In His Eyes(98)

Larson shook his head. “Strange as it may seem, we have concluded that after your father’s death, that Negro maid sent correspondence pretending to be him and kept the operation going. She was in charge.”

“Impossible,” Westley said on a long breath.

“I thought the same.” He spread his hands, some of his anger appearing to be replaced with confusion. “Who would have ever thought a Negro house slave capable of such things?”

Westley merely stared at Larson. Ella frowned, putting the pieces together. She knew that Westley’s mother had made sure Sibby was educated. She could do sums and letters, and Ella could attest to the fact that Sibby could be cunning. And Sibby cared deeply for her people and her home. The men may think that a woman, especially one of color, was incapable of doing such things, but Ella knew otherwise.

Larson cleared his throat. “After searching the house and settlements and questioning the Negress, I have concluded that it is true. We were all as shocked as you are.”

Westley looked down at Ella. “What will happen to her?”

Fear stirred in her chest and she looked back at the colonel, letting all her anxieties and pleading show in her eyes.

The man narrowed his gaze and stroked his chin, then a sly smile came over his lips. “Well, seeing as how the operation is shut down, and the war over….” He lifted his shoulders and turned meaningful eyes on Westley. “Perhaps we can work something out?”

Two hours later, Westley signed several documents as Ella and Sibby sat in the lobby of the old bank. Ella wasn’t entirely sure what all the documents entailed, only that after a heated argument, Larson agreed for Westley to take responsibility for Sibby and Basil, who would both be released into his watchful care, while all the others would be taken to trial. And somehow a very detailed agreement on cotton production seemed to be at the center of it all. Westley agreed to get the plantation running again using freedmen labor and then the majority of the cotton would be sent to the United States government for five years as a way of repaying the damages done. Ella had no idea what would happen to the Yankee officers at the other end of the smuggling line in Memphis, and, frankly, she didn’t care.

Westley finished the paperwork with Larson, and led Sibby and Ella, Lee still sleeping in her arms, out into a bright afternoon. Ella shivered, relieved that she would not have to spend another night in that cell.

She glanced over at Sibby, but the woman kept her focus on the dust underneath her feet. There would be a lot of questions for her in the days to come. But right now, they just wanted to go home. She looked up to see Westley staring at her, the look in his eyes sending sparks of lightning down to her toes.

“How did you know?”

“When I arrived in St. Joseph, I sent a telegram to the colonel asking him to send you a message. He promptly sent word back to me that an operation had been discovered at Belmont and that they were gathering information to make arrests. He said he would send word to me in Fort Aubrey once they had everything figured out a few days from then, but I came straight home. It is a good thing I did, or you may have been in that cell a lot longer.”

Ella blinked up at him. “But isn’t that against your orders? Won’t you be in trouble for doing something like that?”

He reached up and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I will gladly serve my time for it. Leaving my post was worth it to know that you are safe.”

Ella stepped closer, not caring that they were in the middle of the street. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Oh, heavens,” Sibby grumbled. “Give me that child before the two of you done squeeze the life outta him.”

Ella blinked and remembered that she held the baby between her and Westley. She passed Lee to her. Sibby smiled down at the boy. “Best you and me goes and finds us a spot in the shade while you mama and daddy finish they talk.”

Ella’s eyes widened. Sibby shouldn’t have said….

Westley chuckled. “She’s right. They should sit in the shade.”

He stared at her, something intense in his eyes that made her feel a bit unsteady. Westley grabbed her hand and drew her into the narrow strip between two partially crumbling buildings. He glanced around, and seeing they were alone, pulled her up against him.

Ella tilted her head back and stared up at him, her mouth too dry and her throat too tight for anything more.

“Ella, I must beg your forgiveness for the way I left you. I was afraid I could not love you in the way you deserved. I thought I would never be enough.”

She reached up and touched his cheek. “I love you for who you are.” She gave him a sly smile. “Flaws, temper, and all. Even if you are an insufferable Yank.”

He laughed and pulled her closer, leaving not even a hair’s breadth between them. “My little dragon. Will we ever tame the fire on your tongue?”

Ella giggled. “Probably not.”

He grew serious and looked deeply into her eyes, his face only inches from hers. “Good. Because I love you just as you are. Fiery tongue and all.”

Her heart pounded. He loved her. And though his love would never be meant to fill every place in her, it sent currents of joy through her. She would have someone to love and be loved in return for the remaining days of their lives.

“The message I sent in St. Joseph was to let you know that after my time out west, I was going to muster out and then come home to Belmont, where I wanted to learn to be your husband in truth.”