Karen Robards - Desire in the Sun

"Get away from me," Lilah said through teeth gritted against the pain, utterly rejecting Jane's touch. "You're killing my baby!"

"I'm sorry, darling, so sorry it has to hurt like this, but it's for the best, one day you'll understand and be grateful…"Jane was babbling, her face white as she watched her stepdaughter thrash with agony. Lilah closed her eyes, shutting out her stepmother's face, her whole being concentrating on not expelling the tiny life inside her.

As she sank into a vortex of pain, her mind repeated the same words over and over: "Please God, please don't take my baby!"

It was near midnight of the following day. Lilah lay in bed, wan and exhausted, unable to sleep although the rest of the household was long since in their beds. Occasional cramps still twisted her insides, but with nothing like the agony that had wrung her on the previous night. The worst was past, and she had not lost her baby.

Jane and her lather were no doubt bitterly disappointed; Lilah knew she would never forgive them for what they had attempted to do. Her last tie to parents and home was broken by their act.

She realized now just what her father and Jane and Kevin were capable of, and she was frightened. Not for a moment did she believe that they would stop trying. To them, this child was an atrocity, something not fit to be born. They meant to end her pregnancy if they could. She could not eat or drink anything brought to her without fearing that they would make another attempt on her baby's life before it even once saw the light of day.

The horror of it was, they had her as securely as a rat in a trap. Weakened now, and locked in her room, there was no escape from the evil her family had planned for her in the name of love. What was she to do?

As Lilah lay there, frantically trying to come up with some means of saving her child, she heard the gentle clink of a key being inserted into the metal of her door's lock. Sitting up in bed, eyes wide as she strove to see through the darkness, she heard the sound of the key turning, the click of the lock disengaging.

Terror rose in her throat, set her heart to thudding. Was this another attempt on her baby's life? Or having failed to end her pregnancy, would they perhaps even go so far as to try to kill her, to save themselves from shame?

Someone, she could not determine who in the darkness, slipped through the door, shut it again. Lilah sat tense, immobile, straining to see. It was like a horrible nightmare, only she was all too certain that she was awake.

"Who is it?" Her voice was squeaky with fright. It took all her courage just to ask the question. Her hand crept toward the candlestick on the bedside table. If they intended her harm, she would fight…

"Shhh, Miss Lilah!"

"Betsy!"

"Shhh!" Betsy crossed to the bed, moving swiftly, silently, and bent down to hug her mistress. Lilah clung to her fiercely.

"What are you doing here? How on earth did you get out of your room? Did Jane let you go?"

"No. Miss Allen came and let me out. She sent me down to let you out. She heard you screaming and crying last night, and she made Miss Jane tell her what they'd done. She said that what you done was wrong, but what they was try in' to do to a poor helpless little baby was even worse. So this evenin' she got hold of Miss Jane's keys, stole 'em right out of her pocket when Miss Jane went up to say good night, and then when Miss Jane was gone, she felt her way along the hall to my room and let me out. Then she tole me to come down here and let you out."

"But Katy-Katy can barely walk! And she's blind!"

"I know, but she managed it for your sake, honey.

She loves you. She couldn't get down the stairs to your room, so she sent me. Now get out of that bed and I'll help you dress and you get! Then I'll lock your door, and scoot back to my own room. Miss Allen's gonna lock me back in, and drop Miss Jane's keys somewhere like they just fell out of her pocket. In the morning, when you're gone out of a locked room, they won't know how you done it."

"Oh, Betsy, thank you!"

Lilah scrambled out of bed, the small needling cramps that were the residue of the doctored tea forgotten in her sudden excitement. She was free! Quickly, her mind performing mental acrobatics, she made plans. She would ride to Bridgetown, go to that Scanlon man who had inquired for Joss, and tell him of Joss's plight and her own. He was her only hope.

"Help me dress! I need my riding habit…"

In minutes Lilah was completely clad except for her boots.

"Where will you go, Miss Lilah?" Now that the moment of parting had come, Betsy sounded suddenly fearful. Lilah shook her head.

"It's better if you don't know. Oh, Betsy, I'll miss you!"

The two girls hugged, stepped back. Lilah looked at her maid uncertainly through the darkness.

"Betsy, if you want to come with me, I'll-I'll set you free…"

Betsy shook her head. "No, Miss Lilah, but I thanks you. There's Ben…"

Lilah smiled. "I wish you much happiness, Betsy, always."

"And I you, Miss Lilah."

Lilah felt tears mist her eyes. But there was no time for that now. If she was to make good her escape, she had to get away as quickly as possible.

"Tell Katy thank you. Tell her I love her," Lilah said, and then she slipped out the door, along the corridor, down the stairs, leaving Betsy behind.

Some quarter of an hour later, on the third floor of the house, an old woman, sitting by an open window in the dark, heard the distant sound of hoofbeats and felt tears come to her eyes.

"God go with you, my dear," she whispered into the night.

Lilah rode as she had never ridden before in her life. Speed was of the essence, she knew, because her absence would be discovered before the day was very old. Jane usually escorted Betsy in with her breakfast around nine. By that time she had to have found the ship-what was its name? the Lady something, Jasmine, that was it-and the man named Scanlon. She had to tell him her story, and where to find Joss, and hope that he could help them.

It was perhaps an hour before dawn when she crested the hill where she and Joss had rested their horses some two weeks before. This time she didn't even pause, didn't even look at the beautiful panorama of sleeping town and undulating ocean glittering beneath the stars. She rode at a full gallop to the very edge of town, and then only slowed her pace because she feared attracting too much attention. Even at this hour, the wharves were awake. Small fishing boats were putting out to sea, cargo was being loaded on ships set to sail with the tide. Lanterns lit the worn wooden docks, gleamed off the skin of men laboring to roll barrels up long gangplanks. Bits and pieces of sea chanties, sung as the men labored, spiced the cool salt wind that blew in off the sea.

Candida trotted along the edge of the wharf while Lilah strained to read the names of the tall ships that bobbed gently at anchor alongside. During the wild ride the pain in her abdomen had returned. Resolutely she ignored it.

The Lady Jasmine did not appear to be among those tied to the wharf. Ah, there she was at last! She was the second to last ship, anchored just beyond the spot where two Bajans argued spiritedly over the price to be paid for a barrel of "kill-devil," as the local rum was called.

Sighing with relief, Lilah slid from the saddle, and tied Candida to a post with the fervent hope that she would not be stolen by any of the disreputable-looking persons who took advantage of the dark hours to roam the quay. Then she hurried across the wharf, skirting the increasingly acrimonious quarrel, to the Lady Jasmine's gangplank. It was blocked by two barrels rolled across it for just that purpose. A guard had been posted, but sat on the gangplank, leaning against the barrels, sound asleep. Much good he did…