A Treasure of Gold Read online

  When you follow your heart, never count the cost.

  Migrations of the Heart, Book 3

  Trusting in the One who orders her steps, Nettie Bledsoe is determined not to deviate from her route to the charity kitchen. Don’t stop for anything, her sisters say. Pittsburgh isn’t like Georgia, they warn.

  Yet when low moans of unholy suffering drift from an alley, she can’t help but investigate. It’s a man. The most beautiful man she’s ever seen. Despite his scandalous reputation, something within her responds to his sinfully rich voice.

  Jay Evans is trying hard to stay on the straight and narrow, and doesn’t want help from any church do-gooder. But until his wound heals, he needs help caring for his young daughter, Goldie. Especially since Nettie saw fit to fire Goldie’s barely competent nanny.

  Despite their mismatched backgrounds, Nettie and Jay fight a losing battle against their growing attraction. But it’s only when Nettie is kidnapped that Jay realizes that if he doesn’t get her back safe and sound, his heart will shatter into uncountable pieces.

  Warning: Contains a single father with a photographic memory for numbers, and a country girl out of her element in the city. It all adds up to a heart-winning tale.

  A Treasure of Gold

  Piper Huguley

  Dedication

  To Shawn Walthour and Lisa A. Young-Walthour (December 21, 1966-June 18, 2015): In honor of one of the greatest couples that I have ever known.

  To Anna K. Comer: Thank you for showing me that a life of the mind, with God firmly in the center, was possible. I love you (April 19, 1918-June 27, 2015).

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to Sandra Belle Calhoune and Vanessa Riley. Your continuous support and friendship have been so helpful and inspirational to me.

  Chapter One

  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—March 1923

  Nettie Bledsoe stopped in her tracks, her heart nearly shredded at the moan of a most unholy suffering.

  The long, low sound had to be an animal, a dog—something not human. Her sister and brother-in-law, whom she lived with, had no animals, but that didn’t mean that help wasn’t needed for the poor thing. After all, she had been on her way to the charity kitchen at Freedom Christian Church, where she was in charge of feeding and assisting newly arrived people to Pittsburgh, like her. She could surely help others. Even an animal.

  “Don’t stop for anything.”

  The words of advice echoed through her mind. Having just arrived in Pittsburgh herself, she knew it was probably best to get going so she could help with the work that needed to be done this early Sunday morning. Her sister and brother-in-law were allowing her for the first time to walk to the church alone. She knew the way after two weeks. They hadn’t let her go alone, until now.

  So, glorifying in the Lord’s good will, she had taken up a basket of goods from her sister’s kitchen, and went to do some good work, but that sound, that terrible sound, gave her great pause.

  “Don’t stop for anything.”

  Her country training was so strong in her. Everyone helped each other in Winslow, Georgia. Why should it be different here?

  The moan again made her cringe. Some suffering creature was making that horrible noise and needed help.

  She turned. Was anyone watching?

  “This is not Georgia,” her sisters had told her. That was certainly true.

  An ice truck passed by, a horse drawing it onward. Her sister had explained to Nettie that the white ice-truck drivers did not like to drive their trucks through the Negro part of Pittsburgh, so they still used horses. The thought of someone rejecting her because of color always made her sad, but the sound of the horse’s hooves clip-clopping on the cobblestones alarmed her.

  Would the driver be able to help? No. By the time she thought to ask for help, the horse had passed her by.

  Inching down the alleyway, she went slowly to allow her eyes to adjust to the early March darkness. Prayer certainly wouldn’t hurt at this time. It always helped.

  God, please stay by my side. Please also help whatever this is in the alleyway to find strength in you as a refuge. According to thy will. Amen.

  The “amen” echoed in her brain with each step she took. Still, she knew who accompanied her steps and ordered them. The uncertainty was in whoever or whatever this was in the alley. Something that might not be glad to see her. Nettie held the basket in front of her and peering through the darkness, she could see it was a man. The most beautiful man she had ever seen.

  He was wearing an immaculate white tuxedo jacket cut perfectly to fit his very large frame.

  But against the white, a large blossom of red marred the perfection of his person which was slumped against the wall of the row house that made one side of the alley. He moaned again.

  Ignoring the offal on the ground, she bent to see the man more closely with her eyes fully adjusted to the light. He was the color of a strong oak tree and built like one. His silky black hair waved on his head. His nose was broad and large, but not overly so. His lips, however, were full and juicy, shaped and defined so well. What would it be like to be kissed by them?

  Where did that idea come from?

  She popped up, but knelt down again. The red blossom on the man’s shoulder was growing, which was not good for him.

  “Are you all right?” What a foolish question. What else did someone say to an injured man?

  She was not the nurse, her sister Ruby was, and the sight of blood always made her faint. She didn’t feel that way now, though, only curious at what had happened to this strange man in the alleyway.

  “I-I got shot.”

  It took a great deal of effort for the man to speak and she did not want him to expend any further effort, bless him. Still, there was a strange lilt in his voice, and it sounded like music, even as he was suffering.

  “Can you stand? My brother-in-law is a doctor and he lives nearby. He can help you.” Was this the right thing to do? Or maybe she should go get Adam and bring him here to the man.

  The man’s eyes, which had been closed before, opened and stared at her in the darkness. His eyes were hazel. What a startling sight to see those lighter eyes set deep in a face that was such a deep brown.

  Leaning down, she took his arm on the uninjured side and looped it about her neck. His arm was solid muscle and nearly weighed her down, but praying for strength, she helped the man up on his feet, putting herself under his white coat. She would be his crutch.

  Blood oozed from the wound, but he felt very warm. She could barely get an arm around his broad body, which, she could tell, was strong. “It isn’t that far, come on now.”

  The man moaned some more and sweat popped appeared on his forehead, but he used strength to stand up. He was very, very tall.

  Little by little, they made progress down the alleyway. Good. Then they turned right to go the few houses to get to her brother-in-law.

  As they went, the man tried to talk through his beautiful lips. “Goldie, Goldie.”

  His voice-a rich, deep bass—although pained, struck her deep in her middle as nothing else ever had. Even in the midst of travails, the sound managed to thrill her, but she could feel the man failing and Nettie didn’t want him falling on her in the middle of the sidewalk.

  Please, God, give me strength.

  “Shh. Save your energy. They only live two more doors away. Help is there.”

  Another moan came from him, louder this time. There was desperation in it. “Baby girl.”

  “Is she injured too?” She could barely turn to see if there was a baby in the alley.

  �
��No.” The man bit his lips. “She’s got to know.”

  “We’ll see about her after we take care of you. You’ll do her no good dead. Come on now, just a bit farther.”

  The huge effort she had to expend seemed reminiscent of Moses parting the Red Sea, but soon they stood in front of her sister’s door. She couldn’t get to the key in her little reticule, so she knocked, knowing it would wake up the family she had just tried to slip out to avoid, but a man’s life was at stake.

  It seemed as if it took forever, but soon there were footsteps within and she placed a hand on the man’s middle to get him stabilized a bit. The muscles under her fingers danced like waves and she could not help but marvel at him.

  Adam opened the door and the surprise on his face was total. “Nettie, what are you doing out there?” His tone changed instantly after seeing her companion. “What have you done?”

  “I was going to the church to help them serve breakfast in the charity kitchen and this man was in the alley.”

  “Our alley?”

  “Yes.” What did these things matter when another human was hurt? She was stunned. Here was her doctor brother-in-law and he was not springing into action to help this man, and only asked questions. “We’ve got to help him.”

  Adam peered beyond them, looking around. He pulled them into the house, shutting the door behind him. “I’m not in the habit of helping shot-up men who have been dumped in alleyways.”

  “Adam, this man is a human being. He deserves medical attention from you like anyone else.”

  “Not if helping him jeopardizes my family. Leave it to you, Nettie, to pick up the most notorious policy man in the city.”

  Nettie’s mind reeled at this revelation, but Adam’s most un-Christian attitude hurt her. “What’s that?”

  “Honestly…” Adam took her place under the man’s arm and started getting him to his office, “…you can be so country.”

  Adam’s comment stung just a bit as she followed, seeing if she could help. “What do you mean? I am from the country. As are you.”

  The man’s hazel eyes lit up like fire coals. “You don’t have to help me, Doctor. I’m fine, but my little girl—”

  “Hush up, Jay. You’ll have to owe me one.”

  “Sorry, I can’t pay up just now.”

  “What’s a policy man?” She followed them then opened the door to the room that served as Adam’s examination room in the back of the house.

  “The numbers game. He collects on the numbers around here. He’s a gangster, taking nickels and pennies from poor people, so they can’t do things like pay me for treatment, but spend it instead on fine custom-cut tuxedoes.” Adam put the man on the edge of his examination table. Then he turned, preparing strips of cloth. He handed Nettie a sharp pair of scissors. “Help him cut off his fine clothes.”

  “This is no time to judge another,” she reprimanded her brother-in-law. She set about cutting the white cloth that was stained red with the man’s blood. Yes, the suit was finely made. She guessed Adam, with his inherited income from his father in Winslow, would be able to afford a suit like this if he wanted one, but he didn’t have any. So she had never seen a man, a Negro man, who was able to afford such apparel. Still, a bad feeling, like some of her nephew’s marbles, rolled around in the pit of her stomach. Adam’s comments gave her the sinking feeling that this man was not a church-goer.

  “You’ll have to help me. Heaven help us if your sister wakes up too early.” Adam gave a furtive glance upstairs to where their bedroom was.

  She understood. Let Ruby sleep on.

  “You don’t have to tell me. I lived with her for eighteen years, far longer than you.”

  “Still, it’s worse since the children.”

  Nearly finished freeing the man from his beautiful suit clothes, she startled to see the injured man curling those lips of his into a half smile. “What is it?”

  “Him.” The man used his good arm to point to Adam. “The good doctor over here is whipped.”

  “I’m a family man, which is much more than can be said for you.”

  “Adam!” She eased off the other man’s shirt and knew she had guessed right about what was under there. She bit her lips to stop her breath from seeming to shock, either at the savage way the bullet had ripped apart his black-walnut skin or at the sight of his rippled muscles. “He has a baby girl.”

  The man’s hazel eyes, which had lost a little spark, lighted on Nettie. “She know.”

  “She knows nothing. She is newly arrived to this city and doesn’t understand people like you, and so I’ll thank you to treat her with respect while I repair you.”

  “He’ll live,” Adam tossed over to her, but he seemed to take savage pleasure in applying some pungent-smelling liquid that clearly stung the man. He gave a loud yelp.

  She quickly covered his mouth with her hand. She and Adam both looked up at the ceiling, waiting, dreading any sounds of footsteps.

  Nothing.

  Breathing a small sigh of relief, she realized that her hand was still pressed against those lips of his. An electric charge went up her arm and she pulled her hand away.

  The man slumped a little, clearly spent by his yelp, and Adam edged him down. “Be still or I’ll put you under. Don’t tell me you’ve never been shot before, doing what you do.”

  “Somebody get Goldie.”

  She looked down at the man and peered into his handsome face. “Who is Goldie?”

  “My daughter. She’ll worry.”

  “If you stayed on the right side of the law, then your child wouldn’t have to worry about you.” Adam’s hands were getting bloody as he worked, and Nettie swallowed. Hard.

  The man’s hazel eyes turned to fire as they fixed on Adam. “Why you think I got shot?”

  Adam shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows?”

  “Adam, why are you acting so! Aren’t you ashamed?”

  The fiery hazel eyes now turned on them both. “I’m going straight. For Goldie.”

  Adam applied a cloth over his face and the man lost consciousness.

  “Adam!”

  He shrugged his shoulders as he continued to work. “I don’t want us to hear anything more from him. His talk could make us culpable in his crimes. Pass me those bandages over there.”

  “He just said he’s trying to reform.”

  “Someone would say that if they had just been shot. I’m a doctor. I hear a lot of things, but I won’t hear anything that might jeopardize my family. You included. You’re under my protection now.”

  The handsome face, free from pain, stilled. The beautiful mouth said nothing.

  “He was talking about his daughter.”

  “Once again, now he cares.” Adam gestured to the wound that seemed small and tiny, but had caused so much trouble.

  “Someone has to tell her about her father.”

  “What about the charity kitchen?” Adam twisted his lips, took up some sharp tool and probed the man’s wound. As he did, fresh red blood came from the wound. “Come over here and hold this down.”

  She did as he told her. Please don’t let me faint. Strange that someone who’d had to deal with doctors as much as she had during her young life would be so averse to blood. But maybe not.

  What about his child? “Someone has to tell his little girl.”

  “Every Negro around here knows about Jay Evans. He hasn’t paid that little girl an ounce of attention since his wife died about two years ago. She was one of the first ones to take to Ruby. His wife was dying of a wasting disease when we came here four years ago. Even then, it was too late to help her. He’s taken on more of an empire ever since she died, and he’s gotten richer and richer taking money from the poor.”

  She pressed harder on the man’s torn, firm flesh.

  He lurched up.

  Poor man.
Even in his unconscious state, Jay Evans felt pain. Her heart twisted. She had to do something.

  “Does he live around here? I can go to his little daughter to let her know about her father.”

  Adam held a cloth to the wound, pressing down harder than she had, so she stepped back to go to the sink and wash her hands.

  “I don’t want you to get involved. You already saw fit to sneak out of the house, unchaperoned. What were you thinking? You don’t know anything about this place.”

  “You forget, Adam, that I have seen things in my travels on the revival circuit.”

  “Maybe, but I’m responsible for you here, Nettie. Please help me to clean up here and wait for us to get ready for church so we can all go together.”

  “What about him?”

  “He’ll wake up soon and go home.”

  “He is not strong enough. He needs to be nursed.”

  “He cannot stay here. It’s too dangerous.”

  They heard a footfall and both of them looked up at the ceiling.

  Oh no.

  “Stay here with him. I’ll be back.”

  Adam left and Nettie looked down at Jay Evans, seeing that his wound was already improving, but he was still knocked out from the loss of blood. This is the man the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Not entirely an ethical way to alter a Scripture, but in this case, it certainly did apply. Jay Evans was very well made. Still, she shouldn’t be noticing now.

  “Goldie.” The precious name slipped from between those lips of his. The poor man was worried about his daughter, even in his unconscious mind. Right then, she resolved to get to this man’s child, even if it meant defying her brother-in-law again. Nettie patted his hand and, as she touched him, a strange feeling traveled up her arm. Again.

  Who was this man who could do such things to her?

  Clara was going to die and he was helpless to do anything about it.

  All the money Jay had as the richest Negro in this part of Pittsburgh, the Hill District—earned just because he had a quick mind and knew how to memorize numbers, not play them—did nothing for her. His Clara was dying. They had known one another since childhood, but all of his money, power and connections could not do much to help her.