CHAPTER NINE — THE EMPTY CABINS
Whitmore looked different when they returned.
Three cabins near the pottery yard stood open, their bedding removed and their cooking fires cold.
Children watched the road from behind the smokehouse.
Elijah crossed the yard so quickly that his injured leg nearly buckled beneath him.
Odessa followed, leaving Catherine to stand alone beside the carriage.
A boy named Jonah ran toward Elijah.
“Pike took my aunt and the little ones to the packing house.”
“Who else?”
“Mrs. Ada, Ruth’s two girls, and the Johnson family.”
Elijah’s face tightened.
Those families had saved the earliest shards.
They had also spoken most openly when illness swept the cabins twelve years earlier.
Ambrose had not chosen them by chance.
Catherine went directly to the main house.
She found her uncle in the dining room with the estate solicitor,
Mr. Harrow, and a merchant whose boots were covered in red clay.
Ambrose did not rise when she entered.
“You have returned,” he said.
“Where are the families from the east cabins?”
“They are being prepared for transfer.”
“I did not authorize any transfer.”
“I have authority to settle the debts.”
“Not to separate people because they spoke against the kiln.”
The solicitor looked uncomfortable.
Ambrose leaned back.
“You have been listening to lies from a damaged man and a woman who cannot sign her own name.”
Catherine placed Gabriel’s description of the glaze on the table.
“Your first shipment has been refused.”
The merchant beside Harrow stopped moving.
Ambrose glanced at the page, then pushed it away.
“Refused by whom?”
“By the buyer who realized your labels were false.”
The solicitor cleared his throat.
“The descriptions on the manifests should be accurate, Mr. Whitmore.”
Ambrose’s eyes narrowed.
“You are my solicitor, Harrow.”
“I am obliged to tell you the truth when you are making a sale.”
The merchant rose abruptly.
“I have no interest in purchasing disputed stock.”
He left before Ambrose could answer.
Catherine turned toward Harrow.
“Can my uncle sell the families without my consent?”
Harrow hesitated.
“The estate is under an unsettled debt arrangement.”
“That is not an answer.”
“The property may be subject to claims before the final inventory is accepted.”
Ambrose slapped the table.
“Enough.”
Catherine held her ground.
“I want every transfer stopped until the inventory is complete.”
“Then you will bankrupt the plantation.”
“It may already be bankrupt.”
Harrow looked toward the door.
Ambrose rose slowly.
“Your father understood what ownership required.”
“My father hid sickness beneath a polished dining table.”
“He preserved the estate.”
“Then why did he die owing half the county?”
The question landed harder than she expected.
Ambrose crossed the room, and for a moment she believed he would strike her.
He stopped close enough that she could smell the tobacco on his breath.
“You will remain in this house until I decide whether your conduct has endangered the creditors.”
He turned to a servant and ordered her room secured.
Catherine watched the servant’s face.
The woman was named Miriam and had worked in the house since Catherine was a girl.
Miriam did not look at Ambrose.
She looked at Catherine, waiting for the next command.
Catherine understood that refusing the lock would put Miriam in danger.
“I will go upstairs,” she said.
Ambrose stepped back.
“And you will stay there.”
As Catherine climbed the stairs, she heard the sound of wagon wheels beyond the house.
The families were already being moved.
She had spoken loudly in a room where powerful men could ignore her.
Elijah would have to find another way.
