Chapter Twenty-Three

Cory placed Adam on the parlor rug. She made sure the front door and parlor windows were closed in case they made any noise. Then she took corn cob checker pieces out of the desk drawer and sat down on the parlor rug opposite the baby. She stacked the pieces. Cory worried how Tyler would react to the news she had guessed his secret and decided to ease into the revelation.

“It’s not like you bought Noah.” She added another checker to the pillar. “Did Miss Olivia leave him to you when she died?”

Tyler stretched out on the parlor rug. “She left me everything she owned.”

Cory studied his face. It was the truth only because Miss Olivia didn’t own Noah any more than her mother owned her. He was no more a master to a slave than a father is to a daughter or a husband to a wife. She concentrated on the baby instead of the confusing thoughts crisscrossing her mind.

“Knock them down,” Cory urged Adam. She brushed the top piece off. Adam stared but didn’t follow her example. Cory knocked all the pieces over. Adam’s eyes widened, and he stuck out his bottom lip. “It’s all right,” Cory cooed when he appeared about to cry. She smiled at him and quickly stacked the checkers in a new pile. “Now it’s your turn.”

She took his hand and knocked off a checker. She clapped. “That’s it. Knock them over.” He waved his chubby arm in the air and collided with the pillar. The checkers crashed everywhere. Cory clapped and laughed. “Good boy.”

She repeated the action, and this time Adam burst into a gurgling brook of baby noises when she praised his destructive task. Tyler took over. He stacked the pieces and encouraged Adam to knock them down. He reacted each time as if it was the first time.

A deep voice interrupted their laughter. “I hate to interrupt, but I’d like my son back.” Noah stood in the doorway.

Cory looked out the window. It was dark. “I didn’t realize it was so late.”

“Watch this.” Tyler stacked the checkers again, and Adam knocked them down in a fit of laughter. “He does that every time. Never gets tired of it.”

“You always were easily amused,” Noah remarked.

Cory’s heart pounded in her chest. She watched as Tyler handed Adam to Noah. They stood side by side. Similar in height and build, but one dark and one fair.

She’d sensed something initially when they sat talking at the kitchen table, and Tyler’s evasive answers had made her suspicious of the truth, but now she was sure. The two men were brothers. Half-brothers. What had confused her was thinking they shared the same father like Edward and Tess. The timeline didn’t fit. Noah had been born after Miss Olivia ran away from home but before marrying Tyler’s father.

“When will you be leaving?”

“As soon as Tess can rock Adam to sleep,” Noah said.

Adam yawned and rested his head on his father’s shoulder. Noah carried him to the back room.

“I love babies,” Cory gushed.

“If you ask nicely, I might be convinced to give you one.”

Cory stared at him through slits. “I have a feeling that is not a marriage proposal.”

“I told you my family history.” He put the checkers in a box. “Could any woman overlook that?”

Cory turned on him. “Don’t use your parents as an excuse for not marrying me. Or any other woman,” she hastily added. “Do you think I care that your mother ran a saloon or your father ran off in search of a fortune? It’s your actions that count. If a man is serious about a woman, he courts her and declares his love. None of this sneaking around stealing kisses and making excuses for not marrying her.”

“My mother did worse than run a saloon.”

“The Dunking Witch was a whorehouse.” She dismissed the fact with a wave of her hand. “I don’t care.”

“There’s more.”

Cory saw the pain in his expression. “You don’t have to tell me. I already know.”

Tyler shook his head. “You’re wrong.”

“You said your mother ran away from home when she was fifteen,” Cory reminded him. “Was Noah born shortly after she left?”

“To Lydia.” He ran his fingers through his hair.

“That’s a nervous habit,” she accused. “If Lydia was his mother, why not let your father sell Noah so he could stay with her?”

Tyler stammered. “Miss Olivia wanted to keep him as a companion for me.”

“She paid a high price to keep him.” She gazed into his eyes. “You’ve said more than once he wasn’t a slave.”

Tyler didn’t answer.

Cory jabbed her finger at him. “He wasn’t a slave because he wasn’t born a slave! If the mother is free, the child is free. Noah isn’t your slave. He’s your brother.”

Tyler looked around. “Don’t say that.”

Cory stomped her foot. “You’re no better than Edward.”

He stepped back from her. “What?”

“He won’t admit Tess is his half-sister, and you won’t admit Noah is your half-brother. You’re both hypocrites.”

“It’s not the same,” Tyler defended. “Cyrus Vandal was applauded for his rapes and procreation, but a white woman can’t allow a black man to look at her let alone touch her. Miss Olivia ran away because her father would have killed her rather than let Noah be born. He would have taken Noah’s father and beaten him until no flesh was left on his body. Then he would have castrated him, cut off his hands and feet, and burned what was still breathing after he’d strung him up with a noose.”

Cory felt sick. “Why? How can one be acceptable and the other not?”

“Because men are hypocrites.” He smacked his fist into his palm. “They want no limits on their earthly pleasures, but they want women to maintain the purity of the white race. When Grayson found out Miss Olivia refused to sell Noah because he was her son, he nearly killed her. That’s reality. We never talked about it. Miss Olivia told Cyrus about me, but she didn’t say anything about Noah.”

“Then I won’t say anything,” Cory promised.

“I don’t like keeping it a secret, but in the South everyone knows, but nobody talks about it. One of the many unwritten laws we obey. I’m hoping for the day when I can admit the truth and claim Noah as my brother openly. But the secret doesn’t stop us from taking care of each other.” Tyler looked at her. “How did you figure it out?”

“It was the way you were at the table when I walked in,” she explained. “Like two brothers talking about everything and nothing. The same as my sisters and me. Then I put everything you said about your parents and Noah together.”

“Noah says I talk too much.”

“Don’t all lawyers?” she teased.

“This one does.” Noah stood in the hallway outside the parlor.

Cory wondered how much he had heard. They joined him in the foyer.

“We’re ready to go,” Noah said. Tess stood near the sideboard with Adam asleep in a sling made from a scarf.

“I need a few things.” Tyler dashed up the staircase.

“I can live with pretending to be a slave,” Noah said to Cory. “I can live with never acknowledging Tyler as my brother. What I can’t live with is him being so noble and honest, he throws away his chance at happiness. He’s in love with you. Will this stop you from marrying him?”

Cory shook her head. “He hasn’t asked me.”

“Idiot.”

She’d thought of him the same way once. “Younger siblings have to find their own way.”

“Don’t let him get lost,” Noah warned.

Tyler bounded down the stairs with his valise and snatched his hat from the sideboard.

“I thought I told you not to come,” Noah said.

“I’m not,” Tyler said. “But if Clyde doesn’t see me leave Glen Knolls, he’ll tell Edward I’m sleeping under the same roof as two unmarried women. He won’t hesitate to share his low opinion of me.”

“He’d ruin my reputation along with yours,” Cory realized.

“I’m going to convince Clyde to join me for a drink at the Red Pony Tavern. Maybe he’ll tell me Edward’s plans.”

Cory looked at his bag. “So this is good-bye.”

“Until tomorrow.” He grinned. “I’m taking your father’s advice and following social protocols. I already asked Miss Adelaide’s permission to drive her to the picnic tomorrow. You’re invited to join us unless Mr. Raymond is taking you.”

Douglas. Cory had to decide what to do with him. If she accepted his proposal, she’d have a husband. Why had marriage been so important a few days ago? She looked at Tyler, but he was talking to Noah.

“If you run into any trouble, send word here. Miss Adelaide will know how to contact me.” Tyler put on his hat. “Give me about ten minutes before you head for the woods.” He put his hand on the door knob.

“Wait!” Cory called. “You may never see him again. Aren’t you going to say good-bye?”

Noah grabbed Tyler into a bear hug. “He’s sort of shy.”

Cory hugged Tess, who was startled by the gesture. She looked down at Adam nestled on Tess’ hip, unaware of the dangerous journey he was about to embark upon. She leaned down and planted a kiss on his forehead. “Be safe.”

Tyler hesitated at the door.

“You better go,” Cory urged him. “Get Clyde out of the way.”

Cory listened at the open door as Tyler loudly greeted Clyde. Their voices carried across the yard and faded down the road. She led Tess and Noah to the kitchen and handed Noah a basket with food Adelaide had packed for their trip. She opened the back door and stepped outside. It was quiet. She looked around and then signaled them to come out. They headed across the yard to the woods. Cory watched as their shadows disappeared and listened for any noise of discovery. Silence.

****

Cory packed the baskets for the picnic. Noah, Tess, and Adam should have reached their next station and would be hid during the day, but her nerves were on edge. What if Edward and his chasers had found them?

Adelaide added some fried chicken to a basket. “Be careful you don’t burn those biscuits.”

Cory removed the biscuits from the oven and placed them on a napkin. “Are you sure you want to go to the picnic?”

“We want the chasers to search the house and barn while we’re gone, don’t we? They won’t if I’m here. Besides, it’s time I socialized. Hiram never believed in long mourning periods. He wouldn’t want me to sit around waiting to join him.”

Cory gave her a hug and looked around for any signs of their visitors. “I hope we didn’t miss anything.”

“Where’s Tyler?”

“Hitching up Nell, I guess.”

Adelaide studied her. “You two have a fight?”

“No,” she answered quietly. “I have to think about my future.”

“You’re not the only one. He asked about the farm.”

Cory was startled. “Why?”

“Maybe he wants to buy it.”

“He’s a lawyer not a farmer.”

“Your pa is a doctor, but a farm feeds a family when business is slow.”

First a job with Sam Morris and now talk of buying Glen Knolls. Tyler was putting down roots. Did his plans include her or any woman willing to take a chance on a young man with a good education and questionable bloodline? Beth was pretty, available, and had helped bring Tess to Glen Knolls. Maybe his plans included her. Could she see him in town, in church, or on the street knowing he belonged to another? Her heart felt like lead in her chest. And what about Douglas? What if he proposed? What would she say?

All thoughts of marrying Douglas vanished when Tyler entered the back door. Her breath caught in her throat. His hair was a mass of unruly curls that he raked his fingers through to brush back from his sky-colored eyes. He grinned as if they were intimate friends, and her gaze paused on his lips as fond memories of what a mere kiss from them could do to her resolve. It would take a lifetime to grow weary of looking at his handsome face.

“The buggy is ready when you are.”

Adelaide handed him a basket. “Where did you sleep last night?”

“The Red Pony Tavern,” Tyler and Cory echoed.

“I see you have your stories straight.”

“I have the fleas to prove it,” Tyler remarked. “If Edward wasn’t staying at Darrow Falls Inn, I’d sleep there. The beds are cleaner.”

Adelaide turned to Cory. “Is Mr. Raymond taking you to the picnic?”

“One of his students delivered a note.” Cory glanced at Tyler. “He was needed at the college and will meet me later on the square.” Cory finished loading her basket. “Any sign of Clyde or Buck?”

“No, and that’s bad,” Tyler remarked. “I hope Noah and Tess are all right.”

“Can’t help them by worrying,” Adelaide said. “We can find out about Edward and his men from Paula. She’ll know when they left the inn and what direction they took.”

“Is Mrs. Stone part of the Underground Railroad?”

She frowned. “First rule of the Underground Railroad is not to ask.”

****

The games were already under way when Cory, Tyler, and Adelaide arrived at the town square. Cory’s family gathered around the buggy.

“How are you feeling, Addy?” Maureen asked.

“Show me to a shady tree with the other old people, and I’ll be fine,” Adelaide replied.

“The men are bringing out the benches from the church.”

“Miss Adelaide baked some pies for the contests,” Cory told her mother. “Where do we put them?”

“The pies for the contest go in the church,” Maureen said. “You can take mine.”

Cory grabbed the two square pie baskets.

Tyler took one, and they crossed the square to the church. The white structure was three stories high not counting the steeple where a bell signaled Sunday services or hid runaway slaves from chasers.

Pies filled the table in the foyer. The kitchen door was open. Cory saw more pies arranged on the oak table where she had dined with the Davis family the day before. She removed the pies from the baskets and placed them with the others.

On their way out, they saw two men carrying a bench down the stairs. Tyler held open the church doors. “Need any help?”

“Check upstairs.”