Always & Forever: A Saga of Slavery and Deliverance (The Plantation Series Book 1) by Gretchen Craig Read Free Book Online Page A

Emmeline.”
    His embarrassment erased how foolish she’d felt the last
time they met, but Josie decided she would still be careful what she paid out
of the little leather purse. She had mostly forgotten all the tedious figures
in the account books, but she did recall a notation of five cents for a basket
of crawfish, and she took it from there. She ignored Cleo’s nudge when she
bargained for the hens, and then she counted out the coins into Phanor’s hand.
    “There is one more thing, Mam’zelle,” he said as he climbed
into the wagon. “My sister, she make you a cake. For all the people who come
tomorrow.” Phanor handed out a large round cake wrapped in a flour sack.
    “Your sister is very kind. Merci , Monsieur DeBlieux.”
    He settled the hat on his head and smiled at her. “Phanor.”
    “ Merci , Phanor.”
    Cleo’s silent role had been to chaperone her mistress while
she was with a young man not her kinsman. Now she stepped forward and spoke for
the first time. “ Au revoir , Phanor.”
    Josie saw the devilish glint return to Phanor’s eyes. He
tipped his hat and said, “ Au revoir, Cleo.” Then he flicked the reins
and drove the mule and the empty wagon down the alley.
    Cleo said, “You paid too much for the hens.”
    Josie turned on her, furious for making her feel stupid. “He
knows your name.”
    “Well what of it? He probably knows yours, too.”
    “He knows better than to use it.”
    “He may use my name all he likes,” Cleo said.
    Elbow John interrupted the escalating quarrel. “Madame
Emmeline, she send me to tote de provisions. Cleo, you help me wid dese
baskets.”
    Cleo, nose in the air, strode over to the chicken cages
Phanor had left in the shade.
    Maman was right, Josie told herself. She shouldn’t be
quarreling with Cleo. She put a hand to her aching head.
    While Cleo and Elbow John took care of the provisions, Josie
wandered down the alley of oaks to the levee. She sat on the dock and watched
the Mississippi roll by. Muddy and brown, littered with logs and trash floating
downstream, it wasn’t as pretty as the Cane River. Josie had twice visited her
Chamard cousins on the Cane. The up-country side of the family would be here
tomorrow.
    For the first time since before dawn, Josie had time to
think about Maman. Her eyes – it was as if a candle in Maman’s eyes had blown
out. Her golden hair had gleamed in the light as it always had, though.
    Josie hugged her knees and pictured the previous morning,
only a day ago, when she’d sat with Maman in the gazebo. Maman’s feet were on
the red stool, and a little brother stirred inside her. Or so they had
believed. Josie wished she could ask Maman what she’d meant at the end. Was it
Papa she couldn’t forgive? And for what?
    An hour passed, and the sun ate the shade where Josie sat. Maman
had told her and told her to stay out of the sun; her freckles would multiply
overnight. I should have listened more, and I should have been more careful
with my embroidery .
    When a bloated dog floated against the dock, Josie pulled
herself up with a hand over her nose. There were things to do yet today,
anyway, and she headed back.
    Papa appeared on the gallery and motioned for Josie to join
him. Freshly barbered and smelling of wildroot, he kissed Josie and looked at
her carefully.
    “Your eyes are red, Josie.”
    She began to cry again, and Papa pulled her to him. As he
stroked her hair, Josie remembered how Bibi had caressed Papa the night before,
and how Papa had wrapped his arms around her. She had never seen Papa embrace
Maman like that. But it confused her, and she couldn’t think about it now.
    Josie sat on the gallery with Papa and listened to the
carpenters bumping into the house with the casket. They pretended not to hear
the rattle from the room where Celine lay as the men poured a layer of charcoal
on the bottom of the casket. Then it was quiet, and Josie tried not to think
about her mother’s body being lifted into the long