Chapter Seventeen
NORAH FETCHED BABYCaleb from his cradle upstairs while Stuart pieced wood together to temporarily fix the door. Caleb only fussed a little, and she held him close and whispered words of comfort in his ear.
“That should do,” Stuart said, stepping back from the door. He set the hammer down and tested the door. “Are you ready?”
Norah nodded. Tucking Caleb against her, she followed Stuart outside. He kept close to her, and neither of them spoke on the way to the Joliets’ home. Norah had never felt so fearful walking along the street in her own little town, but now it seemed as if Mr. Maddox or any number of his friends could leap out from a doorway or be waiting just around a corner.
Her shoulders sunk with relief when she stepped inside the home Stuart shared with his parents. Mr. Joliet, thankfully, had just arrived home. While Stuart quickly explained the situation, Norah handed the baby to Mrs. Joliet.
“You ought to go somewhere safer,” Stuart urged. “To a neighbor’s, perhaps.”
“Absolutely not,” Mr. Joliet said in a way that made him sound exactly like Stuart. “I’ll keep a pistol nearby and lock the doors, but we aren’t leaving our home.”
Stuart didn’t attempt to dissuade him. “I need to warn Norah’s parents and her brother.”
“You’ll wait here with us, dear,” Mrs. Joliet said, reaching out to clasp Norah’s hand. Norah couldn’t help but admire her. Her fear was evident in her eyes, but she stood strong and determined, not conveying an ounce of worry in her mannerisms.
Norah nodded, and with a quick squeeze of her hand, Stuart was gone. Mr. and Mrs. Joliet exchanged a look but said nothing. They sat in the parlor, Mr. Joliet attempting to read, and his wife fussing over the baby, while Norah could concentrate on nothing except her own worries. She prayed for Stuart’s and her family’s safety, for Jeremy, for Nate and Ruthann, over and over until the words ran together in her head. And then she thought on Jeremy’s last words to them before they’d closed the door to the darkroom.
There had been nothing for Maddox and his men to steal. Jeremy had made it up. But why?
Outside, the sun had begun to set, and just as she thought she’d burst if she had to wait a moment longer, Stuart returned.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Mrs. Joliet had laid Caleb down to sleep a while ago, and now she embraced her son as if she’d never let him go again. It took every bit of strength Norah had not to go rushing to Stuart and throwing her own arms around him.
“I haven’t seen to Ruthann and Nate yet,” Stuart said when she finally let him go. “I’ll bring her back here.”
“I’m going with you.” Norah was already reaching for her wrap.
Stuart shook his head. “I want you to stay here,” he said at the same time Mrs. Joliet insisted the same thing.
“No!” Norah said a little more forcefully than she’d intended. Securing the wrap over her shoulders, she took a deep breath and added, “I can’t sit here doing nothing. Besides, if something were to happen . . . I could go for help.”
Stuart glanced at the door. Time was ticking by—and Stuart wasn’t about to waste precious moments arguing with her.
“I can help,” she added.
He caught her eyes, and she held his gaze. Finally, he nodded. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.” Mr. Joliet took one of his pistols and handed it to Stuart. “I’ve got the shotgun here.”
Norah felt a hand on her arm. When she turned, she found Mrs. Joliet holding out the second pistol. “Don’t hesitate if anyone tries to hurt you,” she said.
Norah nodded and slid the weapon into her dress pocket. She didn’t have the slightest idea how to use it, but perhaps its simple presence would be enough.
“Come back here as soon as you can with Ruthann,” Mrs. Joliet said as they left, her hand lingering on Stuart’s arm.”
“We will. I promise,” Stuart replied.
He took up her arm, just as he would if they were taking a relaxing evening stroll, but there was nothing leisurely about this walk.
“While you were gone,” Norah said through short breaths as they walked quickly down the road. “I thought about why Jeremy would have lied to Mr. Maddox about a valuable shipment on that train. He must have known Mr. Maddox would want to steal it. But why go through all that trouble?”
“They must have done it before. Maddox and his men. And they were planning to do it again,” Stuart added as he looked back and forth across the street and then behind them. “It’s the only reason I can figure for him to do that.”
“He wanted to prevent an actual robbery from happening at the depot. So he fed them false information and pretended to go along with them.” Norah’s mind spun with the new information. Her breath caught. “That means he was never a friend of Maddox’s. All those nights he spent at one saloon or another . . . all the money he lost gambling . . .”
