The Endless Forest
Page 169

Henry was trying to rid himself of his cloak of ivy and pine branches, shouting at the top of his lungs all the time.
“I got him! I got Nicholas! Gaoler! Gaoler!”
Lily said, “You have work to do,” and so Birdie went to get her prisoner, who was still laughing so hard he could hardly walk.
She said, “You weren’t scared?”
Nicholas drew a quick breath, tried to answer, and gave up. Finally settled on the porch, he said, “Henry said he’d sneak up on me and he did.”
“You sound happy about it,” Lily said.
“I like Henry,” Nicholas said.
It was an odd answer, but the right one nonetheless.
“He likes you too. We all like you.”
“Does that mean I can get out of gaol?” Nicholas asked, looking back and forth between them.
“No,” Lily and Birdie said together, and that set all three of them to laughing.
“You are the sunniest, most cheerful boy,” Lily said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you unhappy. We’ll miss you when you go home to Boston.”
Birdie froze, but Nicholas was still smiling. He said, “Oh, look. Martha almost got Jennet.” And: “I’m not going to Boston.”
“You aren’t?” Lily said. She put down her knitting.
“Nope,” said Nicholas.
Birdie heard herself ask the next question. “What about Banfield?”
Lily had a quizzical look on her face, but Birdie kept her attention on Nicholas, who seemed to be thinking about the question.
He said, “I miss the farm sometimes.”
“What is Banfield?” Lily asked, and Nicholas turned to look at her.
“Banfield is where I live,” he said. “And Lorena too. Can I go back to the game now?”
Lily nodded, and he catapulted himself off the porch and raced away.
“What is going on?” Lily asked Birdie.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “Da said we should sit tight and he’ll come talk to us soon.”
Chapter LVII
Elizabeth had just made the third pot of tea when Nathaniel came back, followed closely by Levi and Lorena.
While she arranged cups and saucers on a tray she listened to the sound of talking. Ethan’s tenor, Nathaniel’s particular rhythms in baritone, Levi’s voice, even lower, as he gave short answers. There was no sound from Callie or Lorena. She realized just then how little she knew Lorena, but the simple truth was that Elizabeth would gladly have foregone the coming discussion.
She scolded herself for being cowardly, and went out with the tea tray.
“No, thank you.” Lorena wanted no tea, nor anything else. She sat straight-backed at the table, her hands in her lap. Beneath the brim of her straw hat it was difficult to make out her expression, but her voice was even. If she was expecting trouble, she was hiding it well. Levi might well have prepared her for what was to come. Seeing them sitting side by side made Elizabeth realize that they were not strangers to each other, and might be more than mere friends. Under other circumstances she would have been pleased for Levi, but now it seemed only like another complication in an already confusing and even dangerous situation.
Two small coins of deep red sat on Callie’s cheekbones, and in the light of the candles Ethan had just lit, her eyes sparked silver agitation.
Nathaniel said, “Why don’t you sit down, Boots. Folks can help themselves to tea.”
What he was saying to her, she heard it very clearly, was that she was making everyone nervous. She sat.
Callie seemed to be trying to formulate a question, but Lorena spoke up first.
She said, “Levi tells me you want to know about Banfield.”
Callie’s voice cracked. “Is Nicholas my brother?”
Elizabeth’s pulse jumped, but Lorena never blinked. She looked Callie directly in the eye and said, “I don’t know.”
There was a flicker of something, pity or compassion, that touched her expression so briefly Elizabeth wondered if she imagined it.
Callie let out a long sigh. “Martha was right,” she said, dully. “Martha is always right.”
Ethan put a hand on her forearm. “She didn’t say no. She said she doesn’t know. It would be a good idea to hear what she does know before we make up our minds about anything.”
Beside Elizabeth Nathaniel was perfectly quiet, but there was a tension in the set of his jaw. He said, “Lorena, it might be a good place to start if you tell us a little about yourself, before you came to work for Jemima.”
Lorena raised a brow and glanced at Levi, who closed his eyes and inclined his head. That gesture said more about their relationship than any verbal declaration.
Levi cleared his throat. “I want to say something first. Whatever Lorena got to say is new to me too. I ain’t asked her about her past. Not because I don’t want to know, but because I didn’t want to have to keep anything from Callie.”
He was looking at Callie as if he expected her to ask questions, but she only acknowledged him with a short bob of her head.
Lorena said, “I was born and raised up in Boston. My father was a preacher. At sixteen I went into service as a maid. I married at twenty-five.”
These facts she laid out in a line on the table, one by one, with no inflection. As if she were reciting verses from a primer.
Ethan interrupted her gently. “Just tell the story your own way. Tell it to Levi, if that helps you gather your thoughts.”