The Prodigy Slave, Book One: Journey to Winter Garden: (Revised Edition 2020)

by Londyn Skye

  He stopped immediately and turned around. “Yes?”

  Lily took a moment before she spoke again. “Do you really believe in me?” she finally asked, staring nervously at the little leaf she still held in her hand.

  James walked back over and stood in front of her once again. This time, he placed his hand underneath her chin and gently raised her head toward him. “With all my heart,” he replied, gazing deep into her eyes.

  That was all Lily needed to hear.

  Chapter Ten

  Slave Code

  Article II Section XII

  Any person convicted of assisting a slave by advice, donation, transportation, loan, or otherwise in any way cause them to be deprived from their master, shall pay damages to said master to be adjudged by the justices of the provincial court or shall spend up to one year in jail.

  William had been certain after his wife’s death that he would never again return to playing the piano, let alone the stage. But in this special instance, he felt as though his return would serve a very prodigious purpose. If people were not motivated to come and see a Negro woman play, who ironically surpassed his capabilities, then his belief was that perhaps they would flock to see William Werthington’s grand return to the stage. William was not the arrogant type, but after decades of being regarded as one of the world’s greatest classical musicians, he knew that his name alone held lots of power. During his years on the circuit, William had never played to anything less than packed theaters, which often had to add shows just to accommodate the demands to see him. He was such a well-respected composer that his sheet music remained in high demand, well after his retirement. It was even a main staple in many schools and was played a world over by other professional orchestras. Knowing those facts, William wanted to take advantage of his fame and the revered Werthington name, in hopes of convincing people to see a show that in actuality belonged to an indentured woman.

  But using the famous Werthington name to attract an audience only resolved one of a few problems that William and James felt they had. During his discussion with James in his den, William realized the grave mistake he was making where Lily was concerned. He and James both had this magnificent dream for her to become a professional pianist, but they never once bothered to ask her what musical aspirations she had, if any. James and William both agreed that putting Lily on the spot at the gala without her permission was wrong. They now realized that forcing her to play piano in a show was no different than them playing her master and continuing to make her submit to them as their slave, which, ironically, was the role that James had literally gone out of his way to remove her from.

  To begin trying to atone for his mistakes, William wanted to first find out what Lily’s musical desires were. He wanted to know if she would allow him the honor of sharing the stage with her. He wanted that decision to be hers alone and not something she ever felt forced into doing. If she had no interest in performing, William was ready to humbly accept her decision and simply live with the honor of having met a woman of her brilliance. But if Lily desired to share her musical talent with the world, then it was he who was ready to submit himself to her.

  With that knowledge, James had set out to speak to Lily about the prospect of performing her music with William live onstage. With the news James delivered to him later that evening, William was pleased to hear that he would indeed have the honor of helping Lily carry her musical dreams to any place in the world she wished. He silently pledged his devotion to her dreams for as long as there was still air in his lungs.

  The second problem William faced was that he had no orchestra to play the accompaniment for Lily’s symphony. So, he set out to resolve that matter by returning to Ohio University. This time, however, it was not Richard he wished to speak with. William had only retired a few years prior, so he was certain that many of the students he taught still remained at the school. He went in search of his best musicians and found eighteen of them. Knowing that students often struggled with finances and food, he took them all out to dinner. As they ate, he explained his current musical plight. All was received well by the hungry brood until William mentioned Lily, whom they all remembered from the fundraising gala. When William heard the students’ predicted reluctance, he quickly mentioned the substantial amount of money he was willing to pay them for their assistance. For the band of impoverished students, suddenly, reluctance was no longer an issue. After they all agreed to participate, William insisted that they whisper nothing about the show to anyone. He gave them each a small down payment to ensure their silence and assured them that they would receive the rest of the money upon completion of the show.

  With Lily and her orchestra secured, the only matter that remained for William was ensuring that he had a suitable venue for them to perform in. But he was confident that the solution to that problem would soon be arriving at his home.

  Chapter Eleven

  Slave Code

  Section V Article XII

  Be it enacted that slaves and free Negroes are exempt from the right to dispense medication. Selling, preparing, and/or administering medicine shall result in a public whipping, not to exceed twenty stripes.

  James stormed into the kitchen frantically opening and slamming kitchen drawers without saying a word. Lily stopped preparing lunch and looked at him like he had lost his mind. “What on God’s green Earth is wrong with you?”

  “Nothin’!” James spat. He had his hand balled up in a fist, clutching it to his chest.

  Lily looked down and saw blood collecting on his shirt. “Lemme see.” She stopped him, turned his hand over, and gasped. “That sho’ don’t look like nothin’ to me! You done just about sliced your hand off!” she exclaimed, after seeing the gaping wound he had accidentally sustained while handling a splintered piece of wood.

  “It’s not that bad!” James retaliated, trying to convince himself of that.

  “Sit yo’self down!” Lily commanded, shoving him into a chair.

  James was calm while Lily searched for some first aid products, but then lost his wits again when he saw what she put on the table. “I don’t need that!” he objected, nearly falling out of his seat as he quickly backed away from the table. He was referring to a bottle of the same solution that he had used on Lily’s knee after she had fallen from their old tree as a kid. James had always hated the sting and the burn that lasted long after it was applied.

  “I do believe it was you who once insisted that this was necessary to keep from gettin’ infections,” Lily reminded him as she shook the bottle up.

  Knowing he had no argument against her, James blew out a breath of frustration and pouted like a spoiled child.

  “You always were like a scared little cat when it came to this stuff. Your mama would find you halfway up a tree by the time she caught you to put it on,” Lily teased.

  “Well, I’s just a kid then,” James replied, yanking his hand away when Lily tried to grab it.

  She rolled her eyes. “Mm-hmm, I can see how much things have changed,” she said sarcastically, trying to stop his hand from moving.

  “Well, I ain’t up a tree,” James pointed out, trying desperately to defend his cowardice.

  “Not yet anyway,” Lily joked. She finally grabbed a firm hold on his hand and used a pair of tweezers to pull out the large shards of wood that were still lodged in the wound.

  “Ow!” James kept grunting as each piece came out.

  “What in the world y’all doin’ out there anyway?” Lily asked, referring to all the men she had seen hammering away at the wagonload of wood James had brought onto the plantation earlier in the morning.

  “William hasn’t told you yet?”

  “Naw, he ain’t said a word. We’ve been workin’ nonstop on my music pieces.”

  “Well … Ow!” James yelled and flinched again. “Let’s just say, I hope it’s sturdy enough for your piano.”

  Lily suddenly stopped tending to James’s hand and looked up at him with an expression on her fa
ce that he had a hard time reading. “You mean, y’all buildin’ a stage?”

  “We are.”

  For days, Lily had wondered what theater was ever going to let her be a part of a show along with someone as prominent as William. She now had her answer. “William wants the show to be here?” she asked.

  “Right here on this very land,” James replied.

  Lily let go of his hand, stood up, and stared out the window. “Won’t no otha’ place be willin’ to let me play, will they?” she asked, suddenly feeling like more of a burden than anything else. “He has to do it this way ’cause ‘a me, don’t he?”

  “Lily,” James said, trying to get her attention, but she still continued to look out the window. “Lily, look at me, please.” When she finally turned toward him, he could tell by her expression that she felt horrible about all the extremes William was going through on the count of her. “William wants to do this,” he emphasized. “And don’t you believe anything else, ya’ hear?”

  “He’s right,” William said, appearing in the kitchen doorway, startling them both. He approached Lily and held both of her hands. “And I’d have them build ten stages if that’s what it took to have the honor of standing up there alongside you.”

  “William,” Lily whispered appreciatively. It was the only word she could seem to find after being touched by his. The rest of her reply was in a single tear trickling down her face.

  “But not eleven stages, though!” William suddenly joked, a silly tone in his British accent. “No, no, I’m afraid you aren’t worth that many!” he teased, as he so often did with Lily. He instantly turned her tears into a burst of laughter the way he had hoped. His joke was actually more of an effort to halt his own tears. But Lily suddenly hugged him tight, making the fight to hold his tears back just a little harder.

  William pulled back from Lily’s hug, smiled, and wiped away her remaining tears. “I don’t need you to worry yourself over these trivial matters. I need only for you to bring your heart onto the stage that this young man is building for you,” he said, glancing over at James, winking, and then turning his attention back to Lily. “Okay, my dear?”

  Lily nodded. William then cleared the rest of her tears and left her and James alone again. When he was gone, Lily turned again to stare out the window in amazement at all the men busy hammering away at wood. She truly had no words to describe how she was feeling over what William was doing for her and for the fact that James had brought her there in the first place. She was so overwhelmed, she did not know where to begin in thanking them for gifts and opportunities she felt she could never match in return. Her music was all she had to give. She only hoped that within every note she played they would hear the depths of her immeasurable gratitude for the kindness they were bestowing upon her.

  While Lily was pasted to the window watching the workers, James took the opportunity to weasel his way out of having his hand further tended to, in hopes he could avoid the solution he detested so much. “If we’re gonna finish that stage on time, I need to get back out there,” he said, turning to leave.

  Lily quickly grabbed his arm. “I ain’t nowhere near finished with you yet!” She shoved James back in his seat and sat down across from him. She grabbed the solution, dabbed it on the wound, and was surprised at how relatively calm he was in the process. She was even more shocked that he did not once flinch as she stitched the wound closed.

  Calmness had quickly come over James when his attention drifted from his injury to Lily’s angelic face while she diligently worked to mend his hand. Lost in a world of lovely thoughts about her, he was completely oblivious to pain. Lily looked up when she was finished and met his unblinking eyes. There was an intensity in the way James stared at her that ignited all of her nerve endings. The feeling was so intense that she could only hold a return gaze for a few seconds before she needed to escape. She jumped up abruptly and began digging around in a kitchen drawer to help ease the way she was feeling inside.

  “Umm, m-maybe you should use these,” she said, after finding a pair of gloves for James to use. She hoped that by the time she turned around, he had freed her from his sight. But she turned to find that she was still his visual prisoner. The way he gazed at her raised the heat within her another degree. She slowly walked back toward him, finally gathering the courage to fearlessly gaze at him in return.

  James stood as Lily approached. Still gazing hypnotically at her, he reached for the gloves with one hand, while simultaneously taking hold of her wrist with the other. “Thank you,” he said, never letting his eyes waver from her face. After snapping out of his trance, he finally let her hand go and proceeded to head back out to the field.

  With his eyes off of her, Lily finally felt like she could breathe again. “James,” she called out before he exited. He turned and enjoyed finding that he was still trapped in her sights. “Be careful, okay?”

  “I will,” James replied. He stared at Lily a moment longer before proceeding back out to the area of the field where he would soon have the chance to be entranced by her beauty yet again, but instead, while she was perched high above an audience, seated behind a grand piano, on a stage that he took great pride in building her.

  With the construction of the stage underway, the third and final problem on William’s list had been resolved. If nobody would have Lily in their venues, then William simply wanted to build her one. He and James had worked together to design a beautiful outdoor amphitheater with the acoustic structure necessary for the music of an orchestra in mind. It would all be situated on the sprawling land of William’s estate. The wood, the labor, the seats, the décor, the paint, and any other costs incurred were coming directly from William’s very own pocket. Fortunately, the price tag for the project would do little to dent the enormity of his wealth. To the average person, it would have been an expensive undertaking, especially considering that William did not plan to charge a fee, at first, to any of the patrons who attended. Being able to help a woman of Lily’s caliber, with the creation of a show that was all her own, was payment enough for William Werthington.

  Chapter Twelve

  Slave Code

  Article I Section VI

  Be it enacted, that any person whatsoever, who shall hereafter teach or cause any slave or slaves to be taught to read or write, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe, in any manner of writing whatsoever, shall for every such offense, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds, current money.

  March 1859

  The preparations for the fundraising gala paled in comparison to the efforts needed to prepare for Lily’s upcoming musical spectacular, which was set to be held at the very end of William’s Spring Extravaganza. The event was once another one of Emma’s favorite traditions. She used to invite families from all over Athens, disguising the party as the welcoming of spring weather and the coming of Easter. In actuality, it was her clever way of forcing people from all walks of life to mix and mingle with one another, especially children. It was Emma’s lifelong passion to break down the invisible social barriers in between class and race; she felt there was no better way to achieve that then by luring a variety of colored faces to her spring affair with music, games, food, and fine wine. After her death, however, William had ceased the tradition; it was too massive an undertaking for his broken heart to handle. But with a very specific purpose in mind, William found the strength to revive the highly anticipated event. There were now exactly three weeks left before that beautiful celebration was to resume. Normally, that would have been plenty of time for William and his pseudo family to prepare, but with the added element of Lily’s show everyone was putting in overtime to meet the deadline. For weeks, everyone assisting knew nothing but long work hours, brief dinners, and very little sleep. The resulting exhaustion was evident on everyone’s faces by the end of each day. But knowing the amazing feat they were trying to accomplish, there was not a single person who complained about the intense labor.

  Typically, William was respon
sible for collecting wine, food, and setting up games, but this year Anna Mae and Ben took over his tedious to-do list since nearly all of William’s time was dedicated to working with Lily. After having Lily choose eight songs from her mental archives to use in the performance, William taught her to read and write music. He also showed her the instruments that would be accompanying her piano melodies. He then taught her the basics of playing each. Lily quickly absorbed the knowledge with ease, far surpassing what he expected of someone after just a few weeks of lessons, or even years for that matter. In fact, Lily’s musical instincts were unlike any other William had ever known, including himself. All aspects of music came as naturally to Lily as a baby’s ability to suckle, further proving to William that music was clearly what she was born to do.

  William and Lily had initially collaborated to create the background sounds that would enhance her piano melodies, but soon William was afforded the luxury of reveling in her accomplishments from afar. In a short amount of time, Lily had learned enough to write the majority of the accompanying pieces on her own. She was soaring under William’s wing, not only because of the clarity of his instruction but also because of the way he caressed her spirit with fatherly affections.

  James did not know much about music and could not offer Lily any assistance in that area of her life, but he took a great deal of pride in contributing to her grand cause by creating a masterpiece in the middle of William’s land with his very hands. Even the serious injury Lily had stitched did not stop him from working until his body nearly gave out at the end of every evening. He wanted to ensure that Lily’s amphitheater was ready on time and done with artistic perfection.

  Unbeknownst to James, the diligence of his efforts did not go unnoticed. Lily happened to glance out the window one afternoon while pouring herself a glass of lemonade. What she saw stole her attention to the point that she overfilled her glass. The mesmerizing visual kept her coming back to that window every afternoon since. Lily was drawn to the kitchen window for one thing only, or rather, one man only. Every afternoon, she hypnotically gazed at James as he worked without a shirt during the hottest part of the day. She was amazed to see that nothing more remained of his boyish body. His chiseled chest and abdominal muscles and well-defined arms were a sight she struggled to pull her eyes away from. Since the day she had taken notice, she had been creating new excuses during her rehearsal time with William to escape for short periods of time to watch James work. Some days her excuse was laundry, other days it was food or extended bathroom breaks. Lily was using any reason she could to delight her eyes with the sight of such a ruggedly handsome man.