Underground Captive (81 page)

    
             
"Nay, Ricard, yer convictions are just as passionate as my own.  Ye have as much right to yer view as I have to mine.  It pleases me to know we share the same thought on slavery.  It does me good to know ye'll continue as the Black Rider.  Whether for good or naught, a man's personal belief is the mirror of his soul."

             
"What are you saying, Jared?"

    
             
"When I held that mirror up to scrutiny I didn't like the image I saw.  None of us are perfect, I know.  And I will always feel as I do about slavery.  But the pomposity and self-righteousness will be absent from my overweening pride."

    
             
Jared gazed across the wide expanse of fields, already cleared and ready for the spring planting.  Far in the distance were the slave cabins.  "This land," he said.  "This proud, Southern land, beautiful and arrogant.  This land that will surely be torn asunder by its convictions and its beliefs.  Aye, Ricard.  'Tis still beautiful, this land of yers.  I just believe it can be more beautiful without slaves.  But 'tis not my place to say that my belief is the way things should be."

    
             
"I haven't closed my mind to legitimate reasons for opposing viewpoints.  So far the reasons are lacking in compassion.  To me, nothing excuses slavery."

             
"Ye sound bitter, Ricard."

    
             
"I lost my wife and my son, Jared.  I hold the practice of slavery and society directly responsible for that.  Yes, I have a dilemma facing me.  But whichever path I choose, you can bet I'll put my heart and soul into it.  I will give it my all."

             
Ricard delivered his response with a passion Jared didn't know he possessed.  "Aye.  I'm believing ye will."

    
             
Ricard managed a smile.  "Since this is your last day here, I think we should be spending some time with your father-in-law, my sister and my nephew."

    
             
Jared glanced around and realized they had walked to the mag
nificent curved pathway at the front of the house.

    
             
He patted Ricard on the back.  "Aye.  Shall we go in then?" he said and preceded Ricard through the wide double entrance doors.

60

    
             
Yes, she would surely miss her homeland, but she'd follow her husband to the ends of the earth.  All Nicollette wanted from Jared was his promise to allow her yearly visits to see her father, a promise that came easy to Jared.

    
             
They were settled in the largest cabin on the ship that Jared bought and equipped with outrageous luxuries for the comfort of his family.  Even his servants, Angus, Elizabeth, and Mary Douglas, had luxurious cabins, although not as lavish as their lord's and lady's.  So long as Jared was with them the three servants were ecstatic to be going back to Scotland.  Like Nicki, wherever Jared was, was where they wanted to be.

    
             
He reclined in a leather high-back chair, his hands behind his head, as he considered how healthy Nicki looked.  He watched with yearning as little Jamie suckled his mother's breast.  Just the sight of the soft globes ex
cited Jared to arousal.

             
He looked at her with smoldering passion.

             
"It's been too long since I've felt ye in my arms, Nicki."

    
             
Nicki gave him a knowing smile.  "I know, love.  Last year.  All of two days ago."  Her voice was husky with desire.

   
             
Little Jamie had stopped suckling and fallen asleep.  Kissing him on his small nose, then refastening her gown, she rose to place him in his cradle.

             
"Nay, sweet Nicki.  I want ye all to myself.  I've ordered a cradle placed

in Mary's and Elizabeth's cabin.  They're wanting to see him.  We have a long journey ahead of us.  They'll be wanting to see him quite often."

             
Jared's statement caused Nicki to giggle.  He took the sleeping child from

her and left the cabin, returning moments later alone.

    
             
"Now, my Lady Fleming," he said, pulling her into his embrace.  "We're alone at last."

             
"At last," she echoed.  "What kept you, milord?"

    
             
"I'm going to make up for those lost moments," he said, "so shut up and kiss me."

    
             
She raised her lips to his and his mouth slanted over hers.  They were soon tumbling and tingling along an avenue of erotic rapture.  Shivering and trembling in the grip of their ecstasy, Jared released his seed inside her.

             
Afterwards, they lay entwined in each other's arms.

    
             
"
Amour
, maybe this time it will be a little girl," Nicki whispered.

             
"Do ye think we...?"

             
"Oh, yes, I felt it.  I know it!"

             
"A raven-haired, little spitfire like her mother."

    
             
"Jared, would that make you happy?  You once said you would prefer male children because girls shouldn't be cursed with a double barrage of tempers inherited from both parents.  Would you accept a girl,
mon amour
?"

    
             
"Aye, sweet Nicki.  How could I not accept a miniature ver
sion of the woman I love more than life itself?  'Twould be a blessing for ye to give me a daughter.  I think we should work on that prospect a little more, just to be certain."

    
             
Nicki laughed as his mouth closed over hers in a long, thorough, flaming kiss, giving promise to a very passionate voyage indeed.

Author’s Note

             
The Black Rider and Captain Blossom were created strictly from imagination.  Though there were many who put their lives on the line to aid and work the Underground Railroad, in the course of research
I
found no documented evidence of this particular type of activity in southern Louisiana.

    
             
The Creoles of the last half of the nineteenth century had become used to Northerners, the people Nicollette Duplantier referred to as 'Mericains.  Some, like Nicki, insisted only in hold
ing onto their dying culture.

    
             
Slaves were deathly afraid of several Voodoo gods, going out of their way not to offend them.  Even those that didn't practice Voodoo wanted to appease these gods.  However, it's unlikely that any master, especially one as cruel as Edmond Falgout, would allow their slaves to stay sequestered in their cabins.  In the inter
est of the novel,
I
chose to stretch and embellish the facts.

 
             
Louisiana seceded from the Union on January 26, 1861, thirty-eight days after South Carolina voted herself out of the Union.  The first week of February saw the Confederate nation formed.

    
             
I
hope you enjoyed reading about a very emotional period in the lives, both public and private, of the Duplantiers and Jared Fleming.  Though they were figments of
the
imagination, in the two and a half years it took to write and research Underground Captive, these characters almost became members of
the
family.  To this day, they are held very close to
my heart
.

The End