Say You Love Me (11 page)

Michael reached them, face livid. "Are you all right?" He grasped Jacie's shoulders as he raked her with an anxious glance from head to toe.

She nodded, not looking at Zach, afraid her own rage would show on her face. If she told Michael what had happened, that Zach had kissed her, fondled her, he might kill him. It was best to let it go for the present and put Zach in his place first chance she got. "I'm all right," she said, trying not to appear upset.

Michael turned his fury on Zach once more. "What the hell were you doing with her? You were supposed to signal if you found her, fire your gun. I don't like this, you stubborn fool. I don't like it one damn bit when my orders aren't followed."

And Zach didn't like being cursed and flared back at him. "Now don't get your britches all twisted. I forgot about givin' any signal. I just wanted to get her home fast as I could. I knowed everybody was in an uproar to find her."

Michael shook his fist at him. "You've disobeyed me for the last time. Get your gear and leave Red Oakes by noon tomorrow or I'll order you shot on sight."

"You ain't got no call to do that," Zach said tightly, his own fists clenching with the urge to pound Michael into the ground. "I told you, I just wanted to get her home fast as I could."

"I don't like you and I don't trust you. And I damn well don't have to put up with the likes of you."

Jacie put her hand on Michael's arm and brought it down to his side. "There's no need for this. Zach forgot, like he said. He had been worried too, and he wasn't thinking about what he was doing." She wanted no trouble, and Zach had been a friend in the past, however wrong he had been to kiss her. She would like to forget the incident and concentrate on her impending journey.

But Zach did not get her meaning, thrilled over how she had taken up for him, lied for him. He had been right, he told himself happily, despite the situation at hand. She did have a hankering for him. "You heard her," he retorted, "and you better think about it. I'm a good overseer and you know it. Your daddy knew it, too. That's why he hired me."

"My father is dead. I run things now, Newton, but you haven't been able to accept that. That's why I'm ordering you out of here."

"You got no call. Not like this. How about if you just give yourself time to calm down, and we talk about this in private tomorrow? You give me a second chance." Ordinarily, Zach knew he would have told him to go hell, but now that he was confident Jacie wanted him as much as he wanted her, he didn't want to leave Red Oakes.

"You heard me," Michael said grimly, taking Jacie's arm. "If you're anywhere on my land after noon tomorrow, you're a dead man."

He began to lead Jacie back toward the house, but they had only gone a few steps when she turned to look back at Zach and shake her head in pity.

Zach was shaking he was so mad, but it made him feel better that Jacie had looked at him like she had and thought what a shame it was it hadn't worked out.

Jacie Calhoun, he knew, would have been one delicious slice of pie.

Chapter 8

Michael gave Jacie time to take a bath and change, then sent word she was expected to join everyone for dinner. He also asked her to wear the diamond and amethyst necklace, secretly hoping it would remind her of why he had given it to her and evoke tender memories to dispel the tension between them.

Jacie dreaded going but knew there was no way to avoid the gathering without a scene. Michael had hardly spoken on their walk back to the house, and she had found herself wondering if maybe he actually thought there was something going on between her and Zach. If that was the case, she was even more glad she had chosen to go with Mehlonga. It might be good for her and Michael to be apart for a while. Sudie came to help her dress, and as she brushed her hair the girl told her, "You sure had everybody scared today, Miss Jacie. I ain't never seen Master Blake in such a dither, not knowing where you were."

Jacie could not resist teasing her. "Well, it's a shame you couldn't tell him like you did last time."

"I'm sorry," Sudie muttered.

"No, it's all right. You thought you were doing the right thing."

"I was afraid Master Newton would get mad, and I sure don't want him mad at me. He can be real mean, Miss Jacie." She lowered her voice to speak of the man all the slaves feared. "I's so scared of him."

Ordinarily, Jacie would never have confided such a matter to a servant, much less a child, but something made her want to put Sudie at ease. "It doesn't matter now. Master Newton will be leaving Red Oakes. Master Blake fired him today."

Sudie dropped the hairbrush to clap her hands in glee. "Oh, I'm so glad. Don't nobody like him, Miss Jacie. He's mean to us when Master Blake ain't around. He even beat my pappy once, and my pappy had to wear a shirt, even though it was summertime, so the whip marks wouldn't show, 'cause he knew if Master Blake saw, he'd get mad at Master Newton, and then Master Newton might kill him. I sure ain't sorry to see him go."

Jacie was horrified. "Are you telling the truth, Sudie? Mr. Newton whipped the workers?"

Sudie knew she had said too much. "You won't say I told, will you?"

Jacie believed her, assured her she would say nothing, and in that moment made up her mind she no longer cared what happened to Zach. He might have been her friend once, but no more, not after she'd learned how cruel he was.

Everyone was already at the table when she entered the dining room. Taking her seat, she nodded politely to Olivia, who regarded her coolly. Verena was gracious and clucked about how glad she was that Jacie had been found safely, and Elyse smiled and said she also was relieved.

"Well, it's over now," Michael said with a flourish, signaling to the hovering servant to pour them each a glass of scuppernong wine. "Jacie is fine, and we'll have no more problems. As soon as I return from Charleston, we'll start planning the biggest wedding Georgia has ever seen."

Jacie focused her attention on the wine.

Olivia drew a sharp breath. She and Verena were in agreement that a wedding simply could not take place so soon after the death of Jacie's parents. "Not before spring," she declared firmly. "It would be improper."

"I'm not concerned with propriety," Michael said. "Jacie is all alone now. She needs me to take care of her. Don't you agree, my dear?" He flashed a smile at her.

Jacie was not about to join in the conversation, even though she was the topic. Spring was fine with her. That was when she planned to return from Texas, if not before, but she could not tell anyone that, could only bide her time till dawn. Hedging, she responded, "I really don't feel like discussing any of this tonight, Michael. I'm tired."

"Of course, you are, dear," Olivia said, feigning compassion. "By the way, what
were
you doing this afternoon to have made you so exhausted? That must have been a very long walk."

"I think we should change the subject," Michael said then. "She doesn't want to talk about it."

"Well, I was just wanting to make sure she wasn't with that dirty old Indian again. Did you do as I asked and order him shot on sight? We've put up with him far too long."

"Mother, there was too much else going on, and—"

"Don't you dare!" Jacie got to her feet, unable to stand any more. "You don't just order someone killed because they're tending sick people, Michael." She whirled on Olivia, "And I'm surprised at you for asking him to. You're always going on about manners and refinement, yet you demand the death of a harmless man. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Well—well, I never..." Olivia sputtered indignantly.

Jacie bolted from the room, but Michael caught up with her as she was about to run up the stairs. "That was uncalled for," he admonished her. "You know Mother didn't really mean what she said. She's been demanding that old coot shot for years. Now I want you to come back to the dining room, apologize, and finish your dinner."

"And I want you to stop treating me like a child and giving me orders." She plucked his hand from her arm, lifting her chin defiantly. Even though he did not know she was leaving, she felt the need to let him know she had no intention of ever being subservient. "You are not my master, Michael. I am not your slave."

His face darkened. "But you are going to be my wife, and you will vow on our wedding day to obey me. Love, honor,
obey
. You can't say the words unless you mean them."

"I don't intend to," she fired back.

"Listen to me." He pushed his anger back. "I don't like it when we argue and I'm leaving early in the morning, way before dawn, because I want to take the first train for Charleston. We won't have another chance to talk, and I don't want us to part like this. Now please, come back with me and make peace. I'm going to do everything I can while we're away to convince Mother to give her blessing to our marriage right away, and it would help if she isn't angry with you."

"I just can't." Jacie could stand no more of his mother's criticism of Mehlonga. "Make my excuses, please. I am going to bed. Good night, Michael."

She went on up the steps, but she could feel him staring after her and knew he was hurt and miserable. She did not want to leave him that way and turned to tell him, "Everything will turn out for the best, Michael. You'll see." And she hurried to her room.

Michael wondered what on earth she was talking about. It worried him how strangely she had been acting lately, and he was concerned it might not altogether have to do with her parents dying so close together. He also did not like what he thought he had seen earlier; though he'd been a good distance away, it appeared that Zach was kissing her, but she would not have lied for him unless...

He gave his head a brisk shake. He would not allow himself to contemplate such a possibility. Jacie would never have anything to do with the likes of Zach Newton, or any other man but him. He was being silly, and once he got back from Charleston, everything would be fine. He would make it so.

* * *

It seemed to Jacie that it took forever till the house became dark and still. She crept from her room and tiptoed downstairs to the study. There, after lighting a small lantern and making sure the door to the foyer was closed, she sat down behind Michael's desk and wrote her letter:

My dearest Michael,

I am going away for a while, but please do not worry. There is something I must do. I cannot explain it to you now, but when I return in the spring, or before, I will tell you everything.

Affectionately, Jacie

Unfastening the necklace, she placed it beside the letter. She was not about to take something so valuable with her. It might be lost or stolen, or, God forbid, something might happen to her and she would never return.

There was a closet in the study that went through to the back hallway. Servants could move in and out, when summoned, without having to go through the main hall and foyer to enter. Absorbed in what she was doing, Jacie was unaware that the door to the closet had opened just a crack.

The letter finished, she took her satchel, which was empty, and let herself quietly out the front door, hurrying down the moonlit path to the cabin. She was wearing a simple muslin dress and would carry only one change of clothing, leaving room for the blanket. When it was packed, she breathed a sigh of relief that everything was taken care of. All she had to do was wait.

She went to the swing on the front porch and sat down, too nervous to sleep, and began to talk aloud to herself, whispering in the night. "I can't believe I'm going. Texas.
Bird's Fort
, Texas. I wonder how far it is. He said he'd see that he got me there. Oh, please God," she prayed fervently, "Let me find my mother. I know she's still alive. I just feel it, somehow."

She got up and went slowly to the graves. "I'm going to find her," she said to Violet's simple headstone. "So rest in peace..." Her head came up at the sound of twigs snapping in the darkness. It better not be Zack, she thought with a flash of anger. If he had seen her heading this way and followed, she would give him a piece of her mind.

"Who's there?" she demanded fiercely. "You come out right now. I don't like being spied on."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Sudie burst from the woods to throw herself against Jacie. "I didn't mean no harm. I just don't like you goin' away, and I know you are, 'cause I seen you sneak out with a bag. Please don't go, Miss Jacie. I love you so much." She was not about to tell her she had followed her to the study, then hid in the closet and watched as she wrote on a piece of paper.

Jacie knelt to take her in her arms and explain, as best she could. "Yes, I am going away, but I'll be back in the spring. Now I want you to go home and go to bed, understand? And don't say a word to anyone."

Sudie sniffed a few times. Jacie gave her a hug and she turned back, shoulders slumped with worry. Actually, she had been there long before Miss Jacie heard her. She had seen her take the blanket out of Miss Violet's trunk again, then pull open the binding and take out that locket Miss Violet had showed her the night she died. Then Miss Jacie had cried a little, put it back in the hem of the blanket, and stuck the blanket in her satchel.