Chapter 20 #3
For a moment, she didn’t know what to say. What could be said? Sometime in the distant future, things might change, just as they were changing in the British dominions. But, for now, this was the way things were and there was precious little she could do about it.
All she could do was to reassure.
‘Venus, I can’t answer your question. I know it’s easy to say that I know how you feel, but I don’t. Not about slavery anyway.’
The memory of New Orleans and how it had felt to be appraised and priced flitted into her mind.
Looking back at it, the whole process was demeaning.
It took guts, but she refused to let it destroy her.
She had won through and would rise above it.
She was free and for that she was extremely grateful.
In the case of Venus, it was a life sentence, not just a fleeting moment.
Perhaps not used to kindness, Venus flinched when Lochranza placed an arm around the young girl’s shoulders.
‘Come on. Let’s talk about this,’ said Lochranza.
She led her back into the bedroom and, like two school friends rather than mistress and slave, they sat down.
‘I don’t think of you as my slave, just as a servant; no different than anyone else – white or black. You can confide in me anything you like. Do you understand that?’
Raising tear-filled eyes, the girl nodded. ‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘Now listen carefully. I promised your sister I would speak to my fiancé about you and your sweetheart. I’m sorry, but I forgot. All this excitement going on…’
She paused. The girl continued to look at her with eyes as velvet brown as those of a doe roaming her uncle’s great park back at Cleveland Court.
‘While I’m away, I’ll speak to Mr Ethan. I’m sure he’ll see sense. And free you as a wedding gift to me,’ she added and hoped it was possible.
She did not voice the idea that had surfaced so willingly.
How could she until she knew for sure that Ethan would bow to her request?
However, he was a reasonable man, and he’d said he loved her.
One set of sweethearts could surely understand and relate to the feelings of another pair, couldn’t they?
Venus’s face was a picture when Lochranza gave her a reassuring hug.
‘If I’ve got anything to do with it, you and your Lester will be wed within the year.
Just leave it to me. Now I’m told I should change into something more feminine than what I have on, and also more restrained.
Apparently the dowagers in Fort Charlotte would not approve of a woman wearing mannish clothes. What do you suggest?’
Her tears all dried up and pleased to be asked her opinion, Venus smiled and got to her feet. ‘I think the dark blue, ma’am.’
The dark blue dress, trimmed just below the bust with a line of dark green velvet, suited very well, her bosoms hidden away with the addition of a plum coloured ‘Spencer’ jacket.
Dressing as quickly as she could so as not to hold things up, Lochranza congratulated herself on what she’d decided. Venus to be given her freedom as a wedding present; what a brilliant idea that was!
The early-morning noises of the house, the sounds from outside, all moved to goad her into joining Ethan.
They would be accompanied on their journey by Lieutenant Wellow. Lochranza had asked Ethan if she needed to take a chaperone.
‘This is America, not England,’ he’d stated.
No chaperone. Just her, Ethan and a pink-faced officer.
A great adventure, she thought before correcting herself. Another great adventure. She smiled serenely to herself. She was becoming quite used to adventures. They suited her wild spirit.
With the aid of a mounting block, she vaulted astride the chestnut mare she’d been allocated, still riding astride despite the confines of her skirt.
‘She seems very nice,’ she said to the stable boy, the same young black man who’d unloaded her luggage when she’d first arrived.
‘Yes, ma’am. She’s my favourite,’ he added in a low voice. ‘Her name’s Guinevere, like King Arthur’s queen.’
Once he’d made sure her foot was secure in the stirrup and Ethan was easing his mount alongside, he ducked his head and moved quickly away.
He too told her that her mount’s name was Guinevere.
‘So I am told. Just like Arthur’s queen.’
‘She should suit you fine,’ he added, as though he’d pondered something distasteful before pushing it aside. He lowered his voice. ‘Stay close. The wilderness is vast. I wouldn’t want to lose you.’
She smiled. ‘That would be very careless of you.’
A studied warmth seemed to hold them together as they rode down the long expanse to the ornate gates that would have looked at home at the entrance of a Surrey estate.
The land beyond the gates was still wild, though not quite as much as it had been in the previous century. Civilisation was marching westwards.
Lochranza felt elated, breathing in the smell of pine trees rather than tobacco. Her mind was alert and primed to mention Venus and the wedding gift idea at the earliest opportunity.
All will be well, she thought to herself, failing to remember that the best-laid plans of mice and men can come terribly unstuck.