The only shadow cast upon his joy in remembering it all was worry over how, despite all resolve, he was afraid he was falling in love.
Chapter 22
Mariah set the breakfast tray beside Lisbeth's bed, took a few sniffs and asked, "Is that smoke I smell?" She looked at the grate and saw a small pile of still smoldering ashes in the fireplace grate. Her eyes widened. "You haven't been trying to start a fire, have you? It's summertime, child, and terrible hot. If you're cold, you must be comin' down with a fever." She reached to touch her forehead.
Lisbeth slapped her hand away. "I don't have a fever. I was burning trash, not that it's any of your business. Now leave me alone."
Mariah was almost to the door but suddenly couldn't hold back any longer. "Miss Lisbeth, you just ain't acting right lately. Ever since Master Julius moved into Mobile, you don't leave this room and you eat like a bird."
Lisbeth twisted the hem of the satin sheet covering her, wishing it were Raven's neck. "I don't want to see her. I refuse to be around her. I hate her."
Mariah did not have to guess who she was talking about. "Now child, that's no way to feel. She's your stepsister."
"She's nothing to me. She drove Julius away. People laugh at us. Oh, why did she ever have to come here?" She beat on the mattress with her fists.
As Mariah glimpsed the corner of an envelope in the fireplace that was not yet burned, it occurred to her what might have Lisbeth so upset. "Was it them letters that been coming here since the party? Have folks been saying unkind things about Miss Raven?"
"Yes," Lisbeth lied. "And I burned the letters because I can't stand looking at them." The truth was the letters had all been addressed to Raven, only Lisbeth had gotten to them first. Mariah wouldn't have known they were for Raven, because she couldn't read. But the letters had not been critical at all; instead they were filled with sickening accolades for Raven and promises of invitations to socialize once her period of mourning had ended. Each writer said how nice it was that Ned had insisted the reception be held as planned after he died so they could have the opportunity to meet Raven without a long wait.
Mariah made a tsking sound. "Well, I sure am sorry. She tries so hard."
"Tries hard to make me miserable, you mean." Lisbeth sniffed. "I don't like how you take up for her, Mariah. I want you to stop it."
"I don't mean no disrespect. Lord knows, I love you like you're my own, but it makes me sad to see you so unhappy. And Miss Raven is trying. She works awful hard. Just like this morning. I'm always the first one to the house, but when I got here she was already up and working. She's even called in the overseers again to make sure things are being done like they should."
Lisbeth thought she would love to eavesdrop on one of those meetings to witness just how stupid Raven was. The overseers probably burst out laughing the second they walked out the door. "Has she met with all of them yet?" she asked, an idea growing in her mind.
"She's got one more. The reason I know is I just took her a fresh pot of coffee, and she said Mr. Leroux hadn't showed up yet and she wished he'd hurry up, 'cause she was waiting to talk to him before going to Mobile."
Lisbeth was already out of bed and walking toward her dressing alcove.
"Why don't you go with her?" Mariah suggested. "It's a nice day, and it would do you good to get out. And you haven't seen Julius in a while."
"Pigs will fly before I go anywhere with that little twit. If I want to see my brother, I'll walk before riding in the same carriage with her."
With a sigh, Mariah left her.
* * *
Raven paced restlessly around the study. The coffee was cold, but it didn't matter, because she was so annoyed with Masson Leroux she wouldn't have offered him any had it been hot and fresh. He was nearly an hour late, and thirty minutes ago she'd sent another message to remind him of that fact. The other overseers had been on time for their meetings, but Masson was the one she most wanted to see. She was going to warn him that his heavy drinking had to stop or he would find himself out of a job.
She tried not to think that her motive had anything to do with the way Steve was having to spend so much time making sure Masson was not bothering Selena and her new baby. But the truth was it annoyed her, because in all the weeks she had been sleeping with him, not many nights passed that Selena didn't send for him, frightened because her father was drunk and lurking in the woods near her cabin.
Sometimes Steve chased him off. On other occasions, he couldn't find him. Raven said she should just fire Masson and that would solve everything, but Steve said it would only cause Selena added stress if her father took her mother, whom she adored, and went away. Besides, Steve had pointed out, Masson's drinking apparently didn't keep him from doing his job, and he was hoping that sooner or later things would smooth over and Masson would calm down.
At last he arrived. "A few of the workers were late getting started this morning," he said by way of excuse. "They gripe about it being so hot. If they felt a lash on their worthless backs once in a while, they'd know better, but since you're just like your daddy and let 'em get away with it, they'll stay shiftless."
"There will never be whippings at Halcyon," she said firmly, icily. She was not yet ready to inform him or anyone else that sometime in the future there would be no slaves there anyway. She hadn't had time yet to figure out how to free them and still keep them and pay them decent wages. But if there was a way she would find it.
He sat down, even though she had not invited him to. "Well, what did you want to see me about? I got to get back in the field before they all decide to find a shade tree and lay down for a nap."
Raven did not like him. Even if she did not know what she did about him, she would still not like him. He was arrogant, and she suspected he was cruel to the slaves. He was also the only overseer who seemed to resent her.
"The fact is, Mr. Leroux," she began, continuing to stand so she could look down at him, "I asked you here today to talk about your drinking. You're doing too much of it, and you've been causing trouble. If it doesn't stop right away, I'll have to dismiss you."
He bounded to his feet. "You can't do that. I've been here nearly ten years and always done a good job. Your daddy would tell you that if he was alive. Who's been poisoning you against me? It's him, ain't it?" His eyes narrowed. "Maddox. He's the one. He's told you about me drinking."
"It doesn't matter who told me. The fact is you have been getting drunk almost nightly and threatening your daughter."
"Yeah, I sure have. She's a whore. She got herself in trouble and shamed me and her momma and the whole family. I may not have much, but one thing I've always had is my good name, and she ruined it. It makes me so mad that maybe I do drink too much. But I do my job. Anybody will tell you that. So you got no call to run me off."
"I said I'd give you another chance."
"But it was him, wasn't it?" he persisted. "Well, instead of blaming me for everything, how come you don't tell him to marry her and give her baby a name, and then I won't have to be ashamed? He's the one. I know it as good as I'm standing here. He's the one responsible, and he's lying if he says he ain't."
Raven reeled as though he had slapped her. It all came flooding back. The day she arrived, Masson had asked Steve why he didn't marry Selena, but Steve said it was only Masson's way of telling him to stay out of his business. Now she started wondering all over again. After all, Masson had to have good reason to name Steve as the father so boldly... didn't he?
She sank into the chair behind the desk, afraid her wobbling knees would not support her any longer as her mind began to whirl.
Even if Steve did not love Selena, he had made her and her baby his responsibility. And thinking about it brought painful memories rushing back, memories of how she had loathed her father for abandoning her mother. But that was when she had believed he had known her mother was pregnant. Now she knew different. He would never have let anything keep him from going back to her had he known. But if Steve was the fath
er of Selena's baby, he obviously did know it, and for him not to marry her was unforgivable.
"Did your daughter tell you that Steve Maddox fathered her child?" she asked, looking Masson straight in the eyes.
"No, but she don't have to. Why else would he hang around her like he does? And why was he there when she had her little bastard? And look at this"—he pointed to a bruise that had almost faded away, leaving only a shadow on his jaw—"he hit me and knocked me out, because I raised hell about him being so brazen as to show up when the baby was coming. Why would a man act like that if it weren't his baby?"
Raven did not know but made up her mind that, until she could be sure Steve was the father, she would not allow herself to believe it. "I sympathize with you, but you're going to have to cope with this in another way. One more drinking bout and you're through here."
He got up and stalked to the door, grumbling. "He just gets to go on like he has been, and the best I can hope for is he don't give her another baby to have to raise by herself, lowlife that he is. Your daddy took up for him, so I reckon it's only natural you would too, but he'll get what's coming to him one day, you'll see." He slammed the door after him.
Lisbeth had been quietly sitting, unnoticed, on the porch just outside the open window of the study. She had hoped to witness Raven's incompetence but what she had learned was far more valuable, because now she was convinced, beyond all doubt, that Raven and Steve were involved with each other. It made sense.
Why else would Raven care about Masson Leroux's drinking? Everyone knew he was at odds with Steve over his daughter's shameful predicament, and Lisbeth had even heard some of the servants gossiping about how Selena sent for Steve, no matter what the hour, whenever her father was having one of his drunken tirades. Raven did not like the interruptions, and that was behind her warning Masson to quit his drinking. She certainly couldn't go to Selena and demand that she stop sending for Steve.
Hearing Masson leave, Lisbeth stole a quick peek through the window. Raven was sitting with her head in her hands, shoulders slumped. She was obviously upset.
Many things were becoming clear, Lisbeth was delighted to think—like how Steve was the reason Raven had turned down the offer she and Julius had made her after the will was read. He was her incentive for staying. She probably hoped he would marry her after a decent mourning period, but Lisbeth didn't care about all that. Now she knew Raven's weakness for Steve, she knew how to get rid of her.
All she had to do was drive a wedge between the two of them, making Raven so mad she would be glad to take their offer of money and hightail it back to Texas. After all, she would have no cause to stay once she realized Steve had merely been using her.
And Lisbeth knew exactly how she was going to make it all happen.
* * *
Joshua reined up the horses in front of the office of the Ralston Shipping Company. It was a three-story brick building with a plain facade and had been built several blocks away from the main loading docks. It was mid-afternoon, no one seemed to be around, and he was worried. He did not like being there with Miss Raven and turned in his seat to tell her so. "I wish you had brought along one of the overseers. It's not safe down here, even during the day. I've heard about all kinds of things happening." He got down to help her from the carriage.
She held out a gloved hand to him. "We'll be fine. It's no one's business where I go, Joshua. Besides, if I'm going to run Halcyon, I can't be constantly asking some man to hold my hand, now, can I?" She had not told Steve for fear he would have insisted on coming with her. And maybe she would have welcomed him if not for hearing Masson's accusations, but now she wanted to be alone to decide if there was any truth to them. She hoped not. Because she was not sure what she would do if there was.
"Where is everyone today?" she asked, glancing about. "I can't believe it's always this deserted here."
Joshua told her he had seen a big ship coming in at the other end of the wharf. "Folks always go to watch, That's why we shoulda brought somebody with us. If some rowdy starts trouble I can't stand up to no white man."
"There is nothing to be afraid of. I have a gun, and I know how to use it." She patted her blue felt bag. It was small, but it went with the yellow cotton traveling outfit she was wearing, and she had managed to stuff her six-shooter inside it.
Guiltily, she wondered if she should be wearing the black garb of mourning that Mariah had told her some women wore—materials of serge, alpaca, or merino, with collars and cuffs of folded crepe and no other trim. But Lisbeth had said that was nonsense. "Only widows do that. As long as we conduct ourselves properly and wear conservative colors, no one will think ill of us."
Raven had accepted this logic. After all, what did she know of the white man's custom of mourning? If Lisbeth said it was all right, who was she to argue?
Joshua was still grumbling. "Well, I just hope you don't need it."
She left him and entered the building, pushing open a glass front door. She was relieved to see a clerk sitting behind a desk on the other side of the counter, who jumped to his feet to ask what he could do for her.
Introducing herself and explaining that she wanted to see Julius, the clerk became flustered. He was well aware of her importance and hated to be the one to tell her that Mr. White was at the saloon at the end of the street. He was not about to add that was also where Mr. White spent most of his time.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to go down there."
With no enthusiasm, the clerk said, "You don't have to do that. I'll go get him for you."
She knew if Julius found out she was there, he might leave and go somewhere else to avoid her. "No, thank you," she said. "I have my carriage and driver outside."
The clerk did not argue. He hadn't wanted to go anyway but felt he had to offer to be polite.
Joshua complained all the way, but Raven ignored him. When they reached the saloon, she saw it was a small rundown building surrounded by large wooden shipping containers that had apparently been discarded. Junk and trash was piled all around. She wondered why Julius would frequent such a disreputable-looking place. There had to be better saloons somewhere on the wharf, but remembering the paltry allowance the will had provided him, she knew he probably couldn't afford those places.
She also worried to think he was not working as he was supposed to. If the estate's administrators ever found out, he would lose everything, but she had no intention of telling them. She wanted to help Julius, not hurt him, and if he'd let her, she'd gladly supplement his income so he wouldn't have to live above the office.
After telling Joshua to stay where he was, she went inside the saloon, wincing at the sour odor. She paused to allow her eyes to get used to the dim light and was finally able to make out a bar, wooden tables, and chairs. She also realized that the laughter and chattering she'd heard from outside had ceased as everyone turned to look at her.
She felt terribly self-conscious but was not about to turn back. Clearing her throat, she announced, "I'm looking for Mr. Julius White. Has anyone seen him?"
An explosion of guffaws ripped the stillness, and some of the men began taunting her.
"You Julius's wife? He didn't tell us he had one."
"Naw, he sure didn't."
"Pretty, too."
"Yeah, with a fine filly like that, how come he's in the back room honeyed up with Lucy?"
"Aw, he ain't doin' nothin' but beggin' Lucy for a drink. He ain't got the money to pay for what she sells."
"You got money, sugar? You here to pay what he owes?"
They leaned against the bar or sprawled in their chairs, unkempt men raking her with hungry, insolent gazes. But she was not afraid and went farther into the room. "No, I am not his wife, and I am not here to pay his debt, but I would appreciate it if someone would tell him his stepsister is here to see him."
"Stepsister?" A man hooted. Raven saw right away that he was wearing a gun strapped beneath his potbelly as he got up from his chair and came toward her. He look
ed her up and down and sneered. "You ain't no relative. You're a high-class whore, that's what you are. We know who Julius is, he's a rich boy that's too stingy to spend his money. He owes all of us too, including me. So I reckon if he's too tight to pay his debts with money, it's all right for me to take it out in trade—with you!"
Some of the others urged him on, yelling, "Get her, Big Dan, get her!"
On the way there from the company office, Raven would not have been surprised if bandits had jumped out at her carriage from an alley. That was the kind of trouble she had anticipated. But the last thing she had expected was anyone so bold as to attack her in a public saloon.
"Stay away from me," she warned. "I don't want any trouble." She was not scared, for the instinct for survival quickly took over. Gone was the ladylike demeanor she had struggled so hard to acquire the past weeks and months. She opened her purse, fingers itching to close about the six-shooter before things really got out of hand.
But then her arms were grabbed and wrenched behind her and her purse fell to the floor. The man called Big Dan lunged at the same time, bellowing, "Threaten me, will you? I'll teach you what trouble is, you little spitfire."
A foul-smelling rag was stuffed in her mouth to stifle her screams. Held tightly by the man behind her, Big Dan began to grope her, squeezing her breasts, snatching and feeling her buttocks. His friends cheered him on as Raven struggled to no avail.
"What the—" Julius, hearing the commotion, burst through a door at the back of the room. He had been visiting Lucy, the prostitute, but only to beg for a loan as the men had said. Seeing what was happening and recognizing Raven, he roared, "Damn you, Big Dan, that's my stepsister! Let her go!"
The man holding her was startled by Julius's outcry and loosened his grip just long enough for Raven to make her move. The warriors had instilled in her the need to be ready for any opportunity to defend when in danger. So without having to think about it, she knew to bring her knee up into Big Dan's crotch and swing backward to slam her foot into the man behind her in the same vulnerable place. Both grabbed themselves in anguished shrieks and crumpled to the floor.
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