Midnight Rose (34 page)

Erin had neither time nor patience to listen to such superstitious nonsense. Motioning her to carry on with her orders, she told her they’d discuss all that later. “Meanwhile, you keep an eye out for a rose left at the grave or inside the entrance to the maze. I just can’t think clearly right now.”

Annie rushed out. She was sorry things had turned out as they had, felt sorry for Miz Erin. She was willing to do most anything to help her, because she liked her, but there was just no way she was going around that creepy place at night.

Victoria sat at the window and stared out at the fields beyond without really seeing anything. At first she had been in shock, but raw nerves had taken over, and she was starting to get really mad. Her head was still pounding, and if Eliza did not hurry up and get back with that brandy she’d sent her scurrying after, she feared she was going to start screaming and never be able to stop. And where was Ryan? How could he just disappear? She had been home nearly an hour, and Eliza had sent some of the hands to search, but no one could find him.

Finally, Eliza came with the liquor. Filling a glass, Victoria snatched it from her and downed it in one gulp, then wanted another. In a dread voice so cold as to echo from a grave, she asked, “Who is she? I want you to tell me everything you know.”

Eliza sat down in the chair opposite and took a deep breath of delighted anticipation. She had been waiting for the moment to inform her that Master Ryan had married the stepdaughter of Zachary Tremayne. Even Eliza knew what a contemptible man he was, the way decent folk shunned him and his family.

Victoria thought she was going to faint. Swaying, gulping the brandy so fast she nearly choked, she recovered to whimper, “It’s even worse than I thought. Oh, dear Lord. Dear, dear Lord. I’ve heard such terrible things about that man. And his wife! Everyone talks about how she’s always tried to push herself on people. Brazen. That’s what she is. The menfolk think she’s beautiful, but I don’t think that’s what attracts them to Arlene Tremayne.” She punctuated her words with a derisive sniff.

Eliza listened, clucking in sympathy now and then. She was feeling more confident than ever that Miss Victoria was going to come up with a plan to correct Master Ryan’s mistake.

“What is Ermine going to do? Oh, poor thing. She’ll be so humiliated. She probably already knows, doesn’t she?” She wildly looked to Eliza for dreaded assurance.

“The wedding was big,” she related. “Master Ryan, he even had a party the week before to tell everybody. All your kin was here. Neighbors, too. I want you to know I didn’t help with any of it. I pretended to, but I knew you wouldn’t want me doing anything. The other servants, they took over and really made things fancy. Master Ryan even gave her a big ring.”

Victoria was feeling sicker by the minute. “Then Ermine’s parents knew, and they probably told her as soon as she walked in the door this morning.” The pain in her head had become a dull throb. “Oh, what could Ryan have been thinking?” she wailed. “Ermine Coley comes from good, blue-blood Virginia stock. It’s said her ancestors can be traced all the way back to distant British royalty. Thornton Coley is one of the most prominent attorneys in Richmond, and I can’t think of any family more respected. Why, I couldn’t have asked for better stock to carry on the Youngblood name. Ryan’s father is probably turning over in his grave.”

Ermine dutifully refilled her glass and sympathetically offered, “Well, you don’t have anything to be ashamed of, Miss Victoria. It’s not your fault that Master Ryan is the only one to carry on. I remember how you lost all those babies. Two before Master Ryan was born, and then you nearly died having him, and then lost three more later on. You tried. The good Lord knows you tried.”

“I certainly did. Ryan should have appreciated that fact, respected it, and accepted that it was his duty, and Ermine’s, to have as many sons as possible so the Youngblood name would go on. But how in the name of heaven,” she cried, lips trembling, eyes brimming with tears, “could he dare to mix his seed with someone of unknown heritage? I seem to remember that Zachary married Arlene after a trip farther south. She came back with that…girl in there when she was just a baby. She probably didn’t even know who the father was. And I’m supposed to accept that trash into my house? I’m supposed to be grandmother to her children?

“No!” she declared vehemently, pounding the chair with her fists. “I won’t do it. There has to be a way to end this madness.”

Through the years, Eliza had experienced many similar scenes with Victoria when she was distraught about something. Consequently, she knew much local gossip and was able to remind her of a similar situation. “You told me last year about how Miss Coralee Sutton was sent away by her daddy, because she brought shame on the family after letting a man bed her before he married her.”

Impatiently, Victoria snapped, “What does that have to do with any of this?” Suddenly, it dawned on her, and she gasped. “That’s how she got him to marry her! She made him crazy for her and held out for marriage. Oh, that cunning little bitch!”

Eliza suppressed a smile to offer instead another cluck of dismay.

“But that also has to mean he can’t really be in love with her.” Victoria was starting to get excited as she began to see a light at the end of a long, despairing tunnel. “Tell me, do they seem happy?”

Eliza told the truth, how there did seem to be some tension, and Master Ryan always seemed to be in a bad mood.

“Then it’s obvious that now that he’s got what he wanted, he regrets what he’s done. Oh, my poor boy!” The tears spilled down her cheeks, and she realized it was up to her to get him out of the mess he had got himself into. But she also knew she was going to have to be very careful. Ryan could be quite stubborn. And the two of them had never seen eye to eye on many things. If she angrily condemned what he had done, it would only make him defensive, thus making her scheme difficult.

Eliza could tell she had finally come up with a plan and asked excitedly, “What are you going to do, Miss Victoria?”

It was Victoria’s time to smile, at last. “First of all, I want that bath and my tea and my spice cake. Then I want you to get busy and prepare a very special dinner.”

Eliza was puzzled and said so.

“Don’t you see? I’ve got to help my son make the best of a bad situation. He needs sympathy right now. Understanding. I’ll let him know, in subtle ways, that I can understand how a beautiful woman like Miss Sterling could beguile him into marrying her.

“I will also let him know,” she added, eyes narrowing with malicious delight, “that I’m ready and willing to help him straighten out his life.”

Eliza nodded, feeling a comforting rush. It was just like she’d known it would be. Miss Victoria would take care of everything.

Rosa hated to give the message to Miss Arlene. She had been dressed and ready to go since first light, so looking forward to spending the day with Miss Erin. But, more than that, Rosa knew she wanted to be out of the house when Master Zachary woke up. He had come in late the night before, all liquored up. She had heard him yelling and screaming all the way from the storage room, where she now slept. She knew he would have her beaten if he found out she was disobeying his rule that no slaves were allowed in the house at night, but after that time when he had beaten Miss Arlene so bad, Rosa didn’t dare go all the way to the compound. She wasn’t about to leave her beloved mistress all alone with that man. If she hadn’t found her when she did that night, Miss Arlene wouldn’t have lived. It was Tulwah’s magic that saved her. Rosa had sent Ben running through the night to fetch him, and he had come and packed Miss Arlene’s chest in some kind of poultice to stop the bleeding from her mouth and nose. He had stayed with her till near dawn. He had been back since, too, but nobody knew that except Rosa, and she was not going to tell. She suspected he was gathering
wanga
for his spell she’d begged him to cast on Master Zachary. She just wished he’d hurry up and do it, because things were getting bad. He had beaten poor Ben again, because he was just so angry over Letty. She feared Ben was going to run away, and she only hoped he would wait till Mahalia sent word about the new plan the Free Soilers were setting up. If he didn’t, and he got caught, Master Zachary would take particular delight in killing him. He had already had the whipping post brought out of the swamp and placed right in the middle of the compound, and now when he did his whipping, he ordered all the slaves to gather round and watch.

Rosa shook her head in hopeless despair as she made her way up to Miss Arlene’s room. She figured there just had to be a special place in hell for a demon like Zachary Tremayne.

Arlene glanced up as she entered. She was sitting by the window and had seen the horse come up the road, and Rosa could tell by the disappointed look on her face that she already knew there was not going to be any trip that day to Jasmine Hill. “Did the messenger give the reason?” she asked dully.

“No’m. He just said Miz Erin said it couldn’t be today. That’s all.”

Arlene blinked furiously; she didn’t want to cry in front of Rosa. She had been living for this day, because she had made up her mind that she would move in with Erin and Ryan if it was all right. She had reached the point of being absolutely terrified of Zachary and was even starting to fear for her life. Last night, he had taken her savagely and brutally.

Afterward, he had shoved her away in loathing and disgust and said, “I’m gettin’ sick of you, sick of thinkin’ how you’re one-quarter the color of the ones I wouldn’t wipe my feet on. You’re not good for nothin’ anymore, always coughin’, always lazin’ around. Before, I could look forward to havin’ Erin in my bed, but you ruined all that for me.”

Sore and bleeding, Arlene had laid there for long hours in anguish, wanting to just die then and there so she would never be hurt or humiliated by him again. When Tulwah had boldly slipped into her room, she had welcomed him. And she had even broken down and cried and told him what had happened. He had a poultice for her to use after he left, and he promised she would not have to suffer much longer. He was taking care of things. She didn’t know what he had in mind, didn’t care what happened to Zachary. All she knew was that she was ready to get down on her knees to Ryan Youngblood, if that’s what it took to escape from the torture and the madness.

She got up and began to undress. There was nothing to do but go to bed and try to sleep. She would take a big dose of Tulwah’s medicine. It always made her drowsy.

It was nearly dark when Zachary finally woke up from his drunken stupor. He lay there a few minutes and anguished over the throbbing pain in his head. The cure for that was the hair of the dog that bit him, as the saying went, which meant he needed a drink. Bad. And he was going to have to get up and get it himself from his supply downstairs, because the slaves were supposed to be out of the house at such an hour.

He rolled to his side, about to get up.

And that was when he saw it.

The rooster’s half-closed, glassy eyes stared at him from where they lay propped on the pillow next to him. The stringy stump of its head oozed blood, and it had run down onto his shoulder.

With a scream and an oath, he grabbed it to fling it
against the wall, where it exploded in a sickening pulp.

He leaped to his feet, his own blood rushing to his head in a rage of terrified anger.

He knew what it
was and what it meant.

Voodoo. Black magic. Evil spirits.

Someone was casting a spell on him, and he could hear the furious pounding of his own heart as he rationalized just who that someone had to be.

His mulatto wife.

Well, he had news for her if she thought she was going to use her African blood to put a curse on him. He’d fix her. He’d put her where she’d be no threat with her
obeah,
ever again.

He was going to do what he should have done a long time ago.

He was going to send her where she belonged, back to her own people…and bondage.

Chapter Twenty-One

Ryan knew something was wrong when he
saw Ebner waiting at the stable. Quickly dismounting, he turned his horse over to a groom and brusquely demanded, “Let’s hear it.”

“Miz Victoria is back.”

Ryan nodded, felt tension creeping. He’d known it could happen at any time, but damn it, he wished he had been there. They started toward the house. “What time did she get here?”

“It was about noon.”

Ryan glanced toward the horizon where the sun bathed the landscape in golden hues as it sank behind the western ridge. It was getting late. “Well,” he prodded with a sigh of resignation, “how did it go?”

Ebner knew he was talking about the first meeting between his mother and his wife. “Lordy, Mastah Ryan, I don’t know.” He wrung his hands in a helpless gesture. “Eliza, she didn’t tell yo’ mama nothin’ befo’ she went in the house. All I know is Miz Erin, she ain’t come downstairs all afternoon, but she did send Annie out to the stable to get somebody to ride over to her mama’s house and tell her she’d have to postpone her visit today.”

Ryan groaned out loud. Damn, that had slipped his mind, too. In fact, he’d been so lost in thought as he rode aimlessly all day that he didn’t even recall where all he had wandered. And he hadn’t resolved anything by his brooding. The givens were the same—he loved Erin; she didn’t return that love. Still, he had no intentions of ever letting her go, and he’d be damned if he’d wear his heart on his sleeve and wind up feeling like a fool—again.