From This Day Forward by Margaret Daley Page B

overtook her thoughts. A black beard, straggly, oily black hair, beaten, pock-marked face, clothes of a laborer, dirty, torn, with patches on them, no shoes, his feet clad in stockings. But the worst part was the large blood-crusted hole in his chest. She had never seen a man dead from a gunshot. She balled her hands to keep them from trembling, but that did little to stop the tremors from taking over her body.
    When Nathan appeared in the doorway, a grim expression on his face, she stared at him. She gulped and tried to form a coherent question, but her thoughts jumbled together.
    “I saw this man in Charleston once a few weeks back, but I don’t know his name,” he said, stepping down from the house and covering the short distance to Rachel. “He got into a fist fight with another man. It started in the tavern and spilled over into the street.”
    “Do you think that man killed him? Why did he leave him here? What are we going to do with the body?” Questions tumbled from Rachel in a breathless rush.
    “I will need to contact the constable about this.”
    “You cannot leave me alone with that body. Please.”
    “No. No.” He squatted in front of her, his gaze beseeching her to look at him. “I will remove the body to the barn. I will not leave you alone with him.”
    “Then how are you going to get the constable?”
    “Sarah and John are coming today.”
    Rachel shot to her feet, still holding Faith against her. “I cannot receive guests. Look at the house. There is a dead man inside. I—”
    Silencing her words with a light press of his forefinger to her lips, Nathan grinned. “They are coming to help. And to bring the ox.”
    Rachel glanced at the cart being pulled by Nathan’s horse then back at him. “Oh. To help? I cannot ask them to do that. I think a whole army might not be able to make this place…” She swallowed the rest of the words. She was admitting defeat before she even tried, but how could she stay when a dead man had been in her house?
    “Are you ready then to leave and go to Charleston? Wait for the next ship to England?”
    “No.”
    His intense scrutiny bore into her as if he were trying to discern her thoughts. “I will rid the house of the corpse. But that does not change the fact someone was killed here.” He marched back inside.
    Maddy hurried to her side. “Ma’am, I am for leaving before we get killed.”
    “Hush. Let me think.” Rachel paced from the cart to a large live oak, holding Faith against her chest, patting her back gently.
    Perhaps the man wandered into her house to die but was shot somewhere else. Or it was a hunting accident. She could remember something like that had happened on a hunt her father had participated in. A man had been mistaken for a deer and killed.
    Under the shade of the tree she spun around and stared at her house. Up until today this place had been deserted for years. Now that it was occupied, surely anyone who thought they could dump dead bodies here would not use her farm. If it was dumped here, then it was a one-time occurrence. She hadn’t seen any other dead bodies or bones around. Yes, it was most unusual. Not something that would be repeated.
    Rachel returned to the log and sank onto it, looking at Faith, whose eyes were wide open. “Hi, little one. I dare say you are hungry.” But her baby didn’t cry. Instead she kept her gaze fixed on Rachel as though studying her. “We are in a pickle. I have nowhere to go in England. Papa is really angry with me, and no one crosses him.”
    Looking up, she spied Nathan dragging the man toward the barn while Maddy hid behind the cart. When she peeped at the dead man, she screamed and ducked back behind the wagon. The hard planes of Nathan’s face sent a shiver down Rachel’s spine. He was not happy. He wanted her to return to England. But she couldn’t leave and stay with him or Sarah while she waited to go back home.
    Lord, what do You want me to do? I need a sign that You want me to