Dark Shadows (35 page)

Mercy lay on top of a small, narrow bed just under the window. Nelson was sitting in an armchair with a blanket wrapped around him. She saw Nelson’s mouth move – he was likely praying, just as she was, for some of the food in that pot.

Mercy studied Lina’s profile. She was quite elderly, although it was difficult to pinpoint her age. She had salt-and-pepper hair, but she was of athletic build and had darker skin than most of the Virginia women she’d seen. She had brown eyes and full lips. She probably had been very beautiful in her youth, Mercy thought.

“I reckon you two must be as hungry as a bear just woken up from hibernation,” Lina said. She handed a steaming bowl and a wooden spoon to Mercy.

Mercy stared at the hot meat stew. She looked up at Lina and thanked her, crying now with sheer relief and pent-up exhaustion. Lina bent over her and kissed her on the forehead, making Mercy cry even more.

Lina said tenderly, “You get that inside you, child. That’ll get the blood flowing through you.”

“Thank you,” Mercy whispered.

Nelson got his bowl next and put it straight to his mouth, draining the hot gravy and not seeming to mind that some of it ran down his chin.

As they ate the stew and tore at some bread with their teeth, Lina talked.

“So you want to get Nelson here to the North. That’s a mighty kind thing you’re doing, but you’re more likely to get yourselves killed if you go on as you’ve been doing. You could cross into Pennsylvania, but you’ve still got a whole bunch of miles to go before you get there. You ain’t never gonna make it in this weather.”

Mercy’s lips quivered as the cold, hard truth hit her. Lina was right. They wouldn’t make it out of this snow-ridden world alive if they left now.

“Please, Lina, can you tell me where we are?”

“We’re about ten miles east of Richmond,” Lina told her.

“Oh my God, is that all – Richmond? That place is low down on the map.”

Lina laughed. “Low down – you mean south?”

“Yes,” Mercy said. “You see, I thought we were heading north. I thought we were much farther north. But this journey has been taking forever. We just keep going in a line from east to west and back and forth. Oh, no, Nelson, we’ve still got such a long way to go.”

“I reckon you be right, Miss Mercy,” Nelson said, still shivering.

“You got family?” Lina asked Mercy.

“No, just some friends in Portsmouth.” Mercy sobbed again in between spoonfuls of stew.

Lina looked at the pair of bedraggled travellers and shook her head in dismay.

Charlie stomped back in the room. His hat was thick with snow. Mercy watched him stretch his arm out to shake the snow off it before he closed and barred the door with a thick wooden plank. He removed his boots and put on furry slippers which reached just above his ankles. He took his jacket off and stared with saucer eyes at Mercy as she gulped down the stew. “She’s a young ’un!” he exclaimed to Lina.

“I know – young and not too bright by the sound of it. She thinks she’s going to walk her horse and a runaway slave through snow and ice all the way to Pennsylvania. Damndest thing I ever heard … Charlie, this is Mercy Carver, and this here is Nelson Stuart. Mercy’s English. She wants to free Nelson.”

“Do you now? Well, that’s mighty interesting to hear, but you ain’t going nowhere tonight or tomorrow,” Charlie said, taking a bowl of stew.

Mercy looked from one to the other and then at Nelson.

“Y’all would be dead by morning,” Charlie continued. “I reckon your best bet is to stay here a while.” Charlie smiled at Nelson. “Son, you ever faced a black bear, shot a deer, or trapped a rabbit?”

“No, sir.”

“You wanna learn? I could do with the help. There ain’t many bears around; not at this time of the year. Most of them are hibernating or birthing, but I still get the odd one, them that come out sometimes if they’re hungry enough. If you two want to stick around until we can figure out what to do with you – well, I’d be appreciative of any help you want to give me. These old bones are getting as stiff as pokers in this weather. I got knees that swell up and fingers that can’t hardly grip nothing. You’d be doing me a favour.”

“I’s a fast learner,” Nelson answered.

“I’ve never seen a bear,” Mercy said.

“Then you’ve been mighty lucky,” Charlie replied. “A child like you would have been ripped apart in seconds had you come across one. You can thank the Lord they’s mostly sleepin’.”

“Blimey, they sound dangerous. Who buys the bears?” Mercy asked.

“We got a trading station not far from here. Traders come and go all winter. It’s real quiet here, but you’d be surprised how many trappers and traders are around these parts. Never heard of a young woman dragging a slave around in winter, looking for freedom, though. No, that’s a new one on me.”

Lina turned to Mercy. “Child, you need a good night’s rest. You’ll probably sleep the day through tomorrow. We got an extra room you can sleep in so you won’t be disturbed. Nelson, you can sleep right here on this bed. You’re lucky to be alive, both of you, and it’s only by God’s grace that you still have all your fingers and toes. They’re turning pink, just like they should.”

“I thought I had frostbite,” Mercy said.

“Nope. If you had frostbite, might have had to take some of those fingers and toes – you’re one lucky child.”

“Thank you for your kindness,” Mercy said.

“Don’t thank me yet, child. You’ve got a lot of talking and explaining to do tomorrow. I’ll be wanting to hear the whole story. We’re gonna have to figure out how to get you to Pennsylvania without getting you both killed.”

“Why are you being so kind?” Mercy asked.

Lina laughed and sat on the bed. “Don’t you see what I am?”

Mercy looked into her face. “No. What are you?”

“Why, I’m a nigger, just like Nelson here. You might not notice at first, but that would be on account of me having three parts white blood and one part black. But I am a nigger, child,” Lina told her. “And I don’t care for Nelson here being caught by no slaver.”

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Isaac was deep in thought as he waited for Jacob to change into warm clothes. Just as he had been leaving Hendry and Belle’s house, Jacob had insisted on going with him to the train station before he, Jacob, headed back to Stone Plantation. He had much to say to his friend, and the journey together would give him the opportunity to finally make peace after the harsh words spoken on the day Jacob left to marry Elizabeth.

Isaac’s decision to go north this morning in such dire weather had been made easier after Sheriff Manning’s announcement: the search for Mercy Carver had been officially abandoned in the Portsmouth and Norfolk area. Isaac had originally thought of making his way north in the spring, but he had changed his mind after this announcement and after considering the worsening political crisis between the Northern and Southern states. This was not a good time to be in the wrong part of the country, where the crisis could easily turn into armed conflict.

He wasn’t looking forward to the long journey ahead of him. On main lines, trains could reach a speed of twenty-five to thirty miles an hour, although he doubted that the journey this morning from Portsmouth to Williamsburg would be quick and easy, given the high probability of thick snow on the tracks.

Once he got to Williamsburg, he would change trains and head to Richmond. From Richmond, another train would go as far as Aquia Creek, and then a distance of fifty-five miles would be covered by steamboat in order to reach Washington, DC. From Washington, he’d take his time, stopping off in New York for a couple of days before taking the final train to Boston.

He had already decided to break his journey in Richmond. It was as good a place as any to begin his search for Mercy. He would employ people to look for her on the coast and farther inland, towards the west. He would order them to make their way north for as long as he thought necessary. They would report directly to him in Boston.

The two men sat in the waiting room on the train station’s small platform. The train had already arrived from North Carolina, and it was being readied after a heated debate between the driver and stationmaster on whether it was safe to run it today or not.

Isaac and Jacob sat in uncomfortable silence. Isaac began at last. “Thanks for coming to the station with me. I appreciate your company.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m going back to the plantation right after I leave you. I wanted to talk to you. I’m glad I got back in time to see you before you left. You were right; I was an ass. I’ve made the biggest mistake of my life, and I regret it every day.”

“You’re talking about Elizabeth?” Isaac asked.

“Yep. I should have suffered the consequences and stuck to my decision to call the wedding off. Losing Mercy is far worse than anything the Coulters or anyone else could have thrown at me. They would have gotten over their hurt pride eventually, whereas I will never forgive myself.”

Isaac allowed another pause to settle between them. He had been steadfast in his resolve to make an offer to Mercy. For weeks, he’d planned what to say and how to begin a conversation leading to the question. He’d said the words often in his head:
Mercy, come to Boston with me. I want to make you my wife, if you’ll have me.
He would have done everything in his power to persuade her that he could offer her a good life and that she would come to love him, given time. He would have faced Jacob, damning the consequences, for Jacob had nothing to offer her now and Isaac did. But Mercy hadn’t come back …

He watched Jacob, who was staring into space, deep in thought. Jacob’s appearance saddened him. His face was gaunt, he looked as though he hadn’t slept in weeks, and it had become obvious that he and Elizabeth did not love each other. During the silence, Isaac wondered what was worse: Jacob loving Mercy, having felt her in his arms and known her love, or Isaac loving her, wanting her, and
imagining
her in his arms.

Isaac broke the silence again. “I take it you had no luck on your travels. Was there nothing? Not a clue or a word from anyone you met?”

Jacob shook his head. “Nope. I wish I had some good news, but Mercy seems to have disappeared into thin air. I was so sure she would keep to the coast and use boats. But God help her, she hardly had time to see my land, never mind study Virginia. Truth is, she could be anywhere by now.”

“But if she’s not following the coast and sticking to towns with lodgings and supplies, where would she have gone? Surely not west, not in this weather?”

“I don’t know, but it’s a possibility. If she wanted to hide, going west would be the safest bet, I reckon. All I know is that I rode and took packet boats for over seventy miles, and somehow Mercy managed to slip by every port, harbour, lodging house, and supply store without someone taking notice of her. As soon as this damn weather gets milder, I’ll head out again.”

Isaac looked into Jacob’s face with a questioning raised eyebrow. “Jacob, you went on a blind man’s trail with no direction to follow and with no information to arm yourself. You didn’t really expect to find her that way, did you?”

“I had to do something! I thought I could catch up with her,” Jacob snapped back.

“Hey, hold up. I know that, and I would have gone with you if you hadn’t been so bullheaded, running off like that. But you left without questioning the one person who could have given you answers. Damn it, you should have gone to du Pont and beaten the truth out of her before taking off like a bat. Don’t tell me you’re afraid of her?”

Jacob gave Isaac an icy scare. “Don’t be an ass, Isaac. I know what I’m doing, and I know what’s to be done, so don’t you go thinking you know what’s in my head!”

“I would have gone to du Pont’s house, but I guess it wasn’t up to me.”

“You’re right. It’s not up to you. Mercy is my responsibility.”

“She’s not. Your wife is your responsibility,” Isaac shot back.

“Do you really want to fight with me? I came here so we could part on good terms. When are you going to get it into your head that Mercy doesn’t love you? If she did, you would have found that out on the ship. God knows you fawned over her enough.”

“Well, the way I see it, if she’s not here, she ain’t in love with you either.”

Jacob sighed. Isaac was not the friend he had once known. Isaac’s obsession with Mercy had ruined any chance of continuing their relationship on an even keel. He had lost Jacob’s trust. “I came here to say goodbye and to remember the good times with you,” Jacob repeated. “Let’s leave Mercy out of this.”

“Yep, you’re right. You lost her and you’re a damn fool. Guess I don’t have any more to say either.”

“She’s not lost. She’ll be back, and when she comes home, I’m leaving Elizabeth. I’ll take Mercy anywhere she wants to go.”

“I’d appreciate a letter from you if you find Mercy. You can give me that, right?”

Jacob was silent.

“Here’s my address in Boston. Use it. We may be at odds now, but in memory of our friendship, I’m asking you to promise me you’ll write me if you find her.”

Jacob took the folded piece of paper and put it in his coat pocket. “If I get a second chance with Mercy, I’ll leave everything I own to be with her. I will find her, and when I do, don’t you go thinking you’re going to take her from me. We’re friends, but I swear on God’s green earth that I will fight to keep her.”

“Like your slaves?” Isaac said.

“Yeah, like my slaves. I’ll fight Lincoln and the Northern states to keep what’s been in my family for generations, and that includes the slaves on my land, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Jacob, you and I both know that there won’t be any more slaves soon. Lincoln won’t back down. His policies will stand, and the North will follow him.”

“Well, it looks like some of the Southern states have a mind to secede from the Union, and I can’t say I blame them. Hell, if Virginia joins them, I’ll put on a uniform. I don’t like bullies, and that’s exactly what Lincoln is.”

Both men sighed with relief at the sight of the stationmaster, who strode into the waiting room with his blue cap white with snow and a ruddy face longing for warmth. He crossed the room to the log burner in the corner, rubbed his hands together in front of it, and then seemed to remember that he had a job to do. “Train’s ready, folks, so all aboard that’s going aboard.”

“How’s the track looking?” Isaac asked him.

“It ain’t looking so good farther up that line, but we’ve sent men out. Might mean you folks will get stuck a while, but we’ll try our best to keep her moving.”

Isaac nodded and turned to Jacob. “Well, I guess this is it.”

“Yep, this is it, Isaac. We’ve had some good times, you and I. You’ve been a good friend.”

The men shook hands, looked at each other for a moment, and then Isaac turned and walked towards the train.

Jacob watched his old friend board the train and then left the station with one sure thought in his mind: their friendship was over. Coming here had been a mistake. He walked to his carriage, pensive and saddened. He took Isaac’s note out of his pocket and tore it up.