Page 1 of Harts & Hurts

PROLOGUE

The Fracture

June 5, 1901

Fort Jackson, North Carolina

The morning of Wednesday, June 5, 1901, dawned with the sun shining happily in a cloudless sky. The temperatures were expected to go into the eighties, but no rain was in the forecast. It was as if Dr. Benjamin Melrose had specially ordered the day just for his daughter Anna Clara’s wedding.

Anna Clara had barely been able to eat dinner the night before. Now she was unsure if she would even be able to keep down water with the way butterflies were zooming around in her stomach. At least the wedding breakfast would take place after the wedding. Her nerves would be settled once she and Cecil said their “I dos.” Ever since they stepped out onto the veranda after the rehearsal dinner the night before, she’d had a strange feeling of foreboding. Cecil had been kind enough, but his mind had seemed to be a million miles away.

“What’s wrong, Anna Clara?” her sister, Ida Catherine, asked. Ida Catherine was a year and a half younger than her, and she was her favorite person on Earth. That was why she was the one giving Anna Clara her bath rather than Effie, their maid. “It’s your wedding day, and instead of being joyous, you look like something is walking over your grave.”

Anna Clara reached out of the water and grabbed her sister by the wrist, surprising Ida. “That’s exactly how I feel. Oh.” She fretted. “I pray that Cecil hasn’t changed his mind about marrying me.”

“Changed his mind? Hush your mouth with that kind of talk. Cecil hasn’t changed his mind about anything. He knows that no better fortune could have crossed his path than this union. Besides, Daddy would kill him if he dared not to show up.”

Anna Clara had to admit that her sister was right. Their father, the good doctor Benjamin Melrose would certainly have Cecil’s head if he embarrassed her on what was supposed to be the grandest day of the year for both families.

“The Melrose family joining with the Hart family?” Ida Catherine looked up at the ceiling dreamily. “It’s written in the stars, Clare Bear.”

If it truly was written in the stars, Anna Clara couldn’t help but wonder why she felt so nauseated.

Across town

Sarah Hart’s heart pounded relentlessly in her chest as she moved with speed through the parlor of her home and into the study where her husband stood.

Leo Hart watched his wife come into his study with a speed he hadn’t seen from her since they were young newlyweds. He wanted to smile at her. She looked so pretty in the dove-gray dress she wore, and her pink-flushed cheeks gave her a youthfulness he found fetching.

“Slow down, woman. You flew in here like a summer storm. You’re disquiet on a morning such as this? The morning when our son is all set to take his bride?”

“Leo.” She panted. “All is ruined! Cecil is not in his room, but his morning suit is there. It hasn’t been touched. I had Willie Earl go out and question the stable boy. He tells me that Monarch is missing as well. Leo, Cecil never returned from his ride last night.”

“That can’t be.”

Tears breached Sarah’s brown eyes. “It is so. All is lost.”

“No. No. Cecil knows what is expected of him. I’ve raised him to be a man of his word. There is no way he would do this.”

“I fear it is already done, Leo. I went to bed last night with my heart feeling terribly heavy. Call it a mother’s intuition, if you must, but I’ve been absolutely seized with the thought that we are marching toward disaster.”

He gave her a light kiss on the forehead. “We mustn’t let thoughts like that settle into our minds, Sarah. Gather yourself. We’ll load up the carriage and ride over to Fort Jackson AME.” He forced a smile, which looked more like a grimace to Sarah. “We’re having a wedding today.”

Judge Leo Hart tried to check his pocket watch as discreetly as possible. It was ten minutes to 10:00 a.m., and Cecil had not arrived at the church. Though he would never admit it aloud, his stomach churned with both fear and dread of having to let his friend and neighbor know the truth.

He was seated right next to his youngest boy, Theodore. He leaned over slightly and whispered in the fifteen-year-old’s ear. “Go straight to the vestry. Don’t let anybody stop you. Ask for Dr. Melrose. Once he comes out, tell him what we know about your brother’s disappearance.”

Though Theodore wouldn’t have wished his task on his worst enemy, he knew better than to disobey his father, especially after the stunt Cecil had pulled. He was up and out of his seat like a flash, making his way out of the front door. His thin, strong legs moved him quickly around the side of the building, landing him at the back door much faster than he wished he’d landed there. Theodore knocked on the vestry door. After a few tense moments, Dr. Melrose’s face appeared. He wore a frown as he looked down at the teenager.

“Dr. . . . Dr. Mel . . . Dr. Melrose⁠—”

Dr. Melrose cut him off. “Yes, I’m Dr. Melrose, and you’re Theodore Hart. How may I help you, boy?”

Though he was afraid, Theodore pushed out the words, letting the good doctor know that Cecil wasn’t at the church and wouldn’t be marrying Anna Clara because he had vanished.

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Griffin Hart