Audra walked over to stand beside her husband. “She was very homesick,” Lee was saying.
“So I understand,” Richard answered, the words spoken in a near growl.
He looked down at Audra, and she cringed at the threat in his dark eyes. Why was Lee doing this? Surely he knew she would only suffer for it. “Mr. Jeffreys would like this dance, love,” he said. “I gave him permission. After all, you are old friends.”
Audra looked from Richard to Lee, and Lee grinned. “You look absolutely stunning tonight, Audra,” he told her. “Mother would be proud of you, and the way you sang tonight.”
Audra could not find her voice to reply. Lee put his hand to her waist and whirled her out onto the floor, where a few other couples were already drifting in gentle circles to the music. For several seconds Lee and Audra just watched each other, fire moving through their blood. Oh, for one more night together, naked skin touching, uniting in sweet love, she wished.
“Why are you here?” she finally managed to ask, her voice almost squeaking in alarm.
He squeezed her hand. “Relax, Audra, and look happy. I’m here for one last look at you, and I brought you a wedding gift, went all the way to New Orleans to buy it. I left it downstairs on the piano in the parlor, wrapped in white. You can open it later, and every time you look at it, promise you’ll think of me.”
“You know I will.”
He saw her struggling against tears. “Don’t cry, Audra. People will wonder. And don’t be afraid for me or yourself. I know what I’m doing.” He leaned a little closer. “I love you,” he said softly. “Always remember that.”
He straightened and whirled her around while others watched with curiosity. Just how well did Audra Potter know this handsome Yankee man, her cousin Eleanor wondered, glowering at them. What had her supposedly innocent cousin Audra been up to last summer in Connecticut? She had never seen a man quite so handsome, and if she herself had gotten the chance to have an affair with this Yankee, she’d have done it in a minute, husband or no husband.
Audra paid no attention to anyone but Lee. She was oblivious to her cousin’s sneering face, oblivious to the women who whispered behind their fans. She had rested her left hand on Lee’s upper right arm lightly when he first asked her to dance, but now her fingers dug into it with growing alarm. “Lee, I don’t understand. You shouldn’t have come!”
“Didn’t I tell you I’d make sure your husband never hurt you again?”
“Yes, but—”
“That’s why I’m here. Richard Potter and I are going to have a little talk later, and after that you won’t see me anymore. I promise to stay out of your life, but I also promise that your life will be better after I’m gone.”
“But how—”
“Just believe it, Audra. Trust me.”
He pressed his hand more firmly against her back, aching to pull her close, longing for one last delicious kiss, but their happiness had to end, here, tonight, forever, just as the waltz to which they danced was ending. He drank in the sight of her a moment longer. “Good-bye, Audra,” he said softly. “God be with you.” He bowed. “Thank you for the dance, Mrs. Potter,” he said, loud enough for all to hear.
“And thank you for coming so far just to wish us well, Mr. Jeffreys.” I love you, Lee Jeffreys, just as the sun shines, and the ocean wind blows wet and wild…
Lee started to lead her back to Richard and her father but was stopped by Eleanor and a man Audra recognized as Miles Farrell. Farrell, a married man with three grown children, owned several riverboats used to ship cotton up the Mississippi to St. Louis. His wife, who was ill, had stayed home that night, and Audra wondered if Eleanor realized what people must be thinking about the way she had been throwing herself at him all night.
Eleanor looked Lee over as though she were studying something delectable. “Why, Audra Potter, you never told us you met this handsome Yankee man while you were in Connecticut,” she drawled. “Why ever did you keep it a secret?”
Audra did not miss the suggestiveness of the question, and she wanted to slap her cousin.
“We didn’t really see much of each other in Connecticut,” Lee lied, taking Eleanor’s offered hand and kissing it. “I work in New York and met Audra when my fiancée and I visited Maple Shadows on a short vacation.”
Oh, how Audra loved him! Lee saw right through Eleanor, and he was rescuing her from Eleanor’s effort to embarrass her.
“Fiancée!” A look of enlightened surprise came over Eleanor’s face, followed by near disappointment that she would fail to start a delicious rumor started here. “I see.”
“Tell me, Mr. Jeffreys, what do you do in New York?” Miles asked.
“I’m an attorney—have my own law firm—Jeffreys, James, and Stillwell.”
Miles looked him over as a few more of Louisiana’s wealthiest began to gather, including Richard, and Audra’s father. Audra felt the tension building, saw the look of challenge and hatred in Richard’s eyes. He took hold of her arm and pulled her away from Lee, pressing his fingers firmly enough to warn her he would deal with her later. All the while, though, he kept a smile on his face.
“Joey talked about you a few times,” Richard was saying, holding Lee’s gaze. Audra noticed Lee looked right back at the man without a sign of fear or apprehension. “Sounds as though you’re quite successful. He says your father and brothers own several factories in New York.”
“That’s right,” Lee answered. “Boots and shoes, tents, awnings. The family also owns an iron mill.”
“Tell me, Mr. Jeffreys, what is the general feeling in New York—over this whole issue of slavery, I mean?”
The room quieted, and Lee could feel the lions gathering. “We feel that slavery must be ended—completely. We can’t merely pass laws prohibiting the purchase of slaves; we must also stop the practice of breeding more Negroes on plantations. Human flesh should not be for sale or be exploited in any way, Mr. Potter, no matter the color of skin, no matter whether male…or female.”
Audra’s heart began to race, and she felt Richard stiffen. “Considering all the strikes taking place in the North by underpaid and overworked factory workers,” he answered, measuring his words, “I’d say you should clean up your own backyard first, Mr. Jeffreys.” Richard’s voice was calm, but Audra could feel his rage.
Lee met his gaze squarely. “At least factory workers aren’t bought and sold and bred like cattle,” he answered.
“You weren’t raised in our culture,” Joseph Brennan put in angrily. “If you had been, you would understand there is nothing wrong with what we do, that none of our slaves is terribly mistreated.”
Lee continued to keep his eyes on Richard Potter. “Aren’t they?” He’d have liked to tell everyone in this room what he knew Richard Potter did with some of his young Negro girls! But he would not embarrass Audra that way. He simply enjoyed watching Richard squirm, watching his eyes grow darker with rage. “The northern papers tell stories of all kinds of atrocities being committed by southern slaveholders against their Negroes, ever since the incident with John Brown—whippings, rapes, even murders.”
“The northern papers exaggerate!” Joseph insisted. “But you believe what you want. There won’t be anything you Yankees can do about it if we secede from the Union and begin making our own laws. The North is out to destroy our whole way of life, Mr. Jeffreys, and we won’t stand for it! What if the government suddenly told you that you had to increase the pay for your employees by ten times what they are getting now, while you get no more money for your product than you always have! Would that not ruin men like your father, Mr. Jeffreys?”
Others joined in, voicing their opinions but all with the same meaning. These men believed the South could survive only as slave states, and men like Lee and his father must understand that or face a broken Union.
Lee looked from Richard to Audra’s father. “Louisiana and all the other southern states are a part of the United States, Mr. Brennan. To secede from that Uni
on is nothing short of treason, and the President, whoever he is, will never stand for it.”
Women whispered behind their fans, and the men grumbled. “Let them try to stop us!” one man muttered.
Audra watched Lee, and all other feelings aside, she saw that old Yankee determination in his eyes, just as strong and intent as Richard and her father could be in their own Southern pride. Yes, even if Richard were not her husband, loving Lee would have presented terrible problems.
“And I suppose you think that President will be Abraham Lincoln!” Miles Farrell challenged.
“Looks like a pretty sure thing to me,” Lee answered.
“And just what will the Federal government do about secession?” Joseph Brennan asked.
Lee met the man’s angry glare. “We’ll come down here and force compliance and do whatever has to be done to hold the Union together.”
“We, Mr. Jeffreys?” The question was posed by Richard. He looked down at Audra victoriously, as though he were about to show her how foolish she was to have gone to bed with this Yankee traitor. A sneer moved across his face. “Are you saying that if this matter should come to war, you would join in the fighting?” he asked Lee.
“That will never happen,” someone in the crowd insisted.
“Of course it could,” another replied.
“I’m a graduate of West Point,” Lee answered. The rest of the crowd quieted. “Yes, if the Union needed me to fight a war, I would join the Union cause. They would need officers, men to help organize an army of volunteers.”
Joey moved in to stand beside his father, wondering what kind of trouble this would lead to. Lee’s glare at Richard never flinched when Richard responded. “An army?” Richard took a deep breath, a human volcano ready to explode. “You walk among us tonight, Mr. Jeffreys, come here to congratulate Audra and me, call yourself a friend to Joey; yet you would not hesitate to come down here as our enemy, and to kill men like Audra’s father, young boys like Joey, just for the Union cause. Is that what you’re saying?”
The room was hushed, all eyes on Lee. He stepped a little closer to Richard. “I’m saying I will do what I must. I hope it will never come to that; but there are some men I could kill very easily, Mr. Potter. I’m sure you feel the same way.”
“Yes, Mr. Jeffreys, I certainly do.” He pushed Audra’s hand from his arm. “I appreciate your coming all the way down here to see Joey and to congratulate Audra, Mr. Jeffreys, but I think perhaps you had better leave.”
“Damn Yankee!” someone whispered.
Lee gave Richard a bitter smile. “Gladly, Mr. Potter. I did not come here to make trouble. You southern gentlemen seem to be the ones intent on doing that. If my presence disturbs everyone so much, I’ll leave, but first perhaps you and Audra and your father-in-law will be kind enough to come downstairs with me. I would like you to open the gift I brought you.”
Richard frowned. What was Lee up to? “We will accept your gift, Mr. Jeffreys, with the good wishes in which I am sure it is intended. And we will all pray that there will never be war between us.”
There will always be war between us, Richard Potter, Lee thought. And it will have nothing to do with matters of North and South. “I don’t want war anymore than all of you do,” he answered.
Richard turned to Audra, his eyes so full of rage that she felt like running away. She wondered herself what Lee could have had in mind, coming here. So far he had only made things worse for her. “Let’s go downstairs, love, and open Mr. Jeffreys’s gift, shall we?” Richard grabbed her arm even harder, nearly drawing tears. He forced a smile, ordering the orchestra to play more waltzes for his guests and telling everyone to enjoy themselves. “Audra and I will rejoin you shortly,” he told them. He looked at Lee. “Shall we go downstairs?”
He turned and headed out, keeping firm hold on Audra. People moved out of the way to let them by. Joseph Brennan, his face beet-red with anger and hatred, followed.
Lee started to follow when he realized Joey was walking beside him. He turned to the boy, putting a firm hand on his shoulder. “Stay here, Joey.”
Joey looked almost ready to cry. “Why? I’d like t-to see your gift, Lee.”
The orchestra struck up another tune, so that no one could hear what Lee said to Joey. “I don’t want you there,” he told the boy sternly.
“There’s something bad wrong, isn’t there, Lee?”
“Nothing that I can’t fix. I’m going to do that right now. You just promise me that you’ll keep an eye on your sister and make sure she’s taken care of.”
“You love her, don’t you?”
Richard waited near the doors, his anger and irritation building. What the hell was the man saying to Joey?
“How I feel about Audra doesn’t matter now,” Lee said quietly. “All you need to know is, well, Audra and I—it never could have worked out between us. But your new brother-in-law hasn’t been treating her right. I’m going to set him straight, and then I’m going to get out of her life forever. I trust that you and your father love her and will make sure she’s happy.” He shook Joey’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “You’re turning into quite a man, Joey. I’ll always treasure our friendship, but it will have to be only a memory. Do you understand?”
God, how he hated the look of despair in Joey’s eyes. He wished there were more time to talk to the boy, but it was impossible. He had to have his say with Richard Potter and get the hell out of there. He turned and left, Richard, Joseph, and Audra following him downstairs.
Richard Potter closed the doors to the second-floor parlor, then turned to Lee. “Now,” the man said, “suppose you tell me and my father-in-law just what the hell you are really doing here! And talk fast, Mr. Jeffreys, before I decide to gather some men and have you thrown off this property by force, or buried on it!”
Lee did not flinch. “I’m not sure you want your father-in-law to hear all of it, or that he wants Audra to know all of it, but it’s going to get said, and I don’t give a damn if Joseph Brennan does have a bad heart!”
“Lee—” Audra started to interrupt.
“It can’t continue, Audra!” Lee turned to her, sorry for the helpless, frightened look on her face. “It isn’t worth the cost to you!” He looked at Joseph and noticed the man beginning to pale.
“What do you mean, Audra’s cost?” the man asked.
Lee walked closer to him. “Are you blind, man? Didn’t you see the shape your daughter was in when this bastard, your son-in-law, brought her home from Cypress Hollow? Did you really think she was just ill? She should have been happy! Glowing!”
“How in hell do you know what shape she was in?” Richard interjected.
Audra put a hand to her chest, terrified.
Lee moved close to Richard. “Because I paid your wife a visit already,” Lee answered boldly. “Three weeks ago. I didn’t read about her marriage up North! I didn’t know about it until I came down here to see her, to see if she might have changed her mind and decided we could be together after all!”
This time it was Richard who paled. “You get off this property right now, you son of a bitch! And if I find out you fucked my wife while I was gone—”
Lee rammed a hard fist into the man’s gut before he could finish, then kicked him in the groin. Audra gasped as Richard collapsed to the floor and curled up. Lee turned to a livid Joseph Brennan. “I visited Audra because I thought she had received a letter I sent her telling her I was coming!” he roared. “A letter she never received! Nor did she receive a second, more recent letter. Maybe you can explain that, Mr. Brennan!”
The man backed away slightly. “I…I don’t know what you mean. Audra never received any letter.”
Lee looked disgusted. “Go ahead and lie to your daughter,” he said. “She believes everything you tell her. She loves you so much that she sacrificed her happiness, because she thought marrying Richard Potter was best for you and Joey and for Brennan Manor! The sad part is I went along with it! I agreed it was b
est, because we’re too different to be able to stay together. I love your daughter, Mr. Brennan, and she loves me, but she came home because she knew this was where she belonged. I wouldn’t have minded any of it, not even the fact that you kept my letters from her, if I had come down here and found her happily married. But what I found was a sick, thin, nervous wreck of a woman whose once-proud spirit was completely broken! Why don’t you ask her what made that happen!”
Audra turned away, unable to speak. Lee told her father all he knew, while Richard kept struggling to get back to his feet. Outside the parlor doors Joey heard the awful truth, and he ran to his room, vowing to find a way to make up for all she had suffered.
Joseph Brennan turned to his daughter. “Is he telling the truth?” She collapsed into a chair and broke into tears. Joseph took a deep breath, looking down at Richard. “I was so proud to see my daughter marry you. I was so sure you were the right man for her. How dare you treat my Audra that way!”
“She slept with him, last summer in Connecticut!” Richard said viciously to a shocked Joseph Brennan. “When I married your daughter, I expected a virgin. You gave me soiled goods, Joseph!”
Lee jerked him up by the front of his silk suit, and slammed him into a wall. “She was a young girl in love, homesick and alone. We loved each other, and there was nothing slutty or wrong about it! What Audra did had nothing to do with her honor. She married you in full faith that you would love her the way she deserves to be loved, and fully intending to be a faithful wife.”
Richard shook with rage. “And has she been faithful? What happened while I was gone?”
“Nothing happened!” Lee lied. “And nothing ever will, because I won’t be back after tonight. I came only to warn you, Potter, that if I hear you’re mistreating Audra in any way, I’ll be back. And by God, even if it costs me a hanging, I’ll murder you! You can count on it!”
Tender Betrayal Page 23
