Before she could take another step, Charlotte caught her arm and pulled her back up on the platform.
“He can’t be here,” Anna persisted, shaking her arm away from Charlotte’s grasp. “He’ll ruin everything.”
“Someone else has to stop him.”
Anna glared at the man across the street and the slow gait of his horse. It was apparent that he was in no rush to leave Liberty. Everything within her wanted to confront him and demand that he leave, but Charlotte was right yet again. She must stay quiet. If she challenged the slave hunter, people around her would ask questions. Why had he been at her house, and why was she so angry that he reappeared?
She was relieved, if only a bit, that the man was still searching for Marie and Peter. It meant that they were still plodding toward freedom. She could only pray that her friends were miles and miles north of here.
“Anna!” Matthew called her name from across the street. The smile she forced on her lips never reached her eyes. After the disaster of their last visit, she supposed she should be glad he was speaking to her again.
He sprinted up the steps toward her, oblivious to the hunter at his back. “Could I escort you ladies inside?”
“Of course.” Anna nodded, glancing over his shoulder one last time. Daniel Stanton was behind her, but he wasn’t watching her this time. He had jumped from a buggy and was approaching the fierce-looking hunter.
Her anger melted quickly into respect. She wanted to hide herself away on the patio so she could watch him. Surely he wouldn’t let this man search through the buggies while their friends were enjoying Rachel and Luke’s celebration. Even if Daniel could never hear her, she wanted to cheer for his courage from her place on the sidelines.
“C’mon,” Charlotte prompted her again.
Anna looked back at Daniel one last time and then reluctantly stepped toward the door, trying not to worry about Marie and her child.
And trying not to think about the man willing to stand up for them.
Chapter Twenty
Simon recognized Daniel immediately and reined in his horse, though he didn’t bother to dismount. The hunter smirked down at him. “Fine day for a meetin’.”
Daniel didn’t even nod in return. “What are you doing back in Liberty?”
“Just passing through.”
“The woman you’re searching for isn’t here.”
“You’re one smart Yank to figure that out.” Simon dug into his pouch and pinched tobacco in his grimy fingers. He stuffed the black chaw into his cheek until the skin bulged like an ugly wart. “We done caught up with her near Richmond last night.”
Daniel wanted to jump on the horse and wring the man’s neck. There wasn’t a hint of remorse in his words. He was proud of his catch, prouder than an animal hunter who had hauled in a bear or a cougar.
It took everything within Daniel to keep his voice calm. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Simon leaned his head back. His raucous laugh echoed down the street, grating Daniel’s skin. “I bet you are.”
Daniel could feel eyes on his back. They were watching him from the hotel’s patio and through the windows. Before he’d joined the Society of Friends, he wouldn’t have hesitated to punch this guy, even if he’d gotten pummeled in return. Now he kept his fists at his side, choosing peace over violence, although he desperately wanted to plant one of his fists on the guy’s nose.
“You got what you came for,” he said as he stepped toward him. “Now you can ride on out of Liberty.”
The man clutched the saddle horn and leaned down toward Daniel like he was letting him in on a secret. “The problem is, our little Marie left somethin’ behind.”
Daniel shoved his fists into his pockets. He didn’t want to be his confidant, yet the reporter in him wondered what the man was talking about.
“Marie had her a kid someplace between here and Knoxville. Told her master she lost the baby, but lyin’ ain’t her thing. Somebody already seen them together out on Silver Creek.”
“So her master is looking for the child?”
“Nope.” The man spit a stream of tobacco juice toward Daniel’s boots. “Owens posted a reward for the kid and then rode on home to his wife.”
Daniel ignored the tobacco puddled on his toe. “What’s the baby worth to Owens?”
“Five hundred dollars.”
Daniel whistled. “He must like babies.”
Simon leaned back into his saddle. “Somethin’ like that.”
“What happened to Marie?”
A laugh erupted from the man’s gut, and even when he kicked his spurs against the horse’s ribs and began trotting away, he didn’t stop laughing.
Standing out in the middle of the smoky street, Daniel didn’t move. Frustration and compassion collided inside him. He wanted to act, to do something to stop this girl from getting hurt, but there was nothing he could do. A battle was waging around him, and he couldn’t stop the attack.
Where was Marie now? Her master must have dragged her back to Tennessee with him—or worse. No court of law in Indiana would penalize him for harming his property. Even if he was tried for homicide, who was going to speak against him? Colored people weren’t allowed to testify in court, and if a white man had witnessed the act, he probably wouldn’t volunteer the truth.
Dejected, Daniel scuffed his foot, but he didn’t leave the street. He didn’t want to go inside and talk about weddings and the weather and the autumn harvest. He wanted to scour the countryside for Marie and her child in case the man was lying and they were still on the run.
But he could spend weeks searching from here to Canada and never find her. There was nothing he could do except pray.
His brother-in-law was suddenly at his side. “You all right?”
Nothing was right, but Joseph wouldn’t understand. Only a handful of people at this party would understand why. “Where’s Esther?” he asked.
“She’s already inside, getting the scoop on the latest gossip.”
“Like nothing else matters...”
Joseph clapped him on the back. “You can’t rescue everyone, Daniel.”
“Maybe not.” He straightened his shoulders. “But if God drops someone in my path, I better well try.”
Topping each table inside the hotel were jars filled with sunflowers. Each jar was a different color and size, but the room radiated the hearty yellow of their contents.
In spite of the beauty around her, Anna’s eyes weren’t on the flowers. The jar on her table had been nudged aside so she and Charlotte could see out the picture window in front of them. She didn’t want to appear too interested in Daniel or the man on the horse, but no one noticed that she was watching. Her father had stayed on the patio with several other men, and the people inside were either socializing with the newly married couple at one end of the room or they were beside the window with her, watching Daniel, too.
Matthew was neither watching nor talking at the moment. Instead of bothering with the events on the street, he had announced that they all needed something hot to drink. Anna had acknowledged his declaration with a quick nod before he left the table. Then her eyes went back out toward the street.
The silence didn’t last long. A loud swish resounded beside her, and a large bundle of ribbons and lace plopped into the chair. Under the light blue hat dressed with feathers and a giant bow, Anna recognized Esther Cooley.
Esther sighed like she had walked ten miles before propping her chin on her hands. Then she leaned toward Anna’s ear. “You remember when I told you I had a brother?”
“I do.”
Esther untied her hat, and when she removed it, she waved the feathers toward the man who’d been left standing alone on the street. “There he is, in all his glory.”
Anna caught her breath and looked back out at the man who had been joined by Joseph Cooley. Esther’s brother? Daniel seemed nothing like this woman. First of all, he was a Quaker, and while Esther had been kind to her, she was quite worldly.
Daniel was a fighter, both in words and deeds. Esther, on the other hand, seemed to concern herself with material things.
“What is he doing out there?” Anna asked, trying to sound more polite than intrigued.
“Who knows....” Esther sighed again like she had to carry the burden for him. “He’s always chasing trouble and is quite adept at finding it.” She glanced over her shoulder as if she had just realized that Joseph had left her side. “Thank God, I married a man who has a level head on his shoulders.”
Daniel and Joseph turned toward the hotel together, and Anna forced herself to stop watching him. “You are blessed to find a husband like that.”
“Indeed.” Esther set the hat in her lap and caressed the white feathers on top. “Even if my brother wanted to marry, he never will. No woman wants to marry a fanatic.”
There were plenty of women who admired courage and compassion in a man...or at least Anna thought there were. She was no expert on the subject, nor did she want to continue talking about it with Daniel Stanton’s sister.
Matthew sat down across from Anna and slid two mugs of melted chocolate and milk toward her and Charlotte. Esther held out her hand and shook his. “You’re the Nelson boy, aren’t you?”
Matthew gave her a grand smile. “One of two.”
Esther leaned toward him like she was conspiring. “Anna here was telling me the other day that she would never marry.”
Heat burned across Anna’s face like she’d been singed. She reached for the mug of chocolate but didn’t take a sip.
Matthew set his elbows on the table and folded his hands. “Did she now?”
Anna looked back toward the window, but Daniel was no longer in sight. She had wanted to change the conversation from Daniel’s fanaticism, but she certainly did not want to discuss her own aversion to matrimony, especially with Matthew at the table.
“I don’t believe her for a second.” Esther waved her hand and then placed it on her stomach. “Someone has caught her eye.”
Anna didn’t dare look at Matthew. She had done everything she could to discourage him already, and he didn’t need someone like Esther to either give him hope that maybe she’d been hiding her feelings for him or that she’d fallen for someone else. Instead of retreating like she’d asked him to do, a competitor would only make him push harder.
“Did she mention any names?” Matthew asked.
Esther sighed like Anna was a fiend for depriving her of such valuable information. “Not a one.”
Anna sat up straight. “That’s because there’s no one to mention.”
Esther didn’t even glance at her. “But I intend to find out who she fancies.”
Two hands seemed to come out of nowhere and set squarely down upon Esther’s shoulders. Anna looked up to see Daniel Stanton towering over his sister. She glanced back at Esther and then over at Matthew, who was watching Daniel as well. She wanted to run far, far away, but there was no place for her to go.
“I am sure that you won’t rest again, Essie, until you can extract whatever secrets this poor woman is keeping from you.”
Daniel looked over at her, and even though she wanted to crawl under the table and hide, she had no choice but to acknowledge him. His eyes bore into hers. “Are you good at keeping secrets?”
She could feel Charlotte’s eyes on her. And Matthew’s.
“Terrible,” she said, forcing a nervous laugh even though it really wasn’t funny. She wasn’t nearly as clever as her father when it came to sidestepping the truth.
“Then you are in trouble.”
Esther slapped at one of Daniel’s hands. “Don’t listen to him, Anna. I am the model of discrepancy.”
Matthew chuckled first, and the rest of them joined in with his laughter. Anna took a sip of the hot chocolate.
Esther crossed her arms. “Why are you all laughing?”
Daniel leaned down to kiss her cheek. “You and your discrepancies amuse us all, dear sister.”
Esther’s smile turned to a pout, though she didn’t allow their teasing to dampen her spirits for long. She patted Anna’s arm. “I told you my brother was ridiculous, didn’t I?”
“I believe you said fanatical.”
“Ridiculous and fanatical, then.” She motioned toward Daniel. “Daniel, I’d like you to meet Anna Brent and company.”
Instead of reaching out her hand, Anna introduced him quickly to Charlotte and Matthew. She wanted to excuse herself to find her father, but leaving so abruptly would only make Esther wonder even more. She had to focus on what was important instead of the silly butterflies that had embedded themselves in her belly.
Daniel was the only one who had spoken to the slave hunter. He was perhaps the only one who knew if something had happened to Peter and Marie.
“Was the man on that horse a friend of yours?” she asked casually.
“Hardly.” His eyes seemed to question her back, wondering why she was interested. “He was searching for a runaway slave.”
“Did he find her?” She swallowed hard and reached for her mug again. “Or him?”
“He was actually looking for a baby.”
Esther took the glass of blackberry cordial that Joseph handed her. “Must we talk about this?”
“A baby?” Anna interjected, trying to calm her racing heart. “What happened to the mother?”
“He wouldn’t say exactly. Only that her master caught her near Richmond.”
Esther shook her head. “He probably took her right back home where she belonged.”
“That’s funny,” Matthew said, and they all turned toward him. “Terrance Platt found something strange in a creek up north of Richmond when he was traveling home last night.”
Anna tried to force herself not to seem too interested, but the butterflies in her stomach had tightened into knots. Matthew looked at each one of them as they waited, like he was relishing the moment.
“What did he find?” she finally asked.
“The body of a Negro girl.”
Anna didn’t think it was funny at all.
Chapter Twenty-one
Matthew pushed his chair back a few inches after delivering his news, but Anna couldn’t move. Sorrow drowned her heart and spilled out into her veins as Matthew described the girl’s wounds and the long scar that ran up the back of her neck like the fugitive slave’s that had been advertised on billboards across town.
Noah Owens had found the servant girl that he and his wife loved so much. And he’d killed her.
Her hands began trembling and then her feet. When the sunflowers in front of her started spinning, Charlotte reached for her hand under the table. She had to stay strong, at least until she got outside.
Charlotte was the one who asked the question that raced through Anna’s mind. “Where is her baby?”
Daniel collapsed into a chair beside Matthew, like he was also gasping for air. “No idea,” he said, staring outside the window. “Simon was searching for him, though.”
An ashen shade blended with the ivory tones on Esther’s cheeks. Her eyes wandered among the small group until they stopped on Matthew. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
He lifted his snifter of brandy in a mock salute. “Me neither.”
Esther patted her damp forehead with her handkerchief and then she patted her hair with her hands. “When do you suspect we’ll get our first snow?”
Anna glared at the woman. Who wanted to talk about snow right now? She wanted to lash out at Esther and Matthew, railing them both for their total lack of compassion about this young woman’s death—a woman who had been killed solely because she desired freedom for herself and her son.
Her stomach reeled. She couldn’t mourn Marie’s death right now. The only option she had was to join Matthew and Esther in their indifference.
She took a deep breath. “The almanac said it’s supposed to snow the first of October.”
The gray color faded slightly from Esther’s cheeks. “Oh, I hope it will wait a
few more weeks this year. I’m not ready to hibernate yet.”
The loud grating of a chair across the wood floor made Anna jump. Daniel stood back up in front of them, his voice filled with disgust. “How can you talk about snow when you just found out that a young woman was murdered? It’s like none of you even care.”
“Oh, I care.” Anna sniffed lightly, her eyes on the jar of sunflowers so she didn’t have to meet his gaze. “I care about the child, and I dearly hope he doesn’t suffer for his mother’s choice.”
The words shot out of Daniel’s mouth. “Her choice?”
“Yes, her choice.” Anna almost choked on her response, but she continued talking as fast as she could, afraid she might stumble on the lies that poured from her mouth. “She risked the life of her child when she chose to leave the safety and provisions of her home in the South. It seems like a selfish decision to me, don’t you think?”
She fiddled with her hands in her lap. No one responded to her statement, though she could almost feel the heat seething from Daniel’s skin. She wondered if she’d pushed too hard to sound supportive of slavery. None of them would believe she meant it.
Finally, Esther spoke. “You’re exactly right, Anna. It was a terrible choice for this mother to run away with a baby. Now she’s dead, and the Lord only knows where her poor child is.”
A sense of urgency gripped Anna. Peter could still be alive, either at the home of one of the stationmasters or someplace in the wilderness. She had to find him before the slave hunters or a wild animal did.
Daniel ignored Esther, but his voice was as bitter as quinine when he spoke to Anna. “I’m sure glad that not everyone agrees with your tragic take on slavery.” He squeezed the back of his chair, and she watched the knuckles on his strong hands turn white. “The question no one seems to be asking is why a loving mother would risk her life and that of her child’s to run. I don’t think it’s because her home in Tennessee was safe.”
Love Finds You in Liberty, Indiana Page 15