*
Adam nodded his thanks and turned away. Bella with child to that man! The very idea made him hot with fury against Edward for his enjoyment of her body, against Bella for permitting it, and against himself for caring. Then it occurred to him that Bella could well be carrying his child, and he stopped so abruptly a man who had been walking behind him cannoned into him. Oblivious, Adam did not respond to the man's apologies, and only after a couple of minutes when his thoughts had returned to some sort of order did he resume his progress towards the canoe which was to take him back home.
Whose child did Bella carry? If it was his how could he leave his son to be brought up by a man like Edward Sutton? And Bella herself was ill and possibly in fear of her husband. Could he bear to think of her as Sutton's wife, mother of a child Sutton would claim as his own? Could he continue to live in Virginia where he was bound, some day, to meet her again?
Adam had never before cared when his mistresses had gone to other men. Usually he had already tired of them and was glad to have them gone, for women had a tiresome habit of clinging to him long after he was bored with them. Neither had he ever cared whether their children were his, so why, he wondered, should he feel so strongly about a girl whose favours he had enjoyed for just a few short nights? Was it the brevity of their association, and that he had not had time to tire of her? Was it because she had resisted him for longer than any other woman he had laid determined siege to?
Despite the violence of his feelings for her when aboard ship, he had expected soon to forget her when she had left him, particularly as her departure was apparently voluntary. Indeed he had hoped to forget her with that part of him which refused to accept his dependence on her, but it had been impossible. Every day he missed her, and the pain of his loss did not diminish as time passed. His workpeople noticed his abstraction, and all but Daniel concluded that either the death of his mother or nostalgia for England was causing his unusually sombre mood.
At last he admitted he loved Bella totally differently from the way in which he had cared for anyone else. He could not forget her. For some time he hovered on the verge of visiting her and demanding to know the truth about her feelings, then he cursed himself for his inability to forget her, telling himself that he would look an utter fool if he tried to discover whether another man's wife was pregnant by him or her husband. Bella had gone willingly to Edward and had never said she loved Adam, or asked for his protection. Perhaps after all she had offered her body out of misplaced sense of gratitude for all his help during the voyage.
Weary with indecision, Adam welcomed the arrival from England of the friends who had been unable to travel with him on the Virginian but who had decided to follow on a later ship. Perhaps in their company, talking of mutual friends and the news from England, he could forget Bella. Thomas Wray was a couple of years older than Adam, a widower whose two young daughters had been left with their grandparents in England. He was a younger son and had few prospects in England, but was determined to make his fortune in the new colony.
'It was a great pity I could not come with you,' he said on the first evening after supper when they sat about the table drinking wine.
'But then you'd not have met Mistress Perry,' John Porlock, the other new arrival, a merry young man with dark twinkling eyes and an infectious laugh, reminded him.
Thomas laughed. 'True! She almost captured me! To think that I might have married her from sheer boredom if the voyage had taken a week longer.'
'I didn't think the lady was particular enough to insist on marriage before granting you her favours,' John remarked.
'I find that very few are if I persist,' Thomas rejoined, 'but that was what the delectable Mistress Perry was after. She only submitted to my attentions because she thought she could find a legal protector before we reached Jamestown. What are the ladies like here, Adam? Have you not been snared yet?'
Adam tried to enter into Thomas's mood.
'There are very few women at all,' he said. 'If you are anxious to wed you would perhaps be wise to visit this charmer before she finds a better prospect.'
'I think I'll look at the savages first,' Thomas said flippantly. 'If John Rolfe could win an Indian princess I might try to do the same. Did you ever see his wife? They called her Rebecca. Quite a lovely creature. What was her outlandish native name?'
'Pocohantas. But I'm not certain the new Chief will be as friendly as Powhatan, her father. Still, they have certain generous laws of hospitality.'
'I thought they usually fought us?'
'Honoured visitors who are given hospitality in their lodges are also offered companions for the night,' Adam explained, laughing. 'You had best set out on a journey. But be careful not to come away with more than you bargained for. The Indians are riddled with the pox.'
'I'll take heed of your warning.' Thomas grinned. 'Perhaps I'll be content with such as Mistress Perry.'
The next few days were filled with the tasks of showing Thomas and John the land round about, and introducing them to the more important settlers in Jamestown. Several plantations, the owners of which had died, were for sale, and were inspected.
Adam met the vivacious and pretty Jane Perry, and a quieter, younger girl, Rachel Marsh, who had also been on the boat with her parents and who was obviously very interested in John.
Feeling it incumbent on him to play the host, Adam arranged a party for his friends, and a dozen people gathered at his house for supper some few weeks after they had arrived to celebrate Twelfth Night. Adam was outwardly calm and affable, but inwardly he was tense, and admitted it was because Mary Bolton was there with her husband, reminding him unbearably of Bella and their time together on the ship.
He had not invited her. Thomas had made her acquaintance one day in Jamestown and mischievously, perceiving that there was some secret from hints Mary had dropped, took advantage of Adam's casual suggestion that he invited any friends he cared to ask to the party.
Because of the distance from Jamestown the guests were to stay the night either in Adam's house, which boasted six rooms, a very large number for the colony, or in the cottages of his plantation workers. It was late, but the revellers had not retired. Parties were all too rare in Jamestown. The table had been pushed aside in the largest room and an energetic dance was taking place, one of the field hands scraping energetically at a fiddle. Adam, having avoided Mary all evening, was standing at the side watching his guests when he heard a knock at the door. He looked up, frowning. It was far too late for an ordinary caller. It might be one of his workers with news of some trouble. He strode across to the door and flung it open just as the fiddler came to a halt and the dancers, laughing, threw themselves down onto the benches and stools at the sides of the room and energetically fanned their hot faces.
*
Alice was barefoot and clutched an inadequate cloak about herself and the little boy. Adam's bemused gaze absorbed the fact that Toby was dressed only in a thin nightshirt, and Alice seemed to have no more than a linen chemise on beneath her cloak. Bella, whose hair was tangled, had on a thin blue dress which was torn to reveal the swell of her breasts, and gaped wide from an enormous rent at her waist, so that even though she struggled to hold it tightly against her, an enticing glimpse of her bare thighs was visible.
Then Adam noticed a rapidly darkening bruise on her cheek and he frowned. Bella, who had been pushed forward by Alice as the door was opened, thought he was angry at seeing her and tried to step back.
'What the devil?' he exclaimed, taking a step towards her with the objective of sweeping her into his arms and telling her she need not look so frightened. An exclamation from one of the women behind him brought him to a halt.
Bella was aware only of him. She was shivering from the bitter cold, from the reaction of the fight with Edward and their narrow escape, but also with some other emotion as she searched Adam's well-remembered face, fearful that he would resent this demand for his help and reject her.
'I – I am
sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you,' Bella whispered, as he came closer and bent towards her to hear what she said.
A buzz of conjecture from the assembled guests made Bella tear her eyes away from Adam and glance behind him. When she saw that a dozen or so people were regarding her with avid curiosity she flushed painfully.
'I didn't know you had guests. I'll go,' she said confusedly and turned away.
Adam reached out and caught her hand, restraining her.
'Why are you in such a dreadful state?' he asked gently.
'It's that brute Sutton, he did it!' Alice declared, pushing Bella forward.
'Your husband? He beat you?'
Speechlessly Bella nodded.
'But come in. What am I thinking of, keeping you out here? It's cold. Come, we'll go into the other parlour. Thomas. I beg you'll excuse me, my friends clearly need help. This way,' he added softly, and with his arm about her shoulder, drew her into the room in order to lead her across towards another door in a side wall.
Trying to ignore the eager looks of the other people, Bella went with him, then turned suddenly as she heard the well-remembered voice of Mary Bolton.
'Why, Mistress Sutton! How delightful to see you again. But has there been an accident? There is blood on your gown.'
For the first time Bella looked down at her skirts. A great stain streaked it to one side, and she realized the blood must be Edward's. She shuddered and Adam, shaking his head silently at Mary, drew her on through a door to a smaller, more comfortable looking room with some velvet hangings of a soft green, and a pair of well made, European-style chairs.
'Sit down,' Adam said, guiding her to one of them. 'Are you hurt?'
'I must not sit, the blood will ruin the cushions,' Bella replied. 'I am unhurt, it must be Edward's blood. I did not realize, it happened so quickly!'
'Would you prefer to go to bed now and explain in the morning?' he asked gently.
Bella blinked back her tears. 'I'm sorry, I didn't want to come, but we had no money and I could think of nothing else. Alice said you would be sure to help.'
'Of course,' he began, and turned as the door opened.
It was Mary, carrying two goblets of wine.
'I thought Mistress Sutton might be in need of this,' she said softly, smiling up at Adam. 'Is there anything I can do to help?'
'The little boy, he is exhausted,' Alice interposed. 'Is there somewhere I can put him to sleep?'
'In my room. Come I'll show you. I'll double with Thomas tonight. I will return in a moment,' he said swiftly to Bella.
Adam handed Bella one of the goblets.
But Alice shook her head when he offered the other to her and so he led her through a small door up a narrow flight of stairs o the room above, leaving Bella standing in front of the small fire, staring into the flames and almost oblivious of Mary standing watching her.
*
Bella's emotions were in turmoil. She was full of relief at accomplishing their journey, and at the sudden freedom from the terror of Edward's pursuit. She trembled with unacknowledged delight at seeing Adam again, and the thrill of his arm about her, slight though the physical contact had been. This joy, however, warred with a curious sort of anger at Mary's presence. She was behaving as a hostess would. Had she succeeded in her designs on Adam after all, Bella wondered. Her familiarity suggested that she had.
Bella, exhausted both emotionally and physically, was not aware that Mary was asking her questions. She did not see Mary's look of fury when she failed to reply. A fury which increased when Adam came back into the room carrying a wrap over his arm, and Bella looked up and gave him a tremulous smile.
'Mistress Bolton, will you be so good as to tell the others I will soon rejoin them?' he asked, and held the door for her so that she had little alternative but to leave them.
'Take off that gown and put this on,' Adam ordered. Bella hesitated and looked at him anxiously. Carefully he disentangled the laces of her bodice, which had become knotted, and as his fingers brushed against her breasts she felt a tremor of the old excitement grip her. But his fingers stilled and he drew in his breath sharply as her gown slipped from her shoulders and he saw the still vivid weals across her back where Edward had whipped her. A couple of them had started to bleed slightly again from her exertions.
'My God! Did that devil do this to you?' he demanded furiously. 'I'll see that brute is punished!'
'I – I may have done so already,' Bella said slowly. 'I – we fought, and I had a dagger. I stabbed him, that is where the blood is from, I expect, but Alice and I did not wait to see. We have been trying to escape ever since we arrived, but this was the first opportunity we had. He pursued us to the river, but we just managed to get away on the canoe.'
'Has he misused you? I heard you were sick.'
'I was ill for a few days after this,' Bella replied, letting her skirts fall to the ground and turning so that Adam could fold the wrap about her. 'That is all. What did you hear?'
'I heard you were – with child.'
Bella had at last sat down, but at his words she looked up at him, startled. Slowly a blush stained her cheeks, throwing into even greater prominence the bruise on her face. She shook her head.
'I – no. Whoever told you that must have been mistaken.'
'Why did you come to me?' Adam asked, kneeling before her and taking both her hands in his.
'I stole some sovereigns, enough to pay for the passage back to England,' she said.'That was earlier, when he caught us trying to escape he whipped me. This time we had no gold, and Alice felt sure you would help us. It was all we could do. I hope it does not make problems for you. She said the Governor would not help us, for they would not believe, or would not care what he had done, because I am still his wife.'
'She is right,' he agreed, disappointed that she saw him only as a last resort. 'Come, you had best go to bed now and tell me all about it in the morning.'
He took her upstairs to where Alice waited, and bade them both a swift goodnight. Sinking into the luxuriously soft bed beside Alice, Bella wondered briefly where Adam would be spending the night, and whether he would find a welcome in Mary's arms, before she drifted into an exhausted sleep.
*
By the time Bella awoke late the following day most of the guests had left. Only Thomas and John remained and they had discreetly taken themselves off for a day's hunting. A plump, jolly woman who announced she was the housekeeper Meg, had appeared with an armful of gowns, saying the master had obtained them from a neighbour who had three daughters, and she hoped something would fit. Then she whisked Toby off to the kitchen for breakfast. Alice selected a cherry-coloured gown with a black bodice and delicate lace collar for Bella and a grey one for herself, then they went down to the kitchen.
Adam was sitting at the big table, making entries in a ledger, but he closed it and smiled as they came in.
'Did you sleep well?'
'Why, it's the first soft bed we've slept in since we arrived. It was like heaven,' Alice declared.
The food was simple, but delicious after what they had been permitted by Edward. Fresh new bread, honey, eggs, goat's milk and cheese, and some crisp apples encouraged their appetites. Meg would have urged them to eat all day if they had been willing. But soon, when she could persuade them to eat no more, she took Alice to where Toby was playing with some other children and left Bella alone with her master.
'Do you feel like talking now?' he asked gently.
Bella shuddered. 'It was worse than anything I have ever imagined,' she replied softly. 'He made Alice and me both work in the tobacco fields where we were always guarded, and could not escape. I tried to, one night when I thought he was in Jamestown, but he caught and beat me. Then he shot Alice when she tried to run away. It was not until last night, when I stabbed him, that we had any opportunity of escaping.'
'You stabbed him? Why?'
'I could endure no more. I hated him! I did not want him ever to touch me again!' Bella cried.
'I told you, I was forced to wed him, and he always treated me abominably.'
'Then why did you go with him when we reached Jamestown? Daniel saw you,' Adam said accusingly, 'and said you went willingly.'
'He had Toby,' Bella explained bitterly. 'What else was I to do?'
Adam admitted to himself it sounded plausible. And yet she now admitted she had come to him only because she had not the means of returning to England. Was this because she resented his previous lack of decision, or was it because she had quarrelled with her husband, and was using him only as an instrument of revenge?
Adam did not know but suddenly decided he did not really care. She was there, and he had missed her more than he had ever thought he could miss a woman.
'You must stay here,' he said abruptly. 'I'll see to it that your husband does not molest you. You and Alice and the child will be safe here. I can protect you.'
For a moment he thought he read an expression of joy in Bella's eyes, but she swiftly veiled them and murmured her gratitude.
'What if he tries to make trouble with the authorities?' she asked anxiously. 'Or if I killed him? He fell in the river. It was icy cold, and he was wounded. He must have bled a great deal.'
'We will wait until he tries to make trouble,' Adam replied grimly. 'The Governor is not able to force everyone to his will, especially plantation owners such as myself, whatever behaviour he may enforce in Jamestown with the help of his kill-joy ministers. I propose to visit him today and inform him that you have sought refuge with me. Short of bringing a troop of men he can do little about it, and in any case I am too valuable to offend, for I have many influential friends both here and in London. As for Sutton, I'll send a man to discover how badly hurt he was. Don't worry, I'll not permit a charge of murder to be brought against you if he's dead.'
When Adam returned late that afternoon just before dusk, Bella forgot everything apart from her relief at seeing him again, and flew down the path to the landing stage, just preventing herself at the last moment from casting herself into his arms. Conscious of the curious stares of the other men with him she stopped awkwardly a yard or so away and looked speechlessly at him. He took her arm and walked her slowly towards the house.
Virginian Lover Page 12