The Endless Forest
Page 140

Time passed and the day grew warmer. Daniel closed his eyes and listened, breathing deeply to find that point where his feelings could be stored away. His job here was to provide support for Martha, which meant he couldn’t lose his temper.
By the time she came out onto the porch, he thought he was almost there.
She was wearing a simple gown of sprigged cotton, and she had wound her hair around her head and covered it with a cap. He hadn’t ever seen the cap before, and decided that it must have come from Manhattan. Maybe from the same milliner who had sold her those awful hats she liked so much.
Daniel stepped up beside her and took her hand. Her skin was clammy.
Jemima and her husband rose.
There was a long moment’s silence while Jemima studied her daughter from head to foot, as if to reassure herself that this was indeed the girl she had borne and raised up. Now a corner of her mouth twitched, whether in satisfaction or distaste was impossible to say, though it made his hackles rise to think she might be finding fault.
Martha’s tone was even. She said, “You wanted to talk to me?”
Jemima drew in a deep breath. “Yes. It is good to see you so healthy and happy.”
She didn’t rise to the bait, and Daniel was glad of it.
“What is your business here?” Martha asked. Her tone still steady and remarkably cool.
“I come to ask a favor of you,” Jemima said.
It was the last thing Daniel had been expecting, but Martha didn’t seem surprised. She said, “Why do you think I would be inclined to do you any favors? You abandoned me to the care of others without a word, and then you appear out of nowhere in Manha—”
She broke off. Daniel stepped closer so that she could feel him there, ready.
“Seems to me you should be thanking me for getting you out of that marriage. Didn’t things turn out better for you in the end?”
Martha jerked as if she had been slapped. “It was none of your business,” she said coldly.
“I had my reasons.”
“I’m sure you did. Just as I’m sure they had nothing to do with my well-being, and everything to do with your own.”
Jemima said, “You don’t belong in Manhattan. You’d never fit in there. You belong right here, where you were born.” And she gave Daniel a sharp look, one that made the hair on the back of his neck rise.
“Leave,” he said. “Both of you, right now.”
“First I need an answer,” Jemima said.
Martha coughed a laugh. “Why would I ever want to do you a favor?”
“It’s not so much for us,” said Focht, “as it is for your brother.”
With her head averted, Martha listened. Mention of the boy demanded that much.
Daniel still had hold of her hand, and he held it tight as Jemima told them that she and her husband needed to leave Paradise, and that they would be gone two or even three months. It had to do with business that couldn’t wait, and they could not take young Nicholas with them.
Without looking at her mother, Martha said, “Do I understand correctly that you want me to take your son in?”
Focht said, “If you will not take your brother in, Nicholas will stay at the Red Dog with Lorena and Harper—”
“Which is more than you did for me or Callie when you ran off,” Martha interrupted, speaking directly to her mother.
“He’d be happier with you or your sister,” Focht finished. “And you needn’t worry that he’ll take up too much of your time. Harper can keep him busy exploring, when you don’t have any other use for him.”
Daniel felt Martha stiffen, something that Jemima caught as well. Her mouth twitched and a satisfied expression crept into her eyes. While she was making no progress convincing Martha, her husband had found a vulnerable spot. Daniel wanted to point out to her that any thinking person would be put off to hear children spoken of in such a way.
There was something not quite right about this whole subject. Daniel cast back in his memory for Harper. A boy who had a lot of leisure time, though he was one of Focht’s servants. Unlike the rest of Focht’s servants, from what Daniel had seen.
And the boy asked a lot of questions, something no servant would do. Daniel was uneasy now, and so he resolved to look more closely at Harper.
Martha was saying, “This is something I need to discuss with my family before I can give you an answer.”
For the first time Jemima flushed. “You must mean your husband’s family,” she said. “I am your mother. We are your family.”
“You are a stranger to me,” Martha said. “I repudiate you.”
“You’ll keep a civil tongue in your head when you talk to me,” Jemima said.
Daniel said, “Now see, there you are. The real Jemima. Didn’t take much to make you shake off that mask you wear these days.”
The small twitch at the corner of Jemima’s mouth gave him some satisfaction.
Focht said, “There’s no need to be—”
Daniel said, “You’d best stay out of this.”
“And why is that?”
Daniel looked the man directly in the eye and held his gaze for three full heartbeats. The skin under Focht’s eyes and along his jaw sagged, and his complexion had an odd cast to it, like a man who was recovering from a long illness that had kept him indoors. He might be clever, but he didn’t have the wherewithal to stand up to Daniel. Focht dropped his gaze.
Jemima said, “If you must have your vengeance on me, at least leave your brother out of it. He is innocent. Surely you’ve seen that much over the last week.”