Authors: Patricia Hagan
Her pleas turned to anger. “Then why did you bother to help me just now? Just what kind of man are you? You don’t want me raped, yet you’ll kidnap me, while my sister torments my father. You’re scum, Whit Brandon! Scum!”
“Well now,” he said after a long pause. “I reckon I am at that. But I figure you ain’t no angel, not after you got your own sister kicked out of her own home. So don’t you go preachin’ to me.”
“Lies! I never did any such thing,” she screamed. “Can’t you listen to my side of the story?”
“No.” He turned and walked toward the door. “I’m going out to the wagon and bring your bags in so’s you can get a decent dress on. That one’s kinda torn. Then I’m gonna bed you down close to me so’s I can keep an eye on you. Zeke might try something again.”
He paused before leaving the barn and gave her a long, searching look. “I ain’t asking you to understand me, girl, ’cause once we reach that convent, I’ll just forget I ever knew you. But you should know one thing about me. I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life, but I ain’t never raped a woman, and I’ll kill a stranger to keep him from raping a woman I ain’t never even met. That’s just how strong I feel about it.”
“How noble!” April snapped. “I’d be interested to know why such a filthy rogue would have even that scrap of virtue about him.”
He stared at her, trying to decide whether he should answer. When he finally spoke, his words were choked, as though he were fighting tears. “My mother was raped. Raped to death. I found her body. I was only eight years old. If that gives me the scrap o’ virtue you’re talkin’ about, then maybe she didn’t die in vain.”
He lurched from the barn, and April stared silently after him.
Chapter Seven
They set
out on their journey once more at sundown. Zeke grumbled about having to travel at night, and Whit assured him that by morning they would be far enough from Montgomery and Pinehurst that they could relax and move when they felt like it.
April did not feel well, and as the night moved on, she felt even worse. Once they stopped to boil coffee and eat corn dodgers. She was not hungry but forced herself to put some food in her stomach. Almost as soon as she swallowed, she vomited.
“Oh, hell, she’s sick!” Zeke cursed, watching her as she doubled over, clutching her stomach. “That’s just what we need.”
Whit walked over and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Girl, what’s the matter? You ain’t gettin’ sick on us, are you?”
Her knees buckled, and he quickly grabbed her around her waist and helped her to the wagon so she could sit down. “I don’t know what’s wrong. I feel dizzy, and I think I have a fever.”
He placed his hand on her cheek and nodded. “Yep, you sure do. We’re gonna have to get you to a doctor. We ain’t far from Sylacauga. It ain’t much of a town, but they ought to have somebody around who knows a little medicine.”
“Sylacauga?” Zeke cried. “Are you serious? We got to keep on ridin’. I want to get on up in them mountains and get rid of her.”
“Well, we can’t have her get sick and maybe die on us,” Whit snapped, giving him an angry look.
Zeke threw up his hands. “So what if she does die? It won’t be our fault. And if she does, we can just bury her and turn around and head back.”
“You just want to get back before some other man gets sweet on Vanessa.”
“And you just want to stop in Sylacauga ’cause you know there’s a saloon there where you can get drunk.”
April struggled to speak over the whirling heat that was making her so dizzy. “Please. Don’t fight over me. Just let me go…just let me go and be on your way.”
Whit reached in to tuck a blanket around her. “Don’t you fret, girl. I’m gonna look after you, and I ain’t gonna let you die. Maybe it won’t be so bad livin’ with them monks. I hear they live a real peaceful life. You might like it.”
He finished covering her, then turned and walked straight to Zeke and poked an angry finger in his stomach. “Now you listen to me, boy. You hush up that kind of talk around that girl. Ain’t no cause to mistreat her. I ain’t gonna let her die, you hear?”
“Oh, hell, Whit! It don’t matter to me what happens to her.” He stepped back. “What’s gotten into you, anyway? How come you’re so worried about her? Maybe you’re wantin’ her for yourself.”
Whit went around the wagon and crawled up on the bench. Taking the reins in his burly hands, he said, “I had a daughter once. She died. That girl back there reminds me of her. The way she might’ve looked if she’d lived to grow up. Nice and pretty and sweet.”
Zeke sighed and got up on the bench beside him. “I don’t mean to rile you none, but I’d like to know something.”
Whit gave him a warning glare.
“You don’t believe in rapin’ a woman ’cause your momma was raped. Now you don’t want to see that girl hurt because she reminds you of your daughter. Every time something comes up you don’t like, you’ve got a reason for why you don’t like it.”
The angry look faded and Whit began to look amused. “Maybe that’s true, boy. You know why I don’t like life?”
Zeke snapped, “Naw, I don’t, but I’ll bet you got a reason for that, too.”
“Yep. It’s on account of havin’ to live around bastards like you, boy.” He chuckled as he popped the reins over the mare’s back.
The wagon began to lumber forward, and Zeke slumped into an icy silence as Whit continued to snicker over having bested him.
The moon hung low in the sky as they moved into the sleepy little town of Sylacauga, Alabama. April was only dimly aware that they had arrived. She did not know much about the town, only that the name “Sylacauga” was an Indian word, meaning “buzzard’s roost.”
Whit pulled to a stop in front of the only hotel, and after ordering Zeke to fetch a doctor as quickly as possible, he lifted April in his arms and walked through the swinging doors. The sleepy-eyed clerk behind the desk eyed him suspiciously, but Whit gave him no time to ask questions. “This girl’s sick,” he bellowed. “I want to get her to bed right away. I’ve sent for a doctor.”
The clerk was tripping over his own feet as he grabbed a key from one of the slotted holes on the wall behind him and rushed around the counter. “This way, sir. Right up these steps. We’ll take care of registering you later.”
Whit followed him, and once inside the room, hurried to place April’s limp body on the bed. “Get me lots of blankets,” he ordered, and the clerk rushed to obey.
He pulled up a chair, sat down, and leaned over to clutch her small hand. “Girl, can you hear me?” he whispered. April’s eyelids fluttered as she feebly nodded her head. He moved closer. “Listen to me now. I’m gonna take care of you. I ain’t gonna let nothin’ happen to you. You just trust ol’ Whit, okay?”
She tried to smile, but she felt herself fading away again.
She focused her eyes on him, but he was drifting away into a gray cloud…farther…farther…and then she was floating higher. It was so pleasant to just let her body float away…away from the sickness…the misery…the agony her life had become.
People came and went, murmuring softly. It was dark, then light. She could not keep up with the passing of time or what the people were saying. Finally came the deep sense of peace that was so wonderful that she wanted to remain there forever.
Annoyance washed over her as she heard someone call her name. What did they want? Why wouldn’t they leave her in peace?
“How do you feel, my dear?”
The man standing to the right of her bed was tall, stoop-shouldered, and had a large beaked nose.
“You gave me quite a time,” he said, when she continued to stare at him. “I’m Dr. Benedict, and I’ve been caring for you for the past five days. You had a nasty bout with the fever, but you’re recovering nicely.”
He wasn’t one of them, her heart sang joyfully. With great effort, she pulled her weak body up to a sitting position so she could see him better. “You’ve got to help me,” she croaked. “I’ve been kidnapped. I’ve got to get back to Montgomery…to my family.”
He stepped away from the bed and said, “You need rest. Now I’m going to have some collard soup sent up to you, and I want you to eat all of it.”
“I don’t care about that!” she cried desperately. “Doctor, you’ve got to help me! Go to the sheriff and tell him to come up here at once. I’ve been kidnapped!”
She watched in disbelief as the doctor shook his head sadly from side to side. “It’s a pity when a young girl goes astray. I’ve a daughter about your age. It would break my heart to have to put her somewhere to protect her from her own moral decay, but I
would
do it. It’s for the best, my dear. Someday you will realize that.”
He opened the door and called out, “She’s awake. She’s doing what you said she’d do.”
In an instant, Zeke was inside the room, grinning his yellow-toothed smile. “Well, well, the princess awakes. That’s fine and dandy. Now we can be on our way without too much more delay.” He turned to the doctor. “How long before we can move outta here? I want to get rid of her as quick as I can. She’s too much responsibility.”
“I can imagine she would be.” The doctor stared at her thoughtfully. “Such a beautiful thing. A pity she has such a hunger for men.”
“What has this bastard told you?” April struggled out of bed, ignoring the weakness that made her legs tremble. “I demand to see the law. He’s lying! You must believe me—”
“April, get back in that bed.” Zeke strode over and gave her a shove. She lost her balance and would have fallen, but he quickly lifted her and dropped her roughly on the sagging mattress.
“I wouldn’t be rough with her,” the doctor spoke hesitantly, as though wondering if he should interfere. “She is still weak, and—”
“I don’t need you anymore, doe,” Zeke snarled, whipping about to face him, “except to tell me how soon we can be on our way. You see what I’ve got to put up with. I want to get her tucked away safely with those monks in the mountains just as quick as I can. Hell, she’s all the time pawing
me,
and I promised her pappy I wouldn’t breed her.”
Dr. Benedict glanced at April and then looked away as his cheeks flamed. “I understand. Let her rest today, and then be on your way tomorrow. If she gets tired, then stop along the way.”
“We’ve only got about two more days travel. She can stand that.” He walked to the door and waited for the doctor to gather his things and put them into his worn-leather bag.
“Bundle up good, doc. It’s plenty chilly out.”
“Yes, it is,” the doctor agreed, wrapping a woolen scarf, about his neck. “I pray we don’t have a bad winter, for the sake of our brave soldiers out in the fields.”
Zeke snorted and waved his hand. “Don’t worry about them. That war will be over any day. You’ll see.”
“I do hope you’re right.” He stepped into the hall. “If you should need me—”
“She’s going to be fine, doc, just fine. Thanks for everything. See Whit downstairs at the bar, and he’ll pay you up.
He closed the door, then waited till the sound of the doctor’s footsteps disappeared. All the while his eyes were blazing at April. When he was sure the doctor had gone, he crossed the room and shook his fist over her.
“You try that again around anybody else, girl, and I’ll beat the hell out of you, you understand me? I’d already told that doctor you’d tell him a bunch of lies, so he didn’t believe you. Somebody else might, and it might just get ’em killed if they do, ’cause I ain’t gonna let nothin’ stop me from gettin’ you out of Vanessa’s hair. So you best wise up if you want to keep that pretty face of yours. You understand me?”
April stared at him icily and refused to answer.
Infuriated, he sat down quickly on the bed and reached out toward her breasts. “You know what I oughtta do, you little spitfire?” he spoke in a husky voice. “I oughtta go ahead and breed you right here and now. That’d tame you down.”
“Get away from me,” she cried, twisting her arm upward, bringing her hand down to rake a nail across his eye. With a yelp of pain, he leaped to his feet and stumbled away, cursing.
“You blinded me!” he roared, staggering over to the cracked mirror. “You put my eye out, you bitch!”
April jerked the covers up around her chin and cowered against the head of the bed, eyes darting wildly about for a weapon. The sound of the door opening filled her with grateful relief.
Whit came in, took one look at her, then saw Zeke staring at his bloodied eye in the mirror. “Well, what in thunderation is going on in here?” he yelled.
“The bitch blinded me!” Zeke yelped.
“Hell, she should’ve. I can just imagine what you were up to.” He walked over to Zeke and knocked his hand out of the way so he could examine the eye. Then he laughed. “She just caught the edge with a fingernail. It’s torn and bleedin’, but you ain’t blind. Serves you right for tryin’ somethin’, boy. I told you to leave her alone.”
He turned to study April. “You’ must be feelin’ right smart if you put up a fight like that, little lady. That’s good. You had me worried for a time. Thought maybe you weren’t gonna make it.”
“I am going to welcome being with the monks,” she said evenly. “At least I won’t have to worry about them attacking me. Can we leave right away?”
“In the mornin’. The doc says you need that much time to rest.”
“Come on, Zeke.” He motioned to his partner. “I want you to leave her alone. Doc said he’s sendin’ some collard soup up. She can eat that and take a nap.”