Dreamscape (30 page)

Cathy laughed caustically. “Even if I did divorce Jason, he’d never marry you.”

A big tear rolled down her long cheek. “And why not? We’re friends.”

“Friends!” Cathy scoffed.

“Yes, friends! We could make each other happy.”

“Lower your voices, the two of you!” Richard ground out lowly.

“Friends or not, Bertha, Jason would never marry a woman like you.” Cathy’s eyes brightened with growing spite.

Bertha wept softly. “Yes, he would, and he’d love
me
. I wouldn’t deny him night after night like you. You, who cry a virgin’s sensibility to a wonderful man like Jason, but play whore for my brother!”

“
Whore?
Why
you
…You’re a fool. He’d never marry you for one obvious reason.” At the question in Bertha’s watery eyes, Cathy’s words cut through the air before anyone thought to stop them. “You’re as homely as sin, Bertha. Jason would only take a beautiful woman to his bed.” She pointed out the window toward the stable. “He’s more likely to marry that horse in there!”

Bertha gasped. She whirled to look at her brother. “Do you
hear
what she just
said
to me?”

Richard nodded sadly. It was better his sister knew. They’d come this far, and painful as it might be, this was the only route to take. “Nettie’s right, Bertie, though her delivery is very poor. It’s the truth, dearheart. A man would always prefer a beautiful woman over a plain one…”

“Plain!” Cathy snorted derisively.

He cast Cathy an angry glance. “Yes, a
plain
one. It pains me to say it, but as your brother and a man myself, I’m telling you a man would prefer a lovely woman, a woman such as Lanie for instance.” He patted her arm. “Papa charged me with looking after you, Bertie. He saw how you took after the Mason side instead of Mama’s. He knew no man would come knocking. Don’t you see? Ridding ourselves of Jason and inheriting his estate will allow you to live comfortably. Once we have that, you won’t need beauty to land a man who’d provide for you. They’ll come for your wealth.”

The words echoed in Bertha’s mind.
Homely as sin.
No man would come knocking.
After what she’d seen through the keyhole that morning, their words tore at her heart. What if Jason liked her well enough as a friend but
did
prefer Lanie in his bed? She ran from the room in tears.

Cathy spat after her, “Lordy, she acts like she never once looked in the mirror.”

Richard’s eyes seared her. “You
disgust
me.

Her eyes welled up. “Don’t say things like that, Richard.”

“We rid ourselves of Jason and Addy tomorrow. First thing in the morning, I expect you to make things right with my sister before then. I don’t care how much crow you need to stuff in that thoughtless mouth of yours. You’ll do it. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes.” She sniffed and ran to him.

He set her aside. “I’m going back to bed.”

“I’ll come with you.”

He waved her away and left her standing there.

Jason planned to take the revolver from the desk as soon as these foul creatures took themselves away. He peered into the window the very moment Cathy swung the poker at the portrait made of him and his father. He thought of the remains discovered in the cellar then immediately went to his poor dear Addy. In that moment, he wanted nothing better in the world than to have his hands around his wife’s neck.

Lanie turned to the man beside her, her heart pounding. Hearing those calculating murderers attack one another was horrible in itself. However, it was their cold, matter-of-fact determination to kill Jason and Addy in the morning that left her shaking where she stood.

Seeing the fear bright in her eyes, Jason put a finger to his lips and took her by the hand. He lead her to the atrium, where they stepped inside unseen. She could smell the loamy scent of soil and greenery as she followed behind him in the darkness. When they’d gone off path to the moss bed, he pulled her into his arms. The way Jason saw it, they had no idea what the dawn would bring. The only thing in their favor right now was finally knowing when he was meant to die. His mouth slanted over hers in a possessive kiss. He murmured at her lips, “I love you. No matter what the morning brings, I’ll love you forever, in my world
or
yours.”

Holding the flesh and blood of his body close, Lanie wrapped around him. She knew in her heart he’d never stay with her as a ghost. Jason would leave the moment he found a way. Knowing this might very well be their last time to love each other, she pulled him to the mossy ground and made sure his soul would never forget.

Rolling in her sleep, Lanie’s mind was filled with frightening thoughts, her body restless. Jason leaned close and shushed her. “Shh, it’s all right. Take us back, sweetheart. We need to see it to the end.” He smoothed her hair back from her ear and the small action seemed to settle her.

Chapter 24

The lovers woke to the sound of the porch door slamming and morning light streaming in through the louvered windows. The trees stretched to the topmost panes where hummingbirds flew in and out of the opened slats to seek the flowers below. Visual textures and flowery scents filled the sunny space, and all of it took Lanie’s breath away. This was how she wanted the atrium to look in her waking world. Especially now that the atrium had been their intimate retreat. They heard voices coming close.

Just outside, Mrs. Boatwright and Addy were waiting on Patrick to bring the carriage around. “I spoke with Clyde Fielding last week. He’s planning on bringing butter and cheddar cheese today,” the cook told the housekeeper. “I’m thinking the doctor might enjoy a rarebit for supper tomorrow. Even as a lad, Jacy always liked the cheese melted on toast. I remember one day his aunt and I made...” Her voice trailed off to be replaced by the rolling of carriage wheels.

At least Addy will be away from the house for now.
Jason stood and reached a hand to help Lanie rise. “It’s market day. They’ll be gone until the early afternoon. Jason smoothed her hair and helped her button her blouse. While tucking in his own shirt, he remembered the gun. “Let’s get inside before the fiends stir.”

The conversation they’d overheard the night before came rushing back to Lanie. “Jason, I’m scared.”

Hugging her to him tightly, he kissed her temple and, in an attempt to lighten the mood, he chuckled, “Don’t be. I’ve told you before, I’m already a ghost.”

“It’s not funny.”

He kissed her head again. “Let’s go inside. You’re going to pack your bags and take my buggy to the inn. I don’t want you here when they show their hand.”

Lanie shook her head. “But it’s my dream. I
have
to be here.”

Jason frowned. He hadn’t thought of that. “Then you’ll stay here until the others return.”

“No. We’ll face them together.”

“
We
will not. I won’t have you in harm’s way.”

“I’m safe in my bed
sleeping
, Jason. I don’t understand much of what’s happening, but I do know that much.
You’re
the one in danger.”

The logic of the intelligent and well-ordered mind he’d come to hold in high regard put him at ease. Whatever happened to him, she’d be safe.

An instant later, Jason found himself washed and changed and standing in the hall outside the bathroom across from Lanie’s bedroom. It sounded like she was bathing.

Finding herself fully lathered in the bathtub of all places, Lanie hurried to finish rinsing. In her sleeping mind, at least two hours had passed since she and Jason woke in the atrium. The light streaming in through the hall window suggested it to be an hour or so before noon. A loud crash came from below.
Here we go.
After dunking herself, she grabbed for the towel.

Jason quietly hurried down the stairs and found Bertha standing in the dining room doorway.

Though he was wary, he gave her a smile. “Good morning, Bertha.”

She whirled around and he noticed her watery eyes, red nose, and a thin sheen of sweat on her pale face.

Overjoyed to see him, Bertha smiled. “Jason, I…”

A feeble moan came from the dining room. Jason made to enter, but Bertha caught his sleeve. “There’s nothing you can do.” Alarmed by her words and inscrutable face, Jason looked over her shoulder to see what it was she tried to block him from seeing.

“Help…”

“Bertha, let me pass.” Setting her aside, he rushed into the room. There, amid broken china and spilled food, lay Richard and Cathy. Richard lay on his back, his eyes staring lifelessly at the ceiling, his open mouth filled with the food he’d been eating when he died. Cathy moaned from the floor. His gaze flew to Bertha. “What have you done?”

Seeing repulsion in Jason’s eyes was just too much to bear after the horrible things Cathy and Richard told her the night before. Bertha pulled the brown bottle from her dress pocket and set it on the sideboard.

Jason recognized it instantly. Laudanum from his office, and the bottle appeared empty. Horrified, he turned back to Cathy who now had spittle bubbling at her lips, her breathing failing. Bertha was right. The deadly overdose of who knew how much opiate
was
killing her. There wasn’t he could do. Cathy took one last rattling breath and expired. He closed her doe eyes then looked at the doorway. Bertha was gone.

Lanie found him covering the bodies with the table linens. “What happened?”

“Bertha poisoned them.” He tipped his head toward the brown bottle. “That bottle was nearly full. Who knows how much they had.”

Laudanum.
Reading the label first, Lanie looked around and found the broken carafe. The brown stain seeping into the carpet she knew to be tea. The Southerners drank gallons of sweet tea with their meals. The mildly bitter laudanum, covered by the sweetness of the copiously added cane sugar, wouldn’t have been detected. “Where’s Bertha now?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, she stood just there a moment ago.” Remembering the gun in his desk, he said, “Stay here. I’ll find her.”

Bertha stood before the torn portrait of Jason and Jackson Bowen as it hung askew on the wall in its broken frame. She addressed the portrait miserably, “You can’t love me now. I know you can’t. Oh, Jason, the look in your eyes…” Her arm across the mantle, she leaned her forehead and sobbed.

Jason found Bertha crying at the mantelpiece. His gaze went to the desk and found the drawer with its hidden compartment open. On the outside chance the gun still lay within, he quietly moved there to look inside. Sensing she wasn’t alone, Bertha whirled about. Pain filled her eyes. Her nasally voice cracked, “You don’t love me, do you?”

“We’re friends, Bertha.” He forced a smile.

Bertha faltered, wanting it to be true. “I saw you.”

He looked at her, confused. “You saw me?”

Nodding, she sniffed and wiped her wet nose on her sleeve. “Through the keyhole. I saw you in Lanie’s bed.”

Jason slowly inched toward the desk and the gun he hoped he’d find. Bertha was a dangerously deranged woman. “Bertha, you must understand. Cathy wouldn’t have me…”

Cutting in she said, “Oh, I do understand that, Jason. After Mama had me, the doctors told her she couldn’t have another child or she’d die. Papa had needs, too. Every nigra gal we owned saw to his needs. That’s what they were for. Richard and I would hide in secret and watch Papa. Then Richard got older and had needs with the nigra gals, too.” She nodded to herself, the images of countless childhood games dancing before her unfocused eyes. “All men have needs, and if they don’t keep nigras and their wives refuse them, they must go elsewhere.”

Jason slowly made his way to the desk. His heart fell when he saw the drawer empty.

Her gaze went to his. “Lanie and I arrived the same day. Why didn’t you come to me with your needs? We’ve known each other longer. Remember, I met you even before Cathy did.” She frowned at the truth in her words. He didn’t give her a second look once he’d seen Cathy. The words of the night before reappeared.
You’re as homely as sin.
No man would come knocking.
He had come knocking, but it wasn’t for her. Her eyes narrowed. “You told me we were friends.”

“We
are
friends, Bertha.”

Absorbed in her inner dialog, she shook her head. “I would have seen to your needs. I know what a man likes done. I would have loved you forever…” She pulled the revolver from her dress pocket and aimed it at him. Accusing now, she croaked, “But you went to
her.
You went right to Cathy and sniffed her like a randy dog.” Her voice rose. “And I was right there! Couldn’t you see she really hated you? Couldn’t you see that? Couldn’t you see
I
loved you?”