CHAPTER ONE
Barbary Coast
San Francisco, California
One week later
“I GOTTA WARN YOU, missy. There ain’t much left to see.”
Amelia Duprey sat perched on the edge of the buggy seat, her gloved hands tightly clenched around Toddy’s braided silk leash. Despite the warning, when the buggy rounded the curve, she gasped at the sight of the charred ruins of the Cock O’ The Walk. It was almost as shocking as coming home from school to the news of her mother’s death only hours before.
Howard Evans reined the horse to the side of the road and set the brake. “Hard to take, ain’t it?”
Amy nodded, unable to speak. Only the stairs were left standing. As a child, she used to hide behind a potted palm at the top of them and watch her mother greet the customers.
Toddy’s whine drew Amy’s attention away from the rubble. “I know, boy. I know.” She put a comforting arm around the dog and patted his shoulder. In a sitting position, the curly canine was as tall as Amy.
“I couldn’t bring myself to ask you before,” Amy ventured, “but...do you know how the fire got started?”
“Well, I—” Howard hesitated, regarding her with a look of uncertainty. “Considering it happened so suddenlike, I ’spect someone knocked over a kerosene lamp.”
“Was there a fight?”
Howard shook his head. “Your mama didn’t allow no fights. Fact is, everything was goin’ as planned—I mean...just fine.”
Amy’s brow puckered in question but before she could speak, Howard went on to explain.
“She’d finished dealing for the night and went upstairs,” he said, his gaze on the ruins. “It weren’t an hour later when she come running back down, leading Toddy with one hand, dragging her trunk with the other and screaming, ‘Fire!’” He paused and took a deep breath as if to muster the courage to finish. “Everyone panicked and started running every which way. I grabbed the cash box and ran out the side door to go ring the fire bell. By the time I got back, the place was ablaze. Bella weren’t nowhere in sight, but she’d tied Toddy up to the handle on her trunk so I figured she was all right.” He bowed his head. “I figured wrong,” he said on a down note. “She’d gone back inside.”
“Why would she go back in?” Amy asked.
“For that.” With a glance behind him, Howard indicated the blanket-wrapped bundle in the rear seat. “Next thing I knew she come running out of the building dragging that painting of hers. By the time I got to her she was on her knees gasping for air. I done everything I could to try to save her, but there weren’t nothing I could do. She died in my arms.”
Thinking about the horror of that night, of the terrible way her mother had died, Amy shuddered. She would never understand why her mother had risked her life to save a painting. But then there was a lot Amy would never understand about her mother, which was exactly the way it was meant to be. Bella Duprey’s mystique was part of her success.
Amy turned to Evans. “I’m ready now,” she said in a steady voice. “We can go.”
He continued to hold the reins still. “I know it ain’t my place to tell you what to do, but I owe it to Bella to try to talk some sense into you. It’s only been a week since you got here. Seems to me that you should give yourself some time to think about what you want to do with your life before you go off to a ranch you ain’t even seen. Your ma left you more than enough money to see you through. And you’d have even more if you decided to sell the property.”
“Sell the ranch? Oh, no, Howard. I couldn’t possibly sell it,” she said, shaking her head. “Settling down on a ranch was Mama’s dream. I know you think I’m acting irrationally, but I really have thought things out. If I don’t like what I see, I can always come back here.”
“I know all about your mama’s dreams, believe me. But things are different now,” the gray-haired man argued. “It’s not up to you—”
Amy placed her gloved hand over his. “Howard, Mama gave me everything I ever wanted. I don’t know if it’s possible, but I have to try to make her dream come true.”
“You’re just as stubborn as Bella was,” he said with a rueful smile, then snapped the reins.
Minutes later they arrived at the stage station. Two burly men hefted Amy’s trunk and her
mother’s smaller one to the top of the coach. When they reached for the painting, she cautioned them to take extra care and watched as they stood it upright between her trunks.
Satisfied it was secure, she led Toddy around to the side of the coach. “Up, boy,” she commanded, patting the floor. Toddy needed no urging. He jumped up into the Concord and sat down. “He’s the smartest dog I’ve ever seen,” she said, turning to Evans.
“Bella was plumb crazy ’bout that fool dog. Spent a lot of time training him.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and a small cloth bundle. “Here’s a list of basic tricks and commands you need to know right off to make him mind you. And here’s some of his favorite treats. Your mama made them special. He’ll do just about anything to get one, so you best hide them where he can’t see or smell them or he’ll drive you crazy with his beggin’. Everything else you need to know ’bout him is in Bella’s journal. You should know, Missy, that your mama put a lot of work into that journal. I believe she intended it to be useful for you one day, although I’m not quite sure how. As far as I know, it’s just full of dog commands.” Evans regarded Toddy with a look of dismay. “To hear Bella talk about that animal, you’d think he was human. Claimed he was the best thing that ever happened to her. Said he taught her more about men than all the courtesans in France.” The moment the words left his mouth, he reddened with embarrassment.
“Is that so?” Amy barely managed to hold back a smile. “In that case—” she lowered her voice to a whisper “—he’ll be quite an asset because I know nothing at all about men.” With that, she lifted her skirt and climbed up into the coach.
A red-faced Evans stood at the stage door until she was settled. “If you need me for anything—
anything at all—I’ll be working downtown at the What Cheer House.”
The moment had come. Amy didn’t speak for fear she would cry. She had known Howard Evans all her life and thought of him as the father she never had.
“Thank you for loving Mama and taking care of her all these years.” She tried to stem the welling tears but could not. “I know in her own way she loved
