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“I THINK WE SHOULD GO on a picnic. It’s a beautiful day and its finally stopped raining. It will be cooler by the river.” Olivia insisted.
I wasn’t so sure. My latest run in with James Corwin on the banks of the riverbank was still fresh in my mind. Still, it was beautiful out, just a dusting of light fluffy clouds to mute the bright impact of the sun, and a breeze that ruffled the fine hairs along the nape of my neck and lessened the heat of the day.
“Okay. I brought nothing though...” I added, feeling guilty. I left this morning for market with a picnic in mind after. “I do have some fresh Raspberries left. We could bring those?”
Olivia grinned. “We have leftover cold chicken in the icebox and potato salad. Mom made it last night.”
I grimaced inwardly. Isla Thompson’s skills didn’t extend to the kitchen. “Sounds great.” I lied. “I do have some of Mama’s mint tea left to bring with us.” I offered.
Together we packed the basket. I watched Olivia taking extra care with her hair, catching all the loose tendrils and neatening them beneath the small white cap she wore, and frowned.
Olivia gave me an innocent smile of encouragement as we took off. I didn’t miss the crafty glimmer in her brown eyes. I had a nasty feeling about this picnic.
We walked out of town along the river, keeping to the path and careful to avoid any snakes that might sun themselves on the bright day along the way. The Green River was swollen and high from recent rains; the water running fast and tumbling past several large rocks inhibiting its progress along the way.
I looked up ahead to the large leaf maple that sat on its bank, a carpet of soft grass making the perfect spot for us to set up. The shade extended over the river’s edge, creating a canopy of dapples shimmering through the trees and dancing over the river’s inky surface. Olivia nodded in approval and I spread the blanket wide for us to sit on.
I removed items from the basket, dividing them up and pouring us each a glass of cool tea. I handed one to Olivia and she smiled in appreciation as she took a drink. “Oh, now that’s fine. Thank you.” She murmured, a wide grin on her face that had nothing to do with the tea and much more to do with what was walking along the river bank in our direction, this time with an actual fishing pole and tackle in hand. Inwardly, I groaned.
James Corbin paused at the edge of our blanket, looking in my direction suspiciously. I scowled. Great, with his ego, he probably thought I’d planned the entire affair just to seek his company. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Olivia spoke up, a pink tinge to her cheeks that wasn’t the sun. “Fancy seeing you here, Mr. Corbin. Fishing I see?”
His eyes touched on me as he answered, speculation lighting them up. “It’s what I do whenever I can get away from working at the lumber mill with my uncle. Looks like you ladies are making good use of the warmth and lack of rain.” He paused, noting my forbidding expression. “I don’t want to keep you ladies, though that chicken looks mighty fine. I’ll just move on up the river for a spell and leave you to it.”
Olivia looked panicky all of a sudden. Before I could stop her she blurted. “Oh, well, we have plenty if you’d like to join. Elspeth’s Mama, Moira makes the best mint tea. Perfect on a scorching day.”
I felt my face heat in the shade as I ground my teeth. I opened my mouth to explain there wasn’t much left, but I was too late.
“Well, that’s the best invitation I’ve had all day.” He leaned his pole and tackle against the tree and stepped onto the blanket, muddy shoes and all, the offending dollops of mud falling off as he sat down between us with a smile.
Olivia dished up and handed him a platter heaped with chicken and potato salad. “This looks wonderful.” He grabbed a leg and took a bite, his expression inscrutable as he chewed. And then chewed some more.”
“Terrific.” He mumbled.
I smiled, watching his face, and took a wing from the basket. It wasn’t wonderful at all—it was chewy and rubbery and tasteless. But I was hungry. Breakfast had been a long while ago.”
I ignored the way his eyes drifted over me when he thought Olivia wasn’t looking.
“So, you work at the lumber mill?” Olivia added, swiping daintily at her mouth with a napkin.
I blinked as I watched my friend try to draw his attention there as she plumped her lips into a fine pout. Her legs beneath her skirt were slightly bent and straight out in front. The bottom hem of her skirt had risen above her boots, and the faintest outline of her tan stockinged feet showed.
Despite himself, James’ eyes pulled to the exposed glimpse of leg. “I do. My father’s partner, John Hathorne, owns it and I work for him. Just part time, but the extra money is welcome. Do you help in the mercantile?” He asked, taking a long pull of cold tea, smacking his lips in appreciation.
Warming to the subject, Olivia smiled, fluttering her lashes shyly. “I do most days of the week. I stand to inherit the entire thing when Mama and Papa pass.”
James eyes sharpened at her words. “That will make you quite the catch someday, then won’t it.”
She giggled, the sound high and annoying, missing the way his eyes crossed at the sound. “Yes, but I’m going to need a husband to manage it. I’m afraid I’ just have no head for business,” she simpered.
Which was a big fat lie. Olivia was sharp as a tack with numbers. Like her mother, she was greedy and always looking for a way to sharpen the next potential buck. I shook my head and reached for a handful of berries. James reached in at the same moment and his hand brushed mine. I snatched mine back, losing several as I did and watching them tumble across the blanket. That was on purpose!
Olivia went on, oblivious to the exchange. James gave a self-satisfied smile and plucked the loose berries off the soft fleece and plopped them into his mouth with a gleam in his eye I didn’t miss.
“So, James, what do you think about the recent outcome at the Courts of Oyer and Terminer?” she asked.
Warming to one of his favorite subjects, James gave Olivia his full attention for the first time that day. “Well, they held the Court of Oyer the middle of June. Just going through the motions, of course. We already knew what the outcome of that would be. There were several witnesses that came forward and confessed to what they knew about the newly accused. The evidence was overwhelming against them. They held the Court of Terminer a week later to decide the outcome. They found five guilty in short order.” He finished, puffing his chest out like he’d been the one to swing the gavel.
“So when do they go to Gallows Hill to meet justice?”
A gleam of excitement entered his eyes and I swallowed my bite of potato salad before it stuck in my throat and I choked, my stomach turning at the conversation.
“Next week. Are you ladies coming to watch? I won’t be missing it. Dad and I, and Mr. Hawthorne, will be there.”
Olivia pretended to be shocked, her hand splayed wide over her bosom, fingers moving in mesmerizing circles to draw James’ eye. It worked too. In the chest department, Olivia definitely had me beat. Elspeth watched with disgust as Olivia dipped her head demurely. “Mama says it’s not a proper sight for a lady. But I know she attends. She stands in the back with the other members of the ladies’ society. It isn’t every day that one sees a witch hang. I plan to be there. I’ll be watching from the churchyard. The view is unobstructed there if you know where to stand. Where will you be at?”
I didn’t catch his response, my eyes aghast as I listened to their casual conversation about the hanging of several of Salem’s own citizens, all based on supposition and hysteria.
James turned to me and I gave a jolt when he addressed me. “So, Elspeth, are you planning to attend, to see justice served on those who deserve it?”
I opened my mouth, struggling to speak past a stomach twisted in knots.
“No. No, I’ll be busy that day.” I muttered, unable to hide my disgust at the turn of conversation.
A look of keen interest moved through his eyes. “I see the rash on your hands is all cleared up. Maybe you were allergic to something else by the river that day?”
My mouth tightened at his suspicious tone. I was fairly sure I was allergic to James Corwin. “I used some of Mama’s psoriasis salve and I was right as rain.” I ground out.
Olivia stared hard at me, eyes flashing. “You met all alone by the river?”
“No!” “Yes.” They both said at once.
Eyes heating, I spoke up. “I was gathering herbs for Mama’s medicines by the bank where they grow. Mr. Corwin was there fishing at the same time.” I was sure James didn’t miss my sarcastic tone from the chill in his eyes. Olivia stared at me in accusation, as if I were the one that had planned the entire thing.
I grit my teeth in frustration. “Wow. It’s getting warm. Should we be heading back Olivia, so Mr. Corwin can get back to his fishing?”
“James. Call me James.” He included them both as he pushed to his feet.
Olivia’s eyes warmed as she looked up at his handsome face, her heart aflutter. “James. It was nice that you could join us. Maybe we’ll be able to do this again sometime?”
I was busy counting all how that would never happen in my mind as I repacked the basket. I didn’t respond.
His eyes glittered on my stiff shoulders. “You can count on it.”
#
“HOW COULD YOU?” OLIVIA hissed. “You know I like him.”
Jaw tight and eyes flashing, I spat back, temper spiking. “How could I what? I was doing nothing wrong. You don’t really think I really went looking for him on purpose?”
“Of course you did. I see the way you look at him. You were flirting with him the whole time we sat there today. Scandalous.”
I turned incredulous eyes on my friend. “Are you serious? I’m not interested in the likes of James Corbin. He’s rude and full of himself. You are so welcome to him. And I wasn’t flirting, but you were.”
“How dare you! Are you questioning my morals? Some friend you are.”
I bit back what I wanted to say.
Yes!
“No, of course not. But I don’t like being accused of something I didn’t do. I don’t like James Corwin, and even if I did? I know you do. That would be enough for me. You have my absolute blessing to him. I think you two are perfect for each other, you have a lot in common.”
Olivia stared hard at me, expression pinched as if she were trying to decide whether I had just paid her a compliment or served her a grave insult.
“Thank you. I like him a lot,” she added grudgingly.
“I am happy to stand aside and let you have him with my blessing,” I smiled, teeth sharp.
#
I ENTERED THE BARN to the smell of fresh hay and the sound of loud voices. All three of my brothers were there, sharing a pint of ale and gathering at the old wooden picnic table there. I missed most of the last part of the conversation, picking up the words hanging and trials.
One of our old draft horses, Otis, stuck his grizzled face over the top of the stall door, looking for the bit of carrot I always brought him. My fingers smoothed over the velvety softness of his muzzle. “Is this about the hanging this coming week?” I asked, voice casual. My heart had kicked up a notch.
Fergus shot me an uneasy stare. “No. This is about the eight more accused they arrested today. They set the trial for them in the Court of Oyer for the first week in August. It’s already too late for the others.
#
THE LUMBER MILL WAS on the outskirts of town, away from the primary hub of activity and on the edge of the river for ease of bringing the lumber downstream as well as overland by horse and wagon. Olivia walked along the dusty road, trying to keep her skirts high and scoffing at the grime that coated the bottoms as they drug the ground. She’d pressed a fresh apron and taken special care to make sure her hair was neat and her nails trimmed. As she walked, she practiced taking in a deepening breath, which caused her bosom to rise and appear bigger. It was, in her opinion, her best feature. James had mentioned that he worked at the lumber mill. It wasn’t exactly proper that she walked there on her own, but she figured she had that covered. If anyone asked she’d simply tell them that her father was interested in what boards they might have that would be suitable for her father’s use to make a new set of chairs for the dining room table.
Salem was bustling on a Thursday and Olivia wondered just how much of that was because of the excitement of the upcoming hangings in a matter of days. Mother told her she wasn’t allowed to go. It wasn’t a proper sight for a young girl to witness. But Olivia knew her mother would be there watching. Olivia had no intentions of sitting home while all the excitement went on around her. Besides, she was hoping James would be there in the crowd.
The Roar of the mill reached her ears long before she arrived, along with the smell of sawdust from the freshly cut wood. Her eyes brightened when she recognized John Hawthorne, and standing right beside him, muscles bunching as he guided the log through the chute and blades that cut them into rough boards, stood James. He didn’t see her at first. That was okay, it gave her the time she needed to plant a proper welcome and what she considered her secret come-hither smile on her face. He was working the Single Sash saw under the apprenticeship of one lumberman. The slap of the paddles on the water wheel gave a sharp clap when it hit the water. John Hawthorne stepped up and took over for him.
James slapped at the dust coating his pants and shirt and reached for a rag to wipe his hands, glancing up and seeing her for the first time. A flash of something passed through his eyes, but Olivia refused to acknowledge it as irritation. She was sure he was glad to see her. She’d brought him a jar of tea from the cellar and it was still somewhat cold.
He turned and spoke for a moment to John, who glanced over at her and then nodded with a frown. James moved in her direction.
#
“GOOD MORNING OLIVIA, what brings you this way?” he asked. He appreciated the break if not necessarily the company. A glance at the cloudless blue of the sky and the wet evidence of the rain from the night before. The heavy humidity was already rising. It was going to be a scorcher of a day; the heat already feeling like it was going to press him straight into the ground.
“Well, it’s so warm and I was coming this way and remembered you worked here. I thought you might appreciate a jar of Mama’s cool tea to quench your thirst?” his face brightened and he took the jar gratefully, uncapping the lid and tipping it back for a long refreshing drink. Olivia’s eyes narrowed on the working of his throat as he swallowed. She took the empty jar back with a sigh of regret. He’d left none for her.
He glanced at her, speculating. “So, where were you headed that you just happened this way?” He wondered aloud. Her cheeks flushed. “Oh, I was just taking a walk to take a bit of fresh air and to inquire about some lumber for daddy. Doc says walking is good for the constitution.” She added cheerfully. James smiled, looking at her plump frame. He imagined it would be good for other things if she did more of it. His eyes narrowed as she chose that moment to take a deep breath and pull her chest up and out for his viewing pleasure. James reconsidered. Olivia wasn’t much to look at, with her mousy brown hair that she pulled tight in a no nonsense bun and the extra weight than she carried more of than she should. Light acne plagued her cheeks too, in bright red spots if she wasn’t careful. Still, she had a magnificent chest and a pretty mouth.
James body tightened and he wondered what she would give out for free. He wasn’t interested in courting her. Besides, she was friends with Elspeth, and his best source of information about her.
“You know, I get off work in a couple of hours. Would you be interested in a walk down by the river to cool off in the breeze that always comes off the water?” he asked.
Olivia started, her heart speeding up. “I don’t know. I mean, we’d be all alone. I don’t know if that would be proper.” But he could see how badly she wanted to.
“You get caught, just claim it was an accident, how we both ended up in the same place at the same time. Unless you’re scared to be alone with me...” James taunted. It was just the right button to push.
“I’m not scared. A walk it is. But you’d better mind your manners, Mr. Corbin.” James eyebrows shot up, a cruel glint in them?
“Are you asking me, or telling me?”
Olivia tittered nervously. Watching the glittering hardness in his eyes that almost scared her. “I know you’re a gentleman and will treat a lady with respect,” she finished on a nervous titter.
He watched her excitement at the prospect of being alone with him mount. She was so easy to read. “I will. I have a lot of experience in such things.”
He smiled; teeth sharp. He’d be exactly the gentleman she deserved.
#
THE HEAT OF THE DAY had dropped by several welcome degrees when Olivia told her mother and father she was taking a walk after supper before bedtime to make her stomach feel better. Isla shot her a suspicious frown when she suggested it. Like her mother, Olivia avoided exercise when she could.
But no one stopped her and she arrived to worry for a few brief moments when James wasn’t there as she walked the river’s edge. A pit of despair settled like a hard knot in her stomach at the thought of him not showing, embarrassment rearing its ugly head.
Olivia gave a squeak of fear when he stepped out from behind the same tree they’d enjoyed a picnic under days before. His sturdy frame seemed the littlest bit sinister as the darkening shade cast his frame in the shadows of the fading sunlight of early evening.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He said, though she had the sneaking suspicion he wasn’t sorry at all. He wandered out to join her as they continued on. A fish jumped and pulled his notice, and Olivia wondered if he would have rather been fishing than taking a walk with her. She kicked the unpleasant thought to the curb. He was here with her and that was all that mattered. She smiled up at him, thrusting her breasts out and plumping her lips into a little moue of interest, her eyes calculating as she watched for any reaction in his. He didn’t disappoint as his eyes wandered south with interest. She gave another deep sigh of satisfaction and her smile turned clever.
“Oh, look at that! I believe that’s a chunk of fool’s gold. How pretty!” she cried, bending down in front of him to snatch the rock up with the glittery shiny surface that caught the reflection of the remaining light and shimmered. It was no accident that her actions afforded James a tantalizing view of her backside as she did.
James body tightened with yearning. He didn’t have a lot of experience with girls, but he had enough to know when one was flaunting what she had in front of him. He knew she was interested in him. Aside from what Elspeth had told him, it was obvious the way she sought him out and paraded herself in front of him. No decent girl would have agreed to meet him all alone near dark and without supervision. James had every intention of affording her all the respect she had coming.
They continued on. After several moments she discarded the first rock. She picked up several more along the way. By the time she found the perfect one, James head was spinning and his body was stiff with tension.
When she tripped and stumbled in his direction he reached out to steady her on instinct, his hands grabbing her fleshy arms, soft and womanly. She had dabbed a hint of rosewater behind her ears and between her breasts and the scent teased his nostrils as he inhaled the sweet flowery mix. She fell forward with a slight cry, crushed for just a moment against his chest. She looked up at him, bracing herself against the worn cotton front of his shirt.
“I’m so sorry. I tripped. Thank goodness you were there to catch me. I feel so foolish?” she licked her lips and bit the lower one.” Showing her vexation.
His eyes focused on that small action and before he thought better of it, he bent down and stole a kiss. He expected her to shriek and rail at him. Instead, she leaned into the kiss, her lips parting just the tiniest bit before she pulled back.
“James Corwin, you are so naughty.” She murmured. But her voice said otherwise as she stepped back. James's heart beat faster as his senses whirled. Attractive or no, at his age it didn’t take much.
“Do you like to fish?” he blurted, blinking and wondering where the words had even come from. But Olivia grabbed at the invitation, her mouth spreading wide in satisfaction.
“No. But I would love for someone to teach me how to... fish.” She drew out the last word, and James had the crazy idea they weren’t talking about fishing at all. His heart thrummed so loud he wondered it didn’t pound right out of his chest at the possibilities.
“I can show you. I’ll thread the worms and take the fish off the hook and everything for you.”
Olivia couldn’t imagine anything she wanted to do less. She smiled in adoration. “Really? That sounds like so much fun.” She lied.
The last dip of the sun was fading and for a moment it glimmered on her cheek. It reminded him of a smooth unblemished face that had felt like silk beneath his fingers the brief second he’d touched it without permission on this same riverbank.
“What about Elspeth? Do you think she’d like to come too?” he blurted without thinking.
Olivia’s breath hissed in, shock holding her immobile for a moment. “Elspeth? I’m sure she doesn’t have time to fish. She’s always working that market or helping her Mama with those strange concoctions they make.”
Sensing he’d made her mad and seeing the possibility of losing his chance at a dalliance with the well-endowed flirt in front of him, James hastily amended. “No matter, it just seemed that you two were a pair and did a lot of things together. We don’t need her to come, do we?” She stared hard at him, breathing heavily in agitation, the movement drawing his fevered eyes once more, this time with no intent on her part.
“No, we don’t need Elspeth Walsh. Besides, what do you want with someone like her, with that flaky skin condition of hers. Hideous it is.”
James blinked, recalling another time and place when he too had seen the unsightly blotches of brown that resembled little flat pancakes on her arms. “I saw them too. Weird wasn’t it. Looked all scaly, like her skin was coming off in layers. She doesn’t have it all the time though. It seems to only come on when she gets mad or scared.
Olivia scowled. “Weird is what it is. Never seen a skin condition like that that comes and goes. I know mine doesn’t.” She refrained from running her fingers over the bumps that adorned her cheek and chin. In public she was careful not to touch them, but she picked at the weeping bumps in private. Her mother told her all the time to leave them alone if she didn’t want scars.
“That is strange. You’d think her mom would make something to take care of that. She makes every other tincture and salve you can think of.”
Olivia nodded. By then they were nearly back to town and she sighed with regret. Still, she’d just had her first kiss. She held the thought close to her heart. She wondered if she was his first kiss too.
“So when do you want to go?” she asked.
James blinked down at her full face in the near darkness in momentary confusion, his mind elsewhere. “What?”
Olivia grit her teeth. A boy’s attention span was so short. “Fishing. When are you going to teach me to fish?” She gritted, irritation making her voice sharp and grating. He cringed.
“How about Monday? I have a light day after Sunday church. You can meet me?”
Olivia gave him a brilliant smile. “I’ll see you then.”
#
OLIVIA FUMED. ALL HER efforts and he still thought of Elspeth. She wondered what Elspeth had given him she had not. Olivia had practically thrown herself at him, though she wouldn’t be admitting that to anyone soon. She wondered if maybe Elspeth had met him in private as well behind her back. It wouldn’t surprise her. Why else would he be so interested in her?
She couldn’t stop thinking and worrying about it. The next day Elspeth came into the mercantile for supplies. Olivia stared at her new friend, with her perfect blond tresses artfully arranged, and her pretty apron with the fringe of lacy cotton decorating the hem. Her cheeks were smooth and tanned light gold, a dusting of light freckles over the bridge of her nose. Where were her pimples? It didn’t seem fair she had nary a one.
#
MY SMILE SLIPPED WHEN Olivia didn’t return mine from behind the counter as I entered. Olivia was the only one in the store, her father and mother both absent. That happened more often of late, as Olivia grew older and became more capable of running the store on her own for brief periods of time.
“How is your skin condition doing? Any more outbreaks?” Olivia asked out of the blue, suspicious.
I gave a start. “No, I’m fine. Is something wrong?”
Where had that come from?
Olivia ignored her question. “You know, I’d think your Mama could make something to take care of that for you, her concocting all those secret salves and lotions.”
“Secret? There’s nothing unusual about what my Mama does. She just makes the same lotions and tinctures her own Mama did. They are recipes passed down through our family is all.” I finished, not liking the direction of the conversation one bit. Uneasiness reared its head inside me.
“You know. Witches make concoctions and potions from plants and bugs and such.” Olivia observed, eyes narrowed in speculation.
Blinking in growing alarm, I couldn’t resist asking. “I don’t know about any of that myself. But how do you know what witches do?”
A crafty gleam entered Olivia’s eyes and took Elspeth aback. “Easy. That’s what the witches that they been hanging do. They confessed to making the devil’s brew right on the stand.”
“They—or she? I thought only that Caribbean slave, Ti tuba mentioned anything of the sort?”
Olivia sneered. “They all do it. Witches. Perform the devil’s magic.”
I shook my head at the direction of the conversation, a terrible feeling making my stomach bitter. “I don’t know what you are going on about, but I’m not real crazy about whatever implication you are making, Olivia. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll come back later to get Mama’s list filled.”
Olivia watched as she left, a wintry smile creasing her lips in a thin line. “You do that, Elspeth Walsh,” she murmured.
#
LATER, OLIVIA COMPLAINED to her mother, a willing audience for any gossip, even from her own daughter.
“She’s been meeting him in secret down by the river and leading him on, mama. Who knows what they’ve been doing with no one around.”
Isla looked at her daughter, askance. “That trollop! She gives the good women of Salem an awful name, she does,”
Olivia went on, warming to the subject and her eager audience. “And that skin thing she’s got going on? It’s there one minute and then gone the next, like magic.” She hissed the last word like she was whispering the devil’s name. Doesn’t look like any psoriasis I’ve ever seen, either. Penny Lou has that and her skin flakes in little white pieces of skin. Elspeth’s are brownish and they look like snake scales to me.” Olivia finished, warming to the direction of the conversation and the avid attention her mother was paying her, eating the story up like those licorice sticks she ate too many of.
“Maybe it’s not psoriasis at all. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before this. All those concoctions Moira Walsh makes and sells to the poor unsuspecting town folk of Salem. Who knows the effect it’s really having on them.”
She glared at her husband who was doing his best to ignore her. “Maybe that’s why you are having difficulty getting around of late Charles. I’ve been having to attend to the store a lot more. I know you take that tincture of hers. What else does that stuff she concocts do that we don’t know about?”
Charles stared at her in alarm. The teas and balms Moira gave him were supposed to help with the allergies that afflicted him when he worked outside. The itchy eyes and repeated sneezing. That did seem to be getting better. He’d assumed his unsteady feet and wobbly knees were because of too many tankards of ale with the guys at the men’s club. He’d taken to hanging with a group of fellow merchants to discuss the strange politics going on in their town of late. The Ale was free flowing at those meetings, and the more he drank the easier the grate of his wife’s caustic voice seemed on his unsteady nerves. Maybe he’d been wrong all along. Maybe it wasn’t the ale that was stirring his senses at all.