Restless Heart (10 page)

Alice, the brown, curly-headed waitress, had always treated him as if he were beneath her. She was the last person Sam wanted as his waitress, but he sat down at the table and waited. It was just another day in town, where folks thought what they wanted about him for no other reason than his heritage was different.

With an exaggerated sigh, Alice approached his table. “Do you need a menu?”

“No, I’ll have two fried eggs, four pieces of bacon, three biscuits, and black coffee. Please.” He tried to find a smile, but from the expression on the young woman’s face, she wouldn’t accept it anyway.

“Be right up.” She followed Pieter into the kitchen, leaving Sam with his thoughts.

And they were all about Angeline.

Angeline finished the last batch of biscuits and put them in the oven. Marta kept smiling at her, making her feel foolish.
She didn’t want to be courted by Sam, but she couldn’t stop it. Her heart was already his.

How could she continue though? She had to tell him about Josiah and soon. Then there was Jonathan. Someone had probably seen him with her or Lettie. He’d seen Angeline with Sam. There were so many secrets between them, it was like having ashes in her mouth that she couldn’t spit out.

If she told him the truth, Sam might decide she wasn’t the right woman for him. That would leave her on her own again, but it would ease her conscience. Yet she would be so completely and utterly alone. Her heart would be shattered, again. Angeline was caught in a situation of her own making, one she was both miserable and ecstatic to be in.

She loved Sam, and each day that feeling grew stronger. There was no doubt in her mind he was the salve to her soul that she needed to live. If she told him about Josiah, she could lose that and him.

Her stomach clenched hard at the thought. Pieter walked back into the kitchen, looking as if he were very satisfied with himself.

“Pieter, what did you do?” Marta leveled a disapproving gaze at him. “Did you chase Samuel from the building?”

“No, I did not. I talked to him man to man. Angeline doesn’t have a papa to look out for her, so is my job instead.” He grinned at her. “Samuel is a good man, an honest man. He will make good husband.”

Angeline tried to catch her breath as emotions pummeled her. Pieter and Marta, a couple she only knew eight months, who had taken her in as their employee, were now treating her as their daughter. Just as Jessup had pledged his protection, these lovely people were doing the same. It was so very different from what she expected, from what she had experienced in her life. There was such genuine goodness in the world and it resided in these wonderful folks.

Pieter kissed Marta loudly on the cheek and she giggled.
With a chuckle, he went out the backdoor just in time for Alice to come breezing into the kitchen, a look of distaste on her face.

“Your beau is out there looking for breakfast again.” She pointed at her. “I don’t want to serve him. You get him eggs, bacon, biscuits, and coffee.”

“Alice! You are being rude.” Marta pointed a wooden spoon at her. “Samuel is a customer and you are a waitress. Angeline is a cook and does not serve customers. You do.”

“I don’t want to. He looks at me with those black eyes and it’s creepy.” Alice shuddered.

Angeline wanted to slap her.

“He is not creepy.”

Alice rolled her eyes. “Then you bring him his breakfast. I’ve got real customers out there.” She left the kitchen, leaving a wake of negative energy in the whirl of all the positive.

Unfortunately, that was all it took to pull Angeline back into the pit of worry. She had to make a choice very soon before she was so far into a relationship with Sam, she would destroy them both with her lies.

“That Alice, she is young and foolish.” Marta cracked two eggs into the hot frying pan, the sizzling loud in the quiet kitchen. “I think sometimes she should not be serving people when she’s not nice to them.”

“She just doesn’t understand him. People have to be taught to hate.” Angeline knew that firsthand.

Marta’s gaze snapped to hers. “You are right, child. People do have to be taught to hate.”

Angeline didn’t respond because she didn’t know how. Instead, she got a plate and started putting together Sam’s breakfast. This, at least, she could do for him.

It was late, likely near midnight. Angeline couldn’t sleep and the book she was reading was making her cross-eyed. Karen generously lent her books whenever Angeline asked.
She’d been fortunate enough that her late husband had left her quite a collection.

Angeline had missed supper and her stomach kept rumbling. With too many things on her mind, and an empty belly, she headed downstairs to get something to eat.

With only a candle to light her way, she tiptoed through the quiet restaurant and into the kitchen. She knew there’d be some leftover bread and honey to quiet her growling stomach. As she pulled the jar of honey from the pantry shelf, she heard a shuffling sound in the restaurant.

Angeline’s instincts roared to life and she set the jar down without a sound, then blew out the candle. She didn’t know whether or not to be afraid, but she did know to be careful.

She closed her eyes and listened, waiting for another noise. Within seconds, she heard it again, only this time it was louder. Angeline crept to the kitchen door with her heart in her throat and opened it just a crack. As she peered out into the restaurant, she strained to see whatever it was that was making the noises.

Whatever or whoever it was, they were farther away than she’d thought. Likely on the stairs or in the hallway leading to the storage room at the front of the building.

Angeline was trapped. She would either have to hide in the kitchen until whoever it was went away or find out who was creeping around at midnight, so she could eat and go to bed.

The old Angeline might have hidden, but the new and improved version wasn’t about to. Marta and Pieter had become family to her and she wouldn’t let anyone threaten them or their livelihood. She looked around the kitchen and spotted the rolling pin made of marble. It was solid enough to cause damage without being too heavy for her to carry.

As she left the kitchen on bare feet, the rolling pin was firmly held in her hand. She walked slowly toward the sound of the shuffling, her curiosity peaking the closer she got. Then she heard it.

A moan.

Angeline stopped, completely flummoxed. She couldn’t decide if it was a moan of pleasure or pain. If the former, then she needed to go back upstairs immediately. If the latter, then she needed to wield her rolling pin.

She stepped closer still and peeked around the corner. Near the door to the storage room beneath the stairs, she saw two shadowy figures lit only by the dim moonlight coming in from the front door behind her.

Angeline squinted, but could only see that one was shorter than the other. She was about to give up trying to figure out if someone was in trouble when she heard what was distinctly a slap.

She tightened her grip on the rolling pin and stepped into the hallway. Her stance was wide and her protective instincts screaming.

“Let her go.”

The two figures stopped moving and turned toward her.

“You heard me. Let her go. Now.”

“Angeline, please help me.” Alice’s voice was full of panic.

“Who the fuck are you?” The man’s voice was rough, gravelly, as if he’d eaten a mouthful of pebbles.

Angeline got goose bumps just hearing it, but she couldn’t back down. “I’ll split your skull open if you don’t let her go and leave here right now.”

“She’s a cock teaser is what she is.” The taller shadow pushed the short one toward the floor and Alice landed with a thump and a cry of pain.

“And you’re an abusive bully. Don’t make me tell you again. Get out.” Angeline slapped the rolling pin on her hand, the smack loud in the quiet hallway.

“What are you going to do?”

“I told you. I’ll split your skull open, then tell the sheriff you broke in and tried to attack Alice. Everyone will believe
the angel.” For once, she was using her “angelic” demeanor to her advantage.

The man scoffed. “You don’t sound angelic to me.”

Angeline smiled. “You have no idea who I am or what I’m capable of. Don’t doubt me when I tell you I will do everything I can to protect Alice.” She slapped the rolling pin again.

“Didn’t want no cock teaser anyway. I just wanted a good fuck.” He walked toward her and Angeline backed up to her left, letting the man know she was still there, still armed.

“You can find that at the saloon, I believe. Miss Daisy and her girls are there for a good fuck.” Angeline heard Alice gasp and ignored her. It felt good to use naughty words and feel the power of them as she shocked herself and her audience.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Nobody you want to tangle with. Now get out.” She watched him slink toward the door, her eyes straining in the dark to see just where he was.

It was a good thing she was alert because he moved so suddenly she had only seconds to react. The man lunged at her and she brought the rolling pin down on his head. The crack resounded through the air and she stumbled backward from the force of the impact. The man dropped to the floor with a thud and lay still.

Angeline was breathing so hard she was getting lightheaded. Alice appeared beside her, staring up with wide brown eyes.

“Angeline, I think you killed him.”

“If I did, then he had it coming. That man was hurting you and he tried to hurt me.” Normally Angeline would have run for help, but she was determined to finish this situation on her own. “Now let’s check on your errant beau.”

“He’s not my beau. He’s just a man I met yesterday who was nice to me. One of the cowboys passing through town
who was handsome.” Alice’s voice cracked. “Why do I always let myself be wooed by a pair of pretty eyes?”

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself and help me.” Angeline rolled the man over and checked to be sure he was breathing. At least she hadn’t killed him. “Go get the lantern from the kitchen and a tablecloth.”

Alice ran to the kitchen and reappeared seconds later with a tablecloth clutched in one hand and the unlit lantern in the other. Angeline sighed and took the lantern from her.

“Now go get a match to light it.”

Alice pulled one from her pocket and Angeline smiled at her. It was the first time the two of them had connected and, strangely enough, it was over the prone body of an unsuitable suitor.

Angeline lit the lantern, then adjusted the wick so they could see better. The cowboy was handsome, with sandy blond hair and a strong jaw. He was also huge. No wonder Alice couldn’t fight him off. Angeline swallowed the lump in her throat at the possibility of what the man would have done to Alice if she hadn’t conked him on the head.

She laid out the tablecloth beside the man on the floor. “Now let’s roll him onto it.”

The two of them managed to get him onto the tablecloth with a lot of effort. Angeline was panting and sweating by the time she was done. She glanced down and realized she was only wearing her nightrail.

“I’m going to get my coat; then we’re going to drag him outside.”

Alice’s eyes widened. “We’re going to do what?”

“You heard me. We’re going to drag him into the mud where he belongs. Then we’ll wake up the sheriff.” Angeline wanted the cowboy to know exactly who had bested him and whom not to bother again.

By the time she got downstairs, Alice had slid the man all the way to the front door on her own. Angeline gaped at her.

“You’re stronger than you look.”

“So are you. Now let’s get this man out of here before I get too scared to help.” Alice, despite her brave words, was trembling beside Angeline.

Within minutes they’d dragged the man out onto the porch, down the stairs—although he’d moaned as each step made his head bounce—and into the street.

Angeline wiped her brow on her coat sleeve. “Now we need Sheriff Booth and some rope.”

“I’ll get the sheriff.” Alice took off running down the street, her petticoats flying around her in the darkness like a flag.

Angeline went back inside to the kitchen and found twine. She cut off a length and hurried back outside. By the time Alice came back with the sheriff, the man was tied up like a turkey and snoring like a saw.

“Miss Angeline, what’s going on?” Sheriff Booth was a good man, one she trusted.

“This man was attacking Alice, so I hit him on the head with a rolling pin. We dragged him out here and tied him up for you.” Angeline rose, the stress of the night’s activities making exhaustion wind its way around her. “He’s a big man so I’d suggest a horse or wagon to transport him to jail.”

“Well, then, that’s a right fine idea,” the sheriff said. Ange-line realized that over the course of the last eight months, she’d made friends in Forestville. It made her feel proud to be a part of the town.

“I’ll go get the wagon and one of the deputies to help me.” He turned to Alice, who was standing there hugging herself. “You all right, Miss Alice?”

“I am now thanks to Angeline.” Her voice, normally snide and sometimes spiteful, was soft and defeated.

“Why don’t you girls go on inside and lock up. I’ll take care of this fella for you.”

Angeline took Alice’s arm and led her up the steps, locking
the door behind them. Her hunger forgotten, she walked up the stairs with the older girl still at her side. When they reached the three identical bedrooms where Angeline, Lettie, and Alice slept, she let go of the girl’s arm.

“Alice, are you all right?”

It took a few moments, but she finally responded. “No, I’m not. I w-was really afraid down there for the first time. I flirt a lot with men and I let them kiss me, sometimes more. I know it’s dangerous, but with my parents gone in the fire, I don’t have anyone else. The men make me feel good, special.”

Angeline’s heart pinched at the idea that this beautiful young woman was lonely enough to look for affection from strangers. “You are special, but sometimes you keep other people away, people who do care about you. If you’d spend time with us, perhaps you wouldn’t need to feel good with these men.”