Virginian Lover

by Oliver, Marina

  'You devil, Edward Sutton! I'll kill you for that!' Alice turned on him furiously, but was flung aside again and fell against the table. Toby slipped to the floor beside her, still howling, more now with fright than pain.

  'Silence! If you want to avoid the same treatment you'll not speak to me. Get water and clean her up!'

  Alice rose, swept the little boy into her arms, and deposited him in a corner beside the still snoring Tom, whispering to him to stay quietly there, or his sister would be hurt again. Then she took a pot of water which hung over the embers of the fire and brought it to the table. Gently she bathed Bella's lacerated back, easing the torn fabric away from the broken flesh as carefully as she could, while Edward sat and watched, gloating as Bella's nakedness was revealed.

  'I'm not the fool you took me for,' he said slowly. 'Did you really imagine I would leave you for the night to escape? You're not the only ones who will be punished for this night's work. What did you bribe Tom with?'

  Alice tightened her lips and ignored him. Bella bit back the angry words she would have thrown at him, and stoically endured Alice's ministrations. When the wounds had been washed Alice rubbed in some soothing fat, for there were no other unguents available, and assisted Bella to bed.

  Bella slept in snatches that night, unable to lie on her back. By the morning she ached so much she thought she would not have cared if Edward had killed her. He realized she was unfit either to escape or work in the fields that day and left her alone. By evening she was feeling better, although her back still hurt excruciatingly, and she was able to drink the soup Alice brought to her when she returned from the fields.

  As soon as Bella could walk again Edward attempted to force her back to the fields, saying callously that she could just as well sit at the work there as idle her time away in bed.

  'Tomorrow morning you'll come with me,' he threatened as he prepared to leave the house.

  'I doubt I could walk so far,' Bella confessed reluctantly. The cuts across her shoulders and back had begun to heal, but any sudden movement was liable to make her catch her breath in agony.

  'I'll not take such whining excuses. Another day in bed will put you right.'

  Bella wearily complied, wondering if her brutal husband had broken her spirit with his violence. She felt so wretched she scarcely cared whether she lived or died.

  *

  That night Edward raped Bella again. He had left her alone since whipping her, but when he came to bed that night he threw himself upon her, ignoring her gasps of pain as he pressed her still lacerated back down into the rough linen of the sheets.

  'You're hurting me!' she cried out, but when he still entered her violently she bit back the pleas she had been about to utter, knowing he would delight in her abasement.

  She could not suppress the scream of agony that rose in her throat however, when his thrusting scraped her back, raw and tender, across the sheets. The excruciating pain, and the mortification of having at last been forced to admit her weakness to him, broke down her defences, and for the first time in her dealings with him she wept, permitting a flood of tears to well up, and sobbing helplessly from the stinging pain in her back as well as from the shame of having permitted him to defeat her spirit.

  In the morning, after she had slept an hour or so, exhausted, Bella woke to discover that her wounds had bled again, and the sheet was sticking to her back. Alice had to come and soak away the material, and bathe the reopened cuts.

  When she left the cottage, she looked grimmer than ever before, and refused to speak to Edward for the next week, while Bella slowly recovered again.

  She was taking a few painful steps outside the cottage one afternoon when she saw Alice, carried by one of the men, and followed by Edward, approaching.

  'Alice! What is wrong?' she asked fearfully.

  Alice opened her eyes and grimaced with pain.

  'I made a mess of it, my dear,' she replied faintly. 'I tried to run for it, but the devil shot me!'

  'What? Shot you? Edward? Why, you're no better than a murderer!' she flared, forgetting her own pain and turning on Edward furiously. 'You keep us here against our will, and shoot us and whip us when we would escape. One day you'll pay for this, Edward Sutton! Alice, are you badly hurt?'

  'My leg, just my leg,' Alice replied, and when she had been carried into the cottage and laid on the pallet beside the fire Bella swiftly examined her and saw that it was a clean flesh wound only, though it bled profusely. She bathed it, bound it up, and Alice, accepting a soothing tisane Mistress Mason provided, soon went to sleep, not waking until the men had returned and eaten their supper.

  On the following day Bella and Alice were able to converse properly for the first time since they had set foot in Virginia.

  'We'll get away soon, don't fear!' Alice said bracingly. 'I was lying awake thinking for a long time last night. I'll pretend my wound is worse than it is, festering, so that I can stay with you. Together we should be able to outwit that foolish Tom he's left in charge. He's a bully but has not much wit. Mr Tarrant's plantation is across the river, not very far away, and if we can get a canoe we can go to him for help.'

  'He won't want me,' Bella responded quickly. 'I'll warrant he has forgotten me by now.'

  'We've no gold now,' Alice reminded her, for Edward had discovered it when he had whipped Bella, and now kept the key of the chest with him at all times.

  'We'll contrive,' Bella said, but could not think how.

  They watched for an opportunity of escaping, but none came. Tom kept far too close an eye on Bella for her to secure his gun as she had planned. After Alice had been in the cottage for a week, and Christmas had passed without any celebrations, the deception was becoming more difficult to maintain. Bella was growing pale and thin with anxiety and frustration.

  'Have you any more basil? Can we not drug him?' she asked at last.

  'You know we can't, we've tried it,' Alice returned. 'He tasted it before, and he'd whip you again if he suspected we were trying to escape again.'

  Driven to desperate measures, Bella secured a dagger from the kitchen which one of the men left behind one day, and hid it under her pillow. She knew that whatever Edward had done to her she could not use the dagger on him in cold blood, but she could use it to defend herself when next he forced himself on her, and if they could not escape afterwards she would welcome either her own death or a charge of murder.

  'Go to bed and wait for me,' he ordered early one evening.

  She went into the bedroom, but did not begin to disrobe. Instead she secured the dagger and held it behind her back in readiness.

  'Please leave me alone,' she said as calmly as possible when Edward followed her into the room.

  'You're my wife,' he replied harshly, 'and I'll take what I want of you.'

  He was between her and the candle, which he had placed on a low chest, and his shadow was a greatly enlarged one, enveloping Bella as he approached her.

  She tried to evade him, but he clutched at her skirts and the thin fabric split as she pulled away from him. Stumbling, he fell to his knees. By chance his hands caught her ankle and he dragged Bella down to the floor. As she fell the dagger slipped from her hold, and she heard a faint thud as it hit the floor beside her.

  Without it she was helpless, and for a moment a blind panic overwhelmed her. Then, wriggling away from Edward as he tried to throw himself full length across her, she felt frantically to try and retrieve the dagger.

  Edward was fumbling with her clothes, but her hand fell on the welcome cold steel of the dagger. Swiftly she grasped it, and as Edward raised himself to his knees and tried to seize her hands she swung her arm and thrust with the dagger, feeling the sharp point sink into solid flesh. Edward cried out and rolled away from her, cursing loudly.

  'You bitch! What have you done? Damn you, help me! You're my wife!' he gasped.

  'Not for much longer, I trust,' Bella replied furiously and, easily evading Edward's clumsy efforts to catch her, ran fo
r the kitchen.

  'Alice come!' she panted, and struggled with the bolts on the door. Alice, who had been listening appalled to the struggle, seized her cloak and picked up Toby, and together they ran from the cottage as fast as Alice's limp permitted along the path to the river.

  Edward was not far behind them. They could hear shouting and cursing as he stumbled after them, and it was only the fact that he fell over a root along the path which enabled them to reach the river before him.

  Both canoes were moored at the landing stage. Alice scrambled into one of them and, depositing a wailing Toby unceremoniously in the bottom of the craft, began to use the paddle to edge it away from the mooring, while Bella untied both canoes and dragged the second one after them. She managed to fling herself beside Alice just as Edward reached the small landing stage.

  He tried to leap after them, but misjudged the distance, and fell with a tremendous splash into the icy water, catching at the side of the canoe as he did so and almost upsetting it. Bella beat desperately at his hands, but he clung on for some time until the numbing cold of the water, and the weakness from his wound loosened his grip. At last he slipped down into the water, struggled to his feet and scrambled for the bank as the canoes drifted into the centre of the river.

  'Thank God!' Alice said fervently, and Bella nodded speechlessly.

  It was a cold dark night without a moon, only a few stars gave grey ghostly illumination to the river banks and the occasional darker shadows of habitations lining them. Bare gaunt trees stretched their branches to the sky, their still skeletal shapes oddly menacing. Bella shivered from nervousness as much as from cold and reaction to their narrow escape.

  Alice paddled steadily while Bella nursed the terrified Toby. She refused Bella's offer to help, reminding her that the wounds on her back were still not healed. When they reached the middle of the river Bella let go the other canoe and watched as it floated away from them before coming to rest against an overhanging tree on the far bank of the river.

  'It will take him a while to find another canoe,' Alice said comfortingly.

  'We've a good start,' Bella agreed. 'We'll be able to get to Jamestown, or hide somewhere in the forest for the day if there is any sign of pursuit,' Bella said.

  'Jamestown? Mr Tarrant's house at Fairmile is nearer.'

  'I'll not go to him!' Bella protested.

  'We've no choice,' Alice declared. 'I know where to find his house. Mr Mason has described his plantation to me several times. He has heard a great deal about him. Mr Tarrant is quite famous along the James River.'

  'No!' Bella reiterated vehemently. 'We'll go to Jamestown, and demand protection from the Governor. Surely they will help us there?'

  'More likely to charge us with wounding him,' Alice pointed out firmly. 'Think, Miss Bella, you're his wife, and you've stabbed him and run away. They might charge you with murder if he dies. And I'm his servant and I've aided you. We'd have no sympathy from men who don't know how he's treated us, and precious little, I'll be bound, even if they did know. Mr Tarrant's our only hope.'

  Bella knew deep inside her that it was true, although for some time she tried to argue against it, hoping she would think of some way out of their plight without having to involve Adam. It was no use, however. In the end, reluctantly, she had to agree, and sat silently watching the silvery river slip by as she drew near once more to the man who had awakened her senses to delights that only he knew how to evoke in her.

  Chapter 7

  When Adam had supervised the transfer of the wounded men from the Virginian, he hastened into the streets of Jamestown to look for Bella. There had been no time to make arrangements with her after the grounding of the ship, no opportunity for her to ask him for protection. He did not know whether she wanted it. He had to see her again.

  'Adam!' a voice called as he passed the church in the central market place. He turned impatiently, to see Mary Bolton walking towards him.

  'Well?' he demanded before she had reached him.

  'Are you looking for Mistress Sutton?' Mary asked silkily.

  'Have you seen her? Where is she?' Adam did not attempt to disguise his anxiety.

  'Oh, she went off with a tall, dark man some time ago. I heard that he was her husband. Very handsome, too,' Mary added softly.

  'She went? Where? Did you see?'

  'Yes, I was waiting at the gate and they went in a canoe, upriver. The little boy and the maid were there too, and another man I took to be a servant. The man who told me who he was said that he had quite a large plantation a few miles away.'

  Adam frowned, then with a brusque nod turned to walk away.

  'Adam,' Mary persisted, 'my husband would like to talk to you. He needs advice about the best land to acquire, and since you know the country, I thought you would be willing to help us.'

  'The sites down the river are the most suitable,' Adam replied quickly. 'Forgive me now, I have much to do.'

  'Oh, but surely you do not intend to leave us like this, when we were so – friendly aboard ship? How can I contact you to let you know where we shall be? I hope, indeed we both hope, naturally, that you will come and visit us when we have a house.'

  'Anyone will tell you how to send a message to me,' he said discouragingly, and made his escape. On the wharf he found Daniel, and his servant confirmed that Bella had gone, apparently willingly, with a man he also had taken pains to discover was Edward Sutton.

  'Was she willing? Did he force her?'

  Daniel shrugged. 'She didn't struggle, if that's what you mean. She went of her own accord, I'd say. Are you ready to leave for home?'

  'Yes. Have you made arrangements for all our baggage to be moved?'

  'I've sent on the small boxes, but I'd best stay here and see to the transfer of what was in the hold of the ship. They won't start that until tomorrow. Sam is here, waiting for you.'

  'Thanks, Daniel. I'll see you when all is organized then.'

  He walked away to where a young man, smiling in welcome, stood beside a canoe.

  'Welcome home, sir! It's good to see you again.'

  'And good to be home, Sam! How is Fairmile? Is all well?'

  'It will be an even better crop of tobacco this year. The corn is doing well too, and we have some fine apples.'

  He chatted eagerly on the doings of Adam's plantation as he paddled up the river, and Adam firmly dismissed thoughts of Bella from his mind as he tried to listen and make appreciative comments. Sam, who had been a lad on the first voyage with him, had worked enthusiastically and loyally for him ever since and proved to be a remarkably efficient plantation overseer.

  During the next few weeks, however, Adam found it impossible to forget Bella, to cease thinking of her beauty and her timid, though eventually fervent responses to his lovemaking. At all kinds of unexpected moments he would suddenly feel a pang of dismay as he recalled her sweetness, and his expression was grim as he thought of that other man, one she had told him she feared, enjoying her favours. Had she been telling the truth? And if she had, why had she departed willingly with him? If it had been only Mary's word he would not have believed her, but Daniel had also seen Bella going apparently compliantly with her husband. Had she intended to do so all along, he wondered? Or, and the thought nagged him worryingly, had she thought that he had deserted her, because his stubborn pride had made him delay too long to ask her to remain permanently with him.

  To assuage his restlessness Adam spent more time than usual in Jamestown, discreetly trying to discover what he could of Edward Sutton. He also made many excuses to take his boat past Edward's plantation, but he never caught a glimpse of Bella. Once he thought he saw Toby playing outside one of the cottages, but when an elderly woman came to the door and called the child to her Adam concluded he had been mistaken.

  'Edward Sutton? Came out early in the year.' One of his informants told him on one occasion, early in December.

  'He's a good sized piece of land for a newcomer,' Adam commented. 'Did he buy it? The h
ouses are not new, but I can't recall who owned them before.'

  'Richard Newman.'

  'Newman? Wasn't he the man who tried to attack the Governor last year?'

  'Aye. His wife and all six children died of the sweating sickness, and he blamed the Company for settling in what he said was an unhealthy spot. Crazed with grief, he was.'

  'I remember now. What happened to him?'

  'He promised to behave, but he scarcely went near the house – spent most of his time here, drinking and dicing. Trying to forget. Then he met Sutton.'

  'Oh?' Adam said quietly, sensing that he was about to hear something of interest.

  'I make no accusations, mind. Sutton is a quick-tempered man and would not hesitate to harm me if he knew what I thought. Many others think it too, but we keep quiet.'

  'I'll respect any confidence,' Adam reassured the man, an elderly sailor who had left the sea some years before. 'I've no cause to love Sutton myself.'

  'Well, rumour says Newman was drunk, too far gone to know what he was about, and Sutton persuaded him into a game. No one knows what took place, although we suspect, but Sutton came out of it owning Newman's plantation. Newman stayed drunk for a week, while Sutton went off upriver and started to make his weight felt amongst Newman's servants. Then one day Newman disappeared and no one has heard of him since. He could have thrown himself in the river but his body would probably have been washed ashore, and it has never been found. Or he could have gone to live with the savages. He wouldn't have been the first to take up with them.'

  'Does Sutton often come to Jamestown?'

  'He used to, at first. But now he's got a woman up there. They say she's his wife, a real beauty, came out after him. No wonder he's less interested in what we have to offer!' the old man chuckled.

  'Does she ever come?'

  'I've not seen her. Sutton has a fellow who comes in for him, a brute like himself, and he was in a week ago buying stores. Said his master's woman was ailing, breeding no doubt, and sickly. It's often the way with the first, and when a gal has too little to do. I'll warrant Sutton cossets her if she's as taking as those that saw her maintain.'