"Poor woman. She was so very unhappy, you know. I used to think that her religion demanded her unhappiness, but now, I don't think so. Perhaps it was something deep inside her, perhaps she was like a bud that is incapable of blossoming."
Diana smiled at him. "You are immensely understanding, Daniel."
"Sometimes," he said. "Only sometimes."
"You will ride Salvation, won't you?"
"I told you that stallion makes me nervous."
"All right, then, Tanis."
Lyon didn't hesitate. He entered Lucien and Deborah's bedchamber and quietly closed the door behind him. Like Diana, he knew that Deborah was keeping secrets and he couldn't allow it to continue. He had to find out the truth, and he prayed there was something here to lead to something.
He walked to the small writing desk in the corner of the bedchamber. It was Deborah's personal desk. Lucien kept all his papers in the desk in his study. He pulled out the top drawer. There were several letters to Mary Foster that she'd copied. He read them. Nothing, just formal inquiries about her health and general comments about Savarol Island. He carefully replaced the letters. There were other letters, from friends in Charlotte Amalie. In another drawer there were ribbon-tied documents. He read each of them. One was Daniel's birth record. Another, marriage lines between Deborah and her first husband. And a second paper with Deborah and Lucien's marriage lines. There were bills marked paid, many of them years old. Odd that she would keep them. He frowned, seeing that many of them were made out to Dr. Gustavus. "Paid for services" was written on each of them in Deborah's neat hand. The sums were not all that small. Could they all be for his professional services? Had she or Daniel both been so consistently ill? He placed the bills back into the drawer.
In another drawer he found her stationery and quills. Nothing unusual. There was but one other drawer, hidden behind a small panel. He pressed on the panel, but nothing happened. He continued lightly probing with his fingertips until he found a slight indentation. He pressed it and the panel eased open. The drawer behind the panel was locked. Lyon frowned a moment, then steeled himself. He picked up a letter opener and forced the small lock. There was a thick envelope in the drawer. He pulled it out and opened it. It was filled with carefully cut-out newspaper pages. The top one was a brief announcement of Patricia and Daniel's marriage. The second was an announcement of Deborah's marriage to Lucien Savarol. He placed the two aside and looked at the next.
It was a page from the Charlotte Amalie Gazette, and was one year old. He read it, then froze.
"Oh, my God," he said softly to the empty room. He'd prayed he would find something,
but this?
"What are you doing here?" Deborah stood in the doorway, staring at Lyon. She saw the newspaper pages in his hand and sucked in her breath. "No," she moaned softly, wrapping her arms about her. "Oh, no, please."
"What else did you and Patricia talk about?"
Diana turned in Salvation's saddle toward Daniel. She couldn't tell him about Grainger, she couldn't hurt him like that, despite her passionate speech to Patricia that there was no more time to spare anyone's feelings. She ran her tongue over her lips and forced lightness into her voice. "As I told you, Patricia gave me the story of how you two met. It sounded most romantic, Daniel. Love at first sight and all that."
"Yes, I suppose it was. It seems like a very long time ago now."
"Goodness, 'tis only four months or so, isn't that right? You are already seeing yourself as an old married couple?"
Daniel merely smiled at her and dug his heels gently into Tanis' sides. The mare tossed her head and broke into a canter.
Diana kept pace with him. They stopped for a few minutes at the slave village.
"I don't feel like riding back just yet," Daniel said as he remounted Tanis. "Why don't we go to the end of the island? There's a lovely spot there I'd like you to see. I found it not too long ago. It's special, to me."
"All right," Diana said agreeably. She was silent for several minutes, wondering what to do. Then she said finally, "Daniel, Lyon and I would like for you and Patricia to return to England with us, once all thisawfulness is cleared up. You could study medicine there and ---"
"You spoke of this to Patricia?"
"Yes, I did. And to your mother as well. There is something I don't understand, though, not really. Deborah seems intent upon keeping you here, with her."
"She is most possessive."
"But surely she understands how very much you wish to help people. She must know how important medicine is to you. Why, just look at how many of our people you've helped."
"Yes, she knows."
"Will you come back to England with us?"
He gave her a very serious look. "You have spoken to many of us, haven't you, little sister? You appear to have found out so very much."
Diana shook her head. "Not really, it's just thatWell, it's all so confusing, isn't it? All these terrible things happening. But you didn't answer my question, Daniel."
"Didn't I? Well, soon, perhaps. Yes, soon."