Simply Heaven (33 page)

"Then who is the real father?"

Selena lifted her chin. "That's nobody's business but mine." Only Steve knew that it was actually Luther Bendale who had gotten her pregnant. She knew she'd made a terrible mistake, but nothing could undo it, and it had been best to bury her secret with Luther.

The baby had fallen asleep, and Selena got up and tucked her into the box cradle. "I can't understand your coming here to ask me something like that anyway. Why do you care? And what are you doing talking to my pa about me? I'm not bothering anybody. I earn my keep. Pa said I've got to start back in the fields tomorrow, and I'm not arguing. I know I've got it to do. But I don't need to be kept up talking about foolish things when I need my rest, so if you'd leave I'd appreciate it."

"Why did you send for Steve to be with you when you were giving birth? Didn't he sit beside you and hold your hand just like an expectant father?"

Selena was getting mad and fighting tears. "You've no right to say things like that when you don't know what you're talking about. I sent for Steve because my pa was making trouble and I was afraid he'd hurt me or my baby. Steve brought me here and stayed to make sure Pa didn't bother me. And I've told Pa over and over, Steve isn't responsible. Pa shouldn't have told you he was."

"Actually, he didn't tell
me,
he told Raven."

Selena's eyes went wide. "Why would Pa do that?"

Lisbeth did not mince words. "Because she's tired of you interrupting her lovemaking with Steve when you send for him to come chase your father off when he's drunk."

Selena's mouth fell open, and for a few seconds she could not speak. "Why... why, I don't know what you mean."

Lisbeth managed a tight smile. "It's simple. Raven and Steve are lovers. And your father gets drunk and bothers you, and you send for Steve. Raven is in bed with him, and he has to get up and leave her, and she's tired of it. But she couldn't tell you that, of course, so she called in your father this morning to chastise him for his drinking. She told him if it didn't stop she'd have to let him go."

"Oh, no." Selena sank to the bed. "That means my whole family would have to move. And I couldn't go with them; Pa wouldn't let me move back in with them now if I wanted to, which I don't. I'd be afraid he'd hurt me or the baby. He can be terribly mean when he's drunk."

Lisbeth sat down next to her and feigned sympathy. "I can understand your concern, but there's an answer to all of this. All you have to do is agree to my little plan."

Selena felt apprehension creeping. "What are you talking about?"

"It's really quite simple. All you have to do is go to Raven and tell her that Steve really is your baby's father, and—"

"No," Selena cried, aghast. "I'd never do that. Why would I? It's not so."

"But he's sleeping with Raven."

"What difference does that make? He's my friend, not my lover. I don't care who he sleeps with. But maybe you wish it was you," she dared to suggest. "Maybe that's what this is all about. You want to get rid of her so's you can have him all to yourself."

Lisbeth held back her anger. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not interested in Steve Maddox. As soon as it's proper, Barley Tremayne will officially court me, but that's none of your concern. The only thing you need to worry about is how you're going to be able to keep you and your baby from starving after Raven runs you out of here."

"Why would she want to do that?" Selena felt like her frightened heart was going to jump right out of her chest. Lisbeth was scaring her to death.

"Eventually, that's what she'll do because she won't be able to bear the thought that you've had a baby by Steve, and she'll worry that sooner or later the two of you will start sleeping together again. Heaven knows, she's probably thinking you are right now anyway—that he crawls out of bed with her and into bed with you. She won't want you around, Selena. That's understandable. You're a woman. You should realize she'd be jealous."

"She doesn't have any cause to be."

"But she thinks she does. Now listen carefully." Lisbeth slipped an arm around her and noticed how Selena cringed at her touch. "Steve is the only reason Raven is still here. She's half Indian, you know, and not really happy living around civilization. She's not used to wealth and luxury and doesn't care about it anyway. She'd go back to her old way of life if she didn't fancy herself to be in love with Steve. If not for him, she'd leave, and then my brother would move back home. And I could stay. You could stay. Everyone would be happy." She gave her a squeeze. "Cooperate with me, Selena, and together we'll get rid of her. If you refuse, you can be sure that sooner or later she'll get rid of
you.
And it might be too late for you to say anything then. She might be so much in love with him nothing could change her mind."

Serena frowned to think about it, then asked timorously, "Do you really think if I tell her Steve is Amanda's father she will be so angry she will leave?"

"Yes, I do, because I saw how upset she got this morning when your father told her he drinks because he's angry over Steve not doing right by you. When she hears from your own mouth that it's so, she'll be so upset she won't be able to bear being around him again. Now is the time to do it, while she's homesick for her people. Not later, when she's dug in her heels and made herself feel at home."

Selena shook her head. "I'm not sure it will work."

"Of course it will. It will crush her completely to hear it from you; she'll have to believe it. She already thinks everyone laughs at her. She has no friends. She knows my brother and I can't stand her. Once she finds out about you and Steve, she'll be so humiliated she won't dare stay."

"What if she's so mad at Steve she decides to run
him
off instead? Have you thought about that? You might be needlessly hurting her—
and
Steve," Selena added, awash with pity to think of how that would destroy him. They were good friends. He had told her how much Halcyon meant to him and how he would like to stay on after Ned died, if possible. He had not let on he was involved with Raven, but he was a private person, so she had no way of knowing if he really cared about her or not. And that was not the issue as far as Selena was concerned. She just didn't like doing anything that might hurt him.

Lisbeth was quick to dash her hopes. "I did think about that, and it won't happen, because you are also going to tell her that when you found out about them sleeping together, you went all to pieces, and Steve told you there was no need for you to be upset, because she didn't mean anything to him. He was only using her to keep his job and it's you he loves. You'll explain that the two of you had planned to get married before she came along, but he's afraid she'll fire him if you do. But for the sake of your baby, you're begging her to stay away from him, so your baby can have a name and not have to live in shame anymore. Take the baby with you to see her. That will needle her even more.

"And afterward," Lisbeth said with a shrug to indicate it was all quite simple, "Raven will be so brokenhearted and mad she'll leave without saying a word to him. Her pride won't let her."

"But if she does tell him—"

"She won't."

Selena persisted, "But if she does?"

"That's the chance you have to take for the sake of your baby." Lisbeth's patience snapped.

Selena felt the blood drain from her face. "What are you saying?"

"That I will stop at nothing"—she lowered her voice to an ominous whisper—"to get rid of her. I'll pay somebody if I have to. So if you don't do as I ask, if you refuse to help me, I promise you that when I have succeeded I'll personally chase you out of here." But though she made herself sound fierce and determined, Lisbeth doubted she could ever go that far to drive Raven away. If she failed now, she would try to marry Barley as soon as possible and move away as Julius had done—but Selena did not know that.

Selena looked at her sleeping baby and gave a ragged sigh of surrender. "Then God forgive me, I have no choice,"

Lisbeth bounded to her feet in triumph. "You won't regret this. I promise. And when my brother and I are in control of Halcyon again, we'll rebuild all these cottages and you'll have the nicest one."

She took the lantern and hurried out, washed with triumph that her plan would work.

* * *

Selena had fallen across the bed and cried until there were no tears left. Then, drained and exhausted, she lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling, hating herself for what she had to do. And when she heard the stumbling, scraping sounds on the porch, which meant her father was drunk again and coming to rail at her, she did not bound to her feet as she usually did, to snatch up her baby and flee out the back door to find a neighbor to go get Steve. Instead, she continued to lie there.

"Well, well, you're all ready for him, ain't you?" Masson slurred as he swayed to and fro in the doorway. "Yep. All ready for Maddox to fix you up with another bastard to bring shame on our family."

Suddenly, Selena could stand no more. Sitting up, she looked at him with so much fury that he reeled back a few steps. "Maybe I did bring you shame, but you shame me by how you act, Pa. I hope you're satisfied, because now I've got no choice but to go to Miss Raven and lie and say Steve is Amanda's father, even though God knows he isn't."

Masson blinked his eyes furiously, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

Selena lost all control, the frustration spilling out of her as she confided in her misery what Lisbeth was making her do. "And I hope you're satisfied," she repeated, chest heaving with her tears and pain.

Masson hiccupped . He didn't see what she was so upset about. "You ain't got to do it, you know."

"Oh, yes, I do, because she says if I don't she'll pay somebody to get rid of her. And if she has to do that, then Miss Lisbeth'll be the one to run me off. Oh, this is awful. I don't know if I can do it." She covered her face with her hands and fell back on the bed in a fresh wave of tears.

Masson reached with one hand for the door frame to steady himself, gripping his jug of whiskey tight with the other. He had not heeded Raven's warning but had drunk too much again and come to Selena's cabin intending to raise all the hell he wanted, because no little half-breed bastard of Ned Ralston's was going to tell him what to do. If she ran him off, fine, he'd find work elsewhere, but he would show her he wasn't afraid of her. Not one bit.

But now, after what he had just heard, his lips twisted in a crooked smile to think he didn't have to worry about it anymore. He would be the one to help Lisbeth. Selena would never be able to muster the nerve, so it was up to him. Lisbeth wouldn't have to pay him either. He just wanted to make sure she was so beholden to him that his future at Halcyon would be secure for the rest of his life.

And he knew just how to do that. He would get rid of the little upstart himself.

But first he needed to sober up and think of how he was going to do it.

Chapter 24

Lisbeth was hardly listening to anything Barley was saying as they sat on the terrace facing the river. It was unbearably hot, and she fanned herself furiously, wishing for a breeze. He was not visiting as part of his courtship, since the house was still mourning, but instead, as a neighbor, dropping by to inquire about her welfare.

Looking coolly comfortable despite the heat in his white suit and blue silk shirt, Barley droned on. "Father says we're going to have an unusually good cotton crop this year. We've had just the right amount of rain. I'll be going to New Orleans next week to see if the prices are even better there. Mother is going with me. By the way, she sent her respects to both you and Raven. She really liked Raven. She says she has so much mettle."

He had her attention then. "Mettle?" Lisbeth gave an unladylike snort, fanning herself even harder as she drenched him with a scathing glare. "That's a strange way to describe rude and uncivilized behavior."

"Oh, come on, Lisbeth. Don't be so hard on her. Maybe she does come from an entirely different background than we do, but you have to admit she tries. As for what happened with Julius, you know he was drunk. Everybody could see that, just like everybody knows he gets obnoxious when he is. He was probably disrespectful and she had no choice except to throw him in the rosebushes." He couldn't help laughing to remember how ridiculous Julius had looked.