Bluegrass Blush

by Carolyn Bond

  Suzanne sighed and her mouth turned down. “What about the police? We should contact them. After all, he did kidnap her.”

  Malcolm straightened and looked at her with a new resolve.

  “Yes. I agree. Its time to bring in the authorities. I will talk to the sheriff here and see if he can wire the Lexington Bureau. With this amount of time, though, they could be half way to Charleston by now. Maybe they should alert Charleston, too.”

  The memory of her limp graceful body as Peeble roughly shoved her in the carriage replayed in his head. Peeble didn’t care about her at all. He would be capable of anything. She was just a means to an end to him. What if he managed to marry her and then killed her?

  His heart crumpled and contracted. He could feel her out there somewhere. Whatever the tether was that he felt at Mammoth Cave, it still gripped him.

  Everleigh, I’ll find you.

  A soft wind blew and the scent of lavender tickled his nose. He closed his eyes thankful for the gentle caress of the wind. He exhaled and, for a moment, let go of the tension in his shoulders. With his mind finally calm, an image emerged in his mind. A white room. Shadows of leaves dancing on the wall in the bright light of day. A small bed. And her. Her delicate body, her serene face etched with grief. Lonely and hurt.

  He shot up to his feet with his eyes wide. Suzanne and Edward startled and nearly dropped their tea cups.

  “By God, man! What is it?” Edward inquired.

  Malcolm stood there a second more before he spoke.

  “I saw her. I saw her in my mind.” He jerked is head in all directions checking to make sure something wasn’t out of the ordinary.

  Suzanne stood up and put her hand on his arm.

  “Mr. Steel, please. Surely you must be tired.”

  He stared her in the eye, but wasn’t looking at her. “No, Mrs. Clark. It was as clear as anything. I could smell the lavender on the breeze and then I saw her in a room. A white room. She was in a bed. She looked, she looked, -- oh God, help her! She is hurt. We have to check the hospital. I never checked the hospital!”

  He dashed off the porch and left her standing with her hand still in the air where it was on his arm.

  “Lavender?” she turned and looked at Edward. “There is no lavender growing here. I never could get it to grow for me.” She sighed. “Poor man, he is losing his mind.”

  Malcolm ran all the way to the post office to have the clerk wire the hospital in Lexington asking if they had her as a patient. He knew it would be a while before he got an answer back, so he then ran to the sheriff’s office and reported Everleigh as missing and that she was last seen with Horace Peeble in a carriage headed toward Lexington.

  He figured in the time it took to visit the sheriff’s office, there probably had not been a response yet but he checked anyway.

  “No,” said the clerk. Malcolm sighed in frustration. If he left to ride to Lexington, he would miss the response. If they said no, there was no one by that name, he would be on a fool’s errand. All he could do was wait for the telegram to come back with its news and then go from there. He headed back to the Inn.

  A carriage was parked at the end of the walk and a driver was helping a woman out of the carriage. She was dressed in an intricately detailed white linen dress with lace and white embroidery setting off the deep V in the front from her waste to the high neckline and small bustle in the back. Her elegant salt and pepper hair was styled and pinned with several small curls framing her face and small brimmed hat was secured at a jaunty impossible angle on the back of her head. As she straightened and smoothed her skirt, her gaze shifted to his approaching footsteps and she looked up and smiled.

  “Ah, Mr. Steel!” She reached her hands out for him to greet her.

  “Miss Heartwell!” His eyes crinkled in joy to see her but as he kissed the back of her hand, his heart thudded in pain. He would have to tell her about her niece being missing.

  “Mr. Steel, I am so, so glad to see you. Can we go sit and talk? I have some distressing news if you don’t already know.”

  Now he was confused. How could she know? His brows knit together and his mouth parted slightly.

  “Of course! Yes.” He held out his arm for her and she smiled a dazzling flirtatious smile at him. He felt awkward at his body betraying him as he blushed at the charming beauty on his arm. Part of him basked in the sweet comfort of a presence that was so close to Everleigh’s. They did not look alike in coloring, but it was as though their souls had been cut from the same fabric. He wondered what Everleigh’s mother must have been like if her sister was this beautiful.

  When they reached the porch, the door swung wide to welcome them. Suzanne escorted them into the parlor and went to get more tea and biscuits.

  Everleigh’s aunt wasted no time and said, “Dear Malcolm. Please tell me Everleigh is here safe somewhere.” She looked toward the stairs as though expecting to see her come down.

  He grimaced and looked down. That told her all she needed to know.

  “That’s what I was afraid of. I have been held against my will for two weeks in Lexington. A very surly man had me locked in a room and threatened horrible things if I tried to get away. Namely, he kept saying that Everleigh would be hurt.”

  “How awful, Miss Heartwell!” He looked her over for signs of abuse.”

  “I assure you, I am quite alright now. Other than being captive, I was taken care of. But then two days ago, the man put me in a carriage which brought me straight to my home without stopping, despite my protests to take me to the police station.”

  “Do you know who the captor was?”

  “Honestly, I am not even sure where in Lexington I was being held. He covered my head coming and going and tied my hands. I am sure he was a hired man. He had no interest in me at all. He always covered his face when he talked to me.”

  “I think you are right.”

  “Yes, but I have wracked my brain trying to figure out what on earth this was about. I thought Everleigh was in Charleston. In fact, I was planning to send a letter to have her come visit me for a while. Then when I got home, my butler told me she had come to see me. I was about to come to town to look here at the Inn, but found that my driver and carriage apparently never made it back from Lexington. I have been stranded until one of my men could get another one. I will need to visit the sheriff shortly and report all this. I do hope my driver is alright.”

  Malcolm listened as she quickly laid all this news out. Then he sighed and shook his head. Peeble had gone to great lengths to orchestrate this nightmare.

  “Miss Heartwell, we believe Everleigh has been kidnapped by a man named Horace Peeble. I saw him put her in a carriage three days ago and head toward Lexington. She was unconscious.”

  She gasped and shook her head.

  “Please tell me this isn’t true.”

  He paused to give her time to accept it. “I’m sorry but it is. I have been searching Lexington trying to find her.”

  “Have you notified the police there?”

  He sighed. “No. I should have. There was some thought that she went willingly. There was a note left in her room here that said not to look for her. We knew the police wouldn’t waste their time if they thought she went of her own free will.”

  “Oh heavens! We have to find her. Why would this Mr. Peeble do this?”

  “Apparently her father had made an agreement for an arranged marriage some years ago with him.”

  “What? Why was he here? Why was she here?”

  Malcolm realized she didn’t know anything about her sister and brother-in-law. This was going to be a very difficult conversation. He excused himself and went to get Suzanne for a lady’s help. They came back and Suzanne sat next to her.

  “My dear, we have some unfortunate news…”

  ***

  Miss Heartwell sat on the front porch looking out at nothing in particular. She had taken the news better than Malcolm would have expected. Miss Heartwell must be a strong woman, he
thought. He stood in the parlor watching her through the window. He wanted to get back to the clerk to see if there was any news. Now that Everleigh’s aunt had calmed down and was taking a minute to get her head around all this, he might be able to check. If there was news, it would be helpful for everyone to know.

  Suzanne stuck her head around the corner and asked if he needed anything.

  “No, thank you. I was just going to check and see if a wire came.”

  “Yes. That is a good idea.”

  “Alright then, I will be back soon.”

  He stepped out the front door and made his way to the post office. He couldn’t shake the image of Everleigh in the white room with the waving shadows of leaves.

  At the clerk’s counter, “Have you gotten any telegrams for me?”

  “Yep. One just came through. Here you go.” The clerk handed the slip of paper to him.

  It read:

  We do not have a patient by the name you referred to. Sorry. –Protestant Infirmary

  Malcolm was crushed. He thought for certain she had to be in a hospital. Maybe Suzanne was right, but it surely seemed real. He trudged back to the Inn stumped and glad he hadn’t set off for the hospital.

  He stepped on to the porch and a boy darted past him and into the foyer. The screen door slammed with a clack as he went. Moments later he darted back out and ran down the road. Suzanne burst through the door looking for him.

  “Oh! Malcolm! Miss Heartwell! I got a telegram from her!”

  “What? What does it say?” Malcolm riveted on her.

  “It says, ‘Suzanne, I am at the Protestant Infirmary. Please tell Malcolm I need you both.’

  Malcolm scratched his head and frowned.

  “What’s wrong, Mr. Steel?” Miss Heartwell asked.

  He handed her the telegram from the Infirmary. “That came for me just now.”

  She showed it to Suzanne who said, “That makes no sense.” She compared the two telegrams.

  He stiffened and took a deep breath. “It would if I was looking for Everleigh Addison instead of Everleigh Peeble.” He nearly choked on the last word.

  Suzanne and Miss Heartwell gasped.

  He turned away from them. The crushing emotions threatened to overtake him. A surge of anger mixed with a surge sadness.

  She is married to that son of a …

  All at the same time he wanted to kill Horace Peeble, punch a hole in the wall and fall on his knees and cry out with a broken heart. The lump in his throat was about to choke him. He curled his fists and pumped them several times.

  He couldn’t stop the vision of Peeble taking her to bed, touching her, kissing her neck. His face turned red and swelled as he clenched his jaw.

  “Mr. Steel, it says ‘I need you both.’ She needs you.”

  He turned around with a jerk, “You know what this means, don’t you? She is married to Peeble. I cannot interfere with another man’s marriage. She is lost to me now.”

  “Mr. Steel! Surely you cannot turn your back on her. She is at the Infirmary. She is asking for our help. Married or not, I will not turn away from her. If the man forced her to marry him under duress, the marriage can be annulled.” Everleigh’s aunt became nearly hysterical hissing the words. She started looking around her for her bag and putting her hand to her mouth and looking at Suzanne. “We must go immediately. Where is my carriage? We can take my carriage.”

  Malcolm watched the woman nearly stumble down the steps in her shocked haste. Part of him was ready to race her to the carriage and part of him had crashed through to the pits of hell with disappointment.

  Forced? Annulled?

  The words tumbled in his head. The thoughts prattled like race horses in his mind. Her note said don’t follow her. She wanted this marriage. An annulment can be filed if a marriage had not been consummated.

  Oh God, help me! Consummated.

  Revulsion shot a wave of nausea through his gut. He was going to be sick.

  Had that bastard consummated the marriage? Is that why she was in the infirmary? The desire to rip Peeble limb for limb superseded all other thoughts. He heard Suzanne tell Miss Heartwell to wait that she had to tell Edward and get a bag of things. Her voice sounded far away.

  He gripped the wood railing of the porch to steady himself. He didn’t need any things. The carriage would slow him down. One thought led to another and he found himself swinging up into the saddle of his tall, crazy horse, the General, that loved nothing better than to run for all the wind.

  “HAW!” he cried and pulled on the reins. With a nudging of his feet, the horse needed very little prodding to let loose to try to break a speed record. Five hundred pounds of sleek brown, solid muscle shot down the dusty road. Emory Heartwell watched him ride away with a cloud of dust obscuring him the farther away he got and she smiled to herself.

  “I knew he was the right man,” she whispered to herself.

  ***

  Everleigh watched the waving shadows on the wall across from the window. The light breeze ruffled the leaves outside and the breeze tickled her arms. She had never felt so alone. Her broken body ached. Her heart felt as sore as her side. Her mind kept a steady rerun of events at the hotel. Despite the serenity of the hospital room, every part of her heart, mind and soul roiled with anger and grief. A tear slid down her cheek.

  A small part of herself tried to fight it. She told herself she could beat this. She was stronger than this. She was no little girl. But, the demons whispering in her ears where relentless. One tiny part of her mind held the tether to Malcolm and waited for him. She could see him in her mind. He was coming. She knew it. Like vibrations down a taunt electric cable, she could feel him coming toward her.

  She didn’t see her come in. A woman stood at the foot of her bed. The woman was tall with long blond hair pulled up on the sides and curled into barrels behind her ears under a large hat with cream crepe folds. She was pretty with a pouty full mouth in a permanent pucker. She had on a cream and light blue dress. The light blue bodice formed the deep V with welting to accentuate the seams drawing the eye down from her shoulder, over her full breasts and down to a point between her hips under cream pleats spraying out and down.

  She smiled slightly and had an easy to trust expression.

  “Who are you?” Everleigh asked.

  The woman waited as though refusing to take orders from her even if it was just answering a polite question. Despite her charming pouty smile, Everleigh could see a multitude of thoughts crossing the woman’s mind and it made her wary.

  “I am Cherise Watkins.” She waited without blinking to see if the name was recognized.

  Everleigh stopped breathing. Horace’s mistress.

  She continued, “I see you are familiar then. Good. That makes things a little easier.” Oddly, she smiled and tilted her head slightly. Everleigh wondered what this woman was up to and it probably wasn’t good.

  “Why are you here?” Everleigh asked firmly. Of all the parts of her swirling in her head, the business woman stepped forward. The one who didn’t put up with any crap.

  Cherise didn’t move a muscle but Everleigh heard her suck in a quiet breath. Apparently she had assumed she was dealing with a dumb little girl.

  “I have come to get you and take you home. We need to leave.”

  She stared at Cherise in disbelief and even chuckled. “I am not going anywhere. Have you not seen what that monster did to me?”

  She gestured with her hands over her torso.

  Cherise stepped forward and pulled the sheet off. As she was putting her right arm under Everleigh’s shoulders, she pulled her knees off the bed to pull her to a sitting position.

  “We are just going to get you up and out of here. You are not staying here anymore. We have to leave.”

  She kept insisting that, Everleigh thought. She had this pleasant friendly demeanor but she also had something else going on in her head. It was like talking to a person with split personality but you could only see one of the pe
rsonalities.

  “Whoa whoa whoa.” She tried to push Cherise away as she winced and gripped her side with her other hand. “What is the rush anyway?”

  Cherise put her hands on her tiny waste and for the first time showed any change in expression. She blew a hard breath and puckered her mouth even more. Collecting herself, she looked Everleigh in the eye and very clearly spoke her next words.

  “You are going to stand up and come with me,” she smiled a surprisingly genuine-looking smile and continued, “or I will make you wish you had. Are we clear here?”

  This woman was a piece of work. She had the face and control to get what she wanted. Everleigh was certain that men were putty in her hands. She was not that young. She looked to be about thirty by the fine lines around eyes and mouth.

  The woman sighed again and shook her head, “Look, I don’t have time for you to contemplate your next move. We have to get out of here now.” She reached around Everleigh, putting her right arm around her and positioning her hand right over the wound on her right side. Abruptly pulling Everleigh into her, Everleigh cried out. The hot searing pain from the wound and the deep soreness from the broken bones was still very fresh. The pain hit a crescendo and darkness closed in around her. Dizziness washed over her and she went limp.

  “Good grief!” Cherise groaned.

  She let Everleigh slump over on the bed and darted out of the room. She came back quickly with a wheel chair. Going around behind Everleigh, she put her arms around her and pulled her over into the chair. Her head fell backwards and Cherise shoved it forward. Everleigh slumped over her arm held by the arm rest.

  Cherise pushed the chair to the door and peeked out, looking both directions. Then she made a dash down the hallway and turned to go out the back door. No one saw them as they whizzed past. Out on the empty back porch, Cherise whispered into the carriage sitting there.

  “Come on! Help me. She is passed out.”

  Horace Peeble looked out the door of the carriage and frowned.

  “Come on! Get her in the carriage!” Cherise fussed when he didn’t move fast enough.

  He jumped out and pulled Everleigh up into his arms and set her on the floor of the carriage. Cherise climbed in and pulled her by her arms out of the way. Horace jumped up onto the driver’s seat and clucked his tongue as he snapped the reins. The carriage jolted into action and they left the wheel chair sitting on the porch.