His loins were on fire and ached unmercifully.
He had grown tired of the big-breasted, perfumed bodies of the prostitutes that were housed in every town he frequented.
Cribs.
Yep, they called those houses cribs.
The whores flaunted their “wares” in windows at the front of the cribs, beckoning for men to come and take their pleasure from them.
None of them compared with Lavinia.
He wanted sweetness when he made love to a woman, and Lavinia was all sweetness!
His sweaty palm slipped on the doorknob, making it difficult to get the door open.
But finally!
The door creaked open!
The room was black inside. The shutters were closed at all of the windows, not allowing any moonlight in to bathe Lavinia’s body.
But that didn’t matter. He’d feel around and find her.
He’d climb into the bed with her, and should she try to fight him off, he was not too drunk to use his strength to subdue her.
“Lavinia?” he murmured. He laughed beneath his breath. She would be shocked that he’d ignored her warning never to open her bedroom door when it was closed.
“Sweet Lavinia, it’s time for you to put an end to your mourning,” Hiram said, weaving as he walked into the room, moving in the direction of her bed. “Ol’ Hiram is here to make sure you do. I’m gonna give you lovin’, Lavinia. I’ll show you what a real man is and how your husband lacked the skills of pleasuring a lady. Just you wait and see. Hiram is here for you, Lavinia. Only you.”
His knees made sudden contact with the side of the bed, throwing him totally off balance. He laughed as he fell onto the bed, his hands reaching out to stop himself from landing on top of Lavinia.
The strange thing was that he knew he had fallennear where Lavinia should have been sleeping, yet he did not feel her. His sudden untimely appearance should have awakened and frightened her.
She should be screaming. But the room remained totally silent. He couldn’t even hear Lavinia breathing.
“Lavinia?” Hiram mumbled as he steadied himself. He ran his hands all around him, searching for her.
It suddenly came to him like a bolt of lightning that she wasn’t there. She wasn’t in her bed!
And he hadn’t seen her downstairs.
If she’d been awake and heard his clumsy entrance, she would have scolded him for coming home drunk as a skunk!
The thunder rumbled again, and this time much closer, so close, in fact, that he could glimpse the flash of lightning through the slats of the shutters.
This tiny bit of light was all it took for Hiram to see that he was right. Lavinia wasn’t there!
Stunned to realize that she wasn’t in her bed at this time of night, Hiram stumbled up and went out to the corridor. He leaned against the top railing of the staircase and shouted Lavinia’s name.
He shouted loudly enough for her to hear him wherever she might be in the house.
But still there was only silence around him.
“Where are you, Lavinia?” he cried.
He felt a strange emptiness in the pit of his stomach. Had she left him and the plantation to seek a new life elsewhere?
That thought made him want to vomit at first. Then he was overcome by an anger he had rarely felt before, the sort that encompasses a soul.
He stumbled back into her bedroom, opened the shutters at one of the windows, then raised the sash and thrust his head out. “Lavinia, where are you?” he bellowed, his voice echoing back at him.
He gazed heavenward, glad at least that the storm had moved off.
Then he shouted Lavinia’s name, over and over again, until his voice was hoarse.
Totally exhausted now, and feeling strangely empty, he stumbled from her room and went to his own, where he fell across his bed. He soon passed out.
Outside, his voice had traveled to the slaves’ cabins, and they had gathered together in front of their homes.
They all huddled in one large group, trembling at the fury they’d heard in Hiram’s voice.
Fearing the man with every fiber of their being, and knowing that he would take his anger out on the black folk at his plantation, the slaves debated what they should do.
Even Franklin Owen, the white overseer hired by Hiram, came and stood among them, his hands on his hips as he looked from one to the other.
“It’s time we show that man a thing or two,” Franklin said, his bright red hair picking up the light of a lantern held by one of the slaves. “I’ve had enough of Hiram Price. He ain’t nothin’ like his brother Virgil. This man is out for blood if anyoneso much as looks at him sideways. I feel too threatened to stick around, and my skin ain’t even black like yours. Hiram is a madman. Didn’t you just hear him shouting like someone gone crazed?”
“He was shoutin’ for Miz Lavinia,” one of the women said. “What has happened to her? Where could she be?”
“I saw her leave in a canoe with Twila,” another woman said. “As far as I know, they still gone. Even Dorey. All that’s left in that big plantation house is those who work there, and Massa Hiram hisself.”
“Don’t you see?” Franklin said, placing his fists on his hips as he gazed from one slave to another. “Lavinia left because she was afraid of Hiram. Surely she took both children with her.”
“But where could dey have gone?” asked Caleb, a tall black man. His wife Nada stood beside him, clinging to his arm.
“I don’t know and I’m not stickin’ around to find out,” Franklin said. He lifted his suitcase. “I’m leavin’ now. You all are welcome to go with me. You know that I came by hired buggy but I’ll be forced to leave on foot. I can’t take the time to arrange for transportation. You can leave on foot with me. I’ll see that nothin’ bad happens to you as long as you are with me. When we get separated, you are on your own, but at least you will have escaped Hiram. Those of you who want to go with me, step forward. Those that don’t, return to your cabins and pay the price when that madman sobers up and sees that some of his slaves and his overseer are gone. Just remember this. You know as well as I that he kills for the pleasure of doin’ it.”
Caleb looked around the circle of worried men and women. “I ain’t goin’, nor is my wife Nada,” he said stiffly. “I believe that Massa Hiram will not beat us for the wrongdoings of others.”
“And surely if we stay, our massa will treat us better,” another man said, holding his wife protectively to his side.
“That’s your decision. You’ll have to live with it,” Franklin said. He gestured with a hand. “Come on. Those who want to go with me, come. We’ll get far down the road before Hiram wakes up and finds us gone.”
Several slaves hurried to follow Franklin as he walked past the huge house and onto the gravel drive that led away from the plantation. Those who stayed behind scurried back inside their cabins.
Caleb smiled at Nada as they stood in the light of a candle in their cabin. “We’s done right, Mama,” he said. “We’s done right.”
He looked over his shoulder at his two sons, who were staring back at him, their eyes wide with fear. That was when Caleb doubted the sanity of what he had just done. But he would stay firm and hope for the best.
He prayed to himself that Lavinia would return home. When she was there, Hiram Price at least maintained the appearance of sanity.
Chapter Eighteen
All for love and nothing for reward.
—Edmund Spenser
The morning sun filtered down through cracks in the domed ceiling of the garita, settling onto Dorey’s face and awakening her with a start.
She leapt to her feet with alarm. When she looked around, she remembered where she was, and why.
She began to tremble, for never had she been as afraid as now. Surely with daylight she would be discovered, for someone in this village would come to the storage house, either to take something from it or bring something there after the women began working in the garden.
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But for now, there seemed to be only a stirring of people down below in the village as the Seminole awoke to a new day.
She was so afraid of being discovered. What would these people do to her when they found a stranger in their midst?
If only she could find a way to get back home. Surely by now her mother knew that Dorey had notreturned to the plantation. Yet when her mother did realize Dorey was missing, she would be so distraught, she might make herself sick with worry.
Dorey must find a way to get home, and today. She didn’t want to cause her mother any more grief than she had to.
Dorey wondered if her mother would go to Fort James to ask Colonel Cox for help locating her daughter. Dorey’s father had never had anything good to say about that man. The colonel was known for his corruption.
No, Dorey doubted that her mother would seek his help. Instead, she would probably set out on the river, alone, to try to find Dorey. If her mother found Dorey’s abandoned canoe, she would think the worst…that her daughter was more than likely dead!
“But, Mama, I’m not,” she whispered.
She went to the door and leaned out just far enough so she could look down upon the village. The hut where she had spent the night was higher than all the other buildings except one.
She gazed at the unique home, which was two-storied, yet otherwise similar to the other huts in the village. She wondered if the larger home was the chief’s. Wouldn’t a chief have better lodging than everyone else?
If so, the chief’s home was not far from where Dorey now stood.
“Surely if I’m caught, I’ll be taken to the chief,” Dorey whispered, still staring at the two-storied building.
She had heard her father speak of a Chief Wolf Dancer, who was said to be young and kind, though they had never actually met. Her father had believed it was best to keep his new neighbors “at arm’s length,” as he had put it.
Dorey decided she would watch the activity in the village, and at her first opportunity, she would flee back to the river.
She knew it would be easier to find her way back home in daylight. If she could only choose the right waterway that would lead to the main part of Bone River, she could find her way home easily!
She was feeling so hungry, her stomach was growling. She turned and eyed the stores of food that lay everywhere around her.
Now that it was daylight and she could see it all, she was astounded. Last night she had only been able to search with her hands for something she could eat.
When she had found the melons, their golden color revealed to her by the beams of moonlight that came through the cracks in the roof overhead, she thought she had never tasted anything so good. It had been so juicy and delicious, she now hungered for more of the same.
But before she could eat, she must take care of another pressing need. She had to relieve herself, but where could she do that?
She just couldn’t find it in herself to do it where the food was stored.
That only left her one other choice!
She must hurry down the ladder to the groundand rush into the brush, then scramble back up into the garita without anyone seeing her.
Her pulse racing, she stepped to the door and peered outside.
She looked near and far for anyone who might catch her on the steps. Fortunately, she saw that hardly anyone was outside yet.
Dorey said a soft prayer before leaving, then hurried down as quickly as possible, attended to her business, and scrambled back up the ladder.
Eager to eat, Dorey plopped down on the floor and broke open a melon, the juice dripping all over her skirt, as it had done last night. She savored the sweet flesh as she chewed and swallowed it.
Then she saw something else that looked interesting: green beans, freshly picked and strung together on a string. Although they would not be as good as when cooked in meat broth, they were another form of nourishment, which she needed to keep her strength up for all that lay ahead of her. She might not be able to find her way home right away. If she got lost farther in the Everglades, she might not have anything fit to eat for days.
She crawled over to the beans and plucked one and then another from the string and ate them. They were hard and crunchy, yet she knew they were good for her, something her mother had always stressed when it came time to sit at the dining table.
Dorey was the sort of child who sometimes just toyed with her food.
But today?
She wished that her mother could see how eagerlyshe was eating. And everything she chose was very nutritious.
As she sat there, chewing on the green beans, she was scarcely aware of the increasing sound of voices as people came out of their lodges to begin the day’s activities.
All she could think about was finding her way back home. But first she had to find a way to leave the village without being seen.
Until that moment, she had forgotten one important thing: the two young braves who had abducted her and taken her to the tree house.
Surely they would be going to their hideaway this morning. They would discover that she had escaped. They would surely begin looking for her and might see her as she tried to find her way home.
But no matter what, she would be leaving this island. She would just pray that God would be her companion and look out for her. He was all she had to depend on.
Chapter Nineteen
My love for you is mixed throughout my
body,
So hurry to see your lady, like a falcon
Swooping down to its papyrus marsh.
—Love Songs of The New Kingdom
Joshua! Twila!” Lavinia exclaimed excitedly as she awakened and found them sitting together beside her bed.
Then she saw someone else. Her insides felt strange, a feeling she had never before felt, as she found Wolf Dancer sitting on her other side, his eyes full of concern for her.
She would never forget his loving care of her. It went beyond his just wanting to be certain she didn’t die from the snakebite.
She knew when she had seen him that first time in the tree that he felt something special for her.
She had actually felt a connection to him, then, and she felt it now as he sat close beside her. She wanted to reach out and touch him, just to know that he was actually so close to her.
These strange feelings he aroused in her were the ones she should have felt for her husband.
But sad to say, she hadn’t felt anything but kindness and affection toward Virgil.
But now?
A host of beautiful emotions seemed to have been awakened inside her at the mere sight of Wolf Dancer.
And he was a proud Seminole chief! His pride in being chief was evident in his demeanor.
“Your fever is gone,” Wolf Dancer said, smiling at her and feeling deeply for her, especially now that he had seen how she felt toward those whose skin was black. Her pleasure in seeing Joshua and Twila proved that she was not a prejudiced woman. She could possibly feel something for him, a Seminole Indian.
He had felt something for her for some time now. Wolf Dancer had missed seeing Lavinia these past days, when she had not been visible even at the window. He had feared she might have died.
“Yes, your fever is gone,” he repeated, so very glad she was alive and well. “And your eyes are clear. How do you feel?”
“I feel wonderful,” Lavinia said, slowly sitting up and drawing a blanket around her shoulders. “Thanks to you and your shaman, I believe I am going to live.”
Then she gazed at Joshua and Twila. “Joshua, oh, Joshua, you are alive!” she said, reaching out to take one of his hands in hers. “I thought—”
“We all thought he was dead,” Twila said, taking her father’s other hand and smiling up into his dark eyes. “But he ain’t. He was only wounded.”
Twila turned grateful eyes to Wolf Dancer. “Chief Wolf Dancer not only saved you, Miz Lavinia, but also my pappy,” she murmured. “He found him in a canoe, unconscious, with that dre
adful arrow in his shoulder that Massa Hiram shot him with.”
“What?” Lavinia gasped. “Hiram…shot you, Joshua?”
Realizing that it might not be best to reveal too much to Lavinia while she was still weak from her wound, Joshua decided not to tell her that Hiram had shot not only him but also her husband.
“Yes’m, he done shot me,” Joshua said tightly. “He’s no good, dat man. Rest now, Lavinia. Don’t fret none ’bout what dat man did. I’se goin’ to tell you all ’bout it later.”
She understood and agreed.
Although she was so much better, she still felt weak and even disoriented at times.
“Yes, later. For now, all that is important, Joshua, is that you are alive,” she murmured.
She turned smiling eyes to Twila. “And you, you sweet thing,” she said, reaching out and placing a gentle hand on Twila’s cheek. “I’m so glad to see you safely with your pappy.”
And then sudden alarm entered her eyes and heart and she gripped Joshua’s hand harder. “Oh, Lord,” she cried. “What of Dorey? Twila, after I was bitten and fell unconscious, did you…did…you see…did you find…Dorey?”
But she already knew the answer without hearing it. If Dorey had been found, and was safe, she would be there at her mother’s bedside.
Realizing that, Lavinia slowly took her hand from Joshua’s and turned her gaze away from them all as tears spilled from her eyes.
“You don’t need to say it, Twila,” she sobbed. “I already know the answer. If my daughter had been found, she’d be here with me.”
Seeing Lavinia’s despair, feeling it deep inside his own heart, Wolf Dancer reached a hand out and gently placed it beneath Lavinia’s chin.
He slowly turned her face so that they could look into each other’s eyes. “Lavinia, we were searching for Dorey when we found you unconscious in your canoe,” Wolf Dancer said thickly.
He saw puzzlement in her eyes behind the shine of her tears, and he understood. The circumstances behind Dorey’s disappearance were difficult to comprehend. He wasn’t certain he could even make it clear to her, himself, were he to tell her from the beginning how the two young braves had abducted Dorey, and why.
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