“What are you doing?” Someone asked behind them, and he turned to see Isaac, staring up at him in the light of a kerosene lamp.
“You’re supposed to stay in the room,” Alden scolded.
“I’ve been wandering around all evening, looking for both of you.” He eyed Isabelle resting in Alden’s arms. “Why won’t you tell me what’s happening?”
Alden nodded toward the wagon, and Isaac leaned forward to peek over the edge. Then his eyes grew wide. “Is that Master Duvall?”
Alden nodded.
“Is he dead?”
“No, just drunk. He won’t ever bother you or Isabelle again.”
Judah climbed onto wagon bench. “I’ll see you back in Sacramento.”
Alden nodded. “We’ll return as soon as we can travel.”
With the money from his gold find, he had more than enough to leave tomorrow, but he’d stay here until Isabelle’s body healed. And then if she would have him, he hoped she might accept his proposal to legally become Mrs.Payne.
The three of them listened to the rattle of wheels across the rocks, bustling away from Columbia. Judah, he was certain, would make sure that Victor never bothered them again.
Isaac lifted his lantern. “Good-bye, Master Duvall,” he whispered.
Alden turned, and when he looked down at the boy, he saw gold flecks amidst the brown of his eyes, reflecting in the light.
His mouth dropped open. He’d looked at the boy a thousand times in the past months, but he hadn’t really noticed the color of his eyes. Isaac wasn’t just a fellow slave owned by the Duvall family. Isaac was Isabelle’s son.
No wonder she would do anything to rescue him, like Naomi trying to rescue Benjamin. Did Isabelle think he would condemn her for this?
Her eyes had closed again as she rested against him.
“You’re free,” Alden told Isaac. “Victor signed the papers.”
“Completely free?”
“Forever,” he replied. “Both of you are free.”
Isabelle lifted her head a few inches. “I have something I’d like to say.”
“You can say anything you want now.”
Isaac took her hand. “Can you say it to me too?”
“Absolutely,” she said quietly. “I want to tell you first.”
Chapter 47
Columbia
August 1854
Every bone in Isabelle’s body ached, but her heart was full. Alden had somehow acquired a dozen pillows, and he’d propped her up on all of them so she could rest while they talked. Then he brought over her lockbox and papers and the clothing left in the hotel room across the street.
Victor had assaulted her body, but it was the oddest thing. All the fear she’d had pent up inside her had dissipated earlier that day. As an adult, in the light of truth, she finally saw Victor Duvall for what he really was—a bitter, troubled, controlling man who would never be happy, no matter how many slaves he acquired for his kingdom.
A man who no longer held any power over her.
After Alden left to retrieve the last of her things, Isaac hopped onto the end of the bed. “Can we talk now?”
