Riverbreeze: Part 3 (31 page)

The weather stayed cold and wet for a week and the Mathews remained at the house because they had nowhere else to go. Fortunately, neighbors who had been helping out at the Mathews’ place previously now came to the Bassett’s plantation every day, chopping wood, keeping watch and tending to the animals. Friends from up and down the river, including Maureen and Phillip Archer when they were informed of Robert’s illness and the family’s situation, came to visit, bearing much appreciated gifts of food and other supplies such as candles and grain for the animals. Elizabeth was overwhelmed by the generosity of the community and she vowed to repay everyone in kind if they were ever in a similar situation.

Robert was a terrible patient, cranky and irritable, and it took all of Elizabeth’s patience to remain loving and kind. She had to keep reminding herself that he was sick and feeling miserable. After the first few days, he said he wanted real food that he could chew rather than just beef broth, thin porridge and stewed apples. Finally Elizabeth did lose patience and gave in, serving him a bowl of venison stew. Of course, he ate too fast and hurt his throat, enough so that he willingly relinquished the idea of eating solid food until his throat and cough were better. Elizabeth wanted to tell him, ‘I told you!’ but again she tempered her anger and kept quiet.

The worst day was the day of Timothy Jr.’s funeral. It was held a week after his death. The day after the storm, the Bolton brothers, Ned Huett the sheriff and Roger Davis, his deputy, had gone to the Mathews’ place to extricate the body from the ruins of the house. They said that even though the cold weather would have prevented the body from deteriorating, they were worried about wild animals coming upon the scene. And Timothy Sr. said that he had enough boards in the shed to build a coffin so they could do that and then take the body to the church. Timothy Sr. went along with the other men, leaving his wife in the care of Evelyn and Abigail. Elizabeth had mostly stayed upstairs with Robert, but she had heard poor Annabelle sobbing uncontrollably for most of the day. Elizabeth couldn’t imagine what she must be feeling, losing two sons in a matter of months.

The day of the funeral though, Robert wanted to get out of bed and attend the service. He was adamant despite his weakened condition and persistent cough. He said it was his fault that Timothy Jr. had died and therefore he should disregard his own health to pay his respects to his parents in God’s house. Elizabeth told him that was ridiculous; he was not to blame; he had done his best under the circumstances and despite her anger at him in the beginning, she now realized she had been wrong to reject him. He wouldn’t listen to her and she had to call for Jamie who finally was able to convince him to stay in bed after a short, but heated shouting match which Robert lost because his throat hurt too much.

Elizabeth and Robert had a long conversation after that, (Robert had to drink a cup of honey water to soothe his throat and then he still could only whisper), about their guilt and wondering whether the twins’ ‘gift’ was an actual gift or whether it was a curse. There were many times in Elizabeth’s past when she hadn’t been able to warn people for fear of being labeled a witch, and for days afterwards, she and Evelyn would sink into a depression while their governess consoled them.

At that point, Elizabeth finally decided to tell Robert the embarrassing truth about her mother and her aunt, and her father’s sinful relationship with her aunt after her mother had died. She also told him of her grandparents’ occupation; how they were common street performers including her mother. He was sympathetic, but who her relatives were didn’t matter to him. All he cared about was her and protecting her from his evil relative. And this took them back to the beginning; why she mustn’t leave the house and why they couldn’t have gone together to warn the Mathews. With a sigh, together they prayed for Timothy and Annabelle Mathews which eventually eased their guilt.

After two weeks, Robert was well enough to get out of bed and go downstairs to join the family at the dinner table. He was still weak, but several times a day he would walk around the house to build up his strength. And, at last, he was able to eat solid food, hastening his recovery.

Fortunately during these two weeks, there were no signs of Wesley or Burnett. Perhaps the weather had kept them holed up somewhere; perhaps the arrow wound in one of them kept them both away for now. But whatever the reason, everyone was extremely grateful.

Another two weeks passed without any incident and the weather turned milder. By this time the Mathews had moved out and went to stay with the Paulette’s. Hugh and Harry had come by to offer their hospitality and the Mathews accepted, realizing they couldn’t inconvenience the Bassett’s any longer. (And they were probably tired of sleeping on the floor in the kitchen, Elizabeth thought, while at the Paulette’s they might actually have a bed for them.) As they said good bye and expressed their profound gratitude they also mentioned that they didn’t know what they were going to do in the future; perhaps they would go back to England where Timothy had two brothers. “God be with you.” Jamie said, and then Timothy Sr. and Annabelle left with the Wyatt brothers.

By the middle of February, they believed that Wesley and Burnett had given up, or they hoped they had given up. All this time there had been no sign of them and Robert and Jamie decided it was time for them to get back to work rather than spend all their time patrolling their property while the servants did most of the everyday chores. This was the time to sow their tobacco seeds in seed beds and then each night cover them in oak leaves or straw to protect them from frost until warmer weather arrived. This was their money crop and it had to be done.

The day started out bright and sunny and stayed that way all day. Now it was almost noon and Elizabeth finally had the chance to escape the confines of the house. She stepped out the back door, whispering for the dogs to follow her. They ran out into the yard but she stood for a moment, breathing in the fresh air and feeling the warm sunshine on her face. She had been thinking of this for weeks. She was ashamed of herself for having these thoughts of freedom. She had promised to obey Robert’s order to stay in the house, but since there had been no sign of Wesley or Burnett, she thought it safe. And he was outside, away from the house, she thought resentfully. He and Jamie always got to go out, but never her or Evelyn.

Now she finally felt free. Staying in the house for over a month had become claustrophobic and now with Robert and Jamie busy and Nathan and Dolnick patrolling the plantation and Roger’s servants chopping wood at the edge of the woods, she finally took this opportunity to go to the privy alone. A simple thing like that made her feel wonderful! Nobody would be watching her; nobody would be telling her she had to remain in the house.

Robin was napping and Evelyn was also upstairs mending a small tear in her bodice and a larger tear in one of Jamie’s shirts. Elizabeth had told her that she was going to the kitchen to get a small bite to eat before supper at two. Surprisingly Evelyn let her go without questioning her and Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief. Somehow Evelyn had managed to remain calm and compliant these past weeks while Elizabeth had secretly dreamed of this moment when she could leave the house.

Abigail hadn’t been a problem either. She had gone down into the root cellar for something, so Elizabeth had been able to slip out the door unnoticed.

Smiling at the dogs’ antics, she started to walk to the privy; then she skipped like a little girl, feeling light and airy on her feet. The ground was hard but not frozen; she could feel the solid earth through her moccasins although they kept her feet quite warm. Robert had told her at Christmastime that she could wear them outside and that they weren’t only for indoors. He wore his outside all the time and they held up beautifully. Unlike the Indians, though, he wore wool stockings and so today she did the same.

The dogs shot ahead, catching the scent of a chipmunk or other small mammal. She let them go. She figured they wouldn’t go far, and they always came back at her whistle anyway. She worried that someone would hear their yips of excitement, but hoped that Robert would think that Nathan was taking them out and not be concerned.

She scanned the yard and surrounding property as she made her way to the privy. The burned ruins of the shed were now an ugly scar upon their otherwise neat property. Since that day no one had bothered to clean it up. Robert said they would do it later, but he had never specified when ‘later’ would be.

Fortunately she didn’t see anyone close by. Far off she could hear the men chopping wood, but other than that it was fairly quiet. The dogs were still poking around the garden fence when she stepped inside the privy.

Ooo, it was cold and she wondered why she had come up with this crazy idea. Lifting her skirts and pulling her drawers down made her shiver uncontrollably for a minute. She finished her business quickly and stepped outside.

The first thing she noticed was that the dogs were missing. She panicked, but she didn’t scream or call out for them. She didn’t want to call attention to herself. She started to run to the garden where she had last seen them and then she heard a high yelp. Her heart skipped a beat. She turned in the direction of the noise. It had come from behind the small cottage. Should she go there alone? Should she go get help? But perhaps the dog had only stepped on something sharp and she didn’t want Robert to know she had defied his orders.

‘Tis all right
, she convinced herself and hurried to the side of the house.

She would regret that decision for the rest of her life. A fierce-looking Indian with red paint all over his face, feathers in the knot of his hair and copper discs and chains of freshwater pearls hanging from multiple holes in his ears, appeared from behind the house, followed by a second one and Robert’s brother, Wesley. Wesley’s face was triumphant, his eyes glittering with sick revenge. Now she screamed as loud as she could, but her scream was cut short as the first Indian grabbed her around the middle and covered her mouth with his other big, smelly hand.

She struggled and kicked out at the Indian’s legs. Continuing to scream into his hand, she grabbed his arm and dug her nails into his flesh, but she was no match for him and the other Indian. The second one quickly yanked her wrists together and tied them with a leather thong. Then he did the same to her ankles so she couldn’t kick out anymore. Wesley came forward and whispered something vile into her ear while tying a gag over her mouth. She thrashed to and fro, trying to dislodge his hands and the gag, but he slapped her hard, making her cheek sting and tears come to her eyes. Some of her hair got caught in the knot at the back of her head and that hurt also. Finally, the big Indian slung her over his shoulder and they carried her off into the woods, crying, trembling, frightened for her life and the life of her baby.

* * *

“Did you hear that?” Robert asked, his head snapping up as chills crawled down his spine. He and Jamie had already planted over a thousand tobacco seeds in seed beds and were working on the second thousand. It would take them the rest of the day to finish the six to seven thousand they were planning to plant.

Jamie stopped to listen. “Hear what?” He said, straining his ears.

“It sounded like a woman’s scream.”

“Could be a lynx.” Jamie said matter-of-factly.

“Not this time of day.” Robert said, dropping his hoe. “I’m going back.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Robert took off, loping along the path like an Indian, Jamie on his heels. It took perhaps ten minutes for them to reach the house. The dogs were at the back door, huddled against each other and shivering. Papillon was whining and licking his paw while Fleurette licked at his face.

“What the hell?” Robert said, looking back at Jamie. “How did they get out?” Then a thought came to him. “Oh my God!” He threw open the door and burst through the doorway, barely missing stepping on the dogs as they also limped into the house. “Elizabeth!” He called in his loudest voice. “E-liz-a-bettttthhhh!” He headed into the kitchen first. Abigail was at the table, mixing something in a bowl. Her eyes were wide with concern.

“She’s upstairs, I believe, with Evelyn and Robin. What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure.” He said, moving swiftly back into the hall to go up the stairs. Jamie was still behind him; he could hear his heavy breathing.

At that moment, Evelyn appeared at the top of the stairs. She was as white as a ghost and moved as if she were in a nightmare. She had her arms crossed over her stomach in a protective manner. “She’s gone.” She said in a small, frightened voice. “They took her.” And then she collapsed, curling into the fetal position, shivering and weeping on the floor.

“Evelyn!” Jamie shouted, trying to go to her, but Robert was in his way.

Robert let out an awful howl of anguish. He believed Evelyn unconditionally. “No!” He wailed. “No!” He collapsed to his knees, clutching his head. Then he started to pound his fist on the floor over and over again. “How could this have happened? I told her! I warned her! That fucking bastard took her! That fucking bastard…..”

Jamie grabbed Robert’s wrist. “Stop that! You’ll break your hand.”

Robert looked up at Jamie with an aching heart, despair and misery in his eyes. “What am I going to do?” He cried. “How can I get her back?”

Jamie looked at Robert with fierce determination in his eyes. “We’ll find her.” He looked up at Evelyn, still weeping on the floor. “Evelyn will help us. You know they have a connection. As long as Evelyn senses her, we know that Elizabeth is alive. Hold on to that thought. Hold on to that thought!” He squeezed Robert’s shoulder and then he sprinted up the stairs to tend to Evelyn. He gently picked her up and carrying her like a baby, took her to their bedchamber.