THE IMPERIAL ENGINEER (41 page)

The doctor pronounced her unhurt, except for a scraped wrist and a possible
sprained ankle. He bandaged the one and strapped the other, telling her to stay off of it as
much as possible for a week or so.

When he'd finished with the ankle, Tony said, "My wife is...she's going to have a
baby. Can you tell if any harm came--" Fear halted the words before he could speak
them.

Flipping the blankets back farther, the doctor poked and prodded at Lulu's rounded
abdomen. "Seen a doctor before this? No? You should have. Birthing may be a natural
process, but a little extra care never hurts." He pressed his stethoscope to her, moved it
several times.

Tony held his breath. Lulu's eyes were closed. Her teeth worried her lower
lip.

"Hmmm," the doctor said, several times. "Interesting." He moved the stethoscope
again.

Tony opened his mouth to demand an answer.

The doctor looked up, eyes twinkling. "I don't hear anything to worry about. Good
strong heartbeats. But I want you to come in and see me, Mrs. Dewitt. Twins sometimes
come early, and we want you to carry these as long as you can."

Air burst from Tony's lungs in a great whoosh. "Twins?" He cleared his throat.
"Did you say
twins
?"

"I heard two distinct heartbeats," Dr. Lewis said, as he tucked the stethoscope
back into his bag. "I've been wrong before, but if I were a betting man, I'd lay money on
twins." He shouldered into his overcoat and clapped his hat on his head. "Now remember, I
want to see Mrs. Dewitt before the end of the week. We know a lot more about pregnancy
than we used to, and there's no sense not taking advantage of it."

Tony saw him out, still virtually speechless. When he returned to the back room,
he paused at the door and looked across at Lulu. "Twins," he said again, his tone
wondering.

Lulu's eyes were still shut, but her lips held a wide, beautiful smile.

You didn't tell me there were two of you. Was it supposed to be a
surprise?
She was surprised. Ecstatic. Scared.

She had just gotten used to the idea of one baby. Now there were two.
Oh, lord,
how will I ever cope?

Opening her eyes, she said, "I think we'd better tell the folks." They had discussed
sending a cable to Silas's London agent, then agreed that to do so would cut short the
travels both Kings and Lachlans had planned so many years for. Silas and Soomey, of
course, would come home at the drop of a hat, but they were not taking their first holiday,
as Lulu's parents were. Aunt Hattie and Uncle Emmet would come home too, just because
it was a family birth.

"I think we'd better get out of Hailey." He sounded grim.

Her mood of joy and thanksgiving shattered by the reminder of what had
happened to them already, she said, "Something new? Tell me!"

Tony reached into an inside pocket. "This came last night. Tucked under the door
after you were in bed."

A chill unrelated to her recent experience shivered through Lulu. She grasped
Tony's wrist. "Yes. We'll go to Boise. Now. As soon as I can get packed." Using his arm
for leverage, she sat up. The blankets fell away and she realized she was all but naked.
"My clothes!"

"They're ruined. I'll send someone...Hell! You've got nothing else to wear, have
you?"

"No. That was one of the reasons I was coming to town. To get fabric and maybe a
ready-to-wear skirt and blouse. I can't go home in my underwear. Can you get me some
britches and a shirt? Something for a boy about the size of Ru Nan?"

"You're not running around town in britches. I'll take care of getting you
something. As soon as Jacob Teller gets back."

Her breath caught. Mr. Teller! She'd seen him just ahead of her an instant before
her name had been called. Had he been the one who pushed her?

And who had called out to her, distracting her when she should have been
watching her step? The voice had been vaguely familiar. One she'd heard recently.

Whose?

"But still, you will be an old maid! -- and that's so dreadful!"
"Never mind, Harriet, I shall not be a poor old maid; and it is poverty only which makes
celibacy contemptible to a generous public! A single woman, with a very narrow income,
must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid! -- the proper sport of boys and girls -- but a
single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant
as anybody else..."

Emma
, by Jane Austen

~~~

Lulu tossed the blanket aside and sat up, her bare legs hanging over the edge of
the cot. "I've changed my mind. I want to go back to the apartment."

"How--"

"Don't you have some work clothes here? Give me the britches. Wrap the blanket
around me and carry me to the buggy. Just get me home."

"Now take it easy. Lie back down, will you?" He pushed against her shoulder, but
she resisted. "Lulu, damn it, the doctor said to stay off your ankle."

"Then help me." She tried to stand, winced when she put weight on her ankle.
"Look, we don't know who pushed me. It could have been anybody. Mr. Teller--"

"It wasn't him."

"How do you know?" She didn't really think it had been, but Imajean's husband
had
been right there. "Just get me some britches and a shirt. Please, Tony?"

The britches were grease-stained and far too big for her, except around the middle,
where they wouldn't quite close. She tied the edges together with a piece of cord and pulled
the shirt down enough to hide the gap. While she rolled the shirtsleeves up past her wrists,
he took care of cuffing the pantlegs. "I'll bet I look like a clown," she remarked, once she
was covered.

Tony's grin told her he agreed. Someone knocked at the front door. "I'll be right
back," he said. "It's probably Teller."

It was. "I've got my buggy outside," he said, when he followed Tony into the small
storeroom. "How are you-- Good God!" He eyed her getup. "Are you sure you want to
appear on the street dressed like that?"

"I'll wrap myself in a blanket and Tony will carry me," she told him. "The sooner I
get home, the sooner he can talk to the sheriff about the...about what happened." She'd
been about to mentioned the note he'd shown her, but thought better of it. Mr. Teller might
be extremely helpful, but she wasn't willing to trust anyone except Tony at this point.

With little fuss, and only one rap of her injured ankle against the side of the
buggy, she was driven home. When they drove up, Xi Xin came running from Mrs.
Graham's door. In a very few minutes they had Lulu settled in bed, despite her protests that
she was perfectly capable of sitting in the rocking chair.

"Humor me," Tony told her with a wry grin. "I know you'll be out of bed as soon
as I turn my back, but until I do, just obey me this one time."

To herself, Lulu admitted that bed felt very good. She had, on the ride from his
office, discovered an assortment of minor aches and pains she hadn't noticed before.
I'll be black and blue and stiff as a board tomorrow.
"I'll be good," she said, as
she caught his hand, "if you'll kiss me. "

He knelt beside the bed and did so, thoroughly and tenderly. She sensed passion
held on a tight leash as he covered her face with butterfly kisses. "You scared the dickens
out of me," he whispered. "If anything happened to you... Oh, Lulu, you could have been
killed." His arms were tight around her, his face buried against her neck.

"Shhh. I'm all right." She ran her fingers through his sleek hair, soothing him.
"You're the one who's in danger. I'm sure of that. I think what happened to me today was
simply an accident."

"No!" His arms tightened. "No, I can't believe it was an accident. The bastard
who's behind all this has realized that hurting you is the surest way to get at me. As soon as
you can walk, I'm sending you to Boise."

In this mood he was not going to listen to reason, so Lulu didn't bother arguing.
Privately, though, she vowed they would both go, or neither would.

What really frightened her was the probability that Tony would insist on staying
here and fighting his enemies. He'd see retreat as defeat. She knew that from having lived
with courageous, strong men all her life.

Wonderful, brave, protective men, willing to risk their lives for those they
loved.

Wonderful damn fools.

* * * *

Reluctantly Tony left Lulu in the tender care of Mrs. Graham and Xi Xin. Jacob
Teller had volunteered to send one of his men in to watch the apartment, but Tony had
refused. At this point he was not sure he trusted any white man in Hailey. Not even
Teller.

When he stepped inside Mr. Yu's laundry, the old man seemed unsurprised to see
him. He briefly related the morning's events. "I need some men, two or three, to keep
watch over my wife. Someone you trust."

"Very wise. She is an exemplary woman, worth protecting. One moment." Mr. Yu
disappeared behind the curtain covering a doorway in the back wall. In a moment he
returned. "One goes now. Another will go soon. Two men will always watch, day and
night, until there is no longer a need."

Tony bowed. "I am in your debt, Uncle." He would pay the men, but he knew Mr.
Yu would take nothing for his assistance.

Maybe it was time for him to admit to the world he was Chinese. Maybe Lulu was
right. He'd been living a lie for a long time.

With a lighter step, he entered the sheriff's office.

* * * *

Aching all over, Lulu found inactivity welcome. Kept in bed the rest of Monday
by Xi Xin's almost continuous watchfulness, she arose Tuesday stiff and sore. Jacob Teller
had dropped off a bundle of clothing Imajean had worn when she was expecting. So she
spent an hour hemming up skirts and petticoats and feeling filled with virtue, before
attacking her neglected correspondence. So many people to inform that she would be
taking a less active role in the suffrage movement for a while.

After a light meal at noon, she worked on a story for the
Ladies' Home
Journal
, but it didn't go well. Her mind kept returning to the voice on the telephone.
Tell the yellow heathen to get out of town, or worse will happen.
Where
had
she heard it before? It had a curious timbre, almost musical, despite the
speaker's attempt at anonymity.

For perhaps the thirtieth time, she tossed her pencil down atop the papers on the
table and leaned back in her chair. Her shoulder ached, and there was a place on her back,
where it pressed against the chair, that was tender. And the cut on her wrist twinged every
time she moved her left hand.

You're whining
, she scolded herself.
You need to find something to
take your mind off your infirmities.
Yet nothing appealed to her. The only books in the
house were some of Tony's engineering texts he was trying to salvage, and her copy of
Tom Sawyer
, now missing its cover and the title page.

Picking up the broom that was leaning against the table, she used its handle to tap
on the wall. In a few seconds, Xi Xin came in the back door. "You call?"

"I did. Would you ask Mrs. Graham if she has anything to read, please?"

"I be back pretty quick." The girl pulled the door closed behind her.

While she waited, Lulu looked around the kitchen, wondering if there was
anything to bake with. She was sure she could make a dried apple pie sitting down.
Moving stiffly, she went to the cupboard and looked inside. Yes, there were enough
apples, and plenty of sugar. Now, where did Xi Xin put the flour?

By the time the books arrived, she was happily cutting lard into the flour while
dried apples simmered on the range in a mixture of vinegar, water and sugar. While she
would have preferred cider, she had learned at a young age to contrive. Cherry Vale had
been a long way from the nearest grocer's.

"What you cook?" Xi Xin asked, when she'd put the books in the parlor.

"Dried apple pie. Tell Mrs. Graham I'll send some over for her supper."

When the pie was assembled and in the oven, she went to the parlor to look over
the pile of books. "Oh, dear."
Waverly
and
Vanity Fair
, two books by
Jane Austen, and one by an author she had never heard of, titled
Middlemarch
.
Since Lulu had never been fond of novel reading, she wondered if she'd be able to
convince Tony to take her to Burkhardt's tomorrow. Their selection wasn't extensive, but at
least they had something other than romances.

Unable to sit idly, she picked up one of the Austen books, opened it.

She was still reading, completely captivated, when Tony called, telling her to go
ahead and have supper because he would be late. It came as no surprise, because he had
done the same thing twice already this week. Both times some part of the telephone system
had failed, and neither failure had been suspicious. The trouble with new inventions, she'd
decided, was that they usually didn't work.

She went back to her book, eager to discover if Emma would, as she had, succumb
to masculine charm. And other attractions.

* * * *

The telephone was ringing when Tony arrived at the office Tuesday morning.
"Can you come over right away?" Jack said as soon as he answered. "I think there's
something wrong."

What now?

"Gee, I'm glad you're here. All the batteries are really low, and I don't know why."
Jack said as soon as he entered.

"Let me see." Tony got the electrometer and started testing the charges on the
switchboard batteries. All of them were low. Definitely a problem. "Did you check them
before you went home last night?"

"I sure did. They were a little lower than in the morning, but we'd had an awful lot
of traffic. I almost called you."

Just in case it was the instrument, Tony went to get the other electrometer. Even
with heavy traffic, the dynamo should be keeping the batteries charged better than this.
"Called me? Why?"