He couldn’t help but smile. What would his mother think, knowing he’d earned his way around Cape Horn working in the galley? And now this woman was offering him the opportunity to earn his keep by working in a kitchen as well. Work, he’d realized, that could be even more grueling than his time in the fields.
She glanced briefly up at him. “You’ve probably never even been inside a kitchen, have you?”
“Actually, Isaac and I are both well acquainted with kitchen work.”
Her eyebrows slid up. “You want me to hire him too?”
“We work as a team,” he replied. “And it will keep him out of trouble.”
She considered his proposition. “I suppose I have enough work for both of you, but I won’t pay you for Isaac’s work.”
“That’s hardly fair—”
“I will keep seventy-five percent of both your earnings for room and board, and I will pay Isaac the additional twenty-five percent directly for his work.” She paused, looking up at him again. “If he wants to buy his freedom with the money, he shall.”
The gold in her eyes gleamed in the light, and for a moment, he thought he might have seen those eyes before. In Massachusetts, perhaps? Or was it back in Virginia, when he was a boy?
Miss Labrie refocused on her teacup. Even though she talked confidently to him, she didn’t like to meet his gaze.
He cleared his throat. “Isaac’s well-being is my business.”
“If I hire you, he becomes my business too.”
Silence draped between them for several moments, and then he finally agreed to her terms. “We will work for you until Judah returns.”
“You may need a position after he returns as well.”
“I suppose I’ll determine that later this summer.”
She glanced up at the clock on the wall. It read nine o’clock. “I need you to go to San Francisco this afternoon.”
“Will Isaac come with me?”
She shook her head. “I’ll need his help here.”
“I’ll rely on you to treat him right.”
She stood up. “I treat all my employees well.”
Chapter 28
Sacramento City
July 1854
The sun in California was just as heinous as it had been in Panama. Victor sold his coat to a man traveling to New York, but he’d kept the hat. Anything to keep the blasted afternoon rays off his head.
He was close now to finding Isaac; he could feel it in his bones. Soon he would retrieve the boy, and then they would return to Virginia. Triumphant.
He couldn’t wait to see Eliza’s face. He’d have to sketch the image of his wife, her eyes bloated with shock.
Or perhaps he would try his luck at the diggings here first. He’d learned plenty from Levi and others on the ship. Isaac could squeeze into places that no grown man could. He could make them rich.
Then he would return to Virginia even wealthier than John Payne. He wouldn’t even need Eliza anymore. Or men like Levi, who tried to cheat him.
He’d purchased a vial of opium along with a bottle of brandy for his acquaintance back in Panama City. Then he’d gained passage for himself through the Golden Gate.
After San Francisco, he’d taken a paddle wheeler up the winding Sacramento River until he arrived in this city that stunk of soot and saltpeter, but as he moved away from the wharf, the walk through the city began to energize him, the knowing his search was about to end. He carried the letter from Mr.Fallow that was addressed to Alden, stopping several workers in town to show the address. He finally found the law office a miserable twelve blocks away.
