“Covington, I demand you release Barnabas immediately.”
“Who is this man, and why does he have hold of my fiancée’s hand?”
Auralie drew a sharp breath. Fiancée? Didn’t Mother’s note say he was to arrive tomorrow? The tall man with the brooding eyes and sinister brows leveled a glare at her. Perry Bolden raked a disapproving scowl over her.
“I don’t understand this at all. This can’t be Auralie.” He turned to look at her father. “You assured me that my future wife was delicate and refined and conducted herself with elegance and decorum.” He tossed a disdainful look at Auralie. “I’m appalled at this unladylike behavior.”
“How dare you insinuate that I misled you? I am highly offended. Why, she—”
“Covington, answer me. I want to know where Barnabas is right now.”
Perry frowned at her again. “Where is the pink silk gown you were instructed to wear upon my arrival? And who is this—this farmer with whom you are consorting?” He shook his head and turned back to her father. “This unspeakable conduct will never do.”
Her father bellowed. “Auralie, I am outraged that you have shamed me like this.”
“Covington.” Colton grabbed the man by his lapels. “Where is Barnabas?”
“Now see here…” Perry grasped Colton’s arm, causing Colton to spin around and land a punch on the side of Perry’s jaw, sending him sprawling.
While the men continued to shout at one another, Auralie dashed down the veranda steps and ran toward the back of the house, past the trees, to a clearing that skirted Slave Row. A large group of slaves stood in a wide circle. In the center of the circle was Barnabas, tied to a thick post with his shirt stripped off. One of the overseers approached him, a whip coiled in his hands, announcing to all assembled that the same treatment awaited any of them who tried to run.
“Stop! Stop this!” Auralie screamed at the top of her lungs. She raced toward the horrific scene, screaming as she went. “Colton!” She broke through the circle and ran toward Barnabas, gasping for breath and seething with fury. “Stop this, immediately.”
The overseer jerked his head, no doubt taken aback at Auralie’s presence. “Who are you?”
She stepped in front of Barnabas, drew her shoulders back, and lifted her chin. Her chest heaved as she gulped air. “I am Auralie Covington. This man does not belong to my father. He is not a runaway. I demand you release him at once.”
Chapter 18
A mid the bellowing and blustering between Covington and Bolden, Colton realized Auralie no longer stood beside him. He twisted his head to the right and left, searching for her, and caught sight of Mammy standing on the front lawn, pointing frantically toward the back of the house.
At that moment, Auralie’s piercing scream rent the air. “Colton!”
Colton leaped down the steps.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Covington roared.
Bolden staggered to his feet. “Sir, you are a boorish clod, and you will hear from my attorney.”
Colton ignored them both and sprinted in the direction Mammy pointed. Another scream reached his ears, and the blood in his veins turned to ice. His heart pounded in his throat as he ran past the stable toward a thick copse of trees. He slid down a steep slope past the trees on a path that opened up to a clearing. Rows of ramshackle hovels lined a rutted road, and the stench of sweat and human waste hung in the air. Dozens of slaves gathered in a circle around the edge of the open area, while in the center of the clearing, a loathsome sight greeted him. Barnabas was tied, with his arms wrapped around a post. An overseer coiled a whip in preparation for use.
But standing between Barnabas and the overseer, hands on her hips and a defiant lift to her jaw, stood Auralie. The vision of her triggered a hitch in his chest, and his breath caught. An exquisite ache filled him as he drank in the valiant picture she made. He moved forward to take his place next to her.
Pounding footsteps sounded behind him, and Bolden called out something about Colton insulting him and he demanded satisfaction. Colton ignored him. The slaves who stood on the fringes of the clearing parted and let Colton slip past.
Auralie looked his way, and the relief in her eyes made him want to take her in his arms. Instead, he let his gaze slide to Barnabas, and acid rage swelled in his chest. He strode, fuming, to the overseer. The man spat tobacco juice at Colton’s feet.
Colton grabbed the whip from the man’s grimy paw. “I ought to wrap this thing around your worthless neck.” He flung it as far as he could into the trees. Barnabas’s faded muslin shirt lay on the ground, and Colton bent and snatched it up. He jammed his hand in the pocket and pulled out the indenture paper, unfolded it, and shoved it in the overseer’s face.
The man shrugged. “Cain’t read.”
Colton yanked the bowie knife from the man’s belt and went over to cut the ropes holding Barnabas hostage. “Are you all right, my friend?”
Barnabas gave him a wobbly smile despite a swollen lip. “I is now.”
Colton folded the paper and handed it, along with the ripped shirt, back to Barnabas before turning to Auralie. Her eyes misted, but she blinked back the moisture.
“Oh Colton. I’ve never been so glad to see anybody in my entire life.”
He held her gaze for a long moment. The tremor in her voice didn’t match her bravado, and he longed to whisper in her ear that everything was all right now. He glanced over his shoulder to where Bolden stood fuming, a silk handkerchief pressed over his nose and mouth. This wasn’t the time.
The overseer waved his arms and shouted for the workers to get back to their tasks. With eyes held low, they all trudged away while the overseer searched through the trees and underbrush for his whip. Colton’s heart ached, but the only thing that would change their circumstances was electing men to office who held to the belief that slavery was immoral.
Shelby Covington approached at a jog, huffing and puffing, his belly jiggling with each footfall.
“Danfield! You’re trespassing. Auralie, I’ll not permit you to embarrass me any further. Get back to the house this instant.”
Auralie folded her arms and turned to face her father with the same expression of confident bravery with which she’d faced the overseer. “No, Father. I am a grown woman, not a child.”
Bolden took three strides and grasped Auralie’s arm. “I am your future husband, and you’ll do as I say.”
Colton clamped his hand on Bolden’s arm and yanked it away from Auralie, nudging her away from the contemptuous snob. Through gritted teeth, he hissed at Bolden. “You lay a finger on her again, and these folks will have to carry you out of here.”
A flinch wavered across Bolden’s face, chased into hiding by an expression of indignation.
Shelby Covington barged past Bolden and stood toe-to-toe with Colton. “How dare you come in here and disrupt my daughter’s life.”
Before Colton could reply, Auralie stepped forward.
“Father, if anyone is disrupting my life, it’s you.”
Covington’s face flooded red and the veins in his neck stood out. He sputtered, but no words formed. But Auralie wasn’t finished.
“All my life I’ve watched you wield your power and authority in such a way that it tramples everyone around you into submission, including Mother and me. It’s not my intention to show disrespect to you, but respect can’t be demanded.” She turned her head and glanced at Colton. “I have far more respect for this man who has dirt under his fingernails and calluses on his hands. He pours his heart and soul and sweat into the land and work God has given him to do. Colton doesn’t demand respect. He earns it.”
Auralie’s words caressed Colton’s ears like music. His heart soared.
Bolden, still holding the fancy handkerchief over his face as though he was afraid to breathe the same air as the slaves, looked down his aristocratic nose at Auralie. “Do you have the audacity to insinuate this…this farmer appeals to you?” Disbelief echoed in his tone.
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A tiny smile tweaked Auralie’s lips, and she lifted her gaze to Colton. “Yes. Everything about this man, from his dirty hands and sweaty brow, to the way he asks God to bless him with a good crop, the way he rejoices over a newborn lamb—” She gestured to Barnabas. “And the way he stands up for what is right.” She turned her eyes back to Bolden. “Yes, Colton Danfield appeals to me, Perry. Being forced into an arranged marriage for business and political purposes repulses me.”
Bolden’s eyes flamed, and then narrowed, first at Auralie, then at Colton. Finally he whirled to confront Covington. “Everything you told me about your daughter is false. She is a most unsuitable match. I will not have a wife who doesn’t know her place. You’ll be hearing from my attorney regarding the dissolution of our contract.” With an incensed snort, he stomped away.
Tears filled Auralie’s eyes. She cast a brief glance heavenward, and her lips mouthed the words, Thank You.
Colton understood her tears. The sentiment she’d just offered to God flooded his heart as well.
Shelby Covington stood clenching his fist at his sides, his posture domineering. Poison darts of hostility spit from his eyes. “You are to blame for this. I’ll see to it my attorney files papers immediately to sue you for every dime you have to your name.”
Colton folded his arms across his chest. “I’m glad you have an attorney, Covington, because you’re going to need one.”
“What?” Covington sent a piercing glare at Colton and cursed. “What are you talking about?”
Colton stroked his chin. “I had a rather interesting conversation with the county clerk at Mount Yonah when I went there several days ago to confirm the deed to my land was properly recorded.”
Covington pooched his lips in feigned disinterest and shifted a glance in Auralie’s direction. “What does that have to do with me?”
“I can prove that you paid the clerk at the courthouse in Mount Yonah to alter the record ledger.”
“That’s preposterous!” Covington almost stood on tiptoe as he emitted the bellow. “What kind of pernicious lies are you inventing to besmirch my name?”
Acutely aware of Auralie’s eyes upon him, Colton took no pleasure in exposing Covington’s misdeeds in her presence, but he suspected she wasn’t entirely oblivious to her father’s tactics.
The stench of liquor on Shelby Covington’s breath nearly turned Colton’s stomach, but he faced the man, “Are you denying you paid the county clerk to remove the page in the ledger on which the deed for my land was recorded and to rewrite a new page to replace it?”
Covington sputtered and his face evolved from red to purple. A vein in his temple pulsated visibly. “This is outrageous. You can’t accuse me like this, especially when you can’t prove a thing.”
“Oh, but I can.” Colton didn’t blink at Covington’s bluster. “You see, you forgot something, Covington. Reverend Robert Winslow recorded his will in the same county office, bequeathing his land to me. Pastor Winslow’s will and the land deed were recorded at the same time—the deed in one ledger and the will in a different one. A copy of the will is also on file.”
“I don’t know any Robert Winslow.” Moisture beaded on Covington’s forehead.
“That’s odd, because your son knows about Pastor Winslow. He and I had a conversation one day about three weeks ago when he was out my way doing some surveying. Your son mentioned that I was a landowner only through Pastor Winslow’s benevolence.”
Covington huffed and stammered. “Y–you…Th–this entire c–conversation is ridiculous.”
“You won’t think it’s ridiculous when you receive a summons from the state attorney general’s office.” Colton tucked his thumbs into his belt. “Seems the county clerk wasn’t willing to go to jail, so he signed a sworn statement saying you paid him five hundred dollars to change the ledger pages.”
Covington blanched. “He’s…he’s lying. It was Bolden. Thaddeus Bolden wanted…He said he’d withdraw his support if…”
“Father, how could you?” Auralie’s shocked gasp reminded Colton she was listening to the entire exchange.
Covington turned without another word and plodded up the slope past the trees. No doubt he’d be penning letters to Thaddeus Bolden and Maxwell Rayburn within the hour.
Colton watched him until he was beyond the trees.
Colton turned to Auralie and spoke quietly. “I think it’s time for Barnabas and me to leave.” Their gazes locked. He’d not leave her here if she feared her father’s wrath. He tried to sort out the twisted jumble of emotions on her face. “Will you be all right?”
Some of the starch he’d seen when she stood up to the overseer, and then to her father and Perry Bolden, seemed to seep out of her. Her shoulders drooped a bit, but she managed a tight smile. “Yes, for now.”
Barnabas pulled his shirt on the best he could—one sleeve dangled, having been ripped from the shoulder. “Mistah Colton, I jus’ go wait fo’ you up yonder.” He bobbed his head toward the rise.
Colton nodded. “Jasper is by the front entrance. He could probably use some water.”
“I see to da hoss. And Mistah Colton, Miz Covington.” He laid his hand over his heart. “I thanks yo’ both. I be…mighty grateful, fo’ ever’thin’.”
Colton extended his hand and Barnabas gripped it. Then he stepped back with a polite nod toward Auralie. “Ma’am.” And he hurried away.
Colton placed his hand gently on the small of Auralie’s back, and they slowly made their way together up the pathway that led back to the house. He had so many things on his heart that he wanted to say to her, but getting the words to line up in an order that would make sense suddenly seemed a daunting task. He drew in a deep breath and released it.
“Auralie, how can I thank you for what you did?”
She angled her head and peered up at him, her demure smile nearly doing him in. “What did I do?”
“You showed remarkable courage in the way you stopped that overseer.” He took her elbow and turned her to him. “I think I understand a little of what it took for you to stand up to your father after being subjected to his intimidation for so many years.” He glanced down at his boots. “I’m sorry you had to hear all those things I said to him.”
She touched his hand and a tremble skittered up his arm. “Colton, I’m sorry for what my father did, or tried to do. He wasn’t always that way—so filled with greed he’d sell his soul to gain more power. He used to care more for my mother and me. I don’t know why or how he changed.” She sighed.
They continued walking, passing the stable and entering the sprawling side yard with its majestic magnolia trees and lush rhododendrons. Colton spied Mammy watching them from an upstairs window. She gave Colton a smile and a nod, quite the opposite of his first meeting with Auralie. He couldn’t help but grin.
Auralie stopped and sat on an ornate, wrought iron bench among the roses. “I don’t understand why Father tried to change the land records.”
Colton sat beside her. “Jack McCaffey was the one who suggested I go and check the records. His sources told him there was a deal in the works to bring the Georgia Railroad spur up this way from Athens. Thaddeus Bolden bought a thousand acres of timberland that borders my property, and the shortest route to access the spur extension was through my land. He knew I wouldn’t sell, and one of Jack’s sources got wind of some under-the-table dealing at the county seat. When Jack saw a map of the tentative route for the spur, he told me about it.”
Auralie closed her eyes and nodded. “Thaddeus Bolden is Father’s biggest financial supporter.”
“That’s right.” Colton cupped his hands over his knees. “Your father could win the election on Bolden’s wallet, and once in office, he’d be Bolden’s puppet for political favors—like seizing possession of land that didn’t have a properly recorded deed.”
Auralie covered her face with her hands. “Oh Colton, I’m so sorry…”
“There’s no need for you to be sorry.” He slipped h
is fingers around her wrists and tugged her hands away from her beautiful face. A chuckle bubbled up within him. The wild carriage ride had pulled pins from her hair and set the sandy tendrils in disarray, and she had a smudge of dirt on her face, but she was still the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. He brushed back a lock of her hair, and she pressed her head against his knuckles.
“Did you really mean what you said about being glad to see me?”
A rosy blush stole into her cheeks, and her eyes twinkled. “Yes.”
Colton cleared his throat. “Well, then, there’s something I’d like to say to you, but I’m not sure if this is the right time, or even if I’m the right person.”
She dropped her gaze to her lap. Colton reached over and took her hand. She blinked and raised her eyes to meet his. “First I must ask your forgiveness for misjudging you. The day I met you, I assumed you were a spoiled, self-centered young woman who only cared about herself. I happily admit I was wrong.”
Surprise flickered across her face. “Why did you think that?”
Colton shook his head. “The reasons aren’t important. What matters is that God gave me the privilege of truly getting to know you. I think I was smitten the day you brought the lemonade to Barnabas and me.” He grinned when she blushed. “I knew I had lost my heart to you the morning we worked together helping birth the twin lambs.”
A shy smile graced her lips. “That was special to me, too.”
“A little while ago, you said you respected me for having dirty hands and calluses from working.” He hesitated and searched her face. “I have to know if you said that simply to offend Bolden.”
Her wide, solemn eyes answered him even before she spoke. “No, Colton, I meant every word. The Bible says a man ought to work with his hands and care for those things the Lord has given him. That’s what you do. How can I not respect that?”
Colton pulled in a slow, deep breath. His heart thrummed within his chest. “Auralie, I believe with all my heart that when God created a helpmate for me, He had you in mind.”
Her eyes misted, and she gifted him with that endearing smile he’d come to adore. “I believe that, too.”
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