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“And I must warn you, don’t let these hellions influence you. They cause enough trouble for two towns.”
Vera laughed.
Sylvia didn’t.
Dr.Randolph held Sylvia’s gaze. Eddy saw a softness in the contact overlaid with something she couldn’t define—regret? She wondered how long she’d have to be in residence before she could ask Vera about them. Not that she planned on staying in Virginia City. California was still her final goal.
“You take care of yourself, now,” he said to her. “If you need me, Sylvie and Vera know where to find me. Good day, MissEddy, and welcome to Virginia City.”
“Thanks.”
He gave her a nod and departed.
Vera broke the thick silence following his departure. “You know, Sylvia, you two aren’t getting any younger.”
“Don’t meddle, Vera.”
“You’re just being stubborn.”
“Did I ask for your opinion?”
“No. Just thought I’d give it anyway.” Vera turned to Eddy. “Keep healing. I’ll see you soon.” And with that, she left.
“I’ll take that tray now, Eddy.” There was a sadness in Sylvia’s eyes.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Rest up. I’ll come back and check on you later.”
When Carson Fontaine married Sally Ann, the newlywed couple celebrated the occasion with a grand tour of Europe. Rhine’s enslaved mother Azelia was brought along to attend to Sally’s needs, and apparently Carson’s, too, because nine months after the return to Georgia, both Azelia and Sally gave birth to sons less than two weeks apart. Both grew tall, lean, and devilishly handsome, and favored each other enough to have been mistaken as twins more than a few times. The only physical feature that set them apart were their eyes. Rhine’s were green like their father’s. Andrew had Sally Ann’s brown. It was their stations in life that set them apart the most though. When they turned eight years old they were no longer allowed to share carefree days hunting frogs and turtles, climbing trees and splashing in nearby creeks. Drew began training with Carson to run the plantation he stood to inherit upon Carson’s death, and Rhine began life as his brother’s personal slave and valet. There were shirts to iron, beds to make, boots to polish, and baths to draw. After Drew deserted during their first battle of the war, he went west, and Rhine joined the Union army. They lost track of each other, only to be reunited in Kansas City after the South’s surrender, and now the half brothers sat in a fancy San Francisco restaurant, eating and sipping champagne while reminiscing over old times.
Pouring more champagne into his flute, Andrew asked, “I wonder whatever happened to Melissa Drummond?”
Rhine smiled. “No idea, but that was quite a night she treated us to.”
Andrew raised his goblet in mock salute. “To the many bawdy nights gifted us by Georgia’s randy southern belles.”
And he was so right. The brothers spent the years leading up to the war bedding belles and in some cases their mothers, too. “Do you think Carson knew about our wayward ways?”
Andrew shrugged. “He was so busy cuckolding his friends I don’t think he cared what we were up to. Poor mother.”
“Have you gone back to see her?”
“Why? She hated me as much as she hated you and Sable. It infuriated her that I refused to treat you like a slave.”
And Drew hadn’t, whenever he could manage it. From insisting that Rhine be allowed to sleep in a proper bed instead of on the floor of his room, to refusing to take his lessons unless Rhine was allowed to join him, to never laying a whip on Rhine’s back.
“But she hated my mother most of all,” Rhine pointed out. Fueled by jealousy, Sally Ann would’ve had Azelia whipped from sunup to sundown had she not been afraid of Carson’s wrath.
“Yes, she did.” As if needing to move the conversation away from those painful times, Drew changed the subject. “So are you still planning on marrying that little bauble you introduced me to the last time I visited?”
Rhine cut into his steak, and although his misgivings about Natalie rose, he said, “Yes, but as I said at the time, it’s not a love match. Her parents are fairly influential Republicans and their support will be needed if I decide to pursue a career in politics when I’m done on the city council.” Rhine had one year remaining in his three year term.
“Why you’d want to poke around in the cesspool known as politics is beyond me. Find you someone to love and live out your old age in contentment as I plan to do.”
“I need to help, Drew.”
Andrew paused and said seriously, “There are other men helping in their own way. Leave it to them. I don’t want you lynched or beaten to death. Even White men are being killed by the supremacists now.”
