Darkness
Chapter 66

Homochitto

Stephen

Even I am starting to get caught up in the mood of the day. It seems that the revelry is just getting started. Gregor gave a very touching speech, and when the ceremony was over and Margaret turned her pale blue eyes on me, the color of a clear dawn, brimming with tears and filled with love, I was very moved.

Moses is happily accepting the well wishes of the crowd, everyone coming up to him and Dalila while she stands silently by his side. They have taken the cord off of their wrists, but they may as well have left it on, because their hands are still clasped together as though they never intend to let go of each other. He is beaming, she is glowing, and I think I am starting to understand why this meant so much to Margaret.

Their joy fills the whole area, spreading out and touching all of us. Margaret moves to stand by my side again, after speaking with Rosalind for a few minutes. She takes my arm, and I murmur down to her, “You were right, my dear, you always are.”

She smiles. “What was I right about this time?”

I nod over at the new couple. “About this. About their love. It’s real, just like ours is real. I’m glad we agreed to do this.”

She leans up to kiss me, right in front of everybody, all the slaves, all our friends, and as untoward as it might be, I kiss her back. Let them see that even the plantation owner can enjoy love. Today is not the time for reserve, it seems.

My brother says, “I’m so happy for them,” and I am startled. I hadn’t even realized that he had come up to stand next to us.

“We all are,” Margaret says, and he nods, but there is a sadness to his expression. I am sure it is because he realizes that there is no happy wedding in store for him. We somehow made it happen for Moses and Dalila, a freeman and a slave, but Samuel can never flaunt his own relationship like this. I have accepted it, more or less, and I hope that he has found satisfaction in his current arrangement. He lives with Ben, and as long as they continue to be discreet and are not discovered, I imagine they can stay together just as long as they would like. This will have to be enough for him.

Edith

I’m glad the children and I came out to the wedding. They have always loved Moses, and it is wonderful to see him so happy with Dalila. It’s a gorgeous day, warm and clear without being hot, the sun is sparkling on the grass and trees and flowers, the porch is filled with tables laden with food, and my children are running around shrieking with laughter and playing with the slave children who live here at Homochitto.

Rosy and I are sitting in the shade of a magnolia tree watching the festivities. I have Vernon snoozing in my arms, getting so big that he actually is starting to feel a little heavy to me. Gregor is playing with the children, looking like a big silly kid himself, which is hilarious after that beautiful and moving speech that he gave.

Zadoc flashes through my mind, as he often does. He would have enjoyed this day too. I still miss him, nearly three months after he left Natchez to return to Pittsburgh. I wonder if he will write to me as he said he would. I hope he’s feeling well.

Rosy says, quietly so as not to wake the baby, although if the racket everyone is making doesn’t wake him up her voice certainly wouldn’t do it, “I’m going to get us some food. I’ll be back.”

She heads up to the porch where a couple of slave children are waving fans over the tables of food to keep flies away, looking longingly at the other kids playing together. I sit and watch the scene, feeling my grandchild in my arms, watching my children enjoying themselves, and I feel content. Who could have known that things would turn out this way for me?

I would be perfectly content if I wasn’t still missing Zadoc so much.

Jake

Gregor has us all playing a game of tag, and he’s helping Ayola by carrying her since she’s the littlest one. None of us point out that you could call this cheating, because she is so cute and he is so happy.

“I’m starving,” Jack tells me, even though we’ve been helping ourselves to the buffet table all morning. “Let’s go get some more food!”

“Sure,” I say. My appetite is back, after my little illness the other day. I follow him up to the porch, where Rosy is just leaving carrying a plate of food. She smiles at us.

We stand over the table, and nibble on some sweets, while the little slaves keep waving the fans over the food back and forth, back and forth, to make sure flies don’t land. They’re watching Gregor, still holding Ayola, chasing around after Emily and Grace and a few others. I tell them, “Here, we can take over for a while. Go on and play.” Jack is game, so we take the job of fanning the flies away, and we find a way to make it a fun competition, seeing who can do it the best.

Gregor gives us a little wave when the two new kids join his game.

What a fun day!

Sarah

I haven’t had much to do today for the baby, between Rosy and her mother and Margaret and some other ladies all wanting to hold him. So I have wandered over to where Gregor’s crew is standing around Moses, laughing and joking and teasing him. Dalila is holding fast to his arm, listening to the fellows, a contented expression on her face.

Charley steps over to where I am standing at the side of the group. “Are you having a nice time?” he asks, somehow seeming even taller than he did this morning. How tall is this boy going to grow?

“Oh yes, I am,” I tell him with a smile. “What a lovely day. And they are so happy,” I add, nodding my head at Moses and Dalila.

He nods, and glances all around the area we are in, full of people chatting and smiling and laughing, the slaves even mingling with their owners some. “It’s odd, though, isn’t it?” he asks. “To be here at a plantation, even though everything is so different for us now.”

The smile leaves my face, and I touch his arm. “Do you think we’ll ever be able to find our mother and sisters again?” They are far away, and we have no idea where they were sold.

“Don’t know,” he says. “I hope they’re healthy, wherever they are.” He looks over at Gregor, finally collapsing onto a chair next to Rosy after frolicking with the children, and says, “I know they can’t have had the same luck as us, though.”

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