Dark Heart Wolf - Haley Weir Page 0,62

with eight cattle and three servants.”

“Wendigo?” Boone hissed.

“Outlaws.”

The news came to a shock for all of them. Jesse had the sense to head into town to meet the U.S. Marshal at the station instead of allowing him to be poisoned against the Cassady family. The intelligent man got right to work with his invitation, promising to clear Sam of his charges by the end of the week. Mary Ann was thrilled that Sam had a real opportunity to be a free man.

Even though their days were filled with confusion and anger, Mary Ann had everything she needed in life. She was a mother, an aunt, and a wife. She had the love of the man she had always dreamed of being married to. Live was as good as it could be, and that was fine by her. Mary Ann only wished Beth could have been so lucky.

But she had faith that things would work out the way they were meant to.

Epilogue

Chicago

May 1871

Children of all ages worked in lines, filling molds with lining or banging away at freshly forged metals. Sheets of iron and steel trudged down the lines. The sizzle and pop of heated tools dipping into cool water filled the air. Steam mingled with the clouds of black smoke from the coal furnaces. “Pick up the pace, ya filthy rats! Last hour!” someone shouted over the metallic bangs and clangs of the factory. Sweat dripped into the icy blue eyes of Beth Mason.

Molten steel poured from the large drums, casting an ethereal tangerine glow upon her face as she worked vigorously. Eyes watched her from high up in the rafters. She called them bruisers, large men who worked for Mr. Kingsly. They were thugs who pretended to be hired security that liked to beat on the children.

Beth cautioned a glance over her shoulder and spotted the factory owner, Ashton Kingsly, staring at her intently. She kept her long hair tucked beneath a lad’s cap. Beth wore men’s trousers that had been mended one too many times. Her breasts were bound, and she donned a dirty muslin shirt and gray vest to complete her daily ensemble. Though Beth had worked in this steel mill for as long as she could remember, she often wondered if they knew she was a woman.

There were mills that hired women, but not Mr. Kingsly.

As a child, Beth had been a poor orphan eating out of the refuse piles behind shops and inns. People spat at her and called her names. Without many options, she had gone to Ashton Kingsly and asked for work. When he curled his lip at her, claiming that she was small for a boy, Beth hadn’t contradicted him. She used his mistake to her advantage and worked harder than any other child or adult at the factory.

In the beginning, she had clamored for Ashton Kingsly’s attention.

Now, Beth would have given anything to rid herself of his gaze.

Beth swiped the grimy sleeve of her jacket across her brow, streaking her face with blackened grease, and used the last of her energy to fill the mold. When the bell chimed to signal the end of the day, she disappeared into the throng of workers. Beth waited in the shadows until the factory was silent. The children shuffled off to supper in the kitchens before bed. She held her breath, watching in case Mr. Kingsly or his goons were around.

Once she was certain no one would see her, Beth climbed one of the metal beams and reached her perch up in the rafters. The flat overhang acted as her little sanctuary within the large building. She laid on her back and dug into the pocket of her trousers with oily, calloused fingers. A pristine letter was marred by the smudges caused by her hands as she read from the note someone had sent her.

Beth thought it was odd, for she did not have a family. Most of the letters she sent were to the papers, complaining about work conditions in the factories. She didn’t know if someone wanted to play a cruel joke on her or if the letter spoke the truth. A lawyer from out west wanted Beth to meet him to discuss her grandmother’s will? She read through the first page and flipped through the next. Beth nearly choked on her own spittle as she read the word heiress.

She...needed air.

The lights went out in the workroom, and Beth climbed down from her perch. She turned to leave, but strong hands gripped