Days of Gold

by Jude Deveraux

  “Mrs. Harcourt,” Captain Inges said as soon as they were on deck. “It has been a pleasure. I hope we meet again.”

  “Yes,” she said. “Maybe we’ll see each other here in town or in Virginia. Maybe—” She broke off because the captain had turned to look at the dock.

  “There it is!” he said. “I was beginning to wonder if the letter your husband sent me was correct or not.”

  “Letter?” she asked.

  “When he booked the passage. Surely, he told you.”

  “Yes, of course,” Edilean said, “but I guess I forgot.”

  “A woman in your condition can be forgiven lapses in memory,” he said, sounding like an adoring grandfather.

  Edilean had almost forgotten that she’d told Mr. Jones she was with child. All that seemed so long ago. Right now Angus was belowdecks supervising the removal of the trunks of gold and whatever else James had arranged to be shipped to the new country to use for his comfort and enjoyment. “What exactly was in the letter that you’re referring to?” she asked.

  “The green carriage. There it is.” He looked down at her and saw her lack of comprehension. Quickly, he glanced about, obviously looking for Angus. “I do hope I haven’t ruined a surprise. Your husband’s sister is to meet you here, and I was told to look for a dark green carriage with the crest of an earl on it. I can’t make out what it says on the side of that carriage, but I think it looks like the one, don’t you? But then, I’m sure you’ll recognize your sister-in-law.”

  “No,” Edilean said. “I’ve never met her.”

  “Oh, dear, I really have spoiled the surprise. I do apologize.”

  Edilean could only stare in fascination at the carriage. What did she do now? The gangplank hadn’t been put into place, so she couldn’t run. James’s sister? She hadn’t known he had a sister. A sister would know everything about her brother’s wife and about the gold and maybe, somehow, she was going to know that Edilean had drugged her brother and left him on a hotel floor. And, worse, she might somehow know that Angus was wanted for kidnapping.

  Edilean felt a strong hand on her shoulder and knew without looking up that Angus was there, and he knew what was going on.

  “Be calm,” he whispered. “We’ll fix this. We’ll get out of it.”

  She looked up at him. “I think you should go,” she said. “I think you should take the jewels and get out of here. I’ve done nothing wrong. I just took what belonged to me, but you stand accused of kidnapping, and I don’t think the court will believe me when I say that I went with you willingly. Go!”

  Angus didn’t move but stood beside her, his hand on her shoulder as he stared at the green carriage. It was so rich-looking that he wouldn’t be surprised if he were told it was the best one in all of Boston. He’d seen carriages like it before, and he was sure it had been made in England.

  “I’m not leaving you,” Angus said at last, his fingers tightening on her shoulder when the carriage door opened.

  Out stepped a woman who was tall and thin, and from the gray in her hair, she looked to be much older than James Harcourt. She shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand as she looked up at the ship, scanning the faces of the people standing at the side. Instinctively, Angus and Edilean stepped back out of her view.

  “You can’t go with me,” Edilean said, her hands on his chest. “You can’t let her see you. If she calls the authorities you could be put in jail.”

  Angus knew the truth of her words, and he also knew that if he had any sense at all, he’d take what he could carry in his hands and leave. But even knowing what could happen wouldn’t make him leave Edilean unprotected.

  “It may not be as bad as you think,” he said, “so I’ll stay with you until you know for sure what’s happening.”

  “You wouldn’t like to hire a wagon and take me and my gold with you to Virginia, would you?” she asked, only half in jest.

  “Nay,” he said softly and raised her hand to kiss the palm. “But know that I will miss you most dreadfully.”

  “Angus...” she began, but he wouldn’t let her finish the sentence.

  “We’ll walk down the gangplank together, but not touching. You can tell her that I’m a fellow passenger who looked after you during the voyage.”

  “And what do I say when she sees that her brother isn’t with me?”

  “Tell her he was delayed. If she knows him at all, she’ll know that he probably ran off with his drinking friends and wanted nothing to do with you.”

  “He might have let me leave alone but not with the trunks of gold.”

  Angus smiled. “You’re right in that, but maybe she doesn’t know that. My sister thinks that whatever I do is good, so maybe this woman feels the same way about her brother.”

  “But you do tend to do good,” she said, “so that means your sister knows you as you are.”

  Angus shook his head at her. “I will miss you every day. I will especially miss the way you look at me. Now, go! You must get to her before she meets the captain. See if you can tell one of your stories and make her think that all this was James’s idea.”

  She held on to Angus’s arm, not wanting to leave him. He thought she was kidding about the wagon and running off to Virginia, but she hadn’t been.

  “Come on,” Angus said. “You can do this. Remember that you hid in a coffin. That was worse than this is now.”

  “I was drugged,” she said, then her eyes brightened. “Do you have any more of that laudanum left? I could take some now and you could tell her that I died on the voyage over. You know, like in Romeo and Juliet. But wait! You probably don’t know that story. Why don’t we go back to the cabin and I’ll tell you the whole thing?”

  While she’d been talking, he was leading her to the gangplank. When they got into view of the carriage below, he took his hands off of her. “Straighten your back,” he said under his breath. “Margaret is not as good as I am at tying your corset strings. You should have let me continue to do that.”

  “Margaret leaves enough room for me to breathe, and you were enjoying it all too much for my taste.”

  Chuckling, Angus gave her one last push to go down the gangplank. He was just a few steps behind her but trying to look as though he barely knew her.

  The woman was standing at the bottom, looking up at her, watching every step Edilean took—and she was frowning.

  “You’re not the earl’s daughter,” the woman said when Edilean was in front of her. She was a handsome woman, midforties, much taller than Edilean, almost as tall as Angus, who was hovering nearby, looking with interest at the crates that were being unloaded. “You look more like the other one.”

  “I think I am,” Edilean said, then drew in her breath. She’d spent most of her life with females and out of necessity she’d learned to size them up quickly. “I’m the pretty one with the gold.”

  Edilean heard a soft groan of horror from Angus, who had his back to her.

  The tall woman gave a little smile. “So how did you get your gold out of my brother’s sticky hands?”

  “There are always men willing to rescue pretty girls with trunks full of gold.”

  “Such as this one who’s hovering around you now? Here! You. Yes, you,” she said when Angus turned to look at her. “You can go now. I’m not going to hurt her.”

  “She’s—” Angus began but the woman cut him off.

  “She’s here and I’m going to take care of her.” She looked back at Edilean. “Did you bring the gold?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good! I have a wagon to transport it to a bank vault. Everything is arranged.” She walked ahead to the carriage, then stood still as a uniformed footman held the door open for her. “Come along, I don’t have all day. There are people waiting.”

  “I think there’s been a mistake,” Edilean said, and went to the woman so she wouldn’t have to shout. “I’m not married to your brother,” she said quietly. “He married someone else. She—”

  “Yes,”
the woman said impatiently. “I know what he planned. He married one woman for her title but seduced another one for her dowry. His plan was to steal the dowry and keep the title. Did I miss anything?”

  “No,” Edilean said. “But it didn’t go that way. James did marry the earl’s daughter, but I found out what was going on—actually, I was told. I didn’t find out anything by myself. I trusted your brother completely.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” the woman said. “James has never done an honest thing in his life. The first words out of his mouth as a babe were lies.”

  “Oh, I see,” Edilean said.

  The woman was still looking at her with impatience. “Is there more?”

  “No,” Edilean said. “It’s just that there is no reason for you and me to... Well, to know each other.”

  The woman turned to look at Edilean. “I want to know any woman who can outdo my philandering, lying brother. And as for you, I would imagine that you ran off in a hurry, so do you have somewhere to stay in Boston?”

  “No,” Edilean said. She was beginning to like this woman and her forthright manner.

  “I have a house here. It’s not paid for, of course, because my brother had something to do with it, but I think you can remedy that. You can put yourself and that man who keeps hovering about you up in a hotel, but if you do that you will be besieged by men who you won’t know from Adam. You could find yourself once again swept off your feet by a handsome face.” As she said it, she looked directly at Angus, as though he were a man who was in pursuit of all that Edilean had.

  Edilean just stared at the woman, not sure what she should say. In her life she’d always had weeks to make a decision. One Christmas she’d had three invitations and she’d taken four weeks to make up her mind. But since the night her uncle took her from school, it seemed that every decision she’d made had been done with the speed of lightning.

  The woman was scowling at Edilean, waiting for her to decide to get into the carriage or not. When the younger woman didn’t move, the older one gave a sigh. “I’m Harriet Harcourt. I am forty-two years old, a spinster largely because my family scared away every suitor I ever had. I have no income and no hope of one. I participated in this latest scheme of his because it was either that or live with my cousin who hates me and would have worked me to death. James sent me to America months ago to get a house ready for him and whichever bride he showed up with. The house has been secured with only the tiny bit of money he gave me, and if I do not pay the rest within a week, I’ll be thrown out into the streets.”

  She looked at Edilean. “Does that answer your questions about me?”

  “I think so.” Edilean hesitated. Angus still had his back to her and she was waiting for him to say something, but she wasn’t sure what. She had a hope that he might turn, pull her into his arms, and say that he couldn’t live without her and to please go to Virginia with him. Instead, he turned slightly toward her and gave a curt nod. He was giving her permission to go with the woman. And he nodded toward the trunks of gold in a way that let her know he’d make sure they were taken to a bank.

  Minutes later, Edilean was in the carriage, sitting on its beautiful dark red leather seats, and looking across at Miss Harcourt.

  “Do you know if James will come to Boston soon?” Edilean asked.

  “How can he? He has no money nor does his wife.” She gave a bit of a smile. “Wouldn’t it be tragic if he had to go out and get a job?”

  Edilean saw the fine lines around the woman’s eyes begin to crinkle and in the next moment they were laughing together. In spite of all that James Harcourt had done to both of the women, he was the one who’d lost, not them.

  They stopped in front of a tall, narrow building that was close to several others and set on a pretty, tree-lined street.

  When Edilean paused on the steps into the house and looked about her, Harriet said, “What is it?”

  “Nothing. I just...” She trailed off. She could have sworn she’d seen Angus, but of course she hadn’t. By now he was probably trying to sell the jewels so he could run off to Virginia and put many miles between him and the woman who’d caused all his life’s problems.

  “Well, then, come inside and we’ll go over business.”

  “Business?” Edilean asked.

  “Yes, certainly. What you’re going to pay me for being your housekeeper and looking after you and this house that you’re going to buy.”

  “I see,” Edilean said and glanced up at all four stories of it. She held up her skirt as they went inside. The house was sparsely decorated and what was there was in the most somber taste imaginable.

  “As you can see,” Harriet said, “I didn’t buy much furniture. I didn’t have the money and I had no idea what an earl’s daughter would want. I hope you don’t want gilt mirrors and gold frames on the chairs.”

  “No,” Edilean said. “I rather like Chippendale. I’ve seen a lot of his work in other people’s houses, and I like it.”

  “Then I hope you can draw what you want so we can have it made here. Now, about finding you a husband. I haven’t had much time to think on it, but I know a few men who might do very well as possible suitors.”

  “Husband,” Edilean said, as though she’d never heard the word before.

  “Yes. That’s what you want, isn’t it? That’s what you were after with my brother, wasn’t it?”

  “I thought I was in love with him,” Edilean said as they walked into the parlor. There were two high-backed chairs upholstered in a heavy red fabric and a tiny tea table, but nothing else in the room.

  “Yes, of course. My brother’s face is easy to love. It’s when you get to know him that he becomes intolerable. Are you hungry? We could have tea in this room.”

  “Tea would be lovely,” Edilean said as she sat down on a chair and looked about the room. The windows were bare and she could see the people walking by outside. Several passersby looked in at them in curiosity.

  When Harriet left the room, Edilean collapsed against the back of the chair. Curtains, tea, Harriet, male suitors, James’s face, it all seemed to whirl around and around in her head until she thought she might faint.

  When Harriet returned with a tray full of tea and little cookies that she had herself baked, Edilean was leaning against the chair and sound asleep. Harriet put the tray on the table, took the chair across from her, looked at the young woman, and nibbled on a cookie.

  The truth was that Harriet was very glad that her odious brother hadn’t shown up with an earl’s daughter. In fact, she was glad that her brother hadn’t shown up at all. She’d already decided that tonight she’d write him a letter saying that she’d met the ship he was supposed to be on but he hadn’t been there with the gold as he’d said he would be. As a result, Harriet’d had to get out of the house she’d rented and was now living with a nasty old woman as a paid companion. Better yet, maybe she’d say she was working as a housekeeper for a widower with six children. She’d say most anything that she thought would keep James from coming to America and ruining what could turn out to be a very good job.

  When Edilean moved in her sleep, Harriet smiled. She was such a pretty girl, and with her wide eyes she looked as though everything in life was a wonder to her. Harriet tiptoed into the little sitting room off the kitchen, picked up a cotton quilt, and took it back to spread over Edilean. Poor dear, she was probably tired to death.

  For a moment Harriet stood over her, then reached out and tucked a strand of Edilean’s hair behind her ear. If she’d had a daughter she would want her to look exactly like this young girl.

  “We’ll do fine,” she whispered. “We’ll make a life for ourselves as best we can.” Smiling, she went into the kitchen to see about dinner. Maybe now that they had some money they’d be able to hire a cook.

  14

  EDILEAN WAS ASLEEP in the new bed she’d bought from the cabinetmaker, under the new sheets she’d bought straight off a ship as it came in from France. On the table were d
ishes and a lamp from estate sales. The huge chest of drawers had come from an auction of a man who was going back to England. To get the bed hangings, she’d had to drive three hours across roads that were hardly roads at all to the farm of the woman who’d embroidered them.

  When Edilean heard the noise at the window, she paid no attention to it, just fluttered her lashes, and went back to sleep. Even when the lamp was lit, she still didn’t wake. But when the hand went over her mouth, she woke up in alarm and tried to scream.

  “It’s just me, lass.”

  She felt the big, warm hand over her mouth, and when she felt Angus’s body next to hers on the bed, she flung her arms around him, and the tears began as she clutched on to him, her head against his chest. She could hear his heart pounding. “I thought you’d gone away to Virginia and that I’d never, ever see you again. It’s been months and months since I saw you, and—”

  “Sssh, lass,” he said, stroking her hair. “It’s only been six weeks. Has your life been that bad to make you think it was so long?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I mean, no, it hasn’t been bad, but I was used to seeing you every day.” She was clutching onto him with all her might, but he hadn’t put his arms around her. One hand was on the bed and the other was at her hair.

  She moved her head away to look at him. He hadn’t shaved in days and his eyes looked worried. “What’s wrong?”