Dark Shadows

by Jana Petken

  As he walked towards the Carrabelle, late for his reunion with Hendry and Belle, he realised that he was finding it difficult to think about anything other than Mercy Carver. He didn’t want to say goodbye to her at the end of this day. He was neither rash nor impulsive, and he was not a naive, inexperienced man. He was master of a hundred or so slaves and owner of a plantation and two ships, yet he wasn’t capable of dismissing a woman he barely knew from his mind. Mercy: even her name was intriguing, beautiful, and sensual. She had begged for kindness through her eyes. He doubted she’d ever known real affection in her entire life. She had cried openly, unaware that her tears had crushed him. He’d wanted to take her in his arms and promise her his protection. He wanted to take away her darkest and most abysmal memories.

  He shook his head in wonder. Maybe he would never see her again, but he was enamoured by a London commoner named Mercy Carver.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Jacob stood on the Carrabelle’s deck and stared open-mouthed at Belle.

  She stood beside Hendry, radiant and amused at Jacob’s shocked expression. Gone were her usual breeches, shirt, and braces. In their place was a gown, which cleverly but not entirely hid her pregnant state.

  “Belle, how did this happen?” Jacob asked stupidly.

  “Ask your brother; he caused it.” Belle smiled happily. “You should have seen his face when I told him, Jacob. We were in the Bay of Biscay at the time, in six-foot waves and a darn wind that threatened to topple us. I was sick right in front of him, and do you know what he said?”

  “No, ma’am.” Jacob smiled.

  “He said, ‘Don’t tell me after all this time, you’ve suddenly become a bad sailor. We’ve been through much worse than this. Go and lie down, and don’t let the men see you!’ Silly oaf. I was sick for days, but not because of the damn weather. He never cottoned on until the buttons on my breeches finally popped. Why, it took another month or so before I plucked up the courage to tell him.”

  Hendry spoke at last. “Now hush, honey. You’ll be making my brother think I’m an idiot. If you had told me sooner, I would have gotten you on a ship back home. Be honest. That’s why you didn’t tell me until we were in North Africa.”

  Jacob kissed Belle’s hand and then hugged her so gently that she laughed aloud. “I’m with child. I’m not a china doll, so if you’re going to hug me, Jacob Stone, hug me!”

  “I missed you, my sweet Belle.” Jacob laughed. “I swear I never imagined this day would come. This is going to change everything. It has to.” He grabbed Hendry by the shoulders and slapped him on the back three times. “I’m happy for the both of you. Hell, I’m going to be an uncle! But you do realise you can’t stay on board a ship now, don’t you, Belle? How far along are you?”

  “Oh, I guess about five months. Maybe a little more.”

  “Five months? Hendry?” Jacob looked to his brother.

  Hendry nodded and smiled. “Don’t worry, Jacob. It’s been decided. Belle and I are going home with you on the Carrabelle. You’re going to have visitors at Stone Plantation for a while. Hope you don’t mind. We figure we’ll be landlubbers until the baby’s at least a year old. I don’t want to miss his or her first steps and first words. This wasn’t planned, but we’re mighty happy about it.”

  “And I’m over that horrible sickness now, so don’t worry about me,” Belle jumped in. “I’ll be fine getting across the Atlantic. I can’t wait to tell everyone.”

  Hendry beamed again. “Yep, she’s never felt better or looked more beautiful. We spoke to a doctor in Marseille, and he doesn’t see a problem with Belle taking this one last voyage. All we need to do now is find a new captain and navigator for the Christina, although I doubt we’ll find a navigator as good as my Belle.”

  Jacob looked at the bump on Belle’s stomach, still trying to take in this momentous news. “You love the sea, both of you. Are you sure you can deal with living on land? And, Belle, should you really be taking this long trip? It’s going to be pretty rough going across the Atlantic.”

  Belle laughed. “Don’t worry about me, Jacob. Worry about yourself. Why, you get sick sailing in a milk pond!”

  Jacob opened his mouth to protest, but Hendry stopped him. “Look, brother, we know this is a shock. You have to let it sink in. We’ve got a lot to talk about, and lunch is waiting in the stateroom. Why don’t the three of us discuss it down there?”

  Jacob followed them, pensive about Belle’s condition. Yet even with Belle’s health in mind, his heart soared. He was going to be an uncle. Even better, he was going to have his family back at Stone Plantation.

  Over lunch, Jacob realised that his face or voice must have given something away when he mentioned his night out. He stumbled over his words as he relayed the entire story, and he was well aware that he mentioned Mercy’s name in just about every sentence.

  Belle first posed the question. “I can see you are fond of this Mercy woman. You only met her last night and you didn’t even speak to her, yet you can’t stop talking about her. I don’t understand.”

  “Belle, how can you of all people say you don’t understand? You and Hendry were like a couple of victims under a voodoo love spell ten minutes after you met at that picnic.”

  Belle and Hendry laughed together. Hendry said, still smiling, “You’ve got us there. Love is a wonderful, mysterious happening. I’ve never seen you like this, so I can only believe that you may think you’ve been spellbound too. Belle, who are we to question my little brother’s feelings?”

  A serious expression crossed Belle’s face. She believed in love at first sight. Jacob was right; it had happened to her and Hendry. But Jacob was engaged to a friend of hers, and Elizabeth was spoilt. She cared more about being mistress of Stone Plantation than she did about Jacob. Many of her friends married for position, not for love. If Jacob broke his word, he would never be forgiven. Virginia would make him a social outcast.

  She tactfully said, “Darling Jacob, have you thought about Elizabeth in all this madness? You’re getting married before Christmas. That’s just a couple of weeks after we get home. Hendry and I were so happy when we decided to go home because it meant we could be at your wedding. Do you really think you, a Southern gentleman in every way, can break your word to the Coulters? Why, it’s unheard of. They’d make bad enemies. You know that, don’t you?”

  Jacob hung his head. Belle was right, but he damn well knew what he wanted, and it wasn’t Elizabeth. He suddenly knew that with or without Mercy in his life, Elizabeth would never be able to fill his heart. Mercy had opened his eyes to his real feelings. He had felt alive this morning, sitting with her. It was as though the universe had finally shown him what had been missing in life.

  He answered with the truth as he saw it. “I ain’t never been in love, Belle. Y’all know that. This woman has captivated my heart, and I feel like a damn prisoner. I have since the very first moment I laid eyes on her. She’s fragile and afraid, yet I also saw spirit and fire in her. She possesses the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen on any woman, but there’s so much more to her than how she looks. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t just desire her for her physical attributes. I feel a strong connection to her – damn it, I feel like a fish being reeled in and looking forward to being eaten. I can’t figure it out. All I want to do is sit with her, talk to her … be with her. I’ve nothing else to say. The damn woman has turned my brain into swamp mush overnight, and that’s all there is to it.”

  Belle rose and hugged Jacob. Tears were in her eyes. “Big, strong Jacob is in love. You know, something crossed my mind only this morning. I just hate the thought of being cooped up in the cabin for more than a day, but Hendry insists I take things easy. Why, he won’t even allow me to do my job unless I’m sitting down. I believe I may need a companion, Jacob. Old bossy boots here will never allow me to work on deck, not in the squalls we’re expecting in the Atlantic.” She looked up at Hendry, and he nodded. “Why don’t you ask your Mercy Carver if s
he would do me the honour of keeping company with me on the voyage?”

  Hendry said, “Jacob, be sure about this. You could be setting yourself up for a fall. The Coulters will rub your nose in the mud if you let Elizabeth down.”

  “I don’t care about any of that. I can take care of the Coulters,” Jacob said.

  “Then you’d better go get her,” Hendry told him, slapping him on the back.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Isaac stood sombre and at a distance to witness Julia saying goodbye to Mercy. He couldn’t begin to imagine what terror they had experienced together and what memories would haunt them to their graves. He saw no terror or fear now, just an outpouring of sadness coming from Mercy, the sweetest, most beautiful woman he had ever beheld – a woman he could easily fall in love with.

  He thought, watching the women, that just as their two worlds had collided, those same two worlds would now separate. Julia, with her aristocratic family, would erect an impenetrable barrier against the common, poor, and desolate young Mercy Carver, who had, by all accounts, protected her friend like a bear with her cub. It was a sad situation, and it was unfair as well. But in caste, Mercy was as low on society’s ladder as a slave on the streets of Portsmouth, Virginia.

  Mercy finally turned with head held high and the dignified poise of the finest of ladies. She looked at Julia once more and smiled before disappearing below decks.

  Isaac went to Julia. “Everything is in order, Miss Julia. Don’t you worry about a thing. Those two men beside that carriage on the jetty are from the Liverpool police station. They’re coppers. They will escort you all the way to London and right to your family’s door. A telegram has been dispatched to your father, so you needn’t fret. They’ll be expecting you.”

  “These two men – are they good men? Will I be safe with them?” Julia asked.

  “Yes, miss. They are highly respected police officers. They have letters of credentials to prove who they are. I interviewed them myself. They’re going to protect you. No one else will ever harm you again, Miss Julia. The entire Liverpool police force is out looking for Madame du Pont. She’ll be caught; don’t you worry about that. I swear you’re in safe hands now.”

  Julia looked at the hatch that led to the stateroom where Mercy would be sitting, alone and scared. She so wished she could take Mercy with her, but her father and mother would never allow her to associate with the likes of Mercy. And Charles wouldn’t like her at all, and she so wanted to marry him. “I’m ready to leave, thank you,” she told Isaac.

  Mercy sobbed silently on top of the bedcovers and tried to imagine all that was to come. She had stupidly turned down money and lodgings, which could have led her to employment of some sort. After learning to talk more like a lady and how to walk with grace at Madame du Pont’s, she believed she could possibly get a position in a large well-to-do house, but she had no references or notes of recommendation. She could try the lodging houses and work in one of them, cleaning or cooking. The owners might even give her a bed to sleep in. She was sure there would be many such lodging houses in Liverpool with a port bigger than the Elephant and Castle. She vehemently shook her head. Only as a last resort would she go into a workhouse – only if all else failed.

  She looked around the cabin. If only she could remain here forever. She felt safe, warm, and unafraid for the first time in weeks. She had nothing but the dress on her back, bought for her early this morning. She still had a bit of a headache, but that would go eventually. As for the stitching on the wound – well, she would just have to cut them out herself at some point.

  Her biggest problem, she imagined, would be to procure a safe place to sleep on streets filled with strangers, some from foreign lands. There would be thieves and men who would violate her in a second if they saw her alone and vulnerable. She could be sold into servitude and whisked off to Australia. Her journey would be fraught with dangers, and she dreaded the very thought of this new life of hers. This led her to think of home once again and her choice never to go back there. Big Joe came to mind, and all thoughts of home were banished as quickly as they had come. Anything would be better than a life with him, even death.

  She would leave soon, for she would prefer not see Jacob Stone again. He had awakened something in her heart which had never been present before. She couldn’t say exactly what these feelings were, but when she’d gazed into his eyes, she’d bathed luxuriously in their kindness. She wanted to repeat the moments she’d spent with him. That’s all they’d been, fleeting moments, but they had been the most wonderful ones of her life.

  She got up from the bed reluctant but determined. She picked up a black woollen shawl, also a gift, and wrapped it around her shoulders. There was no point in sitting here alone any longer.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Jacob walked as fast as he could along the jetty from the Carrabelle to the Christina, trying not to appear like a man in hurry or a thief on the run. He had purpose of foot and a mission that had to succeed, yet at the same time, he was also asking himself about the validity and long-term ramifications of the proposal given life by Belle and Hendry’s surprising request.

  As he stepped on board the Christina, he ignored the movements of the crew and the coming and going of their belongings. Some of the ship’s crew were changing over. Some had been on the European route for too long and were eager to return home to Virginia, whilst others in Hendry’s crew were European and did not wish to cross the Atlantic. As he walked across the crowded deck, he noticed that, as always, some crew members were there because it was a social occasion.

  Jacob usually enjoyed this time of the day. He had introduced a custom whereby every member of both crews received a tot of rum, which was dispensed by the quartermaster. Usually, he used this time to speak to the crews, hear any complaints, and listen to new operational suggestions from the more experienced crew members.

  He didn’t have time for niceties today. He ignored their greetings and waved away their questions. He made his way straight to the stateroom in order to find Mercy and put the proposition to her. He repeated the words in his head, making sure that she would not be scared or able to turn him down.

  He knocked on his stateroom door and waited. There was still no answer after his second attempt. He opened the door cautiously, calling out Mercy’s name as he did so.

  The stateroom was empty, and all signs of previous occupation had gone. The bed had been neatly made up, the cabin was clean, and the only evidence of Mercy Carver and her young companion was the lingering smell of feminine, flowery lavender.

  “Damn it,” he voiced aloud. He’d missed her. She’d left earlier than he’d anticipated – and without a goodbye. She might have gone with Julia, but he doubted that. She might have simply slipped off the ship without anyone noticing, but he also doubted that.

  He took to the ladder attached to the passageway’s bulkhead, climbed up it two steps at a time, and reached the deck. Once there, he called loudly for silence in an unaccustomed sharp tone. “Did any of you see the women leave the ship?” he asked all present.

  “Yes, sir, Mr Stone!” a voice from the crowded deck shouted back. “The young ’un left first with the doc, and the other left not ten minutes ago.”

  “Come closer, man,” Jacob ordered. “Did the young lady leave alone?”

  “Yes, sir,” the crew member told him. “She just upped and went and never looked back or at anyone on her way off. She stood on the jetty, kinda thoughtful like, but I didn’t see which way she went.”

  “Come with me, Carson. I’ve got a job for you.”

  “Yes, sir. At your service as always, sir.”

  Jacob walked down the gangplank with Carson at his heels. His heart was thumping. He was unwilling to lose Mercy now. “Listen up. We’re going to find her. You take the jetty’s right and walk it as far as it goes. I’ll take the left end and head to the port gates. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, sir. If she’s still in the area, we’ll find h
er. Doubt she’ll have gotten as far as the gates yet. She didn’t look to be in no hurry to me.”

  “Do you recall how she looks and what she was wearing? It’s important that you do and can spot her in the crowds down there.”

  “Oh, I remember her all right. I could never forget a face like that – begging your pardon, sir.”

  Jacob nodded, giving the man a cold stare, and then gave one more order. “If you find her, Carson, for God’s sake don’t scare her off. Her name is Miss Mercy Carver. Tell her Jacob Stone would like permission to speak with her on an urgent matter. Speak gently and make sure you get her back onto the Christina. You make damn sure she doesn’t get away from you. Am I clear?”

  After the man nodded, Jacob turned and began his search. The main thoroughfare led to the port gates and was a long straight road if one didn’t take a fancy to the many shortcuts along the way. Not knowing the port, he doubted Mercy would head for unknown territory like small often-dangerous lanes and narrow streets filled with runners and cargo holds. No, Mercy would be clever enough to realise that she’d be safer if she walked to the gates by the most public route, and that’s what his gut told him to do.

  He passed a multitude of people boarding ships. Mid-afternoon was the busiest time of the day, for this was when most ships began their boarding procedures. He knew the system well. Very few ships left in the morning, preferring to set sail at nightfall, just as he did. There was no plausible explanation for this where he was concerned, because the Carrabelle and Christina held only cargo. But when passenger ships left in the late evening, it allowed the crew to concentrate on their jobs instead of spending the first few hours at sea working hard with the added weight of bothersome travellers and screaming children running around their ankles.