Charity & Phillips

Chapter 39

The coach ride was just as long as the last. It was aggravating for everyone involved sitting inside the coach for that amount of time. Thomas continuously looked to Charity, hoping that he may get a look of warmth from her. Charity was still distant and aloof. He was amazed how she seemingly was never was cold toward him. Despite her anger, he believed it was not in her heart to punish him.

The Mistress noticed Thomas seeking Charity's attention. It upset her relentlessly. She could not understand why her husband was so stuck on that one slave. After many hours of riding, the Mistress decided to stop the coach. "Please, draw the coach to the side of the road. I must take a break."

The coach stopped at her words, and so did the second coach who followed behind. The Mistress ached as she opened the coach door, stepping outside. Thomas was upset by Phoebe's antics. "What could possibly be wrong? The more stops we take, the longer the journey shall be."

Phoebe leaned over a bush as she held her stomach. She turned her back to the coach so it wasn't exactly clear what she was doing. Charity was the first to speak. "It seems as though the Mistress has fallen sick."

"Is that what she's doing?" Thomas asked. Then he groaned. "It's possible all that food she'd eaten at the McCarthy farm."

"Allow me to step out and assist her."  Charity asked as she placed a hand on Thomas' knee. He looked at her as though she were speaking another language.

"Assist her? Charity dear, that won't be necessary." Thomas said as he held onto Charity's hand. As soon as he clasped her hand, Charity pulled it away. Thomas noticed her sudden withdraw from him, and it further upset him.

Phoebe continued to cough outside. "Mr. Phillips, I must help her."

"If you must." Thomas grumbled. Charity began to exit the coach, which caused Thomas to fall out to her. "But hurry, my love."

Without an answer, Charity walked over to the Mistress. Reluctantly Charity approached her, then attempted to place her hands on the Mistresses' shoulders. Immediately Phoebe shook her off. Charity, stepped back, then looked over at Thomas and Brian who watched from the coach.Thomas motioned for Charity to return, but Charity ignored his order.

"Mistress, it's Charity." She told Phoebe.

"I know who you are." The Mistress said as she stood up and took out a handkerchief.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Charity told the Mistress. Although Mistress Phoebe was horrible in many ways, she now related to her in one. Charity could partially see why Phoebe acted so sourly toward her.

"I do not need any assistance from you. It's only travel sickness that caused me this." Phoebe told Charity as she stuffed her handkerchief back in her skirt pocket. "Where are my slaves?"

"I'm not sure if they could see what was happening from their coach." Charity told the Mistress. "Are you better now? Do you need to get you anything?"

"Never better." The Mistress answered sarcastically. With her head held up high with pride, the Mistress began to make her way back to the coach. Charity nervously played with her fingers, contemplating whether or not she should continue to speak.

Swiftly, Charity turned around to face the Phoebe. "Mistress, I know you do not like me." Charity spoke. Her words caused Phoebe to stop in her tracks. The disgust on the Mistress' face could be recognized from miles away.

Thomas watched the two women from afar in the coach. He looked to Brian in wonder. "What could those two possibly be speaking of?"

Brian knew that the only plausible answer would be of Mr. Phillips himself. However, he knew not to express such a thing. "Who knows what they speak of? Women have the most strange way of making conversation out of anything."

Charity could not let the conversation rest. She continued trying to speak to the Mistress, as if her words could calm her down.

"I know I may not be kind to you. Indirectly I may cause you distress, and for that I am sorry." Charity told the Mistress. "But it doesn't seem like our situation will end anytime soon. So it would be great if you and I could reconcile and set aside our differences."

Phoebe stayed quiet for a long moment, then turned to totally face Charity. "Is that how you spoke to your mistress at the Cunningham household?"

A look of fear spread across Charity's face.

"I should have you lynched for familiar speech such as that." Charity angrily barked at Charity. "Do not think your position as my husband's bed wench protects you!"

Charity shut her mouth at that comment. The Mistress turned back around and continued on forward to the coach. Once she got there, she stood in front of it as she waited for Thomas to get out and help her inside. When he didn't, it was Brian who took the initiative to help the Mistress into the coach, then he followed behind her.

When Charity came back to the coach, Thomas stepped outside and helped Charity in. Charity, however, did not thank him. Thomas wiped over his face as he thought about how much Charity seemed to resent him. His concentration of Charity distracted him from Phoebe, who was about to burst into tears.

"Must every second of every day revolve around her?" Phoebe shouted at her husband as he returned inside the coach. "Must you always long for her?"

Charity silently looked down at her lap as she sat there. Brian looked down at his own lap, embarrassed for the Mistress as he listened to her outburst. Thomas stared Phoebe right in the eyes, but didn't at all verbally acknowledge her words.

Thomas only had two words to say, "Onward, driver!"

The Mistress tried to control her sickness as the coach drove on. The group stopped in Maryland to reside in the same lodge as before. Thomas looked around in the same hallway for Venus, just to see if she still was in the clutches of sexual servitude. However, she was no where to be found. He was proud that she truly was freed after he'd left the inn.

Charity walked up behind Thomas. This time around, she was supposed to share a room with Phoebe's helpers. But there stood Thomas in the middle of the hallway, looking back at her.