Love connections
Chapter 8
"I don't believe you," Leo said looking at Cole with annoyance…
"You almost blew the whistle!"
Cole wasn't going to be provoked so easily, but he still felt like answering that.
"I wouldn't call what you said the most discreet either…"
"At least I have an excuse; I was never a good liar. You, on the other hand…"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Whatever you wanna make it…"
Coleridge felt that he must intervene.
"Hey boys!" And then, when they didn't pay him any attention as they glared at each other, he called louder.
"Hey I thought we were chasing the bad guys, not fighting each other…"
Cole and Leo turned to him with sheepish looks. He thought that he had gotten through to them, until Leo felt that he needed to add something.
"Oh and by the way, I know who this Clay is…"
Cole glared anew and Coleridge turned away from them, tempted to throw his arms up in the air…
"Children," he mumbled to himself, "I'm working with children…"
At first, Cole didn't ask anything. Leo still knew from the look of him that he had hit a nerve and smiled wickedly as he prepared to orb. However, just as he was about to, Cole asked, "So, who is he?" as he was unable to contain himself, even if he was aware he'd given his brother in law ammunitions against him.
Leo observed him for a moment, and then smiled anew, but said nothing. Then he orbed out, and Cole shrugged in annoyance.
Coleridge looked back at him as well, now curious.
"You'll have to explain to me what the big deal is… I thought it was only a story…"
Cole just glared at him for a second and flashed out…
Coleridge sighed.
"Children, I tell you." Then he orbed as well.
Before Phoebe could start the story, Piper questioned.
"Hey, you didn't tell him about Clay?"
"Why would I have told him? It was so long ago…"
"Not so long if I remember well," she replied with a wicked smile.
"I got the feeling that you will hear about this again…"
Phoebe winked.
"A little uncertainty never hurt anyone. Besides, he knows there's no one else now."
"I'm sure…"
Phoebe shrugged, half amused, half annoyed with her sister.
"So do you want to know what happened next or not?"
Piper smiled .
"Yes, go ahead…"
"Already! Ok where was I? Oh yes, Clay…" She glared at her sister who just tried to look as innocent as she could…
**************
"Phoebe?"
She seemed lost in thoughts again. He continued, hoping to get her out of it.
"Would you like to ride? I'm sure that it would do you good. After all, you said that you needed some air…"
Phoebe suddenly smiled at her friend. She realized that he was trying his best to comfort her and she was grateful. Besides, she thought that the exercise would be good therapy.
"That would be lovely…" she finally answered. Clay brightened immediately; just happy to be with her.
As they were walking back toward the stables, Phoebe wondered why she couldn't feel about him the same way she felt about the lawyer. Then she chastised herself for even comparing them and promised herself to put Cole out of her mind, or at least to try…
Cole had finally decided that it was best to leave for the day. He had found out something very interesting about Phoebe, but now he thought that he should seriously ponder how he could use this. He didn't want to put her in a bad situation; he only wanted her to listen to him. Outside, he was told that his clerks had left and not returned for over an hour. Annoyed, he took the direction that Samuel indicated, and went to fetch them himself…
Paige never thought that she could be so afraid and humiliated at the same time. Her struggles had been to no avail, as Nicholas was opening her blouse and pushing her down on the cold rock. When she thought that nothing would stop this ordeal, she heard the angry scream coming from somewhere behind her. Matthew had returned early…
He had been looking for the most beautiful flowers that he could find, for none others would have done for Paige, when a thought had suddenly hit him. In his haste to do something for her as well, he realized that he must have underestimated his brother's trickery.
From the moment he believed he had figured his brother out, he gave up on the flowers and returned toward them. What he found when he got there had him gasping in anger and frustration.
At first, Matthew almost believed that Paige was consenting to his brother's advances and turned back, totally discouraged. However, he saw her struggling and rightful anger took over.
"Nicholas!" He screamed furiously.
His brother finally relaxed his hold on Paige. Without wait, Paige pushed him away as hard as she could, while barely managing to pull herself from under him and she ran away, not even looking at Matthew. She was trying to hold her undone blouse against herself, even as she felt that her dignity had been stripped away from her. Nicholas almost went after her, but Matthew stepped in front of him with fire in his eyes.
"I believed you when you said that the other girl had accused you wrongly…Now I know that my trust was misplaced."
Nicholas was not about to admit to anything however.
"She wanted it, you just startled her. Leave way…"
Matthew now looked at his brother with an incredulous expression.
"How could you say that? I saw her struggling in fear, and you forcing yourself on her. You pretend that you love her and yet you were about to hurt her in the most horrible way."
Nicholas simply glared at his brother, and Matthew understood only then the depth of selfishness that his brother could reach. Only a year earlier, he had to defend him in a very embarrassing situation, where a girl had accused him of the very same indiscretion. All this time, his brother had denied the fact, saying that she simply accused him to protect herself from her family's judgement. Matthew had chosen to believe his brother for he couldn't imagine that his own flesh and blood could be this vile.
Only now did Matthew understand the magnitude of his mistake. Nicholas suddenly seemed to notice the horrified expression on his brother's face, and his own attitude changed:
"You can't believe that I would force myself on a woman, can you? She just… She just changed her mind that's all. I swear that she wanted it as much as I did…"
Matthew kept silent, a dejected look spreading on his face. He gave one last disbelieving look at his brother than turned away from him.
Nicholas called to him.
"What are you gonna do?"
Matthew hesitated, but continued on his way.
Nicholas panicked and ran to him, insisting.
"What are you gonna do brother?"
Matthew finally deigned looking at him.
"For the lady's sake more than yours, I will keep quiet. If she so chooses, she might still bring up charges against you. If this happened, I will support her claim however."
"You can't do that, we're brothers…"
"I don't have a brother anymore. I never want anything to do with you ever again."
Nicholas' temper flared.
"You won't do this to me, I won't let you," he said as he grabbed his brother's arm.
Matthew tried to shake him off, but Nicholas held on.
Matthew, who had been containing his anger until this moment, finally lifted his fist and hit his brother square in the jaw. Nicholas didn't let go of him however and a violent fight ensued as they both fell to the ground …
Cole saw Paige running toward him, and at first he thought that some rogue soldiers had attacked her and his clerks, so he went to her hastily. However, when she came closer, he noticed her unkempt state and guessed that something much more despicable had happened.
She was about to pass him by, when he caught her arm.
"Miss Paige, what's wrong?"
She was in tears and would not look directly at him.
Paige struggled to get away from him, and Cole was now convinced more than ever that he was right. Certain that he wouldn't get anything from her, he let her go and, filled with disgust, he followed in reverse the way she had come.
Cole soon found the young men still fighting. One of them had a bloody lip and was apparently losing, but Cole couldn't tell them apart anyway, so he went to them, and then pulled the one on top from the other.
The young man continued struggling for a moment but Cole had a firm hold on him, and he finally realized the futility of it. The other one almost used it to attack the first one but Cole again put himself between them, this time, with a gun that he had taken out of his belt.
"Stay away! We're going to sort this mess out here and now."
Nicholas, for it was who was now facing Cole and Matthew, took a step back, looking angrily from Cole to his brother, but not trying anything anymore.
Cole waited, staring at both of them in turn a moment longer, disgust obvious in his expression. Then he started:
"Who did it? Who hurt her?"
Matthew seemed to crawl inside himself in shame and Cole thought that he was about to confess, when Nicholas interjected.
"I did nothing wrong, she wanted it!"
Now Cole let go of the first brother completely and then turned angrily toward Nicholas.
This one stared back and looked for all the world as if he was wrongfully accused. This made Cole even angrier.
"It's not enough that you've molested her, but now you insult the poor girl?"
Matthew finally reacted, determined not to let his brother worm his way out of it again.
"This won't work Nicholas, I know what I saw. I'll never believe your lies again and neither will anyone around here…"
"I should just shoot you," Cole said with barely contained hatred for the monster in front of him. "I brought you here; I trusted you and you did this!"
He then turned toward Matthew.
"Did he…? How far did it go?"
Matthew lowered his eyes but still answered.
"I'm sure that I was in time…"
Cole turned an icy stare toward Nicholas, who finally began to feel fear, although he was still not remorseful…
"You will leave here now," Cole uttered in a glacial tone of voice. "Don't ever show your face here or to me again. Know that if the worst had happened, I would've killed you on the spot, but that won't keep me from doing it if I ever see you around here again."
Nicholas was outraged.
"You can't do this to me; I know too much about you…"
Cole moved threateningly toward him.
"If you think that you can blackmail me, you're dead wrong. Remember which side of the gun you're standing on…"
Matthew couldn't help worrying about his brother.
"Please sir, just allow him leave…"
Nicholas turned angrily toward him again.
"Don't think that I'll forget on which side you stayed…You betrayed me, your own brother…"
"Go now, I don't have a brother anymore…"
Nicholas stared at them for a moment and then he turned his heels, walking away from them and the mansion.
Paige had run all the way toward the house and she stopped only about a hundred feet from it. She wasn't too sure that she could face the people there either. The choice was made for her however when her cousin Phoebe spotted her on her way to the riding trail…
Phoebe turned her horse toward Paige right away, as even from a distance she noticed the way she looked. Her cousin barely reacted at the sound of the horses approaching and it worried Phoebe even more.
"Paige?" She asked anxiously.
Paige turned halfway toward her, but didn't answer. It was enough however for Phoebe to see her bruised lips and the still opened dress.
"Who did this to you," Phoebe asked, now angry, "where is he?"
Paige lowered her head in shame but still answered.
"The river… They stayed behind near the river…"
"They?" She exclaimed even more horrified now.
Paige wanted to explain herself better, but she couldn't find her voice anymore. Instead, she started running again, oblivious to her previous concern about the inhabitants of the house. Her secret was out anyway by now. All she wanted was to take a long bath. She felt soiled to the core of her being.
Phoebe watched her going with a pained expression, and then she turned to Clay, who looked just as horrified and angry as she did.
They didn't need to exchange any word before they turned the horses and took the direction of the river…
Matthew and Cole had started back after they were certain that Nicholas had left for good. Cole asked:
"What do you think he will do?"
Matthew hesitated only a moment.
"I can't be sure sir, but I'm afraid that he might betray us…He's a very vengeful person. I saw him hurt people for much less…"
Cole walked pensively for a while longer and then:
"Will we be finished soon?"
"Actually that's the good news sir. I'm quite sure that our last business will be completed by tomorrow night at the most. And Nicholas didn't really know about this one as I did all the arrangements myself."
"Yes, I suppose that it's good news."
"Then we could leave before this turns ugly…"
"Leave…" Cole's voice trailed.
Matthew seemed to understand.
"I will regret leaving here as well sir…"
Cole hurried ahead then, a decision taking form in his mind…
Until now, he had been afraid to talk to her about himself. He was afraid of what she might do. However, at this point there wasn't much more that she could do to hurt his other business, and he knew that his only chance to get through to her was to tell the truth. He still worried that all her ideals were only words and not real convictions, but he had to take the chance…
Cole thought that he was going to her, but in fact she came to him. However, things went wrong from the moment she saw him.
Phoebe spotted the lawyer and his clerk when they were coming out of the woods and she pushed her horse. Because of the feelings that she had for him, this hurt even more when she thought that they were the ones guilty of hurting her cousin. She stopped abruptly in front of the two men, furious.
"How could you? What was it? Frustration pushed you to hurt an innocent girl," she screamed at Cole.
This one was too stunned to answer at first, and she continued.
"I want you off our land right away, or my uncle will hunt you down like the animals that you are…"
Finally finding his voice, Cole answered.
"Now wait a minute, I didn't do anything to your cousin…"
Phoebe was not going to be deterred so easily and she became even more agitated.
"So you say that you didn't do anything but you know who was attacked…"
The horse that she was riding, feeling the mounting anxiety of its rider was waving wildly from one side to the other and she had pain to contain it. Yet, she didn't realize the danger and pursued her angry speech.
"Don't lie to me. I saw what you've done…"
"Phoebe, I…" Cole stopped himself, suddenly aware of what was about to happen. Clay saw it too but was too far from her to act. Cole ran to the horse, just as this one reared off and threw Phoebe rudely toward the ground. Cole barely managed to catch Phoebe before she hit, as he fell underneath her.
For a moment she lost her breath, as much because of the fall as for the fact that she was now lying down on him. Right then, she couldn't think about anything else but him, how good it felt to be in his arms.
Clay broke the moment as he came to her, worried that she was hurt, but even more about the company she kept…
As he was pulling her up, the reason for her presence there came back to her and she got very angry with herself again.
Phoebe turned away from Cole, ashamed.
He got up slowly, brushing the dirt off himself, and then he glanced toward Phoebe and Clay with a very serious expression:
"I'm sorry about all the upset," he began, "but neither me nor Matthew here, were responsible for what happened. I already took care of sending the guilty party away."
Phoebe couldn't help insisting, although barely looking at him.
"Paige said they…"
Cole didn't let this get to him.
"I'm certain that if you talk to her when she's calmer, she'll tell you that only Nicholas tried to take advantage of her. Moreover, I can assure you that he won't try again…"
Only then did she notice the poor state of the clerk.
"Why are you hurt?" She asked him directly.
Matthew seemed embarrassed but still answered.
"I had a fight with my brother."
Phoebe inquisitively asked again.
"Are you sure that it wasn't Paige defending herself?"
Matthew seemed shocked.
"I assure you miss that I could never hurt Paige …"
"Nonetheless, I want you," she said turning to Cole, "and your clerk to go as soon as possible. You brought this to our family and we can't have you around anymore…"
"Please, don't put this on us…"
Phoebe ignored his plea and signaled to Clay that she was ready to leave.
Cole tried once more.
"Please I've got to talk to you…"
Phoebe gave him one more disdainful look before mounting the horse, now much calmer.
"I never wanna see you again."
This time, Cole feared that she had meant it.
She allowed Clay to help her up on the horse. Cole took a step forward as if he intended to stop her, but she put the horse to a trot and rode away rapidly, soon followed by her friend.
"I'm sorry sir; I'm really sorry."
Cole just answered distractedly.
"It's not your fault. And I supposed that it's just as well," he added as if trying to convince himself, "she'd probably never have accepted the truth anyway…"
Then he added.
"Anyway, we should prepare to leave this place for more than one reason as you well know."
Matthew acquiesced sadly as he also had good reasons to be disappointed by their precipitated departure.
They slowly started back toward the mansion. Once there, they simply got into their carriage and rode off as neither Matthew nor Cole believed that anyone wanted to hear from them again…
Meanwhile, Paige had gotten to the house and had been greeted by an old woman, who took care of her since she was a child. Corrine, as she was called, saw Paige's distress immediately and without a word she accompanied her to her room. She didn't need Paige to tell her anything and instead offered right away to draw a bath for her. Paige smiled weakly at her, grateful for her understanding and discretion.
As soon as Phoebe came home, she went straight to Piper.
She told her of the awful news and this one ran toward her sister's room.
"Paige," she called through the locked door, "Paige are you there?" Piper asked anxiously.
Corrine answered the door instead.
"Sorry missy, but I think your sister needs some time alone… she'll be fine; I'll take care of her."
Piper agreed reluctantly and Corrine went to the kitchens to fetch the hot water.
Piper went back to find Phoebe and they agreed that Victor should be kept out of it for the moment. They were afraid of his reaction toward Paige, and didn't want her to get any more upset than she was.
That night and the next day, Paige didn't come out of her room and the house was really quiet. Victor finally asked what the matter with them was but they still didn't tell him.
He was about to insist, knowing instinctively that they were hiding something, when a clamor coming from the courtyard caught their attention.
Outside, a group of soldiers in gray uniforms was dismounting and coming toward the house.
Puzzled and a little anxious as well, the master of the house still went to the door to greet them…
The sergeant at the door didn't lose time in greetings.
"Sorry to bother you sir, but we received a tip that a spy from the north and his accomplice might have been here…"
Victor looked at them in astonishment.
"What are you talking about? There's no one here beside my own family…"
The sergeant insisted.
"We heard from a reliable source, that a man called Cole Fairbanks and two other men have come to you recently. They pretended to be lawyers…"
Victor opened big eyes at this.
"This can't be right. They were here to buy the plantation. He has been coming here more than once a week with proposals from his clients."
"Nevertheless sir, those men are under suspicions of running a slave route toward the north. We've been after them for a while already, but only now could we identify them… I must also warn you that given your relationship with these men, you're also under suspicion…"
"What!"
The sergeant continued, undeterred by Victor's outrage.
"Our source told us that someone in your household has been openly protesting against slavery… That doesn't look good for you sir. What's more, I came to tell you to be prepared for an inquiry…"
"You can't be serious; I have slaves working for me…"
"Then your cooperation in this search will be greatly appreciated, and will go a long way in taking the suspicions off of your family…"
Victor was now very worried. In times of war, justice was swift, and not always just, and he knew that perfectly.
"I have no idea of where they are… all I can tell you is that they were staying in a hotel in town. But I haven't seen them since yesterday afternoon…"
"We'll get back to you sir," the sergeant said before turning around and assembling his troops for departure.
Victor turned to Piper and Phoebe with an even more suspicious expression now. He was not going to be given no for an answer this time.
"What happened here?"
Piper seemed very uncomfortable then, while Phoebe ignored her uncle completely, lost in thoughts of her own…
Victor became angry at their silence.
"No one will leave this room until I know what the matter in this house is? I have a sinking feeling that it has to do with those accusations…"
"Father…" Piper started but stopped herself.
Victor came closer.
"Tell me!" He asked in a commanding voice.
"Something happened yesterday… to Paige," Piper answered reluctantly.
"Something happened to Paige and no one told me," he asked incredulously," where is she? Is she hurt?"
Piper stopped him from running to her.
"Father it's more complicated than this…"
Victor began to guess at what she meant and he didn't like it at all.
"You have to tell me what happened," he reiterated.
Piper pursued hesitantly.
"One of the clerks molested her."
Victor opened big eyes at this, even though he had half expected it.
"What?"
Piper continued quickly.
"He didn't… well you know, but she's still very shaken by it."
"Why didn't anyone tell me about this?"
"We didn't want you to upset her more. She doesn't even want to see us right now. Corrine's been taking care of her since…"
Victor started walking back and forth mumbling to himself.
"Of course, that's the kind of behavior one would expect from those Yankees. Savages, the whole lot of them…"
Finally, he turned back toward Piper.
"What about the other two? What did they do?"
Phoebe finally intervened.
"From what they told us before they left, one of the brothers prevented the other from…" she couldn't finish the sentence but Victor understood.
"So what would it have to do with the soldiers coming here tonight?"
"I can't be sure of course," Clay intervened, "but Mr. Fairbanks told us that he took care of Nicholas by sending him away… It stands to reason to think that he might have sought his revenge on them and possibly us, by making those accusations…"
"So you're saying that it's all lies?"
"I'm quite sure that it was only revenge. I mean can you imagine Mr. Fairbanks and his clerks as spies?"
"I must admit that it's hard to envision indeed…"
Clay had noticed the pensive look on Phoebe's face and knew exactly what she was thinking. Contrary to Cole, he knew that her convictions ran deep and that knowing this about him would make him look much better in her eyes.
From the look of her however, he saw that he had put doubts in her mind. "Hopefully, whatever he is, this man will never come back here…" Clay thought to himself.
******************************
"I think I don't like that Clay…"
Phoebe turned an amused stare at her sister.
"And you don't care about Nicholas?"
"Well I really don't know who he is, but your Clay seems quite the scheming guy as well…"
"Cole would be happy to know that he has someone to speak for him," Phoebe laughed out loud.
She suddenly became more serious.
"Speaking of… I wonder what's taking them so long?"
"So do I…"
Cole had been watching them for the last two hours and he really was getting tired of this. Nothing had happened. They had gone to all the places that Coleridge had mentioned being followed, but with no results. He started to think that maybe the whole thing was in Leo's mind and no darklighter was after them. What's more, the reality from which he was observing them was very uncomfortable and inhospitable. He sighed heavily, still willing to give them a little more time, but not much…
At first, Coleridge and Leo had been too nervous to have any kind of conversation, but now that nothing was happening, they had begun chatting leisurely.
"It's so funny to see him squirm, even though he has no reason at all…"
Coleridge refrained from smiling and said in a falsely severe tone of voice.
"Hey, it's my son you're talking about…"
Leo saw that he was saying it tongue-in-cheek, and smiled anew.
"Clay is only a memory to Phoebe, but it does Cole good to have a little doubt. It's humbling…"
"You know, if he is anything like I was, I wouldn't want to be the guy trying to come between him and his wife…"
"I have to admit that it's a chilling thought…"
The two men started laughing heartily.
Suddenly, Coleridge became very serious and it took Leo only a second to understand why. The darklighter was back, and they looked around anxiously.
Cole was so tired of watching them that he almost missed the signs…
Jacob knew that they had felt him just like he felt them, but caution pushed him to feel further, making sure that the whitelighters were alone. Cole finally noticed their tense expressions, and he started looking around them as well, as his post gave him a better view of their surroundings. He finally found the darklighter but just as this one was about to shoot an arrow in Leo's direction. Without hesitation, Cole went back to their reality and launched at the darklighter. This one jumped in surprise, and he missed. The darklighter, realizing that they seemed more interested in capturing him than vanquishing, tried to use their plan to his advantage. Thinking that they would not try to kill him, he orbed in front of the whitelighters and prepared to fire again. This time, Cole opted for the most prudent course of action however, and he threw an energy ball at the darklighter. Jacob understood his mistake too late before he disintegrated in a ball of flame.
Leo looked at the simmering remains at first with relief and then with irritation.
"I thought we were supposed to interrogate him?"
Cole as he was reaching them:
"Hardly enough, I thought that you'd prefer to be alive…"
The two men again stared at each other for a moment, and then Leo thought better of it.
"Well at least he's gone. Hopefully that was the end of this threat…"
Then with what seemed a great effort he said:
"Thanks…"
"Don't thank me; I had a very selfish motivation… More than one actually… If I let you die, your wife would've killed me," he said with a teasing smile, "and also, you could never have answered my question…"
Leo raised his eyebrows, unsure now if Cole was serious…
Coleridge refrained from smiling.
"As amusing as you both are, this will have to wait… Leo and I still have to go to the elders."
"Have fun…" he said before flashing home.
Chapter 8
"I don't believe you," Leo said looking at Cole with annoyance…
"You almost blew the whistle!"
Cole wasn't going to be provoked so easily, but he still felt like answering that.
"I wouldn't call what you said the most discreet either…"
"At least I have an excuse; I was never a good liar. You, on the other hand…"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Whatever you wanna make it…"
Coleridge felt that he must intervene.
"Hey boys!" And then, when they didn't pay him any attention as they glared at each other, he called louder.
"Hey I thought we were chasing the bad guys, not fighting each other…"
Cole and Leo turned to him with sheepish looks. He thought that he had gotten through to them, until Leo felt that he needed to add something.
"Oh and by the way, I know who this Clay is…"
Cole glared anew and Coleridge turned away from them, tempted to throw his arms up in the air…
"Children," he mumbled to himself, "I'm working with children…"
At first, Cole didn't ask anything. Leo still knew from the look of him that he had hit a nerve and smiled wickedly as he prepared to orb. However, just as he was about to, Cole asked, "So, who is he?" as he was unable to contain himself, even if he was aware he'd given his brother in law ammunitions against him.
Leo observed him for a moment, and then smiled anew, but said nothing. Then he orbed out, and Cole shrugged in annoyance.
Coleridge looked back at him as well, now curious.
"You'll have to explain to me what the big deal is… I thought it was only a story…"
Cole just glared at him for a second and flashed out…
Coleridge sighed.
"Children, I tell you." Then he orbed as well.
Before Phoebe could start the story, Piper questioned.
"Hey, you didn't tell him about Clay?"
"Why would I have told him? It was so long ago…"
"Not so long if I remember well," she replied with a wicked smile.
"I got the feeling that you will hear about this again…"
Phoebe winked.
"A little uncertainty never hurt anyone. Besides, he knows there's no one else now."
"I'm sure…"
Phoebe shrugged, half amused, half annoyed with her sister.
"So do you want to know what happened next or not?"
Piper smiled .
"Yes, go ahead…"
"Already! Ok where was I? Oh yes, Clay…" She glared at her sister who just tried to look as innocent as she could…
**************
"Phoebe?"
She seemed lost in thoughts again. He continued, hoping to get her out of it.
"Would you like to ride? I'm sure that it would do you good. After all, you said that you needed some air…"
Phoebe suddenly smiled at her friend. She realized that he was trying his best to comfort her and she was grateful. Besides, she thought that the exercise would be good therapy.
"That would be lovely…" she finally answered. Clay brightened immediately; just happy to be with her.
As they were walking back toward the stables, Phoebe wondered why she couldn't feel about him the same way she felt about the lawyer. Then she chastised herself for even comparing them and promised herself to put Cole out of her mind, or at least to try…
Cole had finally decided that it was best to leave for the day. He had found out something very interesting about Phoebe, but now he thought that he should seriously ponder how he could use this. He didn't want to put her in a bad situation; he only wanted her to listen to him. Outside, he was told that his clerks had left and not returned for over an hour. Annoyed, he took the direction that Samuel indicated, and went to fetch them himself…
Paige never thought that she could be so afraid and humiliated at the same time. Her struggles had been to no avail, as Nicholas was opening her blouse and pushing her down on the cold rock. When she thought that nothing would stop this ordeal, she heard the angry scream coming from somewhere behind her. Matthew had returned early…
He had been looking for the most beautiful flowers that he could find, for none others would have done for Paige, when a thought had suddenly hit him. In his haste to do something for her as well, he realized that he must have underestimated his brother's trickery.
From the moment he believed he had figured his brother out, he gave up on the flowers and returned toward them. What he found when he got there had him gasping in anger and frustration.
At first, Matthew almost believed that Paige was consenting to his brother's advances and turned back, totally discouraged. However, he saw her struggling and rightful anger took over.
"Nicholas!" He screamed furiously.
His brother finally relaxed his hold on Paige. Without wait, Paige pushed him away as hard as she could, while barely managing to pull herself from under him and she ran away, not even looking at Matthew. She was trying to hold her undone blouse against herself, even as she felt that her dignity had been stripped away from her. Nicholas almost went after her, but Matthew stepped in front of him with fire in his eyes.
"I believed you when you said that the other girl had accused you wrongly…Now I know that my trust was misplaced."
Nicholas was not about to admit to anything however.
"She wanted it, you just startled her. Leave way…"
Matthew now looked at his brother with an incredulous expression.
"How could you say that? I saw her struggling in fear, and you forcing yourself on her. You pretend that you love her and yet you were about to hurt her in the most horrible way."
Nicholas simply glared at his brother, and Matthew understood only then the depth of selfishness that his brother could reach. Only a year earlier, he had to defend him in a very embarrassing situation, where a girl had accused him of the very same indiscretion. All this time, his brother had denied the fact, saying that she simply accused him to protect herself from her family's judgement. Matthew had chosen to believe his brother for he couldn't imagine that his own flesh and blood could be this vile.
Only now did Matthew understand the magnitude of his mistake. Nicholas suddenly seemed to notice the horrified expression on his brother's face, and his own attitude changed:
"You can't believe that I would force myself on a woman, can you? She just… She just changed her mind that's all. I swear that she wanted it as much as I did…"
Matthew kept silent, a dejected look spreading on his face. He gave one last disbelieving look at his brother than turned away from him.
Nicholas called to him.
"What are you gonna do?"
Matthew hesitated, but continued on his way.
Nicholas panicked and ran to him, insisting.
"What are you gonna do brother?"
Matthew finally deigned looking at him.
"For the lady's sake more than yours, I will keep quiet. If she so chooses, she might still bring up charges against you. If this happened, I will support her claim however."
"You can't do that, we're brothers…"
"I don't have a brother anymore. I never want anything to do with you ever again."
Nicholas' temper flared.
"You won't do this to me, I won't let you," he said as he grabbed his brother's arm.
Matthew tried to shake him off, but Nicholas held on.
Matthew, who had been containing his anger until this moment, finally lifted his fist and hit his brother square in the jaw. Nicholas didn't let go of him however and a violent fight ensued as they both fell to the ground …
Cole saw Paige running toward him, and at first he thought that some rogue soldiers had attacked her and his clerks, so he went to her hastily. However, when she came closer, he noticed her unkempt state and guessed that something much more despicable had happened.
She was about to pass him by, when he caught her arm.
"Miss Paige, what's wrong?"
She was in tears and would not look directly at him.
Paige struggled to get away from him, and Cole was now convinced more than ever that he was right. Certain that he wouldn't get anything from her, he let her go and, filled with disgust, he followed in reverse the way she had come.
Cole soon found the young men still fighting. One of them had a bloody lip and was apparently losing, but Cole couldn't tell them apart anyway, so he went to them, and then pulled the one on top from the other.
The young man continued struggling for a moment but Cole had a firm hold on him, and he finally realized the futility of it. The other one almost used it to attack the first one but Cole again put himself between them, this time, with a gun that he had taken out of his belt.
"Stay away! We're going to sort this mess out here and now."
Nicholas, for it was who was now facing Cole and Matthew, took a step back, looking angrily from Cole to his brother, but not trying anything anymore.
Cole waited, staring at both of them in turn a moment longer, disgust obvious in his expression. Then he started:
"Who did it? Who hurt her?"
Matthew seemed to crawl inside himself in shame and Cole thought that he was about to confess, when Nicholas interjected.
"I did nothing wrong, she wanted it!"
Now Cole let go of the first brother completely and then turned angrily toward Nicholas.
This one stared back and looked for all the world as if he was wrongfully accused. This made Cole even angrier.
"It's not enough that you've molested her, but now you insult the poor girl?"
Matthew finally reacted, determined not to let his brother worm his way out of it again.
"This won't work Nicholas, I know what I saw. I'll never believe your lies again and neither will anyone around here…"
"I should just shoot you," Cole said with barely contained hatred for the monster in front of him. "I brought you here; I trusted you and you did this!"
He then turned toward Matthew.
"Did he…? How far did it go?"
Matthew lowered his eyes but still answered.
"I'm sure that I was in time…"
Cole turned an icy stare toward Nicholas, who finally began to feel fear, although he was still not remorseful…
"You will leave here now," Cole uttered in a glacial tone of voice. "Don't ever show your face here or to me again. Know that if the worst had happened, I would've killed you on the spot, but that won't keep me from doing it if I ever see you around here again."
Nicholas was outraged.
"You can't do this to me; I know too much about you…"
Cole moved threateningly toward him.
"If you think that you can blackmail me, you're dead wrong. Remember which side of the gun you're standing on…"
Matthew couldn't help worrying about his brother.
"Please sir, just allow him leave…"
Nicholas turned angrily toward him again.
"Don't think that I'll forget on which side you stayed…You betrayed me, your own brother…"
"Go now, I don't have a brother anymore…"
Nicholas stared at them for a moment and then he turned his heels, walking away from them and the mansion.
Paige had run all the way toward the house and she stopped only about a hundred feet from it. She wasn't too sure that she could face the people there either. The choice was made for her however when her cousin Phoebe spotted her on her way to the riding trail…
Phoebe turned her horse toward Paige right away, as even from a distance she noticed the way she looked. Her cousin barely reacted at the sound of the horses approaching and it worried Phoebe even more.
"Paige?" She asked anxiously.
Paige turned halfway toward her, but didn't answer. It was enough however for Phoebe to see her bruised lips and the still opened dress.
"Who did this to you," Phoebe asked, now angry, "where is he?"
Paige lowered her head in shame but still answered.
"The river… They stayed behind near the river…"
"They?" She exclaimed even more horrified now.
Paige wanted to explain herself better, but she couldn't find her voice anymore. Instead, she started running again, oblivious to her previous concern about the inhabitants of the house. Her secret was out anyway by now. All she wanted was to take a long bath. She felt soiled to the core of her being.
Phoebe watched her going with a pained expression, and then she turned to Clay, who looked just as horrified and angry as she did.
They didn't need to exchange any word before they turned the horses and took the direction of the river…
Matthew and Cole had started back after they were certain that Nicholas had left for good. Cole asked:
"What do you think he will do?"
Matthew hesitated only a moment.
"I can't be sure sir, but I'm afraid that he might betray us…He's a very vengeful person. I saw him hurt people for much less…"
Cole walked pensively for a while longer and then:
"Will we be finished soon?"
"Actually that's the good news sir. I'm quite sure that our last business will be completed by tomorrow night at the most. And Nicholas didn't really know about this one as I did all the arrangements myself."
"Yes, I suppose that it's good news."
"Then we could leave before this turns ugly…"
"Leave…" Cole's voice trailed.
Matthew seemed to understand.
"I will regret leaving here as well sir…"
Cole hurried ahead then, a decision taking form in his mind…
Until now, he had been afraid to talk to her about himself. He was afraid of what she might do. However, at this point there wasn't much more that she could do to hurt his other business, and he knew that his only chance to get through to her was to tell the truth. He still worried that all her ideals were only words and not real convictions, but he had to take the chance…
Cole thought that he was going to her, but in fact she came to him. However, things went wrong from the moment she saw him.
Phoebe spotted the lawyer and his clerk when they were coming out of the woods and she pushed her horse. Because of the feelings that she had for him, this hurt even more when she thought that they were the ones guilty of hurting her cousin. She stopped abruptly in front of the two men, furious.
"How could you? What was it? Frustration pushed you to hurt an innocent girl," she screamed at Cole.
This one was too stunned to answer at first, and she continued.
"I want you off our land right away, or my uncle will hunt you down like the animals that you are…"
Finally finding his voice, Cole answered.
"Now wait a minute, I didn't do anything to your cousin…"
Phoebe was not going to be deterred so easily and she became even more agitated.
"So you say that you didn't do anything but you know who was attacked…"
The horse that she was riding, feeling the mounting anxiety of its rider was waving wildly from one side to the other and she had pain to contain it. Yet, she didn't realize the danger and pursued her angry speech.
"Don't lie to me. I saw what you've done…"
"Phoebe, I…" Cole stopped himself, suddenly aware of what was about to happen. Clay saw it too but was too far from her to act. Cole ran to the horse, just as this one reared off and threw Phoebe rudely toward the ground. Cole barely managed to catch Phoebe before she hit, as he fell underneath her.
For a moment she lost her breath, as much because of the fall as for the fact that she was now lying down on him. Right then, she couldn't think about anything else but him, how good it felt to be in his arms.
Clay broke the moment as he came to her, worried that she was hurt, but even more about the company she kept…
As he was pulling her up, the reason for her presence there came back to her and she got very angry with herself again.
Phoebe turned away from Cole, ashamed.
He got up slowly, brushing the dirt off himself, and then he glanced toward Phoebe and Clay with a very serious expression:
"I'm sorry about all the upset," he began, "but neither me nor Matthew here, were responsible for what happened. I already took care of sending the guilty party away."
Phoebe couldn't help insisting, although barely looking at him.
"Paige said they…"
Cole didn't let this get to him.
"I'm certain that if you talk to her when she's calmer, she'll tell you that only Nicholas tried to take advantage of her. Moreover, I can assure you that he won't try again…"
Only then did she notice the poor state of the clerk.
"Why are you hurt?" She asked him directly.
Matthew seemed embarrassed but still answered.
"I had a fight with my brother."
Phoebe inquisitively asked again.
"Are you sure that it wasn't Paige defending herself?"
Matthew seemed shocked.
"I assure you miss that I could never hurt Paige …"
"Nonetheless, I want you," she said turning to Cole, "and your clerk to go as soon as possible. You brought this to our family and we can't have you around anymore…"
"Please, don't put this on us…"
Phoebe ignored his plea and signaled to Clay that she was ready to leave.
Cole tried once more.
"Please I've got to talk to you…"
Phoebe gave him one more disdainful look before mounting the horse, now much calmer.
"I never wanna see you again."
This time, Cole feared that she had meant it.
She allowed Clay to help her up on the horse. Cole took a step forward as if he intended to stop her, but she put the horse to a trot and rode away rapidly, soon followed by her friend.
"I'm sorry sir; I'm really sorry."
Cole just answered distractedly.
"It's not your fault. And I supposed that it's just as well," he added as if trying to convince himself, "she'd probably never have accepted the truth anyway…"
Then he added.
"Anyway, we should prepare to leave this place for more than one reason as you well know."
Matthew acquiesced sadly as he also had good reasons to be disappointed by their precipitated departure.
They slowly started back toward the mansion. Once there, they simply got into their carriage and rode off as neither Matthew nor Cole believed that anyone wanted to hear from them again…
Meanwhile, Paige had gotten to the house and had been greeted by an old woman, who took care of her since she was a child. Corrine, as she was called, saw Paige's distress immediately and without a word she accompanied her to her room. She didn't need Paige to tell her anything and instead offered right away to draw a bath for her. Paige smiled weakly at her, grateful for her understanding and discretion.
As soon as Phoebe came home, she went straight to Piper.
She told her of the awful news and this one ran toward her sister's room.
"Paige," she called through the locked door, "Paige are you there?" Piper asked anxiously.
Corrine answered the door instead.
"Sorry missy, but I think your sister needs some time alone… she'll be fine; I'll take care of her."
Piper agreed reluctantly and Corrine went to the kitchens to fetch the hot water.
Piper went back to find Phoebe and they agreed that Victor should be kept out of it for the moment. They were afraid of his reaction toward Paige, and didn't want her to get any more upset than she was.
That night and the next day, Paige didn't come out of her room and the house was really quiet. Victor finally asked what the matter with them was but they still didn't tell him.
He was about to insist, knowing instinctively that they were hiding something, when a clamor coming from the courtyard caught their attention.
Outside, a group of soldiers in gray uniforms was dismounting and coming toward the house.
Puzzled and a little anxious as well, the master of the house still went to the door to greet them…
The sergeant at the door didn't lose time in greetings.
"Sorry to bother you sir, but we received a tip that a spy from the north and his accomplice might have been here…"
Victor looked at them in astonishment.
"What are you talking about? There's no one here beside my own family…"
The sergeant insisted.
"We heard from a reliable source, that a man called Cole Fairbanks and two other men have come to you recently. They pretended to be lawyers…"
Victor opened big eyes at this.
"This can't be right. They were here to buy the plantation. He has been coming here more than once a week with proposals from his clients."
"Nevertheless sir, those men are under suspicions of running a slave route toward the north. We've been after them for a while already, but only now could we identify them… I must also warn you that given your relationship with these men, you're also under suspicion…"
"What!"
The sergeant continued, undeterred by Victor's outrage.
"Our source told us that someone in your household has been openly protesting against slavery… That doesn't look good for you sir. What's more, I came to tell you to be prepared for an inquiry…"
"You can't be serious; I have slaves working for me…"
"Then your cooperation in this search will be greatly appreciated, and will go a long way in taking the suspicions off of your family…"
Victor was now very worried. In times of war, justice was swift, and not always just, and he knew that perfectly.
"I have no idea of where they are… all I can tell you is that they were staying in a hotel in town. But I haven't seen them since yesterday afternoon…"
"We'll get back to you sir," the sergeant said before turning around and assembling his troops for departure.
Victor turned to Piper and Phoebe with an even more suspicious expression now. He was not going to be given no for an answer this time.
"What happened here?"
Piper seemed very uncomfortable then, while Phoebe ignored her uncle completely, lost in thoughts of her own…
Victor became angry at their silence.
"No one will leave this room until I know what the matter in this house is? I have a sinking feeling that it has to do with those accusations…"
"Father…" Piper started but stopped herself.
Victor came closer.
"Tell me!" He asked in a commanding voice.
"Something happened yesterday… to Paige," Piper answered reluctantly.
"Something happened to Paige and no one told me," he asked incredulously," where is she? Is she hurt?"
Piper stopped him from running to her.
"Father it's more complicated than this…"
Victor began to guess at what she meant and he didn't like it at all.
"You have to tell me what happened," he reiterated.
Piper pursued hesitantly.
"One of the clerks molested her."
Victor opened big eyes at this, even though he had half expected it.
"What?"
Piper continued quickly.
"He didn't… well you know, but she's still very shaken by it."
"Why didn't anyone tell me about this?"
"We didn't want you to upset her more. She doesn't even want to see us right now. Corrine's been taking care of her since…"
Victor started walking back and forth mumbling to himself.
"Of course, that's the kind of behavior one would expect from those Yankees. Savages, the whole lot of them…"
Finally, he turned back toward Piper.
"What about the other two? What did they do?"
Phoebe finally intervened.
"From what they told us before they left, one of the brothers prevented the other from…" she couldn't finish the sentence but Victor understood.
"So what would it have to do with the soldiers coming here tonight?"
"I can't be sure of course," Clay intervened, "but Mr. Fairbanks told us that he took care of Nicholas by sending him away… It stands to reason to think that he might have sought his revenge on them and possibly us, by making those accusations…"
"So you're saying that it's all lies?"
"I'm quite sure that it was only revenge. I mean can you imagine Mr. Fairbanks and his clerks as spies?"
"I must admit that it's hard to envision indeed…"
Clay had noticed the pensive look on Phoebe's face and knew exactly what she was thinking. Contrary to Cole, he knew that her convictions ran deep and that knowing this about him would make him look much better in her eyes.
From the look of her however, he saw that he had put doubts in her mind. "Hopefully, whatever he is, this man will never come back here…" Clay thought to himself.
******************************
"I think I don't like that Clay…"
Phoebe turned an amused stare at her sister.
"And you don't care about Nicholas?"
"Well I really don't know who he is, but your Clay seems quite the scheming guy as well…"
"Cole would be happy to know that he has someone to speak for him," Phoebe laughed out loud.
She suddenly became more serious.
"Speaking of… I wonder what's taking them so long?"
"So do I…"
Cole had been watching them for the last two hours and he really was getting tired of this. Nothing had happened. They had gone to all the places that Coleridge had mentioned being followed, but with no results. He started to think that maybe the whole thing was in Leo's mind and no darklighter was after them. What's more, the reality from which he was observing them was very uncomfortable and inhospitable. He sighed heavily, still willing to give them a little more time, but not much…
At first, Coleridge and Leo had been too nervous to have any kind of conversation, but now that nothing was happening, they had begun chatting leisurely.
"It's so funny to see him squirm, even though he has no reason at all…"
Coleridge refrained from smiling and said in a falsely severe tone of voice.
"Hey, it's my son you're talking about…"
Leo saw that he was saying it tongue-in-cheek, and smiled anew.
"Clay is only a memory to Phoebe, but it does Cole good to have a little doubt. It's humbling…"
"You know, if he is anything like I was, I wouldn't want to be the guy trying to come between him and his wife…"
"I have to admit that it's a chilling thought…"
The two men started laughing heartily.
Suddenly, Coleridge became very serious and it took Leo only a second to understand why. The darklighter was back, and they looked around anxiously.
Cole was so tired of watching them that he almost missed the signs…
Jacob knew that they had felt him just like he felt them, but caution pushed him to feel further, making sure that the whitelighters were alone. Cole finally noticed their tense expressions, and he started looking around them as well, as his post gave him a better view of their surroundings. He finally found the darklighter but just as this one was about to shoot an arrow in Leo's direction. Without hesitation, Cole went back to their reality and launched at the darklighter. This one jumped in surprise, and he missed. The darklighter, realizing that they seemed more interested in capturing him than vanquishing, tried to use their plan to his advantage. Thinking that they would not try to kill him, he orbed in front of the whitelighters and prepared to fire again. This time, Cole opted for the most prudent course of action however, and he threw an energy ball at the darklighter. Jacob understood his mistake too late before he disintegrated in a ball of flame.
Leo looked at the simmering remains at first with relief and then with irritation.
"I thought we were supposed to interrogate him?"
Cole as he was reaching them:
"Hardly enough, I thought that you'd prefer to be alive…"
The two men again stared at each other for a moment, and then Leo thought better of it.
"Well at least he's gone. Hopefully that was the end of this threat…"
Then with what seemed a great effort he said:
"Thanks…"
"Don't thank me; I had a very selfish motivation… More than one actually… If I let you die, your wife would've killed me," he said with a teasing smile, "and also, you could never have answered my question…"
Leo raised his eyebrows, unsure now if Cole was serious…
Coleridge refrained from smiling.
"As amusing as you both are, this will have to wait… Leo and I still have to go to the elders."
"Have fun…" he said before flashing home.