Antebellum BK 1 (55 page)

“
I can’t…”

“
With or without your approval you’ll be coming into a fairly large fortune soon. Spend it, or give it away. It matters not at all to me.”

“
I don’t know what to say.”

“
Don’t say anything. Just go get the lawyer. Oh. But before you go, I have two requests.”

“
What?”

“
Before you leave Europe, I want you to find yourself a nice white girl and marry her.” She saw the look on his face. “I know what you’re thinking but you’re wrong. There have been Moors with dark skin in Europe for two thousand years. There’s no deep prejudice against people with dark skin and in some places you’ll be seen as exotic.”

“
Do you have a girl in mind?”

“
No. But you should look for her in Amsterdam and Copenhagen.”

“
Are those the places where I’ll be exotic?”

“
Yes, but it’s also where the first Van Buskirks came from. I like the irony of it all. Find a beautiful blonde if you can, flaunt her all over Europe, then take her to America.”

“
We’d be arrested for violation of the anti-miscegenation laws the minute we stepped off the ship.”

“
Money is power. Use it wisely and you can break any law. I’m told that, with enough money, you can get away with murder. Perhaps you can even get away with being black in America.”

He grinned. “You said two requests. What’s the other?”

“
I want you to have your name changed legally from Van Buskirk.”

He looked puzzled. “What name should I take?”

“
It doesn’t matter. Just make it hard for someone to prove that you’re a descendent of an African slave.”

“
Granny Sally wasn’t African. She was Jamaican or Haitian. I can’t remember which.”

Nanette looked dubious. “I don’t think that keeps you safe from Dred Scott. Will you do what I asked?”

“
Yes.”

“
Good. Now go fetch my lawyer. His name is Jacques Antoine. His office is on the square. Just say his name and someone will show you. Tell him my name and he’ll come.”

June
12, 1857

Washington, D.C.

P
hillip Barton Key was watching Anna as she dressed. “You have a remarkable figure for a woman of your age, Anna. Your bare behind is wonderful to behold.”

“
Thank you.” She turned to look at him over her shoulder. “Although I doubt that my behind can compete with the nubile behind of Teresa Sickles. How old is she? Twenty?”

“
Don’t tell me you’re jealous.” He chuckled.

“
I’m not jealous, Phil. You don’t mean a thing to me except an occasional sweaty afternoon. Congressman Dan Sickles, on the other hand, is a very jealous man. If he finds out about you and Teresa he’s likely to kill you both, and, as usual, you talk too much, so he’s bound to find out.”

“
Sickles has women everywhere. He’d been in a long-standing relationship with the infamous New York madam Fanny White for years when he married Teresa. He still sees Fanny every time he’s in New York.”

“
Speaking of New York, I’ll be leaving for Utah from there in the morning. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”

“
Business or pleasure?”

“
I’ve got a freelance assignment to investigate the rumors that Buchanan’s mobilizing troops to attack the Mormons.”

“
I can save you the trip. Buchanan intends to declare Utah in rebellion against the United States and send the army to quell it.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Yes. The order’s been written. As soon as the army’s ready, it’ll be made public.”

“
Where are the troops being assembled?”

“
Fort Leavenworth.”

Anna shook her head. “My brother’s at Fort Leavenworth teaching a course in modern artillery. He would have told me.”

“
He may not know. Winfield Scott created a new Military Department of Utah on the twenty-eighth of last month.”

“
General Scott would have told Robert.”

“
Buchanan may have specifically forbidden Scott from telling him. There’s a lot of enmity between your brother and President Buchanan.”

“
Because of me?”

Key shook his head. “When Brigham Young was appointed Governor of the Utah Territory, Robert was very vocally opposed, but since then, he’s been equally vociferous against any military action against Young or the Mormons. Sam Houston’s added his weight to Robert’s arguments as well, so it’s a fairly hot potato.”

Anna nodded. “Okay. It’s all beginning to make sense now. Thank you, Phil.”

He beamed. “So you won’t be going then?”

“
Oh, no. I still have to go, but I know what I’m walking into now.”

He watched her for another few seconds. “Would you marry me, Anna?”

“
Is that a hypothetical question or a proposal?”

“
Hypothetical, unless you say yes.”

“
Why would you want to marry me, Phil? You’re still spoken of as the handsomest man in Washington.”

“
That wasn’t an answer; that was another question.”

“
I’d have to have a lot of answers to a lot of questions before I could answer yours.” She turned to look at him. “When did your wife die, Phil?”

“
March of fifty-five. Why?”

“
I was just wondering if you were looking for a mother for your children so that you could carouse more.”

“
That’s not a fair question, Anna.”

“
If you don’t think it’s a fair question, we don’t have any more to discuss.”

“
Is Nancy going with you?”

“
Nancy? Why do you ask?”

He shrugged. “Since you’ll be gone…”

Anna giggled. “Yes, Phil. Nancy’s coming with me. But I’ll be sure to tell her that you’re interested.”

“
Do that.”

“
You’re being huffy.”

“
Yes. I’m feeling a little petulant.”

“
I’m sorry.”

He sighed. “How are you traveling, Anna?”

“
On the steamship
Central America
from Brooklyn to the Isthmus, then on
The SS Golden Gate
from Panama to San Francisco. I’m not sure how we get to Utah from San Francisco, but I presume it will be by wagon train.”

“
The railroads are so interconnected now; you could go all the way to the Mississippi by rail.”

“
Nancy hates rail travel, and since the water route is as fast or faster I agreed.”

“
I’m told that Isthmus crossing is very dangerous.”

“
There’s a train now.”

He chuckled. “Have you told that to Nancy, the railroad hater?”

“
No. But once we’re there, she can hardly object to a little fifty-mile train ride.”

June
22, 1857

Aspinwall, Atlantic Isthmus of Panama

A
nna was trying to remove a cinder from Nancy’s eye with the corner of an embroidered handkerchief. “Oh by the way, I’ve been meaning to tell you: Phil Key wants to bed you,” Anna shouted, to be heard over the rain pounding on the Panama Railway station’s tin roof, the hisses of steam and the chugs of two coal-fired engines.

“
You could announce it to more people if you’d borrow the station master’s megaphone,” Nancy said, looking around at the other first-class passengers, who were also waiting on the platform with them.

“
Hold still.” Anna pulled Nancy’s chin around. “I can’t do this unless you look at me and stop fidgeting.”

“
How did the subject of me in Phil’s bed arise?” Nancy asked.

“
The day before we left, I told him I was going to Utah and that he’d have to find a replacement for me.”

“
And you suggested me as your replacement?” Nancy squeaked.

“
No, silly. You were coming to Utah with me. Why would I suggest you?”

“
So he decided on his own that I might be a candidate for his bed?”

“
Yes. But don’t get bigheaded about it. Phil’s always on the lookout for a new quail.”

“
I was actually wondering why he’d consider me, in view of the fact that I’m a married woman.”

“
The word’s apparently out among the men of the world, like Phil, that you’re available.”

“
I was afraid you were going to say that.”

“
You can’t blame me for it, Nancy. I really did try to keep you in the straight and narrow.”

“
I know you did. The guilt’s all mine. But now that I’ve earned it, I don’t like how it feels to carry it.”

“
Hold still. I almost have it. Ah. There.” She showed the cinder to Nancy.

“
Thank you,” Nancy said. She rubbed her eye, and then once again looked around the crowded platform. “It is absolutely inexcusable to treat first-class passengers in this manner.”

“
The stationmaster explained what happened. This isn’t usual.”

“
Yes, he explained that the luggage train is on the wrong track blocking the passenger train. As if a blunder like that was a completely unimportant occurrence.”

“
It isn’t
that
important. Standing here for five minutes while they move the two trains around isn’t going to harm us or any of these other people.”

“
Don’t you find the company’s incompetence alarming, Anna? What if, through that same incompetence, they put two trains going in opposite directions on the same track?”

“
Nancy. These tracks in front of us are sidings. The only reason that the track assignment matters is that this platform that we’re standing on makes boarding easier than climbing steps. Somebody thought the baggage train was the passenger train and threw the wrong switch. No harm’s been done.”