by Jerri Hines
Soldiers abounded in the foyer and out to the lawn. She looked back at Joseph and then at General Durham. His eyes blazed upon her.
The core of her being shook. Her legs weakened, but she urged them on. She would show no fear.
“What is this, General? I hope you don’t expect me to feed all of these men?”
Instantly, she knew he didn’t care for her humor.
“I don’t think you will have to be concerned about that.” He motioned for her to go into the study. “I believe we need to talk once more.”
Jane walked into the study to find Colonel Leckie standing behind the desk with a map in front of him. The room was crowded with men she had never seen before in her life. Pulling her wrap tighter about her, she walked to the window and gripped her trembling hands in an effort to stop their shaking.
The door slammed. Turning back, Jane cringed at the sight of General Durham.
“So, Mrs. Meador, I believe you have much to explain.”
Her eyes widened. She took a deep breath, but made no response, only turning her back to him.
She didn’t hear him walk to her side, but she felt the hand on her arm that jerked her about to face him. A cry escaped her.
“Don’t touch me, General!” she cried. “I have no idea what this is all about or what you want of me! You bring the whole of the British army to threaten me.”
“I’m not playing games anymore,” he declared fiercely. “Sit down! Now.”
Jane eyed the door. Durham stepped between her and her intention and took her by the shoulders. In a swift motion he threw her upon the couch. From the corner of her eye, she saw Joseph move toward her, then stop.
“I will make this simple. Did you meet with your husband last night?”
“How could I have done so? I am followed by a brigade.”
“I will ask one more time, but let me say this first. We have found the widow’s cook, what was her name…Donia? It seems she asked to find shelter within these walls last night.” His temper rose as did his voice. “It was strange when we searched the widow’s house and grounds this morning. We found a tunnel. Tell me now, Mrs. Meador that…”
His voice faded into the background. She had begun to smell an odor—smoke! She looked out the window and from her view, a pillar of smoke appeared in the distance. She rose and rushed to the window.
“You set Widow Hanson’s house on fire?” Terror surged within her. Her voice faltered, “Tell me, please, she wasn’t in the house. Oh, God, no! Her servants?”
She stared at General Durham. Her head hurt. The smell. The cries. Everything became blurred.
A distant voice called to her. “Jane, run! It is a raid. They have cut down Troy,” her grandfather pleaded.
“I can’t leave you, Grandfather,” she cried, as two men rushed into the bedroom, dragging the old man down the stairs. The house was barraged with assailants. Dishes crashed to the floor, breaking into a million pieces. Chairs bashed against the wall. Pictures hung crooked or broken. Her hands clung desperately to her grandfather. Someone laughed harshly and forcibly removed her hold.
“Mrs. Meador, I won’t ask again. Do you want more harm to incur upon those you know?” General Durham asked.
She tried to focus, fighting her mind. Flashes emerged of Reese jumping on the one that had held her. Oh, my God! No! A sword thrust through the air. Blood spewed everywhere, drenching her in her cousin’s blood.
She looked down at her hands. They were clean. What was happening to her?
“What is the matter with you?” a voice trailed in the distance. “It won’t save…”
Crawling to Troy’s side, he gurgled and gasped for air. Blood, pieces of…
She looked away. From the corner of her eye, Joseph walked forward.
Joseph, she saw Joseph on his horse riding like a mad man. A voice commanded, “Leave no one alive.”
He cried out, “Do her no harm, you damn fool! I will run you through myself. What the hell have you done?”
More yelling, screaming. Was it her that was screaming? Someone was calling to her. “Jane, Jane, come back to me! Oh, my God, what has happened?”
Did she feel the sensation of being carried? Her eyes opened. Smoke choked her. The house was afire. Her home…her family was gone.
A hand took hers. “Jane. Jane.”
She looked up. To her dismay, she found herself lying on the settee with Joseph holding her hand. She quickly withdrew it.
Trying to sit, her head spun. Fighting back the dizziness, she knew only the immediate urge to leave. Holding her head in her hands, her eyes slowly focused, but she had already felt their eyes upon her.
They all must think me mad. I don’t care let them!
Jane rose, refusing Joseph’s offer to help her stand. Her mind cleared. She straightened her dress out and patted back her hair. She had to regain her composure and quickly.
“You have pushed her too far. I have seen this before with others who have lived through hell,” Colonel Leckie said, standing between her and the General. “Let her collect herself. My God, have some compassion!”
“Compassion leads to defeat,” General Durham said sharply. “I have been burned too many times by that damn word.” He stepped toward Jane, but Joseph stepped before him.
“I want Sumner as much or more than you, General, but this isn’t right. She hasn’t done anything!”
“What? A Williamson telling me I’ve gone too far! I think not.”
Jane walked around Colonel Leckie. “Do what you will, General. I have found I have no control of your actions. If you want my life, take it. For the answer you seek will not come from me.”
She walked toward the door, waiting for someone to stop her. No one did. She left the room and headed up the stairs.
An ominous feeling overwhelmed her. The general’s eyes betrayed the knowledge that she would soon pay for the frustration the British felt. She needed to prepare…she needed to get to Caleb and make sure he was safe.
She hadn’t much time. When she was safely out of sight, she ran back to her room. Relief flooded her as Caleb, for once, had minded. He sat upon the bed dressed for the day with Roscoe by his side.
“Mother, what is wrong?”
“Caleb, I need you to listen to me. I have an adventure for the both of you boys. Would you like such?”
* * * *
Sumner didn’t like it. She was late. Where was she? Why hadn’t she come?
With the burning of Widow Hanson’s house, a message had been sent to Sumner. He received it—he had greatly underestimated the British’s desire to capture him.
He had made a tremendous mistake. In his arrogance, he thought he could outsmart the British. He had only succeeded in endangering his family.
His anger grew. To use Jane so! But in truth, it was his own fault. In his own arrogance, he thought he could outsmart the British. He had only succeeded in endangering his own family.
He waited alongside Elijah. His friend didn’t have to tell him that their mission had been compromised. Retrieving Rebekah was in itself a formidable task, now loomed a much bigger challenge.
When he had first seen the smoke, he had feared it was Elm Bluff. The closer he came, he realized it was the widow’s house. He watched it burn from a distance as the British held back Widow Hanson from running back to her home.
“I’m going in. I can’t sit back…” Sumner shook his head in disgust. “I have made a mess of this. I need to fix this.”
“Wait, my friend. Don’t be foolish. What is Durham going to do? You are not a mere Patriot fugitive. He can’t burn the plantation. He would have to answer back in England. He may suspect, but what can he do to your wife and son? He is going to hold her for seeing her husband? What law is there against that? There are already many rumblings of discontent. It would add to it greatly, Sumner. The general won’t be rash. So we won’t.”
“Since when of late, does it have to be held to the law, Elijah?”
“Ssh….” Elijah pointed to the clearing. Sounds could be heard, running feet, mumbling. Two small boys appeared holding fishing poles in their hands, followed by Israel.
“Hold, Master Caleb,” Israel said. “What did your mother tell you?” He looked nervously over his shoulder. “We don’t have time—”
“She told me that I needed to go fish,” Caleb stated in a loud voice. “She told me to find you and take you with us. He would come and we would go.”
“I don’t know, Master Caleb. Are you sure you are not on one of your adventures?”
“No, he’s not, Israel,” Sumner said, emerging out of the bushes. “We don’t have time. Hurry. They will suspect.”
Caleb dropped his fishing pole. He took Roscoe’s hand and ran to Sumner’s side. Behind the boys, Israel looked around anxiously.
Sumner had never seen Israel in such a state. With all the two had been through, the large, black man never once faltered. It scared him.
Bending over, Sumner picked up his boy. The son he had not seen in years. Caleb made no protest, accepting him without question as if it was the most normal of things. Jane.
Waiting only for Elijah to mount up, he handed Caleb to his friend, and then Roscoe.
“Take them back to the Jenkins’. I’ll wait for Jane.”
Israel shook his head. “I’m sorry, Master Sumner. I’m sorry. She’s not coming.”
“No,” Sumner said emphatically. “I will go back and—”
“She’s not there,” Israel said in a low voice. “We need to hurry, for I imagine they will be upon us soon enough. We need to leave now.”
Sumner stared at his son and nodded slowly. “Come. We will go.”
* * * *
Deep down an old dirt road that wasn’t much more than a path sat a deserted log cabin. It served no more than a shelter from the rain, if that. The roof had a multitude of holes; the porch had long rotted away with the door sitting to the side of the opening.
Sumner reined in his horse. Their progress had been slow, too many people, not enough horses. The boys rode with Elijah, Israel with him. Israel jumped off first and helped the boys.
Disheartened, Sumner slowly dismounted. Caleb walked over to his father’s side as Sumner took the reins and tied them to a branch. He sighed heavily and walked around the backside of the horse. Beside him, Sumner heard his son sigh also and keep up step for step.
Sumner looked down at the reflection of himself. “Do you know who I am?”
“My father. Mother told me you would be at the creek. She sent me on a mission to save you. Did I do so?”
Sumner eyed him questionably. “What did she say?”
“She told me this morn to stay away from the soldiers. Sometimes, she says things and I do them anyway, but I didn’t this morn.”
“Why is that?”
“’Cause the Red Coats came. They were all over the place. I don’t like ’em, except for the colonel. He’s funny.”
Sumner bent down upon his knees. “What did your mother ask you to do?”
“She said she was scared for you. They want to take you away, Father. Mother said to get my fishing pole with Roscoe. If anyone stopped me I was to throw a fit. To say I was promised to fish this morning. I knew what she meant. I did it, too.”
“I saw, Master Caleb. A fine display. Crying and screaming was a fine touch. Soldiers wanted nothing to do with him,” Israel said. “He was very convincing, for I thought he was serious. I didn’t know.”
Sumner’s attention turned to Israel. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. I woke and the Red Coats were everywhere. I tried to get back to Mistress Jane, Master Sumner, but they were searching for me as well. She sent me a message to hide in the curing house. Master Caleb found me there. He wanted me to take him fishing. I wasn’t going to except he said Mistress Jane said it was to find you. He told me that his mother said I was to go with him no matter what.
“I had no choice, Master Sumner. I had to take care of the boy.”
Rising, Sumner rubbed his forehead. “What of Jane?”
Israel looked down at Caleb. Sumner knew he didn’t want to say in front of the boy. Sumner nodded to Elijah, who took the boys by their hands around the other side of the horses.
“I heard ’em talking,” Israel said in a low voice. “They wanted to hang me up, Master Sumner.”
His patience worn thin, Sumner snapped, “What of Mistress Jane?”
“They have her, Master Sumner.” Israel’s voice faltered. “They threatened her. She refused to talk. They wanted only for her to say you were here, that she had seen you.”
“My God! Israel…Jane!”
“They took her, Master Sumner.” Israel finally acknowledged. “They took her under guard into Charles Town. The Red Coats arrested her for treason.”
Chapter 15
Katy Landor had kept her word. Rebekah was at the Peytons’ Charles Town home, pacing nervously in the drawing room. Her friend’s hands were red and chafed from the constant wringing. Katy had never seen Rebekah so anxious.
Rebekah was in trouble, ensnared by her actions. The two friends had faced many hardships, but this one promised to pull them apart. Over the years, they had become like sisters, more so than the poor excuse of one she had—Randa. Rebekah had never betrayed her.
When Rebekah moved to Charles Town from Philadelphia, a bond formed between the two of them. Few knew that Rebekah’s beloved father, Rodger Morse, had been killed as a spy for the Patriot cause, shot in the back. Katy was aware and knew that Rebekah felt the loss deeply.
Katy hadn’t Rebekah’s courage, but even after all Rebekah had gone through, unthinkable atrocities and heart-wrenching decisions, Katy found she envied Rebekah. Perhaps, though, it was Rebekah’s relationship with her husband, Dr. Jonathan Corbett, the infamous fighting doctor that she coveted.
Maybe Katy wanted to be more like Rebekah, caring and gracious. Maybe if she had forgiven Ernest…but it had been an impossibility. She could never get the vision out of her head—a naked Randa in bed with her fiancé. Ernest’s plea for forgiveness had insulted her.
Despair tore at Katy’s soul, replacing the love she had felt with an utmost hatred for her once dearly loved sister. Randa! Why, she longed to ask. Why? Randa had everything she had wanted in her life handed to her, but, then again, Katy surmised—her sister wanted everyone as miserable as she had made herself.
Randa had only herself to blame. Hadn’t Sumner begged her, pleaded with her to marry him? She turned her back upon him and married the poor pathetic creature, William Peyton. A spineless man, if ever she had met one…since the day Sumner’s sister, Cathryn Blankenship, had spurned him.
Katy didn’t know how Rebekah saved Jonathan when Charles Town was first occupied. She had been consumed with the chaos of the occupation, the terror and fear of the unknown. What had been clear, oh, so clear had been the absolute steadfastness of the British never to have the annoying Dr. Corbett under their skin anymore. Intent upon a permanent solution, Jonathan had been sentenced to hang. Rebekah could not accept the verdict.
Rebekah made a deal with the devil, notorious Loyalist raider, Black Rory, and somewhere in the middle of the arrangement, General Durham had become involved. Jonathan had been infuriated, but he had lived.
Loving Jonathan as a child growing up in Philadelphia, Rebekah had continued to love him from afar when he married another. Katy wasn’t certain how the two met up again or in what circumstance.
There was a piece of Rebekah’s life she refused to talk about even to Katy, but Katy was aware of rumors swirling around Rebekah about Black Rory. Since that day, a small piece of Katy wondered why Rebekah had formed a strange, odd sort of relationship with General Durham. Rebekah admitted only that is was born from necessity, but that scared Katy, for she realized that Rebekah was deceiving him—Rebekah was working for the Patriots.
Rebekah had been apprehensive since receiving word of the arrest of Eli Smithson and Jane Mea
dor. Danger loomed on the horizon. It was only a matter of time before Eli’s tongue would wag. Unlike Rebekah, she didn’t have faith in Eli’s loyalty.
Rebekah was the one person Katy couldn’t deceive. Katy knew what Rebekah had been doing, working against the British. Katy lived in constant fear of Rebekah being discovered. The British gave no leniency toward spies, even if the traitor in their eyes was female. Katy didn’t know what she would do if Rebekah was caught.
She told herself that Rebekah had to leave, but she didn’t know what she would do without her friend. Katy needed Rebekah.
Katy needed Rebekah so desperately, to keep the darkest part of her soul from coming to light. Rebekah refused to see the selfish soul Katy truly was. Rebekah—her conscience, her guide! Rebekah had faith in Katy that she didn’t have in herself.
Poor Rebekah doesn’t see how weak I am. I haven’t her strength.
She had decided she would try to continue on Rebekah’s path. Had she not ridden out to meet with Sumner? She supposed it was a beginning.
Sumner was so taken with his new wife, Jane. That poor woman…who looked like a trapped animal at the dinner party. Although, she smiled remembering the look upon Randa’s face when she caught sight of the girl—a beauty to rival her own! It had not happened often, if ever.
“Sumner will come tonight,” Katy said in a low voice, trying to instill within her dear friend courage she didn’t feel herself. “He won’t turn his back upon you now. I have known him all of my life.”
“He doesn’t have time to rescue me. He needs to deal with his wife, Katy. You don’t understand.”
“And you do? General Durham is not one to taunt. He wants Sumner and will do anything to get him. It is obvious he wants Sumner to trade himself for his wife. Truly, what can they do to Jane? She has done nothing. We know that.”
“General Durham has become obsessed with capturing Sumner. He holds him responsible for a terrible deed. Nothing I have said has deterred his conclusion. I have gone to the general, but he would not listen. Moreover, the British become more frustrated with each passing day. General Durham is driven to capture Sumner no matter the cost. He means to make an example. He is not playing a game. I fear his frustration will be felt by the innocent.”
