PT.9

His Heart Beating in Mine

Closing up her ledgers and shutting the door behind her as she left her office, she noticed Butch trying to calm a woman out on the floor. The closer she walked to them, she realized it was Maggie, Grace's nanny. She was stunned. "Maggie? What is it? What's wrong?:

Shook up and in tears, she started shaking and in her broken Gaelic accent, said, "Oh, Miss Kitty, I'm so terribly sorry."

Now Kitty was panicking. "Maggie? Sorry for what?" Taking her by the shoulders. "What? Where is Grace?"

"I put her down for a mid morning nap and Miss Marcy came to the house and I went to make us some tea and…" Now the tears fell harder.

"Maggie, please."

"When I came back with the tea, she was gone and little Grace…"

"Maggie! What?"

"Well, she was gone too."

"OH NO! No! This can't be happening. Grace!" Kitty stood in shock, trembling. She started to run out, when Maggie stopped her.

"Miss Kitty. I found this in her cradle."

Maggie handed Kitty a small piece of paper. It read: "Now you'll come willingly or she'll die and this time I won't get it wrong!"

Kitty looked as though she was going to hit the floor. "But where? I don't know where."

Butch looked over her shoulder. "But there's more, Miss Kitty."

Kitty looked at the tattered paper.

Wait… I'll send for you.

"Send for me? I can't sit here. My baby's out there. Oh, Cowboy…" Her eyes filled and in a crying mumble said, "Cowboy, I know you're out there somewhere. Please? Our Little Girl needs you. I need you." She now folded her arms across the bar and dropped her head down, collapsing.

Butch just held her shoulders.

When Tess arrived, she looked around, knowing something wasn't right. "Kitty? Butch? What is it? Did something happen?"

Butch looked over at her. "Tess, someone has taken Little Gracie."

"Oh, Kitty. Who would do such a thing?"

All Kitty could mumble was, "Bon-ner. That bastard has my daughter and Mar-cy…"

"Marcy?" Tess repeated.

Kitty turned and walked out, walking back to her home, Maggie following behind.

At the house, Kitty sat in a chair by the front window, holding Grace's blanket and waiting, hoping to hear something, anything. She was trying to think of what connection Marcy had to any of this.

"Miss Kitty?" Maggie asked. "Can I get you anything? Some food ? Something to drink?"

Just shaking her head, "All I want is my baby back in my arms."

"I'm so sorry, Miss Kitty. I love that little one so much, I would never…."

Waving her hand, "Stop, Maggie. I don't blame you. I know you love Grace."

Water Front

In a small shack at the far end of the water front, the scruffy, seedy man, from the tavern, waited. Hearing a tapping on the door, he growled. "It's open. Come on in, but slowly. And ya better have what I sent ya fur."

As the door opened, standing in the shadows stood the tiny frame of a woman holding a wrapped bundle of a squirming little baby who now was fussing, looking to be fed."

"Well, come on. Git in here and quiet that kid up."

"Well, Jude, I did what ya told me to. But I still don't see why ya want to hurt a little baby. That's just not right." Before she knew it she felt a backhand across her cheek.

"It's called the sins of the father and I ain't said nuttin' bout hurtin' no baby, did I?"

Rubbing her cheek, trying to stand, without dropping Grace, she asked. "Well then, whatch'a gonna do with her?"

Swigging his whiskey and shaking his head. "Ohhhh, that lil' one's just the bait. It's her momma, ol' Jude wants. Now there's a lot a wo-man! We have some unfinished business and I aim to finish it!"

"Jude? Why ya doing all this? I heard what ya done to her already. Wasn't that enough to git back at that Marshal for takin' Virgil in? Why she didn't even know him."

By now, Grace had started crying. She was hungry. It was well past her feeding time.

"Shut that kid up!"

"Well, I don't know bout kids. She's probably hungry." Marcy answered.

"Take care of it."

"With what?" She now looked down at herself then back at him.

"Well, put her down and go git somethin'."

Marcy laid Grace in a wooden crate, wrapped in her blanket. Then she slipped out the door and headed down the street, figuring she'd have to try to shoplift something from one of the small stores.

Jude stood over Grace, staring at her. "Don't worry, lil' one. I ain't gonna hurt ya. But now your momma… Her I'm gonna have some fun with. And your poppa? Hummmm, just might be nobody knows who your poppa is." Now laughing aloud…..

TBC