Send a comment to the author "Papa." He inclined his head at me, as did the man standing behind him in the shadows. "Daughter." "You know, then, that I am married." "Without my consent." "Would you withhold it now?" He scowled. "Now that you have been ruint?" I nodded. "Do you remember Winthrop?" The man in the shadows stepped forward. I did indeed remember him. Mr. Winthrop had watched me with hot eyes every since I can remember, when he was married and between the deaths of those wives. He was old, as old as the cedar trees in the swamps of Carolina, and as hideous as the rotting logs in it. But he owned vast regions in the colony, and more in Virginia and Maryland, and several ships as well. "What are you proposing, Papa?" "You do not belong with this Bonny, Anne. I had hopes for a brilliant marriage, maybe even one in England. But Winthrop has been asking after you for years. He's quite devoted. Though he's old for you, he's a wealthy man and can care for you better than I could ever dream. And even now, he's willing to have you." "And I'd be mothering his eighteen children including the ones out of slaves, and giving him leave to satisfy himself on my body besides!" Papa blanched, and for a moment I was sorry -- a little bit -- that I'd put it so bluntly. But then, I'd be the one sharing a bed with the old goat. Winthrop leered at me. He had even less hair than I remembered, and the little that was left grew in tufts between the freckles. Behind me, someone coughed. I had forgot the governor entirely. "And you. You bring my father here to interfere between a wife and his husband." "You'd expressed dissatisfaction with him, Mrs. Bonny." "Don't dare call my daughter that hateful name." "It is but the truth, sir." I tossed down the Bible that had weighted down my arms all this time. "A pox on all of you. I don't need a man. I have a position and a place to live. No man dares molest me here on this island. Papa, take this --" I cast about for a suitable insult -- "rotted old carcass of a man back to the Carolinas so he can satisfy himself on his slaves. Poor women. I don't intend to marry anyone other than James. I don't plan to fix on another man. And I certainly don't need any of you." I stormed out, but the effect was ruined when I bumped my head on the low doorframe. Behind me, I heard a frightful row, but I would not turn around to look. Thankfully, the chair was waiting for me, and I wasted no time getting in it. I could not sleep after such a scene, though I had not slept the night before and had planned to nap a little in the heat of the day. Thoughts scurried through my head like beetles after a rain. I could not stay with James, but I could not go back with my father. I loved the freedom marriage gave me, and now that I was not sleeping in filth and bugs, I had to admit I did not miss money either. Work -- hard physical work would be a way to think, and then sleep. After shedding the hated stays, I slipped into my workaday dress I started by scouring my little apartment from top to bottom, polishing the tile and doing my best to reset the cracked ones, wincing at the preponderance of gaps and notches between the floor and wall. I flushed out a variety of tropical insects and other vermin I'd never seen before, large and small, many-legged and few. Though the tiny lizards startled me, only one creature gave me pause -- a giant hairy spider that glared at me from a corner. Rather than squash it -- more cleaning -- I grabbed it with a cloth and tossed it out the window, ignoring the yells of annoyance from the street. For all they knew, the nasty thing fell from a tree. That's where the dirty water went too, though I was more careful not to drop that on any of Pierre's customers. It did not take long to run out of water, and that gave me an excuse to venture out on the street. I struggled with the shoulder harness for the buckets James had left, then gave up and just picked up the buckets. The town fountain was close, at the little market square up the street, and it wouldn't hurt to carry them back. I bundled them down the cracked tile of the back steps and out into the tiny garden behind the apartment. New Providence walking alone through the sunny streets was quite different from the same town in James's company. The streets were thin of traffic this early, but those who did people it were as gorgeous and fascinating as the vermillion tropical flowers overhead. Dozens of ragged sailors in bare feet trod uncaring in muck I carefully avoided even with my skirts kilted, and I flushed when I realized they were all staring at me. I was used to the sailors at the Pretender's Head. This was a whole new group to me, and they were ragged and unkept. Perhaps a ship was in today. |
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