Alton Brown shot to his feet. “We all agreed not to sell.”
“There’s nothing in writing.” Stillman shuffled some papers on his desk. “I’m sorry, Alton.”
Alton grabbed his hat and stalked out of the bank.
Jake studied Ike. He hadn’t lost family in the mine, and he’d worked the day shift himself. Two years had passed, and he was ready to recoup his losses and move on. Jake could read the truth in his face like a deposit of coal in bedrock.
Ike Sturgis could sell, and he would.
And there was nothing Jake or the others could do about it.
* * *
When Luke touched the toddler’s forehead, heat burned the backs of his fingers. Freezing wind slammed against the cracks of the tumbledown shack, the drafts forcing out the small amount of heat from the fire.
He wrapped a tattered blanket around the child and held her close, trying to share his body heat with her. Paper-thin eyelids fluttered against her cheekbones. He’d risked his life to save her and lost his chance to rescue Mark.
And now she lay in his arms dying.
The other children gathered around the fire, sharing their warmth. Gradually they dozed off, one by one, huddled together like a litter of puppies.
Fresh tears burned his eyes. She didn’t deserve this. None of them did. But what could he do? They had no one, nothing. Except themselves.
Had he saved her life only to let her die because he didn’t know how to take care of her? He didn’t have food, water, medicine. Even if he had those things, he was just a kid. He didn’t know how to take care of a child in diapers.
The woman from the orphanage would help. Wouldn’t she? Or did she want them to come to the orphanage so she could sell them to men like Grady and Butch and the man they called the boss?
Luke stared at the fire, frowning. She wouldn’t give the child back to Butch, would she? He’d watched the children who lived at the orphanage on their way to and from school. He’d watched the two little boys playing in the snow. They’d looked full and happy, not like children forced to do work in a sweatshop.
The child in his arms drew in a shuddering breath, then grew still. Luke clutched her against him, pressing his ear against her tiny chest, his heart pounding. He heard a sound like a tiny mouse squeaking. Then nothing. Then again. He jostled her in his arms, relieved when she drew another raspy breath.
How long before the faint movement of her chest stopped?
He couldn’t let her die. Not if there was a chance she could live.
* * *
Jake grabbed his coat and hat and left the bank. Ike’s decision didn’t change a thing. He only owned 25 percent of the mine. As long as the others didn’t sell, the new owner couldn’t do a thing with his shares. And they’d all adamantly refused to sell.
He headed across town and stepped inside Emma’s Place just in case Seamus had stopped in. The old man was nowhere to be seen, but Jake didn’t really expect him to be out and about. He dreaded sharing the news that Ike had sold out.
His eyes met Emma’s across the crowded café, and she called out a greeting.
“Find a spot if you can, Jake. How about a bowl of stew?”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Maybe something hot to eat would ease the frustration gnawing at his insides. He plopped down at the end of a table filled with miners.
She hurried over, a piping hot bowl in one hand and a pone of corn bread in the other. She slid the platter to the center of the table. “Help yourselves, boys.”
“Thank ye, Emma.” A grizzled miner winked at Jake and grabbed a hunk of bread. “If I wasn’t already married, I’d hitch up with that woman for her cooking alone.”
“Oh, hush up, Roger Perkins.” Emma placed a hand on Jake’s shoulder and sobered. “How’re things going, Jake?”
“Pretty good. And you?”
Emma smoothed back graying hair, the tired circles under her eyes showing fatigue. “I can’t complain.”
Jake nodded. Emma’s husband had died along with Jake’s father, but she’d been better off than most. She owned this little café and made a few extra dollars feeding miners. “Glad to hear it.”
She patted his shoulder before hurrying away to tend the rest of her customers. Jake dug in, listening to the talk about the mines.
“Discovered a new deposit in the Copper Penny today. We’ll be busy