Midnight Rose (36 page)

Victoria was already seated when Erin went into the dining room. She regarded her new daughter-in-law coolly for a moment as she sipped her wine. Finally, with a smirk touching her lips, she said, “Please wait until Ryan comes in before you apologize for your despicable behavior this morning. I want him to witness.”

Erin quietly, calmly informed her, “There won’t be anything for him to witness, Mrs. Youngblood. We both know it was just a misunderstanding. I’d really like to forget it happened, because I want us to get along. I am your son’s wife, and—”

“Not for long.”

Erin blinked, sure she’d not heard right, but seeing Victoria’s smile, the threatening sheen to her eyes, knew there was no mistake. She swayed ever so slightly with shock, for she’d not expected such a threat. “Now wait a minute. You can’t—”

“I can. And I will. And get something else straight, Miss Sterling,” she added. “I’m not having your trashy mother move in my house. You can get that notion out of your head right now. You won’t be living here long enough to make any demands. I promise you that.

“Do you think I want my son married to someone like you? From a family like yours?” Victoria was slowly getting to her feet, her face twisted with rage. “Oh, no, you scheming little trollop. Your days at Jasmine Hill are numbered. You trapped Ryan with lust, but by now he’s probably had his fill. He never did stay with one woman very long, so he’s no doubt ready to admit he made a mistake. Now that I’m back, I’m ready to do everything I can to help him get out of this mess. You’d be wise, very wise indeed, just to leave, and—”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Erin cut in raggedly, coming out of her stupor to defend herself. “You can’t do this to me, to our marriage. I won’t let you.”

“Oh, can’t I?” Victoria challenged. “You’ll see. You’ll see what power I have over my son.”

“Mrs. Youngblood, there’s no need for this.”

“Perhaps not,” Victoria said coldly, thoughtfully. “Perhaps there’s an easier way. How much money will it take to get you out of my son’s life?”

“You don’t have enough money to make me leave Ryan.” Before she even realized what she was saying, she blurted, “Regardless of what you think, I happen to be in love with him.”

Victoria swayed as though she’d been struck. Another unexpected jolt. And there was no time to think how to react, for she could hear Ryan’s footsteps as he came up the hall from his study. Through clenched teeth, she whispered, “You’ll wish you’d taken my offer.”

Her hand closed about her wineglass, and Victoria suddenly threw the contents into her own face as Erin watched in frozen disbelief. “How dare you?” she began to scream at Erin, wildly swiping at her eyes. “How dare you do such a thing?”

Ryan heard the shrieks and ran the rest of the way to the room. He looked from Erin to his mother, who was soaked in wine. “What the hell is going on here?”

Erin was quick to answer. “She threw it on herself, Ryan, to make you think I did it.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Victoria wailed. “Eliza! Eliza, where are you?”

“I’m here, ma’am.” Eliza stepped out of the little hallway leading to the service kitchen and promptly cried, aghast, “Lordy, Lordy…” and gave a pitying shake of her head, fighting to keep from smiling, for she’d been listening, had peeked out just in time to see Miss Victoria sling the wine on herself. “Those stains are never going to come out of that gown. Here, let’s get you up to your room.”

“Yes, please get me out of here,” Victoria said dramatically.

The moment they walked out, Erin said furiously, “She’s lying again.”

“I’m supposed to believe she threw wine in her own face,” he murmured incredulously.

“Unless you think I’m the one lying.”

“Hell, I don’t know what to believe anymore.” He ran both hands through his hair, then shook his head in an attempt to clear away the deep pounding that had begun. “I knew there’d be some problems when she got back, but damn it, in one day, there’s a goddamn war going on.”

“Well, I surely didn’t start it.”

Suddenly, Victoria burst back into the room, for she had been standing outside eavesdropping. “Oh, yes, you did,” she exploded. “You started it the instant we met, but don’t worry. The war is over, because I surrender. I’m moving out of this house.”

Ryan was quick to protest. “Wait a minute. This is all getting out of hand. We need to sit down and talk about it.”

“No,” Victoria said, tears spilling down her cheeks again. “This isn’t my home anymore. I don’t belong here. I can go and live with Cousin Hannah in Richmond. She’ll take me in.” She left, sobbing wildly.

Erin said tentatively, “Maybe it would be best if she did go and visit her cousin for a while, till we can straighten everything out. She’s obviously taking this a lot harder than you thought she would.”

He looked at her, stunned. “This is her home, Erin. You think I want to run my mother out of her own home? Jesus! All this is tearing me apart. As I said, you and I had problems of our own without this happening all at once.” He slammed out of the room, heading for his study.

Erin started upstairs but changed her mind. She went to him and urged, “We’ve got to talk about this, Ryan.”

He had gone to sit behind his desk, and he looked up at her with wretched eyes. “You know something, Erin?” he asked ruefully, pausing to draw on the cheroot he’d just lit. “I was just sitting here thinking how I don’t really know you at all.”

“Your mother is lying.” She wasn’t about to soften the issue. “If you won’t believe that, then there’s no hope for us, Ryan. No hope that we can ever truly be happy together.”

“Was there ever a chance that we could?” he asked with forced sarcasm, not about to let her sense his real misery.

She left him then, because she was afraid that if she didn’t, she might unlock her heart—and she did not dare.

Ryan didn’t go after her. Instead, he rang for Ebner and told him to go and pack a bag for him, that he would be leaving first thing in the morning for New Orleans. The horse show didn’t start for a few more weeks, but he felt that if he didn’t get away, far away, and figure out what the hell to do about the maelstrom of his life, he’d explode.

But first, he wrote a letter to Erin, explaining what he had to do—and why. He couldn’t just go away without a word. He suggested she go and stay with her mother till he returned. Finally, he confided he did truly care for her. He just needed time to himself to figure out how to deal with it,
because he didn’t feel she cared for him in return.

The next morning, with hopeful heart that the separation would be good for both of them, he slipped the letter under her door.

Eliza saw the corner of the envelope. It was not quite all the way under Miss Erin’s door. Picking it up, she dutifully hurried to take it to Miss Victoria.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The day passed with agonizing slowness. Too angry to leave her room, Erin paced miserably as she tried to figure out what to do about the maddening situation. She desperately wanted to go check on her mother but didn’t dare leave the house just then.

Annie brought her a breakfast tray, which she didn’t touch. At lunch, because she was starting to feel nauseated from not eating, she sipped mint tea and nibbled on a slice of cornbread, though she really didn’t want anything.

She had briefed Annie earlier about the scene the night before and asked her to be alert for anything going on. Annie said she knew nothing, but at noon she was able to report that Miss Victoria was up and about as though nothing had happened. “Eliza, she had me polish the silver service, ’cause she says Miz Victoria is expectin’ Miz Ermine and her mama for tea this afternoon. And she tol’ the kitchen girls to get some nice cakes and cookies baked and frosted.”

Erin was jolted by that bit of information. Why on earth would Ryan’s former fiancée be making a social call? Then it dawned on her. Victoria was wasting no time. She was obviously also not making good her threat to move out of the house. “Have you seen Master Ryan?”

“No ma’am, and I did like you tol’ me, I asked Ebner if he knew where he was, and Ebner said he wasn’t supposed to say nothin’ to nobody about nothin’. But I been lookin’ out, like you tol’ me, and I ain’t seen hide nor hair of him all mornin’.”

“Keep watching, Annie. And report back to me if you find him. I’ve got to talk to him. This madness can’t go on.”

“Yassum,” she mumbled, filled with pity for her mistress. Her fears that there would be bad trouble when Miz Victoria returned were coming true, all right.

It was nearly four o’clock when Annie returned to tell Erin excitedly what she’d been able to find out. “Mastah Ryan is gone, Miz Erin. I talked to one of the stableboys, and he said he left at first light this mornin’. Had a bag with him, strapped on the back of his horse and said he was goin’ to New Orleans and didn’t know when he’d be back.”

Erin couldn’t believe he’d go away like that without telling her. She went in search of Ebner. She found him on the back porch, polishing a pair of Ryan’s shoes. “Is it true? Did Ryan really leave for New Orleans this morning?”

He saw no harm in admitting what she obviously already knew and confirmed with a nod.

“And he left no message for me? No note? Nothing?”

“Not with me, he didn’t. No, ma’am.” He’d seen Master Ryan writing something when he went to tell him his bag was all packed, but wasn’t about to say so, because he had no idea what it had been.

Erin was seething. How could he do this to her? Just ride away and abandon her to his angry mother?

Just then, Victoria appeared at the back door. Angrily, she ordered Erin, “Go upstairs. At once. I’m entertaining guests, and I don’t want you around.”

Erin yielded to the sudden urge to say, “You know, Mrs. Youngblood, I really feel sorry for you, because we could have been friends. But you don’t want it like that. So you go on and have your tea party, and I’ll gladly get out of your way.”

Victoria laughed. “You’ll be out of my way permanently once Ryan comes to his senses. He went to New Orleans to figure out how to get rid of you.”

Erin went inside and hurried up to her room, refusing to be goaded into another scene.

She was standing on the veranda when the carriage pulled up in front of the house. She watched as the petite young woman stepped down. She was wearing an olive-green dress. Golden curls trailed from her bonnet, and as she happened to glance up, Erin saw she had a lovely, heart-shaped face.

Seeing Erin, Ermine turned to murmur something to the older woman who was just alighting. Also elegantly dressed, she regarded Erin coldly, then took Ermine’s hand and led her up the steps.

Erin thought about going to the tea party herself and making Victoria miserable, then decided it was a waste of time. She had also realized it was cutting off her nose to spite her face to remain in the house till Ryan returned. She was disappointed and hurt he hadn’t taken her as he’d promised, but she knew he was angry, and there was no telling how long he’d stay away. The thing to do was go back and care for her mother, even though she hated the thought of having to be around Zachary.

She told Annie to have a carriage made ready to take her to visit her mother the next day.

It was that very evening, when she’d made her decision to escape the misery, if
only for a little while, that Annie came to her at dusk, excited to report there was a paper rose in the vase on Miss Henrietta’s grave.

“That means there’s a runaway slave hiding in the labyrinth,” Erin told Annie. “And you’ll need to go with me to be on the lookout for Eliza or anybody else that might be about.”

At once, Annie started swinging her head from side to side. “Oh, no, ma’am, Miz Erin, I can’t go out there. Not tonight. It’s a full moon, and that means Miz Henrietta’s ghost is walkin’, and I’m scared of ghosts, and—”

“Nonsense.” Erin waved away her protests. “It’s Eliza you should be scared of. Not ghosts.”

“I just can’t do it. I just can’t. Not when there’s a full moon.”

Erin knew there was no sense arguing and irritably told her she should be ashamed of herself.

“Can’t help it. I ain’t goin’ around that graveyard when there’s a full moon.”

Erin went alone. She waited till nearly ten o’clock, to be sure that Victoria would be in her room and asleep. Then she crept out of the house, leaving by the side terrace doors, to run swiftly across the lawn. The night was quiet and eerie, with silver shadows leaping from behind every shrub and tree. The only sound was a barn owl, somewhere far in the distance, and a gentle breeze rustling the magnolia leaves.

Entering the opening of the maze, she stood perfectly still for a moment, waiting for any noise. When there was none, she dared call softly, “Hello, is anyone there? You don’t have to be afraid. I’m here to help you.”

She heard a soft, anguished moan from deeper within the greenish shadows. Taking a few steps, she gently reassured once more, “I’m a friend. I want to help you.”

Abruptly, a familiar voice called on a broken sob, “Thank God, Miz Erin. Thank God you came.”

“Ben!” She held her arms open to the dark figure that suddenly loomed. “Ben, what are you doing here?”

“I gotta get away,” he gasped, then cried out as she touched him.