This Side of Heaven Read online

  “Must I live in fear, then, of such as your sour-faced dominie?”

  “Enough! I’ll tolerate no more of your insolence, I warn you. If you are to be a member of my household, then you will comport yourself in a seemly fashion. That means, at the very least, no thievery, no lying, no blasphemous language, and no Royalist harangues.” If she had been in any fit state to notice, she would have perceived the faintest of humorous glints at the back of his eyes. Unfortunately, she wasn’t.

  “It may surprise you to learn that I no longer have the slightest desire to become a member of your household!” Caroline, speaking through her teeth, threw good sense to the winds and was surprised by how wonderful it felt.

  “You prefer to be sold as a bound servant?” He arched his eyebrows at her.

  “I prefer to find some kind of employment. I am no stranger to hard work. I can cook, keep house, and sew. If you will pay Captain Rowse his money, I will repay you out of my earnings as soon as I can. You would be making me a loan only.”

  Matt snorted. “Who around here would employ a rudespoken, outlandishly dressed female of the Royalist persuasion, do you suppose? You would starve before you’d earned so much as a crust.”

  Thwarted, Caroline scowled at him. “You’re uncommonly lacking in courtesy, sir!”

  “Then I’d say we’re a well-matched pair. As you are the sister of my dead wife and the aunt of my boys, I am willing to provide you with a home. You will work to earn your keep, and to repay the monies given to Tobias for your passage. We have some need of a cook-housekeeper ourselves, and that’s the function you will fill. All I ask is that you try not to be more of a bother than you can help. I would not care to suffer through daily repeats of this morning’s idiocy.”

  “Idiocy!” Before Caroline could say more—and there was certainly a great deal more she wished to say—a loud noise arose from the barnyard. Caroline stiffened, but ere she could move Millicent careered around the corner of the barn with the hound from hell in baying pursuit. Spying her mistress, Millicent made a beeline toward her, tearing painfully up Caroline’s gown to perch on her shoulder, fur on end, hissing at the slavering beast that galloped after her.

  “Go away! Shoo!” Caroline cried, one hand steadying her cat as the other extended in a frantic attempt to ward off the oncoming dog.

  “Raleigh, no!” Matt boomed, but it was too late. Raleigh launched himself forward, paws outstretched. The dog crashed into Caroline with the velocity of a runaway wagon, knocking her sprawling to the ground. She cried out; Millicent tumbled, hissed, and lashed out with a razor-tipped paw; Raleigh yelped; Matt yelled. Some few yards away, the thundering herd of remaining Mathiesons burst into view.

  Then, as Caroline once again lay stunned in the dirt, Millicent clawed straight up the side of the barn while Raleigh barked hysterically and the onlookers variously shouted, laughed, and grabbed at the leaping dog.

  For the second time that day, pandemonium reigned.

  5

  “Down, Raleigh! I’ll stand no more of your nonsense, sir!” Matt roared, thoroughly exasperated as he seized the frenzied animal by the scruff of his neck. Recognizing the voice of authority, the dog ceased his deafening howls in midcry and dropped to grovel on the ground at Matt’s feet. From the roof of the barn, Millicent looked down with malevolent satisfaction at her tormentor’s comeuppance. Then, assured that he was thoroughly cowed, she proceeded to sit and calmly wash her face. Caroline struggled to a sitting position and surreptitiously rubbed her abused posterior. Suddenly realizing that she was a source of extreme amusement to her audience, she stopped, embarrassed.

  “Damned cat! I should have had one of the seamen toss it overboard. Thing’s been nothing but a passel of trouble from the start.” Captain Rowse—who, besides Matt, was the only one of the many males present not choking back laughter—came over to offer Caroline a hand as he spoke. Scowling at the captain—he’d been almost as unpleasant over the smuggled-aboard Millicent as over the worthless brooch—she coldly declined his offer of assistance and got to her feet on her own.

  “Millicent caused no trouble aboard ship,” she protested hotly.

  “Oh, no? Is it not a fact that we were becalmed for four days, and had to break out the oars? Did the flour not become moldy, and have to be thrown out? Did Goody Shoemaker’s specially bespoke chair not split its back when a barrel tipped over on it? Did my quartermaster not cut his leg to the bone while doing something as simple as slicing a rope? Eh, missy?”

  “None of that can be blamed on Millicent!”

  “Cat on board ship’s bad luck, as everyone knows. Black cat’s worse. I’ve never had such a string of calamities befall a craft of mine in a single voyage. Had to be the cat.”

  “What utter nonsense!” Caroline exclaimed scornfully.

  “The mistress, more like,” Matt said under his breath. Caroline was not sure whether anyone besides herself could hear his words. “She’s caused enough havoc here.”

  He had tied a rope around Raleigh’s neck. Even as Caroline turned fuming eyes on him he was beckoning to the older of the two boys. Like his little brother, this child had a shock of stick-straight black hair and blue eyes. But he was far taller than the younger boy and thin as a reed. As close as Caroline could judge, he looked to be about ten years old.

  “Take him and tie him out back of the house.” Matt handed the rope to his son.

  “But, Pa …!”

  “Just till things get straightened away. He’ll take no harm. Do as you’re told now.”

  “Yes, sir.” The boy was sullen but obedient, and a visibly reluctant Raleigh was partly coaxed, partly dragged away. Caroline gave an audible sigh of relief as the animal disappeared from sight.

  “You can’t lay the blame for this morning’s upheaval at my door!” Caroline said indignantly to Matt. “ ’Tis all the fault of yon ill-trained monster, and you know it!”

  “You should really strive to get over your fear of dogs,” Daniel observed, grinning, before Matt could reply.

  “Any but a fool would be afraid of a great ferocious beast such as that!” Caroline snapped, her eyes swinging around to him. Daniel was flanked by both his nearly identical brother and the sandy-haired man. On all three faces were lunatic grins. She raked the three of them with dagger looks.

  “Ferocious! Raleigh is not! You’re just a coward, is what it is!” The younger boy scowled at her. Caroline had to resist an impulse to scowl right back. The child couldn’t be more than five years old, and to take umbrage at a barely breeched babe was certainly beneath her, but she’d had about enough of each and every one of these arrogant males!

  “Hold your tongue, David Mathieson.” Matt silenced him with a stern look. “You’ll be polite to your aunt, or you’ll feel the flat of my hand where you sit.”

  “She’s not my aunt! Is she?” The child sounded fascinated and appalled at the same time.

  “Indeed she is. This is your Aunt Caroline, who it seems will be making her home with us for the forseeable future.” Matt glanced at Caroline. She was nearly as taken aback at the idea of their kinship as the wide-eyed boy, but of course it was true. If these were Elizabeth’s children, then she was their aunt. Or half aunt, as she and her sister had had different mothers.

  “How do you do, David,” she said to him, managing to sound reasonably pleasant, upon which feat she congratulated herself, considering the circumstances.

  “I don’t want no aunt living with us!” David burst out, glaring at Caroline. “We’re fine on our own, just us men!”

  “Silence!” Matt’s roar had worked on Raleigh, and it worked again on David. Abashed, the child shut his mouth, but his expression was belligerent as he glowered at Caroline.

  “She says she can cook and clean and sew, and that’s something we can use around here. Besides that, she’s family. She’ll be staying, and that’s all I have to say on the subject!” As if he expected to be challenged, his gaze swept around the semicircle formed by the t
hree men and his son. The adults looked dubious, the child mutinous. Caroline scowled at the lot of them. Off to the right, Captain Rowse made a choking sound that he hastily turned into a cough, but no one even glanced his way.

  “You know Daniel, and that’s our brother Thomas to his left”—Matt indicated the sandy-haired man—“and Robert to his right. They live here, work the farm with me and my boys. John’s my older son. This one’s David.” His eyes slid over to Captain Rowse. “Tobias, if you’ll come with me into the house, I’ll settle our business and offer you a drink at the same time.”

  “Sounds fair enough to me.” Captain Rowse grinned at Daniel and the other men behind Matt’s back.

  “Caroline, you may come with me, too. I’ll show you where things are kept, how we like things done. The rest of you, get back to work. You, too, Davey. Get some more corn and finish feeding the chickens.” His tone gentled as he spoke to his son.

  “What about her trunks?” Daniel asked.

  “Trunks?” Matt looked at Caroline with raised brows.

  “Three of ’em,” Daniel replied. “Heavy, too. And a basket.”

  Matt grunted. “Bring them in.” He shook his head. “Three trunks!”

  He started for the house, disappearing around the corner of the barn with Captain Rowse as the others moved off to do his bidding. But instead of following him, as Matt had clearly intended her to do, Caroline turned to look up at the cat perched on the peaked roof high above her head.

  “Come on, Millicent,” she coaxed.

  Millicent stared back at her, her golden eyes unblinking.

  “Millicent, come down!”

  Millicent blinked once, slowly, then got to her feet and stretched. Her sleek black body rippled, and her tail stood up.

  “Woman, where are you? Are you coming?” Matt’s annoyed shout from somewhere outside her field of vision caused Caroline to jump.

  “In just a minute!” she called back. To the animal, who was sauntering along the roofline as if she had not a care in the world, Caroline added in an urgent tone: “Millicent! Come!”

  “Bother the cat! The creature’ll come down when it’s good and ready, and not before.” Matt had reappeared. When he saw what she was about he stalked over to her, caught her by the arm, and propelled her in the direction he wanted her to go. “I’ve lost enough time for one day. I don’t propose to lose more waiting on the whims of a confounded cat.”

  Caroline pulled free. “But the dog will get her!”

  Matt stopped walking, planted his fists on his hips, and glowered at her. “He’s tied, and anyway he’d not hurt her. We’ve cats aplenty around the barn, and they’ve all survived him quite handily. He just likes to give chase to anything that will run.” He reached for her arm again. Caroline quickly stepped back to avoid his touch.

  “She’ll get lost! I’ve had her since she was a kitten, and …” Her voice was unconsciously pleading.

  Matt’s lips tightened. He hesitated, looking distinctly displeased. Then he sighed. “If I fetch your infernal nuisance of a cat down for you, will you then go into the house and do your utmost to stay out of trouble for the rest of the day?”

  His offer—ungraciously phrased as it was—surprised her. In gratitude Caroline almost smiled at him before she caught herself. “I promise.”

  “Very well, then.” He turned to call over his shoulder. “One minute, Tobias.”

  He walked into the barn. Emerging moments later with a ladder, he placed it against the side of the building and proceeded, rather awkwardly because of his stiff leg, to climb. Millicent eyed him with wary attention as he stepped onto the roof and moved toward her. Just as he leaned down to scoop her up, the cat hissed, spat, and bolted, flying down the slope of the roof and leaping agilely to the ground.

  “Millicent!”

  The cat darted toward Caroline, who bent and gathered her pet up in her arms. Captain Rowse, who’d walked over to join her as they waited for Matt, was convulsed with silent laughter. Caroline ignored him as his shoulders heaved.

  Aggravation visible in every lean line of his body, Matt turned to survey man, woman, and cat from his vantage point on the barn roof before retracing his steps. Some short time later, having restored the ladder to the barn, he came toward them, fixing Caroline and Millicent with a jaundiced eye.

  “Did I not tell you about the accursed beast?” Matt demanded. Without waiting for her reply, he stalked past her, heading for the house. Captain Rowse, miraculously sobered now that Matt was within sight and sound, fell in beside him.

  Meekly, Caroline followed, Millicent clutched to her breast. However it had turned out, he had tried to be kind. Her spirits lifted infinitesimally. Perhaps, just perhaps, life with the Mathiesons would not be so terrible after all.

  6

  Matt might have been kind about her cat, but his manners were no better than Daniel’s or Captain Rowse’s. Caroline discovered that as he shouldered his way through the unbolted door without so much as glancing at her some few paces behind the pair of men. Had she really expected him to stand back to let her precede them? Given her experiences of the morning, no, she decided, she had not. Every colonial she had met so far, from the pickle-faced dominie to the youngest Mathieson boy, had been as rude as he could be. Apparently the outward conventions of gentlemanly behavior were not highly prized in the New World.

  “Come in, Tobias, and have some ale. ’Twill make your head spin, I promise you. How much is it the chit owes you?”

  “ ’Tis a fair amount.”

  “I gathered that.” Matt sounded as if he were mentally bracing himself. “How much?”

  The amount Captain Rowse named made Matt groan. He shot Caroline, who had just stepped over the threshold, a darkling look. Then, shaking his head, he disappeared through a doorway on the opposite side of the room with Captain Rowse at his heels.

  Feeling slightly chastened, Caroline stayed where she was, blinking as she looked around the dim interior of the house.

  It took only seconds for her eyes to adjust to the change of light. When they did, they swept the large front room before her, widening with disbelief.

  Clutter was everywhere—saddles and hats, boots and farm implements, a half-carved tree trunk that was apparently in the process of being fashioned into a stool, an open sea chest piled haphazardly with bedding. The furniture was strewn with clothing, whether clean or dirty Caroline couldn’t tell. The wide plank floor sported a circular path of caked mud that ran the circumference of the room, clearly marking the path where the house’s inhabitants habitually walked. To the left of the door, a narrow staircase climbed steeply upward, the wall side of each tread providing space for a collection of piled objects. The air in the house bore a decided chill, and over everything there was a layer of dust. A musty smell, combined with an odor of onions that must have been part of the previous night’s dinner, assaulted her nostrils. Wrinkling her nose against the smell, Caroline took a cautious step forward. If she had ever possessed such a house, it would have been spotless. She could not imagine anyone, not even such barbarians as the Mathiesons clearly were, letting a dwelling get into such a state.

  In the next room she could hear Matt talking in a low voice to Captain Rowse. Certain that she was the subject of their discourse, she was of no mind to let them discuss her without her presence. Picking her way through the miscellany of items littering the floor, she at last reached her destination. Pausing in the doorway, she glanced around the room. As she had feared, the kitchen was a disaster.

  A ridiculously tiny fire flickered in the huge fireplace that filled half of one side of the room. Made of creekstone that was blackened to the ceiling from lack of regular cleaning, it clearly, from the smoke that stung her eyes, needed its chimney swept. A collection of dingy-looking pots hung forlornly over the hearth, which was heaped with ashes from previous fires. In here the odor of smoke overlaid the memory of onions. The plain board table in front of the fire had been cleared, but the floor had not
been swept, and the crude wooden plates, though scraped (as far as she could see), were piled in a pail near the door along with pewter mugs and spoons. Apparently someone had meant to take them outside for washing but had forgotten or found some other task more worth his attention.

  Matt stood with both arms crossed over the back of a chair, leaning forward as he talked to Captain Rowse. The captain, looking well satisfied, was in the act of rising from the bench beside the table as Caroline appeared. Both men, glancing at her, abruptly broke off their conversation. After a barely perceptible hesitation, Captain Rowse took a swallow from his mug. It must have contained a particularly tasty kind of ale if his lip-smacking appreciation of it was any indication.

  “ ’Tis glad I am that this matter has been settled so beneficially.” Captain Rowse put the mug down and nodded at Caroline in a way that was now entirely friendly. “Matt’s taken care of the cost of your passage, Mistress Wetherby. I hope there’ll be no ill feeling between us.”

  “Not at all,” Caroline said coolly. Her hands tightened on Millicent as she squashed the urge to let him know just what she thought of his treatment of her aboard the Dove. At the least, Captain Rowse had made it clear that he held her in contempt. His attitude had caused the sailors and her fellow passengers to treat her almost as a pariah. Would he really have turned her over to the magistrate to be sold as a servant had he not received the money he was owed? Looking at him, bluff and beefy and good-humored as he now appeared, she knew that had Matt repudiated her, he would have. Caroline felt a sudden welling of gratitude toward her frowning brother-in-law. Immediately she forced the emotion back. Such feelings made one dangerously vulnerable, and that was one thing she meant never to be again.

  “Good, good!” Captain Rowse’s tone was just a shade too hearty. Caroline regarded him, unsmiling. In place of the banished gratitude sprang a nearly overwhelming sense of relief. She was free of him and his ship, free of the uncertainty of not knowing what awaited her at her journey’s end. The anxiety that had been her constant companion for the six weeks of the voyage was a thing of the past.