With a groan, he pulled back and sighed.
I laced my fingers through his, loving how it felt to share this special bond with him.
We blew out the lantern and sat for over an hour in the kitchen. When we grew tired of sitting there, we went into the dining room to look out at Portsmouth Square from the other windows. Sam stood behind me, his arms wrapped around my waist, as we watched andwaited. It was active as always, but no one seemed to be focused on the hotel.
I yawned, exhausted from all the hard work we’d done the past two days, and leaned my head back on Sam’s chest.
“You can go to bed,” he said. “I can keep watch.”
“I don’t want to go to sleep.” I sighed. “And now that I’m not a time-crosser anymore, insomnia might keep me awake anyway.”
The hours ticked by as we paced around the main floor of the hotel.
Sometime around three in the morning, a noise from the back of the building brought our heads up.
“Is that Paddy?” I asked, since I hadn’t seen him all night.
“I don’t know. Wait here.”
I didn’t want to wait without him or have him go on his own, but I also didn’t want to get in his way.
He left the dining room and walked into the kitchen, leaving the door open.
I held my breath as glass shattered and a torch landed on the kitchen floor.
“Please, God,” I breathed. “Please intervene.”
Sam grabbed the torch before it could set anything on fire and opened the back door.
I moved closer to the kitchen and saw the wind whipping the torchlight as Sam held it up to see into the yard, his hand on the pistol at his side.
“I warned you,” Jim shouted as he came into the circle of light, his bowie knife in hand, reflecting the fire. “You didn’t learn last time, so I’m here to make sure you get it through your thick skull. Leave my women alone.”
I screamed as Jim lunged at Sam, but Sam was able to sidestep.
“This won’t solve anything,” Sam said to Jim, anger radiating off him. “You beat Lulu to within an inch of her life. No one should be treated that way.”
“It’s none of your concern,” Jim said as he circled Sam. “You won’t live to interfere again.”
He barreled toward Sam, though Sam anticipated the attack and deflected the knife with the torch. It flew out of Jim’s hand. With a growl, Jim charged, and Sam swung the torch again, knocking Jim to the ground.
Several dark figures emerged out of the corners of the yard, and my heart hammered with fear. “Sam! There’s more of them!”
Sam didn’t seem to hear me as Jim swiped Sam off his feet with his legs. The torch flew out of Sam’s hand and landed in Paddy’s pile of kindling. As the two men wrestled on the dusty ground, fire began to spread through the wood.
Terror gripped my heart as I looked around the kitchen for a weapon. History couldn’t play out as it said inThe Annals of San Francisco. I wouldn’t go down without a fight. Not only did I want to save my husband’s life, but there was no more money to rebuild the hotel. Father, Hazel, and Johnnie needed us.
I’d never been more afraid or more certain that I was doing the right thing as I grabbed a knife and started for the yard.
Despair overwhelmed me when I saw that there were more men. Their silhouettes were dark against the night sky as the fire licked up the woodpile.
I cried out in frustration and anger as I ran toward the first one, but he put up his hand to stop me just in time.
It was Paddy.
He grabbed Jim’s knife and the torch as several other men came into the firelight. Some were customers from Bess’s Place, and others were businessmen from Portsmouth Square. One of them held a rope while others had knives or guns, and many of them worked to stomp out the flames.
Sam was breathing hard, but he managed to overpower Jim with the aided distraction of the other men and pinned him to the earth. “Tie him up!” he yelled.
