Dark Shadows (27 page)

Mercy had heard the words “Jacob loves you so much.” She knew them to be true. Every thought she had ever had, she had confided in Jacob, no matter how silly or insignificant. Jacob had always listened, and he had been the same open book with her. The closeness between them had now ended. He was getting married to another woman, and he had led her to believe that he was going to turn up here with a proposal for
her
!

“That woman downstairs believes she’s getting married in eleven days’ time. She will have her wedding dress hanging up, ready to wear. The cake will have been made. The ceremony, the invitations … Oh God, Belle, Jacob can’t break it off now. It would ruin him. I can’t allow him to destroy his way of life for me. I’ll never fit in here – not with my accent, my common upbringing, or the reputation of a marriage breaker.”

“What are you going to do? You can’t leave. You’ll break him!”

“He has broken me!” Mercy said miserably. “Rest now. I’ll be back in a little while. I need a brisk walk. I always feel better after a fast walk. It will clear my head.”

“Please, Mercy, don’t leave Jacob …”

Mercy walked back down the stairs and picked up her coat, gloves, hat, and scarf lying over a chair. As she put them on, she heard raised voices coming from the drawing room. She stopped to listen, hidden from view behind the door.

“Did you see the look on her face, Pa? She wants Jacob; I know she does. What if he wants her too? I’ll be ruined forever. I’ll never be able to go out in public again. Oh, Pa, please don’t let Jacob dump me like I’m common white trash, like she is!”

“Don’t you worry, daughter. Jacob will marry you, even if I have to shove a rifle in his back. He won’t defile your reputation or our family’s good name. I’ll make damn sure of that.”

Mercy covered her mouth to stop the sound of wretched sobs escaping. Tears fell onto her hands, rivers of tears that couldn’t be stopped. She stumbled quietly to the door and opened it, slipped through it, and went out into the freezing cold.

Chapter Forty-Four

Jacob, Hendry, and Isaac arrived at Stone Plantation tired, hungry, and eternally grateful to have made it out of Pinetrees. They had left the Coulter household just after midday, as soon as the wind had dropped and the snow was but a soft flurry.

The snow had been deep, too deep for any sensible person even to think about riding out in it. But they had all agreed that they couldn’t spend another night with Mrs Coulter and her incessant talk of her wonderful daughter and her wedding plans.

Belle saw the three men ride up the drive and her heart lurched. At last, Hendry had come home. These past days had been a living nightmare, and she’d missed him terribly. They’d never been apart for so long. In the five days since she’d seen him, everything that could go wrong had. Pulling a shawl across her shoulders, she rushed down the long staircase to greet them.

The Coulters were gone. She had been furious to learn that they’d left before she awoke that morning. Their suspicions had grown regarding Jacob and Mercy. She had barely been able to keep the truth from them after they’d goaded her with question after question about Mercy. Mercy had not attended dinner. Instead, she had complained of a headache and had eaten alone in her room.

Belle was no fool. She suspected the Coulters’ departure without a goodbye or a thank you was because they didn’t want to be present when Jacob arrived home. They were not going to give him the chance to explain himself. Elizabeth had manipulated this, Belle thought angrily. Unless Jacob met her on the road, it would be far too late to call off the wedding. She wouldn’t put it past the Coulters to take an alternative route, just to make sure they didn’t meet Jacob halfway. If she were in Elizabeth’s position, she might do exactly the same thing to hold on to her man.

Belle reached the bottom of the stairs and called out for Handel. He was in his sixties and was bossy and authoritarian. He knew the two Stone brothers loved him like a father. He used this knowledge to his advantage, giving Hendry and Jacob a telling-off every now and again when he thought they needed to be put in their places, and both brothers allowed the slave this leverage.

Having given the order to ready the house, Belle left Handel to issue his orders to the other house slaves.

The three men walked wearily into the hallway. Hendry and Belle hugged and kissed.

Jacob interrupted Belle and Hendry in a shaky and nervous voice. “Are the Coulters still here?”

“No. They left before the house stirred. Jacob, I think Elizabeth is suspicious.”

“Of course she is. She doesn’t miss a trick. Damn it, what the hell do I do now? Where is Mercy?” he asked, realising she was nowhere to be seen.

Belle’s eyes filled with tears, and then she broke into heavy sobs. She’d been brave and controlled, but now that Hendry was back, she didn’t need to be strong anymore.

“She’s sick, Jacob. She’s very sick. She went out in that blizzard yesterday. She was upset when Elizabeth talked about your wedding. She wouldn’t listen to me, and she went for a walk in the blizzard and got lost. She found her way back in the dark eventually, but then she got a fever early this morning – and no one will let me in to see her.”

Belle sobbed to Isaac, “I’m so glad you’re here, Isaac. Please go to her. I’m so worried. I wanted to be by her bedside, but everyone was worried about my coming down with something – and the baby.”

“Oh my God, this is my fault. Where is she?” Jacob stumbled up the stairs.

Belle shouted after him, “She’s in your father’s room. Abby is with her.”

Isaac paled. He thought quickly. He ordered one of the house slaves to fetch his bags and raced up the stairs after Jacob. If Mercy was down with a fever, she could be in real danger. He would have to improvise as far as medicines were concerned. His heart was as heavy as a rock and his mouth was dry. Mercy had suffered so much already. He wanted to punch Jacob in the mouth, friend or no friend. His stupid ideas on how to handle this nasty business had been noble but futile. She deserved better.

Jacob sat at Mercy’s bedside, openly crying. Isaac stood at the door for a second and felt tears sting his own eyes. He wondered if he was crying for his tormented friend or for Mercy, who lay unconscious. Her face was white as the snow they’d just left and in complete contrast to her coal-black damp hair spread across the pillow.

“Jacob, get out of the way. I need to get closer. You don’t have to leave but you have to stand aside. I need to examine her.” Isaac took his two medical bags from the slave. He took out the stethoscope first and loosened Mercy’s damp gown. Her head was still, but every now and then, she whispered jumbled words. She was perspiring badly and burning like a hot poker. He placed the stethoscope on her chest and listened to her lungs. They were rattling as she breathed, and he was in no doubt that infection had set in.

“What’s your name, girl?” Isaac asked Abby.

“Abby, sir. I don’t know what to do,” she said, also crying.

“Abby, I want you to do exactly as I say. Bring me some water with ice and some rags. Put this medicine, two teaspoonfuls, in a glass of boiling water, and hurry.”

Isaac looked at Jacob’s frightened face, and at last his heart melted. Jacob was very much in love, as if Isaac hadn’t known that already. Now was not the time to think about
his
feelings for Mercy. His own feelings didn’t matter. “Jacob, this is serious. It could be influenza.”

“What can I do?”

“We need to bring her temperature down. Keep piling on cold, wet rags. They need to be placed on her forehead and chest and changed when they get warm. She needs to drink some broth. The medicine I sent Abby for might help. I picked it up in Liverpool. It has some herbs, eucalyptus, and roots, and they say that it can clear the lungs. I don’t want to bleed her, but I might have to.”

Jacob’s eyes widened in fear. Bleeding was only done in extreme cases nowadays, and the treatment had very little success. “Dear God, what have I done? I’ll never forgive myself if—”

“That’s enough of that talk,” Isaac told him sharply. “Help me sit her up. It may help her breathing.”

Mercy heard the sounds of their voices from some distant place. She tried to open her eyes, but there was a fire. The flames were all over her body, and she couldn’t get away from them. She screamed Jacob’s name. She was at a wedding, but no one wanted to sit next to her. She was ashamed – everyone was staring at her. Elizabeth was laughing. Jacob was her groom.

“Jacob, no – no, Jacob!” Mercy shouted in her dream.

Jacob listened to Mercy calling his name. He had no right to feel sorry for himself. Mercy and Elizabeth had every right to hate him, as did Belle, who had endured Elizabeth’s company. He was a son of a bitch!

Abby and another house slave arrived with a basin of water mixed with snow. Abby carried a tall glass with Isaac’s medicine in one hand and cloths in another. Her eyes were tired and puffy. Jacob took the glass and told Abby to wait outside the room for further instructions.

He and Isaac dampened down Mercy’s burning body with the freezing wet cloths. Isaac ordered the slave who remained to fetch a bowl of boiling water.

Jacob watched helplessly as Isaac poured the foul-smelling medicine into Mercy’s mouth.

They later suffered the stench of eucalyptus steam rising from the boiling water in the bowl Isaac had ordered. It was placed just under Mercy’s nose.

Mercy could smell and then taste the bitter and strong aroma running down her nose and into her throat. Maybe it was that horrible drug again – were Eddie and Sam here? Had they finally found her? She moved her head from side to side, attempting to escape the drug, but she had no strength to do anything further. She tried to open her eyes, but they were stuck together. She couldn’t watch herself burn; that would be too horrid. Every now and again, she felt someone lift her head and pour another type of liquid into her mouth. This one tasted even worse than the drug. She tried to call out for Jacob, for he would save her again – she just knew he would …

Jacob held the bowl whilst Isaac dabbed her continuously with the wet, cold cloths. When the snow in the basin melted, he ordered more to be brought.

They repeated cooling her, medicating her, and placing steaming eucalyptus under her nose. Neither man left Mercy’s side until the next morning.

In the grey light of dawn, Mercy was no better. Her breathing was still laboured, and the burning heat in her body had not subsided. Jacob slept now with his head on the edge of the bed and his body on a chair.

Isaac hadn’t slept at all. He had tended to Mercy and, along with Abby, had continuously dampened her down with iced water. He had decided to open a vein in her arm, and her blood trickled into a bowl. The medicine that Isaac had bought in England was still being poured into her mouth, tiny drops at a time from a spoon. The steaming bowl of water and eucalyptus had been constantly changed throughout the night. They could do nothing else now but wait and pray.

Hendry and Belle held each other in bed. Belle told Hendry all about the Coulters’ visit. They talked about the wedding, and both agreed that it was too late for Jacob to call it off. In four days’ time, they would all have to leave for Pinetrees for the wedding and Christmas festivities that would follow.

“How are we going to convince Jacob to go when Mercy’s lying here so ill?” Hendry asked.

Belle said, “He won’t leave her like this, and he’s still determined to call it all off.”

“Well, he can’t. It would be the end of him – of us. Some of our cargo comes from Coulter Plantation and the others around Portsmouth. We would all be ruined, not just Jacob.”

“But he loves Mercy. How can you worry about business when his happiness is at stake?” Belle said angrily.

“I know he loves her. I’ve never seen him like this with any woman. He wants to marry Mercy, but sometimes duty and honour have to come first!” Hendry said sharply. “Belle, things are not good here. There might be big changes next year in how we deal with the politics of this country. Jacob’s problems are small in comparison to what might happen in the South.”

“What are you saying?” Belle looked into his face.

“I’m saying that if the North continues with their anti-slavery policies, some of the Southern states may secede from the Union.”

Chapter Forty-Five

On the fourth day, Mercy’s fever broke, and she finally opened her eyes. She looked around the room. She couldn’t remember where she was at first. She wasn’t afraid, yet she remembered feeling flames engulf her, a dead man, her bloodied hands, and Jacob’s face. She opened her eyes wider. The room was bright and hurt them.

First she saw Jacob. He was holding her hand. At the other side of the bed was Isaac, dampening her brow. Both men were smiling. Why were they smiling? she wondered. Her mouth felt so dry, and her body was damp and ached all over.

Her memory began to return. Jacob and Elizabeth were getting married. She’d gone for a walk. She’d fallen in the snow too many times to count. There had been dips and small hills in the fields, all hidden by the thick layer of snow that had been so high in places that it had reached her knees. She hadn’t meant to walk so far, but the blizzard had been dark and wild, like her mood. She felt as weak as a newborn baby now and couldn’t move her head or raise a smile to the two men in return.

She stared into Jacob’s eyes and saw his love. It was still there, but then she remembered the Coulters. Tears dribbled down her cheeks, and Jacob dabbed them away. “It’s all right, my darling. You’ve been very sick, but Isaac is making you better.”

Mercy tried to speak, but her mouth couldn’t release the words. She turned her head away from Jacob and looked at Isaac. He looked so tired and afraid. She finally smiled softly at him and then fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

Leaving Abby with Mercy, Jacob and Isaac headed to the dining room.

Belle was sitting with Hendry. Breakfast was being served, and for the first time in days, Jacob and Isaac ate a proper meal.

It was going to be the most difficult, heartbreaking day of Jacob’s life, but he knew what he had to do. Looking at the others, he said in an unsteady voice, “We’ll have to leave at noon.”

“I’m sorry, Jacob, but I’m not going with you. Hendry will stand by your side. I’m not leaving Mercy,” Belle said.

“I figured, and I agree with you. I think it would be better for you to remain here. It’s too cold for you to travel in your condition, and I would feel happier knowing you were with Mercy. She’s so very weak, and she’ll need someone to talk to.”

“And to clean up your mess,” Belle said, and then regretted her words. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

“You’re right. This is my mess, and I am leaving you here to deal with it. Jesus, what have I done?” Jacob said in a voice laced with guilt.

“You’ve been a darn fool,” Belle spat.

“It’s a miracle she pulled through at all,” Isaac said. “I thought we were going to lose her. She’s a fighter, a real fighter, our Mercy.”

“Yes, she is. And she’s also very hurt. Jacob, she won’t be here when you get back. You do know that, don’t you?” Belle said miserably.

“She will. She has to stay. I don’t know how to fix this, but I’ll figure it out,” Jacob told her.

“So you think you’re just going to walk back in here with your new wife and Mercy’s going to be at the door to welcome you both? Sometimes I want to slap you!” Belle’s eyes were sparkling with anger.

“Belle, please. I’m at my wit’s end. I don’t want to marry Elizabeth Coulter. I want to marry the woman upstairs. But you know I have to do this, for you and Hendry too!”

“Don’t you dare blame Hendry and me. You should have honest.”

“I can’t live without Mercy. Don’t make this harder for me.”

Belle shook her head. Tears stung her eyes. “Say no. You don’t have to go through with it. I agreed with Hendry last night, but I’ve changed my mind. Don’t do it, Jacob – I implore you!”

“Hush, sweetheart,” said Hendry. “Don’t you go upsetting yourself. Jacob has no choice, and your getting all riled up won’t change that. He has to marry her. There ain’t nothing else for it.”

Jacob’s conflicted emotions were mixed with exhaustion. He shook his head and shared his thoughts with the others. “Y’all know Elizabeth wants to be mistress of this plantation more than she wants me. I reckon she might not want it so bad now that you two are home,” he said to Hendry and Belle. “She might—”

“No, she won’t call it off,” Belle interrupted. “She’s got her mind set on this house, and in her mind, only God almighty is going to stop her from having it
.
But I don’t think that woman has any love for you either, Jacob, and that gives me hope.”

Jacob murmured, “Hope? What hope do you see?”

“Hope that Mercy will remain calm enough to see that running away from you isn’t the answer. We’ve been talking about this, Hendry and me, and we’re going to ask her to stay in our town house in Portsmouth. When you’ve settled in, you can go see her whenever you want. We’ll all make sure she’s financially secure, and she can recuperate there. I know it might not work, but at least it will give you time to convince her that all is not lost.”

“God damn it! Am I the only sane person here?” Isaac said angrily, looking at Jacob. “Do you really think that Mercy will agree to become your mistress? Listen to yourselves! Do you think you can own her like you own your slaves? Jacob, are you figuring on using her when you tire of being with your wife? She’s got her pride – Jesus, she’s still alive because she’s strong and resilient. For the love of God, let her go. Give her enough money to start over and don’t be so fucking selfish!”

“Isaac, my wife!” Hendry warned him.

Isaac ran his fingers through his tousled hair and put his hand up. “I apologise, Belle, but I’ve heard enough. Jacob, you’re so tired that you’re not thinking straight. Belle, you seem to be on some quest for a happy ending. And Hendry, you sit there silently defending your brother when you should be telling him not to marry a woman he has no affections for. I ain’t goin’ to your wedding either, Jacob. I won’t sit there and listen to speeches and vows and choke on your wedding cake! I’m staying here to make sure Mercy is on the road to recovery before she storms out of this house. Then I’ll take her wherever she wants to go. No one here should put silly ideas into her head about becoming Jacob’s concubine. You Southerners with your backward traditions make me feel sick to my stomach! Mercy’s only eighteen years old. She deserves a life, a good one. You brought her to Virginia, Jacob, so you have to think hard now about what you’re doing and how you’re going to let her go. Because let her go you must, and if you don’t—”

“What, you’ll look after her? Is that what you wanted to say?” Jacob shouted back.

Isaac stood up to leave and then faced the others, who were still shocked at his outburst. “If you throw Mercy aside for Elizabeth Coulter, I will make it my duty to take care of her.”

“Yeah, I reckon you’d like that, wouldn’t you, Isaac? Do you think I haven’t noticed how you look at her? You’re in love with her. Any fool can see it. But why? How can you be in love with a woman who loves another man and has never given you any cause to hope?” Jacob mocked. He was also on his feet by now, and he had moved towards Isaac. “You’re happy about this situation! Why, I believe there’s nothing you’d like better than to take Mercy for your own when I’m out of the way.”

“Yes, damn you, I do love her, and God knows she’d be much better off with me than remaining here, waiting for you to call on her!”

Belle stood up and banged her fist on the table. “Enough! Both of you sit down right now.” She was sobbing. “Isaac’s right. If you marry Elizabeth, Jacob, you have to let Mercy go. She deserves better. This is awful. How could we have even thought about her being a mistress? We’re being selfish, Jacob – we are.” Belle sniffed.

Belle’s tears calmed the situation. She slumped and covered her face.

“If either of you two upset my wife again, I’ll throw both of you out of here,” Hendry threatened. “Jacob, I’m your brother, and I hope you know that all I want is your happiness, but not marrying Elizabeth will ruin you, and you know it. Virginia’s looking at some tough times ahead and you, me, and every other planter round these parts need all the friends we can get.”

“I know, Hendry – God help me, I do.”

Defeat resonated around the table. No one spoke; no one ate. In two hours, Hendry and Jacob would leave, and Jacob would marry Elizabeth.

Jacob got up and walked from the room. He wouldn’t – no, he couldn’t – say goodbye to Mercy. He would write her a letter and beg her to wait for him in Portsmouth, where he’d go to her and promise her a solution.