Mississippi Brides

by Diane T. Ashley,Aaron McCarver

Swarthy-skinned with a mustache thicker and wider than Luke’s, he looked like a pirate of old. All he needed was a black eye patch and an open-throated shirt. “Good evening. I hope you have not turned Miss Lister’s head with too many compliments.”

  Why did the man’s voice grate on him? Luke gave him a tight smile. “I don’t believe I could.”

  “Excusez-moi. I stand corrected.” Major Fontenot raised an eyebrow as he made a show of looking around the crowded ballroom. “How is your lovely bride? I have not seen her this evening.”

  “She is not here.” Luke could feel anger building in his chest. Who did Fontenot think he was?

  A married man.

  The voice in his head was quiet, but he heard it in spite of the noise around him.

  The snap of Marianna’s fan opening drew his attention. She smiled at him. “Captain Talbot brought poor Mr. Boothe back to his parents.”

  Luke could almost hear the other man’s questions. Why was he here tonight? Why hadn’t he gone home right after meeting with the Boothe family? Why had he chosen to attend a party instead of flying to his wife when he had an opportunity?

  Suddenly Luke wondered the same things. What was he doing here?

  While he was still lost in contemplation, Fontenot led Marianna to the ballroom floor. He watched them twirl around the room for a few moments, surprised to see how she glowed.

  He thought of the way Caroline looked at him. Perhaps he could make a quick trip to Shady Oaks if he got up very early in the morning. He would have to return again tomorrow evening, but being near her for even an hour or two would make the trip worth his effort.

  Having made up his mind, Luke took his leave and headed back to his room. He would need to be up before the sun in the morning.

  Chapter 13

  Are you going walking again?” Grandma Darby’s voice stopped Caroline and Dinah at the threshold to the front porch.

  Caroline hesitated. She didn’t like deceiving the older woman, but it was true they were going to walk to the dowager house. “Yes, ma’am.” She hoped God would forgive her for not being any more specific about their plans. She turned back to the parlor to find both Grandma Darby and the housekeeper in the cozy room. “Do you need us to gather anything for you while we’re outside?”

  “No, I think we have everything we need for the moment.” Grandma Darby looked toward Mabel. “You’re not aware of anything, are you?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  Grandma Darby nodded, turning her attention back to Caroline. “Please be sure to take Dinah with you. After what happened the other day, we should be doubly careful about not venturing out alone.”

  Caroline leaned forward and kissed Grandma Darby’s cheek. “Don’t worry about us. We’ll be very careful.” It was at times like these she wanted to confess exactly where she and Dinah would be and what they would be doing, but even though her relationship with Luke’s grandmother was better, she doubted the woman would understand why she was determined to teach Dinah how to read and write. That was a secret she would have to keep for a very long time.

  Luke jumped down from his horse and tossed the reins to one of the stable boys who had come running to the front of the house. He could hardly wait to see Caroline. He had so much to talk to her about. And he wanted to hear every detail of all she had been doing since he left.

  Would she have managed a truce with Grandma? Or were the two of them still feuding over insignificant differences? A smile curved his lips. He was almost looking forward to the role of peacemaker.

  He took the steps two at a time and pushed open the front door. Pulling off his cloak, he laid it across an ornate bench inside the entry hall. “Caroline? Grandma?” He glanced in the parlor, but it was empty.

  A sound from the top of the staircase brought his head up. Expecting to see one or both of the women, he was disappointed to recognize the housekeeper. “Mabel, where is everyone?”

  The woman hurried down the stairs. “Your grandmother is in her room resting, and your wife has gone out walking.”

  “Walking?” He scratched his head. “Isn’t it too cold to be outside?”

  A shrug answered his question. “Not for her and her maid, it’s not. The two of them usually spend every morning out in the woods. But don’t you worry. They’ll probably be back before too long. They rarely miss lunch.”

  Luke’s spirits deflated. He’d been so excited about surprising them. All the way home he’d imagined the joy on Caroline’s face when he arrived. But now she wasn’t even here. He glanced around the open entryway and sighed. What would he do until she appeared? Waiting seemed like an unacceptable pastime.

  An idea formed in his head. Maybe he wouldn’t have to wait. “Which way did they go?”

  Mabel inclined her head over her left shoulder. “They generally use that path on the far side of the smokehouse.”

  Grabbing his cloak from the bench, Luke nodded. “I bet I know exactly where I’ll find them.”

  Dinah was leaning over a scrap of newspaper, her finger tracing the outline of the next word in the title she was trying to read.

  “What is the first letter?” Caroline coaxed her student.

  “G…G…ran…t…Grant!” She looked up for confirmation.

  “That’s right. Grant. And the next word?”

  “F…fails. Ag…again. ‘Grant Fails Again.’”

  “Very good, Dinah. Look at that. You’re reading the newspaper.”

  They were so excited neither of them heard the footsteps on the porch. The first indication they had they were not alone was the sound of a deep voice. “That’s a hanging offense.”

  “Luke!” Caroline jumped up from her seat next to Dinah. Excitement and fear fought for supremacy in her mind. One glance at his face was all it took for the fear to win out. He was angrier than she’d ever seen him. “Luke.” The second time she said his name, it was a plea for understanding.

  He took off his gray cap and slapped it against the stripe on his pants leg, his dark gaze boring into Dinah’s frightened face. He jerked his chin up and slightly back. “Get yourself to the big house. I’ll deal with you later.”

  “Yes, sir.” Dinah’s wide-eyed glance swung between Caroline and her husband.

  Caroline tried to reassure her with a smile, but her lips would not cooperate. A nod was all she could manage.

  Luke closed the door behind Dinah, his lips tightly compressed. Eyes blazing, he looked around the room, his gaze taking in all the details of the parlor she and Dinah had made comfortable. He grunted when he noticed the newspaper they had been using for their lesson. “Are you determined to bring us all down to your level, Caroline?”

  Caroline opened her mouth to tell him about how she and Dinah had become as close as sisters. Dinah wouldn’t cause any trouble. Perhaps she could make him understand. “I’m sorry, Luke. I was—”

  “I can see what you were doing. Do you have so little sense? Can you possibly think it is acceptable to teach a slave to read?” He stepped toward her and grasped her by the shoulders. “You’ve probably ruined Dinah. And if anyone else finds out she’s been taught to read, I’ll have to hang her. Do you want her death on your conscience?”

  A vision of her friend’s lifeless body hanging from the thick limb of an oak tree flashed into Caroline’s mind. She could almost hear the creak of the rope and the sobs of her husband and children.

  “Who knows what ideas you’ve put in that girl’s head?” Luke’s thunderous tones pulled her away from the horrible vision. “Ideas that could lead to sedition and insurrection. Can’t you understand the danger of a slave uprising? You and my grandmother could be murdered in your beds. Is that what you want?”

  “No.” Caroline swallowed hard and twisted away from his grasp. She didn’t want to hear any more. “Of course not.”

  She searched for a way to get through Luke’s anger and calm him enough so she could explain about Dinah’s wish to read from the Bible. Caroline wanted to share with him the joy o
f watching a new world open up for her friend, a world with endless delights and wonderful possibilities. A world all people, no matter their race, should be able to access.

  “Then why did you do this? You had to know it was wrong.” His eyebrows lowered even farther. “You brought her out here in secret. You lied to my grandmother about your reason for leaving the house. Is that any way to act?”

  Caroline felt the blow of his accusation as her own conscience condemned her. He was right. She had lied or at least obscured the truth. What kind of Christian was she? Her parents would be so disappointed. Tears of conviction threatened, but she was determined to hold them back. She needed to keep calm even though she wanted nothing more than to put her face in her hands and cry her eyes out. How else could she show him she was not a child?

  Luke strode to the window, his rigid back to her. “Caroline, I forbid you to teach Dinah or any other slave how to read and write. And you are not to come back out here again, at least not until I return home.” He turned around to her once more. The planes of his face were sharp, as hard as granite. “I don’t know what to think about you, Caroline. You’re not the girl I thought you were. You’re as deceitful as Delilah, eager to do anything to get your own way. I seem to only be capable of falling for women who do nothing but deceive me.”

  Caroline shook her head. He could not be saying what she thought. He could not be telling her he was sorry he had married her. Yes, she had faults. Many of them. And she still had so much to learn about how Luke wanted her to conduct herself.

  “I should have listened to Grandma’s advice and married Marianna Lister. Maybe I should return to Vicksburg and apologize for not realizing sooner what a paragon she really is.” He turned around and shoved his cap back onto his head. “I wish I’d never come.”

  The pain caused by his words was as sharp as the thrust of a sword. Her heart shattered into a million pieces. Unable to stay in the room with him another minute, she turned and ran from the parlor. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She stuffed her fist in her mouth to keep from bawling like a frightened calf and ran down the steps. It didn’t matter where she was headed. Caroline’s only thought was to put some distance between them.

  Branches slapped at her, but she continued running blindly until her breath came in gasps and her side screamed its pain. It wasn’t until she was forced to stop that Caroline realized no matter how fast or far she ran she could not get away from his words. The words she never thought she would hear Luke say. The words no woman should have to live with. Her husband wished he had married another woman.

  Caroline dragged herself up the front steps and fell against the door. Looking down, she realized her skirts were dirty and torn from her mad dash through the woods. Her hair was a mess, too. She put up a shaky hand to straighten it but couldn’t begin to make herself presentable. Maybe she could slip up to her room without being seen. Dinah would help…if Dinah was still allowed to tend to her.

  A sob broke past her lips. She turned the cold brass knob and slipped inside the hall she’d once thought cold and formal but now realized had become home to her. Was she about to lose the right to think of Shady Oaks as her home?

  “Caroline?” Grandma Darby descended the central staircase, her dark dress swaying around her as she rushed to the first floor. “Where have you been? Where’s Luke?”

  A seemingly endless supply of tears filled her eyes. “I—I don’t know.”

  “What’s happened? Was there an accident? Do I need to send someone for Luke?” She gasped and put a hand over her mouth. “He’s not dead, is he?”

  Caroline shook her head. “We had a fight. I think he’s g–gone.”

  Grandma Darby’s eyes widened. She looked around the foyer and pointed at one of the footmen. “Go get Dinah. Send her to Miss Caroline’s room with clean towels and fresh water.” She put a supporting arm around Caroline’s waist. “Let’s get you upstairs. Then you can tell me all about it.”

  She felt older than the woman helping her up the stairs. As though everything good in her life was behind her, the future unfolded before her weary eyes, bleak and void of happiness. Tears flowed once more.

  Grandma Darby pushed open the bedroom door with her free hand. “I don’t know what’s wrong, Caroline, but I know it can be fixed.”

  The colorful quilt atop her bed beckoned, but Caroline felt too grimy to yield. Instead she chose the straight-backed chair in front of her writing desk.

  Grandma Darby dabbed her handkerchief into the bowl of water on her dresser and used it to clean Caroline’s face. “You should not despair. You are a Christian. You know all things are possible for us. Jesus will see us through the hard times.”

  Another wave of shame engulfed Caroline. She was supposed to be a Christian. So where was her faith? A tiny glimmer of hope appeared in her mind, like a flickering candle in the vastness of the midnight sky. Her tears slowed, and she hiccupped.

  A knock on the door brought her head up. “Luke?” Hope and fear mingled in her chest.

  The door opened, and Dinah stepped through. “I’m so glad you’re back, miss. I worried about you.”

  Caroline stuffed the hope back down.

  Dinah put down her burdens and went to the chest holding Caroline’s clothing. “We’d better get you changed.”

  Grandma Darby and Dinah fussed over her, brushing her hair and removing her dirty clothing. She recounted the argument she had with Luke while they helped her bathe, cleaning the painful scrapes and scratches the forest had inflicted on her.

  “If it makes things any easier for you, you don’t have to tell me why the two of you have been disappearing into the woods every day.” Grandma Darby helped Caroline into a fresh gown. “I’ve seen the closeness between you, and I know about your background, Caroline—the antislavery leanings of your parents and grandparents. I suspect you’ve been teaching Dinah to read.”

  Caroline gasped. “You do?”

  Grandma Darby rolled her eyes. “I may be old, but I’m not senile, young lady. I can still reason out a thing or two.”

  “Of course you can.” Caroline leaned back against her pillows. “I’m just surprised you haven’t tried to stop us.”

  “Perhaps I should have, but everything seems to be changing, even the basic rules governing society. I suppose I decided to look the other way because I’m simply no longer certain that I’m right.”

  Even though she was worried about Luke and their future, a part of Caroline marveled over the change in his grandmother. She had gone from being petty and narrow-minded to a woman who was learning to tolerate, if not embrace, new ideas. “The next thing we’ll hear is that you want to set Dinah and the others free.”

  “Remember the day the runaway slaves appeared on our doorstep?” asked Grandma Darby.

  Caroline nodded, too weary to talk.

  Grandma Darby fussed with an edge of Caroline’s sheet. “I listened to those men talk about their emancipation, and I realized they were as determined as my husband to make their way in the world. It came to me that perhaps they deserved that chance. I’ll never forget the way you handled them either. You were wonderful.”

  Any other time, Caroline might have blushed at the complimentary words, but tonight she was far too weary. She watched as Grandma Darby and Dinah banked the fire in her fireplace. Then they blew out the candles and tiptoed out. She watched the dancing flames until they blurred and dimmed. Her last thought as sleep claimed her was that she had to reach Luke and convince him not to end their marriage.

  Chapter 14

  Her stomach heaved as Caroline sat up on the side of her bed. She lay back down and pulled her knees up toward her chin. It must be a reaction to all the emotional upheaval caused by Luke’s unexpected arrival. How she had hoped she would wake up and discover that the scene was nothing more than a nightmare. A headache pounded between her temples, and her eyes felt raw and swollen—indications that her hope was in vain.

  The door opened, and Dinah slipped in
side. She filled Caroline’s washbasin with fresh water and stoked the fire.

  Caroline sat up and tried to summon a smile. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning, Miss Caroline. I hope you slept well.”

  “I suppose so. But I feel pretty awful this morning.”

  Dinah’s brown eyes were sad. “I’m so sorry about all of this.”

  The concerned tone helped Caroline focus on something besides her own misery. She swung her legs over the side of the bed. “It’s not your fault. I wanted to teach you to read. But I should have approached it differently.”

  “How?”

  Caroline stood and pulled Dinah to her for a hug. “I don’t know. But you don’t have to worry about it. I’ll make sure you don’t suffer because of it.” After a momentary stiffness, Dinah relaxed and hugged her back. The contact eased Caroline’s grief slightly. She pulled back and wiped a tear from her cheek. “It’s going to be okay. I promise you that.”

  “I believe you.” Dinah sniffed and turned away. “Why don’t we get you dressed so you can go downstairs and eat?”

  Queasiness attacked her again at the thought of food, but Caroline swallowed hard against it. She had to go downstairs and begin mending the scraps of her life. She bathed her face in the warm water Dinah had brought. She chose a pale-blue dress, hoping to lift her spirits. But judging by the heaviness weighing on her shoulders as she descended the stairs, Caroline knew her plan had failed.

  “There you are, my dear.” Grandma Darby gave her a kind smile.

  The smell of fried bacon was usually a pleasant smell to Caroline, but this morning her stomach turned over. She nodded to her grandmother-in-law and slid into her seat, turning down a plate of eggs and bacon. “Just a piece of dry toast.”

  Grandma Darby frowned. “You’d better eat more than that. You’re going to need all your strength if we’re going to put my plan into action.”

  Caroline’s stomach shifted once more. She needed to turn Grandma Darby’s attention to something else. “What plan is that?”