River

Samuel Duncan

I’m glad somebody is going to try to explain something, because my head is spinning worse than Jake’s must be. I am questioning everything about all the decisions I have ever made, wondering how bad my judgment must be to have fallen in love with the bandit who tried to rob me.

And I do. I love him so much it hurts. It wasn’t real, but in my broken heart it feels like it was.

Gregor looks at me with what looks like a deep sympathy in his eyes before he starts speaking. He looks to the side for a moment, apparently gathering his thoughts.

“What happened today started two days ago, but I have to go back a little further to put it in context, if you can bear with me.” I nod, waiting.

“Do you remember the day we met, Samuel?” he asks.

I scoff. “Who could ever forget that?”

Although, apparently I could. I forgot the most important detail about it.

“Rosalind, I do not believe I have ever told you this story,” Gregor tells her. “I was worried that it would disturb you. But you have shown today that you are far stronger than I have given you credit for, so I am going to stop concealing things to try to protect you.”

He regards her somewhat worriedly, then looks shocked when she chuckles. “Are you talking about the story everyone always tells, about you chasing away the brigands who were trying to rob Dr. Duncan and his uncle?”

His eyebrows lift with a humorous look of surprise. “Um, yes.” He looks to the side and pauses for a moment. “What I don’t think you have heard before, darling, is that the brigand who had planned the robbery was Mason.”

I nod. I had heard that today for the first time, right before I heard the rest of the news that shattered my heart.

She looks at him somewhat blankly. He clarifies. “Mason is the man you shot today.”

He pauses, watching her, and I can see that this means more to her than I understand. Her eyes grow wide, her face wears a look first of shock and then of dawning understanding. “Is that why he….”

Gregor nods, his expression filled with remorse. “He was so angry with me for what I did on the Trace, that he took his revenge against you. He heard when he arrived in Natchez that I visited you often at Madam Beverly’s, and he decided that abusing you was the way to get back at me.”

This is a very shocking and frank admission. I don’t know how he knows this, or why he feels that he needs to share it with everyone here. It seems extremely personal. Surprisingly, it is little Jake who is nodding wisely. He apparently understands.

Rosalind does not look as disturbed at this information as I would have expected. She just looks deeply thoughtful, and almost relieved. “I never knew why he… he always seemed so angry. I never understood. I’m glad I know.” She looks at him. “Thank you for telling me.”

He looks like he is struggling to control his emotions. “I should have told you before.”

Then he looks over at me. “And there is something I probably should have told you as well, Samuel. I have concealed important information from each of you, and I regret it.”

I can only stare at him. What information?

He goes on. “I hired David and Ben for my project, even though I remembered that they had been Mason’s assistants for your attempted robbery.”

He knew?

He looks ashamed. “They are both good men, hard workers, and fundamentally honest. I am sure that they have never tried to commit any other crimes, before or since. There was no reason not to hire them, when they both needed jobs and I needed workers. I did not see any need to tell you about it.” He looks like he is about to say something else, then stops and instead waits in silence, watching me.

I am filled with questions that I cannot ask. My heartbreak is private, I can never reveal my forlorn love story, I can never make my nature known. He waits, apparently, to see if I will ask anything. When I don’t, he says, “With that background, I can tell you all what happened two days ago.”

“David and Ben were playing poker in a tavern Under-the-hill with another man, Stu, when Mason arrived. Their conversation was overheard by somebody, who reported the whole thing to me the next day.”

He looks at Rosalind, then me, to see if we are following.

“Mason joined them and began threatening David with a knife. He slipped the concealed knife under the table and cut David several times, forcing he and Ben to comply with his demands and answer his questions.”

Rosalind looks aghast, but unsurprised. She apparently also experienced injury at the hands of Mason.

I realize now that I am learning how David received the baffling cuts that made him so sick, and understand why Ben’s explanation was so inadequate. I knew it couldn’t be a normal tavern fight. Another thing he lied to me about, apparently to continue to conceal his association with Mason from me.

“Mason learned that a reward was offered for the capture of himself and his gang. He told David and Ben that they are in his gang and therefore at risk of capture themselves, based on the one failed robbery on the Trace. They were gullible enough to believe him. He threatened to turn them in to the authorities as brigands unless they did what he demanded.”

“Which was what?” I ask.

“To watch me, and my house, so that he could make a plan to do further harm to me, or to Rosalind.” He looks at her anxiously, and although she is listening intently, with her hands twisting together in her lap, she is composed. Jake stares in amazement to hear this tale spoken so openly in his presence.

“So yesterday David was watching this house from across the street, and today it was Stu.”

“That’s who I was watching?” Jake asks.

Gregor looks at him. “Yes.” He glances up at Rosalind. “There’s another thing I haven’t told you, darling, another secret I must reveal. The little house that has been vacant across the street is ours. I bought it a few weeks ago, to keep it available in case your family arrives in town.”

This is the first thing that makes her seem to have an emotional reaction, and I see tears spring to her eyes. She quickly wipes them away.

“So I brought Jake there to watch from the little house, to help keep an eye on things. I had Moses watching too. My plan, my obviously stupid and inadequate plan, was to make Mason think that he would be safe if he approached the house, to lure him into the open, and to have Thomas and the militia waiting to arrest him. They were going to do it all tonight, which is when I had believed that he was going to make his move.”

Jake scoffs.

Gregor gives him a little smile. “But then Mason showed up early, and Jake here decided to confront him, then Rosalind came rushing out with the gun. The two of you are the ones who defeated Mason, not the militia, certainly not me. By the time I came running up, with Ben following along behind me to help, it was all over.”

And then, I think silently, then Henry recognized Ben, and he was arrested, and my heart was destroyed.

Gregor looks at me, expectantly. When I am silent, he prompts, “Can you tell us what happened after Rosalind and I came back into the house? After I left Ben by himself in the street?”

I don’t want to talk about it. How can I make myself mention Ben’s name? But Gregor and Rosalind are waiting, even Jake is staring wide-eyed at me, wanting to hear more of the tale. A small part of me recognizes that this means that the analgesic tea has taken effect and he is feeling better.

I sigh and say, as briefly as I can, “Thomas and Henry and I saw you running past, so we followed you. I saw Jake lying on the ground, so I went to help him. Henry recognized … Ben …” - it is excruciating to say his name - “from the attempted robbery on the Trace, and told Thomas to arrest him.”

Rosalind’s face is filled with compassion, and she asks Gregor, “Your friend was arrested? Even though he wasn’t really a member of the gang? You have to help him!”