Author's Note/Disclaimer:
I don't own Hell on Wheels or any of the characters created by Joe and Tony Gayton.
Ti
Nora had hoped that the Swede's morning ablutions would wake her, rather than the whistle of the train at the platform. He was gone. No doubt to guarantee he would not have to see her. This morning she didn't want to think about him, didn't want to feel sadness at his absence in the caboose. She had to see her friend off. She dressed quickly, carelessly pinning her hair atop her head. She raced out of the train car, her feet sinking into the mud as she headed for the platform.
Lilly was already there with Durant. He was dictating to two men quickly taking notes, moving swiftly towards the locomotive. Lilly's eyes searched the crowd of people nearby. As she spotted Nora running for the platform she grinned. The women embraced, and Lilly stroked the hair that escaped her bun away from Nora's face, tears filled Nora's eyes; she had expected it to be difficult to say goodbye.
Durant boarded the train as the foreman Bohannon stepped closer to say goodbye. Nora stepped back and watched the exchange; intrigued by the obvious attraction the couple shared and yet denied. Moments later they all turned to see the tattooed woman running up the platform, "They're going to hang him!" She was yelling. Bohannon could barely decipher what she was saying. She explained that the Irishmen had caught she and Elam together. Nora gathered this was the man Bohannon had been fighting. They hadn't killed him for beating a white man in a fight, but this indiscretion they could not abide; they were going to kill him. Bohannon told her to go to the Swede, he was Durant's chief of security. Nora's heart leapt when Eva explained it was the Swede that sanctioned the hanging.
Bohannon shook his head in disgust, and was off. Durant impatiently called Lilly inside; she gripped a distraught Nora one more time as she boarded to train. Not recognizing the turmoil in which she was leaving her friend. Eva turned accusingly at Nora. "You're no better than me. You sleep with that bastard every night….you're no better than me". With that, Eva left Nora standing alone on the platform.
Nora was bereft. She found it impossible to believe that Thor would sanction the killing of a man, guilty only of bedding a willing whore, based solely on a difference of color. It was inexcusable and Nora felt her heart pounding, could feel blood rush to her face and chest, could hear it thrumming through her ears. She didn't know where to turn; Durant was gone, Lilly was gone, Bohannon was this man Elam's, only hope. There was nothing she could do but confront the man with whom she feared confrontation.
Nora walked briskly to the caboose. She climbed the steps and pushed the door open without ceremony.
Thor glanced in her direction; taking in her flushed appearance, her heavy breathing, the long strands of red hair escaping the knot of hair on the top of her head. He observed her briefly, then, inflaming her temper he looked back down at the work on his desk, ignoring her heavily breathing form.
She approached his desk in a fit and slammed her hands down on top of it. Demanding his attention. He merely leaned back in his chair, hands folded, and stared at her expectantly.
"Can I help you, Miss Boelter?"
Nora barely concealed her shocked gasp, breathlessly she mimicked his accented question, voice quaking in rage and fear, she asked incredulously, "can you help, me?"
"No, Thor. You cannot help me. You can help the poor colored man you've allowed your white employees to string up. Was that what you meant last night when you said 'some amusement in town'?"
Thor swallowed hard, and cleared his throat to speak. "I think you are worrying yourself with things that don't concern you, Miss Boelter."
"This kind of behavior is what started The War, Thor! How could you have suffered the way you did, only to allow the perpetuation of torture due to nothing but the color of a man's skin. It's despicable!"
The Swede stood abruptly. "You go too far, Miss. Boelter. You speak of things you do not understand. The task of keeping the peace in this place comes with a cost, sometimes there must be blood in exchange for peace. I would think after The War that would be something you would understand."
"I know that my father taught my brother and I to treat all men equally; that color wasn't reason to hate; and never reason to maim or kill".
"Your father, the rebel? He taught you about equality? Yet he fought and died for slavery, ya? A confederate soldier? It is easy to pass judgments on the decisions other men are forced to make. Your father understood that; he gave his life for the rebel cause; he encouraged your brother to give his."
Tears began streaming down Nora's face before the Swede finished his tirade. "Now you speak of things you don't understand, Mr. Swede."
Thor walked to where his black coat hung by the door. He reached into the pocket and gripped a small piece of paper tightly in his hand. As he turned he held it out to Nora.
Her hand shook as she reached for the slip of paper, confused.
"You and I have come to an impasse, Miss Boelter. It would be inappropriate for me to have you here now that you are well. And perhaps, more inappropriate, for you to stay with no chaperone or protector."
"I can take care of myself, Mr. Swede. I'll take in laundry, I'll work-"she pushed the slip of paper open with a shaking thum.
On the slip was a hastily scrawled address: Declan Boelter. "How did you-"
"This is the only family you have left, it behooves me to encourage you to go to him. To New York." Thor loomed over her, impressing his point with his intimidating stature.
"You did this without my permission, Thor."
"Ya. But with good intention."
"And if I don't go?"
"I tell you before. The women taking in laundry are whores, Nora. With no protection, this will be your fate."
Nora turned her back on the Swede and began quickly gathering the few things Lilly had given her into a small bag; she turned to leave.
"There is no train for New York leaving today."
"I will not suffer your presence for one more moment."
The Swede said nothing, merely clicked his tongue to register the insult had made impact as she had desired. "Where will you go?"
"It would be inappropriate for me to tell you that, considering I am no longer in your care, sir." It stung that Thor had not tried harder to stop her, that after all of his concern he would let her sleep in the muddy streets of Hell on Wheels.
"You are a coward, Thor." And with that; she slammed the door and left him standing in his caboose.
Nora approached Durant's Pullman. And knocked tearfully at the door. Durant's man Henri opened the door with a rifle in his hand.
"Henri, with Mrs. Bell's departure, I am struck by the unavoidable fact that I am alone here. I've decided to depart on the 11 o'clock train for New York tomorrow; and I'm afraid I find it impossible to reside with Mr. Gundersen for one more night."
Henri put down his rifle and stepped aside, "We are all alone here, Mademoiselle. You may sleep in Mrs. Bell's compartment. No doubt Monsieur Durant would not disallow this."
Nora sat at Lilly's vanity, brushing out her hair, studying her tear stained face. She was grateful Henri did not ask why she would be spending her last night in Hell on Wheels away from the Swede. She did not want to spend one more moment considering his hurtful tone or shameful treatment.
Bohannon had freed the negro. That man had a way of disrupting every one of Thor's plans. He walked around the saloon studying the dead men.
"Sure is a stupid lookin' spud muncher, i'nt he?"
"Have some respect for the dead, Mr. Bolan. In the end when all is said and done, all we really own is our death. It is given us the moment we're born; we carry that burden the best we can. I seen men die screamin' and I seen men die without nary a peep."
The Swede sat across from Mr. Toole at the table. "Now, this hanging of yours went not so well."
"He was as good as dead until 'Jonny Reb' came burstin' in here."
"And what do you propose to do about it?"
Silence.
"Well, this brigand, this rebel, has upset the balance once again; and he must be dealt with".
"I still don't follow".
"Why does that not surprise me? You, must pursue Bohannon."
"Me?"
"Ya."
"I don't know nothin' about warfare and such."
"Eh now, you created this mess, and you'll clean it up or die tryin'"
"I'll not do it."
The Swede could not abide being questioned again. First Nora, denying his reasoning for sending her away and now this Irish drunkard, with the last shreds of his composure slipping through his fingers the Swede stabbed at Toole's face with the fork he was holding.
"All of you that was involved in this hanging, will accompany Mr. Toole on his noble quest."
The Swede stood and walked out of the saloon, breathing hard, heart racing. He stared hard at Durant's Pullman, he knew within moments of Nora's dramatic exit where she had chosen to go. He would not see her harmed on her last night in the town; he had his ways of gleaning this information. As the sun set his body ached for her, his hands trembled with want; unfulfilled lust; and he wished to have her thick red plait resting against his pillow again, and her pale chest peeking out from beneath his sheets.
This was for the best; she would be gone. No more temptation, no more confusion.
Thor mumbled once to himself before he fell asleep in his own cot, still smelling her skin on his sheets, "Farvel, min Freya".
The next morning, Nora dressed quickly and packed her small bag. It seemed odd she had entered this railway town in such a devastating fashion, and she was leaving in silence, no one to bid her farewell, no one to kiss goodbye. It was a bittersweet feeling, she did not know what awaited her in New York.
She swallowed hard at the lump forming in her throat as she gazed out the compartment window; blinking away the tears that burned behind her eyes; she had been strong throughout her ordeal, the loss of her family, she would remember that strength and embody it now. She'd boarded the train to New York at 10:45.
So there she sat; hoping Thor would have tried to catch a glimpse of her before she left, but he wasn't there. Nora would never see him again; she hadn't loved him, but her heart still ached for him, her strange friend. In time she thought she might understand why he'd sent her away.
Perhaps, she thought, she should thank him.