Virginian Lover

by Oliver, Marina

  'Softly, love, I'll come back at dinnertime! Mistress Mason, you'll be good to him, please?' she begged.

  With the first smile Bella had seen, the old woman stretched out her arms and took Toby gently away. Hearing Edward's impatient shout from just outside the doorway, she hastily kissed Toby, bade him be good, and ran from the room, shutting her ears to his terrified sobs as he called to her not to leave him.

  Edward was waiting by the door and he pushed Bella roughly in front of him. She almost stumbled on the broken step, and had to narrow her eyes against the brightness outside.

  'This way.' Edward led the way between two of the other cottages, past the large building that resembled a barn, and along a well-beaten path which rose gradually as it wound away from the river towards the dense forest.

  On both sides there were strange plants, almost as tall as Bella, each with a few broad, large leaves. Some of them had clusters of small pink flowers at the top, but most had been cut to remove the flowers. In the distance Bella could see a group of men working amongst the plants. Some way to the west was another small collection of buildings and behind it a further group of workers.

  'What are they?' Bella asked. She had decided that if she were ever to escape, she must behave compliantly in order to lull Edward's suspicions.

  Now he looked at her sardonically. 'Are you ready to be sensible?'

  Bella shrugged. 'There is little I can do against your strength. Though you seem to hate me so much that I cannot think why you want us here. Would it not suit you better if I took Alice and Toby back to London, and you could find a woman who is more willing to share your bed, and live here in peace?'

  'Women are few, and costly,' he replied. 'And why should I pay for one when I've got you? Besides, there's some spice in taming you. Don't you realize that it would cost me six pounds apiece to send you back? I can get twice that much profit each year from both you and Alice now, and soon from Toby as well. I'd soon sell Alice, there'd be plenty of men desperate enough for a woman to take her, if she weren't more profitable here. If I had to pay to bring out more indentured servants I'd be operating at a loss. Half of them die on the voyage anyway, so their passage money is wasted, and they soon get their freedom. You and Toby cannot leave me!'

  Somehow I will, Bella thought, but she dared not let him see her face, and contrived to shrug and speak normally.

  'What are the plants?' Bella repeated, seeing the uselessness of bargaining with him.

  'Tobacco. It's what everyone here grows, apart from a field of Indian corn and a few vegetables. They even grow it on the streets of Jamestown. Did you not see it?'

  'Yes. What do we have to do to it?'

  'It's almost ready for cutting. Until then we have to weed between the rows and search inside the leaves for worms. I see Alice has already been shown what to do. You must be very careful not to bruise the leaves.'

  *

  They had reached Alice and the men who were working steadily along the rows of the tobacco plants. Apart from a few quick glances at Bella no one stopped working. Indeed, Bella had the impression that one or two of the men began to work faster as soon as they saw Edward. A man who had been standing behind the others, not working as they were, suddenly turned round and Bella saw with alarm that he held a musket.

  He nodded to Edward then glanced at Bella. 'Will you stay today, master?' 'Yes, Tom. But we need meat.'

  'I set traps yesterday. I'll go and see what they've snared.'

  He turned and strode off in the direction of the woods and Edward beckoned to Bella.

  'Work here,' he ordered, taking her to the opposite end of the line from that where Alice was busy weeding. 'See, this is how you turn the leaves back. When you find a worm, take it out and kill it like this. Show me.'

  Bella had to comply. The strange leaves were often up to half a yard long and grew close to the parent stem, sometimes even curving round it at the base. She gently drew each one back and opened it out for inspection. The leaves were slightly hairy, and after she had been working for some time she noticed that her hands were becoming sticky from some substance on them. It was not particularly arduous work, but it was tedious and tiring, especially as there was a cold wind that blew the plants about irritatingly. After an hour of inspecting the leaves and disposing of the nasty little worms she was thankful to change to the task of pulling up the many weeds which flourished underfoot.

  During the whole of that long, exhausting day, Bella had no opportunity of speaking to Alice. Edward made certain they were kept well apart. When it was time to finish he sent the man Tom, who had returned earlier in the day with several rabbits hanging from a pole across his shoulder, ahead with Alice and the other men, while he and Bella brought up the rear of the weary little procession.

  They had two more days of this, and Bella was growing heartily tired of the worms, the sticky leaves, and the smell of the plants. By night she had to endure Edward's demands, but by a tremendous effort of will she managed to remain calm, only permitting herself to tremble with revulsion after he was safely asleep.

  On the following day Edward announced they would cut the plants that morning.

  'It looks as though it will remain fine for some time,' he explained. 'We have to leave the plants to wilt in the fields, then hang them in the barn.'

  The men chopped down the plants and Edward instructed Bella and Alice to move behind them, spreading out the plants so as to take advantage of the sun and wind. Tom, who had harvested tobacco for several years, seemed to be in charge, and Edward deferred to his suggestions. The weather remained kind, and after a few days the leaves were hanging to dry in the big barn.

  The work did not cease then, however. While two of the men went off into the forests with Tom to prepare the beds where the new seedlings would be sown in January, the rest of them, Bella and Alice amongst them, dug over the ground and prepared the fields for the transplanting which would be done in May the following year. After the roots had been cleared, the soil was piled into regular small hills.

  'If it's well prepared, a good planter can set out a thousand plants a day,' Mr Mason told Bella as he worked alongside her at the backbreaking task.

  'Have you been here long?' she asked curiously.

  The men Edward employed still treated Bella with a great deal of reserve. Occasionally one of them, as now, would pass some remark which was not strictly essential. But if she reciprocated by showing curiosity they would move away from the as quickly as possible, glancing anxiously at Edward as they did so.

  Mr Mason showed signs of behaving differently. 'A while,' he answered, and then moved away.

  Bella sighed. She would never be able to persuade one of them to help her escape. Well, she and Alice would have to do the best they could for themselves. Bella had considered all possible plans, but none seemed remotely practical. They were guarded too closely both day and night. If she tried to run away while they were in the fields, Tom or Edward, who always carried guns, would have shot her or easily been able to catch her. Besides, it would have meant leaving Toby behind, which was unthinkable.

  She wondered whether she and Alice could slip out of the house one night, after Edward was asleep, but he always bolted the door of their room, and when she had experimented one night, ready with the excuse that she was thirsty and wanted a drink from the kitchen, he had wakened at the first movement of the bed curtains.

  She tried to persuade Alice to leave so that she could bring back help, but Alice would not hear of it.

  'He'd kill you,' she said flatly. 'He'd take it out on you, Miss Bella, and I'd not rest easy if I brought more suffering on you. We'll go together or not at all!'

  'I don't care if he does kill me!' Bella had cried in despair. 'That would be better than this life! Take Toby and go. Take him to Mr Tarrant. Beg him to send you back to England. You think he would help, so go to him! You and Toby could creep out one night and take one of the canoes.'

  'No, I'll not leave you to take the b
lame, and blame you he would.' Alice declared. 'Don't worry, Miss Bella, there must be some opportunity soon.'

  'It will be too late,' Bella whispered, unwilling to admit even to Alice her terror that she would conceive a child by her hated husband. Never, she felt, could she endure to carry part of him within her for ever. She would destroy herself for she would not bring to life another monster, a replica of the beast she was was forced to pleasure each night.

  *

  Already Edward was beginning to complain that she had not conceived.

  'Are you barren?' he jeered when Bella had been at the cottage for a little more than a month.

  'I hope so!' she said, but to herself, for she had learned not to provoke him if she wished to be spared his blows and taunts.

  'You don't cooperate,' he snarled, and that night, instead of going about it swiftly, he took pains to kiss and fondle Bella more gently than he had ever done.

  This was even more unendurable to her than his normal ruthlessness. She had schooled herself to lie unresisting while he had his way, forcing herself to think of anything rather than the heavy, hated body so close to hers. But now as he laid his hands gently on her breasts, fondling them until she felt her nipples harden in instinctive response, she had the greatest difficulty not screaming out a terrified denial of her body's betrayal.

  Edward laughed in satisfaction.

  'So you're not as cold as you appear!' he said, and moved one hand to explore the secret cleft between her thighs.

  She tensed in horror and, gritting her teeth, managed to remain silent. Regaining control over her body she fiercely willed herself not to respond, and Edward sensed her withdrawal. He redoubled his efforts to stimulate her, but in vain. Eventually, able to control his own desire no longer, he took her quickly and roughly.

  'You're a cold fish!' he complained in fury as he turned away from her. 'But I've not finished with you yet. You'll be crawling to me for my favours before I'm done with you.'

  The only consolation Bella had was that Toby, with the easy adaptability of the very young, had accepted Mistress Mason. She seemed to have developed a great affection for the child, permitting him to play in the kitchen when she worked, and run about outside the house when the weather was warm enough.

  There were very few opportunities to talk with Alice, for normally Edward kept them separated in the fields, and was present in the cottage, but whenever they had the chance of a few whispered words they tried to make plans for escaping.

  'Where can we go?' Bella would ask. 'We've no money to pay for our passages back to England, and we could not obtain help in Jamestown. The authorities would support Edward.'

  'We can only find help with Mr Tarrant,' Alice would say firmly. 'His land is not far away, I've learned, on the other side of the river. It's called Fairmile, and is very large.'

  'He would not want me. He let me go, and it was all for nought.'

  'Then what?'

  'I don't know, but there must be some way out of this horror.'

  Towards the end of November there was knock on the door one evening after supper. Bella looked up from where she sat on a stool beside the fire, mending one of Toby's shirts. It was strange to be disturbed so late at night. By day occasionally Indian traders called with meat and furs, but once the men had been fed and they and Mistress Mason had departed to their own cottages, there were never any interruptions. Edward went the door, unbolted it, and admitted two strange men who greeted him effusively.

  'Well, you rascal, it's been a long time since you came to play cards with us!' one of them said.

  'I've been busy, as you can see,' Edward replied, laughing, and invited them in.

  They stepped inside and halted in surprise as they saw Bella sitting beside the fire.

  'Busy?' one of the newcomers said, casting her a lecherous look. 'You lucky dog! Where did you find such a prize? I'd be busy too, if I had the way with women that you appear to have. But it's selfish of you to keep her to yourself. I'll play you for her.'

  'She's my wife, Harry, not for sale – not until I tire of her,' Edward replied, a note of warning in his tone. 'Alice, take the brat up into the loft for tonight. There's a spare pallet there. And you go to bed too, Bella,' he added.

  Bella, only too glad to escape from the lewd comments of the strangers, tossed back her head proudly and walked into the bedroom. Alice and Toby clambered up the steep ladder after her and, with the aid of some spare sheets Bella found for them, contrived a makeshift bed. When they were settled Bella undressed and crept into her own bed. It was a long time before she slept. She heard raucous laughter, the occasional oath, and thumps as her husband and his guests banged their tankards on the table.

  *

  Eventually she slept, but uneasily, and was awakened again later as the light from a candle fell across her face, and heavy breathing warned her that someone was nearby.

  Bella opened her eyes cautiously as the light moved away. Through a gap in the curtains at the far side of the bed she saw Edward, swaying slightly, holding a flickering candle. He placed it on top of a chest, and knelt down, and from the sounds Bella realized he was pulling a small but heavy chest from beneath the bed. With a grunt he rose again, and fumbled with the carving on the post at the top of the bed. Through half-closed eyes Bella saw a small section of it prised away, and from the slight cavity behind Edward removed a key.

  He unlocked the chest and Bella heard the chink of coins, then the lid was shut again, the chest locked and pushed back under the bed and the key replaced in its hiding place. Edward removed his clothes, clambered naked into bed, and reached out for Bella.

  As he fumbled with her breasts, Bella wriggled, and stirred as though just awakened, then rolled away from him. To her relief he was too fuddled with the ale he had drunk to persist, and soon began to snore. Bella lay in the darkness, trying to suppress her elation. Now she knew where he kept his gold. Gold which had probably formed part of her own dowry! And, what was more important, it was easily accessible. All she needed was the opportunity to open the chest, steal some of it, and they could pay for their passage back to England.

  Careful not to disturb Edward, who had fallen into a heavy sleep and was snoring stertorously, Bella lay still, wondering why she did not feel happier at the prospect of leaving the hated Edward and this land which had given her so harsh a welcome. Resolutely she thrust away from her the mages of Adam which floated before her eyes, and tried to sleep.

  The visitors had departed when Bella rose the next morning. Edward, suffering from his overindulgence in ale, was morose and foul-tempered. Bella had no chance to tell Alice about the gold until the following day when, as they were preparing the bare fields for the next crop of tobacco to be sown there, she contrived to work beside her for a while.

  'I'll steal some gold, and when we can escape we'll have money to pay for our passage,' she said gleefully.

  'But how can we know when there is a ship?' Alice protested. 'Sometimes it is weeks before one arrives. We'll need someone to hide us until one comes. We'll have to go to Mr Tarrant.'

  'No!' Bella replied vehemently. 'He doesn't want me. We'll contrive somehow.'

  'Mistress Mason says he'll have to go to Jamestown soon for stores,' Alice said thoughtfully. 'Normally he spends a couple of nights there, gambling with his cronies, so that will be our best opportunity for taking the gold and escaping.'

  Concealing her excitement as best she could, Bella waited anxiously for Edward to depart for Jamestown. It was the beginning of December before he announced one morning that he was leaving that day. Bella tried not to show her dismay when he added that Tom would sleep in the kitchen until he returned. At least they could obtain the gold, she was thinking, and have it ready for an attempt at escape, even if they could not leave that night.

  Alice, however, was prepared. 'Don't fret, Tom won't wake. I found some basil amongst the weeds some time ago, and that will make him sleep. I'll put it in his drink tonight.'

  Sh
e contrived to slip some of her herb into the ale which Tom had helped himself to in the master's absence. Soon after Bella and Alice retired they heard him snoring heavily.

  Bella pulled out the chest and scooped out handfuls of the gold, wrapping the coins in small pieces of flannel and sharing them between herself and Alice. She was puzzled that the chest appeared to contain a good deal more than her brother had given Edward for her dowry, but then she recalled the gambling on the night when Edward had unwittingly revealed to her the key's hiding place.

  *

  Bella woke Toby and dressed him swiftly, and then wrapped him in a blanket, for the nights were cold. She crept across the kitchen in her bare feet, carrying her brother. The bolt on the door squeaked slightly as Alice drew it, but Tom remained oblivious. After a few moments Bella let out a sigh of relief and Alice pulled open the door and slipped through.

  Bella had walked a few yards before the hardness of the ground reminded her that she was still carrying her slippers. She bent to put them on, and so did not see Edward approaching her along the path from the river.

  'So I've caught you, have I?' he demanded, and Bella straightened up just as he grasped her arm. She choked back a cry as his fingers bit deep into her flesh. 'You'll not trick me as easily as that, wife!'

  Suddenly he released her and unbuckled his heavy leather belt. Before she could run away from him he had swung it round, but she was just able to turn her back and shield Toby from the wicked strap. Again and again Edward swung it. Bella was almost unconscious from the effort of holding Toby as safely as she could, and from taking the blows which fell upon her back in agonizingly swift succession.

  Alice tried to cling to his arm, but he thrust her away and she fell heavily. Before she could come again to Bella's assistance Edward had stopped, breathing heavily. Toby's screams had brought three of the men running from their cottages to discover what was going on, but on seeing Edward they retreated indoors again.

  Roughly Edward jerked Bella to her feet from where she had sunk to the ground and pushed her towards the cottage. Alice scrambled up and followed slowly with the wailing Toby. Bella could feel the hot sticky blood oozing from several cuts on her back, and her dress was in tatters.