‘So when you returned…’
‘The woman I loved belonged to another man,’ James shut his eyes as if to shut out the pain. ‘I felt so betrayed, I’m ashamed to admit I blamed her. When your brother Logan was born nine months later I crawled to the end of a bottle of hard spirits and stayed there for the next three years. There was a chance I may have never sobered up, I certainly didn’t want to.’
‘Why did you then?’
‘Illness swept through the village and surrounding areas, apparently some kind of pestilence brought in on one of the ships. By the time it had run its course half the colony were dead. Neither my parents nor hers survived. I didn’t have a choice, I had to sober up and take over the orchard otherwise I wouldn’t be able to afford to drink myself into oblivion. Slowly I began to re-join the living, resigning myself to a life without Emmy. But this place isn’t that large and our paths were constantly crossing as we tried to help the village rebuild itself and recover the loss of so many of our neighbors. I avoided her as much as I could. It was torture every time I saw her and her little boy but I could see how much she was hurting and her pain was more than I could bear. It was only then I realized how much she’d suffered and the lengths her own father had gone to, to see her married to Beckett.’
‘What do you mean?’ Theo asked suspiciously.
‘I should have known Emmy would never have betrayed me, she would never have agreed to marry him.’
‘Then how did she end up married to him?’
‘From what I understand Emmy and her father fought terribly when she refused to marry Matthias but her he overrode all her objections,’ his voice betrayed his anger. ‘And then he tricked her into drinking a calming draught he had bought from Goody Giles. It is a draught used to calm those afflicted with an illness of the mind. It is supposed to inflict a kind of dreamy lassitude. She was barely aware of what was going on around her when he married her to Matthias without her consent. By the time she came to her senses it was already done and that bastard had already…’
He broke off unable to finish his sentence, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what Matthias Beckett had done to his new bride while she was still practically unconscious and unable to fight him off.
Theo dropped his head into his hands, gripping his hair so tightly a sharp pain speared across his scalp. He’d thought his opinion of his so called father, Matthias Beckett, could get no lower but it seems he was wrong. It killed him to think of the suffering his mother had endured at the hands of that monster.
‘It was done,’ James breathed out painfully, ‘they were man and wife before God. There was nothing either of us could do. We tried to ignore our feelings and slowly we began to rebuild our friendship.’
‘But you became lovers’ Theo frowned, ‘you committed adultery. She broke her sacred vows.’
‘I know,’ James shook his head slowly, ‘we never meant for it to happen. We tried to fight it but in the end we couldn’t.’
‘Is that it?’ Theo replied coldly. ‘You left her there with that monster and used her for your own gratification.’
‘It wasn’t like that,’ James replied angrily, ‘I begged her to leave with me, to run away, even before you and your sister were born. I wanted to take both her and your brother away. I even booked passage on a ship back to England where we could disappear. I would have given up everything I had ever known for her, but she wouldn’t leave.’
‘Why not?’
‘She never gave me an answer,’ he shook his head in frustration, ‘she just said she had to stay in Salem no matter what happened.’
‘She had visions, powerful ones?’ Theo asked.
James nodded his head.
‘Do you think she saw something? Something that stopped her from leaving?’
‘If she did, she would never tell me what it was,’ James sighed. ‘It killed me Theo. You have to understand, knowing that she was married to Matthias was bad enough but when you were born it absolutely destroyed me. Knowing that you were mine and that I had no claim on you, knowing that you would be raised by that bastard and it only got worse when your sister was born. Then Emmy died, I had no access to you, no claim. I even considered stealing you away in the night but…’
His voice once again trailed off.
‘So you really are my father,’ Theo asked after a moment.
‘Yes,’ James replied quietly. ‘I know in the eyes of God and society what we did was considered a sin, my soul may be damned for all I know but I don’t regret a single moment I spent loving your mother. She was everything to me, every single beat of my heart, every breath I took. The only thing keeping me from following her to the grave was my love for you and your sister.’
Theo looked up at the man beside him, studying him intently.
‘You love me?’
‘Yes I do,’ he replied, his eyes dark, ‘you are my son. I have loved you from the moment you were born, even before that. I placed my palms on your mother’s swollen belly and felt you move beneath my hands, so restless, so impatient to be born and I loved you so much. I wish with all my heart things could have been different, that I could have been the father you deserved but I’m here now and if you’ll let me I can be your father now.’
Theo turned away, his hands trembling as he pulled in a shaky breath.
‘I need…’ he shook his head, ‘I need to be alone right now.’
‘Theo I…’ James broke off abruptly at the sound of a horse approaching. Not wanting anyone to see Theo he climbed to his feet. Dusting the leaves from his clothes and reluctantly giving Theo the space he required, he headed across the rows of trees towards the noise.
‘Morning James,’ a familiar voice called out.
James relaxed as he recognized the rider approaching. The man sat comfortably relaxed in his saddle, a confident smile playing on his lips.
‘Justin,’ he smiled in greeting, ‘what brings you out this way?’
‘A visit to an old friend’ he laughed, as he swung down out of the saddle.
‘It’s a long way for a visit,’ he inquired curiously.
Justin laughed again good naturedly. ‘Sarah is with child again.’
‘A cause for celebration,’ James shook his hand, ‘such a blessing.’
‘That it is,’ he nodded, ‘perhaps this time it will be a boy.’
‘God willing,’ James nodded.
‘Anyway Sarah insists she must have some of your apple and peach cider.’
James laughed. ‘You rode all the way from Salem Town to fetch some of my cider for your wife?’
‘Aye,’ he replied somewhat sheepishly, ‘and perhaps some of your applejack for the girls.’
‘Ah,’ James smiled wistfully. He knew his friend doted on his wife and two young daughters and the part of him that was still raw from talking about his past, lamented on the fact that he’d never had the chance to do that with his beloved Emmy and their children. ‘How are Mercy and Hope?’
‘Growing like weeds,’ Justin laughed.
‘Come up to the house and have a drink,’ James invited.
‘Thank you,’ James pulled on the bit, encouraging his horse to trot obediently beside him as they walked companionably past the rows of trees. ‘I must admit it has been a long ride.’
‘How are things in town?’
‘The same,’ Justin chuckled as he shook his head, ‘rowdy.’
‘Something should be done,’ James frowned.
‘Aye it should,’ he agreed. ‘I have a cousin who has sent word from Boston where he settled with his wife and sons. The watch they established there to keep order appears to be extremely successful by all accounts.’
‘Do you think something like that would work in Salem?’
‘I think it would,’ Justin nodded. ‘One constable, six watchmen and a few volunteers should maintain some sort of order.’
‘Perhaps you should bring it to the attention of the
magistrate.’
‘Me?’ Justin laughed shaking his head, ‘I am just a humble merchant and I fear not up to the task.’
‘I think you would be perfect,’ James shrugged. ‘You are an honorable man, you are well liked and well respected. I think you’d be the perfect choice for the post of constable. I know there’s no one I’d trust more.’
As they walked in a comfortable silence towards the house Justin frowned in concentration, wondering if James’ ridiculous idea actually had merit.
Olivia sat thoughtfully staring into her empty cup, hoping that Theo and James were coming to terms. She knew it was a lot to expect Theo to accept, after all it was not the way he was raised. To learn after all this time his mother was not the woman he thought she was and that he was in actual fact another man’s bastard, it was hurting him and she couldn’t bear to see him hurt. She wished desperately she could help but knew that this was something he had to work through in his own time, just as she had when she’d learned her mother was not only alive but a psychotic killer and that her father had lied to her for most of her life. It left her feeling helpless and she didn’t like it one bit.
Her fingers tapped out a restless staccato on the table top and she wondered idly if she should go looking for them. She stood abruptly, intending to grab her shawl and search the orchard for them, but as she turned she jolted in surprise. She was not alone.
‘Tituba?’ Olivia gasped, her hand on her thundering heart. ‘You startled me.’
The beautiful slave woman stood calmly in front of her, her blue eyes sharply fixed on Olivia who could have sworn for a moment she could smell the briny scent of tropical seas and hear the crash of the waves upon the sand.
‘Olivia’ she spoke slowly, her lilting musical accent putting emphasis on the ‘O’ in her name.
‘How did you get in here?’ Olivia’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
‘You are not the only one with gifts,’ she replied in amusement. ‘I wanted to speak with you alone.’
She seemed different Olivia realized, ‘she didn’t have the submissive posture and tone of a slave, not as she had the day they had met at Samuel Parris’ house. Then again Tituba had witnessed her pulling demon fire from her unconscious friend, so she supposed that was bound to change her perspective of her.
‘Can I offer you a drink?’
Tituba’s mouth curved in amusement. ‘A white woman offerin’ a black woman a drink? A black slave?’
‘I’m not like the others,’ Olivia shrugged.
‘I see dat,’ she shook her head, ‘I can’t let anyone find me here.’
‘Tituba why did you come?’
‘I come to warn you,’ her blue eyes burned, ‘the demon fire you release the other night lingers still, its scent upon the air. Others have noticed.’
‘Others?’ Olivia frowned, ‘who?’
‘The one with dark eyes, the one they call Nathaniel. He feels its power caught in the air, like a fly in a spider’s web. He is drawn to its power.’
Olivia’s eyes narrowed as she studied the young woman. Something in her voice, in the way she referred to Nathaniel made her slightly suspicious.
‘You know what he is don’t you?’
Tituba stared at Olivia, her lips thinning. ‘I know what he is and I know what he want. You do not belong here Olivia and the longer you stay the more dangerous it become for you and for your friends.’
‘I can’t leave,’ Olivia shook her head, ‘not yet. It’s complicated.’
‘Not so complicated I think,’ she stepped forward slowly her voice soft and lulling. She reached out her slender finger, trailing it lightly down Olivia’s throat to her clavicle and then reaching beneath her open collar. Her finger hooked around the delicate gold chain and drew it out slowly, revealing the compass Olivia had concealed beneath her clothes.
‘This…’ Tituba balanced the intricate compass on her fingertips.
Olivia snatched it from her and grasped it protectively in her fist, her eyes widening.
‘How do you know about that?’
‘I feel its power,’ she replied easily. ‘It is old, ancient, one of a kind and yet…part of a whole.’
‘That makes no sense’ Olivia frowned, ‘besides it doesn’t work.’
She nearly added ‘outside the Underworld,’ to that statement but caught herself just in time. Tituba might be a woman with power of her own but she was still, at the heart of it, a 17th century slave and Olivia seriously doubted she’d be able to accept half the things Olivia had seen or experienced.
‘It will work for you’ Tituba insisted, ‘if you take the time to learn its secrets.’
Olivia tucked the compass back into her clothes, effectively ending the conversation.
‘I must go now before I am missed.’
Olivia nodded, watching silently as she slipped back through the doorway.
‘Be very careful with her Olivia.’ At the sound of the familiar voice her face broke into a wide smile. She spun around to find Sam standing behind her. Stooped slightly in exhaustion and wrapped in a blanket he offered her a small smile, his dimples winking to life.
‘SAM!’ she rushed to him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him in for a hug. ‘I was so worried about you,’ her brow folded into a frown, ‘and what do you mean be careful of her?’
‘She’s not what she seems,’ he told her seriously.
‘What do you mean?’
‘So what did I miss?’ he suddenly changed the subject.
Deciding not to push him for an answer, she led him to the table and nodded for him to take a seat. Maybe if he understood how Tituba had helped her to heal him he might be less distrustful of her. So she poured him a cup of James’ delicious peach and apple cider and filled him in on everything that had happened since the moment they’d crash landed in James’ Orchard. From meeting Temperance and James, to visiting Samuel Parris, drawing the demon fire from Sam’s body with the guidance of Tituba and finally figuring out James was Theo’s biological father.
‘Wow,’ Sam’s brows rose in surprise, ‘it seems I slept through quite a bit.’
‘Understatement,’ Olivia muttered.
Sam sat for a moment silently staring into his empty cup.
‘Demon fire?’ he asked after a moment
‘Yeah,’ Olivia replied.
‘What was it like?’ he leaned forward, his eyes lighting with interest.
‘Terrifying,’ she replied quietly. ‘It was like being poised on the highest peak of the universe’s scariest roller coaster, feeling that moment when you plunge, almost as if you’re suspended in a single moment of time. Your breath is trapped in your lungs so you can’t even scream, so you hang on tightly, white knuckling it, and praying to whatever God you believe in that you’re not going to die. I have never felt so out of control in my entire life.’
‘Olivia,’ he blew out a breath, ‘you’re damn lucky it didn’t kill you. It is the most violent and unstable of all the elemental fires. It can’t be controlled and anyone who has ever been foolish enough to try and master it has been torn apart.’
‘Shit,’ Olivia swore under her breath.
‘Yeah, not a good area for experimentation.’
‘Just do me a favor okay and don’t mention it to Theo. It’ll just freak him out and he’s got enough to deal with right now.’
Sam nodded.
They both looked up as the latch rattled and the door opened. Olivia’s eyes widened in surprise and for a second she had to do a double take of the achingly familiar tall blonde man who walked into the house beside James.
‘Justin, this is my niece Livy and um…’ his gaze slid across to Sam not expecting him to be up and about so soon after his illness, ‘her brother Samuel,’ he improvised as he introduced them. ‘Livy, Sam this is my good friend Justin Gilbert.’
‘A pleasure,’ he smiled at them and Olivia’s heart did a somersault.
H
e was the spitting image of her best friend Jake, right down to his mischievous blue eyes and infectious smile. She watched him in fascination as he turned and spoke with James. He even had the same laugh, it was really incredible. She was actually meeting someone she could only assume was one of her dearest friends’ ancestors.
It really was a small world after all.
The grey storm laden sky had given way to night as Olivia paced the sleeping room bathed in candlelight. Theo had still not returned and she was beginning to worry. James’ guest Justin had stayed for supper upon conclusion of his purchase of James’ cider. The company had been pleasant and the conversation lively. Sam had eaten like he hadn’t eaten in weeks and really that wasn’t too far from the truth. He’d been unconscious for a fair while and whilst he’d been out of it, the fire which raged within his body had taken a lot out of him. Although he was up, awake and eating, he still looked far too pale and was starting to look a bit gaunt too.
After Justin had departed Olivia had excused herself to her room, but she was unable to relax. She’d intended to settle in with Hester’s Grimoire and search for anything they could use to jump through time. After seeing Sam, she wasn’t sure at all if he’d have the strength to do it and they still needed to find a way to get to 1695. She’d climbed on the bed…she’d climbed off it again. She tried sitting under the window on the chest, still she couldn’t settle, which is how she’d ended up pacing the room. Despite having stripped down to only her thin linen shift in preparation for bed, she was close to tossing a cloak around her shoulders and heading out into the dark silent orchard to look for Theo.
She stopped pacing and turned as she heard the door open behind her.
‘Theo,’ she breathed in relief, ‘where have you been?’
He shrugged silently.
‘In the Orchard,’ he replied after a moment, ‘then in the barn. I needed some space.’
The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum Page 130
