Gold Mountain (12 page)

“I don’t know where Morton Street is.”

He gave me a sidelong look before commenting, “I’d think twice about a nice girl like you if you did.”

“Oh, that kind of street.”

“Yes, that kind of street. There’s always trouble there for one reason or another.” We walked a block north to Clay Street and stopped on the corner. “We’ll soon be riding the very first cable car in the world, Dinah. Andrew Hallidie had it installed in 1873.” The pride I heard in Colin’s voice when he spoke about the cable car was repeated several times over the next few hours. Obviously, he knew a great deal about the history of San Francisco, but more than knowledge, I detected love for the city in his voice.

As we sat on the edge of the recently unveiled Donahue Memorial Fountain, the sun turning the fountain’s water into tiny rainbows and glinting off the backs of the statue’s huge bronze workmen, I asked, “You really love San Francisco, don’t you?”

My question seemed to startle him. “Love it? Well, I’ve never thought of it that way before, but I suppose I do. I’ve never known anything else. My parents met here and married here and raised me and my brothers here. And my mother and da are both buried here, too. I suppose it’s home.”

“Do you live with your brothers?”

“No. There are three of us O’Connor brothers, but I’m the only one that stayed around. Sean went north to Alaska to look for gold and young Jamie had a hankering to see Mexico.”

“Are you all by yourself, then, Colin?”

“I was ‘til I joined the police. Now I’ve got a lot of brothers.”

I caught the same proprietary tone in his comment about the police that I heard when he talked about the city and read him as a proud man of strong loyalties. I liked him the better for it.

Later, talking comfortably over lunch at the Poodle Dog, Colin asked, “So what do you think?”

“Of what?”

“Of the sights. Of the sandwich. Of me. You pick.”

“Oh, I think the sights are splendid, the beef is as tender as you promised, and you are an excellent companion.” I could tell my response pleased him.

“I’m not always going to walk a beat and live in a two-room flat at the top of Telegraph Hill, Dinah.” He leaned across the table toward me, his green eyes serious. “I have plans for the future. There’s a lot of money in this city and a lot of successful men. I plan to be one of them someday. San Francisco is a kind mistress for the Irish, begging your pardon for the comparison.” I was intrigued by the confident ambition I heard in his voice.

“What exactly do you want out of life, Colin?”

He sat back in his chair not smiling. “Everything. I want everything.”

“But who could possibly have everything?”

“Charles Crocker, James Phelan, William Tevis, Claus Spreckels—do you want me to go on?”

“No. I get your point. Well, good luck to you. I hope you get what you’re looking for.”

“I’d rather get what I’m looking
at
,” he replied, meeting my look with an intent one of his own before relaxing with a smile. “A beautiful and intelligent woman like yourself deserves to be a rich man’s wife.”

“I’m not sure the life of a rich man’s wife is everything it’s purported to be,” I responded thoughtfully, ignoring the compliment, “but I can’t speak from experience. Although now that I think about it, I suppose our Chinese communicants must have considered our family to be rich as Croesus. Perhaps it’s all a matter of perspective. Perhaps my sister’s house on Grove Street is a mansion compared to a ten by ten hut with a dirt floor and a leaky roof.”

“I haven’t seen your sister’s house, but a mansion is a mansion, Dinah. Next time we’re out together, I’ll take you around Nob Hill. Then you’ll know what I’m talking about.”

I liked the thought of spending further time with Colin O’Connor more than I was prepared to admit aloud. Like any woman of flesh and blood, the idea of a gentleman admirer held definite appeal, an appeal enhanced by the unambiguous approval I saw on Colin’s face whenever he looked at me. The knowledge that he enjoyed my company gave our time together a certain energy that I found exciting.

“I haven’t seen Nob Hill, so I’ll look forward to a visit. My sister told me all about the mansions there, with horse stables bigger than her house and rooms encrusted with gems and marble brought over from Italy. It all sounds like the stuff of daydreams.”

“Oh, it’s true all right. You’ll see.” He stood. “Sad to say, I have to get you home now, but you’ll see, Dinah. I promise.” He infused the last two words with more than a guarantee for a second sightseeing trip, promising me something that he did not detail further and that I did not pursue.

Let events take their natural course, I told myself, and we’ll see what happens. I could have warned him that it was never a good idea for a man to be too confident of my interest or his ability to engage it. I had been raised to be an independent woman, and I never appreciated an overt attack on that independence. I held it too dear and like virginity, I believed that once independence was lost, it was impossible to regain. That was something Colin O’Connor could learn about me over time, however, and I imagined the learning could be quite enjoyable for both of us.

Colin left me at the front door so my sister did not get the chance to meet him, but she listened with interest to my description of the day and with even more interest to my description of Colin.

“A touch of Irish brogue combined with a boxer’s physique sounds like an attractive combination. And he helped save that little girl, you said, Dinah, so there must be a kind heart behind his green eyes.”

“I don’t know him well enough to say that’s true, Ruth, but I’d like to think so. He was certainly touched by Suey Wah’s story.”

Ruth heard something in my voice that made her turn away from the stove to face me and ask, “Don’t you like this Colin O’Connor?”

“I like him very much.”

“Ah, so that’s the problem.”

“What’s the problem?”

“You’ve always been like that, Dinah, cautious with yourself. I think you’re afraid of trusting too much, but I can’t for the life of me imagine why that should be. You’ve always been able to choose from an abundance of suitors and a line of admirers.” She stopped in arrested thought. “You didn’t have a secret heartbreak you’re not telling me about, did you?”

“No, nothing like that, but I do like being sure about people before I entrust them with my confidence, and being sure about someone takes time.”

“Not as much time as you think when you find the right person.”

“But how do you know it’s the right person? That’s the problem I always run into, and I can’t afford to make the wrong choice.”

Poor Ruth. She started more than one sentence to explain the mysteries of love before finally giving up, saying simply, “You just know.” At my skeptical stare, she added, “You’ll find out someday. You just know.”

It was the answer she always fell back on, and I was still waiting for something in my own life to substantiate it. Maybe, I thought, hopeful despite myself, Colin O’Connor would be the man to prove her point.

Chapter Five

O
n Saturday I expected to make the same trip to the Broadway Dock I’d made several weeks earlier when I had used my first full day in San Francisco to confront Jake Pandora. Surprisingly, Ruth felt quite comfortable with my visit to the Pandora Transport Company and didn’t spend any time trying to talk me out of the excursion.

“You’re dressed quite nicely today,” she observed, examining my walking dress with an approving eye. “That lace jabot at the neck is a nice touch, and I’ve always thought there was something almost flirtatious about a flounce at the bottom of a skirt. And have you done something different with your hair? How unusual for you to spend so much time on your appearance! This meeting with Mr. Pandora must be very important.”

I ignored her wide-eyed, too-innocent look and turned to face the hallway mirror in order to pin on my hat.

“I’d go with you,” Ruth continued more seriously, realizing I wasn’t going to respond to her teasing, “but if I want to get our cotillion gowns finished in time, I need to spend the day sewing.”

I felt guilty that she should be slaving over my dress as well as hers, but when I told her so, she waved away my words.

“You know I’ve always enjoyed sewing, and the patterns I bought make it easier than ever to enjoy the latest styles. Wait until you see the finished products, Dinah. You’ll be amazed.” The look of pleasure on her face made me give her a quick, spontaneous kiss on the cheek.

“Don’t spend too much time on mine,” I cautioned. “After all, I’m just a visitor in San Francisco. These are Martin’s and your associates, not mine.”

“Hm-m-m. Well, that’s true, I suppose, but every single gentleman who’s anyone in the city will be there, and I intend to show you off to advantage. My expanding waistline will give me away immediately as a mundane wife aspiring to motherhood. On the other hand, I imagine many people will want to meet the beautiful and brave Dinah Hudson, and I want you to look the part. You never know who might fall immediately and desperately in love with you.”

I was about to speak an unladylike retort when someone knocked on the front door. I opened it to a vaguely familiar face that took me a moment to place. “Casey!” I cried finally, then added with less confidence, “It is Casey, isn’t it?”

He removed his cap to show a balding pate and grinned at me. “’Tis Casey indeed, Miss. I’ve got orders to pick you up and deliver you to Jake.”

“Oh.” I stared at him. “Well, that’s certainly thoughtful of Mr. Pandora, but he might have asked first. I’m quite capable of arranging my own transportation.”

“No doubt about that, Miss. Only now that I’m here, it would be a sad waste of time and effort if you didn’t take advantage of the offer of my cab. Fare’s all paid for, too. You can just enjoy the ride.”

Behind me, Ruth pushed a short jacket at me, saying, “He’s right, Dinah. Go on. Isn’t that thoughtful of Mr. Pandora?”

I made a sound that bordered on a snort and grumbled, “More a guilty conscience than thoughtfulness, I’d say,” and then felt guilty myself because I knew I hadn’t misread the sincere regret in Jake Pandora’s eyes when he had admitted his mistake about Mae Tao. I had my own remorseful conscience, besides, and added more charitably, “I suppose it is thoughtful, though I still wish he’d have shared his intention with me. What if I’d already left for the Dock? I’m not completely incapable of independent thought and action.”

Ruth patted me on the shoulder as she pushed me through the front door. “Of course, you’re not,” she agreed soothingly. In her voice I heard how my sister would one day sound when dealing with a pouting child. “No one is doubting your abilities, Dinah. Not me. Not the gentleman who’s driving the cab. And I’m sure not Mr. Pandora, either.” She gave a final pat to my shoulder. “Martin is coming home for a late lunch today so try to be back in time to eat with us. Good-bye.” With that, Ruth stepped back inside the house and firmly shut the door.

Casey—apparently a man with a natural savvy about women’s moods—wordlessly helped me into the cab before taking his own seat. That trip I didn’t spend as much time as usual admiring the thriving streets of downtown San Francisco or absorbing its boisterous energy. Instead, I was considering what I could—or should—tell Jake Pandora. Should I share my speculation that Mae Tao and Suey Wah had arrived together? I could not be absolutely sure, and yet I felt an almost unnerving certainty that it was so.

When we arrived at the base of the steep alley where the Pandora Transport Company was located, Casey offered me a hand down. “I’ll be right here, Miss, waiting for you, so take as long as you need.”

“I’m Dinah, Casey, not Miss, and thank you.”

“You can thank Jake. His idea, not mine. I’m getting my regular fare, and if I know anything about Jake Pandora, a generous tip besides. Not that I don’t enjoy carrying you around San Francisco, of course. ”

“I can see that the pleasure of my company and a generous tip would be about as much excitement as a man could stand,” I remarked dryly, picking up my skirts and beginning the climb up the alley. Behind me I heard Casey chuckle.

Jake Pandora stood in the transport company doorway waiting for me. He looked cool and relaxed—or he may only have seemed so by comparison with me. The exertion of the climb combined with the constricting corset I’d donned that morning for no reason except vanity made me pant indelicately, and the Bay breeze and damp morning fog had loosened tendrils of my hair, which had been pinned into a becoming coiffure when I had left the house earlier. In exasperation, I pushed the loose curls behind my ears and unwittingly knocked my hat crooked in doing so. All this Jake Pandora observed steadily and without a word until I stood in front of him.

Then, with a perfectly expressionless voice, he commented, “Next time Casey can deliver you right to the door.” I hesitated for just a moment, knowing an implied insult when I heard one, but couldn’t help myself. I laughed out loud.

“I found my sea legs easily enough, but the hills of San Francisco are more of a challenge than the entire Pacific Ocean.”

“Maybe you need to get out and about more.”

“Maybe I need to stop being so vain and get rid of the confounded corset.” I spoke without thinking and looked at him quickly to see his reaction. Corsets were not usually part of public conversation.