Pioneer Love: Damaged Hearts Head West: Mail Order Bride 5 Bundle (29 page)

Yes!
She wanted to yell. She wanted to tell him that she was hurting inside. She was hurting that she was thrown out of her home to end up in a brothel. She wanted to tell him that she was hurting because a man tried to disrespect her. But there was no one she could trust. Not even that angel-faced doctor. So she shook her head and pulled the covers up to her neck.

Chapter 8

Troy tried to gauge Lauren’s actions, but he couldn’t help but just look at her. Those eyes pulled him in, and he was induced into a trance by their very presence. But this was not helping her. Last night her reaction had shaken him from the inside. She was scared, she looked so hurt, and so fragile that he wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her that all was going to be alright. Since her accident, she had caught pneumonia and now had a high fever. Maybe that was why she was afraid, but he feared it was not. He feared that she had good reason to be scared, and that reason came in the shape of the man and woman who kept coming to visit. Maybe he could help her but to do so he needed to know who she was and how she was, but she wouldn’t speak up. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to look after you,” he said in his soft reassuring voice, and God knew how true it was. “You don’t need to be scared of anything, Lauren. I won’t let anything happen to you, trust me. I am here to help,” he said.

That seemed to do the trick, and then Lauren burst into tears.

Troy thought his heart had been ripped into two when he saw tears running down her scarred face. He told the nurse to bring water. When she left the room, he sat next to Lauren and told her she was safe with him, that nothing could hurt her ever again.

“No one can save me. I am in a fire that can’t be put out,” she whispered.

“No, don’t say that.”

“I’ll burn to death a thousand times in this life, but will never actually die.”

So he held her hand and told her he would keep her safe and he prayed that he wouldn’t let her down.

That’s when she told him all about her mother’s letter to Henry, her ending up in a brothel, and then that night when she had fallen from the second floor while struggling to save her dignity.

Troy’s blood burned in his veins. He wanted to smash that ugly faced Henry and his uglier sister until they both bled to death. He took her hand in his.  “I will save you from him, I promise,” he said sincerely. All he knew was that this woman belonged to him, and he would move heaven and earth to save her.

“Why would you save me? Who am I to you? I am just an unwanted monster with an ugly, repulsive face that nobody can bear to look at,” she said.

“You are not going to decide what you are to others,” he said sternly. “And you are not to think such awful things about yourself. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life,” he said. He wanted to add that she was the one he was falling head over heels in love with. But he didn’t want to scare her off. “Just focus on getting yourself healthy, and leave the rest to me,” he told her with a smile.

Troy used all his resources to gather information on Henry Van Percy, and he did not like what he found. The man had been running a brothel for the past few years. It appeared that he trapped innocent girls either through matrimonial advertisings, or by blackmailing them. He had almost twenty-five young girls in his abominable property.

Troy’s next thought was to go to the law, but they were provided by the mining company. Troy had asked around discreetly and it appeared they liked the brothel. It looked like the girls would receive no help from them.

Then he thought about going in there and breaking her out, but it was known that they had strong-armed men. Troy feared that the girls would get hurt if he tried to help them. The only way he could get Lauren out, was to pay for her. After he had made a few inquiries he knew he did not have enough money saved away, and even if he did how could he leave the other women in that evil place? They were all innocent; he had to find another way.

Lauren was in and out of fever for another day. Troy sat with her as much as he could. Wiping her brow and talking to her. It gave him peace as he wondered how he could save her from that awful man. There had to be a way, and so he prayed at her bedside. Asking the Lord to keep her safe and asking Him to show Troy how. During one of his prayers, an idea came to him, and he ran from the hospital to the telegraph office. Maybe this would work, maybe not, but he had to do something.

The following day he checked back at the telegraph office. Nothing had come for him and when he got to the hospital, Henry Van Percy and that Lilly woman were by Lauren’s bed. Luckily she was sleeping. Troy rushed across and grabbed the man’s arm just before he shook her. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“I came for my property,” Henry said.

Troy felt anger surge through him and he almost struck the man. The shock on his face made Henry step back, if only he had known it was because Troy was never violent. Deciding to take advantage he stepped towards Henry. “Lauren is not well enough to be discharged just yet. It will be a few more days before she can leave.”

“The nurse said she could go today,” Lilly said with a sneer.

“Well it’s not her decision,” Troy said. “She will need at least two more days of bed rest and after that at least a week more of rest. She cannot… cannot… be… She must not work until after Christmas, and that is the only way I will release her, this side of the holiday. Are we clear?”

Henry nodded, and Lilly gave him a mean look.

“Told you she was a waste of good money,” Lilly said as she turned and strode from the ward.

Troy watched them leave and hoped he had given Lauren enough time. One way or the other, he had to get her out of there before she came to any harm.

Lauren woke the following day. Her fever had cleared, and she was coherent and agitated. The nurse called for Troy, and he came running to her.

“Lauren, you are safe here,” he said as he came in. The nurse left them alone and Lauren relaxed back on the bed.

“I can’t stay,” she said. “If I do, they will come back for me, and I cannot return to that awful place.

“I understand, but in your current state you won’t get too far,” Troy said. He did not mention that Henry had posted a guard at the hospital. The man had been there when he came in this morning, just after he checked at the telegraph office. So instead he asked her about her home.

Lauren spoke of her sisters, and mother. She told him how beautiful they were, and how happy they had been before… At that she stopped and her hand went to her face. “I am sorry,” she said. “Sorry that you have to talk to me while looking at this.”

Troy pulled her hand away from her face and touched her cheek. It was smooth and the touch sent electric up his fingers and into his heart. “Never hide your face from me,” he said. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever met, and I could spend hours just staring at the beauty and contradiction that is your face. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for who you are, Lauren. I know how much this must have hurt.” Gently he took her hand and massaged the two fingers that were fused together. “You are brave and strong and you will get through this. I promise you that you will be safe.”

Lauren believed him. There was something about this man that drew her to him and made her feel safe. As they talked one of the nurses was sat in a rocking chair knitting dolls. It was something that Lauren had noticed before. “Why does she make so many dolls?” Lauren asked one day.

“They are Christmas gifts for the children in our orphanage,” Troy said.

“Could I help?” she asked.

Troy nodded, and so Lauren started to make dolls, clothes, gloves, and hats for the children. It was the most rewarding thing she had ever done. When Troy wasn’t there, sometimes Sister Jane would sit with her. “How many children are in the orphanage?” she asked.

“We have eleven at the moment,” Sister Jane said.

“Who looks after them?”

“We take it in turns, but they do not get enough care.”

“I wish I could help,” Lauren said and then heat flamed across her cheeks and she lowered her head. Tears fell from her eyes and landed on her lap.

“What is it?” the sister asked.

“I love children, but with my face I would scare them so,” Lauren said. To her surprise Sister Jane laughed. Lauren’s mouth opened with indignation.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sister Jane said. “It’s just that these children have seen much worse than you, my dear. I assure you that they would not be afraid of you, most of them would not even notice. When you are well enough, you are welcome to come help us.”

Lauren was filled with both joy and anguish. It would be so nice to be accepted, and would be glorious to work with the children. It would be an answer to all her prayers. For a second a life with Doctor Troy and the children flashed through her mind. Heat spread up her face and she pushed it away. That was the dream that made her heart sing, but it would never be. That was one thing she was sure of.

Every day around noon Henry and Lilly would visit. They had nothing to say to her except for abusive words and curses. They blamed her for making a mess for them and giving them unnecessary expenses when she wasn’t bringing them any money.

She knew they had posted a guard outside her room so she couldn’t escape. So the only ray of hope she had was Dr. Troy Ramsey, her angel. In three days, she had found herself always waiting for his arrival and her eyes were stuck on the door. There was something about him that called her. He was kind to her; he listened to her and spoke well to her. And of course, he was the first one to call her beautiful. Whenever he entered the room, she felt small tingles in her belly, and her breath became short. She liked him; in fact she liked him a lot. Though he never talked about taking her away from that awful place, yet she was still holding on to his words from the first day.
“You will be safe.”

By the third day, she was ready to be taken back to the saloon and her life of servitude. It was nurse Rosita who helped her pack, she kept looking at the door to see if Troy would visit and then take her away, but he didn’t come. “Maybe he lied too,” she said to herself when Rosita told her that her discharge papers were ready. She longed to see him, or Sister Jane, but neither of them came and it was almost time to go.

That’s when the door opened and he walked in. Looking like her guardian angel, he glided over to the bed and left her breathless with hope.

“Nurse, can you please check if her attendants have signed the papers. I’ll do one last check on Miss Morley,” he said and the nurse left. As soon as the door closed, he turned to her and gently took her hands in his. “Listen to me carefully now, Lauren. I can take you away now but if I do so, the other girls will be left there. Tell me what you want?”

Lauren did not know what to say. She did not know the other girls, and she almost said
take me.
Then she remembered how afraid she was, and she knew every one of those girls went through the same thing. If she could help them, she would. “I want you to help all of us,” she said the words so low that he had to lean forward to hear.