Master Of Paradise (35 page)

"Nicholas, we don't need words. I know what's in your heart."

"Try to manage the place without me. Remember that Paradise belongs to you, and remember that I love you."

Nicholas was gone, but his words echoed over and over in her mind. With determination Amanda saddled Sunblood and rode out over the fields. She saw the vast amount of planting that had been left undone, and she knew from the way the weather was heating up that there was only about a week left to get in the cotton seed. She had a hasty consultation with Samuel, and together they went to the cabins and spoke to the field hands.

"I want to get my husband's fields planted for him. If Samuel brings food out to you in the fields every day this week, do you think you can finish?" she asked Brute.

"We can try, Miz Peacock. We gits a good soakin' rain on dem seeds we plant an' de crop should take for sure."

Amanda searched the dark faces. "Where's Jason?"

Samuel, who had all the information of the plantation at his fingertips said, "Jason workin' upriver at a brick place yore husban' started. He got his wife up der."

A vivid vision of Solange and Nicholas's child came to her, and she tried to suppress her quick jealousy. "We'll go up and fetch him back for a week," she decided quickly. "Whereabouts is it?"

"Right on de river where de red clay banks is. Up past Orangeburg."

"We'll go in the boat. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours." When Samuel looked uncertain, she assured him, "We can manage the boat between us. Nicholas isn't here to do it, Samuel, so we have to."

The brickyard was a busy, fascinating p lace. Jason had the hands of an artisan. He shaped bricks faster than the eye could perceive, and lovely red roof tiles were made simply by laying clay over logs to shape it, then letting it dry in the sun.

Solange stood outside the cabin with Nicole, and the two young women eyed each other warily. Finally, Amanda approached Solange and spoke to her softly. "If I take Jason for a week, will you and your child be all right?"

At sunup the next day, Amanda dressed in plain homespun, sturdy leather shoes and a large sun hat, rode and walked the fields with the hands, and when Samuel brought the wagon filled with lunch and later on dinner, she poured water and then coffee and carried it round to the workers.

Mammy Lou played hell with her, but Mandy firmly put aside all her objections.

When Jennifer discovered Amanda intended to be in the fields, she almost had hysterics. "My God, you can't shame me like that. You are without doubt the most bodacious female I've ever encountered. The Hamdens will call off my engagement if they hear tell of such!" Jenny screamed and threatened, begged and pleaded, and called upon Mammy Lou to 'do something' all of which fell on deaf ears.

Jennifer was finally silenced when Mrs. Wade Hampden came to call on Amanda to see if they could spare any fields to plant food for the army. She insisted it was the least she could do to support the war effort by growing food crops and asking the other plantations to do the same.

Amanda knew there were still unsown fields at the Jackson Plantation, so agreed to put in corn, peas, and potatoes.

She gathered every available servant, including Mammy and a very pregnant Cleo. She bullied Jennifer into helping, and with Porter and Fanny, they all trooped over to the Jackson land to sow the food crops.

Amanda fell into bed exhausted every night, but she felt a sense of accomplishment, and it certainly cut down on the hours she lay awake worrying over Nicholas. She knew the Union Navy had seized the schooner Savannah just off the coast and the blockade was tightening.

The Rattlesnake reached England in record time. Nicholas had the skipper weigh anchor at Birkenhead, the shipbuilding capital at the mouth of the Mersey where Bullock would put in his order for the six ironclads. Then they docked at Liverpool.

The Rattlesnake was one of the first ships to arrive since the blockade had been imposed, and cotton brokers swarmed aboard to outbid each other for the precious bales that had run the blockade.

The ship needed its steam engine completely gone over so that the trip back would be speedy and without mishap, and Nicholas did not feel like kicking his heels in Liverpool, a port with which he was unfamiliar.

His longing for Amanda was almost unendurable. It seemed more than a separation; it felt more like an amputation, for she was part of him. He had tossed restlessly in his bunk as the ship crossed the Atlantic, and when he did fall into an exhausted sleep, it was filled with voluptuous dreams of his beautiful, fragile Amanda. The dreams were never satisfying-- they were always elusive and very, very frustrating. He swore that when he returned to Paradise, things would be different. He would put an end to the ridiculous facade of the marriage in name only, and take her to his chamber and his bed, where she belonged.

Once his feet were back on English soil, Nicholas began to long for a glimpse of his old home where he had spent his boyhood. Philip, too, invaded his thoughts. He would be a man of twenty-one now, and he longed to know how his brother had fared.

Nicholas made up his mind in five minutes. He took the railway train to London, then hired a carriage and drove himself into Kent to Peacock Hall. He tooled his carriage up the driveway and stopped at the coach house. He did not recognize any of the stablemen or gardeners, so he spoke to the man who approached his carriage. "Is Lord Peacock in residence?"

The man spat on the ground and his voice was filled with contempt. "Lord Peacock? He's not the paymaster here. You'd be wanting Mr. Chetwynd, sir, but he left for London this morning."

Nicholas, in quelling tones, said, "I most definitely would not be wanting Mr. Chetwynd. Good day." Leaving the man open-mouthed, he drove up the driveway to the house.

He knocked loudly on the door, and it was a moment or two before a maid appeared. "Is Lord Peacock at home?" he asked shortly.

She looked as if she could hardly believe her eyes that this magnificent man was the same Nicholas Peacock she had thrown out five years before. He had always been a handsome, well-made youth, but the man who stood before her now was mature and totally self-assured, with an aura of wealth about him.

As Nicholas looked at Pamela he saw that time had not been kind to her. Her lovely rounded softness had disappeared and she looked thin, almost ill. Then he noticed with a shock that her face carried an ugly bruise down one side, and she held her arm stiffly, as if it pained her.

"I came to see Philip," Nicholas said bluntly.

She held herself proudly for one moment, then her face crumpled. "Oh Nicholas, I bitterly regret my actions toward you the day your father died."

He waited, knowing there was more to come.

"I married Peter Chetwynd much to my sorrow. He was only after my money, and the estate."

Nicholas glanced about the walls and noticed quite a few valuable paintings were gone. "The estate and everything in it belongs to Lord Peacock," he said with emphasis.

"Oh God, it's not that simple. You know Chetwynd is a barrister with a law firm. He appointed himself Philip's legal guardian until he turns twenty-five. Even then I fear he will find some legal loophole to keep everything."

Nicholas removed his overcoat and went upstairs to his brother's chamber. He found him sprawled on the bed, unconscious and stinking. It took him a full fifteen minutes to revive him with slaps and shakes and finally cold water.

Nicholas helped him to bathe and shave and don fresh clothes. Then he rang for a servant and ordered a large pot of very strong coffee that Philip drank with shaking hands.

They talked for two hours. Philip told him how Chetwynd had dismissed all the staff, both inside and out, and replaced them with servants loyal only to himself. The art treasures and paintings from the collections were gradually being sold off, and when Philip and his mother had protested, Chetwynd began to abuse her. Philip didn't even get an allowance, but all the liquor he desired was provided free.

"Philip, you cannot be stripped of your inheritance; you are Lord Peacock. We'll go to London and hire our own law firm. What Chetwynd has done is clearly illegal. Not only will we put an end to this theft, we will bring charges against him."

She came submissively and Nicholas mocked himself for being a fool. He spoke briskly. "Philip and I are going to London to engage a law firm to untangle the mess you created for him. Your son is loathe to leave you behind to suffer the consequences, so I am willing to also take you. Pack everything you need. It will be many months before you will be able to return here."

His voice of authority was obeyed without question. In London, Nicholas took three rooms at Claridge's in Brook Street, ordered them dinner in their rooms. He left strict instructions that upon no account were spirits to be served, and took himself off to Temple Bar.

As he went over the directory, one name, Gardiner & Higgins, struck a dim chord in his memory. He thought perhaps it was a firm his father had used.

"Quite so, quite so, but I'm speaking of the money your father put in trust for you until you reached your majority." Gardiner smiled.

Suddenly his father's last words came to him clearly: "
Remember... Gardiner... Higgins... money."
His mind came back to the present in time to hear Gardiner say, "He invested the money when you were nineteen, so that makes a hundred thousand pounds invested for seven years at twenty percent is almost four hundred thousand pounds," he said in a matter of fact voice.

"That's over a million dollars." Nicholas was incredulous. "Well," he said, covering his shock, "you've done an excellent job for me. Most commendable. Just carry on as you have, and in the meantime I wish to retain your services to straighten out my brother's inheritance. I don't care how much it takes; any expenses you incur can be deducted from my account.

Within two days, Nicholas learned that the Peacock inheritance was surrounded by misappropriation and litigation and would take months to straighten out. He authorized Gardiner & Higgins to proceed and decided to take Philip back to Paradise. He'd use the voyage to wean him away from alcohol, and hoped it would restore his health.

Nicholas thought long and hard about taking Pamela. He didn't want her, yet he thought perhaps he owed it to his father to give his widow one more chance. As well, he didn't wish her in England where she could be involved in God knew what with Chetwynd, so when he explained the situation about the litigation and extended an invitation, they both accepted with joy.

Pamela put her hand on his arm. "You are very generous, Nicholas. I know I don't deserve this, but I swear you'll never regret it."

As he looked at her, he realized the incredible irony of it all. That day he had thought himself penniless, so he had sailed to South Carolina and eventually with both hands forged something fine for himself.
Now I have Amanda and Paradise, to say nothing of my wealth. If I had known my father left me money, I would probably never have gone to America. I thank the Fates for taking a hand in my life.

Before they departed London, Nicholas went to a diamond merchant in prestigious Hatton Garden off Bond Street and bought Amanda a matching set of necklace, bracelet, and earrings.

The sea voyage, along with Nicholas's strict discipline, rid Philip of his craving for alcohol. The unhealthy pallor was replaced with a tanned glow from wind and sun. Pamela too regained some of her former good looks, but kept quietly to herself for most of the trip.