“Ow. Wait,” Cora cried and gasped.
“I need help.” Ed knelt by her side. “I’ll be right back. Ghost can help lift this off you.”
“Don’t leave me. If I’m going to die, I want to see your face when I do.”
“You’re not going to die. Do you hear me?” Ed kissed her lips, not caring about a cut at the corner of her mouth, only the message he wanted to send her that he’d never abandon her, no matter what.
He didn’t want to leave, but it would be the only way to save her. “Hold on, my love. Don’t you dare leave me alone.” He choked on his last words, but now wasn’t the time for crippling fear. Life was too short to waste any more time worrying about things he couldn’t control. As long as there was breath in his lungs, he wouldn’t let Cora die.
As if theUnion troops had returned to fire hell at Cora’s world, she lay in a heap of rubble, gasping for air. She heaved, trying to breathe despite the pressure on her chest. She waited for Ed to return, slipping in and out of consciousness. If she died here and now, she was thankful she’d found real love. A love that wasn’t a purpose but a blessing beyond explanation.
If she ever got out of this, she would never let Mr. Grous scare her again. She’d stand up to the man no matter what he threw at her. If she’d survived the Civil War, she could survive one man.
“Cora.” Ed’s cries reached her ears, and she knew it wouldn’t be long before she would feel his arms around her again. He had a plan to save her and surely a plan to save himself.
Ghost scooted around to her other side, and Ed grabbed hold. “If you can move when we lift, slide out.”
She nodded, unable to speak beyond a whisper.
Both men tugged and pulled and groaned and grunted, but it didn’t move enough for her to escape.
“Leverage. Like a machine. We need to find something.” Ed scurried around the room, stirring up more dust. The moans of the building sang louder.
“Go. Get out. No more time,” Cora managed to wheeze out. She didn’t want Ed to watch another person die, knowing it would close his heart off to the world for the rest of his days.
“Stop talking. It won’t happen.” Ed returned with a long metal shard and stuck it underneath the beam at her side.
“One, two, three,” Ed called out, and both men strained again. This time it budged, and she scooted out as fast as she could before they let go and it smashed to the floor.
Everything in the room shook. Ed whisked her up, Ghost at their side. She tried not to cry out at the pain in her right side. Now wasn’t the time for anything but getting out.
Things began to shift and move and fall. Ghost pushed her through a hole while Ed pulled her out by her left arm.
The room behind them collapsed, sending a puff of dirty smoke after them. They scurried down and over a mattress and between furniture and under beams until light broke through the darkness.
She kicked and scooted and managed to fit through the opening behind Ed, but her dress caught. Ghost reached up and ripped the skirts from her body then shoved her out into the world.
Several people helped her to stand, and Ed kept her close while they made their way to the street.
“I told you she couldn’t die. She’s an angel. Our fire-haired angel.”
Cora wiped the gunk from her eyes and saw her friends from the street.
“They came to help me find you,” Ed said, removing his coat and wrapping it around her.
Mrs. Wilkins scurried up the street. “Hear you were trapped. Word reached Mr. Grous. You need to hide. We buy you time. Captain Wilkins says he’s after you and that he won’t stop until he finds you.”
Ed cuddled Cora into her side. “Let’s get you home where I can keep an eye on you. Scandal or no scandal, you’re not leaving my sight.”
“Wait.” Cora looked to her friends from the streets. “Tell him I’m missing. Don’t tell him I left with Ed. That will buy us time.”
They all nodded. Mrs. Wilkins took off her shawl and wrapped it around Cora’s waist. “We hear things on the streets. He’s not a good man. Captain Wilkins is going to come see you and tell you more. Go for now.”
They hurried off, shuffling past the demolished buildings and cries of the injured. The earthquake had shown no mercy to the rich or the poor, and for one day, they were all equal on the streets of San Francisco.
ChapterTwenty-Two
Ed settledCora into bed and sent for the doctor to check her ribs, but he’d been called away. There had to be so many injuries from the earthquake that Ed wasn’t sure when the doctor would make it to the house. Ed ordered Cora not to move but phrased it as a request. She protested, but he wouldn’t take any chances with her now that he finally had her back. Ghost remained in the house with a watchful eye out the front windows.
