Millie (Pendleton Petticoats Book 7) Page 20

  When he’d learned of the girl who’d been beaten within an inch of her life and left battered in an alley, Gideon had wanted to find the coward who’d done it and give him a taste of his own medicine.

  Instead, he’d rushed to Millie’s apartment, wanting to break the news to her before she discovered it from someone else. There was no doubt in his mind the reason the girl had been attacked was that she was one of the vocal supporters of the temperance union.

  Millie stiffened and pulled her hand from his. “Where did they find her?”

  “Behind Steel’s Saloon.” Gideon had suspicions of who had beaten the girl, but he wouldn’t voice them. Not until he had proof.

  Tears trailed down Millie’s cheeks and she brushed at them. If she’d screamed and sobbed it wouldn’t have left Gideon as troubled as he was by her stoic silence.

  Without saying a word, he lifted her onto his lap and wrapped her in his arms. He rocked back and forth and kissed her temple, letting her cry.

  When she took a big, shuddering breath and leaned back, he handed her his handkerchief. She mopped at her face and nose then turned her watery gaze to his.

  “It has to stop, Gideon. It has to. Women shouldn’t have to cower in fear of being attacked every time they set foot outside their home.”

  “I know, Millie. I know.” Comfortingly, he stroked his hands up and down her back.

  She pulled away and glared at him. “Then why don’t you do something about it. If you’d sign the pledge sheet and close the saloon it would speak volumes to the rest of the businesses in town.”

  “Millie, you’re asking too much of me. I can’t just close down the saloon.”

  “Yes, you can.” She slid off his lap and shook a finger at him. “You most certainly can, you just don’t want to. If it was me who’d been beaten and left in that filthy alley behind Kyle Steel’s deplorable business, would you sit there and glibly say you can’t do anything about the problem of drunkenness running rampant in this town?”

  His jaw clenched and he remained silent.

  She stamped her foot. “Would you?”

  He rose to his feet and sighed. “Millie, you know it’s not the same. It’s not fair of you to even compare the two.”

  “Why? What’s the difference? In the end, the fact would remain that a woman was beaten because a man had too much to drink.”

  “It’s not the same and you know it. If someone touched you, if someone did something to you, I’d…” Gideon rubbed his hand over the back of his neck again. If anyone dared touch Millie, he’d rip them apart with his bare hands like a rampaging cavedweller.

  “Why, Gideon? Why would it be any different?” Defiantly challenging him, her eyes held censure. “Tell me why!”

  Roughly, he grabbed her arms and tugged her to his chest. “Because I love you!” His mouth crushed against hers and all the fight went out of her.

  Millie wrapped her arms around his neck and gave herself over to the kiss, to the feel of Gideon’s arms around her, sheltering and protecting her. She never wanted it to end, never wanted him to leave, never wanted to tell him goodbye.

  Shamed by his admission, he turned her loose and took a step for the door, but she scurried in front of him, blocking his path. “Don’t you dare leave me, Gideon. Don’t you dare!”

  “Millie,” he groaned.

  He pulled her into his arms again, this time with a gentleness that made tears form in her eyes while her heart hammered in her chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on, aware of the kisses he placed on top of her head and the feel of his hands splayed against her back.

  “I love you, too, you stubborn, mule-headed man.” She raised her head and caught the hint of a smile on his lips.

  “You’re one to call someone stubborn, Toots.” His thumb brushed away a salty drop that rolled down her cheek. “I do love you, Millie.”

  “Lacy assured me only a man in love would have labored all those hours to make embroidered cookies.”

  “She would not be wrong.” He grinned and kissed her forehead. “Are you gonna be okay? Do you want me to take you to Grant and Lacy’s place?”

  “I’m fine. Disturbed and unsettled, but I’ll be fine. Once the girls arrive this morning, I’ll go pay a call on Miss Caldwell. Is she at the hospital?”

  “Last I heard. I could take you.”

  Millie shook her head. “No, Gideon. I’ll go alone. I do appreciate you coming to tell me, though. It would have been hard to find out on the telephone or read it in the paper this evening.”

  “I know, Millie.” Gideon seemed anxious as he stood at her door, studying her face. “And just because I love you doesn’t mean anything has changed.”

  “No. Nothing’s changed, Gideon. We both know that.”

  He nodded and stepped outside into the bright morning light and inhaled a deep breath before looking back at her. “If you need anything today, call or send Cully to find me.”

  “Thank you.” She squeezed his hand once then let go, let him go.

  By the time Lacy, Susan, and Fae arrived for work, Millie waited at the door with her hat and gloves. She gave them a brief update of what had occurred then rushed off to the hospital.

  There, she found Nancy Caldwell beaten and bruised. The girl’s eyes were blackened and swollen. The right side of her mouth bore a bruised cut, as though someone had backhanded her.

  “I was late and cut through an alley. It wasn’t even one by a saloon. I was partway down it when I smelled something strange, almost like it was fermented. I started to run and heard footsteps behind me then that man…” Tears rolled down the girl’s cheeks. “Why did this happen, Millie?”

  “I don’t know, Nancy, but we’re going to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else. I promise.” Millie stayed a few minutes longer then returned to the telephone office.

  She sank onto her desk chair with a weary sigh. Lacy removed her headset and walked over to her, settling a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You can’t take the blame for this, Millie. You’ve done everything you can to run the saloons out of town.”

  “I’m not so sure,” Millie said. Since she’d fallen in love with Gideon her efforts had been halfhearted at best.

  “This isn’t about you or your feelings for Gideon and you know it. If it wasn’t for you, there wouldn’t even be a WCTU in town.”

  “Still, I feel like I’ve somehow failed Miss Caldwell.” Millie removed her hat and gloves, setting them on her desk.

  “Don’t think that way, Millie. Focus on the good you’ve done, that we’ve done together. There are almost four hundred signatures on our pledge sheets and that’s worth something.”

  Subdued, Millie nodded her head in agreement. “You’re right.”

  Nearly every member of the WCTU phoned the telephone office once news of Miss Caldwell’s attack got out.

  By mid-afternoon, Millie was thoroughly tired of discussing the situation.

  Weary, she answered an incoming call. “Hello. Pendleton Central.”

  “Miss Matlock? This is Ned from the tailor’s shop. I thought someone better warn you that members of your temperance union just marched past here with axes and baseball bats headed in the direction of Whiskey Row.”

  “Oh, my gracious! Thank you for letting me know.” Millie disconnected the call and jumped to her feet. “Lacy, please call the sheriff’s office and ask them to send someone to Whiskey Row as quickly as they can.”

  “What’s going on?” Lacy asked, plugging in the line and placing the call.

  “A war is about to commence.”

  Millie raced out the door, lifted her skirts, and ran toward the section of town referred to by many as Whiskey Row where saloons, card rooms, and brothels lined two blocks. It made sense if women from the temperance committee were going to vandalize saloons, that they’d choose that area, where they could inflict the most damage.

  As she sped down the street, Millie sent up prayers for strength and help. How had things es
calated so far out of hand? How had their wonderful town come to this — taking sides against each other all because of alcohol?

  Thoughts of alcohol causing a split, forcing her to choose sides, made her stumble under the weight of her memories.

  Catching herself before she fell, she kept on running. By the time she reached the end of the block, she could see Almira Raines and half a dozen women with baseball bats and axes marching up the steps of the Golden Slipper Saloon.

  “Stop!” Millie yelled as she raced along the sidewalk, ignoring the stitch in her side as well as the hair that had fallen out of her pins, tumbling around her shoulders and down her back. “Please, stop!”

  The women turned and watched her approach. Almira smiled in welcome and handed her an axe. “Oh, good. I wasn’t sure anyone let you know what we were doing.”

  “What you’re doing is about to get yourselves thrown in jail and that won’t do a thing to help our cause,” Millie said, wrenching a baseball bat out of Almira’s hand. “Violence is not the way to fix this.”

  “Tell that to the spineless beast who attacked Miss Caldwell.” Almira sneered, trying to wrest the bat away from Millie.

  “I’m begging you to go home. Although your intentions are honorable, your actions will only cause more problems.” Millie stared at each woman. A few nodded in agreement and lowered their weapons. Two stood uncertainly, waiting to see if she or Almira would win.

  Determined not to allow Almira to gain the upper hand, Millie gave the bat a mighty tug, yanking it away from the woman while still holding the axe in her other hand.

  “Please, go home. We’ll meet on Tuesday, like usual, and come up with some civil ideas to address this situation.”

  All the women but Almira nodded in agreement. They turned and quietly marched away from the saloon. Coolly, Almira glared at Millie then stormed off the opposite direction.

  Terrified by what almost happened, Millie leaned heavily on the handle of the axe and noticed Kade Rawlings running her direction.

  With a look of shock on his face, he watched the group of armed women sauntering up the street. Taken aback, he proceeded to where Millie stood, gathering her composure and willing her quaking knees to steady.

  “Millie? What in tarnation is going on?” Kade took in her shaky appearance and led her over to a bench in front of the saloon.

  “Upon hearing of the attack on Miss Caldwell, a few members of the WCTU took it in mind to express their feelings by wielding axes and baseball bats in some of the saloons. Thank goodness someone let me know in time to stop them.”

  Kade rocked back on one hip and stared in astonishment at Millie. “You mean to tell me you ran down here, faced off with a herd of irate armed women, and managed to convince them to go home?”

  “Yes, Kade, that’s what I’m telling you.”

  “Good grief, woman! Wait until the sheriff hears about this. He might deputize you yet.”

  Millie looked up and caught his lighthearted grin. The corners of her mouth lifted in response. “I believe I’ll have to pass because if I’d had to stand there and pretend to know what I was doing one more minute, I think they might have gotten the best of me.”

  “I don’t buy that, Miss Millie. You’re tougher than you think.” Kade helped her stand and took the bat and axe from her, holding them in one hand. He cupped his other around her elbow and started down the street.

  They’d only gone a block when Gideon ran toward them. Skidding to a stop, he grasped Millie’s arms in his hands. “Are you well? I just heard what happened.”

  “She’s quite a gal, Gideon. You better be careful with this one,” Kade said, giving him a teasing smirk before ambling off toward the sheriff’s office with the confiscated weapons.

  Shaken by all that had transpired that day, Millie nodded and turned from Gideon, walking toward the telephone office.

  Concerned, he strolled beside her. “Millie? Are you sure you’re well?”

  Another nod.

  “Millie?” Gideon kept step with her, wanting to take her in his arms. The black waves of her hair flowed around her and down her back to her waist. Her cheeks were bright pink, and her chest heaved with the effort she put into breathing. The faint whiff of her floral fragrance pushed him beyond the edge of reason.

  Nearly back at the telephone office, Gideon circled Millie’s waist with his arm and tugged her down the alley, and around to the back of the building. He led her up the steps to her apartment and glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone spied them. Once he was convinced they were alone, he buried his hands in her hair and pulled her against him.

  “For Pete’s sake, Millie! You scared me half to death. Ned called and said he’d seen the women go by, that he’d called you. I pictured crazy Almira Raines turning her axe on you.”

  “It wasn’t the axe, but her ball bat,” Millie said, resting her cheek against his chest. The fresh scent of him mingling with his comforting presence made her want to hold onto him every day for the rest of her life.

  “Ball bat? Did she try to strike you?” Gideon pushed her back far enough he could look in her face. His gaze traveled over her from head to toe and back again to make sure she hadn’t been injured.

  “From the look in her eye, she considered it, but I couldn’t allow her to take charge. I had to keep the upper hand or all would have been lost.”

  “Like your life and limb,” he said, hugging her again.

  “They wouldn’t have hurt me. However, if I hadn’t succeeded with Almira, the rest of the group would have followed her lead and that would have been disastrous. Violence won’t fix anything.”

  “No, it won’t.” Amazed by the woman in his arms, Gideon kissed her forehead and gave her delectable backside a playful swat. “Are you sure you’ll be fine?”

  “Yes, Gideon. Go on. I know you have things you need to see to.” Millie made a shooing motion with her hand. She’d answered enough calls that day she knew the members of the Saloon Owners Alliance of Pendleton had a meeting planned that would start in a few minutes. “I’m fine. I promise.”

  “Okay. But next time you face-off with an axe-wielding lunatic, at least tell me first.”

  She laughed as she fished the hidden key from behind the brick in the wall and unlocked her door. “I promise.”

  Gideon waited until she’d gone inside and locked the door before he hurried down the steps, across the lot behind Millie’s apartment, and came out on a side street.

  He whistled a ragtime tune as he made his way to Archie Cook’s saloon and stepped inside. Drake raised a hand in greeting, so Gideon took a seat beside him.

  “Where have you been?” Drake asked, taking in Gideon’s ruffled appearance.

  “Millie had a little problem with a small revolt from some of the temperance committee. They planned to take axes and baseball bats to the saloons in town in retaliation for what happened to Miss Caldwell last night. Somehow, she talked them out of it.”

  “And you happened to run to her rescue?” Drake grinned and thumped him on the back. “You really are getting into this whole knight in shining armor thing, aren’t you?”

  “She’d already handled the situation by the time I got there. I just walked her home.”

  Before Drake could offer any further commentary, Archie called their meeting to order.

  “Gentlemen. I’m sure most of you know why I called this emergency meeting today. For the few who may not be aware of the fact, a young woman, a respectable young woman, was attacked last night and left beaten within an inch of her life in the alley behind Mr. Steel’s establishment.” Archie glanced around the room, his gaze settling heavily on Kyle Steel.

  Kyle shrugged. “Don’t look at me. Not my fault some wench ended up out there. These women ought to know enough to stay home.”

  Archie glared at him while Gideon clenched his fists beneath the table. Minds like Kyle’s were the reason the women in town were in constant danger. In Gideon’s opinion, the women had every righ
t to be out, especially when they were heading home from work, like Miss Caldwell had been.

  “It’s comments like that, Mr. Steel, which make me wonder if you had a hand in the beating.” Archie continued glaring at Kyle.

  “I got better things to do than waste my time with girls like Miss Caldwell, or Miss Matlock for that matter.” Kyle swiveled in his chair, scoffing at Gideon. “Although, it doesn’t seem like Don Juan over there is doing a very good job of distractin’ our temperance tempest.”

  Gideon started to rise, ready to pop Kyle in the nose, but Drake placed a hand on his arm, keeping him in his chair.

  Archie looked at Gideon. “From what I’ve observed, Gideon is doing all he can to keep Miss Matlock occupied.”

  “And it’s such a hardship he’s endurin’, courtin’ the lovely lass,” O’Malley commented with a teasing grin. “Didn’t I see you walkin’ her home a wee bit ago?”

  “Yes. She was upset over the plans of some of her committee members. You all ought to thank your lucky stars she intervened. Those women had axes and baseball bats, ready to march into the Golden Slipper Saloon.”

  “And do you think she would have intervened if Gideon hadn’t built up her trust and confidence all these weeks?” Drake asked.

  “Indeed not,” Archie said. “Nonetheless, with the Anti-Saloon League breathing down our necks, thanks to that troublesome busybody minister at the Baptist church, we need to take the possibility of prohibition seriously. I’ve heard from the mayor it’s being considered for the ballot in the upcoming election.”

  Despite their hopes the temperance work was in vain, the attack on the Caldwell girl could very well tip the scales in favor of prohibition. The members of SOAP begged Gideon to convince Millie to leave the temperance committee. He assured them he was doing his best to keep her mind on other things.

  Regardless of what he told them, he hadn’t mentioned Millie’s temperance work to her for a while. It was something they both avoided discussing. In truth, he admired her for sticking to her convictions, even if they made no sense to him. He couldn’t understand why Millie was so fiercely adamant about running the saloons out of town.