Promise Me Forever

by Janelle Taylor

  Rachel.wondered who had filled in the due date, and if it was the one agreed upon by Phillip. “I really have no choice, do I?”

  “I’m afraid not. I’ll have Frank prepare the papers for your signature, and I’ll notify you when they’re ready to sign. This is difficult for me, too, Rachel, so I’m happy you’re settling it so peaceably.”

  She decided to test his motive and feelings one last time. “If I come up with the sixty thousand, I can buy back the agreement?” she asked.

  Milton stared at her and hesitated, but said, “Of course. But it has to be on or before Friday,” he amended.

  “A week before I’m to be paid for that deal? That isn’t fair.”

  “That’s a shipping date, Rachel, not a closing and final payment date. There’s no telling how long a voyage and delivery and collection of balance could take. I can’t hold off that long.”

  She pretended to concede. “I just wish you had refused to loan Phillip money, at least that much, when you knew he had a gambling problem.”

  “Why he desperately needed the money wasn’t my business, Rachel. We were friends and partners, so I helped him out of a tight bind.”

  “And put me in a worse one.”

  “That wasn’t my doing or intent.”

  “Do what you must, Milton. I’ll leave now. Good day.”

  As she stood outside the firm, Rachel worried over Harry and George having similar agreements that might take away the other two companies. If she lost all partnerships and Moss Haven, she would be in that same state of poverty as after Craig died. What or who had set this evil pattern in motion? How could she stop it? She couldn’t turn to Dan as if he were her only escape. She couldn’t give herself to him completely until she was on level ground once more.

  Rachel was glad she had told Burke Wells to wait for her. She returned to the carriage and she had him take her to Bay Street, where she tipped a sailor to carry a message to Captain Daniel Slade of the Merry Wind that was docked below the bluff. She said to tell him something had come up, but not to worry or visit, that she was only changing their appointment to dinner at her home on Wednesday. She lingered there until she saw the man approach Dan’s clipper and head up the gangplank, as the vessel with secured sails was visible between two buildings beyond a stone alley.

  At home, Rachel told Lula Mae that Dan was coming to dinner on Wednesday, that her mother was visiting this weekend, and that she had lost the shipping firm. She couldn’t decide which or if all revelations astonished the wide-eyed woman, who didn’t comment on any of them.

  Tuesday morning, Rachel was miffed by an announcement in the newspaper that was delivered by the mail carrier: “McCandless & Baldwin Shipping Firm is now under the sole ownership of Milton Baldwin.” It was clear that Phillip’s Savannah partner had wasted no time in letting people know he had pushed her out of the firm, so they needn’t worry about trading there. He must have turned in this notice before meeting with her in order to meet the newspaper’s deadline for publication! “So much for giving me an extension and handling this matter quietly, you sorry …” she muttered in anger.

  Later, Earl Starger paid her another visit.

  “What do you want this time?” she asked in vexation. She didn’t know which caught her eye first: the lack of lust and smugness in his hazel gaze, the freshly combed dirty-brown hair, or the deceptively genial smile on his lips that softened his angular features and made him look sincere.

  “Calm down, girl. I’m only staying a minute, and I won’t even come inside. I wanted to thank you for writing to Catherine. It seemed to make her feel better. I’ll be sailing to Boston tomorrow for three weeks, so why don’t you visit her? While I’m away, you won’t have to fear seeing me.”

  Mama didn’t tell him she’s coming to visit! “Is she strong enough to be left alone for three weeks?”

  “Yes, and she has plenty of servants around for help and protection. If I’ve done things in the past to offend you, Rachel, I’m sorry, and it won’t ever happen again. If we can’t make peace and become friends, let us have a truce, at least for Catherine’s sake. We’ve conflicted too long and too harshly. Join me in putting the past behind us. You have three weeks of privacy, so please go spend time with her.”

  Rachel was astonished by his cunning pleas and deceitfully contrite behavior, but she didn’t fall for his ruse. Yet she didn’t want to endure another bitter quarrel today so she said, “I may go. It sounds like a good idea.”

  “Do it. You wouldn’t want things to end this way between you two.”

  Her heart pounded as she questioned a subtle threat against her or her ailing mother. “What do you mean?”

  “Your experiences since leaving home and Catherine’s recent illness should tell you that unexpected deaths do occur. Don’t wait too long. I promise I won’t do anything to prevent a reunion you both need.”

  “I’ll think seriously about it.”

  “I hope so. Good-bye, Rachel. Take care of yourself.”

  She watched his departure with intrigue, and suspicion.

  Dan arrived at six-thirty Wednesday evening. Even though they couldn’t converse on more than a genial level as Lula Mae served them and they ate, Rachel detected that something was troubling Dan. She noticed it in the way he seemed to force his smile, the unrelaxed way he sat in his chair, and the lack of a usual sparkle in his blue eyes. She didn’t think he could be angry over her not visiting him Monday, as she had sent a message and an invitation to dinner tonight. She would question his strange mood after the housekeeper was dismissed and they were alone. And she would make certain the nosy woman did not spy on them again tonight.

  Before Lula Mae could serve their dessert and coffee, there was a knock on the back door. Rachel heard the housekeeper talking with a man, so she went to see who had called at this hour and for what reason. It was one of their sharecroppers who said his wife was having a baby and he needed help fast. Rachel observed how reluctant the woman was to leave her alone with Dan, as it wasn’t like Lula Mae to refuse to help in a matter in which she was skilled.

  “I can finish the serving and cleaning up, Lula Mae. Go along with him; his wife needs you. There’s no time to fetch the doctor in town. I’ll be fine until your return.”

  “But you has cumpny, Miss Rachel.”

  “Don’t worry about us. Dan won’t be staying long after we finish. I’ll even leave the clean-up chores for you, if that will make you feel better about going.”

  “Jest let me git my things,” Lulu Mae conceded with a frown.

  After the woman left, Rachel returned to the dining room and explained the emergency situation, then served their dessert and coffee.

  Dan was angry Rachel had sold his family’s shipping business. He had planned to buy it from Milton and move it back to Charleston, where he wanted to settle down eventually with Rachel. He couldn’t do that until after this perilous mystery was solved and he could expose his identity. “I saw something in yesterday’s newspaper that surprised me, Rachel,” he said. “Why did you sell the firm? I told you I would lend or give you whatever money you need for support. Why didn’t you tell me first?”

  Rachel didn’t know why that matter disturbed him, but it certainly seemed to. “I didn’t sell.” She related how she had lost it on Monday.

  That news stunned Dan, but it pleased him that she was innocent of his mental charges. “You believed him?”

  “Not really, but what could I do? The signature on the agreement was Phillip’s. I can’t repay the loan, so why cause more trouble for myself fighting a futile battle?”

  “Stall signing those relinquishment papers.”

  She stared at him. “Why? How? For what reason?”

  “This secret loan is suspicious. If it were for a few thousand dollars, I’d believe him, but I doubt Baldwin would loan a man with a gambling weakness so much money, even with Phillip’s share of the firm as collateral and especially when Baldwin’s trying to convince you the firm is near
bankrupt. He would try to force you to repay the money before accepting the terms.” Dan had decided to hire a detective to check out Baldwin and this curious matter, but he would keep that intention to himself for a while. “If he presses you to sign, tell him to take you to court to prove the agreement is authentic and binding. See how he reacts to that situation.”

  “He’ll be furious, then vindictive.”

  “That doesn’t matter, does it?” Dan reasoned. “I’ll be able to help you battle him. We need to get our hands on that paper, even if I have to steal it; that’s the only way to see if it’s real. Besides, without it, he has only his word he loaned money to my…friend.”

  “But if it is authentic, Dan, that wouldn’t be fair or right of me.”

  “If necessary, I’ll give you the sixty thousand dollars to repay him.”

  “No! The firm is in bad trouble and you’ll lose your money.”

  “I think he’s lying and bluffing, Rachel. Give me time to prove it.”

  Hope and suspense filled her. “How?”

  “I’ll think of a way after I give it careful study.” Something compelled him not to relate his plan to her. He would send for that Charleston detective tomorrow. He would travel by train and could be on this case soon. “Don’t sign those papers until we’re convinced he’s telling you the truth,” he advised, then suggested what she should tell Milton.

  “Oh, mercy, he’ll become an enemy, too. I don’t need or want another one. But all right, I’ll do as you say, even though it’s going to be big trouble.”

  “Trouble isn’t new to you or to me. If we sink, we’ll do it fighting.”

  His plan was cunning. “I’ll trust you, Dan, and follow your lead. When you startled me that day I was searching the office safe, I had a stack of papers in my hand, but I put them away without looking at them. The loan agreement could have been there or in Milton’s locked desk.”

  “We searched everything later, remember?”

  “You’re right! So where was it?”

  “Probably didn’t exist then.”

  “I pray that’s true, Dan, and we find a way to prove it fast.”

  “We will. Two good things: your stepfather sailed for Boston this morning, and so did Camellia Jones. I checked on their schedules. Neither is returning for three weeks. At least they’ll be out of your hair for a while.”

  Rachel liked that news. It meant no Earl to intrude on her mother’s visit, and no Camellia to run into while flaunting the jewelry she had been forced in to selling.

  “I have to leave tomorrow on a short trip,” he disclosed, “but I’ll be back next Wednesday. My crew is restless, and I’ve been offered a sweet deal to take a rush cargo to New Orleans. I hate to leave you at this time, Rachel, but we might need the money to finance this deal.”

  He was leaving! “I can’t let you use your earnings to get me out of trouble. It isn’t your problem, and there’s a possibility of a total loss.”

  “It is my problem, Rachel, because you’re involved and in danger.”

  She warmed and smiled, but she still didn’t want him to go. “I wouldn’t be if I could find that missing money.”

  “Why don’t we search for it again? Lula Mae will be gone for hours. The timing is perfect. I might think of a place you haven’t. Since I’m a man and a man concealed it, I may have a better chance of finding one’s hiding spot.”

  “That sounds good to me. Let’s get busy and hurry.”

  While there was daylight, they searched the outbuildings and around the house’s exterior. Dan even took a lantern and examined every area underneath any raised structure. He tried to recall if Phillip had had any favorite hiding spots as a child and he checked those that came to mind.

  As the inside of the house was explored, Dan tried to imagine his brother in those locations—the dining room while eating and chatting with Rachel, the cozy combination office and sitting room where he had worked and relaxed, the parlor where he had sat and perhaps entertained, the guest room where he had spent his last hours alive and in terrible pain and alone, the sewing room that had not been given a chance to become a nursery for an heir, and the master bedroom where his brother had slept and had made love to the woman he himself now loved and craved.

  As they entered the parlor and sat down to rest, Rachel murmured, “See, nothing. No money and no clues.”

  “It could be buried anywhere on this large property.”

  “One strange thing I noticed during my first search; I didn’t find any personal effects from Phillip’s past, not one. Isn’t that odd? It’s as if he either destroyed or concealed his past before moving to Savannah.”

  “He could have left them stored in Charleston to avoid painful memories. I’ll check on it for you the next time I’m there.”

  Rachel walked to an oblong side table. She lifted a decorative box and opened its lid to send forth lovely music. “Phillip gave this to me. Whenever I was sad or scared, he would play it for me as a distraction. Sometimes we would even dance around this room, laughing and talking. Despite all we’ve learned or suspect, Dan, Phillip was good and kind and special. He was my closest friend. I have to believe he knew what he was doing with this mysterious deal and, if he were alive, he’d know how to straighten out the mess. I’m sorry he died in such physical and mental torment. He didn’t deserve that.”

  Dan was touched and pleased, but it refreshed the sadness and bitterness of his brother’s loss. He turned to her and suggested, “Why don’t we distract ourselves with a twirl or two, ma’am?”

  They danced in silence as they comforted themselves and each other. But when they locked gazes, the close contact and romantic aura became too arousing. They didn’t know when Lula Mae might return.

  “How about a game of chess?” Rachel asked. “Phillip taught me how to play.”

  “Sounds perfect, just what we need,” he teased and grinned.

  Rachel smiled, then closed the music box and put it back in its place. She pulled out the chess board and pieces. She placed them on a small table, and they sat down to test each other’s skills.

  Soon, their eye and knee contact became too stimulating.

  “We’re fighting a losing battle, woman,” Dan chuckled.

  Before she could respond, thunder boomed over the house and caused her to jump and squeal. They were so enthralled with each other, they hadn’t heard the distant rumblings or noticed the flashes of lightning that had moved closer and closer over the last hour. A violent storm broke over the area and rapidly sent down a deluge of rain amid noisy roars and brilliant flickers.

  “Afraid of storms?” Dan asked.

  “No, it just startled me. I’d better close the windows upstairs. Will you check the ones down here?”

  Dan shut and locked all windows and doors on the bottom floor. When Rachel returned from doing the same on the one above, he grinned and said, “I doubt Lula Mae can return any time soon, if at all tonight. It’s bad outside, and looks to be a long and dangerous storm.”

  As if taking his words as an invitation to rush into his arms, Rachel replied, “We should wait a little while, in case they left before the storm broke. If she isn’t here in twenty minutes… Why are you grinning like that? Isn’t that what you had in mind?”

  Dan stroked her hair, then her cheek as he said in a husky tone, “Only every hour since Augusta and every minute since my arrival today.”

  “Then we think alike.” Her eyes gleamed with anticipation and desire.

  “That we do, my bewitching enchantress.”

  “Why don’t you douse all the lamps downstairs, all except those in here? I’ll freshen up. Join me in ten minutes, if she isn’t back.”

  “Do you have a slicker I can borrow? I need to put away my horse.”

  “In the closet by the back door. Lock it after you return.”

  As she left the parlor, Dan noticed she had gone from twenty to ten minutes before—Stars above, his mind fretted. Could he make love to his brother’s
widow in his brother’s house in his brother’s bed, the same one where Phillip had—Yes, his heart and body replied, and he relaxed.

  Dan found the slicker and went to put his mount in the barn, where he unsaddled him and tossed him hay and sweet feed to calm the nervous animal. Inside the back door, he bolted it and removed his wet boots.

  Upstairs, Dan found Rachel standing at the end of the hall with the porch door ajar and gazing outside. He came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. She signed dreamily and leaned against him. He nestled his cheek against her fragrant hair. Both watched the storm.

  The day’s heat lessened quickly as breezes grew stronger and cooler. Moss was whipped about as the wind grabbed and shook branches as if trying to viciously rip the limbs from their trunks. Failing to do so, it snatched at their leaves and sent them scurrying across the yard. Spring flowers were yanked around, colorful petals torn off and sent flying to join the severed leaves and broken twigs. Ear-splitting thunderclaps sounded overhead; they shook the house and rattled the windows.

  Lightning flickered like glowing fingers slashing into dark clouds to release a torrential rain. More peals of thunder roared and boomed like charges of dynamite going off in rapid sequence. The ground was soaked and visibility was nonexistent. As gusting winds slanted rain and fired it onto the porch, moisture reached Rachel and Dan in the doorway.

  “Let’s go make a storm of our own,” he enticed as he nibbled at her ear and caressed her bosom through her garment.

  Rachel turned in his embrace and kissed him as her answer.

  Dan lifted her, closed the door with the hand beneath her knees, and carried her into the bedroom. Only a few candles were burning there, and they cast an intimate and romantic glow in the lovely room. Neither thought of who had shared this room and bed in the recent past.