Midnight Rose (38 page)

Eliza thought she was getting carried away but didn’t dare say so, offering instead, “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to watch her constantly. Day and night. Every time she leaves her room, I want you to let me know, because I’m going to follow her, and if I can catch her with her lover, whoever he is, I’ll confront her then and there and force her to leave. And she’ll do it. Because she knows when I tell Ryan, he’ll kick her out himself.”

“What about when he comes back?”

Victoria’s brows drew together. “What about it?”

Eliza was reluctant to point out, “Maybe he won’t want her to leave. Maybe he’ll just want her to stop doing what she’s doing.”

They were on the sun porch, and Victoria was finishing her morning coffee. With an airy wave, she dismissed such a ridiculous notion. “He’d want nothing more to do with her, but the important thing is to get her out of here before he comes back and finds out himself and kills both of them. He has a terrible temper, you know.”

Again, Eliza knew to keep silent. Despite her loyalty to her mistress, she had the utmost respect for Master Ryan, as did all the servants. They obeyed him because they liked him, and he never had to raise his voice or use the whip. He was forceful and imposing, but gentle and kind. In a way, she even regretted what she was helping to do, for in the past weeks she’d come to feel that despite the tension between the newlyweds, there was also a caring. She hadn’t realized that fact till she’d seen him the morning he left. He had come through the service kitchen, and though she’d regarded him as distantly as always, she had taken note of the expression on his face. Sadness. Grief. Confusion. His shoulders were slumped. He was the image of a man whose spirit had been broken, his dreams dashed. But Eliza reminded herself she had to remember how much she also liked Miss Ermine. Miss Ermine would always let her be in charge of the household. Miss Erin would probably give the duties to that nit-headed Annie if she could. No, she silently, solemnly resolved, with a determined lift of her chin as she poured her mistress one last cup of coffee, Miss Victoria knew what she was doing, and Eliza would, as always, do whatever was required of her to assist.

“What I have to do now,” Victoria said, taking her cup and preparing to go back into the house proper, “is find that diagram myself so I can follow her next time. While I’m doing that, you go upstairs and position yourself to watch her door.”

It proved to be a very long day for Eliza. There was a shadowed recess in the wall, halfway down the hall, where a statue stood on a pedestal. Behind that, Eliza was forced to hide, for it was the perfect vantage point to see the stairs, as well as all three doors leading into the master suite.

She watched as Annie brought a lunch tray. When she did not come out of the room right away, Eliza dared leave her hiding place and tiptoe to stand outside the door and listen. But they were speaking in hushed tones, and she could not make out what they were saying. Disgruntled, she returned to the little alcove, lest one of the other household servants happen by and catch her eavesdropping.

Erin told Annie about Ben running away, and Annie listened in wide-eyed fright. She’d heard of many slaves fleeing of late, heard the rumors that many more were planning to do so. Most, it was whispered, belonged to Zachary Tremayne, and she boldly said as much to her mistress.

“I’m not surprised. I know how they’ve suffered, and that’s why I’m risking everything to help them, Annie. I wish you’d feel the same way and get over your fear of ghosts, for heaven’s sake.”

“I’ll try,” Annie promised lamely.

“Tomorrow, no matter what, we’re going to see my mother. I’m going to stay a few days with her, and I don’t care what Mrs. Youngblood thinks.”

Annie grunted. “She’ll probably lock the door the minute you walk out and not let you back in.”

“Then I’d just wait till Ryan returns.”

Annie dared to warn, “There just ain’t no tellin’ what that woman might do. She’s evil to the core.”

Erin agreed but thought it best to keep it to herself.

When Eliza saw Annie with the tapestry bags, she rushed to inform Miss Victoria that Erin was getting ready to go somewhere.

Victoria was sitting at Ryan’s desk, studying the diagram of the labyrinth. “That means she’s going to slip away and spend some time with her lover while Ryan is away. No doubt she’ll say she’s going to stay with her mother, but I’ll be right behind her all the way. She won’t know she’s walking into a trap, because the instant they rendezvous, I’ll have her right where I want her.

“But go back and keep watch,” she added, “because she may sneak out during the night. If she leaves her room, you come and find me, no matter what time it is.”

Eliza blinked wearily. She ached all over from standing on her feet for so many hours. “You want me to stay there the rest of the day?”

“And the night, too, Eliza. Who else can I trust? Now get back up there. She could have slipped out while you were in here.”

The afternoon passed slowly. Eliza felt as though her legs would no longer support her. She had made sure the rest of the household staff had chores to do that would keep them on the main floor, but still she was afraid to venture out of hiding. Surely, she prayed wearily, her mistress did not expect her to keep watch throughout the night.

When she left her post long enough to serve supper, Victoria was furious. “I told you to stay there.”

Eliza could stand no more. “I been there since this morning,” she reminded her mistress, on the verge of tears. Lord, she was tired, snatching only a bite of cornbread when she’d gone up the last time. She’d not even had time to go to the outhouse, and her stomach was griping with the urge. She unleashed her complaints and protests and finished to beg, “Please. Can I just go outside for a while, tend to myself, and have some food?”

“Oh, be gone with you.” Victoria shoved back her plate and stood. “I’ll go watch. Take ten minutes. No more.”

Victoria had not been in place long when she heard footsteps rushing up the stairs. It was nearly dark out, and only a faint light was filtering through the window above the doorway to illumine the stairs. She could see it was Annie coming up, and she ran down the hall, passing right by her without seeing her in the shadows, of course. Victoria was stunned to see she didn’t bother to knock on Erin’s door but burst right in.

She was even more puzzled to hear her cry excitedly, “A rose, Miz Erin. I found it at the grave.”

Victoria then peered out to see Erin reach to snatch the girl inside the room as she anxiously warned, “Hush! Someone might hear…” Then the door closed, and Victoria couldn’t hear anything else.

Annie did not stay inside long, and as Victoria watched her go back downstairs, she toyed with the idea of having Eliza interrogate her about what was going on. A rose, she had said. At the grave. She had to mean Henrietta Youngblood’s grave, because the slaves never ventured near the large family cemetery. But it made no difference where she had found it. The puzzle was that summer was long over. Fall had descended. And winter was right around the corner. There just weren’t any more roses in bloom.

Slowly, it began to dawn on her. The rose was probably not real and was a signal of some sort. Of course. The rose meant Erin was to meet someone in the labyrinth. But when? She heard another movement on the stairs just then, saw that it was Eliza, and rushed to meet her and draw her in the opposite direction to her room.

Once inside, Victoria told her what she suspected. “Now you get back there and watch, and don’t you dare fall asleep or take your eye off that door for an instant,” she said sharply. “The minute she leaves, you come tell me, and I’ll be dressed and ready to follow her. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Eliza wished for the first time she had never gotten involved in any of this. She was now expected to keep vigil all night long, if need be. She found herself suddenly wishing she weren’t the head servant, could join the others in the compound for an evening of companionship. They were all gathering to cook a catfish stew in a big cauldron of hot fat. She knew, because she’d heard some of the women talking about how they needed to peel onions and potatoes and roll out some dumplings to add to the pot likker. Someone would play a banjo, and there’d be singing, and Eliza swallowed against a lump in her throat to think of the fellowship she would miss out on, as she had for so many years. Long ago, she’d crossed that invisible line and chosen loyalty to her white mistress over allegiance to her own people.

And she could not go back.

Erin’s heart was pounding louder with each ticking of the clock. She hadn’t expected another runaway so soon and hoped it wasn’t going to become a nightly occurrence. If so, she’d have to contact Sam Wade and have him make other arrangements. It was too risky for her to slip out of the house every night. She had to send word to him anyway that she’d be staying at her mother’s for a few days, so he could have someone else watch for the signal.

Just a few minutes before midnight, Erin made her way silently through the house. All was quiet. It was a cloudy night, so the moon gave scant light. Fortunately she knew her way.

Stepping between the opening in the hedges, she repeated her call of the night before. This time, however, there was no answer. Apprehensive, she went farther in, again softly calling out, but only silence, tense and thick amid the shrubbery, prevailed.

She knew then it had to mean someone was waiting in the center. Hoping it would be Sam, she began to pace and count and find her way in the dark.

When she reached the clearing, there was enough light for her to distinguish shadows, and when one of them moved, her instinct was to retreat within the maze till it identified itself. But before she took even a step, Sam called to her.

The moon had slipped momentarily from behind a cloud as she rushed to greet him. “Thank God, it’s you. I was going to send a message to you by Rosa tomorrow, because I’m going to be over there for a few days, and—” She fell silent as she read in his expression something that filled her with cold dread. “What is it? Something’s happened. I can feel it. My mother! Is she—”

“I honestly don’t know. I can’t get on your stepfather’s property to find out what’s going on in there. Did you hear the drums last night?”

She nodded fearfully. “What did it mean?”

“Trouble. That’s all I can tell you. At first, I thought maybe it had something to do with Ben running away, but Mahalia told me today it was a message that there was big trouble at Zachary’s. So I went by there. But I couldn’t get past the front gate. One of his overseers stopped me. Said they weren’t letting any outsiders in. I asked why, and all he would tell me was that they’d had some trouble with the slaves, and Zachary was getting a posse together.”

“Then I’ve got to get there right away, in case Mother needs me.”

“I agree. If there is an emergency, and you need to get in touch with me, I’ll be making my regular stops in the north part of the county. The Siddons place. The Bartons. You know where they live.”

She nodded.

“I usually camp out at the Bartons’. There’s a cottonwood grove overlooking the river, and the slaves know they can find me there around this time. They slip in during the night to fill me in on anything they think I need to know. If you want to find me, or get a message to me, that’s where I’ll be tomorrow night.”

“I’ll leave at first light. I’d already planned to go.”

“Good. Now you’d better get back inside before your husband misses you.”

Ruefully, she said that was no problem. “He’s gone. I don’t know when he’ll be back.”

“Is something wrong?”

“His mother has returned from her trip. She wasn’t at all happy over finding out about our marriage. I knew it would upset her, but I had no idea how much.”

“It will work out. You’ll see. Now do you mind if I walk along with you? I didn’t come by way of the river. My cart is about a mile down the road from your house.”

“Of course,” she murmured, not really listening, for she was lost in thought. She was terribly worried about her mother but also grieving with wanting Ryan to be with her. She needed him, and found herself desperately wishing she had let him know that.

Eliza had decided there was no reason to keep standing in the darkness. No one was around, and she just couldn’t resist sitting down to rest her weary legs. Leaning her head back against the wall, she closed her eyes and promised herself she wouldn’t fall asleep, just rest for a few precious moments.

She sat straight up, realizing with a start that she had fallen asleep. Groggily struggling to her feet, she was further disturbed by the feeling that she’d been dozing for more than just a few moments. What if Miss Erin had slipped out during that time? She couldn’t take a chance, had to make sure she was still in her room.

Hurrying to her door, she eased it open. It was difficult to make out anything in the darkness, but she could tell, with a jolt, that no one was in the bed. A check of the adjoining parlor, and even Master Ryan’s room, confirmed the growing terror that Erin had sneaked out.

She was trembling to think how Miss Victoria would never forgive her for falling asleep and letting this happen. And while she might have to report to her Miss Erin had got away, she wasn’t about to let her know just when, and how.