Darkest Hour (Cutler 5)

Emily stood waiting on the porch steps with her arms folded under her chest.

"What is it?" she demanded. "What's all the shouting about?"

"It's the Thompson boy, Niles," Vera replied. "He must have fallen climbing down from the roof. A gutter pipe snapped and . . ."

"The roof?" Emily scrutinized me quickly. "He was in your room last night? SINNER!" she screamed before I could respond. "You had him in your room!"

"No." I shook my head. I felt light, aloof, drifting like the long, puffy clouds floating across the silvery blue sky. "No, I went to the party. That's right. I was at the party. Niles and I danced all night. We had a wonderful time. Everyone was looking at us with envy. We danced like two angels."

"You took him to your bed, didn't you?" Emily accused. "You seduced him. Jezebel!"

I simply smiled at her.

"You took him to bed and the Lord punished him for it. He's dead because of you, because of you," she declared.

My lips began to tremble again. I shook my head. I'm not out here; it's not really morning, I thought. None of this is really happening. I'm dreaming; it's a terrible nightmare. Any moment I'm going to waken in my room, in my bed, snug and secure.

"Wait until Papa finds out about this. He'll skin you alive. You should be stoned, just like the whores of old, taken out and stoned," she said in her most arrogant, haughty voice.

"Miss Emily, that's a horrible thing to say. She's so upset she doesn't know where she is or what's happening," Vera said. Emily lifted her eyes of fire and directed them at our new servant.

"Don't you go pitying her now. That's how she gets you not to see her evil ways. She's a shrewd conniver. She's a curse and always has been, right from the day she was born and her mother die

d giving birth to her."

Vera didn't know I wasn't Mamma and Papa's child. The news shocked her, but she didn't release her hold on me nor back away.

"No one's a curse, Miss Emily. You must not say such a thing. Come on, honey," she told me. "You'd better go back up and rest. Come along."

"It's not Niles, is it?" I asked her.

"No, it's not," she said. I turned and smiled back at Emily.

"It's not Niles," I said.

"Jezebel," she muttered, and went off to look at the body.

Vera took me up to my room and put me to bed. She drew the blanket up to my chin.

"I'll bring you something hot to drink and something to eat. You'd better just stay put, Miss Lillian," she said, leaving me.

I lay there listening. I heard the noises, the sound of the horses, the carriage, the cries. I recognized Mr. Thompson's voice and I heard the twins crying and then it grew deadly silent. Vera brought me a tray.

"It's all over now," she told me. "He's been taken away."

"Who has?"

"The young man who fell from the roof," Vera said.

"Oh. Did we know him, Vera?" She shook her head. "Still, it's horrible. What about Mamma? Did she see and hear all the commotion?"

"No. Sometimes, her condition is a blessing," Vera said. "She didn't come out of her bedroom this morning. She's in bed, reading."

"Good," I said. "I don't want another thing to disturb her. Is Papa home yet?"

"No, not yet," Vera said. She shook her head. "Poor thing. I'm sure you'll be the first to know when he is." She watched me sip my tea and spoon up some of the hot oatmeal. Then she left.

I finished eating as quickly as I could and then decided I would get up and get dressed. I was sure Papa would permit me to leave my room today when he returned. My punishment would be over and I wanted to plan some things for Niles and myself to do. If Papa would permit me to leave the house, to take a walk, I would go over to the Thompsons and visit. I wanted to see all the wonderful gifts the twins must have surely gotten. And while I was there, of course, I would see Niles and perhaps he would walk me home. We might even make a detour to the magic pond.