Wellington Cross (Wellington Cross Series) (52 page)

“Madeline?!  Maddie, are you all right?” he asked
anxiously. 

“I think so.  What happened?” I asked groggily.

Without answering, he took me in his arms and squeezed me
tight.  “I thought I’d lost you,” he murmured softly in my ear.  He
kissed my ear and kept hugging me.  He then moved his hand to touch my
belly where the baby grew.  “Is the baby well?”

“As far as I know,” I said.  I looked around the room and saw
Edward lying on the ground on his belly.  “What happened to your father?”

“He shot himself,” Ethan said, “and I shot him, as well.”

I looked over at Edward again.  He had blood on the back of
his sack coat.  Jonas and William were standing nearby, anxiously looking
at me. 

“I thought he’d shot you,” Ethan said, looking at me
worriedly.  “When I heard his gun go off, I reacted by shooting him in the
back.  The impact of the bullet made him fall forward on top of you. 
I thought you were both dead.”  He caressed my cheek.  “You screamed,
I saw blood on your face, and you closed your eyes and fell backwards.  I
moved Father and saw that he had blood on his own face, and had a bullet wound
in his temple.  I knew then that he had shot himself.  He must have
knocked you out when he fell on you.  I’m just so happy you’re
alive.”  He kissed my forehead.  “You remember who I am, right? 
You
were
hit on the head again.”

I blinked my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t been
shot.  “Yes, twice actually.  Jefferson knocked me out with a gun,
too.  And yes, I remember you.  I’m so sorry about your father,
Ethan.”

“I am, too.  You were right; I should have listened to
you…about the Union jacket and the papers, but I didn’t think my own father
would lie to me.  I never dreamed he would have been a traitor.  Most
of all, I never dreamed he would have tried to kill you, Madeline.  I’m so
sorry for all that he has put you through, all that he’s put us both through.”

“It’s not your fault, Ethan.”  I touched his face and
smiled.  “It’s my own fault…my curiosity got the better of me.  If I
hadn’t been snooping around in his study that day, none of this would have
happened.”

“No, no.  It’s not your fault, love.  The truth would
have come out eventually.  I’m just sorry we lost so much time together,
and so much has happened, keeping us apart.  The whole ordeal with
Elizabeth and with Jeff.  We’ve been through too much pain.  It’s
time we were happy again.”

I looked around and noticed that Jonas and William had removed
Edward’s body from the room.  I didn’t know when they did that; I hadn’t
been paying attention.  Ethan and I were alone. 

“I thought I had lost you again, Maddie,” he said again. 
“William rode up to Wellington and told me you had not returned from the
kitchen house, and I immediately rode over to Magnolia.  The three of us
set out looking for you.  William and Jonas remembered that they’d found
out how someone had been to this toolshed over by the grist mill recently, and
so we came here straightaway.”

“How long was I gone?  Jefferson knocked me out, so I was not
aware of how I got here.” 

“It’s a quarter to midnight now,” he said.  So it had been
about 4 hours since I had been in the kitchen house washing dishes. 

I told him how Jefferson had tried to have relations with me, and
Ethan’s face grew red with anger.  “Your father rescued me from Jefferson
and sent him on his way,” I reassured him.

Ethan hugged me once again.  His warmth filled me, body and
soul.  I shivered, not realizing I had gotten cold.  The baby usually
kept me warmer than usual, but with all that had transpired and with me being
in a cold shed in late December, I suddenly realized I was freezing. 
Ethan took his overcoat off and draped it around my shoulders.

“Maddie, I know this is not very romantic, but I don’t want to
waste another minute.  I don’t want to live without you anymore.  I
love you more than anything in this world.  Will you marry me…again?”

“Oh, yes!  Yes, Ethan, I will!”  I smiled, my heart
filled with joy.  I wrapped my arms firmly around his neck, and he kissed
me soundly on the lips.  “I love you, too,” I murmured between
kisses.  Tears of joy escaped my eyes and trickled down to our kissing
mouths, leaving a salty taste in my mouth.

“We didn’t have a long betrothal the first time, and I don’t want
a long one this time, either.”

“Me either,” I said.

“I promise to do better at taking care of you and protecting you this
time,” he said, caressing my face gently.

“How can you say that, when you just saved my life?  Allow me
to properly thank you,” I said, kissing him again, knocking him backwards onto
the dirty floor, falling softly on top of him.  We laughed and then kissed
again.  “I shall spend the rest of my days thanking you,” I said, looking
deep into his eyes.

“And I shall spend the rest of my days loving you,” he said,
placing a tendril of my hair back behind my ear.

I reluctantly got off of him so we could get back to a warm
house.  He got to his feet and then unexpectedly picked me up, causing me
to giggle.  He carried me outside and sat me gently on Blackfoot’s back,
then jumped up behind me, keeping me warm and protected as we rode back to
Magnolia Grove.

Upon our arrival to Magnolia Grove, Ethan carried me upstairs to
my bedroom and laid me gently on the bed.  He poured me a glass of water
and handed it to me.

“I’ll go and get some cloths to clean you up a bit.  Stay
here and rest, my love.”  He smiled and kissed my hand before going out
the door.

I slept while he was gone.  He returned, tapping softly on
the door before opening it.  I opened my eyes as he walked in the room.
 He was holding cloths in his hands.

“I have a surprise for you,” he said, smiling.  “I found a
wet nurse.”

I sat up in bed and pulled the pillow up behind me.  Ethan
stepped aside and opened the door wider, and in stepped Fanny.

“Fanny!” I exclaimed.  She strode quickly over to my bedside,
and we embraced.  “Oh, Fanny!  I’m so glad to see you.”

She was gaunt, so very thin, like she hadn’t had much to eat, but
she did have full breasts, engorged with milk.  Ethan handed her the
cloths, and she dipped them in water and washed my face and arms for me while
we talked.  Jefferson had indeed taken her to the Dismal Swamp where a
great many ex-slaves had set up camp and lived out in the rough.  She
barely made it through the cold winter until her baby was born.  The baby
was a boy, now six months old.  She didn’t want him to be subjected to those
living conditions any longer, so she hitched a ride with a kind young black man
who’d fought in the war for the South.  He had stumbled upon the swamp
camp looking for a lost sister, and agreed to take Fanny and the baby in his
wagon up the river to Magnolia Grove.  She didn’t think Edward would take
her in again, so she came to my old home instead.  She had arrived just
last night, right after I had been kidnapped.

We spent the rest of the night talking, Fanny and I, while Ethan
lay beside me on the bed, listening to us some and snoozing off and on. 
The sun was almost up when we heard the cries of little Lizzie, and Fanny left
to go feed her.  Ethan had gone over to Wellington to get her when he
first brought me to my bed, so that Fanny could visit with me and also feed
Lizzie when needed.  I was so tired but so very happy.  I had Ethan
back, we had our wet nurse and my friend back, and very soon Ethan and I could
be married again.

After Elizabeth’s funeral, Christmas came, and we spent the whole
day at Wellington Cross.  Jonas, Catherine, Ginny, William, and I joined
Clarissa and Ethan, both widowed, Lillie, baby Lizzie, and even Fanny brought
her baby, Josiah.  He was beautiful with light skin and big chocolate
brown eyes.  I wondered what would transpire between Fanny and Clarissa
and whether Clarissa had suspected who Josiah’s father was.

It was wonderful to be back at Wellington with Ethan and Lillie,
and I felt like I’d truly come home again.  Clarissa, who was not doing so
well with the news of her husband’s past deeds or his death, said the day had
been joyful and just what she had needed.  I even saw her holding Josiah
once, smiling and playing with him.  Perhaps she did realize her husband’s
indiscretion and was willing to accept it. 

A small pine tree had been cut down and brought inside. 
Clarissa attached lit candles to it, and it glowed beautifully.  Ethan
presented me with sheet music for the piano by Stephen Foster, which was very
modern and very different than what I usually played.  I planned to treat
him to a private recital as soon as I learned to play some of it.  I gave
him a new pipe, which I had asked William to get for me in exchange for a
lamb’s wool blanket I had made.  Ethan was touched that I’d done that for
him.

“Thank you, Maddie.  This is very handsome.  I shall use
it after dinner.  You didn’t have to get me anything.  You agreeing
to marry me again and our baby that you’re carrying is gift enough for
me.”  He kissed me tenderly.

At one point during the day, Jake approached me and asked to speak
to me and Ethan privately.  He apologized for his involvement with Edward
and Jefferson.  “I was basically just a go-between.  Edward
threatened me if I didn’t comply.  Please, I meant no harm to come to you,
Miss Madeline.”

“I understand,” I said.  “I accept your apology.”

Ethan also shook his hand and eased his conscious, though he later
told me he would have to keep an eye on him for a while to make sure he was
being honest.

Ethan and I planned for a wedding on Valentine’s Day, which was on
a Friday.  I would have married him on Christmas Day, but he said for
appearances’ sake with the recent death of Elizabeth, we should wait a little
longer.  We also talked about waiting until the date of our first
marriage, June 10, but of course, that wouldn’t do either, for we had to be
married before our baby was born.  We decided that we could celebrate two
anniversaries a year from now on, which sounded wonderful to me.

“Will you set the record straight by telling everyone that I am
this baby’s father?” Ethan asked me one cold afternoon in January.  We
were sitting by the fireplace in the river-front parlor at Wellington Cross,
watching it snow outside.  The river could be seen from the manor now,
since the leaves on most of the trees were gone. 

I had started going over to Wellington Cross every day, instead of
Lillie coming to Magnolia Grove.  Ethan would come over with Blackfoot and
a carriage to escort me back and forth between our plantations.  By going
to Wellington every day, I was helping to take care of both Lillie and Lizzie,
and also started slowly bringing my belongings back to our third floor
bedchambers in preparation for our marriage.  It also helped get Lizzie
used to being around me.  Fanny and her baby moved into one of the rooms
above the kitchen house so she could be close to Lizzie, being her wet nurse.
 Lillie was also getting used to me being at Wellington Cross again with
her and Ethan, as it should have been all along.  She was very happy about
it, and very soon we would all be together all the time.

Ethan touched my belly to feel the growing baby.  “You told
everyone at the harvest ball that you were having William’s baby.  Do you
see where lying gets you in trouble?” he chided.

“You’re right.  I’m sorry about that.”  I touched the
ear of one of the wolfies, who sat in the floor by our feet, in front of the
warm fire.  I had missed the dogs while being away from them for so
long. 

“I think you should tell the truth…that I am the baby’s father,
and that you lied to protect me.  Otherwise, if we continue to let
everyone think William is the father, we’d have to keep up the lie, and this
baby wouldn’t grow up to be an heir to the Wellington name or this
plantation.  That wouldn’t be good.  Not to mention when the child
got old enough to start asking questions, would we lie to the child about who
the real father was, or make him or her lie to everyone else and be expected to
keep a secret?”

“You’re right.  I’ll have to tell the truth.  That we
still loved each other, had a moment of weakness, and now I am having your
baby.  Are you happy with that?”

“Perfectly happy.  As long as I get to spend the rest of my
life with you and our children, I can endure anything.  No amount of
ridicule could ever change my mind.”  He gave me an endearing kiss, and
then his demeanor changed.  “You know, I’d like to think all of the
worrying is over, but Jeff is still out there somewhere.”

I had filled Ethan in on everything Jefferson had told me and what
had happened to him.  “Yes, and we now know that little Lizzie is his
half-niece.  Do you think he’ll come back?”

“Not if I can help it,” Ethan said. 

February 14 was a cold but sunny day for our wedding.  I was
pleased that the sun was shining and took that as a good sign.  As I
prepared to leave Magnolia Grove, I took a good look around, knowing that I
would miss being here, especially the close friendship that Catherine and I had
developed.  I told her so when she was helping me with my hair.  She
was dressed in a deep blue gown with white lace trim and pearls around her
neck.