Anna's Revenge

By Mary Little

Anna Flowers lost her mother at a very young age to the brutal act of murder perpetrated by her stepfather, Eustace Thorn, the man her mother married after the death of her beloved father. After Eustace escapes the hand of justice, he promises to come back and complete the job by taking Anna's life too. Anna lives in fear of his return. The schoolteacher in Freedom Town takes Anna into her home after Anna's mother's death and raised her as if she were her child. Anna grows into a beautiful young woman. She catches the eye of the young men in Freedom, especially the new sheriff, Seth Stone. Struggling with her faith and her desire for revenge on Eustace, Anna hesitates to take Seth and his young son into her heart. Seth Stone, having left an unfaithful wife in Ireland only to return years later to take possession of their young son and bring him back to America, has not found women necessary to his comfort--at least only fleetingly. He is content to raise his son while he pursues criminals. He is content with his reputation as a relentless lawman who never gives up. He is content with his life until he met Anna. Anna, already secured in her place in Freedom Town, does not want anything to do with the new sheriff. Seth, struggling to make a stable home for his son, wants a mother for his child. Both pursued by the personal demons from their past, they find themselves drawn to each other. Danger surrounds them both from the criminals that Seth must pursue and the man Anna hopes never to encounter again. When Anna's worst fears are realized with the return of Eustace Thorn, it seems that she is lost to Seth forever. It appears that all will be lost for both of them. Anna Flowers fights for her life as Seth Stone fights for his life and the affection of his son. Will these two get together and change Freedom Town forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662471810

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Anna's Revenge

Mary Little

Copyright © 2022 Mary Little

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-6624-7180-3 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-7181-0 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Epilogue

About the Author

Prologue

June 3, 1874

Miss Belle! Miss Belle! Help! Somebody was screaming her name at the top of their lungs.

Belle Morrison jumped up at the frantic outcry, knocking over her coffee cup. Darn! That was not a pleasant thought, but she had just spilled her last cup of coffee. Right now, coffee was one of the things that the people in Freedom Town were finding hard to come by. Belle grabbed a large dishcloth and threw it on top of the spilled coffee before it could run to the floor, making a bigger mess. She heard the patter of running feet and threw open her back door, just in time to keep Simmie Flowers from slamming into it. She grabbed the little girl, preventing her from falling to the floor in a headlong stumble.

Help…help, Miss Belle! Simmie gasped. Help Momma! She paused, trying to catch her breath. Momma said the baby…he coming right now. Hurry, Miss Belle, please!

Belle knew Lizzie Thorn's child wasn't due for another three months. The baby is a long way off, Simmie. Tell your momma I'll be there as soon as I clean up this mess.

Simmie grabbed her arm. You got to come now, Miss Belle! Momma, she having awful pain and she bleeding bad. A chill ran up Belle's back.

When did the pains start?

Just now, Miss Belle. Eustace hit her. The pain started right after Eustace punched Momma and she flew against the wall. Then he kicked her in the stomach, saying he didn't ask her to give him no baby anyhow. Oh, Miss Belle, please hurry! I think Momma, she gonna die!

Belle Morrison didn't ask any more question. The whole town knew what a drunken brute Eustace Thorn could be, but surely even he would not kick his pregnant wife. She grabbed the bag she always had prepared for emergencies, such as unexpected early arrivals, then followed Simmie's retreating form out the door. Simmie was running as fast as her skinny little legs could carry her.

Belle thought, That child is just too thin. She was almost eleven years old but looked to be younger.

Belle broke into a run but was only rounding the corner onto the street where Simmie and her momma lived, in a rundown shack with Eustace Thorn, when she saw Simmie disappear into the cabin. Belle silently prayed that Eustace had taken his drunk and abusive self out of the home as Simmie had thought.

She pushed open the door, and her heart almost stopped. Lizzie Thorn was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Belle thought, Oh my god, she's dead.

A moment later, she noticed Lizzie's frail body give a slight shudder. She's still alive. She called to Simmie.

Simmie, go out to the pump and fill that bucket with water. She pointed to the empty bucket lying turned over by the table. She would need the water, but more than that, she wanted to get the child out of the house.

She struggled to get Lizzie on the cot against the wall where Simmie usually slept and made it just before Simmie came back into the shack.

Is Momma going to die, Miss Belle? Simmie asked. She had gone from frightened and frantic to a strange kind of calm.

Belle touched her shoulder. I'm going to do the best that I can to see that she doesn't, honey. She knew it was unlikely that anything she did would save the life of the baby, but maybe she could pull Lizzie through. If she did, she would do everything in her power to convince Lizzie to bring Simmie and come live with her. Proud or not, Lizzie had to know she couldn't keep going through this kind of beating.

Simmie, go to my house and pick up some things. She knew Simmie was a good reader because she had taught her herself in Freedom Town School. Belle was the schoolteacher as well as the only midwife in town. She wrote down a hurried list and sent Simmie on her way.

The baby, a little boy, entered the world before Simmie returned. He was dead. Belle was not surprised. Lizzie did not hold on much longer, lasting only long enough for Simmie to say goodbye to the only family she had. Eustace did not count. He was only her stepfather and not much of one at that.

Eustace did this, Miss Belle. He killed my momma. I don't care about the baby. He's better off dead than with Eustace as a daddy. She turned her huge brown eyes to Belle. You know why he did this? Her voice sounded cold, so very old. He did it because Momma said no, and he told her that was the last time she was ever going to say no to him.

No? Belle frowned. What about the simple word no could make a man, even a drunk like Eustace Thorn, so murderous? I don't understand.

He said he's her man and she had better do what he told her to do. I thought they were talking about money because he was always trying to make Momma take the money out of the bank my poppa left for me and give it to him. Momma would always say that Poppa had broken his back doing farmwork and odd jobs for that money. Then he said she owed him… She stopped. After a while, she took a deep breath. Her body shuddered. She pointed at the cot a few feet away from where her dead mother and brother lay. He said she owed him his rights as her husband…in the bed.

Belle was appalled. She had heard of such men but never knew one. A man who would force his own wife. Lizzie had been sick throughout her lying-in. The doctor only came through once every three or four months, and he had said Lizzie's baby was not in the right place. With rest and good nutrition both, Lizzie and the baby should come through. After all, he said, women have been having babies for centuries. He didn't know that Lizzie wasn't in any condition to get the rest or provide the nutrition she needed—for herself, the baby, and Simmie. Eustace certainly wouldn't do it. He didn't keep a job more than a few days, and he took everything Lizzie earned if he could find it or beat it out of her.

You mean Eustace wanted to have intimate relations with your mother in her weak condition? Belle was trying to take it all in. Then when she said no, he hit her.

Simmie looked at her through angry eyes. He didn't hit her! He beat her! Belle felt embarrassed by the look of disdain ten-year-old Simmie gave her.

Anyway, he didn't beat her for that reason. She finally agreed to give herself to him even if it was painful. But he had changed his evil mind.

Then what did she say no to?

Simmie looked into her eyes and answered, Me.

You? What do you mean you?

He said if Momma couldn't take care of her wifely duties, then I would have to do it.

You! Belle expressed her outrage. You're a child!

He said he knew I was woman enough. Momma knew then that he was as evil as she ever could have imagined!

Pity she didn't know that before she married him, Belle thought. Eustace could be charming when he wanted to be. He had almost fooled Stacey Hyatt into marrying him. It was only later, when he knew Stacey and her money was lost to him. that he had turned his attentions to Lizzie Flowers, with her delicate features.

She didn't know it until they got married. Simmie's voice brought Belle back to the present. She must have been reading her mind. He always acted so nice until then. Momma said a woman and a child alone in the world needed a man to protect them. She sighed.

Anyway, that's why Momma seemed to look worried lately whenever Eustace called me to him to bring him water or his boots or something else. Now think of it, she has been binding my chest since my last birthday. He said he's been watching me when I bathe. She sighed. Anyway, that's when Momma said she was feeling better and she would join him in their room. He yelled, ‘Too late, I don't want you no more! Why should I take you when I can have her? Look at yourself! I want somebody younger than a broken-down mess like you, anyway!'

She looked at Belle, letting the words sink into her, as they must have done in Simmie's innocent heart. Momma sent me outside, but I could hear her pleading with him. Finally, she just said, ‘No, Eustace! I will not allow you to touch Simone!' He struck her then again and again. He beat her. I didn't see it, but I heard it. I ran around the house and hid until he left. When I came back in, Momma send me to get you.

Belle tried to draw Simmie into a comforting hug. She shrugged her off. She said only one other thing.

I. Will. Kill. Eustace Thorn. She spoke each word as if each was its own sentence. Belle knew that unless something miraculous happened, Simmie would carry out her promise.

Chapter 1

September 21, 1884

Belle looked up as Anna came through the door. How was school today? She smiled her charming smile, glad she had been able to turn Freedom Town School over to such a competent teacher. Anna's thick black hair was pulled back and French-braided, as it always was, except on Sunday when she wore it in a bun on top of her head. She wanted everyone to know she was a woman grown, not a child. Her slender figure and her youthful appearance often made people think she was little more than a child, although she topped five feet and five inches.

Tiring, Anna admitted. Oh, did you know we have a new family in Freedom? she asked Belle.

I've got a new student today. Andrew James Stone is his name. For all that big name, he is just a little fella. I'd guess him to be about six years old. I put him in the group with the younger boys and girls, but he already shows more promise than some of my older students. He walked in with some of the Johnson children, so I haven't met his parents yet. Neil Johnson said his pa asked him to bring Andy to the school with him. He said Andy's father would be by later, but something must have happened because he still hadn't turned up when school let out. I had to keep some of the bigger boys from picking on him today. Leroy Campbell is the worst kind of bully, always picking fights with boys who are younger and smaller, physically weaker. Anna looked exasperated.

I'll tell you something, though, Andy's got heart. Oh yes, he very properly gave me permission to call him Andy. He said only his father calls him Andrew. This time, Anna smiled. He didn't back down. Not even from Leroy who's twice his size. Leroy was teasing him about being so small, and he stuck his little nose right in Leroy's chest, that's as far as it could reach, and said he could beat him. I stopped Leroy just before he could cuff Andy on the side of his head with his fist.

Belle laughed. Well, considering his size, he might want to learn how to accept a little teasing. The bigger boys will keep pushing as long as they can get a rise out of him.

I'll keep an eye on the situation.

Belle laughed. Well, I've never seen an underdog you wouldn't fight for.

Anna laughed her rare laughter. Well, let me help you with dinner. I'm so hungry I don't have the strength to fight a baby right now. She reached for an apron hanging by the kitchen cabinet and tied it around her slender waist. Now what can I do?

Looking sheepish, Belle asked, Can you make a batch of your wonderful biscuits?

I should have known. That's the only thing I'm really good at cooking, Anna admitted.

Well, not the only thing, Belle corrected generously. It is just the best thing you can cook.

Jim-the-Blacksmith is just ‘crazy about' my potato salad and fried chicken. She had that tongue-in-cheek look.

James Smith, Freedom Town's own blacksmith, was ten years older than Anna. He was better known as Jim-the-Blacksmith. He and Anna went way back. He had made himself her self-proclaimed protector when Anna was just about to turn fourteen years old.

She had been born Anna Simone Flowers. In her childhood, she had been called Simmie. From the day Eustace Thorn had murdered her mother, she never answered to the childhood name again. Yet some of the older boys had tormented her with it until the day Jim-the-Blacksmith caught them at it. She had long since discarded the name Simmie, but one day, some of the boys in town followed her down the street, chanting, Simmie, Simmie, Simple, Simple, Simmie.

When she refused to acknowledge them one of them, Leroy Campbell's older brother, Carl, had given her a violent shove, knocking her to the ground. Jim had come along and sent the boys running for their lives. He picked her up off the ground, brushed her off, and made sure she got home, to Belle's house, safely.

Later she and Belle had found out that Jim had beat the tar out of those boys. They never teased Anna again. That was also the last time anyone had called Anna by her old name, Simmie. Anna had accepted Jim as a friend, and ever since then, they had been fast friends. The whole town, even Belle, thought they would eventually marry.

Once, when Freedom's only reverend, Winston Marshall, had asked Jim if he hoped to make Anna his wife, he had admitted, Miss Anna is not for me. One time I did have expectations in that direction, but she looks at me like a friend and brother, so over the years, I gave up that idea. Now I just want to protect her. Tell you the truth, Reverend, I feel like I been looking after my little sister for years. She had so much trouble in her young life, with her mother marrying Eustace Thorn and all, I've always wanted to keep her safe.

A husband would have the right to keep her safe, Winston Marshall offered.

I'll find me a wife someday, Jim answered good-naturedly. In the meantime, I will keep on thinking of Anna Flowers as mine to look after until the Good Lord sends along someone else to take over the job. I'll know when the right one shows up.

Winston nodded, secretly glad to hear this since Anna Simone Flowers looked at Jim with the eyes of an affectionate sister. Only. He was a good man, and Winston did not want to see him hurt when Anna eventually chose a man to wed. She might be hesitant about men right now, but she was only nineteen, and that would change one day. Jim had been besotted for several years, but now he was just Anna's self-appointed protector. Winston nodded, at peace with that idea.

Belle agreed that Jim-the-Blacksmith ate Anna's potato salad and fried chicken, although it was only passable, especially when compared to Belle's. Jim-the-Blacksmith is a besotted fool whenever you are around. He'd eat mud pies and call them good if you made them. Both women laughed goodheartedly at the image that called forth.

Jim is just my good friend and protector, unlike the Reverend Winston Marshall when you come into view.

Don't be silly. Winston and I have known each other for years. We are friends. Nothing more. Belle spoke briskly.

Don't give me that ‘this is the end of the conversation' tone. You are nothing more because you want it that way. Do you see the way he looks at you when you come into the church? Winston practically devours you with his eyes, but only when he thinks nobody is looking. I swear I thought he was going to jump down from the pulpit last Sunday and strangle Henry for walking you to church. Belle knew Anna would tease her unmercifully if she didn't stop her nonsense.

Hey! Get to the biscuits, girl. She threw some dry flour into Anna's hair.

Belle was reluctant to admit that Winston was attracted to her, although she had begun to think that might be the case. Winston had come to Freedom Town about six years prior. He was a new widower then. His wife and son had just been killed in a renegade Comanche raid. He had still been grieving over his wife and his son. There was no place in his life for Belle or any other woman, and he had never expressed any desire to change that.

Although I did notice last Sunday that he was pretty insistent that I explain how I happened to come to church with Henry Little.

The Reverend was a fine figure of a man, and several women in the town had set their caps for him. Belle had not been one of them. Maybe that is why they had become friends. Belle had rented the handsome man a room for six months while he planned and built his own house, where he now lived. When the house was finished, he had asked Belle to help him decorate it. Belle had had a wonderful time going through the catalogs from Austin, helping him pick out furniture and drapes and bedding and everything else that a man would need in a home.

All of Freedom Town's citizens speculated that Winston would be looking for a wife. Some gossiped that Belle had set her cap for him. She had not. She was content to be Winston's good friend. She went out of her way to show the women in Freedom that she was not a stumbling block to their amorous intentions. Winston's persistence in being friendly to all the women, showing no special favor for any one of them, had finally discouraged most of the women in Freedom Town—all except Stacey Hyatt. It would take a whole lot to discourage a determined woman like Stacey Hyatt.

Stacey was a law unto herself. She had chosen her own name, refusing to be called Maggie Morgan, a name given to her by her slave master father. She refused to carry his name, but she was not above flaunting the high yellow color of her skin and the money he had bequeathed to her to gain power. Despite the circumstances under which she was conceived, it was rumored that Maggie's father had doted on her, showing all the favor he could considering their stations in life. His wife had never brought a child to full term. His only child, Maggie, had been born to one of his slave women.

Maggie's mother had been given a cabin on the edge of the plantation and expected to raise his only child. He had never approached her again until the night of her death. Some of the other slave women had, out of jealousy, stoned her to death, calling her a Jezebel. Maggie's mother went to her grave without pointing the finger at any of her attackers even though he had begged to know who had done this. She had only said, I did not see Massa.

Mr. Morgan had put another slave woman in charge of raising Maggie. He had moved them from the cabin to the servants' quarters in the big house. He had warned that if anything happened to Maggie, he would have the Overseer enact punishment on every female slave on his plantation. Little Maggie grew up being treated like a princess by all the other slaves as long as she remained on the Morgan Plantation.

She remained a slave until shortly before her father's death. He had had the foresight to give her freedom and a home away from the plantation before the Union soldiers overran the plantation, before he was killed. Having given her a home and money to maintain a prosperous style of living, he had done all he could.

Despite this, Maggie was angry and bitter about her precarious station in life. She renamed herself Stacey Hyatt after a hotel had refused to allow her to pass through its doors as a guest