The Abolitionist’s Secret (14 page)

David stood and began pacing. “I do wish we could have had more time together. I miss his good counsel on how to take care of this place.” He turned to face Heather. “But, I digress. The house that the overseer used is sitting empty. It’s on the plantation grounds, but further out near the slaves’ quarters. I was thinking, if you want to stay here, you and Colleen could move into the overseer’s house, and you could use the year to teach our slaves how to read and write.”

Heather’s excitement mounted even as she tried to ratchet it back. “I would love to stay here and help educate your slaves, David, but isn’t that considered a crime in the south? I don’t want to do something foolish and place myself and Colleen in danger.”

“You will be under my protection at all times. The constable will not come onto these grounds after you. My family is too important to this community for him to do that.”

“I must admit being out from under your mother’s eagle eye would be a blessing. But how would she take the news that I intend to stay?”

“She never set foot inside the overseer’s cabin before, so I can assure you that she won’t bother you. She doesn’t like being near the slaves’ quarters. Besides, as soon as the fall harvest comes in, I plan to do what she wants and will take her to her sister’s home in Charleston to live out her days there. At least that was what she wanted when she believed this plantation would be occupied by Blanche and me. Once Mother accepts the fact that Blanche and I will never marry, who knows what she’ll want to do? But I think moving her to Charleston would be for the best for all of us, regardless of who is at the helm of Bellewood.”

Heather rose to her feet and joined David. She put her hand on his arm to stop his pacing and reached up to touch his face. “Let me think about it for a couple of days, will you? I’d like to send a telegram to my parents, and see what they advise, too. But, I would like for us to be officially engaged, regardless of whether I stay the year here or in New York.”

David smiled as he leaned in for a kiss. “You still want the ring? Even with all the adversity that comes with it? That’s my girl.” He slid the beautiful ring on her finger and sealed the act with another kiss.

Heather luxuriated in the moment. She was engaged, and it was official! She never dreamed it would be so exciting. A new man, a new part of the country, a new mother-in-law to be … She stopped her rampant thoughts and turned to David questioningly.

“Wait, you said you had bad news and worse news. What could possibly be worse than us not being able to marry for a year?”

David sighed. “Father told me right before he died that he had not been able to care for this place like he had wanted to, especially after Jacob died and he had no one to help him. I should have taken a leave from the military and been here to assist him and learn the ways of running a plantation.”

“But it was your dream to live in the west, and your father didn’t want to deny you. You should not feel bad that you were doing what he wanted you to do. I know your father never begrudged you. In fact, I think he envied you.”

David took her hand. “Ah, Heather, you understand him so well, after only knowing him for a few days. It’s a shame my mother never did. It’s obvious to me, from the way this house is crumbling around us, that maintenance on the home has been let go for some time. I noticed it immediately upon driving up when we arrived last week. But, I’ve been looking at his ledgers and talking to Mr. Sizemore, our attorney, and it wasn’t just that he didn’t have the time necessary to make the needed repairs. Father was taking out loans against this land in order to buy the necessary seed to plant our fields. He sold off one slave after another to satisfy Mother’s cravings for material possessions. This whole place is like a house of cards, and one bad crop can send the whole thing tumbling.”

“So, what can be done? I’ll help you in the fields if you need me there. I’ve already seen the kitchen garden and talked to Phoebe. She’s going to teach me what she does there.”

David smiled at the thought of Heather’s soft hands picking cotton. “A kitchen garden is one thing. A crop of cotton is quite something else. But, I don’t want to gamble on producing a bumper crop in the fall. I’d like to sell everything, move Mother north to Charleston, and you and I can go west, where we belong.”

Heather’s breath left her as she listened to David’s radical ideas. “You know I’d love that, but do you realistically think you can sell the place? Isn’t every other plantation around here in the same predicament, waiting for the next harvest in order to have some money to get them through to next season?”

“I don’t know how long it will take, but I intend to put out some feelers soon to see if there’s any interest. I’ll go into town within the next week and start asking around.”

• • •

David tracked down his mother in the dining room. Susan insisted on keeping up appearances, even on the day of her husband’s funeral by having a formal meal at the elaborate table, and she was overseeing the placement of the centerpiece.

David requested the servants clear the room so he could talk privately to his mother. She refused to look him in the eye. Instead, she continued to fuss with the centerpiece.

David plunged ahead anyway. “I’ve spent the afternoon going over the ledgers, and I fear the situation is more dire than I first thought. Father has borrowed against the land for years, in order to keep things going. Instead of being given my inheritance, I’ve been saddled with more debt than I’ll ever be able to pay off if I do my best for this land for the rest of my life. No wonder Father went so quickly into his grave. He was probably relieved to be done with it all.”

Susan’s hand, which was fussing with the centerpiece flowers, stopped in mid-air. “Sake’s alive, boy. You sound as if you’re ready to hang up your fiddle on this place, instead of fixing it.”

“I’ve been searching all afternoon for a way to fix it, Mother, and there is only one solution. We must sell the plantation.”

Susan’s eyes became saucers as David glimpsed at them. Their eyes were the same deep blue, but right now, he realized hers were registering disbelief.

“I will not listen to such nonsense. This land has been in the Whitman family for a hundred years, and I’ll not have your father’s foolhardy spending habits be the cause of its demise. You must do everything you can to turn this situation around, even if it means hard labor for the next two or three years. You’re young and strong, and you can do this. I knew some of your father’s ideas were wrong, but I had no idea he borrowed against this sacred land. He was a Whitman after all, and the land is everything to the family.”

“If neither of us wants to live here any further, what is the harm of selling it off?”

“Of course you want to live here, David. You’ll marry Blanche as soon as it is publicly acceptable, and when her father passes on, our two plantations will merge into one, as we have always counted on. You two have been engaged since Jacob’s death. I see no reason to forfeit our plans, although we must delay them for a year.”

David sighed. “What we have been is assumed, Mother. We have never been engaged. Her parents, and you, decided long ago that at the proper time, one of us Whitman boys would marry Blanche. I’ve never really been attracted to her. She always preferred Jacob, and when he died, I fell into the position by default. Somewhere along the way, you and Rose Beaufort forgot to ask the two of us what we wanted. Of course I love Blanche, but in the same way I would love a sister. We grew up together but my feelings for her never evolved into the feelings a man should have for a wife. And I’m certain if Blanche were to be honest with herself, she’d say the same.”

“Perhaps you could grow to love each other as a husband and wife?” His mother glanced at him with a ray of hope in her eyes.

“Get it through your head, Mother. Heather and I are engaged, not Blanche and me. I gave Heather Grandmother’s ring this afternoon, and we are planning our future together. But I do not feel right bringing her into this financial mess that Father left behind, even though I’ve explained it all to her, and she’s willing to do whatever she can to help me right the ship. But, I have seen more of the country than the south, Mother, and I have no desire to remain here and try to keep this plantation afloat for even one more year. This land, and this plantation mean nothing to me. I have felt the prevailing winds shifting in this country, even if the rest of the south can’t. I fear our way of life here in Savannah is coming to an end. You want to move to Charleston, I want to move west. My mind is made up. I will approach Simon Beaufort in the morning to gauge his interest in buying the land from me.”

Susan gasped and her hand flew to her throat. “You cannot be serious. I will not agree to this. That horrible little northern woman has put all manner of foolish notions into your head, that’s all. Please, I beg of you, send her back to New York. She can’t stay here on the plantation as an unwed woman, anyway. As soon as she’s gone, you’ll see things more clearly.” Susan moved to a chair and sat down. “I feel like I’m about to faint.”

David gave his mother a steely look. “That’s enough, Mother. I am not Father, and you cannot coerce me into doing what you want by pretending to faint. I blame you as much as I do him for the financial state of this farm. He sold one of our best workers, Titus, so he could buy you this damn table which you insisted you needed.”

“Well, it is beautiful, is it not?” Susan ran her hands over the grand mahogany trestle table, with rays of other fine wood emanating from its center and forming a pattern.

“Is it worth the life of a man? And because of his sale, Sally and her baby ran off from here. Is this glorious table worth the lives of three slaves?” David sneered as he bounced his hand on the table and then looked at his mother. “No table is worth that, I don’t care how grand it is.”

Susan had the grace to look a bit upset. “Titus was getting too uppity for his own good. And, for that matter, so was Sally, the minute they jumped the broom. What nonsense, to claim to be married to each other.”

“Regardless of the reasoning you give for it, the fact is this table cost us the value of three slaves. Somehow, I doubt we’ll ever realize that much money when we sell it.”

Susan turned to David in a panic. “You will not be selling this table! And you will not be selling this house!”

“It is not your decision, Mother. If Simon Beaufort won’t buy the estate, I’ll find someone who will, and Simon will have to contend with a new neighbor. And, as for the slaves, I’m granting them all their freedom. They are not for sale, to Simon, or to anyone else.”

David listened to his mother’s sharp intake of breath. “So your little northern whore has gotten to you, has she? Free all the slaves? You must be joking. No one will buy this land without the proper work force in place to handle the increased acreage. No, if you pursue her abolitionist line of reasoning, Little Miss High-and-Mighty has just put a nail in your own coffin, son.”

David slammed his hands on the fine mahogany table in frustration and disgust. “Once again, Mother, she is not my northern whore. She’s my fiancée, and I am cautioning you to show her the proper respect. She has Grandmother Whitman’s ring on her finger even as we speak.”

Susan shrugged. “She may have the heirloom on her finger, but she has only won the first skirmish in this battle. The war is yet to come.”

“’Tis a real pity, it is, that we’re not headed back to New York, Miss Heather,” Colleen spoke softly as she packed a trunk. “It’s so dreadfully hot here already, with summer not yet even begun. It feels like a hand is pressing me into the earth.”

“I know, Colleen, but if I leave now, Mrs. Whitman and Blanche Beaufort will do their best to turn David away from me.”

“Ah, yes, Blanche Beaufort. That one’s a real wagon, if you ask me.”

Heather grinned. “A wagon?”

“Tis Irish for a really ugly woman. And she’s ugly inside and out, she is.”

“So you see why it’s essential that I stay here.” Heather’s voice raised an octave as she helped Colleen toss some underthings into a small trunk. “Together, Blanche and Mrs. Whitman are a mighty pair, and they would wear David down over time. They are both ugly, inside and out. I want what’s best for David, and for us. And right now, that means we stay put here in the hot, muggy south. Father gave me his approval to stay if you will. You won’t be too miserable, will you?”

“Well, ever since that nice ice man left New York, there has been no reason for me to stay in the city, except for the joy I get taking care of you and your sister. So, I don’t mind spending more time down here. Though Lord knows, I’d welcome the likes of an ice man here and now! But who knows, on a piece of land this big, there may just be another gent worthy of my time. I must say, it’ll be better once we don’t have to share a roof with that dreadful Mrs. Whitman.”

Colleen glanced over at Heather, who was busily folding some clothing. “Forgive me, Miss, for speaking ill of your future mother-in-law.”

Heather looked up from her task and grinned again. “You and I are in agreement about her, you know that. You may call her a wagon, but to me she is the evil witch. You can’t possibly offend me, Colleen, by speaking the truth. And you’re right. Once we get settled into the overseer’s house, it will be much better for all of us. She is still the head of this household, and I’m better off removed from it.” Heather closed the lid on the final trunk.

“Some of David’s men are bringing a cart around, so we’d better start moving the lightest things down to the first floor.” They gathered up some hatboxes and made their way to the front door.

Susan Whitman met them at the stair landing. She took note of their boxes and smiled for the first time since Heather had arrived two weeks earlier. With a voice dripping in sweetness, she declared, “Going so soon?”

Heather set the boxes at her feet and turned to squarely face her adversary. “Yes, Mrs. Whitman, we’ll be taking our leave from your home. Thank you for your hospitality. I know this has been a difficult time for you.” Heather’s own voice dripped with sweetness as well. “However, we’re not going far.”