Chapter 26
Their journey took them via Fort Charlotte. On their way, they were careful to observe whether they were being followed. It seemed that they were not, so the journey took less time than envisaged.
There was much celebration, though Ethan played down what had happened once he heard that the cut-throat gang had called into the fort for provisions. Colonel Cayford informed him that the Shawnee had gone south.
‘I doubt we’ll ever see them again,’ he stated. His complexion was a mixture of blue shadow and grey weariness. Dark crescents hung beneath his eyes.
Following a reprovisioning, they waved the fort and the man goodbye. The sadness that went with them dissipated after a few days. A new lightness settled on them once they’d reached their destination.
The servants came out to greet them. The white sheets on feather mattresses accorded them a sublime comfort and a stark contrast to sleeping on bare ground beside a campfire.
All seemed well, true comprehension not occurring until two days later after they were refreshed in clean raiment.
Clothes were noticeably slack on Lochranza’s slender form.
Living in the wild had honed her body. There was not a sign of plumpness, what fat she had carried turned to muscle.
Such was the demands of sparse food and intense physical demands.
She heard Ethan arise from his room before breakfast to tour his estate. In a bid to keep up appearances, they had resorted to sleeping separately.
Moira Mackintosh had asked for breakfast in her room. Of late she’d become more secretive, though secretive with a smile. Lochranza was sure she was in love.
Alone at breakfast, awaiting Ethan’s return, she had time to absorb the atmosphere and observe the household. She watched them come and go. Three people all there to wait on one genteel woman.
Servants were subscribers to the atmosphere of a house. It was reflected in the way they smiled and met her eyes or didn’t as the case might be.
Watching was not enough. She wanted some interaction, to talk, even to gossip.
A servant stood at the sideboard waiting to serve whatever was required for breakfast. There was a wide choice. She’d asked them to be kept warm pending Ethan’s return. He was expected, but it didn’t matter how long he took. Mary would stand waiting because she, Lochranza, was there.
‘This is preposterous,’ she said, unfolding her hands and slamming them down on the table. She smiled at the serving girl. ‘Mary. Please take a seat and tell me all that’s gone on since we’ve been away.’
The morning maid blanched as though she’d asked her to commit a serious crime. ‘Oh no, madam. I’m not allowed—’
‘If I say sit, you will sit. I am allowing this.’
Mary shook her head vehemently. ‘Oh no, madam. Please.’
She thought she heard voices – Ethan’s voice being one of them. He was back, but lingering, talking to someone in a low serious voice.
It seemed he would shortly be joining her.
The girl fled just a few minutes before Ethan came striding in.
‘I’m starving. I could eat a horse.’ He kissed her on the forehead. ‘Have you not eaten?’
Mary reappeared as if by magic. Jove was with her.
‘No.’
It was all she could say.
‘I trust it’s not cold,’ he said laughingly. ‘A bit of everything, please, Jove.’
She sensed his flippancy, the kind adopted when anticipating a challenge.
‘Is something wrong?’
He shook his head whilst forking a slice of crispy bacon into his mouth.
‘No. Should there be?’
‘I heard you outside having what seemed to be a heated discussion.’
‘A domestic matter.’
‘I’d like to know more. It sounded quite heated.’
He gave a dismissive wave to Jove and Mary. They left them there, alone with a tension rising between them.
‘It’s nothing to concern you.’
‘Surely, if as you say it’s a domestic matter, then it does concern me – if I am ever to be mistress of this house.’
‘Try on the wedding dress first. You need to ensure that it fits you.’
His tone was sharp, and she sensed a double meaning. Decide whether you are marrying me or not. You need to measure up.
Her thoughts turned to the time before they’d left for Fort Charlotte and to one particular person. She made her stab in the dark.
‘Is this about Venus? I haven’t seen her since we got back…’
His look darkened. Never had he adopted such an angry visage, not at her!
‘IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!’
She sucked in her breath. If he thought to intimidate her with sharply shouted words, he was very much mistaken.
‘If I’m to be your wife and mistress of Glen Dirk, it is my business.’ Her words were delivered measured but firm.
His dark look turned into a scowl, making her think how very different this civilised man was to the naked one who’d so thrilled her in the rugged places of this wonderful country.
His eyes were like daggers, boring into hers.
‘Lochranza, you are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, but don’t push me into being some kind of puppet man.
This plantation and house belong to me and I will run it as I see fit.
I know you disapprove of slavery, but it is tobacco that makes me my fortune.
I need slaves to grow tobacco. You too will benefit from that fortune. ’
‘I may not want to!’ There. She’d said it. ‘Marriage is not just about sharing wealth. It’s also about sharing points of view. Ours do not blend, but surely we can still discuss them and perhaps meet on mutual ground!’
‘You’re shouting at me, woman!’
She frowned but would not back off. ‘I did not mean to, but I will have my say.’
‘My dear, you may recall that the marriage vows demand that you love, honour and obey me. That is what is required of a wife.’
Her blood boiled. Was this really the man she loved and intended to marry? Or had she seen a different one?
She put her thoughts into words. ‘When you’re away from this place, you’re a different man. Do you know that, Ethan? When you’re here, you’re someone else. The abolitionists say slavery brutalises both the slaves and the owners. It seems they are right!’
There was some satisfaction in slamming the dining-room door behind her, but not enough to quell the fire burning inside.
Unwilling to give way, she thought how best to make him see her point of view.
Venus sprang to mind. It occurred to her that she must still be in the house or in the slave quarters locked away.
It wouldn’t be wise to involve the other slaves in her search or they too might be punished.
She hadn’t seen Ethan punish anyone, but that didn’t mean that it never occurred.
The river wound sluggishly by, the trees on the other side a misty blur of green in the heat.
A sudden movement on her side of the river caught her attention.
She saw Jove hobbling away from one of the stone buildings adjacent to the slave quarters.
His head was down and he was carrying a basin in one hand.
Stepping back into the shade offered by the overhead canopy, she waited until Jove had disappeared into the house.
Once she was sure she was unobserved, she descended the porch steps and, shielded by the bushes along the river, made her way to the single stone building that stood apart from all the others.
At that time of day, even the children, those old enough, were working around the plantation. She could hear by the laughter and splashing coming upriver that younger children were cooling off from the heat.
Softly and furtively, she trod the hard-packed mud path to the house from where Jove had emerged.
The door to the single building had once been painted blue but was now peeling and turned silver by the changing of the seasons. There was a keyhole beneath the doorknob. At sight of it, she closed her eyes and sighed.
Still, now she was here…
The knob turned.
Once her eyes had adjusted from the outside glare to the inner gloom, her attention followed the patch of light coming in from a single barred window. The shutters on the outside were open, allowing in a cooling breeze.
A few bits of furniture, then a single figure became more apparent. Venus sprang to her feet, fear in her wide brown eyes.
‘Venus,’ Lochranza whispered. ‘Are you all right?’
The girl nodded. She looked like a deer about to be shot or mauled by hounds.
She went closer. ‘What have you been up to? Why are you in here? Did you try to run away to Lester?’
Venus nodded again. She looked dumbstruck and very frightened.
A very unpalatable question surfaced in Lochranza’s mind. All the tales she’d heard suggested Venus would be punished most severely. Perhaps merely whipped or sold on to another plantation away from her family and most certainly away from her sweetheart.
‘Has anyone… hurt you?’
Hurt. Not whipped. She couldn’t bear to say that obnoxious word.
She shook her head.
‘Has anyone said they will hurt you?’
The girl finally found her voice, swallowing what looked like a big lump before speaking. ‘Jove said I deserved a good whipping. But ’e didn’t do it.’
‘Never mind. I’m going to get you out of here. There’s no time to pack. Do you know where Lester is likely to be tomorrow?’
‘Pixey’s General Store. It’s in Belmont. He works there.’
Belmont was a small town nearby. Just a few miles.
‘Right. This is what I am going to do. Mr MacKinnon is riding out in the morning to Richmond. While he’s gone, I will bring one of the riding horses over here. You will get up behind me and we will ride to meet with your young man. How will that be?’
Venus nodded vigorously, her white teeth flashing in a broad smile that lit up her face.
‘Thankfully, the door is not locked,’ Lochranza remarked. She paused. ‘You could have run away any time you liked.’
Venus shook her head. ‘I’s too frightened, lady.’
Lochranza accepted her excuse, although the words she’d used troubled her. Venus’s sister Helen spoke in quite a refined manner. She’d expected Venus would speak the same.
She repeated her promise. ‘I will come for you. I will take you to your sweetheart.’
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