Kit edged into the alleyway, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. He hurried to the side door and whipped inside. The storeroom appeared ransacked. Trunks, boxes, and crates were upended from one side of the small room to the other. He stepped over the mess and made his way to the draped doorway. The store’s interior could only be described as absolute chaos. There must have been over fifty people sardined into the place, and everything from stockings to bags of coffee beans flew through the air like goose feathers on plucking day.
A small, harried, bald man plowed through the doorway, stopping to catch a panicked breath. He jumped when he saw Kit, but recognition lit his face almost immediately. “Whew. Kit, you startled me! What’re you doing back here? As you can see, there’s not much left.”
“I’m sorry, Charles, I just need some information. Have any of the Fredriksen bunch been in here? They were burned out and I can’t locate them. I heard Hallie, the oldest, was hurt.”
“They were here earlier, bought a few things, and I’ve a larger order to fill and deliver as soon as I can. Miss Fredriksen looked all right to me, considering the circumstances. They looked like everyone else. Half-dressed and a little scorched, but not hurt badly.”
“Where are they?”
“On their father’s ship, theSea Haven. I’m to have the goods delivered to the east end of the Broadway Wharf.”
TheSea Haven. Of course! “Thanks, Charles. By the way, I’ll be handling everything for them now. You heard Jan was killed on the last voyage?”
“No, I hadn’t heard. Too bad, though, he was a good man.” Charles Oatt pushed away from the doorjamb and shook his head. “That’s quite a brood. I don’t envy you.” He cringed when the clatter from the other room rose a full octave higher. Eyeing the doorway with a look that was part fearful and part annoyed, he added, “Well, I’ve got to get back in there. Do you need anything?”
Kit shook his head. “No.”
“Good. I doubt I’d know where to look.” He walked to the side door and opened it. “I need to bolt this after you. God forbid if some of that hoard were to come through here, too. They’d demolish the place.”
Kit moved down the alley and onto the street, his worries relieved after talking to the store owner. Hallie and the children were alive, and contrary to what he’d heard, she was unharmed. Now that he thought about it, he really should have guessed their whereabouts. It made perfect sense for them to go to the ship. TheSea Havenwas familiar and should be relatively safe. By now the crew would have signed on elsewhere. They’d understood Kit’s plans, and experienced, able-bodied seamen had no trouble securing a place on another ship. Gold fever still lured sailors from their ships, and finding replacements for them was a burden that plagued most sea captains.
Locating Hallie on the ship would be so much easier than combing the streets, as he had been. Yes, it was a smart thing to do. Hallie had really used her head.
“Here, let me try,”Dagny said, pushing Hallie’s frustrated hands away. She wedged her fingers under the little, black satin shoulder ribbons and tried to pull upward. Nothing happened. Well, something did happen. The burgeoning swells of Hallie’s large breasts wiggled in the dress bodice like a jellyfish atop the sea.
“Oh drat!” Hallie looked down at the dress, the scarlet silk and black beaded lace gawked right back. “How am I supposed to wear this in public?”
“Just don’t speak French, and you’ll be fine,” Dagny said.
But Hallie just stood there, forced into a low-cut and gaudy dress. She was just mentally translating a scathing French comeback when Liv ran through the cabin doorway.
“Why shouldn’t she speak French?” Liv asked.
The two older sisters eyed each other, both seeking some fabricated answer because they knew they couldn’t explain to Liv that in San Francisco being French and being a prostitute were synonymous.
“Never mind!” Hallie and Dagny responded simultaneously.
“Hmmp! I thought so. Whenever I hear anything really good, you two tell me to never mind. How am I ever supposed to learn anything if you won’t tell me?” Liv plopped her impudent little bottom on a bunk. “Next time Reverend Treadwell asks me what I’ve learned, I’m going to tell him nothing, and that it’s all your fault. You’re stippling me!”
Hallie frowned. “Stipple?”
“I think she means stifle,” Dagny clarified.
“Oh. Well, young lady,” Hallie looked at Liv with a nonchalance she was far from feeling, “since the school burned down, you won’t have to worry for a week or so. Agnes said it will take that long before the reverend can start classes again. So you needn’t concern yourself with all that learning. And I would hate to think either Duggie or I were ‘stifling’ you. If you’re really afraid of falling behind, I could make sure you learn. I would teach you myself, all day, every day, in this cabin...”
Liv’s open mouth clamped shut. After a few pregnant seconds, she rested her elbow on her swinging, gangly legs and watched her sisters fiddle with the low-cut dress.
In the mirror above her father’s ship sink, Hallie caught Dagny’s reflection. Hallie was envious. Dagny wore a lovely, pale blue dress with deeper blue stripes which seemed to accentuate her petite and delicate form. When they had left the volunteer station that morning, Hallie herded them straight to Oatt’s to get clothing and supplies. For Hallie, the available clothing was limited.
There must have been thirty dresses that would fit petite Dagny, but there were only three pieces that would accommodate Hallie’s bust, and only two of the three were dresses. One dress was made for someone under five feet. Hallie could have worn her mother’s ruffled pantalets with it, and she would have looked like a shepherdess guiding her little lambs. The red thing she had on was the other dress, and while it covered her long legs, it didn’t cover much of her chest, and the color was blinding.
“Hallie?”
“What, Liv?”
“I think you’ve got your dress on backwards.”
Hallie dropped the dress bodice. That did it. She fumbled at the dress hooks and in a frustrated voice asked, “Would you two please go check on the boys and dig up something in the galley for supper?”
