Chapter 23 - Winter Storm

Elizabeth seeks answers about her mother from her uncle who puts her out in an early winter snowstorm. Caleb seeks revenge for his wife's treatment.

          Caleb decided not to tell Elizabeth what Frank and Jess had told him.  He knew it would only upset her worse.  She worried about her mother and pushed Caleb to let her go to her uncle for answers.  As much as Caleb tried to persuade her not to go she would not back down.  After a couple of months of losing argument after argument, her strong will and hardheadedness prevailed over her will to keep Caleb happy and she finally took it upon herself to make the short trip.  While Caleb was working, she took the horse and rode up to her uncle’s estate, leaving the children with Mrs. Garland’s nanny.

          When Caleb returned home that night, the house was dark and cold.  He searched every room but no one was there.  He became frantic.  He knew immediately that Elizabeth had gone to see her uncle.  Feeling regretful for not telling her what Frank and Jess had told him, he set out toward Jacob Meyers’ property.  An icy chill blew in from the north and dark, low clouds began to form overhead.  As he rode up the path to the Meyers house an ice-cold rain began to fall. 

          No one met him as he rode up and tired his horse. 

A small-framed woman answered the door. “Yes sir? How may I…”

“Where is she?” he demanded, interrupting her greeting.

“Who sir?”

He pushed past her and into the house.  “My wife.  Where is she?”

“Sir?  Sir…please wait outside.  I’ll get Mr. Meyers.”

“Where is she?”  He went quickly into the lavishly decorated sitting room and to the bottom of the stairs.  “Elizabeth!” he called.

“Sir…please!”

“Elizabeth!”

Jacob Meyers appeared on the landing at the top of the stairs.  “What the hell is going on down here?” he yelled loudly.

“I’m sorry sir,” the woman called, frantically.  “I’m sorry…he just pushed past me.  I tried to stop him.”

“That is alright, I’ll take care of it from here,” he told the woman who shuffled quickly out.

“Where is she?” Caleb asked angrily.  “Where is my wife?  Where is Elizabeth…and the children?”

“What makes you so confident she is here?”  He boomed.

“She said she was goin’ to come up here for answers.  When I arrived home from work tonight she was not at home.  Where is she?”

“She is not here.  She was here but she left several hours ago.”

Panic struck Caleb now.  If she had left several hours ago then she would have certainly returned home by now, but where was she.  Had something happened?  And what about the children? 

“Where did she go?”  Caleb demanded.

“I do not know.  She left in a hurry.  And I would suggest you do the same.”

“What did you do to her?  And the Children?”

“She didn’t have any children with her,” he told Caleb.  “Perhaps the answers she came for were more than she could handle.  Maybe you and your family should just keep moving on.  Now leave my property.  I don’t expect to see you, Elizabeth, or your mongrel children again.”

Caleb grew hot.  How dare this man speak of his family this way.  All thoughts escaped Caleb’s mind in an instant and he charged up the stairs toward Meyers. 

“I wouldn’t suggest you do anything drastic or you will find yourself in a worse mess than the one you just ran from.” 

Caleb swung his fist and hit Meyers hard in the jaw.  Meyers grabbed his gun out of his vest and pointed it in Caleb’s face. 

“Now leave,” he told him.  “It is the best you can do for your pathetic little family.”

Caleb left the Meyers estate and set out in search of Elizabeth and his children.  The sleet and rain stung as it hit him in the face.  He was chilled to the bone, yet he rode on.  Elizabeth was his only thought.  What if she was stuck out in the weather?  What if she was hurt?  Would he find her in time?  He saw no sign of her as he rode.  He finally decided to check with the Garlands.  Perhaps she had stopped at their house. 

Caleb rode up to the Garland’s property.  As he stepped onto the front porch the door swung open and Mrs. Garland stepped out.  Her apron was stained with blood, her hair disheveled, and the despair on her face made her look thirty years older.

“Thank God!” she exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief.  “We sent for you but you were not home.” 

“Is she here?”

Mrs. Garland stepped aside and let Caleb into the house.  “She came in about an hour ago.  She was soaked and cold.”

“What about the girls?  Where are the girls?”

“They are fine.  She left them here when she left work.  She said she had to run an errand and didn’t want to take the girls with her so I let them stay here.”

“I want to see her.  Is she alright?”

“You’re as soaked and cold as she was.  I want you to go to the back right now and get out of those clothes.  Get warmed up or you’ll get sick.”

“I want to see her,” he pled.  His eyes welled up and warm tears began to trickle down his cheeks.

“The doctor is with her now,” she told him.  “She will be fine in his care.  Please, Caleb.  Go get dried off and warmed up.  You are no good to her with pneumonia.”

He followed her instruction and in what seemed to him like hours she returned downstairs and found him wrapped in a blanket by the fire.

“She is calling for you,” she told him softly.

He rushed up the stairs and to the room where she rested.  The doctor left the room quietly behind him and closed the door.  Caleb stood a moment looking at her lying in the bed.  The covers were pulled up snuggly under her chin.  Her face was pale in the low light and her hair was wet and matted.

“Caleb, I’m sorry.  I had to see her.  I had to see my mother.”  She began to cry.

“This is my fault.  I should have told you.  I should have told you everything.”

“No Caleb…it would only have made me want to go more.”

He sat lightly on the edge of the bed and put the back of his fingers against her cheek.  Her skin was ice cold.

“Are you alright?”

“Cold, I am unbelievably cold,” she told him weakly.  She closed her eyes a moment.  “It is all my fault.”

“No…”

“We are going to lose another one.  All because of me.”  She began to sob.

“No…Elizabeth…”

“He came earlier than the last.  He is so tiny.”  She looked past him to a small crib across the room.

Caleb got up and walked to the crib.  Inside lay a tiny baby.  The blanket wrapped around him rose and fell gently as he took each delicate breath. 

“Please don’t hate me, Caleb,” Elizabeth whispered.

He stepped back to her side.  “No, Elizabeth, I could never hate you.”

 

Caleb stayed by Elizabeth’s side for the next several days.  He never left.  He did not go to work and got very little sleep.  The doctor came a couple of times a day to check on Elizabeth’s condition, but did not expect Elizabeth or their baby to make it through each night.  Each morning, however, they were blessed with the miracle of another day.

 

The door to the bedroom opened and Mrs. Garland stepped in.  “Caleb,” she said softly.  “Someone is here to see you.” 

Caleb rose slowly and quietly followed Mrs. Garland out the door and down the stairs.  Jess and Frank were waiting quietly and patiently in the parlor when Caleb entered the room.

“I’ll leave you alone to talk,” Mrs. Garland said as she left the room.

“Ya hadn’t shown up at the dock in a couple of days so O’Connor sent us out after ya,” Frank told him.

“Elizabeth is sick,” Caleb told them.  “She went ta see her uncle.  She wanted ta know what had happened ta her family.  I wouldn’t tell her what you told me.  I wanted ta protect…I just wanted ta protect her,” He choked.  “It’s my fault, I shoulda told her everything.”

Frank looked at Jess, then back to Caleb.  “What happened?  How did she get sick?”

“She tracked out in the cold rain the other night.  And that son-a-b***h Meyers sent her back out in it.”

“How is she?” Jess asked.

“She’s real sick.  Doctor says everyday she may not make it through the night.  And the baby came early.  A boy.  Doctor says the same for him,” He slumped heavily down in a chair.  “Tell O’Connor I won’t be out for a while.  I just can’t leave them.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout nothin’.  O’Connor ‘ll understand,” Jess told him.

“You just stay with her as long as ya need.  We’ll come back out an’ check up again in a day or two,” Frank told him putting his hat back on.  “Sure hope she gets better.” 

Frank and Jess let themselves out of the house.  Caleb sat in the chair with his chin to his chest.  He did not think it would be possible to ever feel this hopeless.  His body felt heavy and he did not feel he could move under the weight.  He sat slumped in the chair and slowly drifted to sleep.

 

Caleb felt a hand lightly placed on his shoulder.  He turned to see Mrs. Garland standing behind him.  The sadness in her eyes said it all.  He sprung to his feet and ran up the stairs and through the door.  Elizabeth lay still in the bed with her eyes closed.  Caleb’s heart sank and he felt sick.  He stepped slowly to the side of the bed and knelt beside his wife.  He took her cold hand in his.  A tear ran down his face.  He knew it was over.  He had lost the most important thing in his life.  He lived everyday for Elizabeth and now he had no reason left to go on.  He laid his head down on her chest and wept.

          “I’m sorry Caleb,” Mrs. Garland told him.  “We did everything we could for her.”  Mrs. Garland stepped to the crib and lifted the tiny child out.  “You must be strong.  For your son,” she told him.  “He and the girls still need their father.”

          “I can’t,” he told her with a shaky voice. “I can’t, I can’t.  I wouldn’t know how.”

          “Caleb, you have to.  Elizabeth would want you to.”

          “I can’t,” he told her.  “I can’t.”  The emptiness he felt at that moment was worse than anything he had ever felt before.  An empty shell was all that was left of the man he used to be. 

          How could this happen to him?  And then he realized, Meyers! The whole Meyers family was to blame for everything that had gone wrong in his life.  He finally had someone to blame.  William Meyers had been responsible for his father’s death.  If it had not been for his fight with Butler, Douglas would not have died in that fight.  Meyers was the reason he had been put through so much in the last couple of years.  Meyers turned away his own daughter for falling in love with the “wrong” man.  Caleb had struggled since then to provide for Elizabeth and make her life as comfortable as he could.  When he came to New York, Jacob Meyers had turned them away, refusing to help his own family when they were in need; and all because of a grudge his brother held.  Now he had turned Elizabeth out into the cold when all she wanted were answers and to see her mother. 

 

          Caleb awoke.  Tears ran down his face.  At the same time anger grew inside him.  This was all the fault of Meyers and he would have to pay.  Caleb sprung from his seat and started for the door.  He paused at the foot of the stairs then turned and climbed them.  He had to check on Elizabeth first.  He had to make sure it had all only been a horrible nightmare.  

          When he got to Elizabeth’s room he found her sleeping in her bed.  He held his face in front of hers a moment until he felt her soft breath on his cheek.  Relief came over him.  He kissed her lightly on the forehead.

          “I will be back shortly,” he whispered.  “I love you.”

          He descended the stairs and stepped out the door into the bitter wind.  It had begun to snow and the ground was covered with the white powder.

          He rode toward town.  At the last moment he had decided, he would go into town for a drink or two and gather his thoughts before riding out to the Meyers home.  Once again, however, his “drink or two” turned into many, many more and by the time he stumbled out of the bar he was finished gathering his thoughts and was more prepared to fight than ever.

He rode to the Meyers estate, in the dark, and left his horse wandering the front lawn.  The same thin woman who answered the door a few nights before, answered the door again this night. 

Caleb burst through the door before she could utter a word.  He pulled his gun out of his coat and began to stubble up the stairs. 

“Meyers!” he called angrily.  “Meyers it’s about time we have a nice long talk.  Where are you…you filthy son-of-a…”

“I told you to stay away from here,” Meyers told him appearing at the top of the stairs. 

“I’ll kill you…you b*****d!”  He lifted the gun and pointed it up at Meyers.  Meyers just smirked and pointed a small pistol back down at Caleb.  “You turned your own niece away and now she is goin’ ta die.  You’ve killed your own family just like your filthy brother tried ta kill his.  Well…I’m goin’ ta kill you so ya can’t hurt anyone else.”

Caleb pulled the trigger and the gun clicked.

Meyers began to laugh.  “You stupid boy.  Are you going to try to shoot me without any bullets?”  He laughed harder. 

Caleb pulled the trigger again and again the gun clicked.

Mr. Meyers lowered his own gun and laughed so hard he had to grab the banister for support.

Caleb became angrier.  He pulled the trigger again.

“Click”

“Would you give up already?  It isn’t even loaded.”

Caleb pulled the trigger again.

“Bang!”  The bullet tore into Meyers right shoulder. 

Meyers stumbled back against the wall, the smile on his face turned to an expression of rage in an instant, and he lifted his gun.  As he pulled down on the trigger, Caleb stumbled and fell backward off the steps, the bullet only grazing the heel of his boot. 

As Caleb fell hard on the floor his gun went off again.  The shot hit the chandelier hanging over the center of the room and a shower of glass came down around him. 

Meyers took another shot at Caleb as he made his way down the stairs.  Caleb was struck in the arm.  His gun flew from his hand and landed several feet away.  Caleb crawled for it but Meyers was much faster and he scooped it up before Caleb could get to it.

“Jacob?” a woman called from somewhere upstairs.  “What is going on down there?” 

“Nothing, Charlotte.  Just stay upstairs.”

“What?”  She called again, her voice coming closer. 

“Don’t come down.”

She appeared on the loft. 

“Charlotte!  Go back!”  He bellowed.

Caleb kicked Jacob’s feet out from under him.  His pistol went off as he fell back. 

A blood-curdling scream filled the air and a moment later went silent.  Caleb grabbed his gun off of the floor and jumped to his feet.  He stood over Jacob Meyers.  A look of shock was frozen on Meyers’ face. 

“This is for Elizabeth,” Caleb told him as he pulled the trigger.

          Caleb stumbled out of the house into the snow.  What had he done?  This time he was certain there had been witnesses.  He would be caught for sure.  This was the Meyers family.  He knew this family was not one you hurt without facing dire consequences.  What of Elizabeth?  It would crush her when she found out her aunt and uncle were dead.  What if she found out who had done it?  She could never love a man who could do such a thing. 

          Move on.  He thought.  No, we can’t.  Not this time.  Elizabeth was far too sick to simply move on and he could certainly never leave without her.  What of the children?  If Elizabeth should die, what would happen to them.  Caleb knew he could not care for them on his own and if he were caught for this horrible act, then what?

          Caleb paced in the snow for a while, trying to figure out a way to cover up what he had done.  Suddenly it came to him, Fire. 

 

Caleb sat, his head in his hands, and stared into the fire.  The sound of gunshot and that awful scream played over and over in his head.  His head pounded and the sick feeling in his stomach grew worse with each passing minute.  He had returned to the Garland house several hours ago.  No one had even noticed him gone.  The house stood silent and dark.  Elizabeth still slept sound in the bedroom upstairs.  Caleb had tried to sleep but the same scene played over and over in his head making any rest impossible. 

 

The next afternoon, Frank and Jess stopped by the Garland home again. 

“There was a fire at the Meyers’ place last night,” Frank told him.

“Whole place burnt down,” Jess added.

“What happened?”  Caleb asked, trying not to reveal his guilt.

“Don’t know for sure.”

“Is everyone alright?” Caleb inquired.

“Well…what they been able to tell so far, looks like only one person made it out.”

Caleb’s heart began to pound.  “Who?”

“Elizabeth’s mother.”

“She was found this mornin’ wonderin’ down along the main road,” Frank told him.  “She was cold, wearin’ only a thin gown.  She was just walkin’ back and forth in the snow mumblin’ ta herself.  One o’ Meyers’ hands identified her.”

“They gonna send fer her brother.  He’s goin’ ta take her back ta Boston,” Jess informed him.

“Ol’ Butler’s been raisin’ her boys these last few years.  Now she’s goin’ back up there so they can watch over her.”  Frank paused a moment.  “How’s Elizabeth and your son doin’?”

“Doctor’s up with ‘em now.  Don’t think there’s been much difference since yesterday.”

 

In the next few days, Elizabeth’s condition seemed to improve slightly, as did the baby.  Investigators in New York had concluded, after less than a week of investigation, that the fire and deaths of the Meyers and three servants was accidental.  Thomas Butler had come to New York with one of his sons and Sam Meyers, Elizabeth’s brother, to pick up Anna.  Upon hearing of Elizabeth’s condition, they had stopped briefly at the Garland’s home to see her. 

While Butler, his son, and Sam were upstairs visiting with Elizabeth, Caleb sat with his daughters by the fire in the front room.  He held Grace in his lap and watched Hannah while she sat on the floor playing with her doll.  For the first time in what may possibly have been his entire life, he sat free of thought.  At that moment there were no memories of what he had done several nights before. 

Hannah looked up at him and he caught the flash of a familiar twinkle in her eye.  He realized then, if he were to lose Elizabeth she would not be dead.  She lived in their children.

“Papa?”  Hannah asked.  “Will Momma be alright?”

“She’ll be fine.  We’ll all be just fine,” he reassured her.  “I promise.”

Hannah climbed into his lap with her sister and wrapped her arms around his neck.  Peace came over him and he thought to him that no one could take this moment away from him.