Indigo (41 page)

Hester found this to be one of the oddest encounters she'd ever experienced.

"So, shall we agree to be friends?"

Hester, taken aback once more, nodded yes. "I would like that."

"Then good. Now, tell me what you're wearing to the ball?"

"Ball?"

"Yes, Vada's burial ball. Her will states that a ball is to be given on the day of her burial or none of her relatives will get her money. Racine refused to plan it, so Galeno's uncle Reginald and his wife have instead. Reginald's wife, Mavis, is not known for her taste, but"—she shrugged—"we go and pay our respects, drink from Vada's celebrated cellars, and thank the heavens for removing her from our lives."

Hester stared. She dearly hoped her friends and relations would not sit around savaging her name when she passed on, but then again, Vada appeared to have been a detestable woman; maybe she was only reaping what she'd sown.

"Will this ball be a solemn event?"

"Heavens no. Vada might have viewed it as some grand tribute to all she stood for, but everyone else, especially Mavis, views it as a celebration. The women will be wearing their best gowns and jewels. Did Maxi pack some of your jewelry?"

"Maxi and I brought along gowns, but I don't have many jewels. I lead a very simple life, Ginette."

Ginette's eyes widened. "Galeno should be ashamed of himself. His wife should have chests of jewels."

"I don't need jewels."

Her eyes widened with astonishment. "Hester, never ever speak such blasphemy, especially not within earshot of any male. Just wait until I see that Galeno."

Hester shook her head. Her amusement could not be hidden. She found she did like Ginette, even if the woman's priorities in life contrasted sharply with her own. "As my friend, you must promise you will not speak to Galen about my lack of stones."

"But Hester, people will talk—"

"Ginette, you've no idea of the talk I've endured lately. To have someone denigrate me for not having jewels is something I can survive."

Ginette searched Hester's face. "Are you certain?"

"Positive."

Ginette sighed audibly in frustration. "I'll not speak to Galeno. I promise."

"Thank you, Ginette."

They spent a few more moments talking idly about the ball and the people who would attend. Ginette explained that only local members of Vada's family and friends would be at the burial. Racine had received a wire saying no one in Louisiana would be attending.

Hester asked, "Are there many family members in Louisiana?"

"Very many, but none wanted to go to the expense of coming all this way just to bury Vada. She was as mean as a croc, and didn't care that people knew. In fact, it seemed she went out of her way sometimes just to keep her legendary evil alive in people's minds. Poor Mavis and Reginald were reminded every day that they were eating her food and living in her house. The poor servants never stayed more than a season."

"But why did she treat people this way?"

"Bitterness. Her husband, Galeno's
grandpere
kept a dark-skinned mistress in the quarter. Vada was humiliated and appalled by her husband's choice. She used her influence to have the woman implicated in a slave insurrection and nearly succeeded in having the mistress sold into slavery. Galeno's
grandpere
was outraged. He used his own formidable influence to save the woman from the block, then publicly denounced Vada. He vowed never to live with her again, and he never did. He escorted his mistress to balls, the theater, the races, and didn't give a cat's tail about what people thought. He was happy. Vada had much thinner skin. The whispers and scandal drove her here to Michigan where her side of the family still owned land given to them by the French. According to my parents, she'd always been a manipulative person, even as a child. After her husband's denunciation, the bitterness and the thirst for revenge apparently consumed her. It seemed as if she weren't happy unless someone else was miserable."

Hester shook her head at the sad tale.

"Did she love her husband?"

"No. The marriage had been arranged. It was touted as the coming together of two very wealthy and powerful New Orleans families, but she treated him just as she did everyone else—as if he were mud beneath her feet. My mama says Vada would shriek at him at parties, hired men to shadow his movements every moment of the day. My papa says Galeno's
grandpere
showed much restraint by not having her visited by a paid assassin. She was simply awful."

She sounded simply awful to Hester as well. On the surface, one could hardly fault her husband for seeking peace in the arms of a lover, but what fate did Racine and Galen's mother suffer as a result?

"How did the children fare in the face of the scandal?"

"Vada brought Racine, Ruth, and their younger brother Reginald here. They lived with her during the winter months and spent summers in Louisiana. They grew to adolescence listening to her berate their father and his whore, as she always termed the mistress."

"It must have been a very unhappy life for them."

Ginette agreed. "Yes. Reginald grew up without any direction at all, Racine turned to her faith, but Ruth was headstrong and rebelled. Her choice of a dark-skinned man as her husband led Vada to banish her. Ruth went willingly. No one learned her fate until seven years later when Maxi brought the orphaned Galeno to Vada. Maxi had been the cook in the house down in New Orleans. When Vada came north, Maxi stayed to serve the
grandpere.
Galeno's parents were killed on a sea voyage and when the
grandpere
died a year later, Maxi had no choice but to bring him to Vada. His father James had no other family able to take in an orphaned boy. Maxi said at that time she thought about raising him as her own, but she felt his
grandmere
had more of a right to him, even though Maxi knew Vada's true character. Vada agreed to house Galen only if Maxi would stay and cook for the household. The two never got along well down in Louisiana, but for Galen's sake Maxi stayed."

Ginette's voice softened with emotion as she continued, "Vada used her own grandson as a slave. He slept in an unheated room with the servants, and spent every waking hour doing chores. He was a seven-year-old boy but he cut wood, polished furniture, silver, emptied the slop jars, helped the yardmen. There were beatings, punishments for the smallest offenses. She never forgave Ruth for not honoring the marriage arrangements she'd made and for loving a man whose color, as far as Vada was concerned, qualified him to do nothing but make deliveries to Vada's back door. Maxi was outraged, but she was powerless to change Galeno's fate alone, so she wrote to Racine in France and his aunt returned home immediately."

"Did Racine know of Galen's birth?"

"Yes, she'd been in New Orleans when he was born, but Racine had joined an order in the years following and so had no idea her
neveu
was suffering at the hands of her mother. She'd been notified of her father's death by his solicitor, but no one other than Maxi had written her of her sister's death or of Galeno's fate."

"She left her order?"

"Yes, she said the Lord obviously had other work for her to accomplish. She will tell you that she never questioned that decision. Galeno needed her."

And he had,
Hester thought as she tried to digest the tragic story. Galen had every reason to be the fiercely angry child Maxi had described.

"When Galeno reached his majority, he came into the inheritance left by his mother,
grandpere,
and his father's estates. It made him a very wealthy man. He took Maxi from Vada's home the next day and he has never looked back."

The burial service took place early the next morning. As a member of the family, Hester took her seat in the front pew of the Catholic church and tried not to notice the speculative stares and whispers of the congregation seated behind her. Maxi had been correct, she'd endured more than a few hostile stares from some of the women present, but she didn't flinch from the venomous eyes or turn away.

The ride to the cemetery took nearly an hour. Even though Vada had spent her entire life disdaining the few drops of African blood in her veins, in death she had no say. Those few drops rendered her as Black as any other member of the race, and because they did, she could not be buried in a White cemetery. Galen thought it only fitting that Vada spend eternity turning in her grave, unable to deny her true ancestry; as Racine quipped the other day, the more Vada turned, the more evenly she would roast.

After a buffet luncheon Hester was glad when she and Galen rode back to his leased house on the river while most of the guests were staying at the expansive old mansion ruled by Vada for over sixty years. All day, she'd been stared at and whispered about. She didn't know if Galen had noticed the hostile looks or the cool greetings, but it confirmed what she'd told him all along; his set was not prepared to accept her. Not that it mattered, she had no plans to live amongst them, and even if that weren't the case, they'd be nothing more than nodding acquaintances; her world encompassed more than gowns, hemlines, and hair dressing.

In the room she and Galen shared, Hester dropped down into an upholstered chair. She was tired and not looking forward to Vada's memorial ball.

Galen glanced over at his black-clad wife, and said, "You did well today."

"With all the cold looks I received it's a wonder I haven't been turned to stone."

"I noticed the stares. They are from women I wouldn't have married even had we not met, so don't let them upset you."

"Will we have to attend the ball?" She didn't know if she could endure many more stares without putting someone in her place.

"I asked Racine the very same question."

"And her reply?"

"Yes, if only for a short while."

Hester pouted like a disappointed child.

He couldn't contain his chuckle. "My sentiments exactly,
petite,
but—" He shrugged.

While she brooded he came over and stood before her. "How's this for a compromise. Suppose we head for home as soon as the ball ends?"

Hester's eyes shone. "Are you sincere?"

"I want to go home."

She got to her feet and rewarded him with a kiss. She wished to go home, too.

An hour before the ball, the maids came to help Hester dress, so Galen excused himself. He would don his attire in the room shared by Raymond and Andre.

When the maids uncovered the gown for the evening, Hester's eyes widened at its beauty. She'd never seen this gown before.

"It's a surprise. Mr. Vachon had it special made," one of the young women told Hester, who stood transfixed by the dark green silk gown. The color was so deep it reminded her of the green of a dark forest. The capped sleeves were softly pleated and would leave her arms bare below the crown of her shoulders. Even on the hanger, the decolletage was daring, while the rest of it flowed like a silk cloud to the floor. The maids produced little heeled slippers to match the green gown, and a pair of long gloves to complete the ensemble.

Dressed, and with her hair coiled up, Hester stared at herself in the long cheval glass. It amazed her how Galen's choice of clothing could transform her from simple Hester Wyatt into La Petite Indigo Vachon. In the beautiful dress she looked as if she truly did belong at his side.

He entered the room at that moment and she smiled at the handsome sight he made in his formal all-white attire. The only spot of color came from the dark rose in his lapel. The flower bore the same rich color as the one
he'd left beneath her pillow on that night months ago. He appeared taller, and even more handsome, if that were possible. She'd be the envy of every woman in attendance tonight.

"You look ravishing," he said.

"And you are going to have your wife turned to stone with your handsomeness."

Galen stilled. It was the first time she'd referred to herself as his wife and the sound of it on her lips pleased him very much.

"Is something the matter?"

"No. I'm just enjoying the sight and sounds of you."

Hester didn't know what to make of the reply, but the pleasure in his tone made her suddenly shy. "Is it time to depart?"

"In a moment. We have to remedy a few things first."

"Such as?"

He withdrew a slim box from within his coat. "Close your eyes."

Hester viewed him suspiciously.

"Close your eyes."

She complied.

A few moments of silence passed, then she sensed him at her back. She jumped a bit at the feel of a necklace being draped against her throat. With eyes still closed, she raised her hand and gently passed her fingers over the jewelry while he closed the clasp.

"You may open your eyes now," he told her.

In the mirror, Hester stared at the beautiful strand of linked emeralds. They were surrounded by diamonds that made each green stone appear to be a sparkling, emerald-centered snowflake. Before she could get over the wonder of the gift, he held out earrings to match. She placed them in her ears with shaking fingers. She surveyed the effect in the mirror and had to admit the emeralds were the crowning touch.