Master Of Paradise (11 page)

"I'll stop 'em runnin' Mast' Nick, but who stop me?". He winked.

Nicholas showed his trust in them by shrugging. "You can go back to Paradise, or you can go to Hell!" He heard their laughter as his steps led him away in the direction of Tradd Street. He took Jason with him. He could act as body servant in Samuel's absence, but Nicholas took him for another reason. Solange had taken a fancy to the mulatto the first time she had seen him, and on subsequent visits a relationship had developed between the pair that Nicholas encouraged.

Nick hummed a tune as he ran up the brick steps to his house. It was the last day of September and he marveled at the intense heat.
It would be a cool autumn day in England.
He hadn't had time to visit Charleston in almost three months, and he blinked uncertainly as his eyes took in Solange's rounded belly.

She was happy to see Nicholas, but all her smiles were reserved for Jason, so Nick took himself upstairs for a cooling bath and a change of clothes. By the look of things, the two downstairs had some talking to do.

When he came downstairs the young couple were waiting to speak to him. Solange spoke first. "Ah would like your permission to marry."

Nicholas, trying for a light tone said, "You're free Solange, you don't need my permission. It's Jason here who needs my permission, and by the looks of things I have no choice."

They did not respond with laughter.

Solange said quietly, "Jason ain't the father o' ma chile."

Nick's mouth went dry. It couldn't be. They'd only been together that one time-- the night he'd bought her. Nothing had come out of that night, no desire for a liaison, not even a lingering romantic feeling. It had just happened. A single isolated incident. Just sequence and consequence.

Jason explained. "When a black woman has a white man's chile, it sets her above the rest. She gets respect. It sets her apart-- marks her as special."

Nicholas shook his head. "Forgive me, Solange. I never meant for this to happen, believe me."

Solange said simply, "Ah prayed ah would have yore chile. It a great honor. But ah don't love you, ah loves Jason and we wants to be married."

"If you wish to marry, you have my blessing. I will always provide well for my child. I think you are better off here Solange, for the time being. This winter we'll have time to start building Jason a large cabin at the plantation, so that you can be together."

Nicholas didn't go to the Planters Inn at Church and Queen Street. Instead he found himself knocking imploringly on Lady Margot's front door.

Her smile was eager and welcoming when she saw the magnificent figure of Nicholas on her doorstep.

He hesitated, which was most unlike him. "Maggie, I'm sorry to barge in unannounced, but I need someone to talk to."

"Darling Nick, it's my pleasure. Do come in and tell me whatever is wrong." She took his hand and led him into the drawing room. She poured him bourbon and branchwater and joined him on the love seat.

"I've done something shocking," he said.

She put her fingers to his lips, "Ssh, the drink first," she soothed.

He drained the glass and set it aside. The silence stretched out and the room was filled with the heavy, slow ticking of a grandfather clock. Finally she said, "Did something go wrong with the crop? Did you lose money at the Cotton Exchange?"

He laughed shortly. "No, no. This has nothing to do with business. Everything has gone extremely well in that direction."

"No, no, I didn't buy her for that; at least I don't believe so. She wasn't even particularly beautiful, but she held herself so proudly, I couldn't bear to leave her there for men to examine and degrade. I wasn't being particularly noble either, Maggie. I felt stained, damned, if you will, buying human flesh, so to absolve myself in a token fashion, I bought her to free her."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "That proved more difficult than I thought, as is often the case in this world of ours. Freedom frightened her more than slavery did, so I took her on as my housekeeper. That night she came to me, and I selfishly indulged myself. It only happened once." His eyes showed their misery. "She's carrying my child."

Maggie was relieved. She thought he'd committed murder at the very least. "Nick, most men wouldn't acknowledge such a thing after only one time."

"Maggie, I'm not most men," he said quietly.

"I know that, Nick. In the South the majority of white men father children with wenches. It's simply accepted as a way of life."

"I have no qualms about acknowledging the child, and it surely goes without saying that I shall give full financial support. The thing I have difficulty with is knowing I'm responsible for bringing a half-caste child into a world where it's certain to meet pain and suffering," he said softly.

"Nick, we are all certain to meet that, sooner or later."

He smiled slightly. "You're right of course. Thank you for listening to me moan. I don't usually."

She moved closer and bent her lips to his ear. "Come to bed. Everything will seem brighter in the morning."
What woman could sleep under the same roof and not long to share your bed?

"You go ahead up, Maggie. I'll just have a smoke in the quiet and join you shortly." He turned out the lamps and sat in the dark. The tip of his cheroot glowed in the darkness as silence filled the house.

Solange wanted a white man's child and deliberately went about it the only way she knew how. But the fact remains that I am deeply ashamed of myself.

He was ashamed of his ignorance in sexual matters. Until this moment he'd always considered himself a good lover, but now it came to him with a jolt that he was selfish, inconsiderate, and woefully ignorant.
A real man would take total responsibility when he made love to a woman. Any male who cannot prevent an unwanted pregnancy is not a man, but a boy.

He remembered, on his travels through Italy, hearing of young men who had mastered the art of prolonged intercourse by practicing partial release or postponement of release altogether. Young men in Europe who got girls pregnant were mocked and scorned for their ignorance and lack of technique. Their concept of maleness required sophistication is sexual matters.

Nicholas decided to study the sexual moors of other cultures.
From now on when I make love to a woman, I swear I will take care of her.
He vowed to learn to be a skilled and attentive lover, enjoying the intense excitement of a female's response rather than concentrating on his own orgasm.
It's rumored that postponement of release leads to increased potency.
He would discover the truth of that for himself.

Maggie slipped out of her gown and sat at her dressing table in her revealing shift. She brushed her red hair until it crackled. When he came into the bedroom, she watched him with hungry eyes, and hoped that she excited him half as much as he excited her. By the time he removed his shirt and her eyes slowly took in the full splendor of him, she was slick with anticipation.

Three days later, as the empty log barges were hauled slowly back upriver by the mules Nicholas had purchased, he talked with his men about his future plans for himself and for them. "The extra mules will enable us to get all the land at Paradise cleared. I want each of you to have your own cabin, your own plot of land to grow food, and space enough for chickens and hogs and other livestock." Nicholas and Samuel presently resided in the stables. The building was so large, airy, and clean, it was a source of pride to all of them.

"I don't intend to grow as much rice next planting season. I'd like to drain all the land that's marshy into a man-made lake that will be ornamental and part of the formal garden that will surround the house on Paradise Hill."

The house itself would have to wait for a year, but he could visualize it down to its last detail. He would start laying out the formal gardens as soon as cooler weather came and then in spring along with the crops, he would plant and transplant camellias, brilliant azaleas, roses, hibiscus, lilies, magnolias, and dogwood. The gardens would stretch down from the front of the house to the grassy banks of the meandering Ashley River.
A house is like a jewel. It needs a magnificent setting to display it to perfection.

A few miles downriver from Paradise, they floated past Williamson's great lumber mill. On the spur of the moment, Nicholas decided to leave the thirty rafts of logs to be turned into building lumber. They rode the mules home, laughing and singing all the way.

Chapter Six

In November, Bernard Jackson traveled up to Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy of Southern States. Nicholas had agreed to move into Brandon's
garçonnier
bachelor quarters in the far back of the house, and Bernard had a word with each of his daughters separately.

Jennifer Joy was her daddy's girl, and always had been. Bernard never looked at her without amazement that he had produced such a pretty, delicate-looking daughter. "Now Jenny, I know I don't need to remind you of the proprieties. You've been raised properly and know full-well the behavior that is expect of a lady when an unmarried man is staying in the house. You must never be alone, so that your reputation is safeguarded at all times. I realize that someday he may well be your husband, but for the present, let's not give the gossips anything to whisper about."

"My husband? Nicholas Peacock? Daddy, you must be jesting!" Jennifer was clearly angry. "Why, he's no better than a dirt farmer, working his own fields, and... and... I do believe he lives in a cabin!" She looked at her father in disbelief. "Surely you expect me to marry Beau Hampden or someone from an old Southern family? Someone with a big plantation?"

"Now, now, darlin', don't be angry at your old daddy. I know you can have anyone you please, just by lifting your little finger. Nicholas is ambitious. He'll have a fine house one of these days, and there's no denying he has his eye on you," he soothed.

"Then he can take it off," she said with more flippancy than was nice in a young lady of her breeding. "Mr. Peacock is undeniably handsome and I might pass the time of day in a little harmless flirtation, but if he expects me to wait around years and years for him to become rich, he's deluding himself!"

Her father frowned. "You're only seventeen, young lady. You know how strongly I disapprove of young marriages. Scandalous in my opinion! No daughter of mine will wed before she's twenty, Beau Hampden or no Beau Hampden." He dismissed her and asked her to send in Amanda. When Mandy didn't arrive, his annoyance increased.

It was fifteen minutes before she showed herself, breathless and apologetic. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting, Daddy." She winced slightly.

She laughed. "No, of course not. There were some apples that hadn't been picked, right at the top of the tree and I leaned out too far."

"Climbing trees!" he exploded. "This is exactly why I asked to see you. When Mr. Peacock is here, I want you to behave like a normal, decent child. No careening over the countryside like a hoyden, staying away all hours. No shouting matches with Mammy Lou. No embrangles with your sister."

Amanda looked repentant and his voice quieted slightly. "It's a mystification to me how you go from one scrape to another, in spite of all the prating we do over your behavior and manners. I hate to say this to you Amanda Virginia, but you are acquiring a reputation as an eccentric child; an oddity. Now if I hear tell that your sweet mother has recourse to her smelling salts as a result of your misconduct, I shall deal with you severely."

Nicholas arrived in time for supper that first evening and brought Samuel with him as his body servant. Samuel soon had the Jackson house servants doing his bidding, fetching towels and hot water for his master's bath; running with heated flatirons, so he could press Nicholas's newly acquired white suits and lawn shirts. Every once in a while he would sniff and mutter under his breath, "Cheap slaves is cheap slaves." Nicholas was not so arrogant. He was extremely grateful to be bathing in a proper bathtub, instead of the outdoor wooden cabinet he used at Paradise.

When Miz Caroline was carried into the dining room, Nicholas bowed formally.

"My dear Mr. Peacock, before the children arrive, permit me to express my heartfelt gratitude that you are extending your protection to our all-female household. My mind is vastly relieved. Forgive me if I am indelicate, but all this talk of slave uprisings is most upsetting."

"It is an honor, ma'am. Don't be apprehensive. As soon as it comes dark the patrollers are out looking for any who shouldn't be abroad."

"It is an apprehension white womanhood lives with from cradle to grave, Mr. Peacock," she said quite sincerely.

It is impossible for me to argue with this frail lady who is such an hospitable hostess.
"Please call me Nicholas," he murmured.

Jennifer arrived, a vision in delicate pink. She sketched him a curtsy that was so brief, it was almost an insult. She gave him a pert little smile, but her eyes remained deliberately cold.