For one moment, standing there on the landing at the top of the stairs, they all stared at one another in the gloom, trying to decide what to do.
And they heard a number of horses halting in front of the house.
Virginia flinched, facing Tillie, when someone began knocking on the front door.
“Maybe we should hide?” Tillie whispered.
But Virginia almost swooned with relief. “The British do not knock,” she said. “I’ll go answer it.”
Tillie seized her. “And honest folk don’t come out at this hour!”
She was right. “Stay behind me in the shadows. Frank, don’t hesitate to use that rifle if it sounds like our visitors have a nasty business in mind.”
Whoever had come calling at the midnight hour was pounding again on the door. Virginia went slowly downstairs, filled with trepidation, followed by both slaves. At her side, Arthur growled, his hackles up.
Virginia hurried to the door, her heart slamming with alarm and fear. “One moment,” she said, putting the candle down. The baby chose that moment to deliver his first kick, a solid and strange blow, and she hesitated, stunned. But she had no moment to dwell on this strange miracle, as the person outside banged again, three times. Keeping the pistol in the folds of her nightgown, her finger found the trigger. She opened the door a crack.
A man stood there and even in the darkness, she knew. She was paralyzed. Arthur was not. He rushed forward, wagging his tail with excitement, his entire body writhing with happiness.
“Get down,” Devlin said, pushing inside, as the dog leapt up on him. He closed the door behind him.
The dog sat, his tail thumping on the floor, grinning at him.
Virginia began to shake. In spite of everything, Devlin’s cold, gray eyes were the best thing she had ever seen. “Do you always open the door for strangers?” he said.
She wet her lips, briefly incapable of speech. She whispered, “Enemy soldiers do not knock.”
He inclined his head, accepting her statement, and his gaze slid over her belly.
She wanted to seize his hand and place it on their child, but she did not. Too well, she suddenly recalled the last time he had touched her that way.
“How are you, madam?” he asked softly.
Virginia realized that she was trembling wildly. Why had he come? Had he risked his life merely to see her? “We are fine, the child and I,” she managed. She was so stunned she could barely think straight, but there was a seed of hope flaring within her now.
He studied every inch of her face. “Cliff told me you were here. I almost killed him for what he did—until I realized that you would have found another ship on which to come. Instead, I had to thank him for keeping you and the child safe. This is madness, Virginia.”
She had wrapped her arms around herself, because what she really wanted to do was to wrap her arms around him. “I was born here, Devlin. Our child will be born here, too.”
He was not pleased. “The war is close. I’ve risked the lives of four good men to call at this hour,” he said swiftly now. “I have come to tell you to stay at Sweet Briar for the next week. And I mean it, Virginia. Do not leave this plantation,” he warned.
Something terrible was about to happen and he knew what that was. “Why?”
“I am afraid I cannot tell you why, but Sweet Briar will be spared.”
She bit her lip hard, causing it to bleed. “And why…” It was so hard to speak. “And why would my home be spared?”
“Because I have demanded that it be spared,” he ground out.
She nodded, having expected him to say that, pleased. But her fear was greater than any pleasure now. “Is it Norfolk? Will they invade the town?”
“You know I cannot give you any details.”
She nodded, briefly closing her eyes.Could he not take her in his arms, just this single time?“One week?”
“Maybe more. It will depend on factors I cannot control.” He watched her closely. “You will know when it is safe to leave the plantation.”
She leaned heavily against the wall. She felt certain an invasion of Norfolk was imminent. She must warn the town. Despair crashed over her. If only the damned war would end. Maybe then they would have a chance—but even so, the subject of his revenge still stood in their way.
