Riverbreeze: Part 3 by Ellen E. Johnson Read Free Book Online Page A

activity on both sides. We had already taken some precautions…burying our jewelry and the silver, but there wasn’t much else we could do.”
    Everyone nodded, encouraging her to continue.
    “‘Twas terribly frightening when they came. They shot out the windows and stormed the front door. My mother was killed very quickly when they charged into the kitchen and started to attack the maids…” Helen started to stumble over her words as she continued…” M..my m…mother…” She sobbed into her borrowed handkerchief. “She tried to save the m…m…maids by standing up to those barbarous men. She was ever so b…b…brave, but they shoved her aside without a care and sh…sh…shot her.” She cried. Abigail hugged her while she composed herself again. “Fortunately, I wasn’t in the kitchen, I was in the buttery and I hid while my father came rushing in with his pistol and sword. He got off one shot and slashed at another, but there were too many for him and they shot him square in the head…”
    “You poor dear.” Alison murmured. Elizabeth exchanged a secret look with Evelyn. Yes, it was tragic but like Nicole had said, they had all had to face different tragedies in their lives.
    Helen sniffed a few times before continuing. “I ran out the back of the house and to the barn where I hid until Robert found me two days later.
    I do not know what I would have done if he hadn’t found me. He took me to his family’s estate for a few days, but his lands were also vulnerable. His family had already left and he said we must leave also. I didn’t want to leave, but he said we must. He said we would travel to Bristol, get married and then sail to Virginia. He had money, enough to buy passage and give us a new start.” She took a deep breath and her expression turned hard. “That is how I came to be here in this godforsaken land, with nothing! Nothing!” She ended angrily.
    Some of the women were taken aback by her sudden outburst. Nicole was not. She said, “You have your husband, my dear.”
    “And your life.” Emily said.
    Helen sniffed as if those two things didn’t matter much.
    And then Evelyn shocked them all by saying, rather sharply, “You should be grateful to be here and for your husband. Obviously he saved you from Cromwell’s army or you would probably be dead now, or a woman kept for their filthy pleasures. You should get on your knees and thank God you’re here, safe and whole!”
    “Evelyn!” Elizabeth gasped. She actually agreed with Evelyn now, but she would have never had the nerve to scold Helen like that.
    Everyone else stared at her in shock except for Nicole who looked at Evelyn with approval.
    Helen glared at Evelyn. She looked like she would like to scratch Evelyn’s eyes out. “How dare you!”
    “I am sorry.” Evelyn said, “I am truly sorry for your losses, but that does not give you the right to complain when all of us have been through similar tragedies. Bess and I do not remember our mother; she died when we were only three and our father died only six months ago. Alison lost her husband in a house fire. Likewise Abigail lost her husband and three-month old baby to fever two years ago…”
    As Evelyn continued, Helen looked at each woman in turn, wide-eyed and ashamed. “…Nicole was a servant back in England and Emily was very poor and came here with absolutely nothing to be bought by a man looking for a wife. I’m sorry, ladies…” She added hastily, apologizing to the four women for telling their stories when she didn’t have their permission. They nodded their acceptance of her apology.
    “Go on.” Nicole said.
    “We all came here with nothing, just the clothes we could bring in a sack. You have your husband and a home already—“
    “But I know not what to do!” Helen cried, interrupting. “I’ve never learned how to cook or had to clean a house or do laundry…”
    Evelyn exchanged a knowing look with Elizabeth. They could sympathize.
    “…or keep