“I don’t know. I’ll find out.”
He and Paddy left the kitchen as I stared at the shattered window, realizing how much worse things could have been tonight if we hadn’t been on guard. The torches that the men held outside gave me just enough light to see all the glass on the floor.
I bent down and began to pick up the largest shards to put into the trash bin, but it would be impossible to finish the job tonight.
After a few minutes, Sam stepped back into the kitchen and closed the door. “They’ve decided to hang them.”
My lips parted as I straightened. “Without a trial?”
“There’s no judge and no law to stop them. Jim and the others will be dead within the hour, and Paddy is going to watch.”
I shuddered to think about it.
“Jim isn’t just being hanged for attempted arson,” Sam continued. “He’s guilty of a number of things, including theft, prostitution, murder, and more.” He glanced toward the yard, where the men were just moving away. “I don’t know if this is how history was supposed to play out, but things will be a lot less dangerous around here now.”
“I don’t know anything about Jim and how he affected San Francisco history.”
“We’ll pray that the threat has passed.” Sam offered me his hand. “Let’s leave the glass to deal with in the morning, when we have better light.”
I nodded, joining my prayers with his that nothing else would put us in danger—now or in the future.
I still wasn’t certain what had happened, but I had a feeling that history had changed. I just didn’t know how.
28
November 4, 1849
San Francisco, California
I woke up in our large bed the next morning, a little disoriented as to how I got there. Blinking several times, my eyesight came into focus, and I saw Sam standing at the window, looking down at Portsmouth Square.
The sky was filled with morning light, and we had a beautiful view of San Francisco Bay, with the dozens of ships anchored in the water if we looked past the hill with all the ramshackle buildings in between.
“Good morning.” I sat up and yawned, stretching my arms above my head. “How did I get in bed?”
“You fell asleep on my shoulder an hour ago in the dining room, so I brought you up to bed.” He moved away from the window and sat next to me. “I had hoped you’d sleep a little longer.”
“There’s too much to do today if we want to open the hotel.”
“Do you know what day it is?”
Frowning, I nodded. “November 4th.”
“And we’re both still here, Ally.” He took my hand and lifted it to his lips. “We made it.”
I smiled wide. “I still don’t know how. Perhaps the history book was wrong.”
Sam shrugged as he yawned.
“You should try to get some sleep.”
“I can’t. Too much to do.” He smiled at me. “We have a life to build, Ally.”
I returned his smile, allowing him to take me into his arms again, something that would never lose its wonder to me.
We couldn’t stay in our room all day, so we freshened up and then checked on the children, who were peacefully sleeping with the kitten between them, before we went downstairs.
There were still shards of glass on the kitchen floor, so Sam went to work cleaning up while I lit the fire in the stove. The room was cold, but the sun was bright, and it wouldn’t be chilly for long.
