Yesterday's Promise by Linda Lee Chaikin

angry. Once he mistakenly called her “Katie.” Who was Katie?
    â€œI’m bringing you to Kimberly,” he had said, standing and lighting a cheroot. “You can join Darinda there at the house. I’m already making plans with Peter to send him to Rhodes’s new colony. He’ll be assistant commissioner to Dr. Leander Jameson, Rhodes’s partner. And as Peter’s wife, you are going with him.”
    He looked at her with that one eye of his, so cool and impervious toargument. “I’ve no time to play mother hen, Arcilla. Politics and power are at stake here. Peter cannot afford to have his young wife carrying on with other men behind his back.”
    â€œLies! The old biddy lied—”
    â€œWhether she exaggerated or not matters little to me. The problems for Peter remain the same. I have important plans for him, and it’s crucial you do nothing to offend the wives of important men who can make it possible. Believe me, they wield more influence over their husband’s decisions than anyone cares to admit. If they think Peter’s wife is a tart, he will suffer for it by losing positions that are key to South Africa’s future.”
    â€œHave you told any of this to Peter?”
    â€œNo—not yet. And I won’t need to if you make up your mind to cooperate. Thankfully for you, he’s in Kimberly, and gossip is slow to reach him.”
    â€œI won’t go to Kimberly. And I certainly won’t go to the new colony and waste my life fighting insects and enduring heat and savages. I’m going home to London.”
    She had turned to flounce from the room when his words stopped her.
    â€œYou will not go home to London. You will do as I say, Arcilla.”
    She wheeled in surprise, and the look on his hard face froze her to silence. For the first time since she had married Peter and come to Capetown, she was afraid.
    â€œYou are a grown woman. You are married to Peter, and with Peter you shall go. You will be leaving with me for Kimberly in a few days. See that your bags are packed. Plans are being discussed for an expedition north. I won’t have him burdened by your tantrums. Just remember, he needs you.”
    Needs me? Peter hardly knows I’m around
. She shared nothing of his life. When he discussed things with her, he treated her as if she were a child, incapable of understanding anything of import regarding hisplans for South Africa. Oh, she understood all too well! Only two weeks ago there’d been the deaths of some white farmers near Matabeleland. What would it be like deep into the north near the Zambezi River?
    Sitting in the carriage on the wharf, she shuddered at the thought. Oh, if only Evy were here, she could tell Evy anything. Though Evy was too religious, she did not condemn her friend. Evy knew the worst about her yet still remained a friend—like her brother Rogan.
    Rogan…
Her hopes stirred to life. Rogan had always protected her, and he would help her now. She felt the same release that she’d felt after the wire arrived from Aunt Elosia.
    Auntie had wired Julien that Rogan would be arriving in Capetown on the H.M.S
King George
, due in Capetown around the fifteenth of July. Julien hadn’t been home when the Bantu delivered the wire, and she had confiscated the happy news and hushed it up all to herself, quite pleased that she had a secret Uncle Julien knew nothing about.
    Each morning she’d sent the Bantu down to the harbor to see if the ship had arrived. The ship was three days behind schedule, but yesterday the boy returned with a grin. The
King George
was anchored in Table Bay, and word about the dock area was that the passengers would disembark the next morning very early. Arcilla had slipped from Cape House unseen, and it seemed as though Providence was now like the wind at her back.
    She must convince Rogan to accept the offer Julien would make him to become part of the BSA—Cecil