the wee hours of the morning celebrating after midnight mass.
He headed straight for the registration desk where a young clerk who appeared to be no older than twenty was sneaking bites off a plate half-hidden below the counter. When he noticed Colin waiting for service he set down his fork, dabbed his mouth on a napkin, and rose to his feet.
“May I help you?”
“I am here to see Mrs. Katherine Delany.”
The young man ran his finger along one page of names and then another.
“We have no Mrs. Delany listed as a guest of the hotel. I’m sorry.” His gaze wandered to his dinner.
“Perhaps she’s registered as Katherine Keene.” Colin recalled that he’d heard the maître d’ call Kate by her married name.
“She’s not registered by that name either. Perhaps you have the wrong hotel.”
“No, she is in residence here.”
“No, sir. I’m sorry.”
“This is where she’s lived for … well, I have no idea how long. I’d like to speak to your supervisor.”
“Sir, I’ve checked all the lists …”
“Now.” Colin assumed a tone of command he’d abandoned the day he left the army. The clerk headed for a door behind the desk and disappeared. He was back in an instant, a slim, balding man in his wake.
“May I help you, sir?”
“I’m Colin Delany. I wish to see Katherine Keene Delany, my wife, and I’ve been told she doesn’t live here.”
The assistant manager stared at him in silence for a moment.
“That’s correct. Miss Keene, excuse me, I mean Mrs. Delany, is no longer in residence here, sir.”
“But I have met her here twice. We were told this is where we can reach her.”
The assistant manager glanced at the young clerk who was listening to the exchange and then motioned to Colin to follow him to the far end of the counter. He lowered his voice and leaned across the marble surface.
“Mrs. Delany has not been here for quite some time, sir.”
“But we had dinner here the day before yesterday.”
“That may be, but she’s no longer in residence. She moved out quite a while ago.”
Colin searched the man’s expression. He appeared to want to be helpful.
“Do you know her? She lived here for a time with her companion, a woman named O’Hara.”
“I know Mrs. Delany, sir.” The man sighed and then glanced around the lobby. “She receives mail here — letters and parcels — but I can assure you, she does not live here anymore.”
O
utside the massive hotel Colin stared up and down the street with no idea where to start looking for Kate, until he remembered Roger Jamison. Surely her employer knew where she was staying.
He hired a hack and rode to the architect’s home. He asked the driver to wait and walked up to Jamison’s front door. The sound of laughter and conversation drifted out onto the portico.
Relief tempered his anxiety as Colin lifted the door knocker. Surely Kate was inside.
A maid answered the door.
“May I see Roger Jamison?” Colin asked.
“He’s having dinner with guests.”
“I’m here on a matter of import. If you wouldn’t mind disturbing him I’d appreciate it.”
The maid left and in a moment Jamison appeared carrying a linen napkin. He smiled when he recognized Colin.
“Merry Christmas, Delany. This is quite a surprise.”
“Hello, sir.” Colin removed his hat. “I’d like to see Kate. Is she here?”
“Why, no, she’s not. She was invited but decided to spend the day at home.”
Colin felt his collar tighten. “Where is home? I thought she was staying at the St. Charles.”
Roger Jamison waved Colin inside and closed the door behind him. The aroma of a holiday feast, along with raucous laughter, filled the house.
“Why I also assumed she was in residence at the St. Charles,” Jamison said.
Colin’s heart sank. “They
claim
she isn’t.”
“I doubt Kate would have them lie to you.”
“They didn’t appear to be lying. Do you have any idea where she might be staying? Are you sure she never mentioned it?”
“I’m sorry, Delany. You can bet I’ll ask her when she comes in after the holidays.”
“If you find out before I do, please let me know.”
“Is everything all right at
Belle Fleuve
?”
There was no denying the man’s sincerity. “Everything’s fine.”
“You’re welcome to join us.”
“Thank you for the invitation, but I’d best be on my way.”
Though he was hungry, joining a group of merry revelers was the last thing on Colin’s mind as he walked back to the carriage.
“Where to, sir?” The driver looked as if he’d rather be at home enjoying his own dinner.
“Give me a minute.”
How was he ever going to find Kate in a city this size with no idea where to start? He looked down the street. Holiday greenery decorated the front doors of the well-appointed houses. Here and there couples and families with packages in hand rang doorbells and joined others in celebration.
Colin had left Damian and Marie to celebrate with the Boltons so that he could see Kate. He could return to the St. Charles, leave Kate a note, and let her know that he had been here, but it would be hours before he was home again. He needed to eat before he began his journey back.
The driver opened the door for him and Colin instructed, “Take me to Antoine’s.”
E
zekiel Stevens held the door for Kate as she stepped out of the restaurant. Pausing on the sidewalk, she made certain her hat was tipped just right, pleased that the captain had kept his promise. He hadn’t flirted once, nor had he encouraged her to confide in him about her marital problems.
They had discussed his steamboat house project and then shared some other outlandish ideas he had for future projects. By the end of the meal Kate found her mood lightened. She wished she knew a suitable young woman who might be interested in Stevens, someone as strong and charismatic as the captain. But seeing as
how he had ogled every woman in the room, she doubted he was looking for a lasting relationship.
The street was even more deserted than before, the sun sinking low in the afternoon sky. Two- and three-story buildings cast the street in shadows that grew chillier by the moment.
“Thank you for a delicious meal and for sparing me a lonely afternoon,” she said.
Ezekiel gave the corner of his hat a tug.
“Thank you, Kate. The pleasure was all mine. Let me just say your husband is a fool.”
“He’s stubborn, that’s all.”
“And so are you.”
She smiled. “You’re right.”
Too stubborn by half
. It was time she went home and forced Colin to listen to reason.
“I’ll walk you back to the hotel,” he said.
“No, thank you. It’s not far and I need some time alone. Besides, you’re so close to the wharf that it would be out of your way. I’ll be all right.”
“Promise me you won’t dawdle. I don’t like the idea of you out alone after dark, Kate.”
She shook her head and gave him a smile. “No need to worry on my account. I’ll go straight home.”
T
he hack pulled up at the corner across from Antoine’s and Colin was about to step out when he spotted Kate walking out of the restaurant with Captain Stevens. He’d taken punches to the gut that hurt less. His wife adjusted her jaunty feathered hat. The captain smiled as if he’d just won a round of faro. The couple was in no hurry. They lingered in front of the restaurant laughing and talking.
Had Kate ever looked at him in the carefree, buoyant way she was smiling up at Stevens?
When have I ever given her reason to smile?
Had he lost her?
Colin stayed inside the dark interior of the hack and watched them the way a starving man stares at a loaf of bread. Had Stevens given Kate back her joy? Were the haunted shadows in her eyes gone?
When the captain offered Kate his arm, Colin held his breath. To his amazement Kate shook her head. The two chatted a moment longer before she started up the street alone. Stevens walked off in the opposite direction, whistling as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
Colin drew back as Stevens passed by on the other side of the street.
The driver leaned down. “Change your mind, sir?”
Colin lowered his voice. “Follow the woman in the black dress, but keep your distance.”
A minute or two passed. The driver waited for Kate to walk farther down the street before the carriage started rolling. The horse’s hooves clattered with a slow, steady beat on the cobblestones. The driver hung back far enough not to draw suspicion.
Colin leaned back against the leather seat, tapping his fingers against his knees with impatience. They followed her up St. Louis Street for a number of blocks until the carriage turned in the opposite direction of the St. Charles and eventually stopped at an alleyway between two buildings. The driver climbed down off the box and stood in the window.
“She’s gone down this alleyway, sir,” he whispered. “You’ll have to go on foot from here.”
Colin climbed out. He could follow only so far before his ankle gave out. Afraid he would lose her, haste made him clumsy and he fumbled with his coins as he paid the driver.
The sound of the departing carriage wheels echoed between the buildings as Colin started down the narrow lane in a rundown section of the French Quarter. Kate was a good block ahead of him. Colin tried to ignore his pain as he hobbled along.
Ahead, Kate suddenly stopped and disappeared inside a building.
He waited in an alcove, but when it appeared she was not coming out, Colin continued on until he reached a small shop front. The window was lettered with the name of a cobbler. Like the others on the street, the exterior was coated with cracked and peeling stucco. The interior of the shop was dark. A small sign on the door read: Closed until the New Year.
Colin cupped his hands and pressed them against the window to look inside. There was no sign of anyone and certainly not Kate. There was another door beside the shop window, this one painted the color of rust. A cracked windowpane was centered in the door above the handle. Colin peered inside this window and saw a dark, narrow stairway leading to the second floor.
He tried the knob, found it unlocked, and went in.
The stairs were old and worn and Colin figured the building had been standing since the French flag had flown over New Orleans. He used the handrail, grateful for its presence, and slowly made his way to the landing.
On the second floor, a dingy hall was lined with four doors, all closed. Stale odors mingled with the smell of onions. Kate was behind one of these doors.
He knocked on the first and no one answered. The second door opened and an elderly man in shirtsleeves and a stained waistcoat blinked at Colin like a mole unused to sunlight.
“Help ya?” He had but two upper teeth.
“I’m looking for Katherine Keene Delany.”
“What you want with her?”
It had been a long day, Colin’s ankle hurt, and he wasn’t in the mood to be polite.