Ruse of Love

by Jerri Hines

  “Once you survive the seasoning, it will be one less worry upon you,” she told Rebekah.

  How wrong Aunt Helen had been! Not long after her aunt uttered those auspicious words had Rebekah not only lost her youngest sister, Sara, to the sickness, but her aunt as well…her mother’s sister who served as a barrier between her uncle and herself. If she had only stayed in Philadelphia!

  She shook her head. She would not let the past gnaw at her this day. Her complaints were small compared with others, she reminded herself. The war had taken its toll on many in the North. Here in Charles Town, the war seemed a distant memory. No, Charles Town was an entity in itself, with its own dangers…. Never had she imagined the reprehensible behavior exhibited among people considered civilized.

  When she lived in Philadelphia, she felt the call for independence, people willing to give up their lives for the cause…for freedom…for liberty. Here in Charles Town, she wondered whether any felt the cause. Instead, they used it for their own gain or an excuse to inflict vengeance on another.

  The fire that burned inside her for freedom had long since died. She hadn’t the time. Besides, she was late. She needed to hurry or she wouldn’t be able to see Ian and Katie. The note had been delivered over an hour ago.

  She glanced over her shoulder. For the life of her, she couldn’t shake the feeling she was being followed. She halted along the corner of the wrought iron fence. She saw nothing. She pulled her cloak tighter around her and scurried down the lane. She wouldn’t have long.

  Rebekah had returned to Charles Town from Hyrne, her uncle’s plantation, less than a week ago, along with her uncle. Uncle Adam demanded she return with him to set the house in order while he saw to the needs caused by the fire. She thought it odd, for most of the time she oversaw the welfare of her siblings. Not that her brothers, Daniel and Paul, needed anyone to oversee their needs being almost seventeen and fifteen respectfully, but Ruby and Peter were still awfully young and her new Aunt Constance had made it clear she wanted little, if anything, to do with the youngsters.

  She learned long ago not to question her uncle. When she first met her Uncle Adam, he seemed a splendid gentleman, but Rebekah learned one never knows what lies beneath the cover of a persona. She couldn't have been aware of the brooding anger inside the man, not immediately, but she found a certain peace in keeping the promise she made to her father. It was her one comfort.

  In the Carolinas, the name Reed carried prestige and standing in the colonies. Adam Reed prided himself on his accomplishments. At one time he held a seat in the House of Assembly. Active still in politics, he had been one to press for the separation from the King, the call of independence—the call that cost her father his life.

  Holding to high standards, her uncle demanded the same of all others. A deeply religious man, Rebekah long ago learned to endure the nightly Bible readings and prayers. He held his strict moral code to all under his roof. For some reason she could only contemplate with the rumors the servants whispered, he seemed to hold to her tighter than the rest of the family. She wasn't allowed to wear colored dresses, adorn her hair with combs, or wear jewelry.

  She had long given up the thought of his demands on her. Life was what it was; no more, no less. Her feet carried her quickly down the lane behind the houses aligning the Battery. Most times she walked slowly along the path enjoying the surroundings. If nothing else, Charles Town held beauty within it.

  Today, she hadn’t the time to contemplate anything other than the note she held in her hand. Ian had sent it. Her heart raced with worry. Ian never sent for her. She hadn’t even known he was back in Charles Town. She had not seen him since the family had withdrawn to Hyrne and he to his plantation, Lyon’s Main, in the fall.

  No sooner had she turned the corner, her worry eased. Standing alongside the gate leading into Ian’s garden, Katy Landor stood, smiling broadly. Of course, it was not at her. Instead, Katy seemed highly entertained, engrossed in a conversation with a gentleman.

  Katy paused, catching sight of her friend. She waved her hand for Rebekah to move forward. “Rebekah, I was beginning to worry. Ian is waiting, impatiently so, I might add.”

  Rebekah could not help but return Katy’s vivacious smile. Rebekah had known Katy longer than anyone else in Charles Town. At one time, Katy had been her only friend until she had been introduced to Ian. Now the three shared a bond, a kinship of sorts, each with their own burden to bear.

  Katy Landor lived next door to Ian Cahill’s large four-story brick mansion with a triple piazza facing the harbor. Many a summer afternoon, Rebekah escaped to sit with Katy and Ian in his luscious garden, watching the world go by.

  “Come on, Rebekah. Don’t tarry. I want to introduce you to Ernest.” Katy’s wide expressive eyes did little to conceal her excitement over the young man. Rebekah wondered whether Katy realized how pretty she looked while she smiled at her companion. Why, her friend was glowing in his presence. Poor Katy…having lived her life in the shades of her beautiful sister, Randa.

  “Ernest.” Katy reached over and squeezed his hand. “This is my best friend in the whole world. Miss Rebekah Morse. Rebekah, Lieutenant Ernest Sherman. He’s in the militia. His family is originally from Savannah. Now they live in Beaufort.”

  “My pleasure, Miss Morse.” Lieutenant Sherman bowed his head. A tall muscular man, pleasant enough to look at, smiled at Rebekah. “I’ve heard so much about you.” In his next breath, he turned back to Katy. “I will excuse myself as I’m late on my rounds. Pray, Katy, be careful. I have warned you not to be walking the streets alone. If you need an escort, do not hesitate to let me know.”

  Rebekah watched the young lieutenant walk down the lane. He looked back once at Katy and smiled. Rebekah turned to Katy. “Escort? Is there a threat?”

  “Oh, no. He teases me so. Ernest is only trying to scare me because the Weems’ plantation was attacked last week, but I don’t mind him escorting me around.”

  “Weems’ plantation? It’s not five miles from town.”

  “That’s what Ernest said. Said it was that raider Black Rory and his bunch. Getting bolder they are. Burnt down the whole plantation. Killed Arthur Weems outright in front of his wife and children. Ernest said they don’t know whether Black Rory had a hand in the harbor fire either.”

  “I thought Charles Town safe…” Rebekah’s voice faded in the air as Katy turned back to her. Without any thought of impending doom of any sort, Katy linked her arm around Rebekah’s.

  “Come. Ian’s waiting for us.”

  Walking through the dormant garden, Rebekah stepped up the veranda and through French doors without waiting to be announced. She entered behind Katy into the richly furnished drawing room without giving a thought to anything but her concern. She glanced around to find Ian standing at the window.

  Releasing the velvet curtain, the slender gentleman smiled at her appearance. He wore no hat; his dirty blond hair was drawn back in a queue down his back. His garments, though elegant and fine, were over large and emphasized the smallness of his frame. Oh, no, he has lost more weight!

  Rebekah smiled back at her friend, hoping to conceal her concern. He looked so dreadfully frail. No need to stand on formalities, she rushed to his side. Leaning up, she kissed one cheek and then the other. She had not far to reach for he stood only a couple of inches taller than she.

  “Come, Ian, tell me all. Tell me why the note. It scared me beyond belief. I thought…” Her voice trailed off.

  “That I was on my sickbed,” he answered for her. He reached for her hand and led her to the cushioned settee. Rebekah sat next to him. “Instead, I’m pleased to say Katy and I have a surprise for you. I hope you will like it.”

  “I will be back in a moment,” Katy said. “Don’t tell her now. I want to show her.”

  “What have you gone and done, Ian?” Rebekah asked as she watched Katy leave the room. Turning back to face her friend, she stared at his lean face, his thin white lips and translucent gray eye
s, though his cheeks had more color. “Are you two up to something?”

  “Why, Rebekah Morse, what on earth would ever give you an idea like that?” He laughed—a clear, bright laugh.

  His laugh put her at ease, relieving her of the worry she felt when she first received his note. Ian Cahill wasn’t a well young man. Nor had he been since she had known him. Ian Cahill had been an invalid most of his adult life.

  Having survived the fever when he was a young lad, he never regained his full health. At times he was still prone to high fevers. Most doctors concurred his heart was damaged. Most thought he would not live past twenty. Yet he sat here in his drawing room having passed his twenty-fifth year.

  Rebekah met Ian through his sister-in-law, Esther Daventry, a friend of Aunt Constance. Having accompanied her aunt on the visit to her friend’s home, Rebekah slipped off and explored the lavish gardens. She discovered Ian sitting within the beauty, holding a book.

  From that moment on, the two had become fast friends. Ian, a recluse by nature, warmed to her company. She needed desperately a friend. The exact moment that Katy had been integrated with this alliance, Rebekah couldn’t remember. Katy lived next door to Ian. One afternoon, Katy simply appeared, saying she saw Rebekah with Ian reading and it looked quite entertaining. What a threesome!

  Ian was dictated by his health; Rebekah, her uncle; and Katy…Katy lived in the shadow of her older sister, Randa. If they had nothing else in the world, they had their friendship. At times, Rebekah wondered about the bond.

  Whereas Rebekah’s status in Charles Town depended upon her uncle’s good nature, Ian and Katy both came from the elite of Charles Town. Katy’s father, Theodore Landor, was a highly successful businessman with ties to her uncle. Ian’s father, Patrick Cahill, tarried from Ireland to seek a place in the world. When he arrived, it seemed that fortune did smile upon Patrick Cahill. He married a local widow with one young son, started a family of his own and made a fortune in indigo and rice. Alas, a dark cloud encompassed the family. Only twelve, Ian watched his family succumb to an outbreak of the sickness that spread through the countryside. Ian survived the devastating fever; most of his family had not. In less than three months, Ian lost his parents and three siblings, leaving Ian with only his older half-brother, Layton Daventry.

  “Your note. You never send a note in that manner. I believe I covered but Uncle Adam could well ask me about it,” Rebekah responded, trying not to betray her anxiety on the thought. She had no desire to worry her friend of her uncle’s response.

  “I’m tired of sidestepping Adam Reed.” Ian’s eyes fixed on her. “I’m quite put out by his behavior of you, my dear friend. Did you receive my Christmas present to you? My letters?”

  Rebekah shook her head, literally in shock. She had never heard Ian talk in this manner. “No. Did you receive mine?”

  Before he could answer, she saw the throw blanket she had made on the back of the winged chair. A small smile emerged on her face.

  “His treatment of you has gone way beyond the line of decency.” Ian’s voice rose higher. “Even now, if not for Esther, I would have never known he had brought you into Charles Town. But in the end it will make all easier.”

  “Easier?”

  Ian had no chance to respond. Katy came bounding back carrying a lovely rose gown in her arms.

  “What…?” Rebekah stuttered. Katy paid her confusion no mind, but swirled around the room as if dancing. Rebekah glanced back at grinning Ian.

  “It’s yours. Your surprise. You didn’t think we would forget your birthday.”

  Katy paused in front of her and held out the gown for her. “You don’t know the trouble Ian went to, Rebekah. We have been planning it for a while. We hoped at Christmas, but the whole of the plan fell apart. When Ian sent me a note telling me you were going to be here in Charles Town, I could not believe our good fortune.”

  Rebekah reached over and ran her hand over the lovely, silken material. Never in her life had she felt something so lush and soft to the touch. Mesmerized, the gown simmered in the sunlight reflecting from the window.

  Suddenly, her face fell. “Oh, Ian…Katy, it’s gorgeous, but you know…I could never…can never…” Her voice faded. “It is so beautiful.”

  Behind her, Ian grasped her shoulders and turned her to him. “It is yours. For tomorrow. I’m having a dinner party and you are going to be the guest of honor.”

  “Guest of honor?” Stunned by his words, she couldn’t conceal her shock. “Ian, you better than any other understands…”

  “It is you that doesn’t understand,” he said. “For once, let me take care of everything. I told you before you left last summer, I had a plan to rescue you.”

  “But Ian, I’m not a prisoner. I made an agreement,” Rebekah protested. “And it isn’t only me.”

  “I have everything taken care of. Katy and I have worked endlessly on this solution. One that will make us all happy. I know you would never sacrifice your siblings for your own happiness. I have taken all into account. Now go try on this gown. I want everything perfect for tomorrow.”

  She leaped off the settee and reached for the gown. Holding it against her, she twirled and laughed, halting only after catching her reflection in the mirror. For a moment, she didn’t recognize herself. Her eyes gleamed; her being radiated with the thought of the freedom Ian promised, but reality crept within her.

  A hand pushed against her. “Now, Rebekah, I’m losing patience. Why, do you know how hard it has been for me to keep this secret from you? You are not going to ruin this for Ian or me. You have to trust Ian. He has planned every detail. Mother and Father are coming, along with the Cutlers. It’s going to be such a grand night.”

  “Are you not going to tell me what is planned?”

  “Not yet. Know only that you are to return to that house only to pack a bag. Then Ian is sending a carriage for you. You are to stay the night with me tonight.”

  “I’m so confused.”

  “Don’t be,” Ian said. He walked to her side and leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Trust me. Make me happy, Rebekah, by not questioning the details. I want to do this for you. For all the time you have spent reading to me and the endless conversations we have shared in the garden. You gave to me a happiness I want to give back to you. Let me.”

  She nodded slightly, all her reservations forgotten for a moment. His eyes pleaded with her. She looked at the gown and back at Ian and Katy. What harm could come from trying on the gown?

  Katy laughed an infectious laugh and intertwined her arm into Rebekah’s. “This is so exciting. I have a dress, too, I can’t wait for you to see. We will have all eyes on us. I have only to figure out how to get Ernest in to see me. I have so much to tell you and now we will be inseparable.”

  Choosing not to deny Ian his obvious elation, Rebekah pushed back her reservations and allowed Katy to whisk her away to try on the gown.

  Rebekah pressed down the latch to the wicker case and placed it down on the floor. In a span of a small box, she placed all her earthly possessions. She slumped on the bed as a sudden trepidation overwhelmed her.

  She needed time to contemplate Ian’s offer. What was he offering? He refused to tell her the whole of the plot. In her heart, she trusted Ian. She wanted nothing more than to accept his offer, but more depended upon her than her own welfare.

  Ian understood the ramifications of her leaving and he would never intentionally worsen her situation. She had long accepted her life. It had been her choice, one that she lived with for the last three years.

  On her arrival in Charles Town, her uncle wasted little time in conveying his expectations to Rebekah, summoning her down to his study after dinner. Never would she forget the long walk down the corridor or the encompassing sense of impending doom when she entered the dark, menacing room.

  Lit only with a single lamp, Adam Reed sat behind a grand mahogany desk. The grim stern look on his aged face did little to alleviate her fears. A large man, he seemed gi
gantic in the shadows. The dim light reflected off his white hair, which only enhanced his pointed chin and brooding eyes. He gestured for her to stand when she began to sit in the leather wingback chair. He cocked his head forward and confronted her.

  “I agreed to this arrangement with stipulations, Rebekah.” Uncle Adam’s words still echoed within her. “You, my dear, hold the fates of your siblings in your hands. I have no heirs of my own. Daniel and Paul seem fine young men. The younger children will have all the advantages my home will entitle them to. But a price has to be paid for my generosity. There is always a price.”

  “I don’t understand, Uncle Adam. I will do what is necessary for us to stay together. It was Father’s wish.”

  “So it was your father’s wish.”

  In essence, Rebekah came to realize she served no more than a servant in the household. She served as a companion to Aunt Constance, saw to the welfare of the younger children, the upkeep of the household, and arranged parties; her purpose—to maintain the household. In exchange, her siblings enjoyed the world her uncle opened for them. This arrangement Rebekah had agreed on: to live within the shadows of their world.

  Only her friendship with Ian and Katy kept her from falling into a sea of despair. Poor Ian. When she first met him, his heart had been broken. Engaged for a short time, his fiancée, Melanie Butler, ran off with a backwoods man, choosing to live a hard life in the wilderness instead of a life of luxury with a man she did not love. At least, those were the rumors whispered.

  Ian did not talk of her. Rebekah did not ask. Rebekah had no need to delve into his devastation on the desertion: she saw it in his eyes. For unlike his fiancée, Ian had loved her well. His heart broken, he became a recluse.

  Rebekah rose and picked up her case. Her heart pounded by the decision made. She trusted no one as she did Ian. No matter his health, Ian was a bright, intelligent man and kind to a fault. She had only to find the courage to accept his help.