The next morning, to Lilah's horrified surprise, iron bars were installed outside her bedroom windows, making it impossible for her to open them more than a few inches. Apparently Leonard feared that she would try again to flee from Heart's Ease. Merely locking her in her room would not be sufficient insurance that she would stay there. Lilah was perfectly capable of climbing out her second-floor window.
In truth, Lilah had been planning just such an escape. It had become abundantly clear that there was no chance of persuading her father to drop the chaises against Joss, to set him free and let him return to England. Not even in return for her promise to marry Kevin would he do that. Leonard hated Joss with a virulent hatred that would not be appeased until Joss had paid with his life for what he had done to Leonard Remy's only daughter.
A frightened, subdued Betsy was permitted to see to her mistress's needs during the day, but to Lilah's combined fury and humiliation Jane or Leonard escorted Betsy to Lilah's door, unlocked it, locked the two girls in together, then let Betsy out again when her tasks were done. At night Betsy was locked in her own tiny third- floor room, so that she could not steal downstairs and help her mistress to escape. As it sank in that her father had her well and truly trapped, Lilah had never felt so helpless, or so frightened, in her life.
She was a prisoner in her own home, cut off from everyone, everything. In Bridgetown, the man she loved was imprisoned, facing trial for his life, for the crime of loving her. He did not even know that she was carrying his child… When she thought that he might be hanged, might die without knowing, she feared she would go mad. For the sake of the tiny bud of life she carried within her she forced such thoughts from her mind. She must just have faith that things would work out for the best, no matter how impossible it seemed.
As days passed, turned into a week and more, it became obvious that her father was not going to relent. Lilah became convinced that her father meant to keep her locked up until she bore her child, and then would take the child away from her by force. His rage at her condition had been terrible; Lilah grew more and more certain that he was capable of such a heinous act. To him, a grandchild of mixed race would be an abomination.
Try as she might, she could conceive of no way to help herself, no way to help Joss.
Ten days after her imprisonment, she was lying on her bed, hot and dispirited and trying to nap. The early weeks of pregnancy were beginning to take their toll. She was constantly tired, and occasionally nauseous. She knew she should be trying to conceive of some plan of escape, but she had no energy to even think. The truth was that, unless she could persuade her father to relent or Jane to defy him, escape was impossible.
The sound of hoofbeats on the drive leading to the house broke through her lethargy. Visitors had been few since her return from the Colonies, and even fewer since her disgrace. Curiosity prompted her to get up from her bed and cross to the window overlooking the front drive. Pulling aside the drape to blink at the brilliant afternoon sunlight, Lilah saw that their caller was a man, a stranger. He was young, she observed without much interest as he swung down from his horse, perhaps in his mid-thirties, well-dressed with a lean, muscular build. His hair was a bright butter-yellow, nearly as blonde as her own. Her father had occasional business callers, and Lilah assumed that, since the man wasn't known to her, he must fall into that category. She watched him until he disappeared beneath the overhanging roof of the verandah, then let the curtain fall again, returning to throw herself on the bed.
That night Betsy came to help her undress as she always did, with Jane as her silent, tight-mouthed escort. Lilah suspected that her father had forbidden her stepmother to speak to her, and Jane, ever the obedient wife, would not dream of defying her husband. Betsy said nothing until Jane locked the door behind her, leaving the two girls alone together. Then she hurried over to Lilah, who was sitting in the chair before the window, feeling more lively than she had all day. The small doses of Betsy's company that she was permitted were the bright spots of her days.
"Miss Lilah, I done got somethin' to tell you, about that Joss," Betsy whispered, glancing around nervously as if the very walls had ears. Betsy was not permitted to stay with her long, so she had learned to work as she talked, and was now undoing her mistress's buttons.
"What?" Such paranoia was contagious, and Lilah found herself whispering too. Which, when she thought about it, might be more cautious than foolish Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined that her own father could treat her so inhumanely, despite the magnitude of her offense. If he was capable of locking her in her room for weeks, allowing the man she loved to hang, and possibly even stealing her baby, he might be capable of dreadful retaliation were he to discover that Betsy was bringing her news of the man he had grown to hate above all others.
"That man that was here today-he was looking for him. At least, for a Captain Jocelyn San Pietro-that's him, ain't it?"
Lilah nodded.
Betsy went on. "This man works for your Joss in England. He says he got a letter from him saying that he'd been sold as a slave and bought by your pa. That man-David Scanlon, his name was-he come to buy your Joss's freedom!"
"What did Papa say?" It was hardly more than a breath, as hope welled up inside her. Lilah turned to look at Betsy, her gown half unbuttoned, all thoughts of preparing for bed forgotten. Although she knew it was foolish, she could not help the sudden leap of her heart.
"He said he never heard of Jocelyn San Pietro, and ordered the man off Heart's Ease."
"Oh, no. Did the man just leave? Didn't he… he try to get Papa to tell him anything?"
"Your papa isn't the easiest man in the world to talk to when he's angry, and he is surefire angry about this! I ain't never seen him this way before, and that's the truth! But the man did tell him that if he got word of your Joss, he could find him aboard the Lady Jasmine, in Bridgetown Harbor. He said he'd be stayin' there until he got word of your Joss."
Lilah frowned into space while Betsy stepped around behind her to finish unbuttoning her dress. Her mind raced. How to let this David Scanlon know of Joss's fate?
Betsy lifted the dress over Lilah's head, and turned her attention to the knots on her stays. Lilah suddenly had the answer.
"Betsy, do you think you could get a letter out of here for me?"
Betsy's hands stilled at Lilah's waist. "I could try, Miss Lilah. I surely could do that."
"There's no time tonight, Jane will be back any minute, but tomorrow I'll write a letter to this Mr. Scanlon and let him know where Joss is and what's happened. Maybe he can do something to save him."
"Maybe." Betsy didn't sound too hopeful, but Lilah was. This friend of Joss's might just be his salvation. But first she had to write the letter-fortunately her own writing materials were in her desk, because she doubted that she'd be allowed any were she to ask-and Betsy had to smuggle it out of the house. That was the difficult part.
"How would you get it out of the house, Betsy? I'd hate for you to be caught."
"Lord, I'd hate to be caught." Betsy's voice was prayerful as both girls thought of Leonard Remy's wrath. "But I can just slip it in my bosom until I see my Ben- he comes to the kitchen sometimes in the afternoon now-and give it to him. He'd do most anything for me."
"Thank heavens for Ben!"
"I says that a lot."
Both girls giggled, the first time Lilah had laughed since her aborted elopement with Joss. It felt good to smile again, and the brief spurt of lightheartedness didn't quite fade as Betsy eased her stays off, then untied the tapes of her petticoats and helped her step from them. Lastly she rolled down Lilah's stockings and pulled her chemise over her head, quickly replacing the garment with an immaculate white night rail.
"What would I do without you, Betsy? You're the only friend I have left." Lilah smiled with real affection at her maid as Betsy buttoned up the night rail.
"I'm not the only one that grieves for you, Miss Lilah," Betsy said seriously, following her mistress over to the big four-poster and pulling the covers down for her. Lilah climbed up on the high mattress. "Mama and Maisie think it's a real shame, how your pa's treatin' you. And Miss Allen is real upset, too. She wanted to come down to comfort you, but the master said no. I think she would have come anyway, you know she never pays him much mind, but there's no one who dares to help her downstairs, and she can't manage by herself."
"Dear Katy," Lilah said, her eyes misting. A lump rose in her throat as she thought of all those whom she loved: Joss, Katy, Jane, even her father despite everything, all as estranged from her as if she had died. What a dreadful coil she had gotten herself into by loving Joss! And yet, if she could do it all again, what exactly would she not do?
The key sounded in the lock, signalling the end of their time together. Betsy stepped nervously away from the bed. As expected, it was Jane, come to let Betsy out and lock Lilah in. For the first time since Lilah's announcement of her pregnancy, Jane stepped inside the room. She was carrying a silver tea tray.
"Betsy, you go on up to your room now, and wait there for me. I'll be up presently to lock your door."
"Yes, ma'am." Betsy bobbed a little curtsy to Jane, and with an uncertain glance at Lilah left the two alone. Jane set the tea tray on the table beside the bed, then, just as Lilah's eyes wandered to the unlocked door with a seed of hope, returned to turn the key in the lock.
"I finally persuaded your father to let me talk to you," Jane said as she stored the key securely in the pocket of her voluminous skirt. "Oh, Lilah, this has been so hard for all of us! How could you have… but never mind, I didn't come here to scold you. I just can't understand how you could… could ruin yourself with a man like that! I suggested to your father that perhaps your mind was injured in the shipwreck. It's the only explanation I can come up with that makes sense. You were always such a perfect lady before…"
The hesitancy of Jane's words robbed them of some of their sting. She was more sorrowful than accusing as she came toward the bed, her unfashionably full skirts rustling. Lilah sat up, moving a pillow behind her back, and leaned against the intricately carved headboard as her stepmother pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat down.
"My mind's not injured, Jane! I love him, and that's the simple truth. I wish you could just meet him as an equal, talk to him, just once, you and Papa. He's… he's wonderful. He's educated, and a gentleman, and handsome and charming and-"
"Let's not talk about him," Jane said, not quite managing to repress a shudder as she reached for the silver teapot. Pouring the tea, her hand trembled slightly, and Lilah realized with compassion that Jane had been badly shaken by the destruction of her family. Her love for Joss had had ramifications she had never even considered…
"Here, dear, drink this and we'll talk," Jane said, passing the cup to Lilah. The brew was strong, and very bitter. Lilah made a slight grimace at its taste. Jane must be more upset than she seemed if she could not brew palatable tea. But Lilah was so glad of the slight softening her stepmother's visit indicated that she managed to drink the foul-tasting liquid without a word of complaint.
"Dear, I must first preface what I have to say by telling you that, despite everything, I still consider you as a daughter. I want what's best for you, best for all of us, as does your father. He is so angry because he loved you so much, was so proud of you, and then you… do this. You know how proud he is! This is nearly killing him!"
"I'm truly sorry that I've hurt either of you," Lilah said, lowering her cup as a lump rose in her throat. "I never meant to! I never meant any of this to happen, but… 1… I can't honestly say I'm sorry it did. I love Joss-"
"Please don't mention that man's name! To hear it on your lips makes me feel quite ill!" Jane said with a visible shudder.
Lilah sat up a little straighter, her chin coming up. "You and Papa are just going to have to accept it: I'm with child by Joss, a slave. I'm also in love with him.
I'd marry him if I could. Please, Jane, if you love me, help me! Help me persuade Papa to free him, to let us both leave Barbados and go somewhere where his blood won't matter so!"
Jane swallowed, looked away, then back. "You know your father will never agree to that. Drink your tea, dear, don't let it get cold."
Absently Lilah took another sip. "I know Papa is planning to try to take my baby away from me. I won't let him."
Jane looked away again. "You haven't considered, Lilah. The… the child you carry will be of mixed race. It will be an outcast. You will be an outcast. No loving parent could wish such a hideous fate on a beloved daughter."
Lilah drained the last of the tea from the cup and handed it back to Jane, who set it on the tray beside her own untouched cup.
"My child won't be an outcast if only you'll persuade Papa to let Joss and me go! We can go back to England together, marry-"
"That won't alter the man's blood, Lilah. You have to look at this realistically. However attractive you may find him, he is not for you. It's better if you let go of the idea that you can ever make a life with him."
"But Jane-" Lilah's argument was interrupted by a sudden, terrible cramping deep inside her. She broke off in mid-speech, her eyes widening, her hands clasping her belly. The pain was sharp, twisting-awful! She had never felt anything like it…
Her face must have mirrored her distress, because Jane got to her feet, her own face whitening. "What is it, dear?"
"My stomach…" Lilah could say no more, because another pain caught her, making her writhe in agony.
"Oh, dear, oh, dear, I didn't know it would hurt you so," Jane murmured, ashen. As the pain subsided slightly to be replaced by another even more vicious, these words percolated through Lilah's pain-clouded consciousness. Her eyes opened, and she stared with horror at her stepmother, who was hovering over her anxiously as she twisted in the bed.
"Jane, Jane-what have you done?" It was a hoarse cry.
"Darling, we talked… we thought it was best… you can't have this child, Lilah! It would be a bastard, a… a mulatto!" Another pain knifed through Lilah's belly. She lay on her side, panting, her knees drawn up as she stared at her stepmother.
"It was in the tea!" Lilah gasped, understanding suddenly. Jane had gone to an Obeah and gotten the root that the natives used when they wanted to end a pregnancy. It had been ground and mixed into the tea…
"When this is over, when you're better, you can marry Kevin and we can forget this whole dreadful ordeal ever happened," Jane was saying rapidly as sweat broke out on her upper lip. Her eyes were large and dark with an echo of Lilah's pain, her hands gentle as they fluttered over her stepdaughter's brow.
"Get away from me," Lilah said through teeth gritted against the pain, utterly rejecting Jane's touch. "You're killing my baby!"
"I'm sorry, darling, so sorry it has to hurt like this, but it's for the best, one day you'll understand and be grateful…"Jane was babbling, her face white as she watched her stepdaughter thrash with agony. Lilah closed her eyes, shutting out her stepmother's face, her whole being concentrating on not expelling the tiny life inside her.
As she sank into a vortex of pain, her mind repeated the same words over and over: "Please God, please don't take my baby!"