Sadie's Secret: 3 (The Secret Lives of Will Tucker) (19 page)

“And you look as though you’ve been on a train since daybreak,” she said as she turned Sadie toward the door. “We’ve been waiting lunch. You know I adore it when all my little chickens are under the same roof at mealtime.”

Her other little chickens, overgrown and apparently hungry males the lot of them, cheered at the mention of food on the table. Mama’s chastising went unnoticed as they rushed around the side of the house to the well out back to do their obligatory washing up before they were allowed to join the civilized folk in the dining room.

There was a time when Sadie would have joined them. Would have counted herself as a member of that rarified league of Callum males who could hunt, shoot, and fish with the ease that seemed to come with their genetic makeup.

It seemed acutely unfair that, although her older brothers were well into their twenties, with Aaron solidly past thirty and Brent and Cade near to it, on occasion they still behaved as wild as the heathens they had been as children. It was also quite humorous to Sadie when these same hooligans dressed up in their city finery to impress the ladies.

Apparently, it was fine for a Callum man to carry on as a fool on Callum land and then call himself a gentleman elsewhere. Not only was it fine, it was encouraged.

Daddy stomped his boots on the porch boards and then must have noticed Mama’s frown. “I’ll just go around back and slip these off,” he said.

The servants went back to their duties, while Daddy’s hounds trotted happily behind him to disappear around the side of the house, leaving Sadie and Mama alone in the quiet.

There was another appraising look, this time with a less guarded expression. “You’ve not been eating properly,” Mama said as she retrieved her embroidered handkerchief and dabbed at a smudge of cinders on Sadie’s traveling coat. “That dress needs taking up. What am I going to do with you?”

Sadie linked arms with her mother and put on her best smile. “You are going to fatten me up, insist on accompanying me into town for a proper wardrobe for the coming season, and then fret over me in prayer like always.”

She lifted her gaze to meet Sadie’s eyes. “You know me so well, my daughter. Why is it I feel I no longer know you?”

“Don’t be silly,” Sadie said, though she quickly looked away. “I’m still your baby girl.”

She wasn’t, of course. She hadn’t been for quite some time. But saying the words made her feel less as though she had left something important behind at Callum Plantation that could not be retrieved upon her return.

Before Mama could inquire further, all five Callum brothers trooped in with their hands clean and their manners now in place. Sadie allowed herself to be swept into the dining room on a wave of enthusiastic conversation. By the time Daddy joined them at the head of the long table, Mama’s good humor had returned.

And so had Uncle Penn.

“Well, look who’s arrived,” he said as he stepped inside the dining room with a grin and wearing what appeared to be his Sunday suit.

“Goodness, Penn,” Mama said as she gestured to the nearest empty seat at a table that would have held twice their number. “You look as though you’ve been out paying calls.”

“I’ve been out,” he said firmly but cheerfully, “and I’ll just leave it at that if you don’t mind.”

Daddy captured Sadie’s gaze with an I-told-you-so look. She ignored him to nudge Ethan, who sat to her left. The nearest to her in age, Ethan had inherited Mama’s ability to peer right into Sadie’s soul.

He leaned near as if to give her a swift kiss on the cheek. “So, is it a man you’re pining for, or are you just here long enough to get away with leaving again?” he asked so softly that Sadie wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly.

She gave him a soft jab with her elbow. “Hush.”

His impish grin gave him away. Until he snagged her napkin and teased her with it.

“Because if you’ve already found a man, you ought to be mentioning it quick.” He glanced around and then, apparently satisfied no one was paying attention to them, continued. “I happen to know there’s a manhunt on, and the first of the prey will be arriving for supper in a day or two.”

“Sarah Louise, did you hear what your mama said?” Daddy asked.

Sadie jolted her attention to her father and then to her mother. “No, I’m sorry, Mama. What did I miss?”

Mama’s sweet smile gave Sadie the impression of an ageing angel. “Just that I’ve taken the liberty of arranging a little supper for Thursday night. I do hope you hadn’t planned on running off again before then, because if you have, you’ll need to cancel.”

Ignoring Ethan’s jab to her ribs, Sadie nodded. “I’ll be here.”

“Good.” The look that passed between Mama and Daddy was hard
to miss. “Seamus, would you bless the meal? I can hear Brent’s stomach growling all the way over here.”

Daddy spoke the blessing over the food and the hands that made it and then added a plea for rain, good crops, and a few other things. Oh, but Daddy did love to offer the blessing, and he did it in a baritone voice with only the slightest Irish inflection left over from his immigrant parents.

When he said a hearty “Amen,” the rest of them joined in to echo a like response.

“Pass the food,” Brent said next, earning him a look from Mama.

“And speaking of you, Brent,” Daddy said, “I’m wondering where you two got off to the past couple of days and why you and Cade have come back sporting bruises.”

Cade turned toward Daddy, revealing a nasty blue mark on his clean-shaven jaw. He was the family peacemaker, whose speed at deflecting arguments generally kept him above the fray. Seeing a bruise on him was quite the rare occasion.

Sadie took note of Mama’s almost imperceptible change of expression, which she quickly hid behind her napkin. So this time Mama had done the sending and Daddy hadn’t known. Interesting.

The question was where they got those bruises. Nothing in Mr. Tucker’s demeanor indicated he’d had any trouble with either of them. Rather, he’d spoken firmly and sent them on their way.

She would never know, of course. There was no good way to ask.

“It was a little case of mistaken identity,” Brent interjected. “But we handled ourselves just fine.”

Donovan, the fourth son, leaned to his right to inspect his older brother. “Is that some of Mama’s powder on your eye, Brent?”

Rather than respond, Brent shoved Donovan back into place. This earned him a reproving look from Mama and a royal dressing down from Daddy.

“Well,” Uncle Penn said as he adjusted the napkin in his lap. “As you can see, Sadie, things are exactly the same around here. Nothing much changes at Callum Plantation except the weather.”

“And the weather is looking to be nasty later tonight,” Aaron said. Eldest son and the one most likely to take over the family sugarcane
business someday, his penchant for preferring talk of crops and weather over just about anything else made him the least favorite conversationalist at the table most of the time.

Thankfully, Daddy and Aaron’s weather discussion took on a life of its own that caused all talk of bruises and mysterious trips to pale in comparison. Uncle Penn tucked into his soup as soon as the bowl was set before him, giving Sadie no cause to believe he had anything new to converse with her about.

The sun had set hours ago, leaving the night sounds of the river and its creatures to fill the mild yet sultry air. None of the nasty weather Aaron predicted had yet arrived, but the ring of white clouds around the moon seemed to indicate storms would soon occur.

Sadie wandered downstairs, refreshed after a long nap and a cold supper brought up on a tray. Solitude suited her most of the time, but tonight she wandered down to the wide porch that fronted the house, eager to join two of her brothers in conversation.

Over the symphony of lapping water and crickets, she sighed. Indeed, this was something she could get used to, if only for a brief time.

Ethan swiveled to face her, his expression half hidden in the shadows. Still, Sadie could see that her brother was concerned.

“Look out, sis. They’re worried about you, and when Mama worries, Daddy takes action.”

“Or vice versa,” Donovan said.

Of all the Callum sons, Donovan was the tallest and leanest. With long legs and arms that could reach well up into the branches of the pecan trees Sadie used to love to climb, he had been the brother most likely to come to her rescue should she find it impossible to reach the ground.

In a way, Donovan was still the brother to whom she turned when she needed a rescue. But only because of the five, he asked the fewest questions.

He handed Sadie a packet wrapped in brown paper and then moved past her to lean against one of the columns that spanned the length of the porch. “A messenger brought this today. I figured you would rather see it before you had to answer questions from Mama or Daddy.”

“Oh,” she said as she weighed the packet in her palm. Definitely from
Henry, though the packet bore no markings to indicate that beyond the Chicago postmark. “Thank you.”

“What’s that?” Ethan made a swipe for it just as Sadie moved it out of his reach. “Something from a secret admirer?”

“Don’t be silly.” She looked past Ethan to Donovan. “It’s a book, that’s all. I do appreciate seeing that no one opened it.”

“Believe me, it wasn’t easy.” Donovan’s attention turned to Ethan. “Certain people think everything that happens at Callum Plantation is their business.”

“It will be someday,” Ethan said, now serious. “We’re all going to need to know what’s going on here. Daddy won’t live forever, and we can’t leave everything up to Aaron.”

“Somehow I don’t think we’re still talking about the package.” She allowed her gaze to land on first Donovan and then Ethan. “Is something wrong with Daddy? Is he sick?”

“Our father is healthy as a horse,” Donovan said. “Your brother there is just nosy and likes to tag along with the adults.”

“You’ll thank me when tagging along turns into helping make a difference in the way we process sugarcane.” He paused, his hands now grasping his knees. “We are all for one and one for all around here, Don, and we each have something to contribute to the family. Never forget that.”

Sadie smiled. It was easy to forget that Ethan was a Louisiana State graduate. Newly returned from the university with a passion for engineering, he was determined to mechanize the process even further than the modern techniques Daddy was already using. Unfortunately, his youth and lack of experience caused Aaron to ignore much of what he suggested.

Sadie ruffled her brother’s ebony curls and then offered him a smile. “Have patience. They’ll see things your way soon enough. And in the interim, I appreciate the fact you’re trying to innovate. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I will go up to bed now. It’s been a long day.”

“And you have a new book to read,” Ethan said in that teasing tone he took when he didn’t believe a word she was saying.

“Yes,” she said, offering the youngest Callum male a look that told him he’d best not pry. “I have a new book to read. Good night to both of you.”

“Get your beauty sleep,” Ethan said. “Mama’s going to want you to look your best for her special supper Thursday night.”

Sadie stepped inside and closed the front door on the sound of her brother’s laughter. An early night’s sleep was not in store for her tonight. Not with the package she’d been expecting from Henry in her hands.

Anticipation propelled her forward, the parcel tucked discreetly under her arm and, she hoped, out of view. Only the fear of capturing Mama’s attention by making a spectacle of herself racing upstairs kept her to a sedate pace.

She had her hand on the doorknob of her childhood bedroom when Uncle Penn surprised her by calling her name. Sadie froze and then glanced first to her right and then to her left. With only Uncle Penn in view, she went toward him and fell into a hug.

“I’m glad you arrived safely, my dear. But safely and swiftly would have been much better.”

“Agreed. But there was an issue with…” Again she looked around. “With the man who was to meet us. I was afraid I was going to have to travel all the way to Mobile, but thankfully—”

“Why in the world would you be traveling to Mobile?” Mama said as she rounded the corner. “And if you don’t tell me, I know my brother-in-law will.”

“You’ve come in on the middle of the conversation,” Sadie’s uncle responded smoothly. “No one had plans to go to Mobile today, for goodness’ sake. Not when this resident of the city was right here under your roof.”