Page 112 of Master of Paradise
"Freedom with you as my jailor would be nofreedom at all," he said lightly.
"They would be silken bonds, Nicholas. I'donly ask for your nights; your days could be spent planning yourescape," she tempted huskily.
For one insane moment Nicholas considered heroffer.A chance to escape, to be with Amanda again, is worth anysacrifice, isn't it?The answer came back a resoundingNo.This game had three players, not two. Fate stood at hisshoulder as it always had when he gambled.
"The game is too rich for my blood. I fold myhand and decline your offer."
Pamela stood there stunned. She could notbelieve he was stupid enough to turn her down. Stupidity? Nay, itwas pride, she realized with a bitter taste. The pride of thePeacocks. She jumped to her feet. "Guard! Guard! This man is not mystep-son. I am sorry for your trouble. Return him, please."
Nicholas threw her a look of contempt."Someday, you'll have to pay for your sins, my lady."
On the drive back to Washington, Pamelavented her spleen in full.
"That man looked ill to me. Did they notreport an outbreak of smallpox amongst the prisoners? I think itthe height of foolishness to keep diseased prisoners so close toWashington. If I were you, I'd recommend they be shipped to CampDavis in Chicago, Illinois. The place already has seven thousandprisoners, half of them dying of smallpox. What will a few morematter?"
When Samuel returned, Pamela was wearingblack and carrying a handkerchief. She told him sadly that she hadlearned that her step-son, Nicholas, had died of smallpox shortlyafter he had been taken prisoner, and that she had already writtento Amanda with the sad news.
Samuel left Washington with a heavy heart,yet a nagging voice kept telling him that he could not trust thewoman. Instead of returning to Paradise, he decided to carry on hissearch. What did he have to lose?
Fate had not yet played out its hand. It tookdiabolical glee in convoluted twists and turns, and in this case itwas no exception. Within ten days of her visit to the prison Pamelafell ill. She had contracted smallpox. Unfortunately, she survived.Her fate was worse than death. Her beautiful face was disfiguredfor life.
Amanda lay back in the hammock gentlyswinging her baby back and forth. These were the only pleasurablemoments left to her in a life that had become increasingly a day byday struggle to survive. She could hardly believe that a whole yearhad gone by since she received that fateful letter from LadyPamela, confirming Nicholas's death.
The garden, untended for so long had gonewild, but still it bloomed as profusely as ever, giving off itsscents that brought Nicholas so close, Amanda could still feel hisstrong arms about her.
At the beginning of the winter she hadthought they would have enough food to see them through, but shehad reckoned without the army commandeering every ham, every ear ofcorn. She had also reckoned without the hordes of refugees; womenand children who walked miles, half-naked, looking for bread. Aswell, four million slaves had been freed and were on thewander.
At first, Amanda had fed everyone she could,but when it got to the stage where all they had was dried peas, itfinally dawned on her that they just might starve to death. She hadtaken her diamond earrings into Charleston and had eagerly tradedthem for a large sack of corn meal, but before she got it to thesmall boat, a man had knocked her down in the street and run offwith it.
Both Amanda and Jennifer were slim as reedswith wrists and arms so slender they could hardly lift babyNicholas, who thrived on his mother's milk, supplemented withmashed peas. Occasionally a neighbor would visit, every last one ofthem widowed by the war. The news was always worse than it had beenthe month before, with one great Southern city after anotherfalling to the enemy.
Vicksburg fell and all the Mississippi fromSt. Louis to New Orleans was in the hands of the Yankees. ThenGettysburg was starved into submission, and finally all of theState of Tennessee was held by Union Troops.
Grant now commanded the Union armies and hehad a million enlisted men to call upon. It was hopeless. The Southhad nothing left but guts. At Dalton, General Old Joe Johnstonstood like an iron rampart with forty thousand and held offSherman's hundred thousand Union soldiers for months and months,retreating one inch at a time. But by the autumn Sherman had takenAtlanta, and then burned it. His army was on its way to SouthCarolina where secession had begun, and Sherman's own wordstraveled like the fires his soldiers set: "The whole army isburning with an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance upon SouthCarolina. I almost tremble for her fate."
Bernard Jackson asked Amanda to calleverybody together. "I've had long months in a rocking chair on theverandah with nothing to do but think. The time for thinking isover. It's now time to act."
Of the house servants there was only Porterand Mammy Lou left, and the only remaining field hand was Old Joe.Jennifer wore a colorless gown that had been laundered without soapmany times. Amanda in a white cotton smock didn't look old enoughto be the mother of the beautiful two-year-old who played noisilyat her feet.
"Amanda, I want you and Jenny to get away. Iwant you to try to find a ship that will take you to England."
Jenny agreed with her father immediately."I've thought about nothing else lately, and Amanda has thatdiamond necklace we could use to pay for our passage."
Amanda sighed. "I admit I've thought about ittoo, but I can't leave you, Father, and I can't leave MammyLou."
"Now you listen to me Amanda. Your first dutyis to that boy there. I've had my life. He's our only hope for thefuture!"
Amanda looked from her father to Mammy Lou."Don't yo' look at me chile. Ah's more skeard o' water an' shipsdan ah is o' dem Yankees."
Bernard urged, "We'll stay here and be thecaretakers of Paradise. You two girls take your courage in yourhands and escape to England-- to Philip. This war will be oversoon. I don't know how it lasted this long. Take my grandson wherehe'll get enough to eat." The tears slipped down his witheredcheeks.
Amanda nodded her silent agreement and tooklittle Nicholas into the garden before the lump in her throatchoked her. Nicholas could walk now and she encouraged him to doso, knowing that carrying him would exhaust all her energy. Shelifted him onto the swing and pushed him. "Your daddy built thisswing."
He nodded happily. "Daddy!"
She'd told him so many times that 'daddy' wasone of his favorite words. Amanda felt her heart pierced at thememories of Nicholas, and she knew she had no choice but to getthis child to safety. One thing she could never come to terms withwas the fact that Nicholas would never see the child she had givenhim.
Suddenly, she bethought herself of his otherchild, Nicole, and she was filled with such an urgency, she feltcompelled to get her away to safety as well as her son.
