****
The next day was overcast and stormy.
Alex returned from his meetings at the warehouse and mill sites late in the afternoon. He stepped inside The Copper Penny and brushed a sprinkling of snow off his coat.
Penny, Lexie, Jann, and Inga hunkered around the potbellied stove.
Jewel was seated in a chair in front of it, a paper in her hands.
The stove gave off welcome warmth, inviting Alex to hurry across and join them, but the taut anger on Penny’s face held him back.
Lexie ran over and threw herself at him. “You must really be proud of us, Papa.”
“Of course I’m proud of you. Why would you think I’m not?” He scooped her up in his arms, damp jacket and all.
“I don’t know. I just thought…well, Mama wanted to keep us a secret. I thought maybe you didn’t want everyone to know about us.”
Once again, his bold, bright little girl had cut through all the nonsense to the heart of the matter. His surprise turned to a slow simmer, and he glared at Penny, upset she had given Lexie that impression.
Penny lowered her gaze and looked shamefaced. “Lexie,” she began, “I never meant—”
Alex didn’t let her finish. “I have never,” he interrupted her in a tone so loud, the whole room could not mistake his intent. “
Never
been ashamed of you, or your Mama. You are the most important people in my life, Lexie. I love you, and I don’t ever want you to forget it or to doubt it.”
“I won’t, Papa.” Lexie smiled. “You told everybody about us, even the paper. I’ve never been in the paper. Does that mean we’re special?”
“You are special, newspaper article or not.” Alex set her on the ground so he could remove his jacket.
“Can you read it again, Jewel, so Papa can hear it?” Lexie smiled and skipped back over to Jewel.
Penny made a small sound and marched to the stairs.
Jewel started to read in a subdued voice.
****
Customers began to show up.
Alex wasn’t able to find Penny alone until halfway through the night. She headed to the storeroom to fetch more liquor, and he seized the opportunity. Hurrying in behind her, he shut the door with a decisive click.
She spun around, a bottle in one hand and the wavering lamp in the other.
“I don’t know why you are walking around here like the offended one,” he began, anger low in his voice. “My daughter thinks I’m ashamed of her!”
“I’m trying to protect Lexie.”
“From me?” He was shocked when she nodded.
“Yes, from you! I told you people wouldn’t accept us. I asked you not to invite trouble into our lives and what do you do? You put our life…
my
life in the newspaper for everyone to read. You didn’t even bother to ask me.” Her words caught him off guard.
“You’re right. I should have discussed it with you. But even if you had disagreed, I would have done it. I’m not ashamed of you.”
“Have you forgotten what happened the first time you tried to show the world how you felt about me? You ended up half dead.”
“I haven’t forgotten, Penny. Those events affected my life as much as yours.”
“But you didn’t seem to learn anything from it. Why can’t you just leave well enough alone? Why do you always have to stir the pot?” Her criticism went deep
Weariness settled. “What would you have me do, Penny? Sit back and do nothing while they create problems for us?”
“What I would have you do is go away! We were doing just fine until you came back into our lives.” She tossed the full bottle of liquor towards Alex.
Startled, he reached out to catch it.
Penny shoved him out of her way.
He stumbled back against some boxes and almost fell. By the time he’d gained his footing, his wife had slammed the door open and stalked out.
10
Penny and Alex’s lives settled into a routine. They spoke to each other only when prompted by a conversation started by someone else.
Penny rose at the first hint of dawn and came to bed long after Alex.
They slept beside each other, but Alex was lonely…perhaps more lonely than he’d been before he found his wife.
One morning he rose shortly after Penny and took his Bible downstairs to read by the stove.
Inga asked if he would help Jann with his letters. Her request provided Alex the perfect opportunity.
Shortly after sunrise, while Inga prepared scrambled eggs or flipped pancakes, Jann would painstakingly read a passage out loud.
Just before they sat down to eat, Alex would finish the passage and read another.
Inga and Jann, Tom and Jewel, even Lexie became a part of his morning Scripture study.
Penny stayed in her office.
Alex’s love for his newfound family grew every day. But the strain of his relationship with Penny wore him down. His day was full of hard work.
Between his construction projects and his bartending duties, he fell into bed exhausted. But even his strenuous schedule couldn’t keep Penny out of his thoughts.
When she spoke, his gaze went to her beautiful, bow-shaped lips. The scent of her light rosewater lingered in the air when she left a room.
She kept a stringent distance between them in the bed, but he could still feel her warmth and occasionally, strands of her silken hair brushed against his skin like a hot brand. By the light of the moon, he glimpsed the curves beneath her gown before she slid between the sheets. Afterwards, he tossed and turned, his dreams filled with Penny in his arms.
How much longer could he stay beside her and not have her?
The strain began to show on Penny, too. Dark circles formed beneath her eyes, and a gaunt look hollowed out her cheeks.
He wasn’t sure if his nearness simply put her on edge or actually frightened her.
He hoped and prayed that when the breakdown happened, it wouldn’t shatter all of their lives into pieces.
Then one day, a freight wagon slipped on an icy patch of the Bodie pass. The lumber broke loose and tumbled down the hill. Fortunately, neither the driver nor the horses were injured, and the driver hiked into town for help. By the time Alex and his crew hauled all the lumber back up the hill, loaded it on a new wagon and made it back to town, it was dusk.
When Alex arrived home, the saloon was empty and dark. Thankfully, the potbellied stove glowed with dark embers, and an inviting warmth emanated from inside.
Frozen, tired, and hungry, Alex didn’t know where he’d find the strength to make it through the night, and the customers would start showing up soon.
A light shone from beneath the kitchen door, and the clink of dishes told him Jann, Inga, and Lexie were busy with supper cleanup.
Penny and Jewel were probably upstairs dressing for work.
Wearily, Alex eased his half-frozen jacket off and sighed.
From the shadows, something flew at him…a flurry of skirts and the scent of rosewater.
“Alex, you’re home! You’re safe!” He caught Penny in his arms and turned.
Light from the stove shone on her face and flickered in her wide eyes. She touched his cheek and he felt the tremble in her fingers.
And then it hit him.
Penny wasn’t frightened
of
him. She was frightened
for
him. Ever since the article had appeared in the paper, she’d been waiting, watching…expecting something to happen to him.
Comprehension swept over him, and he grasped her hands. They were icy. He wished he could kiss away the cold…just crush her in his arms and ease the fear. But he knew in his heart, only God could heal a hurt as deep as the one in Penny’s mind.
“Yes.” He spoke quietly, putting all the tenderness he felt into his words. “I’m home, Penny. I’m safe.”
His tone held a hint of sadness, for what they had lost, what they might never regain. He looked into her face and saw the hopeful, yet vulnerable young woman he’d married, his beloved bride.
But just as quickly as he caught her, she disappeared. In her place was the cold, hard woman she had become…or at least, tried to be.
She wriggled her hands out of his tight grasp. “Of course. I was silly to be worried.” Then she turned and hurried to the kitchen.
He watched her go, disappointed, but a little consoled.
Penny hadn’t told the truth. Her emotions weren’t dead, she was just afraid of living. Living hurt too much. So she gave it up.
All of her heart and soul went into the care of their daughter and the little family she had gathered.
Singing gave her joy, so she stopped using her beautiful voice. She kept herself deep in mourning, unconsoled, and wore the color brown to remind her of a dead man.
But that dead man was alive. With God’s help, Alex intended to prove she was, too.
****
Winter arrived early in Bodie and seemed determined to stay. Roads, passes, wells, everything froze. Penny’s fingers seemed to have joined the frozen landscape as she slowly uncurled them from around her pen.
Her little office beneath the stairs was the coldest spot in The Copper Penny. She hated shutting herself into the icy room each morning, but she refused to risk encounters with Alex.
She tallied up the figures from last evening. Another poor night’s take. Men didn’t want to venture out of their homes into the frigid night.
Holloway had been conspicuously quiet of late, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still working against her. It just meant he didn’t have to work as hard.
Nature was doing enough damage on its own.
Her latest shipment was two days late, held up by bad weather. Just as well. She wasn’t sure she had enough money to pay for it, having used the last of her budget to purchase back Tom’s piano…which sat silent in the corner of the saloon.
The only time he touched it was when Jewel was out, and that was not often. His struggle to wean himself off the liquor took its toll. His fingers shook and lost their dexterity.
On one occasion, Penny had a glimpse of what Tom’s talent had been like before.
He seemed calm and confident as he sat down at the piano. The melody that flowed out was famous, detailed, classic.
She didn’t know the name of the song, but she’d heard it somewhere. It was incredibly beautiful.
But then he’d stopped. Not because his fingers didn’t work, but because he couldn’t remember the notes. He closed the piano and didn’t go back for days.
Penny had hoped once Tom felt better and played, the addition of music at The Copper Penny would be enough to help her business pick up, and it wouldn’t be necessary for her to sing.
Christmas was only a few weeks away. If Penny wanted to have any kind of celebration for Lexie and Jann, she needed the extra money.
And Tom needed the help. So, she’d agreed to meet with him this morning to practice.
Certain Alex was gone for the day, she rose stiffly from her desk, put her books away, and hurried into the outer room. Peeling off her gloves, she threw more wood into the stove and warmed her hands as it fired up.
Tom came down and they chose a few songs, “Turkey in the Straw”
and “Buffalo Gals.” Simple songs. Easy enough for Tom to play and even easier for Penny to sing. Less than an hour into their rehearsal time, a shrill whistle rent the air.
Both of them had been in mining camps long enough to recognize the long blast and three short whistles of an accident. They hurried to the window to look down the street.
Inga joined them from the kitchen, her hands covered in dough. “It is the Standard’s whistle, ja?”
“It’s close by.”
Jann and Lexie tromped down the stairs, followed closely by Jewel.
They all stood at the window as men spilled out of the neighboring saloons and ran down the street in the direction of the Standard Mine.
“I’m going to see.” Jann hurried towards the coat rack.
“I’m coming with you,” Tom said.
“Me, too!”
“Not on your life, Lexie!” Penny was horrified. The look on her face must have scared Lexie into silence because her daughter didn’t argue.
But she stayed by the window, her elbows on the sill, her gaze fixed on the street as Inga bustled back to the kitchen.
Jewel polished glasses and Penny cleaned the mirror behind the bar with vinegar and old news sheets.
Sometime later, Lexie called out, “They’re coming back!”
Jewel and Penny met them at the door.
Inga came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel.
The look on both Tom’s and Jann’s faces was enough to tell the tragic story.
“Was it a cave-in?” Jewel asked.
“No. A bolt worked itself loose from the elevator platform, fell down the shaft, and struck a miner as he waited to go up.”
The adults were silent.
“But a bolt is little.” Lexie looked confused. “How could a bolt kill a grown-up?”
“Even I know the answer to that, Lexie,” Jann said. “When a bolt falls hundreds of feet down the shaft, it goes faster and faster.”
“It’s called velocity,” Tom added.
“Yeah, it gets velocity. When it hits, it’s like a bullet. It went all the way through his helmet and his body.”
Velocity. Cave-ins. Explosions. The extreme fatigue that caused illness. So much danger, day in and day out. Penny’s thoughts were somber.
“Who was it?” Jewel asked.
“A man by the name of Spinetti, Anthony Spinetti.” Tom rubbed his face with a weary, worn out motion.
“I don’t know him.” Jewel shook her head.
“I do.” Jann’s voice was quiet. “He has a boy, Angelo. We talk once in a while. He says they come from Italy. He doesn’t know English so good, like me and Ma when we lost Pa. He’s got four little brothers and sisters.”
Penny felt a familiar, sharp pain close to her heart.
Five children Anthony Spinetti left behind. Five children, and a wife. She took a slow, calming breath, but still the memories rushed at her like a speeding train.
Endless days with no news. Constant doubts and worries. A past she desperately wanted back. A present not worth living. No future at all. Watching the money disappear, like grains of sand slipping through her fingers.