THE IMPERIAL ENGINEER (48 page)

Tony kicked at the big man, a leaping kick with one foot after the other. When the
man retreated an inch or so, Tony snatched her small knitting table, already missing one
leg, and smashed it across his opponent's head, knocking him to his knees. Then he turned
back to Newell, who was on his feet again. Tony went at him with a flurry of meaty,
open-handed slaps, which he parried, retreating again until the wall was once again at his back.
Using it for leverage, he dove at Tony, hands outstretched, fingers clawed. Tony caught
one wrist, and used his momentum to swing him around. Newell screamed, yet in the next
instant he lunged at Tony. This time Tony stepped out of his way. As he careened past,
Tony felled him with a chop to the side of his neck. He fell to the floor, where he sprawled
limply.

Just as Newell sank to the floor, the big man grabbed Tony again. Lulu dashed
across the room and snatched the sword from the small man's thigh. He screamed, a high,
thin sound. Holding the hilt in both hands, she ran at the big man and drove the long blade
into his back, just below his ribs.

She was surprised at how easily it sank in.

He toppled, like a great tree falling, wrenching the sword from her grasp.

Tony was crushed under him when he landed.

For a moment, Lulu feared she'd stabbed her husband as well as his assailant.
Then she saw him move, pushing free of the dead weight that held him to the floor.
Immediately she went to help him. Together they moved the inert hulk, until Tony could
roll away from it and push himself upright on one arm.

Lulu knelt beside him. "All that blood? How badly--"

"I'm all right," he gasped. "At least I think I am." Swiping the back of his hand
across his forehead, he smeared blood from eyebrow to scalp. "Nothing fatal
anyhow."

"Let me see!"

"Let's check these fellows first. We don't want them waking up and surprising us.
Give me a hand, will you?" he said, as he held out his hand.

She pulled him to his feet. Together they went to where Patrick Newell lay
completely still against the wall. Lulu knelt, put her fingers against his throat. Felt nothing.
"I...Tony, I think he's dead."

"Well, hell! I didn't mean to kill him. But he rushed me, and I--"

"You had no choice." Privately she mourned, not for Patrick Newell, who had
gone beyond the bounds of sanity in his quest for revenge, but for Tony, who would have
to live with the knowledge that he'd killed the man with his bare hands.

"What about the others?"

Lulu stood beside Tony when he examined the big man. He lay in a pool of blood
that spread even as she watched. She set her hand on the sword hilt, meaning to pull it
out.

"No," Tony said. "Leave it in. It may be stopping some of the bleeding." He didn't
sound as if he believed himself. "Ring up the switchboard. Tell Eph to get a doctor and the
sheriff here as soon as possible. I'll take care of the other one."

Lulu obeyed. Eph wanted to know what was going on, but she said, "Mr. Morton,
I will tell you everything when the emergency is over. Right now a man's life may depend
on you. Please do as I ask." She disconnected. "How is he?"

"He'll limp for a while." Tony finished wrapping a strip of cloth around the small
man's thigh. He almost smiled. "More scared than anything, I reckon. Not much of a bad
man."

"I'm going next door. Something tells me Mrs. Graham didn't go anywhere."

"Wait! Don't go alone!"

Although she was certain that any danger to herself or Tony had died with Patrick
Newell, Lulu obeyed. Tonight had taught her just how precarious life could be. Instead of
Mr. Newell, the dead body in her parlor could be her husband.

Or herself.

The door was locked, and there was no answer to Tony's knock. They went around
to the back porch, where Lulu knew Mrs. Graham kept a key concealed in a stack of
flowerpots. She held a candle while Tony unlocked the back door. They crept inside the
dark kitchen, tiptoed into the parlor. No sooner had they entered than they saw Mrs.
Graham, tied to her favorite rocking chair. A faded red bandana served as a gag, cutting
cruelly into her withered cheeks.

"Look for Xi Xin." Quickly Lulu removed the gag and untied her elderly landlady.
"Are you all right, Did they harm you?"

"No," Mrs. Graham quavered. "But Xi Xin? They took her into the other room.
Did they--"

"No, I don't think they took the time," Tony said, as he emerged from the smaller
bedroom, the bound Chinese girl in his arms. "But I'll bet they were planning to come back
later."

"Oh, yes, they told us just what they were going to do to her. And to you." She
blinked, as if just now realizing who her rescuers were. "Land's sake, how did you get
away from them?"

The explanation had to wait, because they heard the sound of a buggy in the street.
Mrs. Graham and Xi Xin went with them to meet Dr. Lewis because Lulu insisted that
both should be looked over to make sure no harm had come to them.

The rest of the night was chaotic. The doctor finally left about ten, having
pronounced both Newell and Harry--nobody knew his last name--dead. Lulu's desperate
sword thrust had, in Dr. Lewis's opinion, opened a large vein in Harry's abdomen. "Even if
I'd been right here, I doubt I could have stopped the bleeding in time to save him," he told
Lulu, his tone sympathetic.

She was icy cold and sick inside. "I didn't mean to kill him."

"Silas once told me there's no such thing as dirty fighting. There's fighting to
survive, and there's playing around," Tony told her, as he pulled her into a close and
comforting embrace. "Tonight we were fighting for our lives. Remember that, Lulu. They'd
have killed us without compunction."

"I know, but..." She knew she'd have nightmares about tonight for a long time. But
she had no regrets, for she would be alive to have those nightmares.

The sheriff's opinion was that both Lulu and Tony had done what was necessary to
protect themselves. "I'm satisfied," he said, once the doctor had gone. Deputy Goode had
taken the small man who still refused to give his name off to jail. Two other deputies had
loaded the bodies into a wagon and taken them to the undertaker's parlor.

"I'm not," Lulu said. "Frank Correy and Mr. Newell were all but inseparable. I'd
like to know what his involvement in this was."

"He was sitting in the saloon when I left there," Tony said. "I don't think he had
anything to do with tonight's events. Frank's a good man at heart. I think Newell used
him."

"Let's make sure. I'll talk to him," the sheriff said. "You two come by tomorrow
and we'll write up a report for my records."

Once everyone had left, it was close to midnight. "Oh my, that was exciting," Lulu
said to Tony as she closed the door behind the sheriff.

"I'll take boredom any day," he told her, pulling back against him and enfolding
her in his arms. "I've had enough excitement tonight to last the rest of my life."

"More than enough," she agreed. "From now on let's agree to live a staid and
lackluster life, and leave the excitement to those who enjoy it. Like Buff and Gabe."

Privately she wondered if she meant those words. Somehow she felt more alive
tonight than she could remember feeling in her entire life.

As if reading her mind, Tony said, "There's nothing like surviving by the skin of
your teeth to make you appreciate being alive, is there? Silas told me, but I'd never
experienced it until tonight."

* * * *

Monday morning Tony received a telegram from the manager of the Boise
Telephone Company. CAN YOU START IMMEDIATELY STOP HEAD ENGINEER
POSITION WAITING FOR YOU STOP REPLY SOONEST STOP.

Since he and Lulu had already agreed on the move, even if he didn't get the job, he
went into Eagleton's office and laid the telegram before him.

Eagleton read it. "Well, now, I reckon you'd better git while the gittin's good.
You're fired, boy." He winked. "Pack up your things and go."

On his way home, Tony drove by the telegraph office. His hand shook as he
printed the message. TOO LATE FOR TRAIN TODAY STOP WILL ARRIVE BOISE
WEDNESDAY STOP AVAILABLE THURSDAY STOP.

At least they didn't have much to pack.

* * * *

Early in June, Lulu found a letter from Miss Petersham among her
correspondence. When she'd finished reading it, she folded the single sheet and breathed a
small sigh of relief. The sheriff had cleared Frank Correy of any involvement in Patrick
Newell's schemes to first discredit and then destroy Tony as revenge for his father's death
in the Sagacity River Bridge failure. Frank claimed, and everyone believed, that he had
been an innocent accessory to Newell's masquerade as a carefree young bachelor, without
a serious thought in his head.

When she was putting the letter back in its envelope, she realized that another
paper was inside. It was an editorial from the
Wood River Times
. Quickly she
skimmed it.

...no man worthy of American citizenship will attempt to compel another to do
anything...Is this a free country? If it is, others are as free as you are yourselves. But all
must obey the laws, as liberty without the law is simply license. With the law persons,
property--all are safe. Without the law, all are unsafe....The Times is and has always been
anti-Chinese, but it will not uphold a conspiracy to injure any man's business.

Leaning back in her chair, she read the editorial again, and as she did, she smiled.
The Chinese had won. Oh, it was a small victory, but she was certain they would stay in
Hailey and other Wood River communities and be allowed to live in peace.

With enough such small victories, the world could be changed.

It is in the love of one's family only that heartfelt happiness is known.

Thomas Jefferson

~~~

"That hurts!"

"It's supposed to hurt. Now be quiet and breathe. And try to relax."

"Relax! You're crazy. How can I relax when my body is tying itself in
knots?"

"Mrs. Dewitt, you'll be much more comfortable if you'll stop fighting the
contractions."

Lulu glared at the doctor. "I'm not fighting them. I just want them to stop hurting.
How do you know anyhow? How many babies have
you
had?" She heard a stifled
giggle from Regina as the contraction eased off.

Tony wiped her brow with a damp cloth. "I thought you told me this wouldn't take
long, doctor. She's been at it for hours."

She probably should reassure him, Lulu thought. On the other hand, he deserved
to see what he'd done to her. "Oh, God! Here comes another one!" She did her best to
remain calm and to breathe deeply and evenly, as the doctor had instructed, but all she
could do was huff and puff like a steam engine.

The door burst open. "We're in time!" a familiar voice cried.

The contraction intensified, until it consumed her. As it slacked off, she felt Tony
start to move away. Lulu grabbed his wrist. "Stay!"

"Here now! You people will have to leave. We can't have Mrs. Dewitt upset."

"She'll be a lot more upset if you throw her mamma out," Tony said. "Hello Aunt
Flower. Let me--"

"I told you to stay!" Lulu grated out. "Mamma can sit on the other side."

"What is this?" Soomey demanded "Why is she on her back?"

Lulu lost track of what was happening anywhere but inside her body. She heard
the doctor arguing as Soomey issued orders. Then Tony was lifting her shoulders, climbing
onto the bed behind her.

"Yes, that way. Put her legs over yours and hold her, just above her belly,"
Soomey said.

The next contraction struck then and Lulu found it much easier to bear. "I've never
felt so embarrassed in my life," she said when she realized that Soomey had removed the
sheet that had heretofore covered her belly and legs.

"Nonsense. We are all family. No, doctor, I will not let you cover her. We must
see the baby when it appears."

Lulu closed her eyes, on the theory that as long as she couldn't see the indignity of
her circumstances, everything was fine. Her belly hardened in yet another contraction and
she suddenly felt an irresistible urge to
push
.

After that events became a kaleidoscope of sounds and sensations as she pushed
and pushed and pushed.

"A son!" Soomey cried, over the sound of a baby's cry. "You have a son. A very
auspicious birth."

"Madam, you must let me clean the baby," Lulu heard the doctor say, his voice
almost drowned by an angry wail.

"No, his mother must hold him." A wet, slippery weight was plopped into her arms
and she did her best to hold onto it. Tony's hands caught it and held it against her. Through
the tears in her eyes, Lulu saw her son, covered with blood and mucus, his thick black hair
plastered against his head and his mouth wide open.
My son
, she said to herself,
my precious son
. And then another contraction began.

Her mamma cried out in alarm. Lulu gasped, "Twins," before giving her whole
attention to pushing her daughter into the world.

* * * *

The doctor, still bristling with indignation, had been sent on his way. The babies
lay in Lulu's arms, one on each side. Both were clean and sweet-smelling. Tony was
sprawled on the other side of the bed, half asleep, but unable to take his eyes off his
children.

"I'm so happy everyone got here in time."

"So am I." He rolled over and stood. "Are you ready to let them all in yet?"
Soomey had decreed that Lulu be given an hour's rest before showing her babies to the rest
of the family. She had been backed up by the other women.

"I guess I'd better be. We're not going to be able to keep Pappa and Uncle Silas
waiting much longer."

He helped her scoot up against the headboard and tucked another pillow behind
her shoulders.

"Are you still happy with the names we chose?"