The Planter's Daughter

by Michelle Shocklee

  Clearly taken aback by her gruff response, Natalie’s smooth brow furrowed. “Adella Rose, you haven’t been yourself since we returned. Is something troubling you?”

  How she longed to blurt out the whole truth. That everything about their lives was a lie. That Papa had sold her to the highest bidder because they were broke—worse than broke. The debts Papa owed seemed insurmountable. Adella honestly didn’t know what Papa and George would do when she ran away with Seth. She prayed Marshall would do the honorable thing and continue with the business agreement, but that was out of her hands. She had let them use her long enough. From now on, she was in charge of her own life.

  “Natalie, don’t you ever get tired of pretending? Pretending that money can buy happiness. Pretending that money will make things all better when in reality it makes things worse?”

  Natalie looked confused, blinking several times. “I don’t know what you mean, Adella Rose. Surely you don’t wish you were poor, like those wretched souls we saw in the slums of New Orleans.” The petite blonde shuddered. “Living in hovels, with children as filthy as the dirt. Of course money can’t buy happiness, but it certainly makes life easier, don’t you agree?”

  Adella studied her sister-in-law. She seemed content in her marriage to George, despite the wedding day jitters that nearly caused her to call off the ceremony. Perhaps she did love George or had at least fallen in love with him during their trip. A slight flush filled Adella’s cheeks, knowing she and Seth would soon enjoy the intimacies Natalie and George experienced. Things done in the privacy of a marriage chamber were unknown to her, but she couldn’t keep the warmth from forming in her belly when she thought of Seth claiming her as his wife.

  But what of Lucy?

  The young mother’s face flashed across her mind, along with the tiny babe who had Ellis blood running through her veins. Would George acknowledge Mara as his child? The possibility of that happening was remote, at best. Though Seth hadn’t accused George of fathering other children, it seemed likely his indiscretion with Lucy was not his first. What if he went back to his old ways despite being a married man?

  She looked again at Natalie. The girl deserved so much better than what George would give her. Had the circumstances been different, Adella and she might have become true sisters over time. But as things stood, it wasn’t likely she’d ever see Natalie again once she and Seth rode away from Rose Hill.

  “I hope you will be happy here, Natalie. I truly do.”

  Natalie glanced up from the colorful squares of paper she’d spread out on the low table in front of her. Her fine brows arched. “Why, thank you, Adella. That means a great deal to me. I know it must be difficult for you to watch me take charge of Rose Hill Manor. But you will soon be busy as mistress of Le Beau. Perhaps you’d like to look through these samples, and we can compare notes on paint colors and fabrics. I understand Marshall wants you to redecorate the entire house. Won’t it be so much fun?”

  Adella didn’t answer. There was nothing left to say.

  Later, she made her way to the kitchen wing. The noon meal had been served, and preparations for dinner wouldn’t begin for a while. In this brief lull that took place each day, Aunt Lu could often be found alone in her room above the kitchen.

  Making certain no one noticed her, Adella ascended the stairs quickly and found the older woman sitting on the edge of the narrow bed with one foot propped up on a low stool.

  “Missy,” she exclaimed, a smile spreading across her face. “Been a long time since you’s come up yonder ta visits me.”

  Adella grinned, looking about the sparsely furnished room that never changed. “I remember sneaking up here when I broke one of Mama’s porcelain vases. You found me curled up asleep under your covers.”

  With a deep chuckle, Aunt Lu nodded. “I ’member that time, an’ lots o’ others. I ’member, too, the talks we’s had up here after Miz Martha goes on ta heaven.”

  Aunt Lu patted the bed beside her. Adella took the offered seat.

  “I don’t think I would have survived those days without you, Aunt Lu,” she said, taking the older woman’s work-worn hand in hers. “You are as much family to me as Mama was.”

  “Aw, that sho’ do make my heart warm, Missy.” Aunt Lu put her other hand over Adella’s.

  “How is your ankle?”

  “Oh, it be fine. Jes’ sore if I stands on it too long.”

  Knowing she only had a short time to explain the details of the plan to Aunt Lu, Adella took a deep breath. “Aunt Lu, I need you to listen to me.” She squeezed the woman’s hand. “I can’t marry Marshall like Papa wants.” Her voice caught in her throat, feeling emotional and shy about revealing her deep feelings for Seth to another living soul. “I love Seth,” she whispered.

  Aunt Lu’s face broke into a smile. “I know’d it. I been watchin’ the two o’ yous. He loves you too, Missy. I can tell.”

  Tears sprang to her eyes. “I know he does. We want to be married, but Papa won’t allow it. While I was at Le Beau, Papa confessed some terrible things. He is in financial trouble, Aunt Lu. So bad, he could lose Rose Hill. To save it, he made a business agreement with Marshall, but it also involves me. I must marry Marshall.”

  During the brief telling of the tale, Aunt Lu’s eyes grew wider and wider. “Oh, Missy. Don’t you know Miz Martha be rollin’ in her grave if she know’d what Massa Luther doin’.”

  “That isn’t all, I’m afraid.” Adella hated that she had to tell the precious woman the rest of the sordid story. “Papa says if I don’t marry Marshall, he will sell all you slaves. First Jeptha, then you, then Carolina. He will start with those I care most about, then each day I refuse to obey him, he will sell another slave until they are all gone.”

  Tears rolled down her face, staining the blue material of her gown. Shame filled her, even though she had nothing to do with Papa’s despicable threat. But her skin was white, and she was the daughter of a white plantation owner. That in itself made her as guilty as Papa in the slaves’ eyes.

  “Oh, Missy.” Fear and pain filled the deep crevices of Aunt Lu’s lined face before she closed her eyes. “Oh, Lawd,” she breathed, hanging her head.

  “Seth and I want you and Zina to come with us,” Adella plunged forward, giving Aunt Lu’s hands a little shake to get her attention. “We haven’t worked out all the details yet, but we will have to leave within a few days. Marshall arrives Saturday, believing I will marry him a few days later. We have to be gone by then, or Papa will force me into the marriage, I am sure of it.”

  A confused frown tugged Aunt Lu’s brow. “You mean you’s gonna buy me from yo’ pappy?”

  Adella shook her head. “No. He wouldn’t sell you to me, even if I had the money. Papa is determined to punish me and anyone I care about if I don’t bend to his demands.” She held Aunt Lu’s gaze. “I want you to run away with us. And Jeptha, if he’s willing. Maybe Lucy, too, although I haven’t talked to her about it.”

  Shock came over Aunt Lu’s features. “You mean you’s talkin’ ’bout us’ns runnin’ away, like them Negroes we’s hear ’bout bein’ chased down by them patterollers an’ they dogs? Oh, no, Missy. No, no!” She stood, limping on her hurt ankle, and crossed to the single window, shaking her head and muttering, “No, Lawd. No.”

  “I wouldn’t ask you to do something so risky if I didn’t believe you were in even greater danger by staying.” Adella went to the woman. Aunt Lu’s fear-filled eyes met hers. “Papa will sell you, Aunt Lu. He will take you to the market in Galveston because he knows how much I love you.”

  Her choked words brought tears to Aunt Lu’s eyes. “Oh, honey chile, I loves you, too. You like one o’ my own, you is. But … but what you’s askin’ me ta do …” She shot a look at the open door to the stairwell then back to Adella. “What you askin’ me to do,” she repeated in a lowered voice, “it be too dange’ous. And my Zina? No, no, I cain’t lose her. ’Sides, she belong to Miss Natalie, so she be safe.”

  “Aunt Lu,
you know as well as I do any slaves Natalie owned are now owned by George. I wouldn’t put it past Papa to convince George to sell Zina as well.” She softened her voice. “You may lose her anyway. At least if the two of you go away with us, you’ll know where she is and have a chance at a new life together. A life of freedom, if everything works out the way we hope it will.”

  A tiny spark of interest ignited in Aunt Lu’s eyes upon hearing the word freedom. “You really think you an’ Mistah Brantley can get us’n’s outta here safe like? Where we go? We got’s no papers or nothin’. Them patterollers go up an’ down them roads, lookin’ for runaway Negros.” She shuddered. “I don’t even wants to think ’bout what’ll happen if them white men’s catch us’n’s.”

  Realizing it would take more solid assurances of their plan to convince Aunt Lu of its validity, she reached out to grasp the woman by the arm. “Please think about it, Aunt Lu. Seth and I don’t have all the details worked out yet, but when we do, we will have to move quickly.”

  A voice from the kitchen below called to Aunt Lu. She cast a fearful look at the door then back to Adella.

  “I think on it, Missy,” she whispered. “I ask the Lawd what to do. You best be doin’ the same.”

  Adella watched her hurry from the room, realizing that the older woman was right. They desperately needed God’s direction if this wild plan was going to work. Kneeling right there at Aunt Lu’s bed, Adella poured her heart out to the Lord. Above all, she had to make sure their plan was the right thing to do. Too many lives were at stake for them to fail.

  How long she knelt there, Adella didn’t know. But when she stood, a faint smile crept to her lips.

  She knew exactly what needed to be done.

  “I went down to the quarter today to see about Monroe.”

  Papa made the announcement while the family gathered on the porch after dinner, to escape the stuffy house. The day had been the hottest of the season thus far, but they all knew summers in Texas brought temperatures well over one hundred degrees before it was all said and done.

  “How long before he can get back to work?” George asked, sipping from a small glass of amber liquid.

  Adella noticed that since he’d returned from his honeymoon trip, her brother partook of the drink more often than he’d done before. Papa, too, imbibed more in recent days. She supposed the strain of their financial situation drove them to it.

  “I’ll give him a few more days to let his ribs heal, but we’ll need him in the fields by next week.” He cast a pointed look in her direction. “It seems we will be in need of an overseer soon.”

  Adella ignored the barb, fearing she might slip and reveal her elation that Seth would no longer be the overseer at Rose Hill. Little did Papa realize she would be gone as well. Would he care?

  George chuckled. “I always knew my little sister was gullible, but to actually believe Brantley wanted to marry you for love is preposterous. He was after your money, Adella Rose. Plain and simple.”

  “As you were after Natalie’s?” she said, outraged Papa had apparently revealed her private matter to George and that her brother would use it to poke fun at her.

  Hurt filled Natalie’s eyes, however, and Adella regretted her outburst.

  “I am sorry, Natalie,” she hurried to say. “I didn’t mean that.”

  George scoffed. “Yes, you did. I fear you have many hard lessons to learn, little sister, about the decorum expected of a planter’s wife. Marshall certainly has his work cut out for him. You can’t spew every thought that enters that head of yours. It would do you well to pay close attention to my wife, who is flawless in her role as a planter’s wife. Everyone in New Orleans thought so.”

  Though Adella longed to defend herself, she had already offended Natalie once. She couldn’t afford to do so again, so she remained silent.

  George tossed the remaining liquid down his throat and stood. “Come, Natalie. Let us retire for the night. I would not want you further insulted by my dear sister.”

  Natalie stood and followed George inside the house without looking at Adella. Tomorrow, Adella made a mental note, she would need to repair the damage her careless words had done. She truly did like Natalie, as well as feel sorry for her.

  Not wishing to linger on the porch with Papa, Adella stood. “I believe I will retire as well.”

  “Sit down, Adella. I will have a word with you.”

  Unhappy at being detained, she sat on the edge of the wicker chair and waited. Whatever her father had to say was of little importance at this point, but she would give him the respect due his position as her father.

  “I trust you have come to terms with your marriage to Marshall,” he said, taking a cigar from his breast pocket. He struck a match on the leg of his chair and lit the end, puffing smoke into the air.

  Although she didn’t want to lie, she couldn’t be honest with him either. “My future is in God’s hands,” she stated simply, which was absolutely the truth.

  Papa gave a humorless laugh. “God himself could not have arranged a better marriage for you. Someday I hope you will have the decency to thank me instead of acting as though I forced you to sell your soul to the Devil.”

  “The fact that you have sold me at all is what troubles me, Papa. Marriage should not be about money and debts and property. It should be about love and the desire to make a happy life with another person. Marshall is a fine man, no doubt, but I believe he would be far happier with someone other than me. I don’t love him, and I suspect I never will.”

  Squinting through the smoke of his cigar, Papa said, “Your brother is right, you know. As Marshall Brevard’s wife, you will need to learn to keep your opinions to yourself. No planter worth his salt wants a wife who can’t maintain the proper etiquette demanded of her position. Your mother would be horrified at your behavior tonight.”

  Adella gasped. “You dare speak of mother’s disappointment with me when you are guilty of selling her daughter to the highest bidder because of your own mismanagement of Rose Hill funds.”

  Before she knew what he was about, Papa stood and slapped her so hard it knocked her from her seat. Sprawled on the porch, Adella stared up in horror, the side of her face throbbing with fire.

  “I will not tolerate your disrespect. You know nothing of the business of Rose Hill. Learning a few facts from Marshall does not give you the right to criticize me. The sooner you learn to accept male superiority in business matters, the better it will be for you. Your mother learned that lesson early in our marriage. You will do well to follow in her footsteps.”

  He left her then, disappearing into the house.

  Adella sat where she was, too stunned to move. In all her years, Papa had never struck her. He’d always treated her like a princess, his special girl. Tears welled in her eyes, realizing her father possessed a side she had never known existed until recently.

  The sound of heavy footfalls running toward the house brought her face up. She looked out into the darkness. Fear of being assaulted again, this time by an unknown assailant, sent her to her feet. Before she could reach the door, he came into the circle of light cast off from the porch lantern.

  “Adella,” Seth panted, taking the steps two at a time to reach her side and grimacing when his injured leg landed on the hard wood.

  “Oh, Seth,” she breathed, falling into his embrace. When she felt his strong arms encircle her, the tears began to fall. She clung to him as though he were a lifeline.

  “I saw what he did,” Seth said between clenched teeth. “I was watching you, hoping we’d have a chance to talk. I am going in there and giving your father what is due him.” He pulled her out of his arms, looking at her face. “Are you all right?”

  She shook her head, a sob catching in her throat. “No, but I will be, as soon as you take me away from here.”

  Cradling her head against his chest, Seth whispered words of love and promise. With his heartbeat beneath her cheek, she pressed ever closer, knowing the steadfastness of the
sound matched that of the man who loved her.

  When she finally quieted, he stepped away. “I won’t allow him to ever touch you again.”

  With angry strides, Seth moved to the door, but she couldn’t let him confront Papa. Not yet. “No, Seth. Wait, please.”

  “Adella, he struck you. I won’t stand by and pretend I didn’t witness it.”

  She heard the frustration in his voice. “He will send you away tonight if you go in there. Or worse. I don’t know what Papa is capable of anymore.”

  Running a hand through his thick hair, Seth glanced between her and the door before he finally acquiesced. “Fine. But if he so much as raises his voice to you, I am taking you out of here. Jeptha and the others will simply have to fend for themselves.”

  Loving him even more, she laid her hand against the rough stubble on his cheek. “Thank you, Seth,” she whispered.

  He took her hand and pressed his warm lips to the center of her palm. “I love you, Adella Rose.”

  A soft gasp came from just inside the open door.

  Startled, they both turned to find Natalie staring at them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  “Sit still, Missy, an’ le’me get this here poultice on that swellin’ o’ yours.”

  Seth watched Aunt Lu apply a cloth with a smelly mixture wrapped inside to the red, swollen area of Adella’s face. That the place bore the shape of her father’s hand nearly undid Seth. It was all he could do to keep from barging into Luther’s private chamber and laying the man out flat.

  “Do you think Natalie will tell George?” Adella asked, holding the cloth in place while Aunt Lu moved to the stove and prepared a cup of herbal tea for her. When Seth gave her a questioning look, she responded with a slight smile. “It’s all right. Aunt Lu knows of our plans and that we want her and Zina to come with us.”