Through the Storm

  “The name’s Morse now,” she said.

  “I’m taking my family home,” Raimond assurred her. “Contract or no contract.”

  “Sounds like something Shoe would’ve said,” Archer pointed out.

  Raimond agreed.

  “Who’s Shoe?” Cullen asked.

  “A slave catcher your uncles and I crossed paths with a few years back,” Raimond told his son.

  “You know,” Archer drawled, “I’ll bet old Ezra Shoe would appreciate a little company. He’s been there about six or seven years now, hasn’t he?”

  “About that,” Raimond agreed.

  “I’ll let the children go,” Morse offered, “but she stays.” He nodded at Sable.

  Raimond chuckled. “You’ll let them go? You must know Ezra Shoe. Are you sure you haven’t met him? He’s a little man, about five and a half feet tall, black gums, foul odor. The two of you must be acquainted.”

  “So, what are we going to do with him?” Archer asked.

  “Nothing,” Morse answered for Raimond, snarling contemptuously. “Harm me, and every White man in the South will rise up and hunt you down.”

  Raimond shook his head at Morse’s passionate speech. “We’re not going to kill you, Morse. We’re just going to send you on a long trip.”

  “Where?”

  “North Africa maybe.”

  “Or,” Beau said, “Considering baby brother is off to China next week, maybe our friend here would like to live there.”

  Raimond eyed Morse. “They do have lovely cold winters up in the mountains.”

  “What are you two jigs talking about?” Morse snapped.

  “Sending you on that trip.”

  “To where?”

  “Wherever we decide. Right now, I’m voting for the mountains of China. A very unpleasant warlord acquaintance of mine has a village there. No doubt the snow will make a Southern gentleman like you thoroughly miserable.”

  Morse began to laugh. “You can’t send me any place I don’t want to go.”

  “Sure he can,” Sable countered. “My husband owns a fleet of ships that travel all over the world. He can send you to Borneo or Siberia or even Africa, if he takes a mind to.”

  “That’s a thought too, darling,” Raimond said. “Never considered the mother continent.”

  Morse stared. That the brothers weren’t joshing seemed to have finally penetrated his thick skull. “You’re serious?”

  “As serious as you were when you stole my family. I’m going to give you over to someone who’ll treat you the way you deserve—like a slave. Because that’s what you’ll be.”

  Morse’s eyes grew like saucers.

  Raimond nodded. “Ironic, isn’t it? Personally, I want to shoot you where you stand, but it wouldn’t do to have my children see your brains splattered all over this room, so I’m turning you into a slave instead. I’ve done it before. Ask Ezra Shoe.”

  Sable thought it a marvelous solution, one that should be standard punishment for folks like Morse.

  “You can’t do this!” Morse sputtered.

  Archer chuckled. “People like you always underestimate people like us.”

  “You can’t do this!” Morse yelled again.

  “If you’d rather take your chances and run,” Drake suggested, “I’ll be a good sport and allow you a head start. I’d love to hunt you the way your friends hunted down those orphans.”

  Morse had the audacity to look pleadingly at Sable.

  “Certainly you aren’t looking to me for assistance,” she told him. “If I knew how to use a weapon, you’d already be dead. Have a good life, Henry.”

  Morse appeared stunned as the Brats untied him from the chair and marched him outside. Sally Ann cut Sable a malevolent look but said nothing.

  On the porch, Raimond spent the next few moments doing absolutely nothing but staring at his wife. Even filthy, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He took her in his arms and held her tenderly, silently, savoring the assurance that she was safe against his heart where she belonged.

  “Are you sure you’re not hurt?” he asked.

  “Positive. After a bath, some food, and a week or two of rest, I’ll be just like new.”

  He grinned and stared down into her changeable green eyes. She was more precious to him than anything he could have imagined. She was priceless, irreplaceable. “After you get the bath, and the food, and the two weeks of rest, be prepared to receive a very stern lecture on being too damn determined for your own good.”

  She gazed up into his dark eyes; she deserved a lecture, she supposed. She stroked his bearded jaw. “Yes, Sir Knight. I’ll even bring my pen and slate so that I can take notes.”

  Raimond draped his arm over Sable’s shoulder and gave her a slight squeeze. He vowed never to let her out of his sight again.

  As everyone watched, Morse was gagged and mounted atop one of the extra horses. They roped his hands to the saddle and covered him with a blanket. Drake and Phillipe would escort him back to New Orleans and prepare him for his journey east.

  Raimond still wanted to kill him, but he knew that if he sent him away, Morse would never be able to threaten his loved ones again, a punishment far more fitting the crime. Some folks had to be made to walk in another’s shoes before they learned life’s lessons. Like Ezra Shoe, Henry Morse would be walking in new shoes for a long, long time.

  Raimond decided to delay the others’ return home until tomorrow so the horses could get some rest and he could spend this night holding his wife. Much to Sally Ann’s anger, they all slept on her parlor’s bare floor.

  In the morning, as everyone went outside to prepare for the ride home, Sable stayed to speak with Sally Ann.

  “We can take you back to New Orleans if you care to come along.”

  Sally Ann was standing before a window that looked out over the field. She slid Sable a hostile look. “No, thank you.”

  Sable thought back to Mavis and how she’d pledged to keep Mahti safe if anything ever happened to Sable. Sable owed it to her sister to try to look after her kin as well. “You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

  “Just go. Haven’t you done enough? I’ve lost two husbands now because of you.”

  Sable felt no need to apologize for the hand her former mistress had been dealt.

  “He never should have brought you here,” Sally Ann declared coldly. “Never! I told him you were cursed, but he wouldn’t listen. Just like Carson! Now they’re both gone from me.”

  “Maybe you should contact Mavis—”

  “Don’t you dare mention her name in my presence. She’s dead. Dead! Married that damn Yankee. She was raised to be quality!” she declared angrily. “I come from quality and now my blood is mixing with some nigra-loving Yankee’s, and it just makes me sick!”

  She turned on Sable again. “And that’s your fault too. I told Carson if he allowed the two of you to be so close something like this would happen to her. I told him!”

  She fixed her gaze back on the window overlooking the fields and uttered softly, “Now look at me. I have nothing and no one. I knew Henry Morse didn’t really love me, but pretending he did, and pretending he could restore my old life, got me through my days. Now even that is gone.” She continued to stare ahead. “I want what I had: ease, shopping, cotillions, lawn parties.”

  “Slaves,” Sable added coolly.

  Sally Ann turned her head and held her eyes. “I’m smart enough to know my life was built on the backs of slaves, so yes—I want my slaves back too.”

  “You can’t have them.”

  “More’s the pity. I believe you people would have been served better by staying put. You’re never going to be treated equal because you weren’t created equal. Every race has a place and you’re trying to rise above yours, but we won’t let you. We’re going to tell our children and they’re going to tell their children and their grandchildren and we’re going to follow you down through time until you accept it.”

  ??
?We’ll never be slaves again, Sally Ann, not without bathing this country in blood.”

  Sally Ann didn’t reply.

  Sable knew that her own love for Mavis was the only reason she felt obliged to ask once again. “So, do you wish to ride back to New Orleans or not?”

  Without turning around, Sally Ann stated, “I don’t need help from you, or any of your kind. You just go ahead and enjoy being equal—if you can.”

  Her bitter laughter followed Sable out the door.

  Sable and the children shared an emotional, heart-tugging reunion with Juliana and Henri. Little Reba was so elated to have everyone home safe, she promised the children they could come over and have their favorite desserts every day for a month. As their mother, Sable thought the offer should be amended a bit, but she didn’t wish to spoil the fun by bringing that up now.

  Juliana tried to convince Sable and the children to spend the night, seeing as it was already dark, but Sable felt more tired than she’d been in years, and despearately wanted to go home. Raimond had to promise his mother he would pamper and spoil the children just as if she herself were in charge before he was allowed to leave. Sable and the children kissed everyone once more, then left for the carriage and home.

  As soon as they stopped in front of the house, Mrs. Vine came rushing out to meet them. The woman had tears in her eyes as she approached. “Oh, Mrs. LeVeq, it is so good to finally have you and the little ones home. The mister has been worried sick. I’ve tried to keep his spirits up, but it has been difficult.” She shared teary-eyed hugs with the children, then said, “You know, I made some pecan tarts today, and there are far too many to fit on the plate. Would you like some after your supper?”

  Blythe’s eyes widened. “Real pecan tarts, like Little Reba makes?”

  “I don’t know Little Reba’s,” Mrs. Vine replied, “but I guarantee mine are better!”

  “Uh oh,” Sable said. “It appears as if war may break out when Reba hears this.”

  “Come on children,” Mrs Vine said, “let’s see if you can outrace an old woman to the porch!”

  The children were so surprised by the challenge, Mrs. Vine got a good head start.

  As they ran after her, Sable grinned. “I like her.”

  “I do too.”

  They started up the walk.

  Raimond told her, “I don’t want you lifting a finger now that you’re home. With the baby coming, and all you’ve been through, I just want you to rest and get your strength back.”

  “Raimond, I’ll be fine.”

  “Will you please humor me? I’ve missed you so much, I’ll bring you the moon if you ask.”

  Seeing the depth of emotion in his eyes, she acquiesced softly, “All right. Your wish is my command.”

  He picked her up and carried her into the house.

  After a long, leisurely bath and a fine, fine dinner, Sable and Raimond put their children to bed and retired to their own suite for coffee and the first chance to be alone. Sitting out on the verandah, cuddled up against her husband, Sable said, “Little Reba’s going to have a fit when the children tell her how well Mrs. Vine cooks.”

  Raimond patted his stomach appreciatively. “My stomach is still smiling, but I am not saying a word to her.”

  She looked up with smiling but tired eyes. “I’m so glad to be home.”

  “I’m so glad to have you home.”

  “How’d you find me?”

  He told her the story, beginning with the woman who’d come to his office. When he finished, Sable was terribly moved. “She wouldn’t give her name?”

  “No.”

  Sable had assisted in churches all over the city and sadly, hadn’t a clue as to the woman’s identity. She would have liked to thank her personally. “There are a lot of good people in the world, Raimond.”

  He drew her closer. “Yes, there are.”

  After a moment Sable said, “I wish I knew where Morse’s friends took the other orphans.”

  “So do I, but I promise you, we will keep searching. Little brother has also promised to put the screws to Morse during the voyage. Maybe his conscience will get the best of him and he’ll tell us where they were taken.”

  Sable clung to that hope. Knowing that nine of the fifteen orphans had been found good homes lightened the sorrow of losing six, but unless the others were found, she’d always feel that she’d failed them. She knew that Cullen was heartbroken over the loss too, despite his stoicism.

  As they both sat enjoying the sounds of the starry night, Sable yawned and stretched. “I’m so tired, but I’m afraid if I go to sleep, I’ll awaken to find you were only a dream.”

  He kissed her brow. “Last night, I felt much the same way.”

  “Make love to me?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Weren’t you tired a second ago?”

  She curled up and touched her mouth to his. “Is that a no?” She brushed her lips across his, teasing them slowly. His hand slid into her still damp hair and brought her closer. “Make love to me…” she whispered. “Show me this isn’t a dream…”

  Raimond looked down into her sultry eyes and felt his manhood throb with a familiar beat. “If you insist, ma reine…”

  So Raimond gave his wife a very personal and sensual welcome home.

  As fall melted into winter, Sable Fontaine LeVeq grew fat with Raimond’s child; her three children thrived and Mrs. Vine turned out to be a godsend. Sable celebrated her first holiday season as a freed woman with her new relations. She and the children stared in amazement at the family’s first Christmas turkey, a LeVeq tradition Raimond and the Brats had instituted after a prewar visit to Hester and Galeno in Michigan. The holidays made her wonder about her brother Rhine and where he was, but as always she had no answer.

  Winter folded into spring. She and Raimond received letters from Araminta, now in the Sea Islands, and from Bridget and her reverend in Boston; Bridget was carrying her first child. They also received a hello from Andre Renaud. Most exciting of all was the poignant note from the Vachons announcing the birth of their first son, David Raimond Vachon.

  Raimond felt emotion swell as he read the letter once more.

  “You must be very proud,” Sable murmured, kissing his temple.”

  “I am,” he whispered softly. “I’m honored to share the name with Hester’s father, David. He was a free man when he met her mother, Frances. She was a slave and he sold himself into slavery to be with her.”

  An amazed Sable had never heard of such a thing.

  “He died soon after Hester was born. We’ll have to go up to Michigan to see them after you recover from the baby.”

  “If I ever have this baby,” Sable replied, trying to find a comfortable spot on the bed. “I feel like a mountain.”

  In early March they received a letter from Phillipe. “Morse jumped overboard and drowned,” Raimond told Sable as he read on.

  “What?” Sable said, looking up from the sewing resting atop her stomach.

  “According to Phillipe, he let Morse up on deck as he did every morning to get some fresh air and Morse jumped overboard. I guess he found being shark bait preferable to being enslaved for the rest of his life.”

  He will be the jackal and you the antelope until his death. Mahti’s prophecy had come true. Morse would bother her no more. “Those poor sharks are going to be sick for weeks eating all that poisoned meat,” Sable replied, going back to her sewing.

  Raimond chuckled. “You’re probably right.”

  It was now April. Springtime was blossoming and so was she. “Juliana said it isn’t uncommon for the first baby to be late,” Sable pointed out, “but I am truly tired of waiting. I promised your mother that this baby will be here before she and Henri go off to France.”

  Henri and his bride were moving to Europe in three weeks and Sable knew she would miss them dearly.

  Raimond snuffed out the lamps, then came to bed and lay down beside her. Sable, who hadn’t been sleeping well for the last month or
so, pillowed herself against him and he pulled her close. Once she was comfortable, he kissed her brow and said, “We will just have to wait it out.”

  They didn’t have to wait long.

  Two days later, Desiré Mahti LeVeq came into the world kicking and screaming. She had a head full of hair and her father’s dark eyes.

  Two weeks later, Raimond entered the bedroom one evening to find Sable just putting the baby to bed.

  “Is she asleep?”

  Sable nodded as Raimond came over and stood beside the bassinet. He looked down at his sleeping daughter and said, “She gets more beautiful every day.”

  Sable agreed.

  Raimond placed an arm across her shoulders and squeezed her tenderly. “You do lovely work, ma reine.”

  “I had an indulgent instructor.”

  He handed her a square jeweler’s box. “Picked you up something.”

  Sable sighed. “Raimond, tell me you didn’t buy more jewelry. I’ve got more gems than an empress now.”

  “I enjoy buying you presents. It’s Galeno’s influence. He has a habit of buying Hester little things, and I suppose it’s contagious.”

  “Does Hester fuss also?”

  “Most times, yes. You should have seen her the day he brought home an elephant for the girls to have as a pet. She threw a fit.”

  Sable rolled her eyes at a tale that couldn’t possibly be true, then went to a chair to unwrap this latest gift.

  Raimond, still gazing down at his beautiful daughter, heard the paper rattling as Sable removed it from the box, then there was only silence. He whispered to his daughter, “Your mama is speechless, petite Desiré. Listen, can you hear it?”

  Sable was speechless, indeed, for in the velvet-lined box lay Mahti’s bracelet, cleaned, polished, and gleaming. She looked into his love-filled eyes and her heart pounded. “I don’t know what to say…”

  “It was all I had of you after you left the camp. I’ve been meaning to return it to you, and now seemed an appropriate time. You can pass it on to your daughter.”

  He came over and held out his hand. “May I?”