The Ghosts of Aquinnah (18 page)

Her eye was swollen to little more than a slit, and the skin surrounding it was a bright shade of purple and green. Her cheeks were flaming red and blood trickled from her nose. Her top lip was split and swollen to twice its normal size.

“
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” he said.

“
It was Mrs. Poole,” Stella said. “She came to his office for medication and she told him about our lunches. He went crazy, Christopher. He’s gone mad.”

“
He’s worse than mad. What kind of man could do this to you?”

“
He believes I’ve been unfaithful to him with you.” Stella collapsed into tears and buried her face in her hands. “I don’t know what to do, Christopher. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Christopher wrapped his arms around Stella and pulled her to his chest. “Hush now,” he whispered. “You’ll be alright, Aingilín. You’ll be alright.”

Christopher kissed Stella’s head and rocked her gently until her sobs quieted. He gently lifted her head to his face and kissed her swollen lips.

“
We can’t stay here,” he said. “Mr. Lambert will be up soon and getting ready to go out for the morning. But I know a place I can take you where you’ll be safe until we figure out what to do.”

Stella nodded. “Take me there, please.”

“
I just need to get my wages from downstairs. Mr. Lambert’s kept the money I’ve saved in his safe for me. But we’ll need it now, wherever we end up.” Christopher sighed. “I hate to think of Mr. Lambert waking up and wandering where I’ve disappeared to when he heads out on the boat. Once we get you safe, I’ll have to beg for his forgiveness.”

“
I’m sorry for involving you in this.”

Christopher kissed the top of her head. “Hush with that silliness, lass. You’ve nothing to apologize for and you didn’t involve me in anything.”

He disappeared down the ladder with his lantern, and Stella sat as still as she could and prayed he wouldn’t wake his employer. She needed to get to the safe place Christopher promised her and didn’t think she could handle a setback of any sort. Now that she had reached Christopher, her single-minded determination in making her trek to Menemsha had deserted her and she was overwhelmed by the pain that wracked her body. She was now so exhausted that she feared she may simply collapse.

Stella nearly cried again as Christopher returned with the lantern.

“
Mr. Lambert didn’t wake up, did he?”

Christopher shook his head. “No. Thanks be to God he’s a sound sleeper.”

Christopher quickly pulled his clothes on over the undergarments he slept in and helped Stella get up from the mattress. He grabbed a sack he kept next to his bed and put his coat over her trembling shoulders.

“
Where’s your cloak?” he asked.

“
He didn’t let me take it. He just kicked me out the door and left me on the porch.”

Christopher swallowed his rage and picked up his gloves from the small stand next to his mattress. “You can wear these as well.”

“
You’ll need them.”

“
I’m fine.” He smiled and kissed Stella’s nose as she stood before him. “It’s my turn to take care of you, yeah?”

Christopher took Stella’s gloved hand and led her down the ladder to the first floor of Mr. Lambert’s shop. He had blown out the lantern before they descended and now moved with the grace of a cat through the pitch black room. Leading Stella back out onto the porch of the shop, he closed the door behind them without making a sound.

Christopher stopped and re-lit the lantern, illuminating the road ahead of them and giving them a clear path through the village. Taking Stella by the hand, he walked quickly towards the docks where Mr. Lambert kept his boat. Stella could see the fishing boats bobbing in the water under the glow of the full moon.

“
There’s an abandoned boat shack close by,” Christopher said. “Mr. Lambert told me the owner left the island for the winter and isn’t to return until summer. He warned the fisherman here to leave it be while he was gone. Apparently he’s a fierce fellow, because they’ve all listened.”

Christopher held up his lantern and pointed towards a small ramshackle house on the edge of the docks. Two rectangles of wood which Stella imagined had once been doors hung haphazardly from rusted hinges.

“
There aren’t any doors here,” she said.

“
It doesn’t matter. Who do you think is around to see us? And besides, as long as we stay over at the other side of the shack we’ll be hidden by the boat anyway.”

Skeptical, Stella followed Christopher into the shack and looked around at the ropes and buckets that dotted the floor. A small fishing boat had been towed into the shack, and an assortment of tarps and fishing lines stuck haphazardly out of it.

“
Come here,” Christopher said, leading Stella to the corner wall of the shack. “No one can see us over here even if they do happen to glance in.”

He sat down on the floor of the shack and pulled Stella down next to him. Christopher put his arm around her shoulder as she rested her head against his chest.

“
You can rest now,” he whispered

“
Do you need your coat?” Stella asked. “You’ll be cold.”

“
I have you to keep me warm,” Christopher said. “But I wouldn’t mind if you turned yourself into a blanket.”

Stella smiled against his chest. She climbed onto Christopher’s lap and wrapped her arms around his torso.

“
How’s that suit you?” she asked.

“
Perfect. I’m warm as toast.”

Christopher kissed the top of Stella’s head and smoothed her hair with his hand. “Rest now, Aingilín.”

“
What’s that mean?”

“
Little angel.”

“
I’m not little, you know. I’m a grown woman.”

“
That I do know. But you’re little to me.” He took her small hand in his own and kissed her fingers one by one. “You’re so tiny.”

“
Thank you for helping me.”

“
It’s the least I can do for my nurse.”

Christopher leaned back against the wall and stared out at Menemsha harbor through what had once been the door of the shack. It was high tide, and Christopher could hear the waves of Vineyard Sound lapping over the jetties that lined the channel separating Menemsha from neighboring Lobsterville. He knew Mr. Lambert would be navigating that channel out to sea in just a few short hours for his day’s work. He hoped he would at least get a good catch in spite of the fact that Christopher would not be able to help him with it.

“
What are you looking at?”

Christopher jumped, startled at the sound of Stella’s voice. “I thought you’d fallen asleep, love.”

“
I’m not sleeping.”

“
Then look out there with me, why don’t you. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Stella lifted her head and followed Christopher’s gaze out to the harbor surrounding them. The full moon cast a white glow over the water, which was now as dark as the night sky around it.

“
I like to sit out on those rocks,” Christopher said. “All the way at the very end.”

“
Why?”

“
Because it’s peaceful out there. I sit there and sometimes I think if I look really hard, I can see home.”

Stella smiled. “You mean Ireland?”

“
I do.” Christopher pulled Stella up until her cheek rested against his and whispered in her ear as he pointed out at the horizon beyond the rocks. “Look out there. Can’t you see it?”

“
I think I can, yes.”

“
That’s the Galway harbor. It’s the only harbor I’ve ever seen that’s as beautiful as this one is.”

“
I’d like to go there.”

Christopher shook his head. “I don't think you would, love. There are a lot of problems there.”

“
There are problems everywhere.”

“
Well trust me when I say you wouldn't enjoy the voyage across the Atlantic.”

“
It sounds like an adventure to me. I’ve never been anywhere.”

“
It’s not an adventure I’d recommend.”

Stella let out a breath as she settled her head back on Christopher’s chest.

“
You know what I do when I’m out at the end of those rocks?” he asked.

“
No. What do you do?”

“
I shout out to those people over in Galway so loud I’m certain they can hear me.”

Stella smiled against his chest. “And what exactly do you shout to them, Mr. Casey?”

“
That I came here to America and found the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.” He kissed Stella’s head. “The most beautiful girl in the whole world.”

“
Is that me you found then?”

“
Who else would it be?”

Stella felt a tear roll down her bruised cheek.

“
I dare say no one would find me beautiful now.”

Christopher lifted her face to his with gentle fingers. He brushed his lips against her swollen eye. “You’re beautiful to me.”

Stella’s face crumpled as her single tear gave way to sobs.

“
Oh Christopher,” she said. “What’s going to happen to me?”

Christopher held her to his chest and brushed her hair with his hand. “Hush, now. You’re going to be alright, I promise you that. Please try not to cry,” he whispered. “You’ll only make your pain worse.”

And I can’t bear to hear the crying, he thought. Christopher wanted to do nothing so much as go to the Winslow home and give Josiah Winslow the same beating he had given his defenseless wife. But he knew that would only get him in trouble himself. And it would do nothing to help Stella now.

Christopher rested his head against the wall of the shack and closed his eyes. He held Stella close until her sobs quieted and he could feel her steady breathing against his chest. To his relief, she finally drifted off to sleep.

He felt his rage returning and forced himself to swallow it down. Josiah Winslow would answer for what he had done to Stella someday. For now, all that mattered was that Christopher take care of Stella and get her somewhere safe.

He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he had no idea how he was going to do that.

****

Christopher opened his eyes with a start. He briefly wondered where he was, but a glance down at Stella’s head on his chest brought the previous night back very quickly. He could see the morning sun shining through the fishing shack and hear the sounds of the village waking up and getting to work. He knew by now Mr. Lambert would have discovered he was gone, and he felt a rush of guilt that he had let his employer down. But he’d had no choice, and he hoped Mr. Lambert would eventually understand that.

He heard a whimper as Stella shifted her body and raised her head from his chest.

“
Are you alright, lass?” he whispered.

“
No,” Stella mumbled. “I can't bear the pain. It hurts everywhere.”

Christopher gently raised Stella’s head and looked at her face in the morning sun. If possible, it was even more swollen than it had been the night before and her bruises had deepened, casting a rainbow of yellow, purple, and green across her cheek. Christopher felt sure that Josiah had broken a bone in his wife’s face when he’d so viciously punched her. In addition, her cracked lip was now dripping blood, and her swollen eye had completely closed. Christopher felt the previous night’s rage returning to a boil inside him.

“
That God-forsaken bastard,” he muttered.

Christopher pulled a handkerchief from the pocket of his trousers and gently blotted the blood from Stella’s cracked lip. Unable to stop himself, he kissed her swollen and tear-stained face before closing his eyes and moving his lips to her own. She shifted her weight, sitting up to answer his kiss, and parted her lips to welcome his tongue. Christopher’s breath quickened as his fingers slipped from her face to the curve of her breast. His hand traveled the length of her body and lightly touched the bare skin of her leg under her dress. He wrapped his arm around Stella's waist and pulled her body closer to his own. Stella let out a whimper of pain and pulled back.