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Page 18.

John Longfield took the train to get Lizzie Wyllie at her aunt’s house in Grand Rapids. Aunt Louisa sent them off with mixed feelings, confused about whether this oddly good-looking yet somehow devious looking man had come to fetch her for a wedding, or something else. Seeing Lizzie’s radiant face, she grew baffled and tentative, and resolved to talk more with her sister, now that Elizabeth might have calmed down a bit. She would send a telegram to Elizabeth and May.

Lizzie and John rode to the train station in the same wagon with the same three trunks. The same red-cap was driving the same horse that had brought Lizzie here just a few days earlier. Lizzie put her arm through John’s arm, and snuggled close.

He patted her hand. “I came back to get you. Told you I would, didn’t I?”

Lizzie said: “I never lost faith in you.”

John said: “Your sister May and I had a talk, Lizzie. She wants me to help get you fixed up. And then we’ll figure what to do next.”

Lizzie’d had time to think. “I can’t go through the whole thing of having the baby and giving it up again. I would rather have our child and raise it by myself, if I have to, if you’ll just provide for us and come see me once or twice a week.”

“I would gladly see you every day, Lizzie, but I have no job right now and I’m having trouble making ends meet.”

Lizzie said slowly: “Then you want me to get rid of it.”

“Well, we can think about what to do. There is a kind woman I spoke with, Kate Morgan, who wants to help us. I’m in this with you, Lizzie.”

“Oh, thank you!” She gripped his arm. “Sometimes I just want you for myself. Then I realize—what am I doing? What am I thinking? It would be so unfair to you, and your wife, and your children. Then I think—you could just keep me on the side. I’d be no trouble. I could find work again, and keep a small place, and we’d have a little love nest. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

John said: “You are the sweetest little birdie I did ever hear sing.” He knew he had no tact or feeling for these things, but his wooden comments had all the same effect on her as eloquent speech.

Lizzie said: “Hold me tight to you.”

John put his arm around her and held her close.

She laughed and cried at the same time. “I’m sorry. I have all these crazy ups and downs in my condition. I’ll do whatever you want me to.” She took off her earrings. “Remember these? I’m going to give them back to you, in case you need money.”

He examined the tiny holes in her earlobes. “Do they hurt?”

She shook her head. “Not at all. I’ll have to get them re-pierced if I don’t find some posts to put in soon.”

He reddened. “Darling, why don’t you keep them? You look so beautiful in them.” He looked genuinely upset.

She laughed and hugged him. “It’s just stuff. We can always get more stuff. As long as we are together, you are all the stuff that I need.”

Once John and Lizzie were back in Detroit, he took her to a fine hotel he had chosen. He ushered Lizzie into a sparkling hotel room with clean sheets and curtains. A bellhop followed, wheeling her three trunks. The man thoughtfully lined them up along one wall in a corner, for convenient access. John tipped the man and thanked him as he left.

Alone with John, Lizzie hugged herself and looked around. She twirled around the room, glancing at all the little touches. “This is nice.”

John said: “Something special for you. For a special gal.”

Lizzie sat down on the bed and patted the bed by her thigh. John sat down beside her. “I missed you so,” Lizzie said as she reached for him. They struggled from their clothes, kissing ardently. She pulled the covers apart, and John kissed Lizzie as she pulled him down on her. “I’ve been so lonely without you.”

John said: “I’ve been lonely without you too. You’re so nice to be with.”

Lizzie said: “I want you so...come here…love me!” She pulled him toward her, and his ardor grew instantly. She was far more cultured and elegant than Kate, even if she was a poor factory girl. John knew he was a rough cut who belonged with the likes of Kate. But this beautiful young woman wanted him and who was he to deny her? Especially, with this commanding and self-assured Kate Morgan in charge. Kate could do all the thinking now, and that was okay with John.

That evening, John and Kate sat in a corner by a brick wall. The large noisy tavern had many people talking and shouting. “Can you talk her into it?” Kate asked.

“I think she’ll go along. She doesn’t have much choice. I don’t want to hurt her, Kate.”

“I don’t either. You’ll have to trust me. We’ll all be a lot richer, including her. Just a few days of discomfort, and she’ll be rid of her problem, you’ll be rid of yours, and everyone will live happily ever after.”

“Is this going to be dangerous, Kate?”

“Don’t worry. You let me handle things.”

“You swear?”

She held two fingers over her heart and put on her most radiant, convincing face. “Honest Injun.”

A little bit reluctantly, he set aside any nagging little doubts he still had. “Okay then—I trust you.”

She gripped his wrist on the table, and leaned close with that piercing, forceful, irresistibly hypnotic gaze. “You can’t just trust me, John. You have to be with me totally, a hundred percent, or this won’t work.”

He swallowed hard, trying to think it all through, though everything just stayed a big muddle in his mind. “I do,” he said, reassured by her firm stare and her iron grip. She was stronger than any woman he’d ever met.

Kate released his arm and picked up her beer. “We’ll get her out of town, where nobody will recognize her.”

“You’re the brain of the outfit, boss.”

“Where have you stuck her?”

“First class hotel, in a nice sunny room—like you said. So what’s next?”

Kate said: “We’ll head for Los Angeles, with a stop in Iowa to deposit a little money. I’ll fill you in on the plan as we go along. We’ll kill two birds with one stone. We’ll fix Lizzie right up so her baby problem goes away. Your baby problem goes away. Same time, we’ll make a pile of dough.”

John said: “Honestly, I’d like Lizzie to go away too. I have enough trouble on my hands, trying to feed my wife and kids. She’s nice, but I’m tired of her. I’m just crazy about you.”

“Don’t think about leaving your family for me. I wouldn’t let you.”

“Maybe I can change your mind, woman.”

Kate shook her head. “You’ll have a snoot full of me soon enough. I can be hard on a man.”

“I’ve never met a woman like you.” He added reluctantly: “I know you know what’s best. You do mean the best for me, for us, even for Lizzie.”

“Sure.” Kate nodded. “There’s this wealthy man in San Francisco named John Spreckels. He has been buying up everything in San Diego since the financial boom there collapsed in 1889. He owns a splendid resort hotel in Coronado. I have some love letters Mr. Spreckels foolishly gave to a maid he was sweet on. I want Lizzie to play the maid. We’ll tell Spreckels he got her pregnant, and order him to pay up, or else. It’s really simple.”

John said: “Lizzie couldn’t play a maid. She can hardly play herself. Her head is full of theater posters, fancy clothes, all what she can’t afford.”

Kate said: “I’ll train her to impersonate. I can start her in Los Angeles. I’ll show her the ropes.”

“So it’s pay-up-or-else for this Spreckels goon? Sounds like blackmail.”

Kate said: “If Mr. Spreckels doesn’t wire a large amount of money to a distant bank, where we can grab it and run, then Lizzie will have her miscarriage right in his hotel lobby. You want to call that blackmail—I call it goose mail—goosing him to behave like a man.”

John said: “Well, I’m sure you know best, Kate, being so sure about this and all. Sounds like he should gladly pay to avoid the embarrassment.”

Kate said: “The best part is—he’s too far away to investigate. There won’t be time. He’ll be quick to pay us off in exchange for a signed release from Charlotte Barnard.”

“How you going to do that?” He stared at her owlishly.

She stared back. “I already wrote the letter.” She burst out laughing. He blinked, realizing he was always slow keeping up with Kate, and then he too laughed. They were both at it, with shaking shoulders, staring at each other and giggling. When he calmed down, John asked: “What kind of sum are you talking?”

Kate said: “A lot—enough for each of us to live well for years. When you get tired of me, you can go back to your wife and kids.”

John pulled at her dress and said: “You won’t tire me out. “

Kate pushed his hand away: “Not now. Not here. Go take care of Lizzie. She needs you. She must never guess about you and me. We’ll get Lizzie fixed and send her home with her cut. Then you and I can play all we want. But never, ever sit next to me in public or in her sight. Never touch me. Never give me that look. Save it for Lizzie.” She patted his hand. “It’ll be over soon, and Lizzie will be a busy girl.”