Part 72 (1/2)
”No. You do not, nor can you ever.”
”Of course you're right.” He nodded. ”But surely you must realize you're holding a true fortune. I daresay with the kind of money you could get in Charles Town from the sale of those jewels, you might live in Mr. Bidwell's style in some larger, more populous city.”
”I see what his style is, ” she countered, ”and I detest it. Take the box.”
”Rachel, let me point out something to you. Bidwell did not murder your husband. Nor did he create this scheme. I don't particularly care for his... um... motivations, either, but he was reacting to a crisis that he thought would destroy Fount Royal. In that regard, ” Matthew said, ”he acted properly. You know, he might have hanged you without waiting for the magistrate. I'm sure he could have somehow justified it.”
”So you're justifying him, is that right?”
”Since he now faces a guilty verdict from you in a tragedy for which he was not wholly responsible, ” Matthew said, ”I am simply pleading his case.”
Rachel stared at him in silence, still holding out the box to him. He made no move to accept it.
”Daniel is gone, ” Matthew told her. ”You know that. Gone, too, are the men who murdered him. But Fount Royal-such as it may be-is still here, and so is Bidwell. It appears he intends to do his best to rebuild the town. That is his main concern. It seems to be yours as well. Don't you think this common ground is larger than hatred?”
”I shall take this box, ” Rachel said calmly, ”and dump it into the spring if you refuse it.”
”Then go ahead, ” he answered, ”because I do refuse it. Oh: except for one gold piece. The one that Johnstone stole from my room. Before you throw your fortune and future away to prove your devotion to Daniel in continued poverty and suffering, I will take the one gold piece.” There was no response from her, though perhaps she did flinch just a little.
”I understand Bidwell's position, ” Matthew said. ”The evidence against you was overwhelming. I too might have pressed for your execution, if I believed firmly enough in witchcraft. And... if I hadn't fallen in love with you.”
Now she did blink; her eyes, so powerful a second before, had become dazed.
”Of course you recognized it. You didn't want me to. In fact, you asked me to-as you put it-go on about my life. You said- there in the gaol, after I'd read the magistrate's decree-that the time had come to embrace reality.” He disguised his melancholy with a faint smile. ”That time has now come for both of us.”
Rachel looked down at the floor. She had taken hold of the box with both hands, and Matthew saw an ocean's worth of conflicting tides move across her face.
He said, ”I'm leaving in the morning. I will be in Charles Town for a few weeks. Then most likely I will be travelling to New York. At that time I can be reached through Magistrate Nathaniel Powers, if you ever have need of me.”
She lifted her gaze to his, her eyes wet and glistening. ”I can never repay you for my life, Matthew. How can I even begin?”
”Oh... one gold coin will do, I think.”
She opened the box, and he took the coin. ”Take another, ” she offered. ”Take as many as you like. And some of the jewels, too.”
”One gold coin, ” he said. ”That's my due.” He put the coin into his pocket, never to be spent. He looked around the house and sighed. He had the feeling that once the rats were run out and her home was truly hers again, she might embrace the reality of moving to a better abode-further away from that wretched gaol.
Rachel took a step toward him. ”Do you believe me... when I say I'll remember you when I'm an old, old woman?”
”I do. And please remember me, if at that point you're seeking the excitement of a younger man.”
She smiled, in spite of her sadness. Then she grasped his chin, leaned forward-and kissed him very softly on the forehead, below the bandage that covered what would be his grandchildren's favorite story.
Now was the moment, he realized. It was now or never.
To ask her. Had she actually entered that smoke-palled medicine lodge? Or had it been only his feverish-and wishful-fantasy?
Was he still a virgin, or not?
He made his decision, and he thought it was the right one.
”Why are you smiling that way?” Rachel asked.
”Oh... I am remembering a dream I think I had. One more thing: you said to me once that your heart was used up.” Matthew looked into her dirt-streaked, determined face, forever-more locking her remarkable beauty of form and spirit in his memory vault. ”I believe... it is a cupboard that only need be restocked.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, and then he had to go.