Page 28 of The Orphan of Cemetery Hill
“You aren’t serious.” He searched her face, the corner of his mouth tugging up into a smile. But the smile quickly faded when she didn’t say anything. “You are serious.”
She just stared at him, hoping against hope that he would see her earnestness. He returned her look in full measure. “Tabby, love, all that spiritualism and speaking with the dead...it’s all nonsense and parlor tricks, you do know that, don’t you?”
When she still didn’t say anything, he took a step back. “Oh Christ, Tabby. Is it money that you’re after? You know, I’m quite familiar with your kind. A woman claiming to be a medium fleeced my mother of twenty dollars after my father died. Has that been your aim all along? Is that why you’re so determined to involve yourself in my affairs?”
Suddenly she was back in the churchyard, Beth Bunn and the other children’s taunts ringing in her ears. He may have had her secret now, but he would not have her dignity. Before he could see the hot tears welling in her eyes, she turned and fled.
15
IN WHICH THERE IS A PAINFUL GOOD-BYE
AND AN UNLIKELY PLAN FORMED.
AFTER SHE HADemerged from the prison, Tabby had headed toward the docks, where she would blend in with the crowds of servants and housewives at the fish market. More than anything she wanted to run to Eli, but what if she led Mr. Whitby to him? She didn’t know how badly she had injured Whitby, but it would only be a matter of time before he came looking for her, if he wasn’t already. For all she knew, he might have someone chasing after her. She didn’t doubt that a man like him could find anyone he wanted in this city.
She just had to see Eli one last time, and then she would disappear, leave the cemetery, and ensure that she never put his life in danger. Eli had once told her that there was a warren of tunnels that ran beneath the cemetery, once used by privateers in the old days, and now abandoned. But Tabby didn’t know where they originated, so instead she took a long, circuitous route to ensure that no one would follow her.
She found Eli stooped over in the back of the cemetery pulling weeds, perspiration beading his balding temples. When he heard her approaching, he looked up, the plants falling from his hands. “Tabby,” he said, slowly rising. “Where’ve you been, girl?”
Had it really been only that morning that she had been in Mr. Whitby’s house? Only an hour since she had stood opposite Caleb with nothing but iron bars separating them?
She let herself be folded into his embrace, his familiar scent of pipe tobacco and shaving tonic wash over her.
“I—I was helping Mary-Ruth with a laying out.”
Pulling back, he studied her with a frown. His dark eyes swept over her torn collar and disheveled hair. “Mary-Ruth was here, looking for you.”
“Oh, that must have been before we crossed paths,” she said lamely.
Tabby didn’t know if she was a good liar or not; she so rarely had to do it. But he only gave her an unreadable look and nodded. “Well, you’re home now.”
She didn’t say anything else. How could she tell him that this wasn’t permanent, that she had to leave? The flowering tree boughs swayed gently in the breeze, the sweet scent of pollen making her want nothing more than to stretch out on the warm grass and drift off to sleep.
She was just about to tell him that she couldn’t stay, when the heavy-set figure of a woman came bustling along the path.
“Tabby Cooke! Are you coming for supper? I haven’t seen you in church lately, but then, you never came regular. You sure your pa is feeding you right? You know that you always have a seat at our table.”
Tabby gave Miss Suze a weak smile, trying not to dwell on the memories from the last time she had been there. “I’m afraid not today. I was just telling Eli that I have to go away for a while. You see, I’ve found a relative—a cousin—that lives in Rockport, and she’s invited me to visit.”
Eli gave her a long look. “A cousin?”
“Yes, it was a surprise to me, as well.” Shifting in her boots, Tabby forced herself to push on. “It’s just for a month or so, and then I’ll be back in time to help in the winter.” The lies tasted like acid on her tongue.
Squinting up at the cloudless sky, Eli scrubbed a weary hand over his stubbled chin. “I don’t like this, Tabby, not one bit. You only just came home and you look like you’ve been through the mill. How come you never mentioned this cousin before?”
“I never knew her. I only just discovered that she lived in Boston.”
“I thought you said she lived in Rockport,” Miss Suze said.
“Her family summers in Rockport,” Tabby quickly amended. “That’s what I meant.”
“I don’t like this, Tabby,” Eli repeated. “You’re a grown woman and you can come and go as you please, but I worry about you. At least stay for supper.”
She opened her mouth, but Miss Suze tutted. “Your pa is right. At least come in and sit with us for some supper. You can’t travel on an empty stomach.”
Tabby wavered in her resolve. Her stomachwasgrowling and it would be so nice just to sit down with Eli at their little table again, for one last time. She could leave at first light in the morning and make certain that no one saw her. “All right,” she relented. “Just for supper.”
After Tabby left, Caleb sat on the hard bench covered in straw ticking that served as his bed. Through the narrow window the sounds of a city at work drifted in, as familiar as his own heartbeat, yet foreign as a half-forgotten dream. Here he had thought that Miss Cooke was an innocent, but she was nothing more than a charlatan, taking advantage of the grieving just as the medium had done with his mother.
