Deadly Proof: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery (43 page)

Then her spirits plummeted, and she said, “I forgot! What about your parents? Is there any way they can arrange to get here by Sunday? I know you saw this wedding as a chance for me to get to know them better, and we can’t not invite them.”

Nate took her hand and kissed it. Then he smiled and said softly, “Hang my parents. No Annie...seriously. My father hates coming into the city, and if my mother comes up to San Francisco right now, she’s going to find out what has been going on with Laura. They will understand. And we can go visit them later.”

Annie’s heart never felt so full. In two days time, this man could be hers––to hold and to cherish––forever.

As Nate began to kiss her again, she reared back and said, “Oh, Nate, stop.”

“Annie, no, I won’t have it. You can’t promise me heaven and then tell me to stop. We
will
have this wedding in two days.”

“I know we will...but we must tell Beatrice and Kathleen this instant. They would never forgive us if we didn’t...and it is only fair since they are going to have to do most of the work.”

“If you insist,” he said. “But not just yet...”

Sunday, late afternoon, August 8, 1880

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“The marriage...was celebrated at the residence of the latter...only the relatives and intimate friends of the contracting parties witnessing the ceremony.”
San Francisco Chronicle,
August 22, 1880

––––––––

“S
ir, if you will please come up to the landing. They are nearly ready for you.”

Nate noticed with some bemusement that Kathleen wasn’t dressed in her usual black uniform but was wearing some sort of print that seemed designed to match the roses in her cheeks. She even had a sprig of flowers in her hair and was looking decidedly unlike a servant. Which explained why it had been the young Irish girl, Tilly, who’d been answering the door.

He replied, “Miss Kathleen, how good to see you. I’d say how nice you look, but then I suspect that Mr. McGee over there has already told you.” Nate nodded to Beatrice’s nephew and Kathleen’s beau, who was looking uncomfortable out of his police uniform and was blushing up to the roots of his copper hair.

Kathleen giggled and said, “Now, sir, soon you’ll have no eyes but for the mistress. But please, the Judge is waiting for you.”

Nate looked up the stairs that led to the second floor, where he understood Annie was doing whatever things brides did while their grooms waited for them. Vines and flowers wound up the bannister and onto the ceiling over the landing, creating a sort of bower where the actual ceremony was going to be held. The Judge, who was going to officiate, was a squat man in formal attire who was chatting with his Uncle Frank and Mrs. Voss. Her presence had been a shock. Annie had told everyone that they invited that they could bring a guest––and he’d heard that his uncle had been squiring the widow Voss around town––but he’d figured it was just an unfounded rumor.

As he started to go up the stairs, his uncle and Mrs. Voss began to descend. His uncle, clapping him on the back as they passed, winked at him, very uncharacteristic behavior on his part, and Mrs. Voss murmured a polite greeting. He spent an awkward moment saying hello to the Judge...whose name he’d forgotten. Making an excuse that he needed to locate his best man, Tim Newsome, Nate turned away and looked back down at the first floor hallway.

Kathleen had disappeared, no doubt to roust Mrs. O’Rourke out of the kitchen, and Patrick McGee was talking to Kathleen’s little brother, Ian, and Jamie Hewitt. Nate was glad to see that the terrier, Dandy, who’d been barking at every new arrival, was now held quietly in Mrs. Hewitt’s arms. Mr. Harvey, the boarder he didn’t know at all, was talking to David Chapman, who kept glancing over at Mrs. Hewitt, clearly hoping to catch her eye. He suspected the man was imagining a wedding some time in the future with the reserved school teacher.

A flurry of activity at the top of the stairs started his heart racing, until he saw that it was just Mrs. Stein ushering Miss Minnie and Miss Millie Moffet down the stairs. As they passed him, Miss Minnie gave him a sharp greeting and then, perhaps the most unexpected event of the day, the ever-silent Miss Mille leaned towards him, patted his arm, and said quietly, “So delighted...couldn’t be happier for you.”

He thanked her profusely. The most serious obstacle to this mad dash to marriage had been whether or not the dress would be done in time, and he’d heard that the Moffets had worked well into last night to make sure everything was ready. As a result, he’d included a sizable tip for these two women, along with the envelopes holding the gratuity for the judge, and extra pay for Mrs. O’Rourke, Kathleen, Tilly, and Biddy, for all the work they’d put into making this wedding possible.

Thinking of the envelopes, he suddenly panicked. Where was Tim? Besides the gratuities, he had the rings, which Nate had spent much of yesterday buying and getting engraved. He looked back down the stairs and saw the tall Swede, appearing unusually elegant in his top hat and tails, standing with his lovely Irish wife, Lydia, talking to Kitty Blaine and Ned Goodwin. Seth Timmons stood quietly behind them in the doorway to the parlor. Nate wasn’t surprised that Laura invited him...or that he’d come...but it did make him relieved his parents weren’t here.

Waving to Tim, who nodded and started to make his way to the stairs, Nate thought about the solution that Laura had come up with regarding his parents. Friday night, Nate and Annie were still sitting in the kitchen making plans with an excited Mrs. O’Rourke and Kathleen when Laura came in from her celebration with her friends. When she heard the news about moving the wedding up to Sunday and Annie’s concerns about his parents not being able to make the ceremony, she’d said, “Why don’t you go visit them for your wedding trip, instead? This is the perfect time, in the lull before fall round-up, and Mother would be so pleased.”

Annie embraced the idea, but later, just before he left the boarding house, Nate told her for the first time about his dream of taking her on a two-week trip down to Los Angeles so she could visit her mother’s grave. She hugged him and told him what a sweet idea it was, but then she’d said something that had simply melted his heart.

“I will always have my mother with me...I don’t need to see her grave to keep that memory alive. But I want to start our new life together looking forward. You are the reason I can let go of the past, with all its sadness. And I can’t think of any better way to start that life than to spend some time getting to know and love the new family I am getting with this marriage.”

“Well, old man,” Tim said, coming up on the landing and vigorously shaking his hand. “How are you doing? Don’t look nearly as nervous as I felt on my wedding day.”

“What scared me the most was that this day would never come. This is the first time you’ve been here, isn’t it? Sorry I never was able to get the four of us together before.”

“I know. I haven’t even met the bride-to-be yet. I told Lydia I’d begun to think you were making her up. But if the spread I saw laid out for supper in the parlor is a sample of what your Mrs. O’Rourke can produce on such short notice, then you can expect us to cadge dinner invitations weekly. Make up for all those Saturdays you used to spend with us in your bachelor days.”

Nate smiled and said, trying to keep from sounding too anxious, “You bet. Now you do have the rings, don’t you?”

Tim laughed. “There—those are the nerves you are supposed to have. Yes, I have the rings and the gratuities. And I’ve got your train tickets for tomorrow and the carriage ordered for seven this evening. The Palace Hotel, eh? Pretty fancy. Mrs. Sullivan’s anonymous benefactor must have been pretty darn happy with the way you resolved the case.”

Nate said something about how Tim’s article had helped a good deal, but what he was thinking about was the surprise for Annie. She thought they were going to take the last train to San Jose tonight, getting them to his parents’ ranch very late. But as much as a present for himself, he’d booked one of the best suites in the Palace Hotel for tonight, with a midmorning train ride, so they’d have plenty of time to...

“Nathaniel Dawson, you dog. There’s your blushing bride, and isn’t she stunning?”

Nate looked up, and for a moment all he saw was his sister Laura, who was Annie’s maid of honor, lightly running down the stairs to the landing. Then he saw Annie on the arm of Mr. Stein.

She looked like a queen, with pearls threaded through her fiery blond curls, a stiff ruff of silk the color of sapphires that framed her long neck and plunged down to hint at more treasures than he deserved, and a dress of ivory and blue that shimmered in the afternoon light. She caught his eyes, gave him the secret smile he felt was for him alone, and swept down to join her life to his.

The End

I
would like to express my appreciation to all the family and friends who gave their support during the research and writing of this book. I am particularly indebted to the numerous fans of the series whose encouragement was invaluable throughout the long writing process. As always, my beta readers have made this a better book than I could have achieved on my own, so thanks to Neil Brooks, Jim Brown, DeAnn Christian, Ann Elwood, Micheline Golden, Sally Hawkins, and Joy Sobel. I want to give special thanks to Michelle Huffaker who continues to produce such wonderful covers, and my editor, Jessica Meigs, who has the eye for detail I lack.

I feel I also need to single out one particular resource that was of absolutely invaluable help in the research and writing of this book, Roger Leveson’s
Women in Printing: Northern California, 1857-1890
(Capra Press, 1994), with thanks to my dissertation advisor of long ago, Thomas Dublin, for pointing out this book to me early on in my research.

Finally, this book, as always, wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my loving husband Jim, and my daughter Ashley and her family, who provide me the motivation to keep on writing.

M
. Louisa Locke, a retired professor of U.S. and Women’s history, has embarked on a new career with her best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series, which is based on Dr. Locke's doctoral research on late 19th-century working women.
Maids of Misfortune
,
the first in this series, features domestic service, and
Uneasy Spirits
,
the sequel, explores women and 19th century Spiritualism. Her third book,
Bloody Lessons
, focuses on teachers working in the San Francisco public schools in 1880. She has also written four short stories that are based on characters from the novels, and they can be found in this collection,
Victorian San Francisco Stories
.

Go to
http://mlouisalocke.com/
for more about M. Louisa Locke and her work, including information about the historical research behind these books.

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