The Will of Time Page 26

  They reached the stable, and waited for Brant to look around the side wall toward the back porch. From her position behind him, Leia saw his spine stiffen. She smelled men, sweaty men.

  "Don't move," he said, his deep voice a whisper.

  Leia turned and relayed the message to the women, who nodded. With an icy stab in her stomach, she knew that helping slaves escape their captivity was not as easy as she had presumed.

  Brant turned toward them. "Back to the woods. Not a sound," he said.

  Leia turned but saw only the backs of the fleeing slaves, already following Brant's command. Within seconds they were safely hidden from view, and Brant grabbed Leia's damp hand.

  "Not a sound from you, either," he said, and led her from behind the barn and toward the house.

  Two men in butternut gray uniforms were speaking with Hettie on the back porch. One looked just like Colonel Sanders of fried chicken fame. Brant swung Leia's hand, as if they were returning from a leisurely walk.

  "Can we help you, sirs?" he called, as they closed the gap.

  The men, both of whom had been watching their approach through one eye, turned then toward Brant. The smaller of the two, younger than Colonel Sanders, reached inside his coat and left his hand there, presumably ready to draw.

  "I'm Major Durnmore, young man, and this is Captain James. Received a tip last night, from an unknown source, of course. We were told to look here for some of my slaves trying to escape. Two females. Trying to run for the North, I was told, and with the help of some of you Northern sympathizers." He drew out the last word, giving the word an evil intonation. "I don't reckon you know anything about that, do you?"

  Brant shook his head, spreading his feet apart into a wide stance. "No, I can't help you Major. I must admit I am a Northerner but I certainly wouldn't cotton to breaking the law. Slaves are your property, and until the law's changed, we all respect that here in Carroll County."

  The younger man pointed to Hettie. "She a slave?"

  "Hettie's a free servant. But, there are several homes in Walnut Grove that keep slaves. You may want to ask there about your missing ones."

  Leia was proud of Brant's even voice and smooth responses. Her admiration for him increased once again. Quick thinking was a most definite asset. Her pride led to a dizzy feeling, and Leia sat on the steps to steady herself. The men stepped down to make room for her, pardoning themselves. Obviously satisfied, they tipped their hats and left.

  Her feelings of relief were short-lived. When Brant finally turned from their departing backs and looked at her, she saw anger glaring from his cocoa eyes.

  "Brant," she began, taking a step back with a twist to her ankle. "You don't think that I ..."

  His scowl relaxed. "No, I don't. Last night you were out with the dog, as you said, not delivering information to the enemy. Today you were just as surprised as I was." He reached for her and pulled her tight against his chest.

  "I was. Thank you for trusting me. I really do want to help you, umm, help others." Leia turned to see Hettie disappear into the house. "What are we going to do about those women today? Are they still in the woods, do you think?"

  "No, the understood secondary plan is for them to find a hidden spot, or stay in the cabin until they're contacted. A few times we've experienced major delays, and there've also been times the slaves were discovered missing before we got them through."

  "How awful. Doesn't the stress get to you?"

  "Tension? I try to deal with it. Most times I can control my feelings while I need to, but when they let dogs out one night looking for a tiny, fragile woman called Posy, I felt like dying inside." Brant had sat on the top porch step, and Leia joined him.

  She brushed a lock of sandy hair from his forehead, strands still damp with emotion. "You are wonderful. I never imagined people like you had lived once."

  He looked at her. "I did and still do. As for the wonderful part, there are so many more that need help and I'll never get to them. Our lines of connection are narrow, and we're always losing someone at some point in the chain."

  "It's the nature of the business, huh? Wait 'till I show you networking and communications in the future."

  "But you have no slaves to save?"

  She looked at him sideways. "Well, not in America. I can't speak for the rest of the world." She picked at a thread on her sleeve. "Brant, do the McGarlands know what you're doing?"

  He nodded, leaning back on his elbows as they rested on the porch landing.

  "And the Bauers?"

  "No."

  "Do you think there are other portals in other homes?"

  "I couldn't say. None that we're aware of. That's why we're the last connection in the chain."

  "The last railroad stop," she said softly, then pointed. "Look! Here comes everyone."

  From the back of the property near the woods, the picnickers approached. Diamond carried a rusty-brown rattan basket, with a red linen cloth dangling from one corner. Patrick and Martha trailed well behind the younger folks, whom Leia suspected would soon announce their engagement.

  The sun was still high in the sky, taking its time in setting as it did every Eastern summer evening. Smiling and relaxed, they walked out of the sunset, like an old movie in reverse.

  "How was the picnic? Good chicken?" Leia called as they neared.

  "Fine, thank you," Diamond said, sitting the basket of remnants on the steps next to Leia. He avoided her eyes, looking only at Brant. "I do need to speak with you again, Brant, privately."

  "Oh, no, General, it's way too soon for you to be dragging my husband back to the front," Leia said, using her teasing tone of voice.

  He ignored her.

  "I just spoke with two Southern officers within a half mile of this place. Seems they were lost, hunting for some escaped slaves the locals were complaining they lost. Funny thing is, they thought you might be hiding them."

  "Why, that's ridiculous," Leia said, rising to meet the General at eye-level, then backing up one step further for a height advantage. When she met the man's eyes, an icicle plunged into her stomach. My God, she thought, this man must detest me.

  "How is your leg, Brant?" The General began a different line of questioning, most likely encouraged by Leia's earlier remark.

  "Better, sir. Healing takes time, though, and I won't be sorry to cast this stick aside real soon." Brant looked at his thigh, and so did Leia, who reached to touch the bristly fabric covering him. She didn't want him to heal quite completely, ever, if it meant going back to the fighting.

  "Heard from your brother yet?" Diamond's voice clipped each word, irritating, but not yet accusing.

  "No sir, he's probably rejoined our unit by now."

  Diamond nodded and excused himself, heading into the house. Leia watched MaryKatherine's face as the admiring smile drooped slowly into a disappointed pout. What was she thinking? Did she wonder if the General was suspecting them of something unfairly, or that Brant was actually guilty of something?

  MaryKatherine remained outside with Leia until the rest of the group had retreated into the cooler environment of the house. She watched Leia, almost studied her face for a few moments, then climbed the stairs as if to pass her. Pausing at the top, she let one slim hand rest on Leia's shoulder.

  Leia could feel the warmth. No words were spoken, but an entire conversation was held between them through that reassuring touch.

  The moment was shattered when the General opened the back door. "MaryKatherine, dear," he said, more a snap than an endearment. It was a command. And the warmth was taken away.

  Chapter 18

  Supper was a brief, quiet affair that evening. With the setting of the sun, temperatures had chilled both inside the house and the atmosphere. Leia had felt the chill like a fog around her, hesitating over her head like a dark cloud.

  Brant and Diamond left the house when the moon lit the entire yard, walking into the trees as Leia watched from the relative safety of the front porch.

  "Leah
, are you feeling well?" Martha asked from her favorite knitting chair.

  "She's fine, Aunt Martha. Just worried about her husband, out there vulnerable during these times. Just as I'm worried about Alvin. I'm sure they have important war business to attend to," MaryKatherine piped in. Leia knew she was thinking about the General in the same way she herself thought of Brant, unprotected, in the woods among either friends or foe.

  "Martha," Patrick said, rising from his wooden porch chair. "I'm retiring now. Just can't stay awake like I used to, you see." He nodded to the younger women.

  "I'll help you upstairs," Martha offered, setting her needles and yarn aside. "I hope you aren't coming down with some ailment, Patrick McGarland. Both you and Hettie are getting on in years, I suppose." She wrung her hands before taking his arm. Leia wondered if the hand wringing was an exercise for keeping knitting fingers supple.

  Alone on the veranda, MaryKatherine smiled at her cousin. "Would you like to take a walk?"

  "Great idea. I'd like to ask you about General Diamond, MaryKatherine." She watched MaryKatherine's face for clues to her thoughts.

  "That's good," MaryKatherine said, looping her arm through Leia's. "I'd like to talk to you about him, too."

  The grass was damp with July dew, drenching their soft slippers instantly. The sensation was cold and pleasant on Leia's feet. Why had she never felt anything like this at home?

  She sighed. "This is so beautiful. You get to live so close to nature."

  "And Baltimore is very far from it?"

  "You wouldn't believe it," Leia said, smiling into the shadows. "MaryKatherine, what have you planned with the General? Do you care for him very much now?"

  MaryKatherine paused, turning to face Leia. In the light of the half-moon, Leia could see a distressed face ringed by sandy-brown hair.

  "Oh, Leia, I really do. But today he's been so strange, especially where Brant is concerned. Have you noticed?"

  "Have I? He's given me a few looks cold enough to freeze a wood stove. I was hoping you could tell me what was going on in that man's head."

  "I don't know, Leah, honestly." The tinge of distress had reached her voice.

  Leia decided to ease her friend's tension. "I think I do."

  "Pray tell," MaryKatherine said, walking further into the trees.

  "Well, I think he suspects that I'm a spy for the South."

  MaryKatherine gasped. "No! Not Alvin, he's so good-hearted, and intelligent. He knows better than to think that."

  "If not that, then he thinks I've convinced Brant to help slaves escape, and hide the runaways." She said it quickly, unsure of her friend's reaction.

  "Everyone suspects us of that, Leah." MaryKatherine spoke softly, obviously aware of the impact her words would have.

  "Why?" Leia issued a demand, not a question.

  "You know why, Leah. Brant told me you know. And that you're willing to help, and that makes me love you even more. I wish you were really and truly my sister."

  "Well," Leia said, suppressing a grin. "Isn't that a nice thought?" If she only knew!

  They walked on in silence for a short time, enjoying each other's company. A sharp and sudden slap made MaryKatherine jump.

  "A mosquito," Leia explained. "MaryKatherine, I have an idea. Let's go to that cabin, and check on those two women. The ones that tried to go today. Let's make sure they're comfortable, at least. It must be so hard to be caught in a tiny room just waiting, not knowing if some Reb's going to catch up with you and..." She let her voice trail off, not sure what she had been thinking was even correct.

  MaryKatherine tilted her head to one side, contemplating Leia's idea. "We really should not go there alone, and definitely not at night. But I would like them to check on us, if our situations were reversed. You are a good influence on me, Leia. Let's go," she said, steering Leia's arm in the right direction. What would they find at the cabin?

  Leia's thoughts were interrupted with uncharacteristic questions from MaryKatherine, who grew bold as they tracked through evening shadows.

  "Leah, what was Jonathan like? Do you ever miss him?"

  Leia's mind went blank for an instant, then like a camera flash she remembered and pulled her thoughts together. Jonathan was Leah Grahm's husband...Dead husband. Her mind still foundered, but she needed to say something intelligent.

  "Leah?"

  "I'm sorry. Can I be honest with you?"

  MaryKatherine nodded, her sympathetic expression not lost on Leia in the darkness. "Of course you can. You're the closest thing to a sister I'll ever have."

  "Well, the truth is, I feel as if I never really knew him at all. It all feels like a hundred years ago." Leia suppressed a smile at her clever answer.

  "I'm sure that's so. It's because of Brant, isn't it?"

  "You're so perceptive. Brant's like the first man I've been with," Leia said, avoiding her cousin's eye. "In a short time, I've come to feel I know him so well. We just look at each other, and I get this feeling of connection. Is it the same for you and Alvin?" She asked the last question in what she hoped was a subtle tone, meant to draw the attention from herself.

  "I thought so, for a while. But now he's grown different. He's closed me out a bit, I'm afraid." She plucked a sprig of leaves from a tree branch, spraying dewy mist over both of them.

  "Evening tears," MaryKatherine said softly.

  Unsure if her cousin referred to the dew or herself, Leah was glad to point to a spot in front of them. "The cabin's just around that bend." She knew MaryKatherine was experiencing the dull ache of possible rejection when she was still very much in love with Alvin Diamond.

  Leia had felt those same aches before, when she'd feared Brant would not accept her, and when she'd feared he'd be killed at war, and whenever she considered going back to her own time, without him.

  No lights were lit in the shack, but the women knocked before entering. They pushed through the door as quietly as possible, wincing with the creak of the rusty hinges.

  "Hello? Is anyone here? It's okay, it's Leah and MaryKatherine," Leia called, her voice a gentle tone just above a whisper.

  "We're here," a voice replied from the far corner. Not willing to risk any form of illumination, the four met by touch that developed into a four-way hug.

  "Are you two alright?" Leah asked, squeezing someone's hand. The skin was roughly calloused, the nails ragged. The stench overwhelming.

  "We're fine. Someone brought us food a while back. What're you ladies doin' here?"

  "We were concerned," MaryKatherine said.

  "Thank you, that's awfully kind of you. But you shouldn't be here. It's too dangerous, that's what Mista Brant'd say."

  "We know. But some things are just important," Leia said, feeling her heart expand for these women who were concerned about two white women's welfare. As they carried on a conversation, she felt her heart grow three sizes, just like the Grinch discovering Christmas.

  They huddled for a secure feeling, despite the heat. MaryKatherine lifted Leia's hand and laid it on the bare arm of the women, unidentified in the dark. Leia felt deep scars from a whip or lash striping her arm. She caught herself, checking the urge to pull back in revulsion.

  "Is your back like this as well?"

  MaryKatherine spoke for her. "Her back and front, Leah. Her owner whips chests of people, men and women alike."

  Leah felt her own breasts tighten inside her clothing at the notion. How barbaric.

  "You'll have luck with you tomorrow," MaryKatherine assured the women. "Leah, we must go back now, before we're missed."

  It was too late. MaryKatherine and Leia entered by the back door, some twenty minutes later, closing it in silence behind them. Waiting at the wood block table were Brant and Diamond. Hettie hovered at the pantry door until Brant asked her to leave. With a hand on one tilted hip, Hettie hobbled from the kitchen.

  "Why'd you do that, Brant?" Leah asked, surprised at his cool dismissal of the maid.

  Diamond cleared his throat. "W
here have you been, Mrs. Douglas?"

  Leia looked at Brant, who met her eyes evenly and without emotion. "MaryKatherine and I took a walk in the woods after supper. Why do you ask?"

  "General Diamond's just keeping track of everyone, Leah. Did you see anyone while you were out?" Brant's voice was as cool as his gaze.

  MaryKatherine spoke up. "No. Not a soul. It was a beautiful walk."

  Alvin ignored her. "I'm asking Leah. Did you meet anyone in the woods?"

  The abrupt dismissal cast a look of pain across MaryKatherine's face. Though it was fleeting, Leia noticed. Alvin had just treated his girlfriend like a servant.

  "Did you meet Belle Boyd tonight, Leah?" Alvin stood, addressing Leah now by her first name. He leaned over the table, balling his hands into fists and resting them on its edge.

  Leah felt a tickle of fear in her stomach. "No, we met no one in the woods." At least that much was true, the women they met had been in the cabin. Thank goodness lie detectors hadn't been invented yet.

  "Did you meet anyone for the purpose of giving them information, at any place tonight?"

  "No! I told you, no one. Brant?" She looked toward her husband, imploring his help.

  At last Brant rose. "That's enough, sir. My wife and Miss McGarland have made their statements. They are honorable women and we should treat them as such."

  "Who's in charge here, Douglas?" Alvin's face was reddening.

  Leia's mouth dropped open at the discord between the men.

  "Of course you are, General. However, I feel..."

  "Thank you, Douglas. But I am..."

  "What in blazes is going on here?" Patrick's voice, though not loud, boomed from the hallway entrance.

  "Patrick. I was just asking a few questions of your niece. It seems she may have been involved in some questionable activity." Diamond managed a fleck of apology in his ominous statement.

  Patrick came into the kitchen, then rested one hand on the back of a chair. "Are you accusing her of something?" His voice was still low, calm. He sat.

  Leia felt lightheaded, and pulled a chair out for herself.