The Old Cape House (33 page)

“How is she?” Matthew asked as Maria began to scrape the
plates.

“I think she could be better. When you arrive in Eastham, Matthew, will you tell Minda of Abigail’s health?”

“Yes, I’ll see to it right away.”

“Thank you. You are such a good friend.” She placed her hand on his shoulder.

Sam watched Maria interact with Matthew. He felt jealous and stood up so fast he knocked his chair onto the sandy floor. He left the kitchen without a word.

Maria looked over to Matthew. “Pay no mind to him, he’s
allowed to be out of sorts, he’s been through a lot.”

Having the same envious thoughts, Matthew thought it best to leave also. “I will check on my horse and wagon.” He grabbed his hat and nodded goodbye.

Once alone, Maria avoided stepping near the rug covering the cellar’s trapdoor as she finished her work in the kitchen. She enjoyed seeing all the nice things that Abigail had and marveled at the bountiful supplies stored in the pantry. The thought of having the same items in a new home with Sam made her smile.

She looked out the window but could hardly see through the dark night into which Sam had stormed. She checked on Abigail and found the green curtains had been pulled around the bed, which signaled that her friend was probably asleep.

After closing the door, Maria spied the gunpowder keg and
decided to take it outside herself. Since it proved too heavy to lift, she pulled it across the floor, leaving a trail of black powder that leaked under the floorboards and blended with the floor’s dirt. She stopped once to tie her shawl around her shoulders then continued to struggle with the heavy keg. At the door, she was finally able to push it outside. Now she would search for Sam.

***

Matthew was brushing his horse in the barn as Maria entered. “Matthew, where’s Sam?”

“I’m not his keeper, and I don’t ask questions of him.”

“Don’t be so short with me. We’re still friends, are we not?” she asked sweetly.

“I’m sorry, Maria, but I’m worried about you.”

“Oh, Matthew, I’ll be fine. Sam loves me and I him.” She stroked the horse’s back and wondered out loud for the benefit of Matthew’s ears. “Still, I’m a little frightened about where we’ll be going and how we’ll get there. But I do trust him.”

Matthew caught her hand as she moved it across the brown softness of the horse. “Maria, I love you.” He said the words so quick that they surprised even him.

Maria withdrew her hand and looked at him, frozen in surprise.

He dropped the grooming brush on the floor and reached for her hand again. “I love you, Maria. I always have. I knew it from the very beginning, but was too shy to do anything about it.”

“Matthew, I don’t know what to say to you.”

He held her hand tighter. “Tell me that you love me. Say you’ll leave Sam and will stay with me.”

Maria pulled her hand from his grasp and backed away from Matthew. Her feelings for Sam and Matthew began to muddle her thoughts.

He walked around the horse toward her.

She caught her breath as she watched him come nearer.

He placed his arms around her waist and brought his face close to hers. “Please, Maria, stay with me.” He held her chin and pulled her lips to his.

His kiss triggered a flicker of passion through Maria’s body. She stood still, questioning who she was really in love with.

Matthew pleaded with her, “I have money. We can go away
from here and start a new life. Please give me a chance; give us a chance for happiness.” He pulled her even closer.

Maria’s arms hung at her sides, not responding to his advances, until he whispered again, “I love you.”

Then he kissed her with such passion that Maria thought she would faint.

She wrapped her arms up around his shoulders. “Hold me, Matthew. My heart is so troubled.”

As they stood together, the sound of a shovel slicing into the
ground behind them broke the two apart. Turning, they saw Sam standing in the door of the barn. His face and clothes were smudged with dirt.

He charged at them. Sam first pulled Maria away from Matthew and off to the side, where she lost her balance and fell against a pile of straw. With another quick movement his fist hit hard against Matthew’s jaw, sending him to the ground.

Stunned, but only for a moment, Matthew stood up and rivaled Sam’s hit with as much strength, knocking him to the floor. “Get up, you freebooter. Get up!”

Sam stayed low. As he wiped blood from his mouth, his other hand found the wooden handle of a pitchfork buried in the hay.

Matthew, braver than ever before, stepped closer to Sam and
taunted him, “Get up, you coward. We’ll see who wins Maria.”

Sam quickly grabbed the end of the tool under his fingers and swung it against Matthew’s leg with a crack, knocking him down.

This time Matthew couldn’t stand, the lower part of his calf felt as if its bone was broken.

Sam took his advantage; he leaned over and pulled Matthew up, then hit him again.

Maria screamed, “Sam, stop it!”

But Sam repeatedly whaled his fists against Matthew’s face and head until blood covered every part of his exposed skin.

Maria ran to them, screaming, “Stop! Stop!” She pulled on Sam’s shoulders. “It’s enough! You’ll kill him!” He shoved her away again,
and she fell back against a post. Crying, she screamed, “I’m sorry, Sam. I’ll never leave you. I love no one else but you. Don’t hurt him
anymore!”

Hearing these words, Sam ceased his brutal attack. Without a word, he wiped his bloodied hands on his pants, reached for Maria, and dragged her out of the barn and into the house.

Matthew lay unconscious on the floor.

***

Sam slammed the door of the house behind them. They stood in front of the open hearth. Maria was numb with shock and unsure of this side of Sam that she’d never seen before.

“Go to bed!” he ordered her, forcing her towards the stairway.

Maria’s shawl fell away from her shoulders. Unnoticed, its
tassels spread over hot embers that lay close to the hearth’s edge.

Evening May 3, 1717

NORTH HARWICH – CAPE COD

MARIA LAY STILL IN BED
as Sam climbed in next to her. “Sam, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Best it not.”

“Where were you tonight after our meal?”

“I’m tired and need sleep,” was all he said.

But sleep proved difficult for Maria. Her mind kept going over the past events as she tried to understand why everything went so
wrong. She wanted to erase the bloody images of Sam’s violent
temper and squeezed her eyes tight together. Why had Sam been covered
with dirt when he’d stood in the doorway of the barn, she
wondered. Where had he been?

Maria turned on her side, facing away from Sam, and thought of
poor Matthew. His words ‘I love you’ had surprised her. She
recalled Abigail’s conversation with her in the bedroom and remembered her
question about Matthew and how he felt about her and Sam being together. How foolish she’d been. Maria berated herself at being so ignorant of Matthew’s love, when, all around her, even Sam, could
see it.

Rolling over on her back, she could hear Sam’s heavy breathing. She decided to check on Matthew.

Unable to find her shawl, she took a blanket from the chest at the foot of the bed. The light of the moon lit her way down the stairs and
into the kitchen where smoke drifted in the foggy moonlight,
nothing
unusual for Maria’s eyes. Smoke always blew down the chimney
when
it was windy. Her steps took her across the floor and over the
darkened unseen shawl; she closed the door behind her without a sound.

Matthew lay sprawled on the hay where she saw him last, his
handsome face cut and mottled with dried blood. She tore the
bottom edge from her inner skirt and found a pail of water to clean him.

Maria’s first touch to his forehead woke him with a painful start as the cool water dripped down his cheek. He tried to sit up.

“Stay down, Matthew. Let me help you.”

He looked into her eyes. It hurt to move his head. He held still while she dabbed his face, being cautious not to move his leg for fear that it was broken. “You should not be with me. It’s too dangerous,” he whispered.

“Shhhh.” Maria continued patting his face.

Matthew held Maria’s hand against his cheek and was
comforted
by her soothing touch. Behind them, through the openings of the
boards on the barn walls, flashes of yellow and orange flickered outside.

***

As Sam turned over to lay the hand bruised from his rage under his pillow, the pain woke him. He smelled smoke. Opening his eyes,
he could feel the heat around him. His body was wet from
perspiration. Turning around, he saw Maria was gone. “Maria!”

He bolted down the stairs to discover a fire that had already
engulfed the whole kitchen. Maria was nowhere to be found, and
Sam assumed her to be safe. His next thought was of Abigail. He ran to
her bedroom, threw open the door and pushed the green curtains
surrounding her aside. “Abigail!” He shook her. “Abigail! Get up!”

Flames quickly spread across the ceiling of the bedroom from
the kitchen. As he continued to shake her, the canopy over Abigail’s bed caught fire. Smoke filled Sam’s lungs. He shoved his arms under Abigail’s back, trying to lift her, but she was a dead weight. “Abigail, please! Get up!”

Sam quickly realized it was too late for Abigail but not for him. He needed to find Maria. He spun around just as he heard a loud crack above his head. The main roof rafter had split away from the ceiling, and within seconds the massive timber fell, breaking Sam’s
back and rendering him unconscious. As flames enveloped
everything,
Abigail’s peaceful green curtains that she’d loved so dearly
swallowed her and Sam in fiery death.

***

Smoke drifted under the barn walls. Matthew saw it first.
“Maria! Fire!”

She turned to see the yellow flames through the cracks. “Oh no…Sam! Abigail!” She ran out the barn door to see the raging fire.

Matthew struggled to stand. He grabbed the pitchfork for
support and hobbled out behind her.

Maria ran to the well and grabbed a pail of water. She threw it
through the door of the burning house. As she turned to fetch
another, Matthew held her back.

With all his strength he held onto her, hoping to prevent her from going any closer in her futile attempt to douse the fire. As they backed away, together, Maria broke from his hold and tried to enter the house again.

“Maria! Stop! It’s no use. You can’t do anything for them now.” His body shook, fearing the worst for Abigail and even Sam. As much as he hated Sam, Matthew felt no human being deserved to die like this. He grabbed Maria’s arm and pulled her as far away from the intense heat of the fire as he could.

They huddled together against the barn, staring at the flames that leaped high into the dark sky. The barrel of gunpowder beside the door caught fire and with one final blast destroyed everything, leaving no trace of Abigail, Sam or the house that Nathaniel had built. The explosion tossed burning pieces of wood on top of the barn’s roof, which began to smolder a few feet above their heads.

Matthew pulled himself up. “Hurry Maria, we must leave,
NOW!” He limped into the barn. “Help me hitch the horse to the
wagon.”

She sat unmoving. Her face blackened by soot, Maria stared
through smoke filled eyes at the inferno before her. A deep, blood
curdling wail escaped her lips as she realized everyone and
everything
she had ever loved was now gone. She had no desire to live without
them.

“MARIA!” Matthew yelled, his mouth stiff and aching from his beating. He didn’t think he could go on. The pain in his shin doubled him over with every step, but he continued his quest. He wanted to save her; he needed to save her.

Matthew struggled to ready the wagon, but as he climbed in, he hit his wounded leg on the side of the bench and let out a scream of pain. This spooked the already nervous horse, making it run toward the open barn doors dragging the wagon with Matthew on its bench out into the smoky night air, rousing Maria from her trance.

She looked up and watched the wagon come to rest a short
distance from the barn, near the old roadway. Matthew was
slumped over on the front bench. Seeing him there thrust her back into the horrific reality surrounding her. Maria ran into the barn to release the other
animals, and then out through the double doors just as flames
consumed the old barn.

“MATTHEW!” she yelled, jumping into the back of the wagon to
get to Matthew. Maria lifted his head and face towards her to
confirm he was still breathing. She held him under his arms and pulled his body off the seat so he could lie on the wagon’s floor. He was alive.
She hurried onto the front seat and through swollen eyes she
glanced back at the house that was once her safe haven. She felt so empty inside. As she flicked the reins that would take her back to a life that she thought she would never see again, Maria was determined to save the one person who was always there for her.

After a mile, Maria halted the horse, anxious to tend to Matthew. The smell of smoke still permeated the air. She lifted her skirts and swung her legs over the bench to join him.

He was conscious and trying to sit up. “Maria, where are we?”

“I’m not sure–only a short distance away. How do you feel?”

“I’ve been better.” He sat with his legs stretched out before him. “What about you?”

“I have some things in my chest that I could use to secure your leg.” She reached to uncover what lay in the rear of the wagon.