Blood Moon Read Online Free PDF

table. He was much relieved. The conversation had lightened. Belle was smiling. Hendry was in the mood for reminiscing over old times. And as for Elizabeth, well, she was just as sullen as always in his company.
    “Jacob, you’re going to look so handsome in uniform. I can’t wait to see it on you,” Belle said.
    Jacob smiled. He had tried the new grey uniform on and had been handed fabric, rank insignia. He doubted Elizabeth would do him the favour of sewing them on his jacket. He would ask Belle to do it first thing in the morning. “Why, thank you kindly, Belle,” he said.
    Jacob looked at Hendry and grinned. “Pa will climb out of his grave and whip my butt if I take Grandpa’s sabre with me, but it’s going, for good luck. You don’t mind, do you, Hendry?”
    “I will if Pa’s ghost turns up here and takes its irritation out on me …”
                  Elizabeth threw her fork onto her dinner plate, causing enough noise to halt the good-natured banter in its tracks. “Don’t y’all think there’s been enough talk of silly war and guns at this table? Why, it’s bad enough there won’t be the usual summer balls and picnics this year on account of y’all leaving.  I’m just sick of hearing about it, and I won’t listen a moment longer. It’s ruining everything!”
    “My apologies, dear,” Jacob said. “I promise there will be no more talk of war. Hendry and I will discuss this distasteful subject over brandies after you and Belle retire.”
    “Well, seeing as how the subject of war has been dispensed with at last, I have some news of my own, and I can’t think of a better or more fitting time to speak to y’ all about it,” Elizabeth exclaimed dramatically. “Why, it’s been eating away at me for days and pressing on me till I can’t breathe.”
    “Then pray tell us what’s got you so riled up. We’d hate you to stop breathing,” Jacob said mockingly.
    “Well, if you must know, it’s about that Mercy Carver. Y’all seem to hold her in such high regard, but I’ve come by some interesting information about her, and even you will be shocked, Belle.”
    “Not now, Elizabeth,” Belle warned.
    “Yes, now, Belle. You and Hendry are wicked. Poor Margaret Mallory is a victim of Jacob’s whore, and it’s so unfair of you and Hendry to turn Margaret away from Stone Plantation whenever she comes to call on me. She was wronged by the Carver woman, yet you allowed her to come here, to this house, knowing that it was to be my new home. It’s high time y’all know how I feel. Why, anyone would think I don’t belong here … Well, I do, and I have every right to invite who I want onto my porch.”
    Jacob wiped his mouth with his napkin and hid his anger. He had hoped to avoid all mention of Mercy during the meal by giving Belle and Hendry the letter she wrote to them, only after Elizabeth had retired. “I think we should discuss this in the privacy of our own room, dear. This is a special occasion, and I aim to keep it amiable,” he told her.
    “You would say that, wouldn’t you? Why, all the folks in the county know you still have a hankering for that white trash!”
    Belle and Hendry rose from the table. Belle crossed to Hendry’s side and held his hand. “As usual, Elizabeth, you have spoiled a perfectly lovely evening. I won’t sit here a minute longer listening to your prattle. Hendry, take me upstairs … please.”
    “Belle, sit down. I’m in sore need of your company tonight. We have so much to talk about – don’t leave, please,” Jacob begged.
    “We’ll have breakfast in the morning, dearest,” Belle told him. “I find myself yearning for bed. I don’t want to be in your wife’s company, and that’s a fact. Hendry will be back down. He’ll join you in the library. Good night, Jacob.”
    Jacob watched Hendry and Belle leave, finding it difficult to control his rage and utter dislike for Elizabeth, who was scowling at him. War and the fear of death