Annie's Song Part 8

"Nothing prompted her! With no provocation, she attacked me."

Wiping at his nose again, Alex studied the hefty woman, his instincts telling him that there was more to this than she was revealing. "How, exactly, did your finger come to be in Annie's mouth?"

"She bit it."

Recalling his own experience with Annie, Alex had no difficulty believing she might bite, but he found it rather peculiar that she'd latched onto a finger instead of a more accessible body part. "What did you do? Stick your finger out to accommodate her? I'm sorry, Mistress Perkins, but something about this strikes me as odd."

"I was feeding her! That's all. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's my job. And while I was about it, the little b.i.t.c.h bit me!"

Alex didn't lose his temper often, but then he very seldom got his nose bloodied. "You'll watch your language, madam, or be dispatched without references for your trouble."

"Dispatched? Without references? I have several letters of reference, sir, as you well know, and if those won't suffice, I can write others. There are always fools like you who don't bother to check them out."

Stunned, Alex stared at her. Then he winced, for he had indeed been a fool. Due to lack of time, he hadn't verified this woman's credentials.

She gave a shrill laugh. "As if I'd stay on in this position!

The girl's mad! You'll never find someone to take care of her.

Mark my words on that, sir. I was trying to make her eat, nothing more. She's been refusing to take her meals. What was I to do, let her starve?"

"If you were having a problem with Annie, you should have come to me. As it is, you've let the situation get out of hand, and I'm left with no choice but to let you go. I can't allow someone in my employ to strike my wife, no matter what the provocation."

"Your wife? Ha! As for this position, I'll gladly quit and walk every step of the way back to town rather than spend another night in this house!"

"That won't be necessary. I'll arrange for your transportation." Drawing his handkerchief from his pocket, Alex clamped it over his bleeding nose and glanced at Maddy.

"Can you see to the girl while I take care of matters downstairs?"

Her grizzled red hair gleaming in the lamplight, her face pale by contrast, Maddy threw an uncertain look at Annie.

Then she straightened her round shoulders and nodded. "Go ahead, Master Alex. We'll manage, I'm sure."

Alex wished he felt as certain. He hated to leave Maddy to cope alone, but he saw no other alternative. Motioning for Mistress Perkins to precede him, he exited the room.

Alex had just seen Mistress Perkins off in the carriage and was heading back up the front steps to the house when Maddy appeared in the open doorway, her ample frame outlined against the backdrop of light that spilled from the entrance hall.

Planting her hands on her hips, she gazed after the departing conveyance.

"It's a good thing she's gone, and that's a fact! I'd have taken her apart with me bare hands, let there be no question about it!"

Since the death of his mother when he was three, Alex had regarded Maddy, with her kindly green eyes, as more of a parent than a housekeeper. In his recollection, he'd never seen her in such a temper. Heavy-breasted and wearing a dark blue dress with a white bib ap.r.o.n, she put him in mind of a small schooner with a high wind billowing her topsails.

Gaining the porch, he gazed down at her face, trying in vain to read her shadowed expression. When her Irish was up, Maddy could be a corker, no doubt about it. Alex could only be grateful that Mistress Perkins had made good her getaway.

"I'm not exactly pleased with how the woman handled the situation myself," he admitted. "Striking Annie with her fists was uncalled for. But I suppose, in her frenzy, that she might not have realized what she was doing."

Maddy crossed her plump arms. "That beastly woman has been downright cruel to that poor girl, no frenzy about it."

Maddy had an excitable streak and quite often overreacted.

Alex couldn't help thinking she must be doing so now.

"Mistress Perkins was out of line, Maddy, but I think the word cruel is a little too harsh. Annie was about to relieve her of her finger."

"She was cruel!" Maddy insisted. "I am appalled that such goings-on have been allowed to occur in this house.

Absolutely appalled."

"I admit it was a nasty scene, but let's not make it into something worse than it actually was."

"Worse than it actually was? The woman is a fiend. How could ye neglect to check her references? I can't believe ye'd be so careless."

Caught off-guard by the attack, Alex couldn't immediately think of a response. When he finally spoke, his tone was defensive. "I needed a nurse, if you'll recall. There wasn't time to correspond with her former employers. She seemed respectable enough and kindly."

"Kindly? I wouldn't entrust a mongrel dog into that witch's care. A nurse, ye say? What ye really wanted was a keeper, and anyone would do, just as long as the la.s.s was kept quiet and out of yer way till her babe was born."

"Maddy, you know that isn't-"

"Ye give yer mares better care. There isn't a lowly stableboy in yer employ whose references ye haven't checked.

G.o.d forbid that an injury should befall one of yer blasted horses."

"I believed the woman was competent, Maddy."

"But ye didn't make certain. Therein lies the shame of it."

She wagged a rigid finger under his nose. "I told ye from the start that no good would come of this. Feebleminded or no, the girl's not a piece of breedin' flesh to be pa.s.sed back and forth between ye and her parents as the mood strikes. It's a sin against G.o.d and all that's holy."

He thrust a hand through his hair. "Let's calm down a bit, hmm?"

"What ye're really sayin' is that I should calm down. Well, calm isn't how I'm feelin'. If ye were still a lad in knickers, I'd wear out yer hinder with a hickory switch for this piece of work."

In Alex's opinion, dancing to the tune of a hickory switch might have been less lacerating than hearing Maddy's words.

"I made a mistake, Maddy. I don't deny that. But you know it wasn't intentional."

"The road to h.e.l.l is paved with good intentions."

"Yes, well... I promise you it won't happen again. I'll make sure the next nurse is of sterling character."

"The next nurse? Why not just put the la.s.s in a horse stall?"

At Alex's stunned expression, she went on, "Well? She'd not be a bother to ye that way. When her labor comes on, ye can have Deiter deliver the babe like he does all the foals. Ye'll get yer heir. Annie can be packed off home. Everyone but the la.s.s will be happy. Isn't that essentially what ye've got in mind, anyhow? Why fancy it up by hirin' a nurse?"

Alex's temper snapped. "That will be quite enough. This is an ugly predicament, true, and I wish it had never happened.

But it did, the girl is pregnant, and I've tried to remedy the problem as best I can. What more can you ask of me?"

"That ye be a husband to the la.s.s?" she suggested with scathing sarcasm.

"Besides that."

"Well, barrin' that, yer payin' the wee thing a bit more attention wouldn't hurt. That nurse ye hired has been tryin' to shove food down the girl's throat! That's how her finger came to be in Annie's mouth. The woman deserved to get it bit clean off, if ye ask me."

"Shove food down her throat?" Alex repeated in amazement.

"And that isn't the half of it. Pinchin' the poor wee thing all over her person. Every time I think of it-" She hauled in a shaky breath. "Well, words can't describe me anger. The la.s.s has so many bruises, she looks like a bolt of polka dot. All under her frock, of course, where they can't be seen. Ye should look at her back where that horrible woman has been slapping her."

"Bruises?" Alex's heart caught. "Jesus. How badly is she hurt?"

He started to step past Maddy, but she caught his arm.

"Don't race up there like chaff in a high wind. Ye'll frighten the la.s.s."

Knowing she was right, Alex withdrew from her grasp but made no further attempt to enter the house. A long silence fell between them, during which time Maddy made a visible effort to calm down. When Alex felt she had regained at least a margin of her composure, he said, "Should I have Henry fetch Dr. Muir?"

"I don't think she'll be needin' a doctor, no. I can tend her.

But there is another small wrinkle ye need to iron out."

"What's that?"

"The reason she's been refusin' to eat is because she thinks she's gettin' fat. Somehow ye've got to make her understand it's a baby thickenin' her waist, not too much food."

Alex studied his housekeeper's round features. "How can you possibly know what Annie thinks?"

"Well, I got it from Annie, of course."

"The girl can't talk."

Maddy raised her chin. "Not like we do, that's a fact. But she can get her point across if pressed."

"How?"

"Come upstairs and see for yerself." With that, she spun and headed for the stairs, muttering angrily under her breath every step of the way.

Not wishing to startle Annie, Alex entered her bedchamber after Maddy. Still hiding in the shadowy corner, the girl sat with her arms hugging her bent legs, her blue frock tucked modestly around her ankles. Apparently exhausted, she rested her head on her knees. So he might see better, Alex stepped over to light the bedside lamp before crossing the room to her.

At his approach, she straightened and fixed him with a wide, wary gaze. In the depths of her blue eyes, he read several emotions: fear, no small amount of distrust, and a dreary hopelessness.

Christ. He had brought her into his home to give her his protection. A fine job he'd done of it. She'd been pinched, pummeled, and G.o.d only knew what else. Little wonder she looked at him the way she did.

Hunkering down in front of her, he took a moment to study her, searching carefully for signs of abuse. As far as he could tell, there were none. Aside from the fact that she had dropped a bit of weight that she could ill afford to lose, she looked well-scrubbed and healthy, her dark hair confined in tidy plaits that fell to her waist.

"Maddy tells me that Mistress Perkins has been treating you badly, Annie," he began. "Would you care to tell me about it?"

In response, she gave him the usual uncomprehending look, her gaze fixed intently on his mouth. Alex got the feeling he might as well be speaking Greek. The girl obviously didn't understand the simplest sentences. That she had somehow managed to communicate with Maddy stretched credibility to the utmost. Yet Alex had never known his housekeeper to lie.

Intent on seeing the girl's bruises, he reached to draw the neckline of her frock slightly aside. At his movement, she shrank against the wall, her eyes going dark with fear. His hand hovering in midair, Alex made a fist in frustration. As limited as her mental capacities seemed to be, she clearly had no difficulty remembering what Douglas had done to her and believed he might do the same.

Glancing up at Maddy, who stood off to one side, he shook his head. "It's no use. If she's hurt, I'll have to take your word for it. Are you certain I shouldn't send for Dr. Muir?"

"As I said, I can tend her bruises," Maddy said with a sniff.

"What blisters me, Master Alex, is that I don't think ye believe what I said. She showed me how the woman shoved the food down her throat, I'm telling ye. And conveyed to me that she thinks she's getting fat."

Alex pushed to his feet and stepped away from Annie to lean a shoulder against the wall. "I'll believe it when I see it."

Maddy shot him a frosty glare and marched over to the small table to s.n.a.t.c.h up Annie's supper plate. Forking up a lump of cold potatoes, she retraced her steps, smiling broadly at the girl. "Come now, Annie love, be a good girl and eat some of yer supper fer Maddy."

Annie shook her head, which in itself amazed Alex. She actually seemed to understand what Maddy had said to her.

"But ye have to eat, love. Ye'll take sick if ye don't," Maddy cajoled. "One bite, for me?"

Once again shaking her head, Annie shifted a wary glance toward Alex, then puffed out her cheeks and tried, without much success, to double her chin. Though she was far too thin to make herself look fat, no matter what faces she pulled, the message was clear. Alex gaped at her in absolute astonishment.

"My G.o.d," he whispered.

Keeping her gaze fixed on Annie, Maddy continued to approach her, fork extended. "There's a good girl. Eat yer supper for Maddy."

Growing increasingly agitated, Annie straightened her legs and curled her hands over her waist to pat her stomach. Then, as though she held an invisible eating utensil, she pretended to stuff food into her mouth and chew. Afterward, she puffed air into her cheeks again and gave her head another shake.

With a victorious flourish of the fork, which nearly sent the potatoes flying, Maddy turned to Alex and said, "There, ye see?"

Alex pushed away from the wall. Goose b.u.mps rose on his skin as he regarded the girl before him. For several long seconds, he couldn't gather his wits enough to speak. When he finally did, all he managed was another, "My G.o.d."

"What did I tell ye?" Maddy said smugly. "If that isn't gettin' her point across, I'll put in with ye."

"Maddy ..." Alex's voice was hushed. "Do you have any inkling what this means? For her to draw a correlation between weight gain and eating-well, it's downright incredible. She must have conceptual reasoning capabilities."

"Not as stupid as ye thought, hmm, Master Alex? Why, when a body starts to think about it, it fair addles the mind."

She presented Annie with her back to return the plate to the table. "If she can understand somethin' like that, one has to wonder what else she might be able to understand. Or feel.

When ye s.n.a.t.c.h her babe from her arms, I wonder if she'll pine for it?"

A horrible, weak sensation attacked Alex's legs. Still reeling with amazement, all he could do was stare at his charge.

No, not his charge, his wife. His pregnant wife, whom his brother had raped and he had married. So he could take her child.

A piece of breeding flesh, Maddy had called her. A mindless object to be pa.s.sed back and forth between him and her parents. The thought made him feel so sick he squeezed his eyes closed.

"Dear G.o.d, Maddy, what have I done?" A weighted silence settled over the room. Finally Maddy said, "Ye can't undo what ye've done, Master Alex. What matters now is what ye do from here on out."