Underground Captive (19 page)

Underground Captive
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
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Blanche eyed him with a critical squint.  "Not really.  She has other things on her mind."

    
             
Charles stood up with his cup of coffee and walked out onto the veranda.  A noticeable chill hung in the air.  He looked out beyond the courtyard to the street below.  In the distance, slave women carried large bundles on their heads.  No doubt taking their mistresses' laundry out to be cleaned.  Just below, the cheese lady peddled her wares of different cheeses including a deliciously delicate little heart shaped cheese, marinated in port wine.  "Would you like a cheese heart this morning, Blanche?"

    
             
She took another sip of coffee before answering.  "I don't think so.  We had a very rich supper last evening.  I don't want to put on any extra poundage."

    
             
Charles returned to the parlor.  "You had quite an evening.  I'm glad you chaperoned Nicki to the opera.  I was remiss.  I should have invited her along with me."

    
             
"Don't fret," Blanche retorted.  "Nicollette was delighted with Jared Fleming as her escort."

Charles smiled.  "Was she really?"

    
             
Blanche threw him a withering glance.  "I am losing patience with you.  I worry about Nicollette.  When will you tell her of your plans?  How will she take them when you do?  I know, just as you've failed to tell her of your upcoming nuptials, you've failed to tell her of your plans to betroth her to Jared.  You haven't told Jared, for that matter, that you plan to have him wed Nicki."

    
             
  A warning voice whispered in Charles’s head that he was ignoring the issue.  Blanche and Antoinette were right.  He was dallying unfairly with Nicki's future.  "Antoinette is a handsome woman.  But our marriage would be an
affair de honeur
.  My children will inherit Crescent Wood."

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Blanche waved an impatient hand.  "I didn't ask that.  I have no objections to your marriage to Antoinette Vermierre.  People certainly would have talked had she lived at Crescent Wood under any other circumstances.  After all, she is barely in her middle forties and you not yet being forty-seven and still subject to passion, you probably would have no time to give her, using it fighting duels, protecting her honor and denying there was anything between you."

    
             
"My dear sister, you are a woman of expressive wisdom and concise understanding.  Marie-Claude will always be my one true love.  But a man changes with time.  I have grown tired of seeking out the ladies of pleasure.  I need a woman to warm my bed."

    
             
"Of course, you do.  And I give you my blessing," Blanche said matter-of-factly.  "But you are avoiding the issues.  Not only are secrets that will drastically change her life being kept from Nicki, but she is being pushed and pulled in every direction.  She calls upon other plantations.  She sees to the household: the menus, the mending and making of garments for the slaves, the care of ill slaves, the account books when you don't have the time.  Now, she is overseeing the Negroes with
Monsieur
Williams back on the loose.  Tell me--"

    
             
"Edmond assured me that Nicki is not in any danger," Charles interjected.

    
             
"Sometimes, I wonder if you have all your senses left.  Speaking to you is like speaking to a brick wall!  Nicki has received an invitation to visit Minette Clemenceau, her childhood friend and I think it is just what she needs."

    
             
"Has she accepted?"

Shrugging, Blanche splayed her palms heavenward.  "I don't know.  Jared

and I tried to persuade her over supper last night.  She would leave January second and stay as long as she desires.  She's young and she should enjoy herself.  If Jared
were
to call upon her, she wouldn't have time to see him with all of her duties."

    
             
"Neither will she see him if she is in Alexandria, Louisiana," he growled.

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Blanche tossed him a frozen glower.

    
             
"We will return to Crescent Wood tomorrow and I will take away the burden of some of Nicki's duties.  And I agree that seeing Minette might be just what is needed to cheer her up."

    
             
"Good,
mon frere
.  I have gotten through that thick skull of yours.  I have something else to tell you."  She fell silent, regarding him quizzically, choosing her words carefully.  "Last evening, Nicollette and I saw Ricard.  He is the same man that Louis Aupre saw at the Red Dog Saloon."

    
             
First, shock, then a hopeful glint entered Charles's eyes.  Before he got a chance to speak, Blanche raised a hand to silence him.  “We saw Ricard among the crowd across the street from the opera house.  When Nicollette called his name, he turned and looked at us for a brief second then got lost in the crowd.  On purpose."

    
             
"
Mais non
.  You must be mistaken.  My son couldn't be in New Orleans and not come home to his family."  Surprise and disappointment registered in his voice.  Surprised if Ricard was really in New Orleans.  Disappointed that he hadn't come home to Crescent Wood.  He didn't want to believe that Ricard stayed away from Crescent Wood because of him.

    
             
Yet, what other reason could there be?  He'd hounded the boy mercilessly about his esteem.  According to Charles, he had none.  Charles thought him to be a whimpering coward.  He knew Ricard overlooked subtle insults that a true man would have dueled and died for, for lesser offenses.

    
             
But Ricard was his son whom he truly loved and missed terribly.

    
             
Blanche gazed gently at Charles.  "I remember a seventeen-year-old boy who had a rift with his Pa Pa similar to the one you and Ricard have.  This boy was afraid of horses.  He nicked himself in the ankle with his own sword and absolutely would not touch a gun.  Do you remember?" 

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Charles smiled.  "How could I forget? I was sure Pa Pa was disowning me when he shipped me off to France."

    
             
"He only wanted to turn you into his vision of what he thought a man

should be," Blanche said quietly.  "Which is what you did to Ricard.  Ricard has always been gentle natured.  He bragged and brayed amongst his friends because he knew that's what you wanted from him.  Don't fret,
mon cheri
.  Give him time.  He'll come to you.  But you must let him be himself, just as you have let Nicki be herself.  He loves you just as you loved Pa Pa and came back to Crescent Wood.  Your birthright."

Charles sighed and kissed her on the forehead.  “You've been a great source

of comfort and common sense to me.  A man couldn't ask for a more loving sister."

    
             
"That's because you are such a kind, loving brother.  Now sit down and have breakfast with me.  Tell me exactly when and how you are going to tell that

hot-tempered daughter of yours about your impending marriage.  It really will make for some interesting conversation."

    
             
"Well, actually, Blanche, I thought you--"

    
             
Dropping her arm, she rolled her eyes in vexation.  "Forget it, Charles.  She's
your
daughter.  Act like her father. 
You
tell her.  Odessa!" Blanche summoned and, taking her seat at the dining room table, smiled at her brother's perplexity.

14    

Jared and Angus rode along River Road in relative silence, each knowing the terrible chances that would be taken tonight with the intended freedom-seekers. Bands of three and four patrollers with dogs were spread out every mile or so along the way.

    
             
Dusk approached with gray clouds gathered across the sky.  Streamers of Spanish moss hanging from nearby trees swayed in the curl of mist rising from the river.  The overwhelming sweetness of autumn scents permeated the air along the banks.  All that untouched beauty left a bitter taste in Jared's mouth when he looked at the landscape dotted with slaves cutting cane.  It reinforced his decision to risk everything, including his own life, to free any slave brave enough to make a bid for freedom.

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Reaching the grove near Crescent Wood, Jared saw a patroller stationed there.  The man had a pistol tucked in his belt, a rifle flung over his shoulder, and held two dogs on a leash.  As Jared's carriage drew near, the patroller stood in the pathway with raised hands, signaling them to stop.

    
             
Angus gently reined in the horses, a few feet from the man.

    
             
Jared opened the carriage door.  "What's the problem?"

    
             
The patroller looked Jared up and down, taking in his fine clothes and expensive carriage.  "Sorry, suh," he said contritely.  "Don't mean no homm.  We got ordas to check ever'thang comin' and goin'.  The problum is all those darkies runnin' off.  We got ordas to shoot to kill if we have to.  But mostly we got ordas to brang the Negroes in an' make a' example of 'em to larn the othas some respeck."

 
             
"I see."  Jared clenched his jaw.  "What's yer name?"

    
             
"Hollis Franklin, suh," the man answered without hesitation.

    
             
"Are ye expecting trouble tonight, Mister Franklin?"

    
             
Franklin shrugged dismissively.  "No more'n any otha night, suh.  This is jis' a preecaushun.  The gentlemen here 'bouts thank if the darkies see us out here they won't try nuthin'.  There's a big meetin' ova at the Duplantier plantation.  I s'ppose that's whar you headed, suh?"

    
             
"Aye, I am."  Jared looked up at the sky.  "Looks like the clouds are rolling in.  Perhaps 'twill turn out not to be a very good night for man nor beast.  Or slave," he added.

    
             
Franklin chuckled.  "Them Blacks hate water worsen they hate work.  I guess this means a night off for all of us, 'cause they'll be huddled together in one of them smelly ole cabins."

    
             
"No doubt they will be," Jared agreed coldly.  "Well, we best be on our way."

    
             
"Yes, suh.  That's a beauty of a hoss you got tied to yo' carriage," Franklin observed.

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"Aye, he is."  Not waiting for Franklin's response, Jared directed Angus to get moving again and closed the carriage door.  Not long after, the grand mansion loomed nebulously in the gray dusk.  Clouds rolling by allowed light to escape occasionally from the rising moon.  It shone bright silver on the magnificent, white Doric columns.

    
             
Angus eased the horses to a halt in front of the great house.  Instantly, a slave dressed in the emerald and white liveryman's outfit took over the reins as another slave opened the carriage door.

    
             
"Nay."  Jared stepped out of the carriage.  "Just untie the horse on the back and put him in the stable.  The carriage goes back to the city."

"Yes, masta," the slave, who held onto Thunder’s reins, replied.

    
             
"Everything should go as planned," he whispered to Angus, after the slaves led Thunder away.  "Do whatever has to be done to get both man and beast off yer trail.  I'll try and leave here early to join ye.  Since I have decided to keep Thunder in the Duplantier stables, ye needn't return for me.  Good luck, my friend.  Take care."

    
             
"Aye, Master Jared, I willa be foine."

    
             
"I trust that ye will.  Now off with ye." 

    
             
After Angus circled the horses around the winding driveway and they trotted off in the direction from which they had just come, Jared ascended the wide steps that loomed from the deep front, bottom veranda.  Before he could use the brass doorknocker, the huge doors were swung open to admit him.

    
             
Jared stepped inside and the houseman, also dressed in the Duplantier finery, took his top hat and cape, and another slave led him down the foyer.