One of the men he had sent to spy on the house came running back. “No sign of ‘im. And no sign of any cart comin’ from the village. But I couldn’t get inside the stables, in case the rockhead might be hidin’ there.”
“Any place closer to the house to hide?” Hyde asked.
“There’s the stable, but there are a couple of grooms still seeing to the horses. And the carriages are out front. They’ll be bringin’ them around soon. There’s gardens in the back of the house and by the servants door.”
The pain was getting sharper, and Hyde knew time was running short. He called the men together. “You two go to the front and keep watch there. You four come with me to the back of the manor house. Harry, you set fire to these cottages.”
The clerk looked around at the circle of decrepit buildings.
“Once you are through here, go to the back of the stables and set fire to them, too.”
“Now ye’re talkin’,” one of the men said with a grin. “We come fer action.”
Holding the pistol in one hand, Hyde had to put all his weight on the cane to keep up with the others moving through the woods. He was having trouble breathing. Fatigue was wrapping a tight fist around his chest. A pain in his head was clouding his vision as they got closer to the house. Suddenly he saw a shadow run ahead of them in the woods. But as he looked again, he saw nothing. His mind was playing tricks.
"The little bugger did it," one of his men said over his shoulder. The crackle and spark of flames could be heard rising from the Grove through the winter wood. Hyde tried to hurry to keep up with everyone else. Somewhere ahead the shouts of warning about the fire could be heard.
The pain stabbed him again in the chest. He saw the shadow pass closer to his left. He realized who it was. But it couldn’t be.
"Tano," he whispered.
"D’ye say something?” The man closest to him turned around.
“No, go on. Look for an old black woman as they come out of the house.” Hyde’s mind was giving way to strange thoughts. Uncontrollably, he was crossing the great divide of many years. He remembered a night like this. He was a child, running barefoot with his friend through the meadow above the canefields. With Tano.
The edge of the woods lay ahead of them. More shouts came from the vicinity of the stables. Harry had reached there as well.
The pain in his chest and his head was unbearable, but he pushed on. There was a rustling sound in the trees to his right. He lifted his pistol and turned sharply. He was there, as clear as day. Tano was hanging in irons, left to die. His dark eyes were open and accusing.
Hyde backed away and tried to run, but his feet were too heavy, and he stumbled to his knees. One of the London men stood over him.
“Damn you, Ohenewaa!” he cursed into the night, shaking off the man’s hand. He pushed himself to his feet, clutching his chest with one hand.
Through the remaining fringe of trees, he could see people pouring out of the house. Servants were running in every direction and shouting. Horses, freed from their stalls, were running about wildly.
Hyde stopped by the edge of trees and stared at the chaos. Tano, named after a sacred river in the western lands of the Ashanti, was two years younger than Jasper in age. They gave him the Christian name Thomas, but his name was Tano. From the time they were young boys, he had surpassed Jasper in size and strength and courage. None of this mattered, though, for he was black and Jasper was white. Tano was a slave and Jasper would someday be his master. But for as many things that set them apart, there were others that made them the same. As children they thought the same, dreamed alike, tolerated each other…and though no one spoke of it, they shared the same father.
“I don’t see no old woman,” one of the men said into Hyde’s ear.
“Find your way up to the house without being seen. Set it on fire, and she will have to…” His words trailed off.
Among the smoke and mayhem, Jasper saw Ohenewaa walking toward them. There was no doubting it, she had seen them, but she was still coming.
After their father Rufus had passed away, Tano had become more openly rebellious. With every problem in the slave quarters, Jasper had seen evidence of Tano’s involvement. He could only look away so long. But even after Jasper began to have him punished for his transgressions, the slave had only become stronger.
The pain in his chest was spreading. His hands were shaking, but Hyde dropped the cane and wrapped his fingers tightly around the pistol.
Last year, during one of the slave uprisings, Hyde had reached the end of his patience. One of his bailiffs had been killed. Three other white men had been injured. Over two dozen slaves had escaped to the western forests of the island. It was all he could take. He had ordered Tano to be hung in irons.
Ohenewaa continued to walk toward him. This close, he could see the woman’s eyes flashing angrily in the dark. He stepped out of the woods and raised the pistol until it was pointed directly at her heart. Tano had died, and she had cursed him.
“You must die, witch.”
A woman screamed from somewhere to his right, and he turned his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone standing beside him. Tano. And at that moment he felt the pain explode in his chest even as he heard the crack of a pistol firing.
*****
Millicent saw Jasper Hyde go down on his knees, and she turned to see Lyon lowering the gun. A half-dozen grooms raced past her toward a retreating group of men. To her left, Moses had Hyde’s clerk by the scruff of his neck, and Gibbs was running down from the stables. She turned her attention back to Ohenewaa and saw her crouching over the bloody body of Jasper Hyde.
Millicent rushed toward her and knelt beside the old woman. Lyon approached and kicked Hyde’s pistol to the side.
Hyde’s breathing was labored. His eyes were open, but there was a hole in his chest near his heart. “He’s here. He wants to take me with him.”
Ohenewaa sat in silence.
“I cannot bear the pain. The heat of the branding iron…is scorching my breast. Do you hear them…the sound of chains?” A tear escaped the man’s eyes. “You cursed me, woman.”
“This is Tano’s curse.”
“Release me,” he whispered, the words barely escaping his lips. “Please…let me live…help me.”
She placed a hand above the open wound on his heart. “’Tis too late.”
“Then…forgive me.” Hyde’s eyes looked up into space. “Please, Tano…forgive me.”
Millicent saw a tear drop from Ohenewaa’s face onto his chest. The old woman’s hand stretched out over the dying man’s head. “He forgives. Go now.”
Hyde’s breathing stopped and his eyes glazed over. The old woman closed the lids and touched the man’s forehead. Millicent sat beside her until Ohenewaa turned to her.
“Who was Tano?” Millicent asked.
“My son,” she said, looking back at the dead man. “Tano was my son.”
EPILOGUE
“You should write a letter to your sons.”
The dowager peered over the tops of her spectacles. “I thought you said you were not getting involved with my problems.”
“I am not.” Ohenewaa put the basket of new greenery on the stone bench beside her and glared at her friend. “But you should know that I consider you a stubborn woman.”
“And why is that?”
“You have the power to put an end to all the trouble between these three boys.”
“They are not boys, but men. They started their disagreement, and they should finish it.”
“You are helpless…and blind, too…and pigheaded. And if you don’t do something to help your son with his brothers—”
“You shall cast a spell on me?”
“I do not know any spells.”
“Then show me how to do some other magic.”
Ohenewaa’s dark eyes narrowed. “Not that I know anything about the dark arts, but even if I had that kind of knowledge, I would never entrust it to you.”
/> “What if I promised to do some good with it?”
“Such as?”
The dowager shrugged. “Maybe I shall use it to find perfect wives for Pierce and David, as I did for Lyon. Never mind any letters. Marriage is the way to bring them back again to the family.”
“You underestimate your shrewdness, old woman. And Sir Richard’s hard work. You managed all of this before with no magic.”
“But I am getting old, and my days are numbered. And I am weak.”
“You might save that idle talk for your family. It does not work with me. I know there is nothing wrong with you.”
“I still believe you know about those dark arts. You are just an ornery old witch and holding out on me just to be spiteful.”
“And I believe you should take less snuff in the morning. Now, start with small steps. Write Pierce a letter and have it delivered at the same time as Lyon’s. Then you need to start working on your youngest son. What is his name?”
“David. Perhaps. I shall think about it.”
The dowager took a deep breath of fragrant spring air. She admired the flowers that were springing out of the ground in every corner of the garden. Mrs. Page and Gibbs were pretending that they were looking intently at a rose arbor at the lower end of the garden, but she knew better. Gibbs was still as gruff as ever, but there was a certain boyish spring that had recently begun to appear in his step. It was love; no doubt about it.
The dowager’s gaze was drawn to two young servants shaking out linens by the house.
“Has there been any more news of Violet?” Ohenewaa asked.
“No, they didn’t find her in St. Albans. Millicent is still upset over it.”
“At least she did not run off with the stonemason.”
“Indeed, but what an ignoble fate he met with, to be murdered by some drunk in a tavern.”
“He deserved it,” Ohenewaa stated.
Again both women fell silent, content to watch the activities of the people coming and going around the manor. Lyon and Millicent were walking along the garden path. He was still using the cane, but his legs were getting stronger every day. She was carrying the baby.
“Perhaps they’ll bring her here, so we could hold her,” Ohenewaa said, a note of hopefulness in her voice.
“That baby is a perfect lady. And I even like the name Josephine.”
“Joseph was the prophet sold into slavery, was he not?”
“He was.”
Ohenewaa nodded with satisfaction. “It shall be a challenge when their own baby arrives this fall. Two infants in the house.”
“That’s what they have us for. To help them.”
“Do you plan to stay that long?”
“I am, if you are.” The dowager laughed, watching Ohenewaa’s face crease into a frown.
*****
Millicent heard the laughter, and she glanced over her shoulder at the dowager and Ohenewaa. The two women were involved in one of their daily disputes.
“It might kill them to admit it, but they really like each other,” Lyon said, following the direction of her gaze. He laid his cane aside and sat down on a nearby stone bench. “Can I hold her now?”
She smiled and handed the baby to him before sitting down beside them. The swallows had returned, and a number of them were flitting and swooping about the chimneys. She glanced toward the path that led from the Grove, where once the slaves had lived. They had pulled down what remained of the huts after the fire. Construction on new cottages had already begun on higher ground. The damage to the stables had been small, and the repair work had already been accomplished.
Life was changing, Millicent thought. Buds of flowers and leaves were appearing on the trees. The fields were growing greener, and daffodils were poking their heads up along the walls and paths. Laughter, happiness, and contentment surrounded them. Melbury Hall was alive again.
She glanced back at her husband.
Josephine’s small head was nestled against his chest. His large hand was gently caressing the baby’s back. His blue eyes were loving when they met hers.
“Next year at this time, I’ll have two of them nestled here.”
"Who ever would have imagined such a thing?" she whispered, smiling at the embodiment of her own dream.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
As you might have guessed by now, Borrowed Dreams is the first in a trilogy of books about the men of Baronsford. While Pierce and David search out their own lives, they are subsequently drawn back to their home, where the mystery of Emma’s murder waits to be solved.
Millicent Gregory Wentworth was first introduced to our readers in The Promise, where Rebecca Neville and the Earl of Stanmore forged a future together. We hope the change wrought in Millicent since meeting her in The Promise has provided a satisfying journey for you all.
As with all of our novels, with this book we have tried to depict a place and a time in a way that mingles the real and the imagined in an entertaining way. The issue of slavery in England and in the sugar islands of the West Indies is one that we have introduced in our earlier work. We hoped to give our readers another glimpse, through the eyes of Ohenewaa, of the trauma that innocents suffered throughout centuries of injustice. Many authors contributed unknowingly to our account of the slave trade through their work. We’d like to thank James Pope-Hennessy for his work Sins of the Fathers: The Atlantic Slave Traders, and Marcus Wood for his Blind Memory: Visual Representations of Slavery in England and America.
The Highland clearances were only touched upon in this book. In the following stories about the men and women of Baronsford, we will enjoy together more of the history of Scotland as it unfolds.
As always, we love to hear from our readers.
May McGoldrick
www.MayMcGoldrick.com
[email protected]
The 'May McGoldrick Family Tree' Book Information
Our 16th Century books...
In The Thistle and the Rose, Colin Campbell and Celia Muir are introduced...
And we also introduce Alec Macpherson, who is the hero of our second book, Angel of Skye (Macpherson Trilogy)...
Alec has two brothers, Ambrose and John, who are the heroes of Heart of Gold and The Beauty of the Mist, respectively...
In Angel of Skye, we also introduce a little boy, Malcolm MacLeod, and in Heart of Gold we introduce a little girl, Jaime...
When Malcolm MacLeod and Jaime grow up, they are the hero and heroine of The Intended...
In Heart of Gold, we also introduce Gavin Kerr, who becomes the hero of Flame...
In Flame, we introduce a number of characters who show up in The Dreamer, The Enchantress, and The Firebrand (the Highland Treasure Trilogy), including John Stewart, the earl of Athol and a number of villains...
The Highland Treasure Trilogy is the story of three sisters...Catherine Percy of The Dreamer, Laura Percy of The Enchantress, and Adrianne Percy of The Firebrand...
In The Enchantress, we introduce Sir Wyntoun MacLean, who also appears in The Firebrand...
In The Firebrand, we also introduce Gillie the Fairie-Borne, who may just have a story of his own one day...
Colin Campbell and Celia (from The Thistle and the Rose) also make a 'cameo' appearance in The Firebrand...
Alec Macpherson and Fiona (from Angel of Skye) have three sons. The youngest, Colin Macpherson, is the hero of Tess and the Highlander (a young adult novel published by HarperCollins in November 2002)
Arsenic and Old Armor (Love and Mayhem) By Nicole Cody is a retelling of Arsenic and Old Lace. Reference made to Angel of Skye.
Our 18th Century Books
In The Promise, Samuel Wakefield, the Earl of Stanmore, and Rebecca Neville/Ford are the hero and heroine...
In that book we also introduce Stanmore's friend, Sir Nicholas Spencer, who becomes the hero of The Rebel, which is set in Ireland...
Stanmore and Rebecca also appear in The Rebel...
In The Promise, we also introduce Rebecca's friend, Mi
llicent Wentworth, who becomes the heroine of Borrowed Dreams...
Borrowed Dreams is the start of a new trilogy about three Scottish brothers, starting with Lyon Pennington, Earl of Aytoun. We also meet a new cast of characters who show up in the trilogy. Violet, from The Promise, plays a big role in this book, too. She will show up again in the third book in the trilogy, Dreams of Destiny.
In Captured Dreams, we see Lyon and Millicent and the entire household of Baronsford in Scotland, along with wonderful heroes and villains that David Pennington meets in colonial Boston.
In Dreams of Destiny, the mystery of Emma's death is solved...
Ghost of the Thames…a Dickensian novel.
Stay tuned.
About the Author
Nikoo & Jim McGoldrick have spent their lives gathering material for their novels. Nikoo, a mechanical engineer, and Jim, who has a Ph.D. in sixteenth-century British literature, wrote their first May McGoldrick novel in 1994. Since then, they have taken their readers from the Highlands of Scotland to the mountains of Kurdistan in bestselling, award-winning historical romance and contemporary suspense novels under the names May McGoldrick, Nicole Cody, and Jan Coffey.
www.NikooandJim.com
www.MayMcGoldrick.com
You can contact us at [email protected]
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Complete Book List as of 2013
Writing As May McGoldrick:
Thanksgiving in Connecticut
Made In Heaven
Ghost of the Thames
Borrowed Dreams (Scottish Dream Trilogy) Page 35