After they had been pronounced husband and wife, Major French delivered a lecture to the reluctant bride on the responsibilities of any wife of a Federal officer to her husband and her country. He reminded her that Steele’s protection extended only in certain areas, and advised her that it would be wise if she signed the oath of allegiance at once. Caroline refused.
Steele, wary of leaving the premises with her until they were joined by deed as well as word, requested permission to honeymoon in the guest quarters of the fort. Major French agreed.
Midnight had faded into one o’clock when two guards showed Steele and his bride to their room. Steele felt at once thrilled and terrified by what he had done.
Alone at last, Caroline eyed Steele with cold contempt. “So, my sentence is rape by a baboon in blue!”
Steele sat down and removed his jacket and boots. “Hardly, Miss Mallory. Oh, I forgot, it’s Mrs. Denegal now.”
She made an angry sound and turned away from him.
“I don’t like this any more than you do, Caroline. But would you rather be sent to a Federal prison?” He went to her and put his hands on her shoulders, but she shrugged away. “Caroline, be reasonable. If you won’t think of yourself, think of Stephen. He’s secretary of the Confederate navy now. It would be a terrible burden for him to bear, knowing you were about to stand trial for treason.”
“Oh! So now you’re telling me you did this for Stephen, you turncoat! Well, I don’t believe a word of it! You saw your advantage and took it! I said ‘rape,’ and that’s what it will be, if you intend to make me your wife!”
“Quite frankly, my dear, I’m too tired for that sort of sport tonight. I hope you won’t be disappointed,” Steele said unemotionally. “It’s been a long day, you know.”
He watched Caroline closely out of the corner of his eyes. Was that regret he glimpsed? Maybe Maggie was right.
“I must warn you though, Caroline, that the door is bolted from the outside. It won’t be opened until I give the order. So now or later, you have your choice. Right now, I’m going to have a bath, and I suspect you could use one too.”
Caroline gasped when Steele dropped his trousers and paraded naked across the room to the small tub. He passed her on the way and paused. “Phew! You smell like dead fish! There’s not muchwater. You use it first.” He untucked her ragged shirttail.
“No!” she screamed. “I won’t!”
She tried to keep her eyes averted, but found it difficult in the ensuing struggle.
“Oh, but you will! I refuse to share a room, let alone a bed, with a reeking woman!”
Caroline whirled away, and the sun-rotted fabric of her shirt came apart in Steele’s grip. She screamed and tried to cover herself Steele went to her and gently forced her arms to her sides. She could feel his warm gray eyes roving over her breasts. No man had ever looked at her before—not this way!
“You’re very beautiful, Caroline,” he whispered. “You needn’t be shy with me. I’m your husband.”
“Yes, Steele,” she answered, a sob choking off her words.
Steele held her close and caressed her so tenderly that she finally relaxed in his arms.
“There, that’s better. It’s going to be all right. I promise you. Now take your bath.”
Caroline obeyed, even allowing Steele to wash her back and massage her shoulders. But once in bed, she closed herself to him. He met cold kisses and clamped thighs. After an hour or more of trying gentle persuasion, Steele heaved a weary sigh and turned his back to her. He knew he wouldn’t sleep, but he refused to continue allowing her to reject him. And he would not stoop to rape.
Some time later, he heard her soft sobs. Turning to her, Steele cradled her in his arms, trying to soothe her.
“Hush, darling.” He let his hand slip down her body to stroke her thighs. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
“Oh, Steele,” she cried. “You didn’t have to do this. I feel like you’ve been tricked into a marriage you don’t want.”
He felt her body open to him slowly. “But I do want it, Caroline. And I want you,” he whispered, kissing her tears.
“I love you, Steele! I have for so long,” she confessed, clinging to him now, her body suddenly a thing of molten passion.
She responded to his love with a fury, as if she couldn’t get enough of him. At dawn, they lay exhausted, Steele’s head resting between her peaked breasts.
Caroline sighed with satisfaction, and kissed Steele’s brow, then whispered, “You came. You saw. But I conquered, Steele, my love!”
Chapter 22
RAINBOW HAMMOCK
July 1861
The island seemed strange and tempers were strained. With both Brandon and Jeremy gone and Ames Patrick taken to his bed after a mild stroke, the women had to depend on their own resources to hold their lives and the plantation together.
Lilah, in her sixth month of pregnancy, finally consented to move back into Fortune’s Fancy, even though she was still not Brandon’s legal wife.
“Ames must be nursed around the clock,” Elizabeth Patrick insisted, “and I don’t trust the servants to watch over him. You have to come back, Lilah. It’s your duty!”
In spite of her reluctance, Lilah had to admit that it felt good to be in the big house again. And, too, Scottie had missed her as much as she’d longed for him. He was talking already, and testing his chubby, little legs.
Lilah received her first communication from Brandon. He’d been with the forces at Big Bethel Church, Virginia, in June. A clear Confederate victory.
“The war will be over by Christmas,” he wrote. “The Yankees have no leaders, nor even the will to fight. Our Cause will stand!”
Lilah was sitting on the veranda, reading Brandon’s glowing words, when Kingdom came charging across the lawn.
“Miss Lilah, come quick! It’s Rhea… the baby!” he yelled.
The old fear clutched her. She’d dreaded this moment for months.
“I’ll be right with you, Kingdom,” she answered, heaving her undelicate form up from the chair.
Lilah winced when she entered the cabin, remembering the last baby she’d delivered and how much pain Saralyn had to endure before she found peace in death.
“Leave us now, Kingdom,” Lilah ordered.
“No!” Rhea replied. “I want my man here.”
Lilah frowned at the unconventional request, but nodded her consent.
Unlike Saralyn’s drawn-out and pain-filled labor, Rhea gave birth within the hour. Not one sound passed her dark lips during* that time. Only occasional grimaces had betrayed the discomfort she suffered. At first glance, the tawny-skinned boy looked normal and healthy. Lilah sighed with relief. But still, some uncertainty gnawed at her. The child was obviously Brandon’s. Only time would tell if he was all right.
Lilah smiled at Kingdom and his wife as she settled the infant at his mother’s breast. “Congratulations to both of you. He’s a fine lad. Have you decided on a name?”
“We gonna call him King Solomon,” Kingdom answered. “He be the wisest man around when he grows up, ‘cause I’m gonna teach him everything. And when he ain’t a slave no longer, he can change his name around to Solomon King. Sounds right white, don’t it, Miss Lilah?” He grinned. “Just right for a free man!”
Lilah smiled. “You’ll all be free soon, Kingdom. Remember? I promised.”
Lilah left the little family and started home. For no reason in particular, she went to her favorite tree and sat down in the shade. Yellow butterflies flitted about her, and the whole afternoon hummed with, industrious insects. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes to listen.
Her thoughts went unbidden to Steele Denegal. Oscar Ryan had confided to her that he was in the Union army. She wondered if he’d been at Big Bethel, fighting on the other side of the line from Brandon. The thought troubled her.
“Well, missy, ain’t you a pretty sight!”
Lilah’s eyes flew open. Sim Grady stood over her, leering down.
“Uncle Sim! What are you doing here? I told you to stay in the fields today. It isn’t near quitting time yet!”
He reached down and caught her chin in his calloused hand. “I don’t take orders from no woman! Not you! Not that crazy Patrick bitch! You think you so highfalutin, livin’ up to the big house! You ain’t nothin’ but a whore! Carryin’ the fruits of your sins around with you!” He poked at her bulging stomach angrily.
When she gave a cry of pain, Sim Grady yanked her up from the ground and backed her against the tree trunk, his whiskey-thick lips bruising hers. She fought to free herself, fear bringing her near hysteria, but he only lightened his hold.
“What you want to act that way for, Lilah honey? Seems like you’d be just plumb aching for a man—your feller runnin’ off on you and all.” His craggy face darkened then. “But I just seen you comin’ out of Kingdom’s cabin. I reckon if you screwin’ around with that nigger buck, you happy as a hog in slop! You always was partial to him.”
“No, Uncle Sim, I never…”
He slapped her hard. “Shut up, you lyin’ slut! I know what you done and what you ain’t! I also know what I ain’t, but I’m fixin’ to!”
He ripped at her dress, and Lilah screamed. He slapped her again.
“Please, Uncle Sim,” she sobbed.
“You don’t have to beg, gal. You gonna get it!” He laughed coarsely. “Right now!”
“No!” she screamed when he threw her to the ground and began unfastening his breeches with his free hand. “Leave me alone!”
Suddenly, she felt faint. The baby moved inside her, kicking its protests at this outrage. Lilah felt rough hands on her, smelled sour whiskey, but the whole world seemed to be spinning. She was too weak to fight.
A moment later, she heard a strangled oath. The pressure on her body dissipated. She forced her eyes open.
“No, Kingdom!” she sobbed. But it was too late.
Sim Grady’s limp body dangled in the air, supported by the strong hands crushing his throat. His eyes bulged and his tongue lolled out of his purplish face.
“Oh, Kingdom? Lilah cried, “what have you done?”
He let Sim Grady’s body drop to the ground with a thud before he answered, “I reckon I killed the sonuvabitch, Miss Lilah!”
A new kind of terror consumed her. Slaves didn’t kill white men! Not even a good slave like Kingdom could get away with killing scum like Sim Grady!
“Kingdom, you’ll have to leave Rainbow Hammock! Right away!”
“Leave my Rhea and the baby?”
“There’s no other way. I can get your papers from the house. I had Brandon draw them up before he left. You’ll be safe in Savannah until I can get Rhea and the baby to you. But you can’t stay here. Word of this will spread like wildfire from island to island. The other planters will come looking for you. Please, Kingdom, it’s the only way!”
He nodded his silent assent.
Lilah left him and ran to the house. She went directly to the library to a small safe. There she searched through papers until she found the document declaring Kingdom a free person of color. Quickly, she slipped it into the bodice of her torn dress.
Upstairs, she shook her grandmother out of a light nap. “Wake up, Granny. I have something to tell you.”
“Wasn’t sleeping,” the old woman grumbled. “Just resting my eyes a spell.”
“Granny,” Lilah began, trying to think what words to use. “Uncle Sim’s dead.”
The woman’s expression didn’t change. “Ain’t surprised. Doubt he died, though. That man just uglied away!”
Lilah explained what happened—Sim’s attack, Kingdom’s rescue, and her plan to remove the slave from the danger of hanging.
Granny nodded, her face still placid. “You got a good head on your shoulders, Lilah. Everything’ll be fine. Don’t you fret.”
Suddenly, Lilah broke down. She fell to her knees with her head resting on the side of the bed and sobbed her heart out.
“Oh, Granny, what am I going to do?”
“There, there, child,” Granny soothed, stroking Lilah’s hair. “You have yourself a good bawl, then dry your tears and let the world know who you are! You’re about to be the ma of a real, honest-to-God Patrick! That’s something to be mighty proud of!”
Lilah felt a bitter smile curve her lips. Rhea’s already the mother of an honest-to-God Patrick, she thought. And now we’ve both lost our men!
Lilah had planned to have Kingdom dispose of Sim Grady’s body by throwing it into the ocean after dark that night. Maybe it would be found, maybe not. Either way it would give them more time. But as luck would have it, Tee-Bo discovered the body in the underbrush only minutes after Lilah and Kingdom fled the scene, and hurried to spread the news.
Kingdom’s getaway had to be faster than they’d bargained for. Tee-Bo had seen the other slave leaving the scene of the crime. Since everyone knew of the animosity between the two men, Kingdom’s guilt was a foregone conclusion. The slaves looked on it as triumph, not guilt.
“Wrung out his neck like a chicken’s, that Kingdom did!” Tee-Bo announced proudly to all who would listen. “Ain’t no Sim Grady gonna take the hide offen us no more! That Kingdom, he some kind of man! Have hisself a son and kill the overseer all in the same day!”
Less than an hour after Sim Grady’s demise, Ames Patrick knew what had happened. Propped up in his bed, he ordered Blue, “Take a boat over to Saint Simons and tell the planters there we need help. Not even Kingdom can get away with murder.” He sounded weary.
Boats were arriving from the other islands, and bloodhounds were already unleashed on Rainbow Hammock to run Kingdom to ground when Lilah saw her friend off to Savannah.
“You look after my family, Miss Lilah.”
“Don’t worry about them, Kingdom. You take care of yourself.”
The freed slave did more than take care of himself. In the months that followed, he slipped back to Rainbow Hammock as often as he felt was safe. He brought news of the war, fresh provisions, and solace to Lilah. In return, he received her gratitude and the happiness of seeing Rhea and the baby.
Late in September he arrived one night long after Lilah was asleep. Rhea came to the house and woke her, being careful not to arouse the rest of the household.
“Miss Lilah, Kingdom’s here and he need to see you. Say it’s important,” Rhea whispered.
Lilah, great with child now, wrapped herself in a loose dress and followed Rhea to the cabin. Kingdom stood by the fireplace holding little Solomon. Lilah smiled, knowing that Kingdom accepted the child as his own.
“What’s the news that can’t wait, Kingdom?” she asked anxiously.
“I got a new job—at the livery stable, but that ain’t the news.” He frowned and handed the baby to Rhea. “Remember that man what took such a shine to you back before you was married?”
“Steele Denegal?” Lilah hardly trusted her voice.
“Tha’s him. Well, I seen him yesterday. He remembered me and asked how was you.”
“What did you tell him, Kingdom?”
“Not much. Ain’t none of his business the way I see it. Just said you was fine and all. But he come back again today. He was askin’ more questions.”
Lilah mulled over Kingdom’s words. What would Steele Denegal be doing in Savannah? Had Oscar Ryan been wrong about his joining the army?
“Was he in uniform, Kingdom?”
“Naw, Miss Lilah. He say he in the city on shippin’ business. Don’t know what kind of shippin’, what with the Yankee blockade and all. But he come every day now for me to tend his horse. Another funny thing—he usin’ a different name and asked me not to tell no one about him bein’ there, except you. Said he had a hankerin’ to see you.”
The nerve of the man! Lilah thought. He knows I’m a married woman now. She looked down at her distended belly. Not married, just p
regnant!
A wild scheme began taking shape in Lilah’s mind. So, he was asking questions, was he? She could do better than that. She could see him, and he’d never know she was there, unless she decided to reveal her identity.
“Kingdom, you visit with Rhea and the baby while I go back to the house for a while. Then, I want you to take me to Savannah with you.”
“Miss Lilah, what you saying?” Rhea protested. “You ain’t in no fit way to travel! That baby ready to drop any time now!”
“Don’t be silly, Rhea. I’m not due till next month. I’ll go over tonight and have Kingdom bring me back tomorrow night.”
Lilah rushed out before either of them could offer further objections. She hurried back to Fortune’s Fancy, and pawed through a trunk of old things from the cabin, which she never wore anymore. She found the black wig, an old gingham dress, a tignon such as slave women wore, and began changing.
“The nitrate of silver!” she said aloud.
As quickly as possible, she went downstairs to the pantry and found the bottle of cleaning solution.
“Half full,” she said. “This should do it.”
Back in her room, she rubbed the silver nitrate on her face, arms, and neck. Slowly, in the lamplight, she watched her skin turning darker. She’d never pass for a full-blooded African, but she was darker than Fancy.
She returned to Kingdom’s cabin transformed. When she knocked, then opened the door, both Kingdom and Rhea stared at her, wide-eyed.
Rhea found her voice first. “Miss Lilah? What you gone and done to yourself? I never!”
Lilah laughed and took Kingdom’s arm. “Will you allow me to masquerade as your husband’s wife for a while, Rhea?”
“That wouldn’t be fittin’, Miss Lilah!” Kingdom argued. “Why, you in a family way. What’ll people think?”
Lilah giggled at the thought. “Why, Kingdom, they’ll think I’m about to drop you a fine sucker! Let’s go!”
Rainbow Hammock Page 27