Chapter 26 #2
That night Ethan and Lochranza dined in polite but brooding silence but did not sleep together.
Ethan left for Richmond very early. It was a long ride and although there were rumours that a railroad would one day cross from state to state, perhaps even connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, it was still only a dream.
Even in England, the steam engine and the rails it ran on were in their infancy, though great strides were being made.
Once she was sure he’d left, Lochranza dressed quickly: riding habit and boots plus black silk topper with a trailing veil.
You look every inch the lady of the manor, she thought grimly on inspecting her reflection. The whole household, even Moira if she was up, would suspect nothing. Her appearance was one of a lady out for an early-morning ride.
The night before, she’d sneaked down to the kitchen, gathering up enough food for breakfast and midday wrapped up in a piece of muslin cloth.
She’d also left orders with the stable lad the night before. Guinevere was no more of course, in the hands of either the raiders or the Indians. A grey gelding who answered to the name of Lancelot awaited her.
‘Poor Lancelot,’ she said, patting the horse’s neck. ‘Queen Guinevere is gone and her lover Lancelot has been gelded. It’s such an unfair world!’
She left the stable boy – one she did not know – scratching his head. Sadly, he wouldn’t know about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Venus was waiting for her behind one of the bushes growing between the stone hut and the river. Neatly dressed in a pale blue dress, she clutched her bundle of belongings with both hands. White and blue ribbons held back her surprisingly silky hair in a bundle at the nape of her neck.
Reaching down, Lochranza hauled her up behind her on the horse. ‘Hold tight!’
Lancelot, a big-boned, rangy horse, easily absorbed the extra weight. Urging him into a canter, they swiftly exited the plantation by the woodland route which took them away from the tobacco fields. From there, they skirted a steep ravine and followed a path to the main entrance.
The gates were open, there being no real point in having them closed. They served no real purpose, merely a decorative item adding the gravitas of a stately home to the more relaxed refinement of a colonial plantation.
On the way to the township of Belmont, they stopped under a tree to eat a breakfast of fresh bread, butter, cheese and cold pie.
Lochranza ate avidly, Venus more frugally as though something was weighing heavily on her mind. Every so often, Lochranza caught her big brown eyes looking at her questioningly.
‘Why do you keep looking at me like that for, Venus?’
The question took the girl off guard. She looked away, taking another bite of her bread as she did so.
‘You don’t have to be afraid of me,’ Lochranza said softly, saddened by the girl’s apparent distrust.
‘I want to be with Lester. My father doesn’t like the idea.’
‘You’ll be a free woman, Venus. You’ll no longer be a slave ordered to do this or that.’ Lochranza hung her head. ‘I hope Helen can be happy. I promise I’ll make things as best I can for your sister.’
The girl’s head jerked up. ‘She’s not my sister! Not my real one. Just a half-sister. She had a different mother to me.’
The contemptuous look coupled with the outburst regarding Helen came as a complete surprise.
‘I didn’t know that.’
‘Jove had two wives. Seraph was her mother. My mother was Athene. She already had me when Jove married her.’
Lochranza frowned. ‘Is your real father dead?’
Venus shrugged. ‘I don’t know for sure. I think so. An overseer or somethin’, I suppose.’
So that accounted for the longer, less woolly hair.
Up until this moment, Lochranza had not questioned her belief that she was doing the right thing.
Venus was an unfortunate who had needed help.
Now she wasn’t quite so sure. The girl was cocky, quite a little upstart in fact.
Strangely enough, she had the same proud tilt to her chin as Jove.
It was possible she was lying about her parentage.
The more familiar her acquaintance with this girl, the more likely it seemed.
Why did I ever get myself into this? The question had to remain unanswered.
One thing she did know for sure was that Ethan would be livid when he heard that Venus was gone.
Should she go back? No. She could not. How would it look if she went back now?
Whether she went back with Venus or went on, Ethan would be very displeased.
‘We’d better get going.’
Belmont was hardly a great metropolis. Pixey’s General Store would have dominated the main street if there hadn’t been a church with a spire at the far end of it.
Venus slid down from the horse just as a thick-set young man with silky black hair and a round face came out carrying a broom in one hand and a bucket in the other.
‘Venus!’
‘She’s all yours,’ Lochranza shouted at him. ‘A wedding present from my fiancé.’
She’d made sure everyone had heard so Venus could not be claimed as a runaway slave. If there was any paperwork to be done to make the thing legal, she would get Ethan to do it. Once he was over the first shock, he would do so. She was sure of it.