Liberty House Page 5

  Melody was a real beauty at the age of eight with her long, wooly black hair that hung to the middle of her back, her eyes of clear chocolate brown, and her silky brown skin. She was small for her age and had taken her parents' death very hard.

  At five, David was the youngest of the Washington children. He was small and cute, with chunky cheeks and his melt-your-heart brown eyes. He was also wild and mischievous, but he was quiet about it. He was a sneaky, wild one.

  For adopted mismatched children, they were close as siblings could be. Only God could have planned for their future, for being siblings being raised by the same parents.

  Tommy loved each of them. She knew sometimes it was hard for Katrina to see them all the time and not have her own. But that was their life. It was hard, Tommy had come to realize, but it made the sweet times better like this moment.

  Hunter took them into the barn to the end of the stall to see one of Andrew's big drafts. A newborn foal stood wobbly-legged next to her mother. Tommy picked up David and put him on her hip.

  "Ain't she a pretty filly?" Charity loved horses.

  "She sure is." Tommy agreed. "We should ride our horses to the beach soon and maybe go swimming with them."

  They all looked excited about that idea. Travis spoke up. "But the water is cold."

  Tommy shrugged. "We could get our feet wet, and maybe on a warm day, we could go in."

  Hunter looked at her like she had grown another head. "I'll stay in the warm sun."

  Tommy chuckled.

  They all talked some more about what to name the foal and how she was like her big Belgian mother. They watered and fed her. Then started to do other farm chores, having fun talking and playing with the children as they worked. They tried to make the children's lives happy because their life was hard for the most part.

  The children started to get hungry, so they started toward the well-used path through the thick tree line to Katrina's cabin.

  Stepping out of the barn, Tommy smelled the smoke before she saw it rising above the trees. She took off running toward it, still holding David, but more tightly now. Beyond the trees, she saw Andrew's beautifully built cabin in flames. The children ran up with her. She took control and shouted out orders. "Hunter, you take a horse and ride to your parents. Trav, take a horse and ride to town to get the brothers." The boys took off, and she looked to Charity. If she hadn't been such a good rider, she wouldn't have asked, but Charity had the ride many times on Silkwood. "Charity, ride to my cabin. Gloria and Susan should be there."

  Charity nodded and took off towards the barn.

  Tommy could feel the heat and the growing flames growing, making loud pops. She sat David by Melody and the boys, who were staring at the cabin with wide eyes. Tommy got down on Melody's level and told her to take the boys to the back of the barn. Bunny, their big dog was in there.

  "Should I let the horses out?" Melody wasn't afraid of horses; none of them were. They were confident with them.

  "No, not yet. It shouldn't get to the barn. It's been pretty wet," Tommy told her. "Now go!"

  Melody ran with the two boys who obeyed more out of fear than anything.

  Tommy knew there were some things that Katrina and Andrew would want out of the cabin, like her painting she did for Andrew as a child. She knew right where it was. She looked to Katrina, who was white as a sheet and staring unblinkingly at the fire. "Katrina, I need you to start getting buckets and douse the trees in the water."

  Katrina stared like she didn't hear her.

  Tommy glanced at scarred wrists, arms, and neck, all from another fire. Her high collared dresses hid them. She had been left to die in one and almost did. She had lost most of her hearing that night. Tommy whistled, and Cain came running. The dog was one of Maverick's best. "Watch for Katrina, Cain!" She commanded him.

  She took off running for the water trough and got in it and then ran to the cabin. The fire was hot, but she ran in. Her eyes started to water, and she breathed through her mouth as she covered it with her arm. She ran to the one room, darted in through the open door, and grabbed the book and picture from the nightstand. Knowing everything else was gone, that the fire had won, Tommy ran out as fast her legs would take her.

  She fell to the ground outside the door, unable to breathe. She got to her feet and started to walk towards Katrina, but her knees gave out again. She couldn't get enough breath. She crawled behind a tree and threw up. Her head was spinning, but she forced herself to stay awake.

  After seeing Maverick and Cole come riding up like heroes, she fell to the ground in relief.

  Cole knew he shouldn't have let Tommy come here, but on Silkwood, she was safe. Or she was supposed to be. Flames surrounded and engulfed Andrew's cabin. There was no saving it. He nearly jumped off as his horse came to a stop just as Tommy tried to stand, but he knew he couldn't reach her before she fell again.

  He knelt by her, seeing her dress soaking wet, and the hem of it was charred black. How long had she been in the fire before being able to get out? "Tommy, are you all right? Take little breaths. Don't try to breathe so deep." He screamed over the now roaring flames that shot high into the sky.

  Maverick ran to her and said to Cole, "Take her to the barn--she needs out of this smoke." He looked at what was in her hands. "You didn't?"

  Tommy nodded. "Memories," she whispered.

  Maverick kissed her head. "I love you, sis." He nodded to Cole and went to find Katrina.

  Cole picked Tommy up and started towards the barn. She still coughed, but she put one arm around his neck. He looked down, worried. She felt light and fragile in his arms like Izzy did, but this was not his sister. In the dim light of the barn, he was not sure where to put her.

  "Go to the back-empty stall. Children are there," she whispered.

  He obeyed and found Melody with the boys behind her like a mother hen as she held a rifle to the stall door. She looked like she knew how to use it. She probably did. When she saw them, she put the rifle down and ran towards them. Cole put Tommy down and gave her his canteen. "That'll help."

  She drank and winced, something like regret lining her weary face. She licked her parched lips. "How did you get here so fast?"

  "Me and Maverick were already headin’ here from town when Travis found us. I’m so sorry. I never should have left you."

  Tommy shook her head. "I’m supposed to be safe on Silkwood, but I don't think so."

  "That is goin’ to change.”

  "I'm so sorry, Tommy," Katrina apologized again.

  Tommy faced her. "Don't be. Everything is fine." They sat together in Tommy's large parlor as everyone came in for the meeting.

  Katrina looked at her scarred hands in her lap, rubbing them like they hurt and touching them would help. "I just freaked out."

  Tommy took her hands and made them still. "Let it go, Kat."

  Gloria came in with some coffee for them and took a seat on the couch.

  Ellen walked in, carrying a plate of cookies. She set it next to the coffee and poured herself a cup. "How you feelin’, girls?"

  Katrina lifted her brows toward Ellen, questions behind her wide eyes.

  Tommy shrugged. "My throat hurts."

  "It was a very foolish thing to do. Nobody was in the fire, just stuff," Ellen told her as she drank some steaming hot coffee.

  "I know that, but we don't have many treasures from our childhood. It was too valuable to lose," Tommy explained.

  Ellen nodded. Tommy knew all that mattered to Ellen that they were all safe. This time.

  Susan walked in, followed by the brothers, Cole, Owen, and Frank. They all found seats as Susan asked if Tommy was feeling better. She was trained as a nurse in the north and took to caring for those who'd soon be family since the town doctor didn't come into Silkwood unless he had to.

  Tommy nodded. She would be dying before she admitted she was sick to Susan. She met Ellen's eyes, but ignored the look in them. She wasn't in the mood.

  Chapter Five


  After getting coffee and cookies, they started the talk that Tommy had heard often in the past. She didn't want to have it, but it was needed. She should have been more careful and not gone to Katrina's yesterday.

  Matt took her hand where he sat on the floor and leaned against the couch. "Don't beat yourself up. You did nothin’ wrong." He let go of her hand and handed her a cookie. "Sugar helps."

  She gave him an amused look and took a bite, hoping the sugar would go to her head.

  "Have you talked about where you gon’ live now?" Ellen asked Andrew.

  "I’m thinkin' of just moving into the guest bedroom here."

  "Good idea," Tommy told him honestly. She loved her brother and sister-in-law and would do anything for them.

  Maverick spoke up. "I found a note in the shed behind the cabin." He didn't bother taking it out. He memorized it. "It said, ‘Want to keep playing? You are making me mad. I do dangerous things when I get mad. Never forget.'" Maverick let those words sink in. They all looked scared. "I’m wonderin’ if the hit was for all of us. Against Andrew and Katrina, and not just Tommy. Have any of y'all been doing anything different, like doin’ things that’d get him this mad?"

  They all thought about it. The man hated anything they did. Mostly he hated they stayed together. Sawyer spoke first. "I've been travelin’ to find answers."

  "Answers to what?" Maverick asked.

  Sawyer looked at Ellen and then back to Maverick. "I can't say yet, but it wouldn't be somethin’ to cause this kind of reaction. Could it be your work with Liberty House, Maverick?"

  Surprised, Cole asked, "Do you work at the Home?"

  Liberty House was an orphanage on a large piece of land that had a different building for each of the different races. Many of the touched children who were supposed to be in asylums were being raised in safe and raised by Godly couples. It was run well, but was not liked by the average Southerner due to the mixed colors that resided there. Though the Home was always the first to help in a crisis, they had enough to live on their own.

  Maverick nodded. "But I've kept it down, and with the holidays, I've been too busy to do much work there."

  "I been helpin’, too" Andrew admitted. "In my free time."

  Maverick stared at him and frowned. "You shouldn't be doin’ it alone."

  Andrew didn't like living in fear any more than the next person. "You do it."

  "I don't have a wife."

  "So, doin’ any work with the Home ain't safe for any of us," Andrew argued.

  "Boys, bein’ angry ain't going to help," Owen told them. "I think we just need to be wiser where we go and stop helping the Home." He put up a hand when they started to argue. "Just for a little while. It won't be forever."

  "You think it could be Lucas?" Maverick asked, knowing no one else would say that the man could be his father. They had always guessed it could be him. Maverick remained silent. He hated the things that were done in Atlanta. His father lived there, being one of the most skilled assassins during and after the war. Landis Lucas Sr. That would make Maverick a junior.

  Maverick's mother had been married to Lucas for years before she had her oldest and only son. He was raised in a mansion with everything a body could want. Except love from both parents. He was raised by many different nannies. Then at five, his father wanted to train him in shooting, spying, schooling, riding, fighting, and alertness so he could follow his father's footsteps.

  As a boy, he wanted to please his father so much, and he tried until he met Andrew. Andrew was his slave boy, manservant. They had so much fun together. The boy realized slavery was wrong. He worked and traveled with Andrew and Katrina, who was also owned by Maverick and trained with them. He finally left and ran at twelve when something tragic happened. He was never the same since. He started traveling more just to get away and knowing there was no other way out. When he was there, he told people his name was Maverick, for he wanted nothing to do with his father.

  Then he moved back and forth from home to home. Finally, he ended up in Silkwood, where he met most of the siblings, all the while hating them and fighting all of them, all except Tommy. He just acted like she didn't exist, but she was the first one to get to him by just being herself- kind, stubborn, persistent, and never talking. He would always tell his troubles and know she would never tell a soul. She never had even after she started talking. He then found himself protecting her. He would always protect her.

  Life was pretty darn well then for Maverick, but four years later, his father wanted him back. Landis Lucas Sr. wanted to get the use out of all Maverick's training. To make matters worse, Andrew was not coming along. So, Maverick fought harder than ever and ran at night, trying to return to the family and to Andrew, who now lived at Silkwood. But every time he would be found and taken back.

  Then the war started, and Landis wanted to use Maverick to spy on high Union officials. Regretfully, he did it till Landis asked his fifteen-year-old son to kill a good family man. The killings had come to an end. It wasn't like Maverick hadn’t killed before that tender age, for he had, but he couldn't do it anymore. Maverick ran to his family, and Owen and Ben had protected him. Lucas didn't come around again since Maverick was in the Union army at the end of the war. Since then, there really hadn't been much mention of him. He didn't want his father to be going after Tommy and his family.

  Owen shook his head. "No, I don't think it is. It's not how he works. Lucas is not one to hide in the shadows."

  Maverick agreed, but he was afraid of what lay ahead.

  "While we’re talking about safety, I think we should move Tommy's room to the small closet. It's big enough for a bed and dressers. The upstairs is not safe enough."

  Tommy looked around and saw what they thought.

  Maverick nodded. They talked about it on the way over. "I agree. It’ll be closer to Andrew and Cole and Jesse since he has been stayin’."

  "But I can't stay here permanently. I gotta get back to my land," Jesse told him.

  Maverick nodded. "Okay, but it’ll still be better for her to be on the ground floor. I think it's a good idea."

  Matt looked at them all. "Anything more we need to cover tonight?"

  "Where are we gonna do church this Sunday?" Frank asked.

  "Why not do it at our place." Ellen said. The church was led by her husband, and Matt preached as well. Sometimes, the service was held at the different cabins on the Silkwood, but most of the time it was held at Ellen's place. The believers of the family attended.

  "Tommy, you comin’?" Jesse asked.

  Tommy simply shook her head.

  Maverick knew Ellen learned long ago when her children were ready to believe, they would, and pressuring them would not help, though some of them didn't understand that concept. Pressuring them just made them go farther into their walls. Still, it was hard not to.

  Tommy handed Andrew the painting for which she had run into the fire.

  His eyes watered. "You ran into the fire to get this?" he said softly. This painting had saved his life once, and he would always treasure it.

  She nodded.

  He got up to hug her. "Thank you, Tommy-honey."

  She hugged him back. "Always. It's a treasure to be remembered."

  "All right, let's pray," Owen told them. They all bowed their heads like they had been taught.

  Susan noticed Tommy didn't want her to be there, which wasn't a surprise. Oh, she was nice and all, but Tommy treated her with indifference. It would take work to try to be a part of this family, but it would be worth the effort, or she hoped. It was so hard to gain their trust. She was still trying. That was why she was here, to try to build their trust. She liked the family; how loyal and close they were to each other. She hoped they would accept her into the family, and not only in name.

  She looked to Matt, who sat on the couch in the parlor. He was so handsome with his hazel eyes and wavy, light, blond hair. She loved him and would do anything for him. This family meant the world to him, and she wante
d to be a part of it. She wanted more than just to be his wife. She wanted to be his helpmate.

  Susan went upstairs to unpack what she hadn't gotten to the day before. Sharing a room would take some getting used to. She could tell the girls were used to years of sharing a room. There were four beds in the big room, a desk, a big mirror, a dresser to sit in front of it, and three grand, tall, oak closets. She opened each one, to see which one to use. One was empty. She decided to use that one. She probably had more clothes than both girls put together. Though they had plenty of money for clothes, for some reason they'd chosen to live a simpler life. Another thing she'd have to get used to.

  When she was done, she sat by the mirrored dresser and sighed. She looked in the mirror at her brown, unruly, curly hair and hazel eyes. She didn't look anything like her well-to-do family, so maybe she would fit in after all. Just then she decided to pray for her family. She was in the midst of that prayer when she heard a voice calling to see who was there. She thought it might be Katrina. Katrina was gentle and sweet, and spoke with a lisp, just a little, enough that the voice was different.

  Susan called down to her, but got no response. She turned her head and heard Katrina climbing up the ladder. Why they hadn't built stairs was beyond her. She would have by this time, but no one seemed to mind. Katrina's back was to her, so she hadn't seen Susan yet. Susan decided not to say anything when Katrina lay down on the floor, looking towards the wall. She closed her eyes, her tears softly falling to the floor. "I don't want to be here, Lord," she said out loud.

  Susan decided then to show she was there. "Hi, Katrina." When Katrina didn't respond, she started to walk towards Katrina, and that's when Katrina opened her eyes and let out a little scream. She sat up, just as Andrew came up the ladder. "Anything wrong?" He asked as he wiped her tears. "Hey, everythin' will be fine. I felt like with Cole here, we should stay. I know this ain't how we wanted to do this way, but God had other plans, my Kitty," he drawled slowly.