Vivid (37 page)

The stove Vivid had ordered through Miss
Edna finally arrived. To celebrate, she invited Maddie and Eli to dinner. Nate
had been gone two weeks now, and Vivid hoped the company would take her mind
off how much she missed him. The dinner went as well as she'd hoped. Vivid
loved hearing their stories about how they grew up together.

Eli asked Maddie, "Remember the time
Nate and Vincent Red Bird had you convinced you could fly?"

"You would have to bring that
up," Maddie replied, but she couldn't suppress her smile. "One of the
dumbest things I ever did in my life." Maddie turned to Vivid. "Nate
and Vincent claimed to have seen an eagle spirit on the way to school one day
and they said the spirit gave them the power of flight."

"And you believed them?"

"I was eight years old, Viveca. The
boys were my idols. I believed everything they told me."

Eli laughed. "Nate and Vincent lit a
fire and did a ceremonial dance. They fanned smoke on her and told her to start
climbing. Nobody really believed she'd be half-brained enough to jump, but she
did."

"Broke my arm."

"Oh, no," Vivid cried.

"Oh, yes."

"Don't feel too sorry for her. She
got her revenge a few days later," he offered wryly. "When Uncle
Absalom found out about Maddie's arm, Nate and I got the worst whipping of our
lives for that prank. We couldn't sit for a month."

After the meal, Vivid cleared the table of
the dinner dishes and brought out the cobbler she'd made for dessert. At her
suggestion they all took their plates out to the back porch where it was much
cooler. As they ate, Eli regaled them with what he planned to see on his visit
to the Philadelphia Centennial exposition. Ten million people were expected to
attend and he would see everything from electric-powered lights, to something
called linoleum that was supposed to cover floors. He told them about the
wondrous telephone that would be in one of the thousands of displays and the
animated wax rendering of Cleopatra. Blacks had been barred from the
Centennial's construction gangs and for the most part excluded from the
displays. Still, the noted Black painter Edward Bannister won a Centennial
prize for his painting
Under the Oaks,
and Mary Lewis Montgomery of the
Montgomery family of Davis Bend, Mississippi, won the agricultural award for
the world's best cotton, just as she'd done at the St. Louis Fair in 1870.

Vivid walked her guests out to Maddie's
wagon at the end of the evening's visit, buoyed by their talk and
companionship.

"So," Maddie asked as she picked
up the reins, "when's the wedding?"

"I'll know as soon as I receive a
letter from my parents letting me know when they can come out. I want them to
be here."

"Nate could do a whole lot
worse," Maddie said. "I'm happy for you both."

Eli chuckled. "Stop lying, Maddie,
you've been in love with Nate since you were nine. You're hoping she gets run
over by a train."

Maddie laughed. "He's right, you
know. I hate losing, but if I have to lose, I prefer it be to a woman like you,
Viveca."

"Thanks, Maddie."

"You're welcome."

She drove off with a wave and left Vivid
and Eli standing in the road.

When Vivid awakened the next morning, she
and the bed were covered with daisies and black-eyed susans.
Nate!
Jumping
from the bed, she washed up, threw on her clothes, and flew out the door.

"Where is he?" Vivid asked
breathlessly after entering the Grayson kitchen like a whirlwind.

Abigail laughed. "You're as bad as
Majestic. They're out front."

Vivid hurried through the house to the
front door. She could see him in the front yard with Magic, but rather than run
pell-mell outside, she waited until he was finished talking with his daughter.
Magic had missed her pa probably as much as, if not more than, Vivid and she
didn't dare interrupt their reunion.

Instead, Vivid feasted her eyes on her
husband-to-be. He was as magnificently handsome as ever. The broad shoulders
and the trim waist evoked memories of how his muscles felt beneath her hands.
He was strong enough to be a gentle man not only in lovemaking but in spirit,
too, as evidenced by his relationship with his daughter.

Nate looked up and saw her standing in the
doorway, her smile warmed him. He'd gotten back as soon as he could, but it
hadn't been quick enough. He missed her with each passing day, wondering what
she might be doing and if she was staying out of trouble. There'd be no more
wondering now; he was home and her smile beamed only for him.

He spent a few more moments with his
daughter, then as Magic went off to show Jeremiah the new slingshot her father
had brought back from Kalamazoo, he stepped onto the porch.

"So how are you," he said
softly, "besides being in need of a good loving?''

"Nate Grayson!" Vivid replied
with a scandalized laugh. She glanced around to make sure he hadn't been
overheard by Abigail in the house. "I must find you some humble pills
immediately."

"Lancaster, I haven't kissed you in
over two weeks. You're as hungry for me as I am for you."

"Very large humble pills," Vivid
told him, feeling all her senses come alive as she looked into his eyes.

"Very large desire," he
countered.

Vivid had never played such verbal games
with a man before. His frankness sometimes brought heat to her cheeks, but she
found the back-and-forth quite stimulating.

He reached out and slowly ran a finger
over her mouth, then kissed her with a welcome that made her wish they were in
a more secluded place. The reunion was interrupted when Adam Crowley rode up.
He greeted them both, then asked if Abigail was home.

Nate and Vivid both nodded, though their
eyes were still locked on each other's.

He went in, bellowing Abigail's name.

Nate returned to kissing his wife-to-be,
but the argument raging inside the house between Abigail and Adam kept getting
louder and louder. "I should probably go in and make sure they aren't
killing each other."

Vivid, nibbling his lip, agreed.

He slid his hand over her hips and
squeezed her tight, then backed away. "Come on, we'll settle them down,
then I'll settle you down..."

Inside they found Adam standing in
Abigail's study. Abigail had her lips pursed angrily as she sat at her desk
with her back to him. The argument involved a book Adam had purchased for
Abigail, but he refused to let her see its title or to relinquish it to her
hands until Abigail had dinner with him. In the weeks since he'd announced his
intentions at the church he'd turned Abigail's usually calm days into spirited
chaos. When they weren't arguing over historical questions, he was gifting her
with flowers, newspapers, and last week had rendered her speechless by
presenting her with a beautifully carved cane. Vivid had been in the kitchen
when he'd given her the dark wood stick and listened as he said, "You're
going to marry me, Gail. Me, Adam Crowley, like you were supposed to have done
thirty-five years ago."

Today, however, Abigail had not been
rendered speechless though Vivid could see her eyes coveting the book in Adam's
hand. "It's a first edition, Abigail," he told her. "You've been
wanting to add it to your library for a long time."

When Nate asked to see the tome, Adam
handed it over gladly. Nate looked at the title and said, "Aunt Gail, I
think you'd better tell him yes."

He showed the title page to Vivid and she
smiled; even she knew how valuable Abigail considered this book. On the trip to
Detroit she and Abigail had searched high and low for this particular volume
but had never found it. "Nate's right, Abigail."

In the face of that, Abigail surrendered.
"Okay, Adam Crowley, dinner it will be."

He handed her the book. They all watched
her eyes widen with astonishment as she read the title, then began to slowly
turn the pages.

"Yes, Abigail," Adam said.
"William Welles Brown's
The Blackman: His Antecedents, His Genius and
His Achievements."

“Where did you find this, Adam?'' she
asked in wonder.

"Boston. I've had a friend there
keeping an eye out for it."

“This is truly a first edition?''

"It says right there, 1863," he
told her.

From the smile shining in Abigail's eyes,
Vivid didn't think it would be long before Mr. Crowley won the Battle of
Abigail.

Nate and Vivid slipped away now that the
fireworks had been extinguished.

“Where are we going?'' Vivid asked as he
pulled her along behind him across the yard.

"Someplace where there's
privacy."

Before Vivid could question him further, a
wagon raced up and Sara James jumped down and ran across the yard screaming for
Vivid.

Vivid ran to her. "Sara, what's
wrong?"

"Oh, Dr. Lancaster, you must come
quick. He's trying to kill little Quentin!"

The panic and horror on Sara's face
appeared very real. "Who's trying to kill Quentin?" Vivid asked.

"Dr. Hayes! Come with me,
please!" Sara begged, then clamped a strong hand on Vivid's wrist and
began to pull her toward the wagon.

"Sara, wait, I need to get my
bag."

"We don't have time! Oh, God!"
She dropped Vivid's hand and ran back to the wagon.

Vivid didn't hesitate, she ran to the
cabin to retrieve her bag and heard Nate call, "I'm coming, too, meet me
at the wagon."

It took Nate nearly twenty minutes to get
them to their destination. On the way, Sara explained that her husband,
Quentin, had returned about a week ago. When little Quentin became sick
overnight, her husband had fetched the circuit doctor.

Sara did not wait for the horses to stop
before she jumped down and ran to the small whitewashed cabin set a ways back
from the road. Nate tied up the buggy while Vivid hurried after Sara.

Inside the cabin a bed was positioned in
the room's center. Around the bed were two men. Sara's pock-faced husband
looked up at their entrance, as did a white-haired man who appeared to be
centuries old.

"What the hell you bring her here
for?" Quentin asked his wife.

Sara snapped back, "I'm not going to
let him kill little Quentin. I want Dr. Lancaster to take a look."

The older man standing beside the bed
looked Vivid up and down but said nothing to her. Instead he spoke to Nate.
"How are you, Nate?"

"I'm fine. Dr. Hayes, this is Dr.
Lancaster. Lancaster, Dr. Wadsworth Hayes."

"Pleased to meet you, Dr.
Hayes," Vivid said.

"I'm not so fortunate. I don't like
women around when I'm treating a patient," he stated.

Vivid was taken aback by his attack. She
gave Nate a questioning look and he shrugged in response.

Vivid tried again. "Dr. Hayes, may I
ask what the child is suffering from?"

"No, you may not, little girl. Go
away."

Vivid looked at Quentin the elder, who
sneered triumphantly, then at Sara, whose fear was still plainly etched across
her face. Vivid had had enough of being polite. She walked over to the bed.
Leeches were all over the little boy's face and arms. Horrified, she pushed her
way to his side and began pulling them off. "Nate! Help me!" she
screamed. The angry mouths of the suckers tore away small patches of skin as Vivid
flung them away.

The room erupted into chaos, shouts, and
curses as Hayes and Sara's husband sought to restrain Vivid, but she fought
them angrily, determined to rid the child of the leeches that were certainly
killing him.

"Get her out of here, Grayson!"
Quentin yelled, trying to stay Vivid's hands. "This is my son, and I don't
want her near him!"

"Nooo!" Sara cried. She ran to
the bedside and began snatching the leeches from her son's face and arms. Her
husband cuffed her sharply with the back of his hand and she recoiled, sobbing.

Wadsworth Hayes fought to hold back the
still defiant Vivid and barked breathlessly, "Grayson, remove this woman
or I'll have her arrested. Then I'll make damned sure she never practices
medicine in this state again!" Nate grabbed Vivid around her small waist
and lifted her from the fray. She screamed her outrage, cursing him with every
fiber of her being as he carried her outside. Three days later, Vivid's
greatest fear came true. Sara lost her last living child. Hayes had been unable
to stop the bleeding once it began. Vivid had seen similar incidents in the
wards back in Philadelphia. Sara's little boy had bled to death.

The day of the funeral, Vivid was having a
difficult time summoning the strength to attend. She knew Sara would be overwhelmed
with grief and might benefit from her presence, but Vivid felt as if she, too,
had lost a child, not to death but to ignorance. In the end, though, she did
attend and stood in line with all the other people of the Grove who'd come to
pay Sara their respects. Her husband Quentin had reportedly left town.