Whispers from the Past (8 page)

Four slaves—two of whom were husband and wife, separated so casually. In the America of today, there were no obvious slaves. It had been one of the earliest adjustments that I’d had to make—to accept that white men of wealth were no longer the only people with authority and freedom. I now worked for a black woman. My initial unease at taking direction from Lucy had melted under her effortless grace and generosity. Truly, I could hardly believe that I’d ever moved through life without questioning the right of one person to own another, fettered only by decency.

She had lost so many at such a young age.

The most recent letter had been dated in 1804. If I were to visit again, which year would Whisper Falls take me to next? Was it deliberately leading me toward 1805?

My mind shuddered at the thought of May 1805 and its threat of the tempest. What would happen to Dorcas? To any of them?

I could not intervene. Of course not. I had meddled in Phoebe’s life and would never be able to reconcile whether I had made things worse. Certainly I had for Dorcas. The last time we had seen each other, she had sustained her injury. If it hadn’t been for my visit, she would be whole.

Yet I would want to know what happened after the storm. I longed to learn of Dorcas’s fate. Was the waterfall offering me a chance to assuage my thirst to know?

Or did it, perhaps, have a bigger plan?

This was an intriguing possibility. There might be a mission for me in the past, if only I could discern what it was.

It was time to have a stern talk with the falls.

C
HAPTER
T
EN

A W
IDE
S
WATH

Susanna received a big envelope via snail mail today from the examination center. They still had our address as her place of residence.

It had to be the scores from her placement exam, and I knew it had to be good news. There must be other stuff in there, too, like all of the information she would need to start on her GED prep program.

I was itching to find out for sure. The sooner she got her diploma out of the way, the sooner she could start college. I wanted to watch her tear into this envelope right now, but I’d also promised Gabrielle that we could start on our next psychology project, even though it was Friday. She had to head to Hollywood tomorrow morning for a bunch of weekend meetings.

There was an easy solution. I went to Gabrielle’s house first and then had her driver take us to Lucy’s. We could work there as well as anywhere. At least, I hoped so.

The restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived. I held the door for Gabrielle and followed her in. She stood uncertainly just inside the entrance while her bodyguard gave it a once-over.

“Is this fast food?” she asked me after he gave her the nod.

“Not really.” My attention had already zoomed in on Susanna.

She was in the dining area, busing a table. A tall guy in the same overalls-style uniform stood beside her, talking fast. The moment his gaze landed on Gabrielle, his mouth fell open.

Susanna straightened and glanced our way. When I smiled, she didn’t smile back. Instead, she spoke a few words to the guy, who immediately transferred his gaping stare to her. Clutching a tub of dirty dishes to her chest, she stepped around her co-worker and approached us.

“Hello.” She nodded at Gabrielle before focusing on me. “Why are you here early?”

So much for a warm welcome. “We thought we’d grab dessert while we study.”

She met my gaze without blinking or smiling. “There is red velvet cake today. It is delicious.”

“Can you join us?”

“Perhaps in a few minutes.”

Once Susanna had taken off for the back, Gabrielle tucked her hand into the crook of my arm. “What do we do?”

I had to drag my gaze away from the sight of Susanna’s stiff form disappearing through a swinging door. “Cake and coffee?” At her nod, I pointed at the front counter. “Do you mind placing the order? The staff would much rather gawk at you than me.”

I grabbed a table with a good view of the dining room. While Gabrielle was talking to the cashier, Susanna reappeared with new rags and a broom. She gave me a brief, hard stare before walking to the opposite side of the restaurant.

A lot of staff found a reason to come into the dining room to watch us. Two people brought our food. Gabrielle ended up signing three autographs.

We were laughing over some of the stupid ideas we’d come up with for our project outline when Susanna walked up, a mug in her hand, and drew out the chair next to mine.

“Hey, babe. Are you okay?”

“I am.” She watched me steadily. “What have you been discussing?”

“Sigmund Freud.” I slid my tablet into my backpack. It must be almost time to go.

“What is that?”

Gabrielle jerked in surprise. Susanna’s eyes flickered, but she had no other reaction. “Sigmund Freud was a drug-addicted scientist who pioneered psychology, a field that has spent the past century trying to forget him.”

She frowned. “When is this homework due?”

“We have to turn it in before spring break.”

“A few more days, then.” She took a sip of her tea, her gaze never leaving my face.

“Are you going anywhere for spring break?” Gabrielle asked.

Susanna shook her head. “I am scheduled to work most days in March. I cannot take a trip.”

I shook my head, too. I wasn’t going anywhere either, not without her.

Gabrielle’s smile widened. “Where would you go if you could?”

Susanna set her mug on the table and folded her hands in her lap. “I would like to see the ocean someday.”

“You’ve never mentioned that to me.” Her statement left me feeling guilty and hungry at the same time.

She turned to me, expression soft with want. “I should like it above all places I can imagine.”

Why hadn’t I known that? Had I been so consumed the past few months with getting her an identity that I’d forgotten to ask her what she wanted to do for fun? Damn.

I wanted to be the one to show it all to her. “What shift are you working tomorrow?”

“Supper.”

“Let’s go tomorrow. I can have you back in time.”

Her face remained calm, but her eyes? The way they were looking at me made me wish we were alone. “Are you certain?”

“Very.” I sucked in a deep breath. “I’ll have to pick you up early.”

“You know when I awaken.”

I couldn’t help it. I pushed my chair closer to her, pressed a kiss to a spot below her ear, and whispered, “Want to go now?”

She laughed. I could feel the warmth of her blush.

On the opposite side of the table, Gabrielle shifted on her seat. “Mark, did you want to tell Susanna the other reason we came here tonight?”

“Oh. Right.” I straightened. Reaching into my backpack, I fumbled for the envelope and then handed it over to her. “This came for you in the mail today.”

She took it, glanced at the return address, and then laid it facedown on the table.

I didn’t expect that reaction. “I think it’s about your placement exam.”

“Indeed.”

“Aren’t you going to open it?”

“I do not need to. I received the results yesterday in an email.”

I stiffened. She’d known for over twenty-four hours? “Were you going to tell me?”

She glanced at Gabrielle and then back to me. “I planned to speak of it later.”

“How did you do?” Did my voice sound as upset as I felt?

“I passed. I shall enroll soon in the online GED courses at the community college.”

“Congratulations,” Gabrielle said. “How soon before you’re able to go to a real college?”

Susanna frowned. “I have no plans to attend a university.”

Wow? Really? Not get a bachelor’s degree
ever
? I thought her only objection to college was the cost.

Gabrielle beat me to the obvious question. “Why not?”

“I do not need a university degree for the types of jobs I’m interested in.”

“Like what?”

“Perhaps cooking.”

“If you want to be a chef, you could go someplace like Culinary Institute of America.”

Susanna looked to me for help.

I wasn’t feeling very helpful at the moment. Why hadn’t she bothered to tell me about her placement exam
or
her college plans? “It’s where chefs go to learn how to cook.”

She turned back to Gabrielle. “I have no need to learn. I’ve been cooking since I was quite young.”

“Like when you were in that village?”

A tremor passed through Susanna. “Yes.”

I listened to the two of them talk, back and forth, not saying much myself. Susanna’s rejection of college had me completely stunned.

Gabrielle leaned in. “Did the homes have regular kitchens?”

“There were no appliances. I cooked on a hearth.”

“Did you chop wood and build your own fire?”

“I can chop wood, although we used corn cobs more often during the summer. So, yes, I cooked over fire.” Susanna’s smile was tense. “I prefer it.”

“How did you buy groceries?”

“We didn’t have to. We had a garden and raised our own poultry and livestock.”

I finally stirred, not happy with the direction of this conversation, but not sure how to stop it without making a bigger deal out of it than it already was.

Gabrielle’s eyes widened. “Did you…prepare your own meat?”

Susanna nodded. “The men of the village would slaughter the hogs and deer, but I handled the chickens, fish, and rabbits.”

“Rabbits?” Gabrielle’s face had gone pale.

Did Susanna really have to go there? I stood up abruptly. “Are you off now?”

She stared up at me for a long moment before rising slowly. “Let me get my things.” She collected our dirty dishes, over my protest, and disappeared into the back.

After Gabrielle’s driver took us back to her house, Susanna and I switched to the truck and rode in complete silence to Marissa’s apartment. When we arrived, I put the truck in park but didn’t turn off the engine. She undid her seatbelt and then turned to face me.

Frowning, I said, “I’ve never heard you talk so much about your past.”

“It is nice for a change to be asked about subjects that I know how to answer.”

“And you sure did answer.” I snorted. “Did you have to mention the rabbits?”

“You chide me for speaking too little.” Her tone was defensive. “Now shall I be chided for speaking too much?”

“No, but you could try speaking about important things to me.” Why did it feel like she was always spoiling for a fight lately? “I didn’t know you don’t want to go to college.”

“Have I ever expressed an interest?”

“No. It’s just…” In Susanna’s previous life, there had been no expectation for her or any girl to get much education. Going to college would have been unthinkable, but it wasn’t unthinkable now. In fact, just the reverse. I’d assumed that she’d be like all of my friends.
Of course
we went to college. And somehow along the way, we figured out what we wanted to be.

Susanna didn’t want to be anything other than what she was already, and I didn’t know how to approach that. She seemed to enjoy learning. Maybe she didn’t understand the possibilities.

Could I get her to reconsider? What would she do if I tried? And why couldn’t she have waited until we were alone to drop this bomb on me?

“Will you finish your thought, Mark?”

“Just wondering why tonight you found so many ways to point out how different you are.”

She shrank away from me and clutched at the handle to the door. “It seems to me that, when you are different, you don’t have to point it out. It is obvious. This is why I rarely talk with your friends. I do not look like them, think like them, or act like them.”

The door clicked open and she slid out.

We weren’t through, yet there she was again, running away from an argument.

When I caught up, she was jamming her key in the door.

“Why are you being like this, Susanna?”

She stopped struggling with the lock and rested her forehead against the door. “It is too hard for me to fit into your world.”

“Not if you keep trying.”

“I am tired of trying. The effort changes me in ways I do not like.”

“I’m not asking you to change.”

She shook her head over and over. “You do not ask, but it’s what you expect. I have to watch every word I say and measure them against rules that I don’t know.”

I had no answer to that, but it sure hurt to hear. Gently, I took the key from her hand and unlocked the door. She stepped inside.

“Susanna?” She stopped but didn’t look my way. “I don’t want us to say good-bye while we’re pissed.”

Her head bowed. “Nor do I.”

“I want you to smile when you’re around my friends. I want you to smile around
me
.”

“I want to feel like smiling.” The words whispered past me as the door closed.