“I’m afraid so. He’s been in the illegal slave trade for years. It was only a matter of time until the authorities caught up with him. I know he’s Steele’s own flesh and blood, but I really don’t understand why he felt honor-bound to rush to his aid. And all the way to Key West!”
“So that’s where he’s gone. Jeremy didn’t tell me.” Key West seemed to Lilah the other side of the world. She knew it lay somewhere far south in the ocean, but had no idea how far or how long the trip would take him.
“You know?” Saralyn interrupted her thoughts, “I haven’t seen Steele look so happy since he first met Rachel. Coming to Rainbow Hammock and finding you was like a rebirth for him.”
Lilah found herself heading unconsciously for her secret hideaway in the ancient oak. “Rachel?” she asked.
“Yes, Steele’s wife. Didn’t he mention her to you?”
A lump formed in Lilah’s throat. She wanted to turn and run away. She didn’t want to hear about another woman in Steele’s life, especially not a wife!
So this was really the reason he’d left. He couldn’t become involved. He had no right. But then why had he talked of marriage to her?
“Rachel died two years ago, poor thing. Consumption. She lingered for years. Steele spent nearly every cent he had on clinics for her both here and abroad. She died alone, in Switzerland. The doctors had assured Steele that she was improving—that it was safe for him to make a trip back to the States on company business. Strange. It seemed almost as if Rachel clung to life only to be with him. He hadn’t left the continent yet when she died. But he didn’t find out about it until weeks later, when word finally caught up with him. He’s never forgiven himself for not being with her at the end.” Lilah could hear the sympathetic tears in Saralyn’s voice.
“How dreadful for him,” Lilah murmured.
Saralyn offered her a brave, although tremulous, smile. “But you, Lilah, seemed to renew his old spark. I hadn’t seen him so full of warmth and enthusiasm in years. I’m sure things will work out for the two of you.”
Lilah hardly dared to hope. “You think he’ll come back, then?”
Saralyn put her delicate arms around Lilah’s waist and gave her a sisterly hug. “I don’t think there’s a chance in a million he won’t come back. And you’ll make him a perfect wife!”
Lilah held her friend at arm’s length and smiled down through hopeful tears. “You don’t know how much it means to me to have you say that, Saralyn.”
“Oh, I think I do. We’re both in love, you know. Isn’t it a wonderful feeling, Lilah?” Saralyn giggled. “Don’t tell a soul I confessed this, but I’m not the least bit nervous about my wedding night. I can hardly wait!” She blushed prettily. “I’m a shameless wanton where Brandon is concerned I’d do anything to make him happy-anything!”
Lilah grew serious. “I think that’s a very mature attitude, Saralyn. And I know you’ll make Brandon the happiest man on the face of the earth.”
“Thank you, dear. I hope you’re right.” Saralyn went up on tiptoes to kiss Lilah’s cheek. “I must get back to the house now. Watch the mails. Steele’s sure to write soon. He’s always been a good correspondent.”
Lilah stood for a long time watching Saralyn’s slight form, enveloped in a gaily ruffled tarlatan, float back toward Fortune’s Fancy.
“Bless you, Saralyn Habersham!” Lilah said aloud, smiling. “You’ve given me new hope.”
She turned quickly and ran toward Rainbow Landing to meet the mail boat coming in from Savannah, her heart light with the thought of a letter from Steele.
The boat had arrived and unloaded by the time Lilah got there. Jeremy leaned against a gnarled cedar tree sorting through the pouch labeled Rainbow Hammock.
“Any letters for me?” Lilah asked breathlessly.
Jeremy looked up slowly, an inscrutable smile on his face. “Now who do you know on the mainland who can write, honey?”
“Stop teasing, Jeremy! Did I get a letter?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know!”
Lilah stamped her foot with impatience and then tried to grab the mail pouch away from Jeremy.
He snatched it back. “Oh, no, you don’t! Tell you what. Let’s me and you stroll over to Kingdom’s shack and get something to drink. I’ll let you help me sort all this stuff. What do you say?”
“All right,” Lilah agreed, “but hurry!”
The tabby cabin that Kingdom and Rhea shared sat away from the others, close to the dock and the water. Rhea worked at the big house all day and Kingdom was busy loading his boat for the trip back to Savannah. Jeremy knew their privacy would be complete, but he gave one of the yard younguns a shiny penny to guard the door just in case.
“Now don’t you ‘sturb us, you hear me, Puddin’? You do and I’ll have ol’ Grady string you up by the heels in the barn and take the hide offen your fanny with his paddle!” Jeremy threatened the wide-eyed youngster.
“Naw suh, Massa Jeremy! I ain’t gonna make a peep, lessen somebody comin’.”
“That’s good, Puddin’. You mind now.”
Lilah was in the cabin already, sorting frantically through the letters, looking for one from Steele. When Jeremy entered, Lilah was going back through the stack for a second time.
“Find what you lookin’ for, honey?”
Lilah jumped at the sound of Jeremy’s voice.
“No,” she answered, disappointment plain in her tone.
Jeremy sat down next to her on the com shuck mattress that Kingdom and Rhea shared. She tried to move away, but he slipped his arm around her and held her in place.
Taking the letters from her hand and stuffing them back into the pouch, Jeremy said, “Well, maybe I can make it up to you—not getting any mail, that is.”
“I’ve got to get back to the house, Jeremy,” Lilah protested, suddenly aware that he had tricked her to get her alone.
“Ain’t no hurry, honey. I brought you here special. Seeing what happened last night, I figured you’d feel right at home in a nigger shack.”
Lilah felt her panic rise. Jeremy had been “sippin’,” as he called it. When he reached a certain degree of inebriation, his mean streak reared its ugly head. She had to get away. Quickly, she jumped up from the bed and moved toward the door.
“Aw, Lilah honey, come on.” He followed her as she backed away to the closed door. “I know you must be downright grateful that I haven’t told anybody about what you been doin’ lately. Don’t you want to thank me?”
“Thank you!” she answered crisply, her mind working on escape. He was so close now that she could feel the heat of his body and smell the strong liquor on his breath.
He lurched forward suddenly, pinning her against the wall with his body, bruising her lips with his mouth. His rough hands kneaded her breasts and she could feel the hot bulge in his breeches throbbing against her thigh.
He raised his face from hers after the lengthy kiss. She could see his eyes were unfocused. She’d have to be careful.
“God, Lilah, you taste good! Come on, darlin’, you know I got to have more. I’m hurtin’ bad for you!”
He stumbled uncertainly and grabbed for her to regain his balance.
“Maybe you’d better sit down, Jeremy.” She fought to make her voice sound calm and controlled as she led him toward a chair.
“My jug,” he said, sinking into the seat. “Where the hell did I put the damn thing. First, I need a drink. Then you gonna shuck your dress and we’ll do it, honey.”
Lilah didn’t argue. She spied the crock of moonshine near the bed and handed it to Jeremy. Then, when he tipped it up to take a long pull, she made a rush for the door.
“Want some?” he offered when he’d downed his fill. He blinked, stood up, then kicked the chair across the floor. “Goddammit! Where’d she run off to? Liiah!” he yelled.
When there was no answer, he flopped on the bed and cocked the jug again.
“Don’t
matter,” he muttered drunkenly. “I’ll get her next time. Her loss! If she’d been nice to me I might have give her this.” He pulled a letter, postmarked Savannah, out of his pocket and broke its wax seal. He read Steele’s words, chuckling all the while.
“No. Don’t reckon I would have at that!”
He sauntered over to the fireplace, where Rhea cooked meals for herself and Kingdom, and dropped the sheet of paper into the smoldering ashes. It flared and bumed.
“Funny,” he said as he watched, “how fast all them fancy words just go up in smoke like they never was wrote down in the first place.”
Chapter 10
The unseasonably late summer turned like the flipping of a calendar page to the cold, dead heart of winter. Icy rains pelted Rainbow Hammock, making winter-killed leaves rattle like dry bones against the onslaught of the northeast wind.
Lilah huddled with her mother and grandmother close to the inadequate fire, which sputtered and crackled in a vain attempt to heat the drafty cabin.
“Damn that Sim’s shiftless hide!” Granny muttered. “Told him it was comin’ on winter…. He’d best be layin’ in more wood. ‘Naw,’ says he, ‘ain’t gonna have no real teeth-rattlin’ weather this year!’ Humph! A lot he knows!”
“Hello? Anybody to home?”
Lilah rushed to the door at the sound of Kingdom’s voice. He pushed his way in with an armload of freshly split cedar.
“Thought you ladies might be needin’ this,” he said cheerily. “Ain’t no use me tryin’ to cross to Savannah today. That water looks like it’s plumb boilin’ up from hell. So, figured I might as well make myself handy ‘round here.”
“Bless your sinnin’ soul, Kingdom,” Granny enthused, helping him with his burden and throwing a good-sized log on the fire. “Weren’t for you, we’d all be froze up directly! Set a spell and have a cup of tea.”
“Don’t mind if I do, ma’am. Sure is cold enough to frizzle the whiskers on a ‘possum out there this mornin’!”
Lilah fixed tea and passed the steaming mugs all around, silent, wondering if Kingdom knew what had happened in his cabin the day before.
“Soon be hog butcherin’ time, I ‘sped,” Granny offered.
Kingdom grinned. “Sure will, and it’ll be mighty fine to taste them fresh chitlins!” He smacked his lips in anticipation of the crisp-fried hog entrails the slaves all loved.
Katy, who had been silent until now, suddenly went into a spasm of coughing. They all turned to her, concerned.
“Lawdy! If she ain’t got the grippe, I don’t know what,” Granny sighed. “Come on, Kate. I’m gonna put you to bed with a mustard plaster and some of my herb tonic.”
The two women left the room. Lilah and Kingdom remained—uncomfortable in their silence. Lilah’s mind was no longer on Rainbow Hammock, but on Kingdom’s statement about the rough seas.
“This storm’s really bad, Kingdom? Worse than we usually have this time of year?”
“‘Fraid so, Miss Lilah. If it wasn’t so late in the season, I’d swear we was in a hurricane for sure.”
“But a big boat would be able to ride it out, wouldn’t it?” she asked anxiously.
“Don’t know, Miss Lilah. Guess it would depend on how her captain handled her.”
She let out a heavy sigh.
“What you worryin’ yourself about now?” Kingdom asked accusingly.
“Steele Denegal’s supposed to be headed for Key West by boat, but maybe he hasn’t left Savannah yet.”
Kingdom fidgeted and shuffled his big feet on the bare wood floor, wondering whether or not he should tell Lilah what he knew. She read his expression accurately.
“Out with it, Kingdom. What is it you don’t want to tell me?” she demanded.
“He left this morning about first light. Leastways, that was his plan. I was with him yesterday when he bought the ticket. But don’t you fret, Miss Lilah. Them coastal captains knows their stuff They probably seen a hundred storms worser than this one.”
Another silence fell between them. Only Katy Fitzpatrick’s coughing from the other room and the howling wind trying to penetrate the cabin’s windows cut through the thick void of unspoken words.
Kingdom shifted in his chair, started to say something, stopped himself, then rose to leave.
“What is it, Kingdom?” Lilah knew his moods. Something was on his mind—something he wanted to say to her, but wasn’t sure he should. Perhaps he did know that she’d been in his cabin with Jeremy.
“Miss Lilah, this ain’t no place to talk. Your granny might hear.” He eyed the bedroom door anxiously.
“Kingdom, please! Do you know something about Steele you’re not telling me?” she pressed.
“Don’t have nothin’ to do with him…. Not direct anyhow.”
Now her curiosity rose to new heights. “Well, tell me!”
“You plannin’ to marry Mister Jeremy?” he blurted out.
“Marry him?’ Lilah had trouble containing her shock. “Of course not. Kingdom!”
“Well, after what he done to you the other night, I thought you might be thinkin’ on it. I just wanted to warn you, that’s one mean white man!”
Lilah stared at the big slave, suspicious half-comprehension creeping into her. “The other night? What are you talking about, Kingdom?”
“At Black Mambo’s gatherin’,” he whispered, seeming fearful of even speaking the old witch’s name.
Lilah felt her heart and hands go icy. “Were you there?” She dreaded his answer.
“No, Miss Lilah,” Kingdom shook his head, as embarrassed as she was. “But I know a gal who was. She told me all what happened. I heard of a lot of evil things in my life, but don’t seem Mister Jeremy nor any other man ought to get away with what he done to you!” Anger made his voice shake. “I figured he’d done asked you to be his wife by now. It’s only fittin’ and proper. But I just can’t see you bein’ married to him.”
A faint light, turned on by Kingdom’s words, glimmered in Ulah’s brain. Bits and pieces from the night on the beach began to surface from her subconscious. Just an instant before she’d lost consciousness she’d seen another face staring down at her. Not a dark, slave face, but the countenance of Jeremy Patrick! All the hideous pieces fit now. He’d used her dizzy spell against her. But now she had the advantage! He’d never force her again!
Lilah clenched her fists to control the fury that boiled up inside her. “Kingdom, I’d appreciate it if you’d forget what we’ve been discussing. The person who told you won’t tell anyone else, will she?”
“Naw, Miss Lilah. You know how Master Ames feels about black magic. A nigger’d have to be plumb crazy to even whisper ‘bout such goings on. She only told me ‘cause she was feared something bad had happened to you.”
“Good! We’ll just forget the whole matter then. I’ll deal with Jeremy Patrick in my own good time!”
Kingdom shuddered. He’d never heard her voice so cold.
“Lilah!” Granny called frantically. “Come in here quick! Your ma’s done took real bad! I got to go up to the big house and see does Maum Tassie have some more tonic.”
Lilah ran to the bedroom. Her mother’s slight frame lay motionless amid a mountain of patchwork quilts. She gasped for breath. Her face was as blue as the cornflower squares worked into the Lady’s Garden pattern of the coverlet.
“If she starts choking again, you run your finger down her throat, and mind she don’t swaller her own tongue. I’ll be back quick as I can!”
Lilah sat next to her mother and held her cold hands. “Mama,” she whispered, “can you hear me? It’s Lilah.”
Katy Fitzpatrick’s eyes flickered open for an instant. Lilah watched her colorless lips move, but no sound came out. The woman grimaced with the effort, then coughed until it seemed to Lilah that her lungs would burst. Quiet at last, she tried anew to speak.
“What isit, Mama?” Lilah asked, putting her ear close to her
mother’s mouth.
“A… Ames,” she managed at length.
“Mr. Patrick?” Lilah asked. “What about him?”
“Want…him. Not much…time…”
Lilah glanced up at Kingdom, who had been standing quietly at the door to the bedroom.
“I’ll go fetch him. Miss Lilah,” he said solemnly, never questioning why Katy Fitzpatrick would want to see the master of Fortune’s Fancy at this moment.
“Thank you, Kingdom. Hurry!”
It seemed an eternity to Lilah, as she held her mother and listened helplessly while she coughed her life away. Finally the front door opened again. Ames Patrick rushed into the bedroom, his face an ashen mask of worry.
“Katy, dear,” he whispered, kneeling beside the bed and taking her hands from Lilah.
“Ames … you came.” Katy’s voice had lowered to a thin rasp.
“What can I do, Katy? Tell me. Anything,” Ames pleaded.
Lilah edged to the door and out of the room to give them privacy. But she could still hear their voices.
“Our son,” Katy went on.
“Yes, Katy, our poor, sweet baby. What about him?”
“Bury me next to him.” Another spasm of coughing. “Please, Ames.”
A shock jolted Lilah. So, Granny hadn’t told her everything. Lilah knew she was eavesdropping on the most private part of her mother’s life, but she couldn’t pull herself away.
She heard the tears in Ames Patrick’s voice when he answered, “You have my word, Katy, but that won’t be for a long time. You’re going to get well.”
“Remember, Ames?… That afternoon?” came Katy’s voice, diaphanous as a cobweb.
“I’ll always remember, Katy, darling. You looked like a fairy princess in your frilly white gown. And that wide sash—the same blue as your eyes. I’ve always blamed myself for what happened there under the oak trees….”
Lilah peered in to see the tears streaking Ames Patrick’s face. Then her mother pulled his silver-red head down to her breast, and whispered, “Nobody’s fault, Ames. We… loved each other.”
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