Page 50 of An Uncertain Road

Leaning back in his chair, Sam sighed. “Every day, Archie convinced me to do more and more questionable things. First, it was cutting through properties. That didn’t seem so bad. It saved us a lot of time and didn’t hurt anyone. Before he started causing damage, at least. Then I learned he was paying locals to cause problems, like cleaning up the confetti markers and blocking the road with wagons. He was so determined to prove himself to Mr. Dorman and beat Jensen that he would have done anything to stay ahead.”

Flora leaned forward, silently encouraging him to continue.

Sam hung his head. “I knew he had a plan to get back at Jensen for what he faced after Gregory died. I didn’t know what he intended to do until I overheard Archie insisting that Jensen had to stop your team from winning. I was under the car checking the brakes, and they didn’t know I heard it all. I didn’t believe Jensen would go through with it, but then you had a string of bad runs and there was that day you had to stop and make repairs before the check-in. So much went wrong that I had to wonder.”

Flora’s head ached from trying to sort out the truth. Had Jensen contrived the situations that kept them from moving up in the tour? Had he somehow caused the loose line that made the Decauville run so badly that day? But if so, why did he repair the car before they reached the check-in?

No matter the reasons, they still lost so many spots in those first days on the tour that it could have been more than bad luck. Her concern was whether Jensen agreed to Mr. Franklin’s plan in the first place. It didn’t matter if he changed his mind in time.

Or did it? He’d encouraged her so much since the night she’d revealed her past at the Mount Washington Hotel. Since their first kiss. Had he been trying to assuage his guilt over causing them to fall behind? Her stomach churned with that thought. Everything he’d done and said since the midpoint of the race could have been the result of guilt. Had he felt it even when he kissed her? When he held her hand or put his arm around her?

Flora’s lungs didn’t seem capable of moving enough air, and her eyes swam. Sam was watching her with red eyes and slumped shoulders. “I’m sorry, Flora. I’m so sorry I let it get out of control.”

Forcing aside her own pain, she grabbed Sam’s hand to get his attention. “No, you have nothing to apologize for. Jensen and Mr. Franklin made these choices. You and I could have done a few things differently, but their mistakes caused this mess. Their rivalry would have ended in tragedy one way or another.”

Sam’s mood seemed to lighten as her words sank into his heart. She managed to put a smile on her face as she stood. “We’ll see you back in Philadelphia, Sam. Take good care of Mr. Franklin for us. We’ll clear the air once everyone is settled at home. But don’t let your feelings lie to you about being at fault any longer.”

With a final squeeze of his hand to let him know he wasn’t alone in his pain, Flora bid Sam good night and went to find the others. He was right. The Harrison Goods team needed to finish the race they’d started. Whether they could win or not, Flora had to stop letting choices made by selfish men impact her life. She’d let Clement control her for too many years. Even Henri had forced his preferences on her too often. It was time to prove she could stand on her own.

Through the night, her confidence wavered. But when morning light dawned on the last day of the tour, Flora was ready. She would run the best leg she could and finish with pride. She was in the Decauville before any of her companions emerged from their rooms. The extra time alone was well spent in prayer, sending up supplications for Mr. Franklin and Sam as well as for the other teams to remain safe. And she may have thrown in a request or two for herself, for her bruised heart to heal from whatever Jensen had done when she finally sorted out the truth.

Flora leaned forward and rested her head on the steering wheel, letting the sounds of the city stirring for the day accompany her pain. Sam’s words had torn a hole in her heart yesterday, but the moment she realized all Jensen’s affection and support might have been out of guilt was enough to bring her to her knees.

And now she faced an entire day by his side.

She would need all the fortification she could get, and God was the only one she had left to lean on. In a moment when everyone else was failing her, His faithfulness stood out in stark contrast. So she continued in prayer, repeating the same desperate pleas for strength until the others joined her and engines started roaring to life.

* * *

As they started the final day of the tour, there was a calmness about Flora that was impossible to miss. A good thing, for after visiting Archie at the hospital, Jensen had come away feeling the complete opposite. But if someone had to suffer, let it be him, not Flora, who had already been through so much.

He regretted that he hadn’t taken the chance last night—while they’d both been there with Archie—to clear the air on Sam’s claim that Jensen sabotaged the team. Flora didn’t seem inclined to believe him, so maybe Archie could have told her the truth in a way that would have convinced her Jensen didn’t go through with anything.

But Jensen hadn’t felt right about bringing it up when Archie was suffering such a great loss. Jensen kept remembering the other man’s anguished face when he had to explain that his legs were gone. He would like to think he’d handle a tragedy of such magnitude with enough strength and confidence that he would emerge a better man. But it was much more likely he would have been devastated, broken, and unable to adjust to a new life. And that realization hurt as much as anything he’d experienced so far.

Jensen had always considered himself capable in his own right, strong enough to handle whatever was thrown at him. He’d lost his parents at a young age, lost his best friend in an accident of his own making, and lost all direction in his life. But still, he’d managed to get by. Maybe he hadn’t led the most successful life, but he’d survived it all.

For the last few days, since he rediscovered his faith at Bretton Woods, he’d thought he was relying on God. He was making a point to live by the standards he’d been taught in church as a child. But it had become very clear as he stood by Archie’s side that if he was the one in that bed, he would be trying to rely on his own strength to recover. Everything he’d done in his life had revolved around self-preservation. He’d doubted that he could trust God with his life. And where had that gotten him?

He’d been living with no purpose, no hope that the future would be better than his past, no comfort of knowing he wasn’t alone. And that wasn’t a joyful, fulfilling existence for anyone. The parallels between his life and Archie’s were too great to ignore. He knew without a doubt that if he hadn’t had Mr. Harrison and Gregory in his life, he would have ended up the same bitter, angry, vengeful man that Archie had been. He very well might have ended up in a hospital bed like Archie too. But he’d never stopped to recognize God’s hand in his life, the blessing that the Harrison family was. He’d only assumed they would toss him aside at the first hint that he wasn’t perfect, that he made mistakes.

He’d planned on explaining his past actions to the Harrisons upon their return to Philadelphia, but only out of fear that Archie would do it first. Now, he wanted to tell them. He wanted the air cleared and the past open to talk about and learn from. He was ready to move forward, not remain stuck in his mistakes.

But there was one thing he wasn’t so confident he knew what to do about.

As he climbed into the car next to Flora, his heart sank when she refused to even glance his way. She greeted Fred and Beth, asking how Beth was feeling, but then she kept her eyes trained on the many cars in front of them.

Still, Jensen had to try. “Flora, can we talk before we leave?”

Without looking over, she shook her head. “I’d like to focus on the drive, please. Of course, there’s no reason to push ourselves today, but I’d like to get us back to New York without any more tragedies occurring.”

Pushing her probably wouldn’t help the situation, so he leaned back against the plush seat and pulled out the now-worn route map. If they couldn’t make things right before the finish line, at least they could have a good run for the final leg. It might be the last time Jensen ever got to sit in a car with Flora.

And that bleak thought refused to leave him in peace.

As the Decauville heaved into motion at the end of the line of cars, the truth of that reality hit him hard in the gut. He’d been assuming that if he could say the right things to Flora, she’d see that he hadn’t done what Sam claimed. But there was no proof to back him up. If she chose to believe Sam, and Sam chose to believe Archie, what could Jensen say that would change either of their minds?

Had he lost Flora before he even had a chance to make her part of his life?