“I needed to go get Pitter-Patter.He was in my dressing room.”
“That damn kitten,” Mrs.Langley muttered.She led the way down the alley and around the building.
The smoke was thick as they rounded the building, but Matthew could not see any more flames.The fire brigade with their water tank on wheels was in front, men pumping the handles and the hose snaking through the window into the house.He led the ladies over to where Ben still stood across the street.
Lizzie stumbled toward him, her arms outstretched for her son.“Mama!”Robert cried out as Ben passed him over to her.She hugged him tight, her eyes squeezed shut.
Matthew turned on his heel and headed for the club’s front doors.He coughed as the smoke hit his lungs.He covered his nose and mouth with his neckcloth as he entered the foyer.Val and Rob came out of the big gaming room, covered in soot and coughing.He strode over to them.“What’s the status?”
“Boss!”Rob wiped the back of his hand across his forehead.“The flames are out.There is plenty of smoke damage, but thanks to the fire brigade arriving on the scene, we were able to drown the last of the flames.”
“The fire was contained to the big room.Thank fuck for the stone walls these old manses are built from.The bar and most of the furniture are a charred mess.The tables in the back end of the room are salvageable, but the wall coverings all caught fire and burned away,” Val inventoried the damage before bending over in a coughing fit.
“Come on, let’s get you both out of here,” Matthew said.“Who’s left inside?”
“Harry and Frank and Paul, I think,” Rob replied.
“I’ll get them.I need to see the damage for myself.Get outside where you can breathe.”He walked into the gaming room, still holding the cloth over his nose and mouth.The only light was the moonlight streaming through the broken windows.It painted large stripes across the floor.“Come on, boys,” he called out to the remaining men, who were sifting through the charred tables for any signs of fire that might be still smoldering.
Matthew surveyed the damage as best he could, with the room swathed in so much shadow.He walked over to the bar that he and Seaton had built with so much hope and ambition.Its surface was charred, the bottles lined on the shelves behind just shards of broken glass now.His chest ached.Not with anger, but with relief.This room had been destroyed, but the building still stood.Nobody he loved had died tonight.His family was safe, and that’s what he needed to focus on now.
On his way out, he kicked at a piece of wood, maybe a table leg, and underneath, gleaming in a shaft of moonlight, was a pair of dice.Matthew scooped them up and closed his hand around them.He would rebuild.Not just the club, but his life.No more hiding from the past.He could start fresh with Elizabeth and Robert, free to be his authentic self.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Aragtag groupof ten staff that lived at the Blue Angel walked into the Fairmont Hotel at one in the morning.Seaton organized and paid for rooms for everyone.Elizabeth carried her sleeping son, who felt like he weighed one hundred pounds by the time they arrived.Matthew and Ben had both offered to carry him, but she needed to hold on to his sweet warmth.She let it seep into her bones as the events of the night swirled and then settled in her mind.
“We have plenty of rooms ready, Mr.Seaton.”The man at the front desk rang a bell and several other employees arrived from a back room.Stella was guided by Mrs.Langley to go with three of the other dancers to share a room.Elizabeth glanced over at Matthew.He had been worriedly quiet ever since coming out of the Angel earlier.He moved woodenly, putting one foot in front of the other, but his mind seemed to be far away.
Mrs.Todd came over to Elizabeth.“Here now, hand him over.He can sleep with me tonight.”She glanced at Matthew.“You take care of your fella.He looks dead on his feet.”
Elizabeth nodded and, with relief, passed the sleeping Robert to Mrs.Todd.“Thank you.As usual, you are my savior.”
Mrs.Todd cupped her cheek with one hand.“I’m just so grateful you are unharmed.”
Elizabeth nodded again, only able to muster a wobbly smile.Then she turned to Matthew.Slipping her hand in his, she gave a gentle tug.“Come, love.Let’s go to our room.”
He looked down at her.His eyes blinked as though he was trying to focus.“Yes, of course.”
They followed a maid to the second-floor room.The woman stoked a fire for them and left with a polite curtsy.Elizabeth locked the door and then slipped her shoes off her aching feet.She dug her toes into the plush carpet with a long sigh.She glanced over her shoulder at Matthew.“Would you get me out of this dress, please?”
He nodded and crossed to unbutton the back of the apricot dress.She looked down at the dirty, torn skirt and grimaced.“I will need to pay my friend for ruining her beautiful creation.”
“It’s no problem.I will pay her for it.”
Her dress hit the floor in a whoosh of fabric.She turned to face Matthew as she unlaced her short stays.No teasing kisses along her neck, no roaming hands; something was definitely wrong.Perhaps Mrs.Todd was right.He was just exhausted.She took his arm and led him over to a chair on the other side of the room by the fireplace.She stripped his jacket off and then unbuckled the holster that housed his pistol.Giving him a gentle shove, she pushed him to sit.
He ran a hand through his hair.With a tired smile, he looked up at her.
“Your face is covered with soot.”She went over to the washbasin and poured water into it from a nearby pitcher.“What is the status of the building?”She dipped a cloth from the stack next to the basin into the cool water before gently wringing it out.“Matthew?”
When she returned to him, she gently wiped his face off.She gripped his chin.What was really at the crux of his feelings?She tried again with a different question.“How do you feel now that he is gone?”
With a shake of his head, his gaze focused on her.He leaned forward and rested his forehead on her stomach.His hands rested on her hips.A full minute passed before he began to speak.“Jonas has always been a specter, floating in the back of my existence, something to be feared.And then, tonight, at your grandmother’s house, I looked at him and realized I wasn’t afraid of him any longer.That there was no reason to hide.”
He raised his head.“I shouldn’t have provoked him like that.But when he tried to touch you… You’ve seen just how rotten my family tree is.I wouldn’t blame you if you wish to run away, screaming.”He gripped her tight.“But I won’t let you go.”His gaze filled with yearning.“Obsession must run in my family because I need you like I need to breathe air.I cannot fathom life without you.”
Elizabeth climbed onto his lap to straddle his thighs.She cupped his face, sinking her fingers into his beard.“Matthew, I am not going anywhere.Don’t you see how much I want all that you promised me?I fell in love with you so easily.That was part of why I was so scared to admit it, to risk my heart again.The first time I fell in love, it was a whirlwind, a fairy tale without the happy ending.But I have become a different person than I would have been if Robert hadn’t been killed.I am stronger.I am passionate about helping people.I am proud of my paper, and that I can support myself and my son.”
