The HMS Horatio Nelson docked at Capetown weeks later. “You’ll want to stay at Cape House for a few days with Camilla,” Rogan told Evy after they arrived at the Cape. “She’ll be able to share facts about Katie. You can even tour her room and have a look at the now infamous stables where Henry was knocked unconscious by Heyden when the Black Diamond was stolen.”
They left the ship, and he hailed a coach to bring her and Mrs. Croft to the house.
“You sound as though you won’t be staying at the house.”
“I have business to take care of before the trek. I should be back in a week or so.”
She reached a hand toward him. “Rogan, I—”
“I’m sure Camilla will have a doctor you can see while here.”
She slowly withdrew her hand, which he had not taken, and turned her head away from his laconic gaze. A glance toward Mrs. Croft in the back showed her unhappy face. The trouble between Evy and Rogan was impossible to hide.
Cape House was as she had expected: a white two-story mansion with a red roof and encircling verandas. There looked to be several acres of land with stables. She had always thought that coming here would in some way touch her heart. As she stood looking at Cape House, knowing Katie had grown up here under Julien’s rule, Evy surprisingly felt very little. Nor did the long anticipated meeting with her father and stepmother bring her joy. Mrs. Croft had been ushered off by the housekeeper. Rogan, who had been about to leave after bringing Evy to meet her stepmother, stopped short in the hall and turned sharply when Camilla announced in brutal honesty, “There is no good news with which to greet you, Evy. Your father, Anthony, is dead. He’s been murdered at Bulawayo. No one there knows who did it, or why.”
Evy felt the emotional blow. Anthony, dead? Murdered?
She must have turned ashen, for Rogan came quickly beside her, holding her, and leading her to a chair.
“I shouldn’t have shocked you like this,” Camilla said remorsefully. “I’m beside myself. I fear I’m not thinking well.”
“Evy is expecting a baby,” Rogan told her. “After this long voyage, I think we should call for a doctor.”
“I’m all right,” Evy interjected.
“Do you have a doctor you respect?” Rogan asked Lady Camilla.
“I’ll call Dr. Morris at once.” Camilla hurried off, and Rogan looked down at Evy with concern.
“Darling, are you all right? Can I get you anything? Tea, maybe?”
Darling. He hadn’t called her that in weeks.
“I’ll be all right,” she said. “Oh, Rogan, murdered. How could this have happened? Do you suppose there’s some mistake?”
“Stay calm. We’ll find out. I should be able to wire Peter.” He turned as Camilla came back.
“He’s on his way. I’ve asked Tandy to bring tea.”
“How did it happen, Camilla?” Rogan asked. “Are you sure it was murder? Not an accident on the trek to Bulawayo?”
“No, Rogan, murder. It was horrible, horrible …”
“How do you know this?” Evy cried.
Camilla gestured to the desk beside the window. “All the papers and letters are there, Rogan. I’ve gathered everything together for you. At first Julien wired from Bulawayo that Anthony had met with an accident, but later new information came to me from Captain Ryan Retford. Darinda, too, wrote me. You can read all the details yourself. I don’t understand how this could happen, but it has.”
Camilla turned to look at Evy and held out a hand to her, her eyes full of pity. “And you, poor child. No sooner did you learn who your father was and reconciled with him, than you lost him.”
Evy in turn tried to comfort Camilla, but her own heart was like a tomb. “I still have a stepmother,” she said, “and … I’m going to have a baby.”
“If only we had happier news about Anthony. He would have been thrilled to have a grandchild—”
“Oh, Camilla—”
Rogan did not leave Cape House that day as he had planned; the departure for Bulawayo was delayed. With Evy receiving a clear bill of health for traveling from Camilla’s doctor, Rogan arranged to leave the next day. There was a train to Kimberly, he told her, and something new had been added since he’d left. There was now a stagecoach line that made a run between Kimberly and Bulawayo.
“You’d better turn in early, Evy,” Rogan told her. “You won’t be able to do much sleeping on the train. It’s a dusty journey and none too comfortable. I’ll do what I can to get you both an extra seat so you can lie down.”
“I’ll be all right,” she said briefly.
He glanced her over, then, nodding good night to Camilla, he turned and left the house. Where he went, Evy had no idea. She saw Camilla look a bit surprised, but she didn’t ask questions. Evy noted, however, that she treated her sympathetically.
As Camilla led her upstairs to the bedrooms, Evy told her the truth.
“I’ve blundered terribly. You see, I wanted so much to come that I feared to tell Rogan I was going to have a baby until we were out at sea, too late for him to ask me to stay at Rookswood.”
“Oh, dear … I see. So that’s why Rogan seems a bit distant toward you. I noticed it at once. It surprised me because I knew how much you meant to him before he left for England. It was cruel and beastly for Julien to have lied to him, telling him you were Henry’s child.” She shook her head. “Julien is a hard and cruel man. I’d put nothing past him, mind you. Absolutely nothing.”
Evy looked at her, feeling a shudder run through her. Rogan had said that once as well. She believed he and Camilla were right. But surely Camilla didn’t think Julien had killed Anthony? Julien had made Anthony his chief heir in the diamond business. All that had changed now. Who was next in line? Darinda?
“Why would anyone wish my father dead?”
Camilla looked drawn and thoughtful. “I’ve lain awake nights wondering. Money is the first motive that comes to mind, but Anthony has left most of the wealth to you. No—don’t look embarrassed. I knew all along; we had talked it over. You see, I have enough income from my side of the family.” She looked at Evy. “You were very gracious to accept Anthony as your father even after his weakness and failure to tell you all those years.”
Evy looked at her rather surprised. Camilla seemed stronger than she remembered. Perhaps it was Anthony’s death that roused her.
“So his inheritance has not benefited any who could have murdered him. The other motive that’s come to mind is politics,” Camilla said thoughtfully.
They had reached the landing. It was a magnificent house with Viennese crystal and lots of polished wood.
“You mean the Matopos Hills and the Kimberly Black Diamond?”
“So you know about that? I suppose Rogan told you. Well, it’s not much of a secret now, is it? The fear of an uprising among the natives, if Julien proceeds with his expedition to find Lobengula’s grave, was much on Anthony’s heart when he left,” Camilla admitted thoughtfully. “However, I think there was another reason that burdened him. You see, Anthony had no intention of going to Bulawayo. He wanted to be here when you and Rogan arrived. He had talked so much about you when he came home from London. He was so sure you and I would become friends.”
Evy slipped an arm around her stepmother’s waist as they walked down the spacious hall toward the bedrooms.
“But something important came up in the last hour before leaving,” Camilla told her. “He didn’t explain the details, just told me he must go and reason with Julien and Dr. Jameson. One thing Anthony did accomplish before he left was to pay an unexpected visit to Sir Cecil Rhodes. What they discussed, Anthony didn’t say, but he was worried when he left, even angry.”
Evy looked at her. They had stopped outside a bedroom door.
“Angry?” Evy asked, wrinkling her brow.
Camilla mused a moment. “Yes, I would say he was angry about something.” She sighed. “I wish now I had asked him more questions. I wish I had …” She stopped. “Wishes are too late now. There comes a time in life when it’s too late.”
She wondered what it was that Camilla wished she had done differently with Anthony?
Evy considered herself and Rogan. It couldn’t be too late for them. There had to be a way to work through this situation, to gain Rogan’s trust again, to make him see how much she loved him. But what? What could she do, when Rogan was still determined to reject her overtures?
“This is Katie’s old room,” Camilla said softly. “I knew you’d want to see it, to be alone here for a time.” She looked at Evy with sympathy. “Don’t think that you must stay here tonight, though. If it bothers you, we’ve another room.”
Evy walked into the pretty room with its lace and satin. She walked over to the grand bed and ran her palm across the satin comforter, touched the furniture, and walked to the window. Her mind tried to take in the past with Katie and Anthony and, yes, Henry Chantry, too. Katie had left this very room that night to meet Henry at the stables, to flee to the mission station at Rorke’s Drift to find her daughter. It all had ended so tragically. While Evy remembered the history, her heart ached. She looked about her, trying to find Katie, but could not. It was merely a lovely room with ghostly memories. Time had moved on.
What truly matters now is the present. She placed her palm against her womb. Have I neglected you, my own child? And Rogan—oh, Rogan, my love! Will you ever decide to forgive me? Will this barrier stand between us for the rest of our time together?
Dear Lord Jesus, she prayed. Lord forgive me, and help me to trust in You. But now it seems too late for me, heavenly Father. I’ve set my own course without trusting You or my husband. I desperately need Your guidance, for us—the three of us. And now, for better or for worse, as though my little ship were at sea in the midst of a storm. And will I be pushed onto the rocks, or, by Your grace alone, reach a fair haven? All I can do now is fall upon You, asking that You forgive the path I’ve willfully taken, and trust that somehow You will be honored. Father, be with me, be with us, all three of us.