Savage Spring (8 page)

The old man shook his head. Tag was so eaten up with grief and hatred that he gave little thought to his daughter. Farley could feel trouble coming for Tag, and when it came, he would stand by him all the way. If anyone wanted to harm Tag, they would have to go through him first!

Tag’s horse, Navaron, whinnied, and Tag rubbed his silky coat to soothe him. By this time next week he and Farley would be deep in civilized country. Tag hoped he would remember all that Joanna had taught him about the way a gentleman would behave. He hoped Claudia and his Uncle Howard wouldn’t be expecting him so soon. If they weren’t looking for him, it would give him an advantage over them. He did have one thing in his favor—Claudia and Uncle Howard hadn’t seen him since he was a boy. They had no notion how he now looked.

Tag’s mind returned to the time Windhawk had bestowed the name Night Falcon on him. It had been just after the Blackfoot village had been attacked by their old enemies the Assiniboin. Tag had been only a boy then but he had helped get the women and children away to safety before the enemy struck. Later, Windhawk had honored him in a ceremony and given him the Indian name.

Tag smiled without humor. “Farley, I will just turn my Indian name around and pretend to be a gentleman from England named Falcon Knight.”

Farley nodded his head. “That ’pears like a good idea to me.”

As the barge bumped against the shore, Tag disembarked, feeling an urgency to reach Philadelphia as quickly as possible.

When he mounted his horse, he turned around and glanced back the way they had just come. He then squared his shoulders and nudged his mount forward. His destiny awaited him in Philadelphia—there would be no turning back!

Alexandria paced the floor of the tiny upstairs bedroom, remembering the carriage ride that had brought her from Valley Forge to Philadelphia. It had been a nightmare. Her stepmother hadn’t allowed her out of her sight for a moment. In the two days it had taken to make the journey, she had been forced to endure sitting across from Rodney while he stared smugly at her and made suggestive remarks. He had often brushed against her leg and given her his strange smile that sent chills down her spine. Alexandria had considered trying to run away, but Barbara and Rodney hadn’t given her any time to herself, and besides, there was nowhere to run.

Every so often, she would go to the window that overlooked
the street. There were a number of other houses that were very similar to Barbara’s sister’s house, where she was now staying. This wasn’t what one would call the more fashionable part of Philadelphia, she thought, watching several young boys playing on the cobblestone streets. Even though the weather was still quite cold, she noticed that their coats were tattered and threadbare, and some of them wore no shoes.

Walking back to the bed, she sat down and wrinkled her nose at the soiled bedcovering. Her mother had always remarked that water was free and soap was cheap, and even the poorest of the populace could afford to be clean. But that wasn’t the case in this house. The bare wooden floors looked like they hadn’t been washed in months, or even swept, for that matter. The once white walls were soiled and dingy, and the curtains at the windows were tattered and stained.

Alexandria hugged her arms about her, feeling cold and miserable. She had arrived in Philadelphia two days ago and had been forced to remain in this room since yesterday morning.

Twice her stepmother had come into the room to ask if Alexandria was ready to be sensible and marry Rodney. Each time Alexandria had refused. The last time Barbara had told her that her son had found a man of the cloth who was willing to perform the ceremony, and that, by tomorrow, she would be married whether she wished it or not.

Alexandria heard a scratching sound on the door and waited for whoever it was to enter. She was surprised when one of the young boys she had seen playing in the street poked his head around the door and smiled at her.

“Hello, are you really gonna marry my cousin Rodney?” he asked.

“Hello, yourself, and no, I am not going to marry your cousin.” Alexandria thought the boy might be somewhere around twelve or thirteen. He was so ragged and dirty that her heart went out to him.

“I’m glad you ain’t gonna to marry Rodney. I don’t like him much.”

Alexandria smiled. “I don’t like him much myself. Come and sit beside me, and we can talk,” she said, moving to the foot of the bed so he would have room.

He looked shy for a moment, then he walked toward her hesitantly. Alexandria patted the bed, and he plopped down beside her, holding his tattered cap in his hands. “You are much too pretty to be married to Rodney. Why don’t you just run away? I’ve heard them talking below, and they found a man who will join the two of you together without asking no questions.”

“I know—Barbara told me. Did you hear them mention when the marriage would take place?”

“They said something about tomorrow night,” the young boy said, confirming what Barbara had already told her.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Name’s Johnny. I know yours is Alexandria.”

Alexandria nodded. “Johnny, do you think you could help me get away?”

The young boy looked taken aback for a moment. “I can’t help you…my ma would give me a licking if she knew I even thought such a thing.”

“I would pay you, Johnny. Have you ever had a five-dollar gold piece?”

Johnny’s eyes brightened. “Nope, but I saw one once. My ma was doing some sewing for a grand lady like you, and the woman paid her two five-dollar gold pieces.”

Alexandria reached into the pocket of her gown and withdrew some coins and showed them to the boy. “If you will help me, I will give you this money.”

Johnny studied the money in her hand and then looked back to her face. “I’d surely like to help you, and not just for the money. I don’t think it’s right what they’re doing to you, but they’re keeping too close an eye on you.”

Alexandria took his hand and held it tightly. “You are the
only one I can turn to, Johnny. There is no one else I can ask. Please say you will help me.”

Johnny stood up and stared down at the toe of his scuffed brown shoes. “It ain’t the money that I’m wanting. I’ll help you for nothing. What can I do?”

Alexandria reached out, raised his chin, and smiled. “I don’t know. Perhaps you have some ideas.”

Johnny’s face brightened. Alexandria had won the little boy’s heart with her smile. He found himself willing to do anything that would save her from his Aunt Barbara and Cousin Rodney. “We could sneak you out of the house tonight, and you could run away…no, that wouldn’t do no good. Dressed in those fancy trappings you’re bound to get into trouble.” Johnny was quiet for a moment, and then he smiled. “I betcha you could fit into some of my britches and shirt, then everyone would think you was a boy!”

“I don’t think that would be a very practical idea,” Alexandria said laughingly. “I doubt that anyone would believe I was a boy.”

“Yeh, I reckon you’re right. I’d better go now—Ma’s sure to give me a licking if she finds me in here with you. I’ll try to come back tonight.”

Alexandria nodded, watching helplessly as Johnny left. Getting to her feet, she walked over to the window and gazed out at the setting sun. It was a dismal landscape, and Alexandria could feel the hopelessness of her situation. If young Johnny had been telling the truth and Barbara had found an unscrupulous minister to perform the marriage, there would be nothing she could do to save herself.

She turned around, facing the door. When Johnny left he hadn’t locked the door! What would stop her from just walking down the stairs and out the front door? But then where would she go, and what would she do? She didn’t have much money, and Johnny had been correct when he said she couldn’t go about dressed as she was.

Turning back to the window, she stood watching the last dying rays of the sun reflect off the windows of the house
across the street. Was it possible in this day and age for a young woman to be forced into marrying someone she detested? Couldn’t she just tell the preacher when she saw him that she didn’t want to marry Rodney? No, evidently Barbara had been very selective in the minister she had chosen to perform the ceremony, knowing she would meet with resistance from Alexandria.

Walking over to the door, Alexandria opened it quietly, went out into the hallway, and looked about cautiously. Seeing no one in sight, she moved quickly to the stairs. Her foot had barely touched the top step when Johnny’s mother appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Her face was grim, and she motioned for Alexandria to return to the bedroom. Knowing it would be of little use to rebel, Alexandria did as she was told.

An hour passed, and Alexandria could hear the sound of laughter coming from below. Again she started the restless pacing. The door opened, and Alexandria turned to face Rodney, who carried a tray of food.

“You may as well take that back to the kitchen, Rodney. I am not hungry.”

He placed the tray on a chair and walked over to her. “Your uppity ways won’t get you anywhere with me. I was told by my mother that you have eaten nothing today. It doesn’t serve my purpose for you to starve yourself. I want a bride who is strong and able on my wedding night.”

“I’ll never be your bride, Rodney! Never!

He advanced toward her and reached out to touch her face. “Oh, you will be my wife, like it or not. I think you will like it, though. I know how to treat a woman.”

“I will never allow you to touch me. You are disgusting!”

His gray eyes clouded, and he pulled her against him tightly. “I think I’ll just give you a sample of what’s in store for you right now, Alexandria.”

She twisted and turned, trying to get free, but his grip only tightened. “Squirm all you want to, Alexandria, you will never be free of me. I think you and I will celebrate our wedding tonight instead of tomorrow night.”

Alexandria could smell the whiskey on his breath and knew he was more than a little drunk. Her skin seemed to crawl when she looked into his eyes. “Let me go, or you will regret it,” she told him, jabbing a knee into his groin. He muttered an oath as Alexandria jerked free of him and ran toward the door. She felt the door knob in her hand and was about to wrench the door open when he grabbed her by the shoulder and pinned her against the wall. “Fight all you want to, Alexandria. In the end it won’t get you a damned thing.”

“Release me this moment, or I’ll scream! I swear I will!”

“Beautiful Alexandria, no one in this house will care what I do to you. Don’t you know that by now?”

Alexandria squirmed and struggled and finally managed to get free again. She saw that Rodney was blocking the door and the only way to save herself would be to fight. Picking up the lamp on the nearby table, she raised it over her head.

“Come one step closer, and I’ll throw this at you! I swear I will!” she threatened. This time Rodney had pushed her too far, and she would do whatever she must to save herself. Her hands were trembling, and she bit her lower lip to stop its quivering.

Rodney uttered a strangled oath and staggered in her direction. Not pausing to think, Alexandria threw the lamp, and it seemed to explode into a fire. Rodney screamed and grabbed his face as the flames licked at his clothing and spread quickly up to his body.

Alexandria jerked the coverlet from the bed and tossed it about him, trying to smother the blaze. When the bedroom door burst open, she had extinguished the fire, and her stepmother stood as if paralyzed with a look of horror on her face.

“Send for the doctor!” she screeched as others came into the room.

Alexandria stood up, feeling sick as her stepmother removed the charred bedcovering. Rodney’s clothing was still smoking, and his face looked like a cooked piece of meat. He
was moaning softly, and she backed away, shaking her head in horror, knowing she was responsible for what had happened to him. Even though she despised Rodney, she hadn’t wanted to harm him in such a horrible manner. She had only wanted to make him leave her alone.

Alexandria watched as Barbara and her sister lifted Rodney onto the bed. She was horrified that she had been the instrument of so much pain to another human being, but she wasn’t sorry that she had saved herself.

After Rodney had been made as comfortable as possible, his mother sat beside him, waiting for the doctor, while Alexandria hovered in the corner, not knowing what to do. Suddenly Barbara’s eyes fell on Alexandria, and she started screaming. “Take her below and lock her in the basement! I will see that she is punished for what she did to my son!”

Alexandria was too stunned to react. She allowed Barbara’s sister to lead her from the room. She was still in a daze when the woman shoved her through a door, and she went stumbling down the wooden steps into the darkened basement. Pain shot through Alexandria’s body as she hit the dirt floor hard and her head slammed against the wall. Moaning, she looked up the steps to see the woman outlined in the dim light coming from the kitchen.

“You will pay for this night’s work. We will see that you swing from the gallows if my nephew dies,” the woman said before slamming the door and shooting a bolt into place.

The basement was dark and damp and smelled of rotting potatoes and mildew. Alexandria sat up as pain seemed to course through her body. Her worst pain seemed to come from her knee. Feeling along her leg, she discovered it was bleeding. She must have knelt in the broken glass from the lamp when she was putting out the fire. Alexandria scooted along until she came to the wall, then leaned back against it, biting her lip to keep from crying out in pain. It was pitch black, and the wall she was leaning against felt damp and moldy.

Alexandria raised her skirt and ripped off a piece of her petticoat. She then wrapped it about the cuts on her knee, hoping to stop the flow of blood. In her mind, she could still see Rodney with his body engulfed in flames. How could anyone survive after being so horribly burned? Would the authorities believe her if she told them the truth? She shook her head. They might have listened to her back in Valley Forge, but she doubted that she could make them believe her here in Philadelphia where no one knew her.

Alexandria was cold and miserable, and she huddled closer to the wall, trying to keep warm. She tried not to think about the scurrying sounds of little feet she could hear in the dark recesses of the basement, knowing it was probably rats. Her body was trembling from cold and fright. There was no one to care what happened to her. There would be no one to know should she just disappear from the face of the earth.

In spite of the cold and dark, Alexandria finally cried herself to sleep. She didn’t know how much time had passed when someone shook her by the shoulder, waking her from a fretful sleep.

Alexandria opened her eyes and saw Johnny holding a candle up to her face.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, with concern written on his young face.

“Don’t worry about me. How is Rodney?”

Johnny shook his head. “It don’t look good for him. The doctor don’t think he will live out the week.

“Johnny, I didn’t mean to do it. He was…I only wanted to…”

“You don’t have to be explaining to me. I got ears…I know what he was trying to do to you while all the rest of them stood outside the door sniggering and laughing. He don’t deserve to live.”

“You mustn’t say that, Johnny! It was horrible what I did to him. I will never forgive myself for what happened to Rodney.”

“My ma always says the good Lord helps those that help themselves. I guess you helped yourself in the only way you could.”

“What are they going to do with me, Johnny?”

“I heard my aunt talking to my pa. She said they would have you committed to an institution for the insane. That way she could hold on to your farm, and you’d be locked away for good.”