Riverbreeze: Part 2 (34 page)

“You’re right.” He said. “It will take time though. Be patient.”

She nodded. “I will.”

“And we will have a viol…and a viola!” He declared, a determined glint in his eyes.

She laughed. “I can’t convince you, can I, that there are more important purchases we should make first?”

“No.” He said firmly, effectively ending that discussion. He smiled up at her, pleased as Punch.

“All right.” She conceded. “Do you want to hear more about London?”

“Yes, of course. Please continue.” He said, releasing her hand and settling himself with his hands behind his head.

“All right. Let me think again…” She looked out over the scenery, recalling what she had already told him. “Oh!” She finally said. “I can tell you what I didn’t do!”

“What?”

“I didn’t go to any bull-baitings or bear-baitings.” She informed him indignantly. “Papa wouldn’t allow me, although he went all the time!”

Jamie laughed. “I don’t blame him! I wouldn’t allow my daughters to go to anything barbaric like that either!”

“He went to cockfights also and when he came home, at dinner he would tell us all about them. He made it sound so exciting, and I knew that other ladies went because he told us so!”

“You wouldn’t want to see that.” He said, quite seriously. “’Tis not pretty watching cocks shred each other to bloody messes.”

“Have you been to a cockfight?”

He looked ashamed. “I have. Some of the planters hold them. They’re rather popular. But I haven’t heard of anyone holding a bull baiting and no one has ever captured a bear, so…” He pulled his hand from behind his head and made an ‘ergo’ gesture with that hand. “…no bear baiting.”

“Oh.” She was thoughtful for a moment.

He let out a surprised laugh. “You sound disappointed.” He said, rolling to his side and propping himself up on one elbow.

“I miss seeing the exotic animals at the Tower: bears and lions and crocodiles.”

“Do you miss London a lot? Is living here too dull for you?” He sounded worried.

“Oh no! I don’t miss London all that much; and ‘tisn’t dull here! Every day Bess and I learn new things. But, it is quiet.” She chuckled a little.

“What’s so funny?”

She reached over to flick a gnat or a fly or something off of his sleeve. “The first few nights Bess and I were here, we had the most difficult time falling asleep.”

“Why? Was it because you were uncomfortable or lonely?”

“No! As I said, ‘tis much too quiet here! Or at least the sounds are different. We weren’t used to hearing frogs croak all night or owls hooting or…or…whatever else is out there. We were used to hearing people, and traffic…London was always busy with thousands of people, traffic coming and going at all hours, horses and carts and carriages, barking dogs and hawkers and peddlers. And on our street you could hear the constant pounding and tapping of the goldsmiths and silversmiths as they worked on their wares. Sometimes Bess and I would get rather tired of it!”

“What would you do then?”

“Oh, we would practice our music or have Louise take us shopping. We loved to shop.” She said with a dimpled grin.

He laughed. “There’s no shopping here, I’m afraid, which is better for my pocketbook.”

“There’s Uncle Francis’ store, or rather, cousin Phillip’s store now.”

“Thank God he doesn’t carry a lot of fripperies.”

“I thought you would like to see me in lace and frills.”

“I should like to see you in nothing.” He said with an impish grin.

“Oh!” She gasped, blushing.

“But if you prefer, one day, I should like to provide you with all the lace and ribbons and froufrou that you desire.”

“Thank you, sir.” She said demurely.

“Tell me more. What else did you do?”

“More?” She pretended to complain, but in reality she didn’t mind telling him about herself.

He nodded, eager to hear all about her life before she came to Virginia. He moved to lie on his back once again, adjusting his hat.

“All right.” She tapped her chin with her forefinger as she thought for a few seconds before pointing that finger at him and saying, “Oh, you might be interested in this…”

“What?” He questioned immediately, looking up at her from under the brim of his hat.

“Sometimes Papa, Louise, Bess and I—“

“Louise was your governess, right?” Jamie asked, interrupting her.

She hesitated a second before lying easily. “Yes. Anyway, usually on Saturdays, and again, this was before Cromwell took over London, you know, we would go on walks to St. Paul’s where we would see all kinds of people: noisy and sweaty peddlers, senseless drunks, old hags with wrinkled, hollow cheeks and hooked noses, old toothless codgers that would say disgusting things to me and Bess…”

“Did your father do anything to them?” He said with a frown.

“He would always yell back at them and sometimes he would hit them with his sword if they were particularly vulgar.” She giggled then. “Papa knocked the hat off of one old coot and he was as bald as a hairless cat. He had ugly scabs all over his face and head. We rushed away from him as fast as possible.”

“Eeew.” Jamie shuddered. “I’m glad you got away.”

“Me too.”

“What else did you see?”

“Well, the saddest sights were the deformed children.”

“Deformed children?”

“Oh yes, mothers loved to show off their deformed children and beg for money. They were paraded through the streets as spectacles and sympathetic people would throw coins at them or less kind people might point and laugh.”

Jamie clicked his tongue. “That is vile.”

“We saw awful things.” She said quietly. “Children with hare lips. One poor girl had a large port wine birthmark over one whole side of her face and neck and another had feet like clubs. Another time a woman came over from Holland, she had the body of a human female, but a head like a swine.” She shivered involuntarily.

“A head like a swine?” Jamie exclaimed. “I can’t imagine that.”

“Her nose was pushed up like a pig and she had large round nostrils. Her eyes were small and piggish also. I felt sorry for her, the way she was put on display. But she and her manager made their living like that.”

“I’ll wager she was quite pigheaded when it came time to demand her share.” He said quite blandly.

“Jamie!” She exclaimed, shocked that he would say something like that. “I would expect that from Robert, but not from you.”

He couldn’t stop himself from laughing then. “I couldn’t resist.” He said unapologetically. She also smiled after a minute.

“Go ahead.” He urged her to continue with her wonderful tales.

“It seemed that people were always eager to see oddities and queer things. There was a boy with scaly skin like a fish—“

“How can that be?”

She shrugged. “And another all hirsute.”

“No!”

“And a horrible baby with two heads.”

“Two heads!” Jamie sat up abruptly, his hat falling behind him. He ignored it, staring at her. “Did you honestly see this baby?”

She nodded gravely. “Yes, ask Bess if you do not believe me. The poor thing was alive and crying. Both heads or babies or however it should be said. Papa gave the mother a whole shilling.”

He suddenly grabbed Evelyn and hugged her tight to him. “God, I hope our children are born perfect. I can’t imagine…I couldn’t bear it.” His voice trailed off.

“Our children will be healthy and whole, Jamie.” She said softly.

He held her in front of him as he asked, “How do you know?”

“I had a dream.” She said carefully.

“You had a dream.” He repeated as if he were afraid to hear it.

“Yes.” She took a deep breath. “You remember how Bess and I have dreams of the future, right?”

“Yes, I remember. How could I forget something like that?” He said a little harshly.

She pressed her lips together, not saying anything. His remark had hurt her.

“I’m sorry, Evie. I promise I won’t interrupt. Was your dream of the future?”

She nodded. “Yes, I had it Wednesday night.”

“And what was it about?”

“It took place nineteen years in future.”

He barked a laugh. “Nineteen years? Why would you have a dream that far in the future? God is giving you an awful lot of time to prepare for something, isn’t He?” He teased her.

She glared at him. “You promised not to interrupt!”

“I did, didn’t I?” He said, looking contrite. “Go ahead.”

Her voice was rather acerbic as she continued, answering his ridiculous question. “We do not need to prepare for anything except for a wonderful life.” She became excited then. “Oh Jamie, we’re going to have five children and they’re all going to live, and the oldest girl—she’s a twin like me!—is a healer. She heals you with the touch of her hands.”

“What!” He gaped at her. “That’s impossible! With the touch of her hands?”

“Yes, ’tis true! You were dying from the swamp fever and our daughter sat with you while I rested. I returned to you to sleep by your side believing you would die during the night, but instead the next morning you were cured. Cured, Jamie! She cured you! Is that not wonderful?”

“I’m speechless.” He went still as a statue, staring at her. Then he asked something completely unexpected. “Why didn’t she cure me sooner?”

“I do not know.” She said slowly, wondering herself now. “But isn’t it enough to know that you will be cured in future?”

“I guess so, if it happens. We won’t know for nineteen years.”

“I
know.
Now
.” She said happily, cupping his face in her hands and smiling at him. “We are going to have such a wonderful marriage. And five lovely children! Aren’t you happy?” She asked when he remained quiet and skeptical.

“Of course I’m happy.” He declared, taking hold of both her hands. “I’m very happy with you as my wife.”

“I mean, aren’t you happy knowing about our future? Do you not believe me now?” She asked in a small voice. “The other night when I told you about Bess and me and our dreams, you seemed to believe me. I thought we had resolved this.”

“Evelyn…” He said carefully, hesitating. He leaned in to kiss her tenderly. “I want to believe you; I truly do…”

She gasped, stung by his words. He had lied to her! He had lied! Had he also lied about loving her? Her eyes filled with tears.

He continued quickly. “Please, you have to understand. This is very difficult.” His voice became certain when he added, “But, I do know that you are not a witch. That I am sure of.”

“I appreciate that.” She said softly. She clamped down on her true feelings and she would not cry. She was disappointed that he didn’t believe her, but if she was being honest with herself, what could she expect? At least he was being honest with her now and that was more important, she supposed. Would she rather him lie to her and say he believed her when he didn’t or would she rather hear the truth from him? The truth, she decided.

“I love you, Evie.” He said, still trying to placate her. “Please know that I do.”

His face was so earnest she had to believe that he was telling her the truth. “I know, Jamie.” She said, touching his face tenderly. She would let him off the hook, for now. He would learn soon enough and that would be enough for her. “I love you, too. And I’m glad you brought me to your favorite place. I’m also glad you taught me to ride. The horses are enjoying the creekside too.” She looked in their direction where they were standing together, taking turns nibbling each other’s withers.

“You’re changing the subject.” He accused her.

He didn’t look at the horses, curse him.

“You’re right; I am.” She said, straightening her shoulders. Then she sighed. “There is no use arguing about this. I understand your reluctance to believe in my dreams. You haven’t had a lot of time to become familiar with my gift. In time you’ll have your proof. You know, Papa never knew about Bess and me. When we had our first dream, we went to Louise. We were ever so frightened and she comforted us and reassured us. She told us we were very special, but we could never tell Papa. And we didn’t. It makes me very happy that I can, at least, tell you about this part of my life.”

He looked deep into her eyes. “You can tell me anything. I promise I won’t ever condemn you again. And I am happy that I will be cured in future.” He said with a soft smile.

“You’re just saying that.” She griped.

He shrugged his shoulder. “What will our daughter’s name be?”

“Oh.” She said, not expecting that question. “What names do you like?”

“Hmm.” He thought for a moment, frowning as if this were the most important answer in the world. Finally he said with a small, teasing smile. “Evelyn, Elizabeth, Abigail…”

She laughed. “That’s not very imaginative!”

“Matilda?”

“Mon Dieu
! No!”