by Lane, Cheryl
“I love you, Maddie…with all my heart and soul,” Ethan said, drawing me from my thoughts. He kissed me once more on the lips before climbing up into the carriage.
“I love you, too, with every breath of my being.”
Before retiring to my bedchamber for the night, I went into Jonas’s study to find a different book to read. William came into the room.
“Ethan told me that you are still going to marry me.”
“Yes, that is still the plan.”
“So you told him he was the baby’s father?”
“Yes. I told him everything.” I picked up “Sense and Sensibility” and held it against me. I needed to read a book with a happy ending.
“He thanked me for my involvement and begged me to protect you, but he threatened me if I ever hurt you or the baby.”
“Oh,” I said. I let out a deep breath. “He didn’t offend you, did he?”
“Not at all. I understand his position. I would be the same way. He loves you very much.”
“Yes, and I love him very much. We will have to placate ourselves with loving each other from afar.”
Before falling asleep, while reading Jane Austen’s book, I thought about the day, how wonderful it had been to be in Ethan’s arms again, kissing his sweet lips again, spending time together, just when I thought we never would again. I thought about all the conversations we’d had and wished there was a better solution for us to be together, but knew there was not one. I was so happy that he finally knew the truth, and not only that, but he was happy that I was having another baby of his. I felt like a giant load had been removed from my back. I was so relieved and more in love with him than ever.
I wondered about Ethan saying that he thought William was in love with me. Could that be true? He did seem to care about me a lot, was always doing things to help me, to make me feel better, and to protect me. Perhaps it was true. I didn’t know how I felt about that. It was flattering, to be sure, but also sort of worrying. How was I supposed to live with someone who loved me but I did not share the same feelings? In every conversation we would have, I would be wondering the meaning behind what he said. He told me he didn’t expect me to love him…but he did not say that he wouldn’t love me.
Chapter 33
Confrontation
The next day around twilight, an open carriage arrived at Magnolia Grove. I looked out the window as Elizabeth descended the carriage wearing her Sunday best and walked purposefully towards the manor. I panicked. What was she doing here? Had she found out that Ethan was here all day yesterday? Did she somehow find out that my baby was his? Surely she didn’t just come over to borrow sugar.
I opened the door to let her inside, and was struck in the face by Elizabeth’s hand, just as I had been the night of the harvest ball. Shocked, I dropped my jaw. Before I could say anything, she stomped past me into the house, her face red with fury.
“Is it true?!” she asked me, practically screaming at me.
“Is what true?”
“Is Ethan the father of that baby inside of you?”
“Who told you that?”
“I overheard Ethan talking with his mother. Is it true?”
Ethan had told Clarissa? I had no desire to talk to Elizabeth about any of this. “That really isn’t any of your concern,” I said.
“Oh, but you’re wrong. It is my concern…you’re having a liaison with my husband, and you deserve to be punished.”
I politely took her by the elbow and escorted her out of the hall down into the parlor and closed the door for some privacy. She was right, of course, but I had to defend myself. “Elizabeth, he was my husband first. Can you expect me not to love him anymore?”
“That may be so, but your marriage was dissolved legally, and he is rightfully mine now.”
“He’s not a piece of property or a slave that you own, Elizabeth.”
“You know what I mean. He’s my husband now, not yours!”
I was getting angry, but I tried to keep my composure. “I realize that, Elizabeth,” I said through gritted teeth.
“So? Is the baby Ethan’s or not?”
She wanted the truth; I’d give it to her. “Yes, it is.”
“How dare you try to steal Ethan away from me! I want you to stop seeing him. Clarissa can bring Lillie over here from now on. I forbid him to come here anymore. I don’t want you to talk to him at church or other social situations, either.”
I tried to protest. “You can’t…”
“I can and I have,” she interrupted. “I told Ethan as much this morning. Furthermore, I would like for you to tell Ethan you were lying, that he is not the father. That baby of yours will have no rights to the Wellington name. One child of yours is enough at Wellington; I’ll not have another heir to compete with my baby or with Ethan’s attention.”
“You keep talking like that, and I’ll take Lillie away from Ethan – you wouldn’t want that, would you? I would blame it all on you. Ethan would hate you for that.”
I’d stunned her momentarily.
“Furthermore, I will not lie to Ethan anymore. I lied to him once, and that was a mistake I will not repeat. You cannot tell me what to do.”
She raised her eyebrows to me. “I can go to the sheriff and file a complaint against you, that you are harassing the family. I could convince him you were threatening me and my baby, and then you wouldn’t be able to step foot outside your property line in the direction of Wellington Cross without getting in trouble. They might even throw you in jail.” She was boiling mad then, as was I. She continued, “I could also convince the sheriff that you are a bad influence on Lillie and prevent you from seeing her again, either. After all, you abandoned her for a whole year. You would have no visitations with her then. How would you like that?”
Oh, she was really cutting me deep now. How long could this threatening go on? I wondered. I would be devastated if I couldn’t see Lillie every day. Who exactly would the sheriff favor in this case? The mother, right? And yet, it was true, I had been absent in her life for a year, and the judge would, of course, rule to keep her where she’s been since birth…with her father and his family. I was doomed. I’d have to do a little groveling.
“Fair enough. You win on that one. My children mean more to me than anything; you cannot take them away from me.”
“Then agree to tell Ethan you were lying about him being the father of your baby. Tell him it is Mr. Brown’s, after all, and you were only trying to get him away from me.”
I felt like crying. I was trapped, once again, by Elizabeth. “Please, Elizabeth. Don’t make me do that. You took away my happiness, isn’t that enough?”
“I took away your happiness? Isn’t that a laugh? You took away mine when you came back to Wellington. Ethan hasn’t looked at me the same way since. He ignores me, he never talks to me, he doesn’t sleep in the same room with me…” She was near to tears as she fidgeted with her gloves and paced the room. “Why couldn’t you have just stayed away?” She fought back tears in her eyes. We were both highly emotional women, in our states of confinement.
There was a knock on the door, to which I opened. It was Catherine. “Is everything all right? I heard yelling.”
“Yes. No.” I opened the door wide. “We have a guest.”
Catherine looked in and saw Elizabeth in the room, whose face had turned stone cold again. She had regained her composure.
“This doesn’t concern you,” she said bitterly to Catherine.
“When you’re in the house I’m living in, which I will soon become mistress of, then it is my concern. Now, what is this all about?” Catherine said firmly, standing up to her.
When Elizabeth refused to say anything to Catherine, I chimed in. “Elizabeth came here to ask if my baby was Ethan’s.”
Catherine gave me a concerned look, and I could tell she was reluctant to get in the middle of this. “What did you tell her?” she asked me cautiously.
I closed the parlor door and relayed everythin
g to her that had transpired, much to the dismay of Elizabeth. “I tell Catherine everything,” I said to Elizabeth, after her third exaggerated sigh.
“So you knew that this baby was Ethan’s all along?” Elizabeth asked Catherine.
“Yes, I did. I really don’t know what all the fuss is about, Elizabeth. Aren’t you the one married to my nephew? You are the one with the high honor of being Ethan’s wife. Don’t you see how much pain Madeline has been through? She lost her memory, and then she lost her husband and her home. She lost the right to keep her child, Lillie, and has to share her with her ex-husband’s new wife. Then she finds out she is with child and is unmarried. No matter who the father is, she is still in a lot of pain here. Why don’t you show her some mercy?”
“Well, why doesn’t anyone show me some mercy?” Elizabeth said bitterly. “I lost my father during the war, I was pillaged and defiled by Yankee soldiers, my mother was thrown down the stairs by a Yankee and died, my house was destroyed, my brother turned Yankee, and I was homeless. Then finally I found someone who cared about me, and we got married and everything was blissful. Then she comes along,” she said, pointing at me. “And tries to take everything away from me, my new home, my new husband. He never looked at me the same again after she came back. He never touched me past our wedding night. Do you know what it’s like to love someone who doesn’t love you back? Even after you find out you’re carrying his child? The only reason – only reason – he is staying with me is because of this baby I carry. So why doesn’t anyone show me a little pity?”
“You’re right,” Catherine said. “You’ve both been hurt.”
It was good to have Catherine in the room with us as a mediator. As soon as she came in and started reasoning with Elizabeth, we both calmed down a bit. As angry as I was with Elizabeth, I could see her point of view and agreed that she had been scorned. I wondered briefly about her mentioning a brother. I didn’t realize she’d had a brother.
“So how do we resolve this?” Catherine asked.
“I only asked that Madeline not speak to Ethan anymore, and that she tell him she was lying about the baby being his. If he has two children by her, I will be out the door in a heartbeat. He doesn’t care about me, only about the baby. I daresay that as soon as the baby is born, he will try to take it from me and then send me away someplace.”
“I understand how you feel,” I said, “but I told you before, I will not lie to Ethan anymore. And just so you know, I still plan to marry William. I had not planned on anyone else finding out about Ethan being the father. I simply thought he should know the truth. I was not trying to coerce him into leave you.” Well, maybe I was hoping he would, but I knew Ethan wouldn’t abandon her or his baby.
“You’re still going to marry William?” Elizabeth was stunned.
“Yes,” I said quietly.
“Oh. Well, in that case, I suppose there is nothing more for me to say.” She sashayed past us and left the manor without speaking another word.
I finally relaxed a bit. “Thank you for helping me out, Catherine,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” she said, squeezing my arm.
Our conversation was halted when we heard the firing of a gunshot, followed by a bloodcurdling high-pitched scream.
Chapter 34
Life and Death
Catherine and I ran outside and found Elizabeth lying on the ground beside her carriage, halfway down the drive. We ran down to her, not thinking about our own safety. She was bleeding in her midriff just above where the baby lay. I felt for a pulse and found that she was still alive.
I ran back to the house and found William. “Elizabeth has been shot!” I told him. “Someone needs to go get Ethan and someone else should go find Doc Parsons.”
William ran back inside for a shotgun, then came back out and ran over to the barn to find Jonas. It was decided that one of the men needed to stay here in case the person who shot Elizabeth was still around, so Jonas stayed. The two men carried Elizabeth into the house and laid her on the couch in the parlor. William took off on horseback to summon the doctor, and that left me and Catherine to go to Wellington Cross to fetch Ethan. We took Sambo with us. Ginny stayed with Jonas and Elizabeth. Catherine brought a handgun with us, and we took the carriage which Elizabeth arrived in back to Wellington Cross.
After reaching the plantation, we found Ethan in the stables, who agreed to go back to Magnolia Grove with us, taking the same carriage. He sat in the back seat with me, and I held his hand on the drive back over. He held a shotgun in his other hand.
“I didn’t even know she left the plantation,” he said. He seemed to be in a daze. I explained to him how Elizabeth came to the house demanding answers about my baby.
“She came over to make a fuss?” Ethan asked, surprised. I nodded. “Is that why your face is red? Did she slap you again?” He gently touched my cheek.
“Yes, but I probably had it coming.”
He frowned sympathetically. “I’m sorry.”
“She said she heard you tell your mother that my baby was yours.”
He combed his hand through his hair. “I had no idea she was listening. Did you tell her the baby was mine? What else happened?”
I began to explain to him as best I could, with Catherine’s help, the conversation that transpired and how Elizabeth felt better that I was still going to wed William, and so she left.
“Next thing we knew, we heard a gunshot and her screaming,” I said.
I could not imagine who had shot Elizabeth or why. Could it have been Jefferson? Why would he shoot her? It made no sense. Perhaps it was someone seeking shelter or a disgruntled slave who’d come back for revenge. Could it have been someone from Elizabeth’s past? She said she had a brother who turned Yankee.
We arrived at the manor at the same time as Doc Parsons. After greetings were exchanged, the doctor began to examine Elizabeth in the parlor. The rest of us paced the entrance hall, not saying a word. After a short time, Doc Parsons opened the door and asked if I would come and assist him. I agreed and followed him in the room, closing the door.
“I’m going to remove the bullet, but I also want to take some of her blood out first to prevent inflammation. Do you remember how we did this during the war?” I nodded. He began setting up his surgical tools on the parlor table, which he moved over next to the sofa. While he did that, I went into the hall and retrieved an old blanket from the hidden storage shelves inside the wall next to the fireplace. Back in the parlor, I helped Doc place this blanket under Elizabeth on the couch, and then I removed Elizabeth’s dress and crinoline.
I had helped Doc out during the war with bloodletting and removing bullets, sometimes even removing limbs. This made me somewhat immune to the site of blood at the time, but it had been a while, so I prepared myself for what was to come. I held the cup as he let some blood run out, and Elizabeth woke slightly and began moaning. Doc took out a bottle of tincture of opium, and I helped him sit Elizabeth up so she could drink a little. That seemed to calm her down, and then Doc asked me to wrap the arm up while he proceeded to remove the bullet. I tore a piece of Elizabeth’s dress off into a strip and wound it around her arm where Doc did the bloodletting. Catherine came in shortly after with some boiled water and more strips of cloth.
Doc removed the bullet, and I used a strip of cloth dipped in the hot water to put on top of that wound while he felt for the baby. He frowned. He got up and opened the parlor door, asking for Ethan to come into the parlor. He told him that he had removed the bullet, but that the baby was in danger because of the location of the bullet wound, and so he said he would have to take the baby out immediately. He explained that even though it was early to take the baby out, it was the baby’s only chance at surviving. Ethan turned white. Doc allowed him to see Elizabeth for a moment while he prepared for surgery. When Doc was ready to take the baby out, Catherine led Ethan out of the room just as Doc started making a long slit across the skin of Elizabeth’s abdomen.
After pushing aside tissues and muscles, Doc was able to reach inside and pull out the baby. It was a girl. She was tiny and wet, and some of her mother’s blood got smeared on her. He cut the umbilical cord and handed the baby to me. I cleaned her off with the water and cloths and then wrapped her up in a clean blanket. The baby did not cry.
“That means her lungs are not developed enough. We may lose her,” Doc said.
He then took the baby and laid her on a chair to examine her and attempt to get her lungs working. He turned her over and patted her on the back, and finally she cried out, gasping for air. We both breathed a sigh of relief.
I called for Ethan to come and see his baby. He took the baby from me, and I knew he was in love immediately. She was a cute little baby, I had to admit. She had yet to open her eyes. While he held her, Doc quickly sewed Elizabeth’s incision back up, as well as the hole where the bullet had gone in.
“What’s wrong with her? She’s turning blue,” Ethan said.
The doctor, who had just finished sewing Elizabeth’s wounds, came over and took the baby from Ethan.
“She’s been losing her breath,” I told Ethan. “She stops breathing because her lungs are not fully developed.” I didn’t want to tell him that we may lose her. Ethan turned pale again, watching the doctor.
Doc got her breathing again. He listened to her heartbeat through a stethoscope and frowned. “Her heart rate has slowed,” he said. He kept working on her, and I moved back over to Elizabeth. She had been unconscious for both procedures after giving her the opium, and still had not awoken. I cleaned her some and then put her dress back on her. I wondered if she would make it, if she would open her eyes and see her beautiful little baby girl. I was a little torn. Part of me would be glad to get rid of her, but the other part of me realized that it would be heartless to wish such a thing, and I felt sorry for her, knowing that she might not be able to care for her baby. Every mother and baby deserved to be together.