Promise Bridge Read Online Free PDF Page B

house where Twitch lived above the wagons and horses. Behind the carriage house and hidden in the pines were two makeshift outbuildings and a wire dog pen, where Twitch kept his bloodthirsty hounds. The back lot was draped in eeriness. Everyone, including Uncle Mooney, kept their distance from it. West Gate’s slave quarters dotted the hillside of Uncle Mooney’s upper fields and were the only part of his estate that rose high enough for us to see completely from our front porch. There were twice as many cabins on the far hill than at Hillcrest, although half of West Gate’s slave force worked Aunt Augusta’s tobacco fields, an arrangement that profited Uncle Mooney nearly as much as his Virginia hams.
    “You must not speak of this to anyone, Hannah.”
    I looked over at Colt; he stood stiff and gazing straight ahead. He was an honest and forthright man, and the strain of our actions was evident in the furrow of his brow.
    “Do you think they will be all right?”
    “It’s done, Hannah,” he said, turning to me with tired eyes. “Whatever their fate . . .” He paused to find the right words. “It is out of our hands. Do you understand?”
    I suppose he wanted some gesture of agreement from me, but mostly I felt turned upside down. A sigh was all I could muster. “I better return to Hillcrest and face the punishment Aunt Augusta has in wait for me. She was enraged by my indiscretion in town.”
    Colt took my elbow and turned me to face him. “Forget what happened in town. It is the indiscretion that followed that should frighten you. This is not a little girl’s game, Hannah. If anyone ever finds out what we did, we’ll have hell brought down upon us. You must purge them from your mind, or Augusta’s wrath will be the least of your worries.”
    A chill ran down my spine upon hearing Colt’s warning. I hiked my skirt off my ankles and took off down through the fields toward Hillcrest. I heard Colt calling after me, “Remember what I said.”
    I continued running until I reached the yard. There I slowed and caught my breath before going inside. I brushed my soiled skirt as best I could, then stepped softly up the porch steps and through the front door. Inside, the house was blanketed in stillness except for the sound of Winston’s mother, Granny Morgan, who was busy bringing in supper from the cookhouse out back. Most of the food was prepared there and then brought into the kitchen, where she arranged it for Esther Mae to serve. Her lowly voice sang a sorrowful tune that stirred a guilt-ridden ache inside me, so I rushed up the stairs to the second floor and retreated down the hallway to my bedchamber.
    The pale rose of my window dressings and bedcovers welcomed me from the strange events of the day. I closed the door and drew in a long, calming breath. My room cornered the front of the house nearest the peak. It was the smallest room on the second floor, but had two windows that kept it airy and bright. The view from the front window peered across the front yard to where our land dipped into the southern tip of Mud Run. Looming from the adjoining valley were the head and shoulders of West Gate, poised in the shadows, watching and judging me.
    The second window overlooked the side yard in the direction of the upper fields. Pulling the silk window dressings aside, I saw Colt making his way across the upper tree line before disappearing over the hill toward West Gate’s main house. My heart tightened as the door behind me creaked open.
    “Where have you been, Hannalore?” I turned into the assault of Aunt Augusta’s icy glare.
    “I went for a walk in the meadow,” I said, careful not to say too much.
    “You were in the meadow the entire time?” She stepped nearer, with a suspicious cock of her head. I held my breath as her eyes shifted over me, taking stock of the tattered condition of my dress.
    I weighed my answer, knowing my words would be evaluated and judged for honesty. “Colt came upon me while