New York Hope Read online

  New York Hope

  Clover Springs East book 3

  Rachel Wesson

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Epilogue

  Also by Rachel Wesson

  Chapter 1

  So this was New York, the city of hope, where the streets were paved with gold. It was supposed to be the greatest city in the world, but Lily wasn’t sure she agreed. Her first impression wasn’t too favorable.

  Alicia had come to New York to see her father’s best friend whom she called Uncle Randolph. Erin had come to see some old friends and lay to rest some ghosts from her past. And Lily? She had come because, quite frankly, she had nowhere else to go. Staying in Clover Springs wasn’t an option. Not with the local gossips determined to make her pay in blood, sweat and tears for having lived the only life she had known since she was thirteen. Some of the women in Clover Springs had accepted her but, unfortunately, the most outspoken and vocal gossips believed she should be burnt at the stake, or worse.

  She looked around her, holding Erin’s daughter, Michelle, close to her chest. There were people everywhere and it was very loud compared to the small town they’d come from. Carriages and cabs clipped along the cobbled streets narrowly missing the peddlers hawking their wares. She held her breath as one newspaper boy, who could only have been about nine years old, dodged between a cab and a carriage. Any second, the horses’ hooves would hit him. Lily was sure he’d be trapped beneath the wheels, but a moment later, he emerged unscathed. Sending her a cheeky grin, he continued on his way, leaving Lily’s heart racing so fast, she thought she was going to be sick. She wanted to stand and cover her ears to escape the din. Nobody spoke; they all shouted above the noise.

  She was tempted to get back on the train and stay there until everyone agreed to go home. But the local gossips of Clover Springs would love that, wouldn’t they? Lily stood straighter. Nobody knew her here, so she could start her life over, making different choices. She would never return to Clover Springs.

  “Come along, Lily, stop looking like you saw Ma Kelley.”

  Despite herself, Lily looked around to make sure the woman Doc mentioned wasn’t anywhere in sight. Ma Kelley had made her miserable life even less enjoyable with her constant gossip. If Mrs. Kelley—or Ma Kelley as everyone called her—had her way, Lily and the other girls who’d worked at the Red Feathers would have been driven out of town. But Doc and her husband Mick had stepped in and protected her. She owed them everything.

  She cuddled Michelle closer, telling herself the baby needed her strength. Whereas the reality was, her cuddles made Lily feel braver, ready to face whatever challenges this dirty, smelly, noisy city presented.

  Lily felt sorry for the poor horses having to ride around these streets. She couldn’t help comparing them to those in Clover Springs that enjoyed fresh air and good food.

  “Lily, what are you thinking about? You look so angry,” Erin asked.

  “Sorry, Doc. It’s the horses. Don’t you think they look miserable? They would be so much better off if they were back in Colorado.”

  Doc sent Lily a questioning look but before she said anything, Alicia intervened.

  “Lily, if you find New York too much, we can always arrange for you to go back to Clover Springs early.”

  “Thank you for the kind offer, but I won’t leave Michelle,” Lily said.

  “Give New York a chance, Lily, darling. It’s a wonderful city,” Doc Erin said rubbing the back of Lily’s arm.

  “If you say so, Doc,” Lily said, looking at the squalor they were passing. Every building seemed to be bursting at the seams, the lower level being taken up with stores of all kinds, the upper levels some sort of housing. There were people everywhere, some barely dressed in rags, most going barefoot, their faces white with hunger, their eyes without expression. Women with shawls over their heads and a baby at their breast begging for pennies. Children younger than Alicia’s boys, carrying boot polish, ladders, or chimney brushes. They should be in school at their age. Her eyes welled up as she saw one little boy share what looked like a crust of bread with a group of others. The cobbled streets were covered in litter from old newspapers to mounds of horse manure. They looked as if they were never cleaned.

  Then the picture cleared somewhat. The area had a different look and feel about it. For one thing, the streets were cleaner, there were still piles of manure but they looked fresh. There were fewer people milling about and those who were had better clothes and the majority wore shoes. The properties were different too. They were in a better state of repair and looked to be well maintained. There were fewer stores and less shouting and cursing. The cab continued on a couple of blocks before the horse-drawn vehicle pulled up outside a grand hotel.

  “Is this it?” Lily gazed on in awe.

  “Close your mouth, Lily, darling, and pretend we are all used to living in a place like this. We don’t want the management to think we are country cousins,” Alicia said gently.

  Lily could only stare. While Alicia Higgins might be able to pretend to live in a property similar to this, she couldn’t imagine what that would be like. She got out of the cab carefully. Michelle was still asleep but the baby was far too young to appreciate the view anyhow.

  She looked out at the streets around her. There were masses of people wandering around this city. None of them knew anything about her. Here she could just disappear. Maybe even change her name and become someone else, but whom? What would she do to survive? Because one thing was for sure, she wasn’t going back to working in a gentleman’s club again. Not ever.

  Chapter 2

  Charlie Doherty wiped the sweat from his forehead. Despite it being the month of February, the weather was quite mild, which was perfect for working outdoors. The work was backbreaking but didn’t require any intellectual input, leaving him to dream. Or have a continuous nightmare.

  His da hitting his mam was causing him sleepless nights. Not least because he wanted to hit the man back but knew that wouldn’t solve anything. He should go home more often, but he couldn’t bear to see the suffering his family was going through. It wasn’t so much the squalor they were living in. Many families shared similar or worse accommodations in New York. It was the despair, the lack of hope that things would improve, that he couldn’t handle.

  His gran had been different this weekend though. Her friend Doc Erin was due in New York for a visit and Gran thought she might do something for the family. She was a bit vague on the details, other than it could involve Nora going to Clover Springs as a mail order bride. He didn’t envy his sister. Getting marr
ied was bad enough, but to a complete stranger out in the middle of the frontier? No, that life wasn’t for him. He was happy as he was.

  “Going to the boozer tonight Charlie, or do you have other plans?” Derek, one of his co-workers asked.

  Charlie didn’t get a chance to answer.

  “Course he has other arrangements. Sure the night you see Charlie Doherty without a woman on his arm, you know there’s something wrong with this world,” Jackson, another worker, answered sending a knowing look in Charlie’s direction.

  “Do you never think of settling down Charlie? I mean those women you keep company with are all right for a bit of fun but you can’t get serious about any of them. Your ma wouldn’t accept one of them for a start and if she did, your gran definitely wouldn’t,” Derek said confidently.

  Charlie let the men chat about him. He wasn’t answerable to anyone not even his gran, despite her reputation around Hell’s Kitchen. He loved Carmel Doherty with a passion but he wasn’t about to live his life by her rules. He liked having fun and what better way to enjoy life than a few drinks with a good looking woman who was happy to share his bed for a few hours afterward. None of the women he went on dates with were ever under the illusion a ring was forthcoming. Charlie Doherty was young, free and single. And he was staying that way.

  Chapter 3

  After a busy few days, Lily got a chance to explore her new surroundings by herself. She was both excited and nervous about leaving her friends behind, but someday soon they would be returning to Clover Springs. She had to learn to stand on her own two feet.

  The streets were even busier than before. She couldn’t find a cab so decided to walk for a bit. She held onto her purse carefully, not wanting to lose the little bit of money she had managed to save. She wasn’t about to spend Alicia’s gift of five dollars on dresses, either. She would buy some decent clothes, but the majority of her money would go toward her future. She walked down a couple of streets before realizing she was hopelessly lost. She was just about to take a cab when she saw a help wanted sign in a window. Reading it, she decided it was fate.

  She ran a hand through her hair making sure it was still in place. Then she took a deep breath, walked up a couple of steps and knocked on the door.

  “Good morning, miss, what can I do for you?” the manager of the shop asked.

  “I saw the notice in the window. I wondered if I could have more details, please.”

  “You’re not from around here, are you? Not with that accent.”

  “No, ma’am. I’m from Colorado. I am staying in New York with my current family as they are on honeymoon,” Lily said.

  “Are you a lady’s maid?”

  “No, ma’am. A nursemaid. I look after their daughter.” Lily realized her mistake as the woman paled before her. “My apologies, ma’am. They adopted their daughter on the day they got married. Her ma died and there was no one else. My employer is a doctor and she just couldn’t leave the baby.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  But Lily could see she didn’t. Not at all. She wasn’t sure what had shocked the woman more, the idea of a baby coming on a honeymoon, or a female doctor. She listened to the woman’s dismissal and left.

  The experience made her realize she had to make a more serious attempt at finding a job. She would face the same issues regardless of where she settled. People would expect her to have some experience doing something and she couldn’t very well admit to what she had actually worked at. She would speak to Erin and Mick about it when she got back to the hotel. There had to be something she was qualified to do.

  She forgot about going exploring and instead took a cab back to the hotel. It was a luxury but she justified it by deciding she could have easily gotten lost. Staring out at the view, it was easy to see New York was a city of opposites. She knew some of the wealthiest people in America lived in New York but so, too, did some of the poorest. As if to illustrate her point, she saw a couple waiting for someone, their clothes of the highest quality. The man was smoking a cigar, studiously ignoring what looked like a family who was desperately trying to get warm hovering over a steam grate. The children were barefoot, the mother holding a shawl around her head and that of her baby. For a second, Lily was tempted to stop the cab and bring them back to the hotel with her. But that wouldn’t work. The family would feel uncomfortable if they even managed to get past the main door before Mr. Floyd kicked them out.

  She didn’t like Mr. Floyd, the hotel manager. She had caught him looking at her in the leering way so familiar from her past. She knew he looked down on their party with perhaps the exception of Alicia. Lily sighed, it wasn’t as if he owned the hotel, he only worked there. Maybe someone should remind him of that fact.

  She put her head back against the seat for the remainder of her journey. What was she going to do with herself? She couldn’t go back to Clover Springs. But could she stay here?

  What she would really love to do would be to work with young runaways, girls like herself who saw no option but to leave home. Those for whom sleeping on the streets was preferable to the nightmares endured at the hands of their parents. But by doing so, the girls and boys left themselves vulnerable to those like Dickinson who preyed on the weak. If they only had somewhere to go, a sort of shelter where they could find help without judgment. She would love to work in a place like that. But did they even exist? And if they did, could they afford to pay her a high enough wage so she was protected too?

  Chapter 4

  “Doherty, are you working this weekend?”

  “No sir, I thought I would go see my family. My gran has friends in town and she wants me to meet them.”

  “Good looking friends?” one of the workers called out but Charlie ignored him.

  “Did you want me to work on something, Guv?” Charlie asked.

  His governor, or gaffer as the lads called him, stared at him but he didn’t seem to be looking at Charlie. His thoughts were miles away.

  “The points out at Breckan way need fixing. The drivers are bending my ear over how much they rattle when the cars move over them. But I guess it will keep.”

  Charlie thought quickly. His gran would be disappointed but the money he earned from working extra time would come in handy.

  “I’ll do it but you’ll have to explain to me gran.”

  “Not on your life Doherty. I’d rather take me chances with the drivers than deal with Carmel Doherty. She’s some woman your gran.”

  Charlie felt slightly uncomfortable at the look of admiration on his gaffer’s face. Surely he couldn’t fancy his gran. The man had to be at least sixty for goodness sake.

  “I’ll get one of the young lads to call down to her with a note,” Charlie said. “Who else do I take with me to check Breckan?”

  The gaffer looked around the yard but the men, who seconds before were standing around idle, suddenly looked very busy. “Up to you really. Who do you want to work with?”

  Charlie surveyed his options. Didn’t matter much to him. “I reckon Derek will be happy with the extra money. Do you want us to head out there now?”

  “No, morning first light will do fine. Wouldn’t want to interrupt your plans for a Friday evening.” The gaffer nodded and then walked off, leaving Charlie to deal with a grumpy Derek.

  “Why did you have to give him my name? I was looking forward to putting my feet up this weekend.”

  “I thought you needed the money. Your wedding is coming up and they don’t come cheap, you know.”

  Derek scowled. Charlie knew he didn’t like being reminded of his upcoming nuptials. It was his own fault though. He should have been stronger and resisted the Walton girl’s charms. Sure, she was a bit of a looker but you could get what she was holding onto from someone just as pretty and she wouldn’t expect you to marry her afterwards. But then Derek wouldn’t listen when the lads tried to advise him Mary Walton was only interested in getting a ring on her finger. Before Derek knew where he was, Father Devine was sitting in front of h
im arranging to call the banns.

  Charlie tidied up a bit around the yard. He hated working in chaos. As he put away some tools, he spotted two youngsters, aged about ten, hanging around nearby.

  “What devilment are you two planning?”

  The taller of the boys looked around as if there were loads of other children hanging around planning mischief.

  “Us? We ain’t doing nothin.”

  Charlie smiled at the double negative. The young lad had just pronounced himself guilty, not that he knew it. The poor fella looked as if he hadn’t had a square meal in a year, never mind a month.

  “Hungry are ye?” he asked.

  “Yes sir.”

  Charlie winced as the taller lad hit the younger one who had answered him.

  “Ouch, what did you go and do that for?”

  “Keep your trap shut. You don’t tell no-one nothin.”

  “I’m starvin’. What’s the big secret?” the younger lad replied.

  “Ned told us to say nothin’ to no one.”

  Charlie’s ears pricked up at the name Ned. “Is that Ned Duffy you’re on about? We’re old friends. He wouldn’t mind ye telling me what you got planned.”

  The mouthier child looked at the younger one and back at Charlie.