The Cumberland Plateau

by Mary K. Baxley

  “What do you mean?” David asked.

  “Well, it’s simple.” Cecilia tilted her head and sighed. “Mother was vain and selfish and had a fiery temper, but Daddy could be quick-tempered, too. However, it did take a bit to set him off. After I was born, Mother didn’t want any more children, and of course, Daddy did. He wanted a son, but she said childbirth had ruined her figure. They fought bitterly about it until she finally locked him out of her room.” Cecilia lowered her lashes. “One night, after he had been drinking, he kicked the door in. When she became pregnant with my brother, he accused her of infidelity while she accused him of raping her. I heard the whole argument.”

  David cringed at her words. They reminded him of himself when he was a boy, and of the many arguments he’d overheard as a child. He placed his hand on her shoulder.

  She glanced up, blinking back tears and shaking her head. “My mother was about eight months along when they had another terrible fight. I overheard the entire argument that day, too. Mother told him that the brat was his, and he knew it. He slapped her out of anger and hurt.” Cecilia stopped and wiped a tear. “She left the house in a fury, saddling a horse to ride out, but she didn’t get the cinch tight enough, and the saddle slipped, throwing her off. My father found her an hour later when she didn’t return to the house and rushed her to the hospital where my brother was stillborn later that night. They never spoke to each other again. Mother died a year later in a boating accident when she was out with her lover, but no one knows about that except for her lover, me, and Daniel. And I only know because I heard my father tell my godfather about it. My parents’ lives are one of the reasons I have such a glowing outlook on domestic felicity. My mother never loved my father.”

  David frowned. “Who was her lover?”

  “Gregory Garrison—one of my father’s best friends.”

  “Then…was it possible that…I mean—”

  “No, I know where you’re going, and the answer is no. The child was my father’s. My mother’s affair had just begun when she was killed. My father had shut her out, so she turned to someone else.”

  “I’m sorry, Cecilia, that’s awful.” He pulled her into a hug and held her close. Cecilia’s words brought back memories of his own childhood. He could see his mother crying, but he had no memory as to why.

  “Yes, it was,” she agreed. “My father realized he would never have a son, therefore he trained me to be his heir. From that time on, we were inseparable. I went to card games, the racetrack, and later I even took care of him when he’d had too much to drink. I attended all the social functions with him and learned to take pride in who I was and what it all meant. His mistresses treated me like a daughter, but I treated them like mistresses. They were not my mother, and I resented them with their simpering and fawning…except for one.”

  David looked at her with a frown. “One?”

  “Yes, one.” Cecilia smiled. “My father’s second mistress, Anna Carrington. She was the closest any ever came to replacing my mother. I do believe Annie loved me, and I loved her very much. She was kind and good, and she loved my daddy, but he didn’t return her love. It was heartbreaking to watch what Annie went through. She wanted to marry him and have a family. She would have given him the son he wanted, but no, Daddy wouldn’t have it, and Annie couldn’t live forever in between. So she left us with a broken heart, and with her, she took a little piece of mine, too.” Cecilia choked back a sob. “I later heard she married a business tycoon over in Tupelo, Mississippi. I hope she’s happy.”

  Looking up through tear-laden lashes, Cecilia said, “I know what they say about me, and if it’s true, I learned it from the best of the best. I even learned to drink and smoke from Daddy. I also learned by his example that love breaks your heart. When you care, you open yourself up to hurt. I’ve seen it firsthand…” Her expression was placid and her voice void of any emotion as it trailed off into a whisper.

  Then, for the first time, as he stared deep into her beautiful sad eyes, David Darcy saw what he’d never imagined seeing—vulnerability. Cecilia Lawton was vulnerable. And she’d been hurt. Could she love him? He now believed it was possible—even probable. He drew a deep breath and asked, “Cecilia, can you tell me how your father died?”

  “Well,” she sighed, “after the death of my mother, he threw caution to the wind, living reckless and wild, and it finally took its toll on him. He died from a heart attack, or more like it—a broken heart, at the age of fifty-two. But don’t think he didn’t love me, for I know he did. I was all he had.”

  David couldn’t help feeling sorry for her and her father, too. …James Lawton must have loved his wife very much, but she didn’t return his love. It must have destroyed him… just like my father.

  A sudden desire to protect Cecilia from all the hurt and pain of the world overcame him. In his mind’s eye he saw a little girl standing in the shadows, much as he had done when he was a boy. David instinctively wanted to reach out to her—to love her—to be her family. He came very close to telling her how he felt, but he knew now was not the time. Instead, he settled for pulling her into his embrace, holding her tenderly while gently stroking her back and softly kissing her forehead.

  “Cecilia, my parents didn’t have a very happy marriage either, but I never knew why until my father died. Like your father, he married a woman who didn’t love him—not at first, at least, although she did come to love him later. Until my father’s death, I believed him to be cold and indifferent to her, and therefore cold and indifferent to his children—especially me. But before he died, he told me that he loved me, and that he’d left me a set of journals. Those journals broke my heart as I learnt the truth of what really happened.”

  Cecilia tilted her head gave him a puzzled look.

  David continued, telling her everything he knew about his parents’ history. When he concluded, he stepped back to lean against the rail.

  “She broke my father’s heart, and by the time she had fallen in love with him, he wanted nothing to do with her. But that’s not the worst part. When they finally did decide to try and make the marriage work, my mother had become pregnant again only to discover that she had cancer. Needless to say, neither she nor my brother survived. I was devastated. I loved her very much and she loved me. I blamed my father for all her sadness only to discover it was both of them. Had it not been for Fitzwilliam, I don’t know what I would have done. My brother pulled me through. That’s why we’re so close.”

  Cecilia stepped into the shelter of David’s body and held him close, her head resting on his shoulder. While holding her, David thought of something else that had been bothering him since the Magnolia Festival.

  “Cecilia, tell me about Cameron. Who was he and, if you don’t mind my asking, what did he mean to you?”

  Releasing a long breath, she pushed back and looked directly into David’s eyes. “David, it was a long time ago, but no, I don’t mind telling you. You already know that I dated him.” She peered out into the night sky and took a deep breath. “Cameron Taylor is the son of a well-respected businessman here in Charleston. They own an international shipping company that dates back almost to the beginning of Charleston when it was Charles Towne. We sort of grew up together, with his father and mine being close friends.”

  “I know you said you don’t love him now, but did you ever love him?”

  “No, I didn’t. I now know that for certain. At the time, though, I thought I did.” she paused. “David, it’s very difficult to say this, but…well…Cameron was my first… the first boy to ever kiss me… the first man to ever...” Her voice faded into a whisper as she momentary looked off to the side before drawing her eyes back to him. “I was sixteen, and he was seventeen when we began to date. Our families were thrilled and wanted us to marry in time, and I probably would have, except for the fact that I caught him with someone else, and I don’t think I have to tell you who that was.”

  “You cared though, didn’t you? I remember you telling m
e you were considering marrying him even now.”

  “David, it was an infatuation only. I know it’s unbelievable,” she softly laughed, “but I really was shy in high school and didn’t date much, so when he began to pay attention to me, I was naturally flattered.” She stopped and shook her head. “I was young. I admired him…he was handsome and confident—captain of the high school football team and later quarterback for the University of South Carolina, and all the girls wanted him, but he wanted me. It made me feel important to be seen with him, and Amelia Wilkes, my childhood nemesis, hated me all the more for it, but I didn’t care. I had Cameron, and he loved me, or so he said.” She gave a cynical laugh and took a deep breath. “He took me everywhere and made me feel good. I thought that he cherished me. He would gaze into my eyes and speak pretty words—sweet little lies... sweet little nothings.” Glancing at David, her eyes glistened. “He told me I was beautiful…that he wanted me, and he made me feel beautiful.” She laughed, but there was no mirth in her laughter. “We dated for two years before I gave in to his constant pleadings.”

  Another tear slipped from her eye. She wiped it away. “David…women are not like men. They don’t give away their innocence easily. It’s a precious gift a woman can only give once, and if she gives it to the wrong man, then what’s the point of saving anything else.” She locked eyes with David and stared. “He told me that he loved me, that he wanted to marry me. That’s primarily why I gave in to him. I thought we’d marry when we finished college. I thought that I was in love with him, but about a year after we’d begun sleeping together, I caught him with Amelia, and all plans were off.” She smirked. “I remember it clearly as if it were yesterday. It was a turning point in my life. After that incident, I hardened as the cold reality of life hit me in the face like a bucket of ice water. From that moment on, I knew I’d never be the same again. Something died that Sunday afternoon when I caught them down by the creek near an old grist mill, supposedly our special place.” Cecilia drew in a sharp breath. “David, I gave myself to him after he repeatedly told me that he loved me. He even wrote poetry for me, declaring undying love and devotion. His courtship was so intense that I had convinced myself that I loved him, too, but he took what I gave him and trampled it as if it were nothing.”

  She blinked back a tear. “Daddy would have killed him if he’d known what he’d done.”

  “Oh, love, I can’t imagine what that was like. What did you do?”

  “Nothing.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “What was there to do? I just stood there, watching them until they noticed me. I felt nothing as I gazed upon their naked bodies. All I remember about that day is that I needed to get away—get away from him, from her, from everyone concerned, because you see, Cameron doesn’t know this, but it was no accident that I found them there that day. I’d received an anonymous call, telling me to meet him.” She sarcastically laughed. “An anonymous call from none other than one of Amelia’s friends, Lucinda Armachor. But I’m nobody’s fool, and I would be damned if I’d stick around and let Amelia and her cluster of catty bitches rub it in.”

  She propped against the rail and folded her arms over her chest. “That’s when I petitioned my father to allow me to join two of my friends in Boston. Daddy agreed and I was accepted into Harvard. In August, I left. After that, I didn’t see or speak to Cameron Taylor again until about a year ago when he came back into my life, and we started dating.” She halted briefly and cocked her head to one side. “I know you think it’s crazy, but I have to marry, and I am considering him. I’ve gotten past the initial hurt he caused, and I mean…it only makes sense. He and I are connected in all the right ways. We belong to all the same clubs and organizations. We share a similar heritage. We move in the same social circles, and it would combine Lawton & Co. with Taylor Shipping. It would be a very lucrative merger, combining our wealth and social status, and I have to be cognizant of that. But I… I don’t want to.” She glanced at the stars, and then turned to David. “I don’t love him. I don’t even like him.” She looked David straight in the eye. “David, I don’t even know what love is. But I know enough to know that love and sex aren’t the same thing. Yet, at the same time, it’s difficult for me to feel anything when it comes to what others call love. That’s why I thought I could enter into a loveless marriage, one of convenience, and not be affected by it. My reasoning has been that if I don’t feel anything, well, no one can hurt me, but now…I don’t know. I’ve changed.”

  David drew her into his arms, shaking his head. What she had shared with him tore at his conscience, and it wounded him to see the look of pain reflected in her beautiful eyes. It had never occurred to him how a woman might feel about losing her virtue. For a man, it was a milestone, a rite of passage, but apparently, for a woman, it was a loss if the man did not value what she had given him. David winced at the thought and held her a little tighter. He’d done a lot of things in his life, but lying to a woman wasn’t one of them. He had never taken a woman’s virtue under false pretenses.

  ~*~

  Later that night as they lay in bed, David smiled. She’d changed, and he suspected he knew why. Although neither had intended it nor wanted it, it had happened just the same. He was no longer David Darcy, president of Darcy Enterprises, and she was no longer Cecilia Lawton, president of Lawton & Co. They were simply a man and a woman falling in love. He could see it in her eyes, feel it in her touch, and he knew she struggled as he had struggled.

  While he lay there holding her next to his heart, David Darcy determined that he would marry Cecilia Lawton, and together they would have a family. The Lawton line would live on through him. He also knew he had both the ability and the money to expand the Lawton dynasty, and he intended to do just that.

  Settling back against the softness of the pillows with the woman he loved in his arms, England grew farther and farther away, while South Carolina began to claim a place in his heart.

  Chapter Fifty-four

  …Could those eyes be for her…?

  The sound of a crowing rooster in the distance woke Cecilia bright and early. She stretched out lazily, glancing over to the man beside her as a warm smile crossed her features. David. She reached and gently prodded him.

  “David…David, we have a busy day. Aunt Ruby is fixing pancakes with wildflower honey. We need to get up.”

  “Umm…what do you have planned, love?” he asked as he turned to greet her.

  “Well, it’s going to be warm today, in the mid-eighties, so I thought we’d go down by the creek for a picnic. Aunt Ruby is having the kitchen staff prepare fried chicken with coleslaw and homemade biscuits, and then I have to meet with Uncle Reuben about my thoroughbred mare.”

  “Mid-eighties? Love, that’s not warm—it’s hot.”

  She laughed softly. “Compared to England, I guess it is, but for South Carolina, it’s warm.”

  “Well, it sounds like fun. But what about your mare? What’s wrong with her?”

  “Nothing,” Cecilia shrugged. “I’m having her bred to one of Solomon Abercrombie’s stallions. She’s a lead mare and very spirited, and I’d like to explore her potential.”

  “Umm…Abercrombie, yes I remember him. His horses are among the best on the American track.”

  “That’s right. Solomon owns Blue Willow Farms, and though I have no intentions of racing, I still enjoy a fast ride.”

  “Well, that makes two of us, love.” He smiled and caressed her face as he reached for her.

  ~*~

  After breakfast, they took the picnic basket and set out for the creek that ran through the heart of her property. As they walked along, David said, “You know, I think Mrs. Chaplin likes me.”

  “Oh? And why do you think that?” Cecilia cut him a mischievous grin.

  “Umm, I don’t know. It could be the fact that she was very attentive to me at breakfast, making sure that I had enough to eat, and that it was all to my satisfaction. She also never allowed my coffee cup to go empty until I told her I’
d had enough.”

  “Yes, I believe she does like you.” Cecilia sighed on a soft laugh. “She mentioned it several times as she packed the basket, telling me to be sure you got the chicken breast. It appears that you mentioned you prefer white meat to dark.”

  David only smiled as they reached the slope above the creek bank.

  “Here, let’s spread the blanket out on this grassy spot. When everything is set, let’s play.”

  “Play?” he said with a naughty smile.

  “Get your mind out of the gutter, Darcy. Yes, play! I haven’t ripped and romped in years, and this was my favorite spot when I was a child, so let’s play.”

  She pointed to an old gnarled willow oak, drooped in moss, bent low and hanging over the creek. “You see that tree?”

  “Yes, what about it?”

  “I used to climb it. Come,” she said, “I bet I can climb higher than you.”

  “We’ll see about that,” he said as they both raced for the tree.

  Cecilia quickly scaled it and nestled into the tallest fork, but he was fast behind her, settling into the crook of the tree, trapping her body with his. “Now what are you going to do, Lawton? I have you were I want you.”

  She curled her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss, then nipped his lips. “I’m going to kiss and run,” she said as she slipped out of his embrace and scurried down the tree. He was quick to follow.