Pistons and Pistols Read online

  The captain must have sensed it too, because she said, “Trust me, ladies, I would like nothing more than a good hot shower and a nice long rest. And I know some of you are in need of some well-deserved physical attention. Our ship’s morale officer can only do so much. He’s just one man, after all.”

  A gentle laugher rose from all the women except Gabriella. She bit her lip and ducked her head when she saw Atom turn to her with just the hint of a wicked grin. What was on his mind? She could only wonder …or perhaps hope was a better word.

  Jax snorted. “Maybe if you’d let him out of your quarters, we’d all be a bit less tense.”

  Gabriella joined their laughter this time. Atom squirmed in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with the turn of conversation. He was going to have to learn to loosen up a little if he planned on surviving around this lot. Although, Gabriella had to admit, she hoped he didn’t loosen up too much. She liked his proper nature, his gallant style. She loved his graciousness.

  The captain called the women to attention again as she said, “I can’t explain why I want to keep a move on for a little while longer. I just have this feeling. I know you’ve all been feeling it too. You speak of tension aboard the ship. I think it’s more than just that. Something’s on the wind. A storm is brewing, if you will, and I think it’s best if we try to keep our heads as low as possible rather than get caught up in the eye of the cursed thing. Agreed?”

  “Aye-aye, Captain!” the crew shouted.

  “What about money?” Magpie said under the echo of their loyalty. “We’ve been poorer than church mice for weeks now. How we gonna load up the coal bins if we don’t have cash?”

  The captain gave a wide, knowing smile. “You leave that up to me. Are there any other questions?”

  The crew remained quiet.

  “Then you’re dismissed,” the captain said.

  The sound of scraping chairs filled the room as the crew rose to leave.

  Since it was Gabriella’s turn to wash up, she remained behind, stacking plates as she contemplated the discussion. Tension? Storms? She didn’t like the sound of that at all. How could they hope to find Atom’s father if some new tragedy waylaid them?

  She hoped…no, she knew her captain would find a way.

  Chapter 3

  Bearing Bad News

  In which we learn many uncomfortable things

  Atom was waiting for Gabriella outside of the mess hall. If she had known he was there, she would’ve washed dishes a whole lot faster. As it stood, they only had a few moments before Gabriella was to report for duty. There never seemed enough time for her to get her fill of him. A few seconds here, a few minutes there, and now strolling the deck of the ship arm in arm with Atom, she tried her best to make each moment count.

  “I’m glad to see you looking so well,” she said. “You seem to have healed in remarkable time.”

  “Yes,” Atom said. “I’ve always had a knack for speedy recuperation.” They walked a few feet in silence, before Atom came to a stop. “Gabriella, we need to talk.”

  “We do?” A nervous flutter filled her stomach as her dream came back to her in full force. The poor boy emanated anxiety as well. She wondered what had him so flustered. Could it be the same thing that made her edgy?

  “Yes, we do.” He cleared his throat, as if uneasy about what lay upon his mind. “These last few days, with you, have been the happiest in my memory.”

  Gabriella glanced away, her cheeks growing warm with embarrassment. She looked back to him as she confessed, “Mine too.”

  “Splendid.” Atom smiled for a moment, which at once melted into a sad little frown. “I’m glad, but there is something I feel I must share with you. I need to clear the air before we, well, before we go any further with this.”

  Gabriella cocked her head at him. There hadn’t been much going on at all as far as she was concerned. The most that had passed between them were a few very sweet words and some gentle kisses, the majority of which had fallen upon the back of her hand. What could possibly be so troubling? “You know you can tell me anything, Atom.” She made the point of taking him by his clockwork hand, the one of which he seemed so ashamed. Holding it firmly in her own flesh and blood hand, she reassured him, “Anything at all.”

  Atom stared into her eyes, a troubled look crossing his face. “I just… I didn’t want it to be like this. In such a rush, under such brash circumstances. I wanted to tell you right away, of course, but my feelings for you complicated things.”

  Feelings for her? Gabriella’s heart fluttered just as wildly as her stomach at the words. Was he going to tell her he loved her? Was that what this was all about? “Go on.”

  “I … How can I say this?” He looked down to his feet, unable to meet her gaze. “I’m sure you noticed how much time I’ve spent with Jayne.”

  Gabriella pursed her lips. Of course she noticed how much time he spent with that little harlot of a tinker. No wonder he didn’t have time to proclaim his feelings for his ‘angel’ when such a demon kept dragging him away. Still, she trusted Atom. Above all else, he was a gentleman through and through.

  She smiled, trying to put him at ease as she said, “Yes, but I’m sure you’re a great help to her.”

  “Actually, she’s a great help to me.”

  That wasn’t what Gabriella wanted to hear. “Is she? How nice for her.”

  “Yes, she’s quite the clever young lady.” Atom settled into a warm grin as he spoke of the tinker. “In fact I was just thinking to myself this morning how lucky I am that she’s aboard this ship.” He paused with a short, boyish giggle. “Imagine if she weren’t. Where would I be then? Gabriella? My angel? Are you feeling well?”

  Gabriella was not feeling well, not well at all. She leaned against the mast, her hands clutched at her sides in frustration as she listened to the man she loved go on and on about his fondness for another woman. “I have to go on duty soon. What did you want to tell me?” In her heart, she knew what he was trying to say.

  Atom grew flustered again as he wrung his hands. “I just wanted to tell you, well, I wanted to say…there is a reason I spend so much time with Jayne. Time I’m sure you feel I should be spending with you. Jayne is sort of special to me, in a unique way. I, oh dear, it’s just that we…she and I that is…well, mostly me I suppose… This is difficult to explain.” He eyed his gloved hand, and Gabriella swore he whispered, just under his breath, “I can’t help but think this would be so much easier if I were a real man.”

  “It would be,” she said without thinking. But too late, the words were out there.

  “It would be?” His copper eyes questioned her as much as his words.

  His muttering and stammering made more sense to her than anything else he had said over the last few days. Why hadn’t she seen it before? No wonder he had called for Jayne when he lay upon his death bed. No wonder he spent so much time last week with Jayne instead of Gabriella. He was in love with the tinker. Gabriella had fooled herself into thinking he was fond of her, when he was just being his usual polite self. While she had spent her nights making love to a dream, he had spent his days in love with Jayne. Heaven only knows why he had wasted his time with Gabriella at all when he was so obviously infatuated with the tinker.

  “In fact,” she added, “if you were a real man, you would have been honest about it from the start.”

  “I would have?” he asked, his eyes round with surprise.

  “Yes, a real man would have just admitted it from the beginning, instead of pretending to be something he’s not.”

  He furrowed his brow as if he couldn’t make head nor tail of what she was saying. Then the wide eyes returned. “You mean you already know?”

  Gabriella snorted. “Of course I know. I may be inexperienced in these matters, but I’m not blind.”

  Atom shook his head, perhaps in an effort to compose himself as he drew a few deep breaths. “No, you aren’t. I’m sorry if I offended you. It’s just such a surprise to learn
you figured it out on your own. I mean, that’s just remarkable. I thought I hid it so well.” He stopped to grin at her like some overgrown ape, as if proud of his philandering ways. “I shouldn’t be surprised though, you are quite the clever girl.”

  “Am I, now? As clever as Jayne? Or not quite that special?”

  Atom’s face fell. “Gabriella, my angel, I didn’t mean that she—”

  “Don’t you ‘angel’ me!” What was he thinking, calling her such an affectionate name when his heart lay with another woman?

  “I thought you liked the name?” His question squeaked with an apprehension that she would once have found charming. She now realized it was just irritating. Gabriella supposed maybe, just maybe, all of that time he spent alone on the island had tarnished his sense of propriety. Perhaps he watched the natives in their wild ways and just assumed that was the way civilized men and women acted with one another. Rutting in threes and fours like feral animals.

  Atom seized her by the shoulders, holding her gaze with his, staring deep into her soul for some answer to his ridiculous question. From the look on his face, he didn’t like what he found. “You feel differently about me now.”

  “Differently?” she asked as she jerked herself free from his hold. “How could I not? You…you…you come at me with something like this, then just expect me to pretend as though you haven’t?”

  “Well…” He paused and gave a weak smile. “Yes?”

  The ricochet of her slap echoed across the wooden deck, even louder than the thin whistle of the wind or the groan of the propellers. Her hand stung almost as much as her pride, but she refused to show it. Atom, however, raised his mechanical hand to the spot she had slapped, rubbing his cheek in disbelief as he stared in silence at her.

  Gabriella squared her shoulders and bit back her urge to cry. Later she would weep and wail, pour into a pillow her lament over a man who didn’t love her. “I don’t know what kind of woman you think I am, but I certainly have no intention of carrying on as if this were a normal, everyday occurrence.”

  “I see,” he said as he lowered his hand.

  “I should hope so.”

  His gaze never left hers. “I’m… I apologize if I have caused you any inconvenience.”

  So there it was. He considered allowing, nay encouraging her to fall in love with him just an inconvenience. How droll for him. She couldn’t imagine how dense he thought she was, especially beside his brilliant and clever Jayne. “Don’t let it bother you. It certainly doesn’t trouble me. Besides, I’m sure Jayne will appreciate having more time to spend with you now.”

  Atom said nothing to this.

  She knew it was a low blow, but couldn’t help herself. “If that was all you had to say to me, then may I return to my duties?”

  Atom nodded.

  “Good day to you, Mr. Loquacious.”

  Gabriella gathered her skirts and ran, full tilt, for the captain’s cabin. She was late again, but her sprint wasn’t born of a rush to make up for lost time. She ran because she didn’t want him to hear the hitch of her breathing or see the first tear as it rolled down her cheek.

  * * * *

  Tuluca was very different from what Rose remembered. The last time she had been in the area the town was much smaller, a settlement and nothing more. Now it was a decent-sized city, complete with a bank, a hotel, several taverns and, to her delight, an airship dock. Of course it had been a number of years since her last visit to Tuluca. She didn’t want to return at all, but out of the entire world, there were just a handful of folks that might help Rose in her hour of need. One of whom lived here, worked here, and had just what the Widow required.

  When her ship came to rest at the air dock, Rose expected some harsh words or high-pitched whistles followed by nasty remarks, the traditional greeting for the ship and her female crew. The dock manager, however, seemed unimpressed by her sex, his real interest lying in the docking fee, which he demanded before he even asked her ship’s name. Rose took this to heart as she paid the man from what little money she had left. It was a reminder that the pioneer spirit was a little more open-minded than that of the traditional stuffed shirts on the east coast. Not much more open, but enough. She wondered if perhaps this weren’t where they should have been seeking work this whole time. If it weren’t for the memories she had left behind here, they might just have done so.

  Rose eyed Magpie and Gabriella as the three of them trudged through the dusty streets. “When we get there, just be quiet and let me do all the talking.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Magpie said.

  Gabriella said nothing, but that was to be expected. It was a far sight better than the child crying all over the place.

  When she reported for her morning duties, she was all tears and gloom. A few gentle questions in private revealed that Atom had taken Rose’s advice, and the young thing wasn’t taking the news well. The girl couldn’t even repeat what he’d told her, and who could blame her? Rose supposed she felt a bit guilty that it hadn’t worked out, as well as a little surprised. She expected better of the young navigator, yet the child wept and wept, as if the idea that her true love was in fact a mechanical man were the worst possible news in the entire world.

  In her experience as an older woman, Rose had heard worse. Much worse. As a sort of consolation, Rose offered to allow Gabriella to come along on her coal-scouting trip. She hoped the time away from the ship would help the girl come to terms. The last thing she needed was a moody navigator. It was even worse than a lovesick one.

  “Been a while since we seen him,” Magpie said as they approached the large building they had crossed so many miles to find. “You reckon he won’t just throw us out on our ears?”

  Rose raised an eyebrow at the woman. “Jeb throw me out? I should think not.”

  “If I remember rightly, your Jebediah wasn’t much for credit.”

  “Then how lucky for us I’m not asking for credit. I’m after a favor.”

  “A favor, you say? Calling one in, or asking for one? ’Cause there’s a might bit of difference ’tween the two.”

  Rose stopped on the top step of the building’s porch, turning to look down on the older woman. “I’m well aware of the difference, Maggie. But considering that I just gave that dock leech almost the last of our coffers, this is the only chance we have. Unless, of course, you have a better idea.”

  Magpie lowered her gaze, as well as her grin.

  “I thought as much,” Rose said. She looked to Gabriella, then back to Magpie with a sigh. “Come on, don’t look so down. This is going to work. Jebediah will help us. He has to.” Rose leaned into Magpie before she added, “After all, he owes me.”

  Magpie smiled up at Rose. “Calling one in then?”

  Rose nodded. She supposed it would have been better form to bring along her first mate when trying to strike a deal, but considering who they were here to see, Magpie was the best choice. Rose had more history with Magpie than anyone else aboard her ship, including Click. The smart-mouthed southerner should by rights have been Rose’s first mate, but the woman didn’t want the job. All she wanted was a quiet place away from her family and what she referred to as her ‘other life.’ A place she could continue her late husband’s work without the distractions of everyday society. So Rose got an exclusive messenger bird system for her ship, and Magpie got the privacy she craved.

  “Then by all means,” Magpie said. “Let’s get this done so we can find a place to hunker down.”

  The storefront was plain, with a single window showcasing the basics of frontier needs. A small sign proclaimed that the place was open for business, which was good because it would have been a shame to come so far to find it closed. Rose pushed her way through the entrance with a sigh, unsure of what she planned to say. A light tinkling filled the air, announcing their presence. The three of them navigated the rows of tack and feed and rations, making their way to the counter at the back where the owner of the store waited for them.

 
He was a little older than last she saw him, graying a bit at the temples of his wild, raven hair. He sported a full bushy beard, complete with a lip-consuming mustache. Still short and squat, her old colleague wasn’t quiet as burly as the day she left him waving goodbye on the outskirts of this very town. He showed signs of his adjustment to ground life, a certain softness around the edges that came from easy living. The manual labor of running a general store was bound to be much less taxing than that of manning an airship.

  The clerk rubbed his eyes as Rose approached. He blinked a few times, then rubbed his eyes again. As she reached the counter, he asked, “Rose Madigan? Is that really you, girly?”

  Rose smiled wide. “Yes, Jeb. It’s me.”

  She didn’t know what to expect when she’d decided to seek out Jebediah. Maybe he would smile, nod and comment on how long it had been since their last meeting. Or perhaps he would ignore her, treating her like any other customer rather than tread old, tired ground. Or, at worst, he would throw them all out on their ears.

  The man did none of these things. In fact, he did the one thing she had hoped for, but hadn’t expected.

  In one great jump, Jebediah cleared the counter, quite a feat for a man of his height, then bounded across his store to greet her. He pulled her into his arms, giving her that old bear hug she remembered and missed more than anything else about him. And yes, he was a little soft in the middle, a sign of prosperity that filled Rose with joy. Jebediah released her from his embrace only to hold her by the shoulders at arm’s length, staring at her as if she were unreal.

  “It’s really me,” she said. “I promise.”

  “I can see that, girly,” he said, still clutching her as if she would disappear the moment he let her go. “I’m just having a rough time believing my eyes, is all.”

  “What?” Magpie asked as she dropped her rucksack to the floor. “No loving for me?”