Gail made arrangements for Bea to go the Grove for a respite from the intrigue and to place her out of harm's way. Gail's brother Absalom, and his friend Adam Crowley would keep her safe or die in the effort. All in all it gave everyone one less thing to worry about.
Bea's son Lem also became one less worry. His dead body was found floating in the Detroit River. His hands were bound and the word ‘traitor’ had been burned into his chest with a brand. Some said the Order had taken the matter into their own hands, but there was no proof. The authorities were investigating, but held little hope of finding those responsible because undoubtedly no one in the community would aid them.
Galen and Hester enjoyed a guarded peace. They made mud pies down at the river, made love, and spent the days of September learning more about the special magic they found in one another. By the end of the month, the apples in her father's wild orchards were fat and ripe and ready to be picked.
Hester was ripening in her own way. She was fairly certain she was carrying Galen's child, but to be certain she decided to hold off telling him for another few weeks.
During the last week of September, Raymond's brothers arrived, much to everyone's delight. Hester found all five as handsome and debonair as their older sibling. Ginette was in heaven over the presence of her true love Gerrold, but her enthusiasm was slightly dampened when she realized Maxi and Racine planned on being very strict chaperones.
Since the finding of Shoe's note, Hester had been expressly forbidden by everyone to go anywhere unaccompanied. She did not quibble. She had no desire to be kidnapped and taken south. As a consequence, someone was always with her, and today it was Gerrold as she worked cleaning up the last of the mess in Wyatt house.
When Foster and Jenine drove up to the house, Gerrold and Hester turned to each other with a concerned curiosity. Foster jumped down and ran up the walk yelling her name. Hester hurried out to meet him.
"Hester! Shoe has arrested your husband! Jenine just passed Sheriff Lawson on the road and he begs that you come to town, right now!"
Hester's insides went cold as ice.
She was already running to the wagon when Gerrold shouted, "I'll go back to the Folly and see what I can learn. I'll meet you in town!"
Hester could think of nothing but Galen. She hadn't even told him about the child. She prayed for him as she quickly followed Foster.
"Come on!" Jenine shouted. "Hurry!"
Hester scampered into the bed and Foster grabbed up the reins and slapped them hard.
They'd only gone a short distance when Jenine pulled a pistol from her handbag.
Hester said, "Good thinking, Jenine, we may need a weapon."
When Jenine began to laugh, Hester asked, "What's so funny?"
"The two of you," she replied smiling. "If you could see how deadly serious you both look."
Foster stared back in confusion, but kept the horses on pace.
Hester froze as a cool-eyed Jenine trained the weapon on her and called out, "Stop the wagon."
Foster stared in surprise at the gun and drew the horses to a stop.
The determination and firmness of Jenine's posture set Hester's heart to beating fast.
Foster barked, "Jenine, what are you doing?"
"Find a rope and tie her hands, Foster."
He stared a moment. "Have you lost your mind?!"
"Dammit, get a rope!"
"I demand an explanation."
Jenine snapped, "Find a rope or I'll shoot her right now!"
Foster looked about to argue further, but Hester told him quietly, "Do as she says, Foster."
Foster found a length of rope in the wagon bed and tied it around her wrists.
Jenine warned, "Tightly. I'd hate to have to shoot her in the back if she tries to run."
Foster appeared so very confused Hester's heart went out to him in spite of the recent problems that had undermined their friendship.
He asked, "What is this about, Jenine?"
"Get behind the reins and drive on."
Foster tried again for an explanation. "Jenine—"
"Drive," she told him coldly.
He drew in an impatient breath and did as he was told.
As they got under way, Hester said to Jenine, "Galen isn't really in danger, is he? You lied to Foster. You haven't seen Sheriff Lawson."
"No, I haven't, but I needed Foster to drive while I held the gun."
The answer gave Hester heart. As long as Galen was safe she felt up to any challenge Jenine might present.
Jenine looked around at the landscape as if judging her location, then told Foster, "Take the next fork, and head south."
"Where are we going?"
"You'll know soon enough."
Hester knew that Galen would move the sun itself to find her. She simply had to avoid being shot until then.
At the fork, Foster headed south. The road was rarely used, and because of the rain last night, it was a muddy mess. The going was slow, but Jenine didn't seem to mind. She appeared deadly confident.
After about a two-mile drive, Jenine gave the order to stop. "Now get down slowly, Hester, and don't think I won't shoot."
Hester thought no such thing. She got down from the buggy, slowly, just as instructed. Hester could just about imagine the fear that Galen must be experiencing, and it weighed heavily on her heart. Her disappearance had to be causing him great pain. The knowledge made her more than a bit angry. However she swallowed it as Jenine motioned her and Foster to walk forward.
They took a skinny little path through the high brush and trees. After a few hundred feet, she stopped them in a small clearing that sheltered an abandoned and derelict shack. She motioned Hester to a seat on a nearby tree stump. "Now we wait," she declared.
"For what?" Foster demanded.
"An old friend of mine. Ezra Shoe."
Hester stiffened and glanced over into Foster's astonished eyes.
Foster stared at Jenine as if he'd never laid eyes on her before. In all reality he had not. As Galen had predicted, Jenine had finally shown Foster her true colors. He was devastated. "Why are you doing this?" he asked.
"Money. Shoe promised me enough to make my way west."
"Money?! You would let her be sold south for money?"
"Yes," she said without guilt.
"But she is of your own race."
Jenine scoffed, "The race. What has being in the race ever done for me? Being born Black is a curse, a stone around my neck, but the more money I have, the less the stone will weigh."
Hester interrupted, "Jenine, my husband is a very wealthy man, if it is only money you seek, he will beggar himself for my return."
"If it were that simple, I'd consider it but all the money in the world won't bring Lem back."
"You're doing this for revenge? Lem was a traitor."
"Yes, he was. But he was also my lover."
Hester watched Foster's face pale and his shoulders slump. For a moment, his eyes held a bleakness that tore at Hester's heart.
He asked, "So you never loved me?"
She gave him a mocking, sad smile. "You were simply the Gallahad I needed."
"What were you doing in England?"
"A very wealthy man took me there. I was his mistress. He was killed in a brawl and I was left penniless. When you came across me in the hold, I was on my way home because my money had run out."
"Yet you pretended to love me. Why?"
"Because I knew you'd get me to Michigan. My other candidate was that student from Cleveland we met aboard ship. Residing in Ohio would have been amenable because of its proximity to this state. I picked you because you said you were from Whittaker. I knew Lem was here because he'd written me after finding his mother."
Hester said pointedly, "The mother whose heart he broke."
"Just as she broke his when she left him behind and never returned. He hated her, which is why he harbored no guilt in using her the way he did."
"Where is your family?" Foster as
ked.
"I had no other family. I was sold as a babe and never knew of any kin."
Hester realized she and Jenine had similar beginnings, and mused over how her own life changed for the better after being found and spirited north. Where would Hester be had there not been a Katherine Wyatt? Would she be duping and kidnapping her neighbors? She doubted it, but knew there was no guarantee. "Where are my papers, Jenine?"
"Shoe has them. He's been wanting to get his hands on you for some time."
"Were you there when they savaged my house?"
"No, I was at home at the time. I heard the damage was rather extensive though," she said with a nasty little smile. Then she added, "Ezra figured you had them in the house somewhere. All you fugitives think alike it seems. The false backs of highboys and wardrobes are a fairly common hiding spot."
Hester was relieved to know no one had betrayed her, but she made a point to inform folks of the need to be more imaginative when hiding their papers once this ordeal ended. And it would end because she knew Galen would find her. She asked Jenine, "Do you have any idea what my husband and his friends have in store for you once they learn of your involvement with Shoe?"
Jenine smiled coolly. "Once Ezra pays me my share, that fancy mulatto of yours will never find me."
Hester replied easily, "For your sake I hope not."
Foster who seemed to have just recomposed himself after hearing Jenine's startling tale, told Jenine softly, "I can't let you do this, Jenine."
"I'm terrified. Now, get over to that stump and sit. We shouldn't have too long to wait."
Although Hester presented a brave front she viewed the impending appearance of Shoe with increasing unease. If, against all odds, he succeeded in taking her south, both she and her unborn child would become slaves, subject to the whims and desires of whomever owned them. Her child could be sold away from her, as it had happened to her and her mother. She shook off the grim scenario because of her faith in her husband.
Foster looked over at Hester and said sadly, "I've been a fool."
Hester shook her head. "No. She played on your most vulnerable possession, your heart."
He echoed himself, "A silly, blind fool." He then asked Hester bluntly, "She didn't find you and Vachon in the school, did she?"
Hester shook her head no.
He turned a cold gaze on Jenine. "Was it the other way around? Was it you in the school that day?"
Jenine said quite simply, "Yes."
He face twisted into a snarl. "With whom?"
"Lem."
"And you called Hester a whore," he responded through gritted teeth. "You let me believe you were too shy to share my bed. Yet you were cuckolding me for all the world to see?!"
He made a mad dash at her and she very calmly shot him. Foster fell to the ground rolling in pain and holding his injured arm.
Hester ran to his side. With her hands bound she could do nothing more than bend over him to see how he fared. He slowly turned over and struggled up to a sitting position so he could brace his back against a tree. He was breathing harshly. Blood flowed from between the fingers clamped to his wounded shoulder. The gunshot was not fatal, but he desperately needed a doctor.
Hester gave Jenine a malevolent look.
Jenine replied, "Why do men believe an armed woman will not shoot?"
Hester snapped, "I think he was motivated by his emotions, Jenine, not logic."
Jenine then spoke to the man she'd called her husband. "Foster, I can hit a fly on a barn at one hundred paces. If I had wanted to kill you I would have. Don't test me again."
Hester felt useless kneeling beside Foster. He was having trouble stuffing his handkerchief into the shoulder of his coat to slow the bleeding. He managed however, and when he finished he leaned back to catch his breath.
Shoe and his men rode into the clearing less than an hour later.
When he saw Hester poised upon the tree stump, his ugly face widened into a smile. He dismounted, but the other six men did not. "You did a good job, Jenine."
Jenine beamed. "Do you have the money?"
"Of course. You and I had an agreement."
Shoe ignored Foster and came over to stand before Hester. "Well, gal. We meet again. You ready to resume your natural place in life?"
"There is nothing natural about slavery, Shoe."
He chuckled. "Still feisty even though the jig is up. I like that."
He reached out to touch Hester's cheek, but she drew away.
Shoe called out, "I don't think she likes me boys."
His men laughed. One of them remarked, "She's going to like you soon enough, Ezra."
Another added, "She's going to like us all soon enough."
The remark brought on more laughter. Hester steeled herself against their feral eyes.
Shoe said, "Yes she will."
He then brought out some documents from his soiled coat. "These are your free papers and this here is a warrant for your arrest. Remember when I said I had someone looking into your past? Well, he's a lawyer friend, and he was able to trace you back to Charleston. He couldn't find the speculator who took you out of Carolina, but he did find everyone else who helped, and you know what, they were all property-thieving abolitionists. None claimed any involvement of course, except one old woman. She remembered you as a gal her husband and daughter took on a train to Philadelphia. She used to be a friend of your kind, but she ain't anymore. Her husband had the bad taste to fall in love with one of you and he left his wife and children. She was real eager to help."
"You've no way to verify if that girl was me or not."
"There is if you've got purple hands."
Hester fought down the bile rising in her throat while Shoe cut the rope tying her hands.
"Take off the gloves."
Hester didn't move.
"Take 'em off, or one of the boys will be happy to do it for you."
Hester slowly peeled off her gloves. When her hands were revealed, Shoe grinned. "Well, well, well. Look at that, boys. Ever seen hands like them?"
"Guess she got to come with us," one said.
"Guess she does," Shoe echoed.
Jenine interrupted. "My payment, Shoe?"
"Ah, yes. Here you are," he said as he handed her some bills.
Jenine stared in surprise. "This is only ten dollars. Where is the rest?"
"There is no rest."
"You promised me enough to buy my way west. You gave me your word."
"I don't give my word to someone like you. What do you think I am, an abolitionist? Lem was my kin, that's the only reason you get anything."
"Damn you, you promised!"
Hester enjoyed a moment of satisfaction seeing Jenine's angry face.
Shoe pushed Hester in the direction of one of the riderless horses being trailed behind the main pack. "Mount up!"
Jenine snarled, "You're not going to get away with this."
The mounted Shoe looked down upon the irate Jenine and said, "If I were you, I'd take that money and buy a ticket for a place far away. Once word gets out how you helped me, your life won't be worth beans.
"Head out!"
The pack rode away, leaving behind the injured Foster and a very angry Jenine.
It took the kidnappers the balance of the day to make Monroe. They'd been pushing the horses hard, and so stopped to rest a bit along the banks of the Raisin River. One of the men went off into the trees to relieve himself. He was gone for so long Shoe sent one of the others in after him. When he also failed to return, Shoe grabbed up his rifle with one hand, Hester's arm with the other, and peered around. He ordered two more men to go into the brush and look for their companions but when they returned they could only shrug in confusion. The men had vanished and could not be found. The silence was ominous; there was no wind, and no birdsongs. The air held an eerie quality that made the hair stand up on the back of the neck.
"What the hell happened to them?" Shoe barked.
"Don't know, Ezra. Maybe
we should leave this place."
Shoe didn't look nearly as confident as he had previously. Before he could give any orders though, Galen, mounted on his stallion, appeared on the banks above, flanked by six black-dressed riders whose faces were covered by black hoods. At the beautiful sight, Hester's legs weakened with relief.
"Hello boys," Galen said. "Nice day for a ride."
Shoe's eyes widened in shock and fear. Because he was down two men, he was outnumbered four to six. He tried bravado first. "I got a legitimate warrant for her, Vachon. You're interfering in government business."
Galen smiled the smile of an assassin. "And you are interfering in my life. That is my wife, you know." Galen looked down at Hester and inclined his head slightly. "Don't worry, petite. We'll be on the way soon."
He turned his eyes back on the kidnappers. He stuck out his hand and one of the riders at his side placed a small weighted velvet pouch into his palm. "Have you boys been paid?"
Shoe's men glanced at each other quizzically.
Galen explained, "I'm asking because I don't believe any of you want to be a part of this any longer. Fifty dollars in gold to each man who'll ride away."
Hester saw Shoe's face widen. "Don't listen to him, he ain't got that much coin."
"No?"
Galen turned the pouch upside down and a shower of gold coins rained down on the ground. "My offer won't hold for long."
The men seemed to hesitate a moment. They looked at each other, then at the gold lying on the ground, and then to Shoe.
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