Chapter 21
“What are you doing, Corliss?” Susanna asked her frowning waiting-maid, who had just entered the bedroom carrying a large leather saddlebag and proceeded to Adam’s wardrobe.
“Packing some clothes for your husband, Mistress Camille. He said for me to tell you that he’s leaving for Norfolk today instead of tomorrow morning.
” The maid clucked her tongue in disapproval.
“You two must have had some lovers’ quarrel.
He’s in a foul mood, to be sure. He had me fetch Ertha to meet him in the library before he would let me come upstairs, and he told me real angry-like to be quick about filling this bag. ”
Not surprised by this news, Susanna rolled onto her back on the bed and stared blindly at the canopy overhead.
Should she go to him and apologize? she wondered. Now that she had had an hour or so to think about it, she supposed she couldn’t blame him for becoming so upset with her at the pond.
He probably thought his plan for revenge had been ruined because of what she had done.
But she wouldn’t have said a thing to Ertha if she believed there was the slightest chance the housekeeper might have reacted to the truth any differently than she had.
Surely he could see that! She didn’t want to end up in prison any more than he wanted to lose Briarwood and his chance to get even with Dominick.
“Ertha sure looked nervous going in to talk to him, though I can’t imagine why,” Corliss added, folding several shirts and stuffing them into the saddlebag.
“She’s been a real puzzle since a few days before you and Master Thornton got married.
Sometimes snapping our heads off, other times saying nothing all day.
Then all of a sudden yesterday she finally seemed her old self again.
” The young woman sighed with exasperation.
“If she starts grumbling at us again when she gets through talking with Master Thornton…”
“I’m sure Ertha will be fine,” Susanna reassured her, sitting up. She imagined Adam was just confirming everything she had told him, especially the part about the housekeeper swearing not to tell a soul about what she now knew.
“Did my husband say anything to you about coming upstairs to say good-bye?” she asked.
“Not a word, and maybe you don’t want him to,” the maid replied, fastening the buckle on the bulging saddlebag.
“He looks mighty angry. We don’t see Master Thornton like that too often, but when we do, we stay clear out of his way.
” She hurried to the door. “I better get down there, Mistress Camille, before he starts hollering for me. I’ve never heard him raise his voice but right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. ”
“Wait a minute, Corliss,” Susanna requested, rising from the bed and rushing over to the writing desk.
Deciding to heed her maid’s warning and unwilling to face Adam’s wrath again, she quickly jotted a note of apology, then, after sprinkling it with a few drops of her jasmine perfume, she handed it to the maid.
“Please give this to my husband. No, better yet…”
Thinking that in his sour mood Adam might not read her note, Susanna undid the buckle and shoved it into the saddlebag.
“Good idea,” Corliss said with a small smile, as if guessing her thoughts.
“Master Thornton will find it in there tonight when he stops along the way to Norfolk, and after a long hard ride to clear his head, he’ll be ready to read whatever you’ve got to say.
” Her frown reappeared. “You did say something nice in that letter, didn’t you? ”
“Yes,” Susanna replied, smiling when her maid sighed with relief.
“That’s good. I hope you two aren’t going to have fights like this very often, Mistress Camille. What with Ertha acting so crazy these past days, and now you and the master mad at each other…or from what I see, him being more mad than you, I feel like I’m walking on eggshells around this place.”
“Corliss!”
They both jumped at the deep, ringing sound of Adam’s voice echoing from downstairs.
“See what I mean?” the maid said as she fled out the door and down the corridor, calling, “I’m coming, Master Thornton!”
Susanna shut the door and leaned upon it, taking heart in the thought that Adam hadn’t sounded angry so much as impatient.
She waited almost breathlessly, wondering if he might yet come to say good-bye, but when several long moments passed and she still didn’t hear his familiar footsteps, she imagined he had already left the house.
Disappointed, she walked out onto the balcony and leaned against the curved wooden railing. Looking out over the beautiful sunlit garden, she thought of the words she had hastily written to him.
I’m truly sorry I upset you, Adam. If I thought Ertha wouldn’t understand, I never would have told her. It’s certainly not my intention to thwart your plans. I believe Dominick should pay dearly for what he’s done to you. Yours, Camille.
Sighing softly, she hoped her apology would placate him, at least until she could tell him in person. When he returned from Norfolk, she planned to offer him a special apology he wouldn’t forget.
“Thank you, Prue. Everything looks absolutely wonderful,” Susanna said sincerely, admiring the exquisite table set with a lacy cloth, gleaming silver service, and fine bone china.
A dozen tall white candles graced the candelabra placed off to one side, surrounded by a fragrant wreath of blood-red roses and delicate baby’s breath freshly picked from the garden.
“My pleasure, Mistress Camille. Anything to help you and Master Thornton make up with each other.”
“Are you sure our supper will stay warm under those lids?” Susanna asked doubtfully, paying no heed to the cook’s reference to her and Adam’s quarrel two days ago.
She had grown accustomed to the fact that the servants were just as anxious to see things resolved between them as she was.
“I’m not exactly sure when Adam will be home, although it should be soon.
” She glanced at the mantel clock. “It’s already eight-thirty.
I can’t imagine that he’d want to be traveling the roads for long in the dark. ”
“He’ll get here, Mistress Camille, and don’t you worry none about the food.
It’ll keep just fine. My herbed veal pie will taste just as good steaming hot or lukewarm, same as those buttered greens and new potatoes.
And the flavors will shine through much better when that peach cobbler has a chance to cool a little.
Now if there’s anything else you’ll be needing—”
“No, Prue, this looks like everything. You go get yourself a good night’s rest. You certainly deserve it after preparing this feast.”
“No trouble at all, Mistress Camille. Good evening, then.”
After the cook left the softly candlelit room, Susanna settled herself in a stuffed chair as comfortably as her taut nerves would allow, and picked up a book of poetry.
She was not surprised when her eyes could not focus on the page. She was both excited and apprehensive, as she had been all day. She had missed Adam desperately, more than she could have ever thought possible, and she couldn’t wait until he was home.
Would he still be angry with her? Could she hope he might be glad to see her?
After another futile attempt at reading, Susanna set down the book. Leaning her head back against the plush brocade, she closed her eyes and listened impatiently as the minutes ticked by.
His heart thumping hard, Adam closed the bedroom door silently behind him, and stepped carefully over to the chair where Susanna was sleeping, her head resting upon the arm cushion and her legs tucked beneath her.
God, how he had missed her! He could not deny it. These past two days without her had been sheer hell.
Despite how angry he had been at her when he left Briarwood late Wednesday afternoon, though his temper had admittedly been soothed by his satisfactory exchange with Ertha, every mile that had taken him further away from her had been an agony, each night he had spent alone the worst torture.
The harder he tried to suppress his love for her, the stronger and more insistent it became.
This one emotion was a thousand times more powerful than the misgivings, distrust, and cold rationale he had pitted against it.
Why, then, wasn’t he willing to accept his feelings now that he was finally home with her?
Thrusting away his perplexing dilemma, Adam swept his gaze over her hungrily.
She looked so achingly beautiful in what remained of the sputtering candlelight, her silky hair spilling over the cushion like a cascade of burnished gold, her lovely features half-cast in shadow, her body lushly curved beneath her jade-green dressing gown.
He longed to touch her. But he resisted the impulse, reluctantly deciding to wait until he was ready for bed.
Leaving her side, he noticed for the first time the prettily set table and the candles which had burned down to tiny stubs, only a few tiny flames still flickering. How long had she waited supper for him, even when he had told her not to? It was now almost midnight.
He had been delayed in Norfolk by a merchant important to his plan who had gone out of town and returned only late this afternoon.
After concluding his business, Adam had caught the last ferry to Old Point Comfort, then had ridden at a devil’s pace to Yorktown, where he had stopped briefly for some food and to speak with his attorney, who would be accompanying him to Raven’s Point on Monday morning.
By then it had already been half past ten, and he had thought Susanna would have long gone to bed. Instead, she had waited up for him…why?
Swamped by suspicion whenever he questioned her motives, Adam quietly stripped off his clothes and washed at the basin. It felt good to cleanse the dust and sweat of travel from his body.