For Love of Country Chapter 3

Chapter III

         Julia sat at Kate's writing desk and offered her opinion on which dress Kate should wear to Cotton Gin Port's fourth of July jubilee. She was a very modest dresser, preferring muted tones over rich, vibrant ones, and hoping Kate would feel the same, selected the dark blue watered silk dress over the deep crimson trimmed in white. Kate immediately hung the blue dress back in her armoire and laid the other on her bed.

         "Do you suppose Ethan will be there?" Julia questioned, watching Kate rummage through her top bureau drawer for jewelry.

         She did not look up from her task and answered, "Oh who cares," and after feeling anger rise up, banged the drawer shut and replied, "I don't care if I ever see him again. He's been home for over two weeks and has not called on me, I mean us, since that day he was so hateful."

         "You were rather rude to him, darling," Julia ventured quietly, not sure if Kate would explode on her.

         "Why hasn't he came?" Kate sighed and sat down beside her dress. "Do you think he does hate me? He should have came by now right, Jules?" Kate whined.

         "Men are funny creatures, they like to be petted and pampered, not yelled at," Julia boldly stated. Kate laughed.

         "When did you become a philosopher?"

         "All I'm saying," Julia began. "Is that perhaps if you tried being nice to Eth-"

         "Try being nice?!" Kate exploded. "After the way he treated me, you expect me to be nice? Well," she vented and walked over to her bureau again. "I bet he expects me to be nice too, huh?" she opened up the drawer and pulled out a ruby chocker that had been her mother's. "Forget it. I intend-" she stopped mid sentence and smiled at Julia. "I shall be nice then, and he'll be eating out of my hand, and then, then," she paused for dramatic effect. "I'll show him what it feels like to be humiliated."

         "Oh Kate, I meant just be nice, not be nice and then hurt him. You do love him don't you?" she ask rising from the plush chair. Kate turned and her blue eyes were iced over with indifference.

         "You needn't concern yourself with that, dear," she stated bitterly and opened her door, signaling their conversation was over. Julia walked out, head bowed and eyes downcast because she knew in her heart her way was right, and Kate's, well it was just stubborn. "Send Nolia up, Julia," Kate called. "I want her to fix my hair and tell her to get some flowers," Kate closed the door. This is going to be a good night, she thought as she hugged the dress close to her.

         The two girls, cramped in the carriage due to voluminous hoops and skirts, said little to each other as they made their way to Jackson Street. Josiah and Lucius trailed behind them on their horses, laughing over one another's crude remarks, and Mathias sat with the coachman, leaning over the side periodically to spit tobacco juice. Everyone was in a pleasant mood, except Kate. She stared out the windows with her elbow resting on her knee, despite Julia advising her dress would wrinkle, and thought about Ethan. She did not want to be mean to him, in fact she wanted nothing more than to tell him how much she cared and loved him. Unburdening to him all the times she sat and waited on phantom letters and how many sleepless nights she encountered thinking of him, would be a blessing. No one understands me, she thought as she looked to her family. They can't possibly understand how I feel because they've never ever been in love.

         Kate was acutely wrong in assuming that. Her dear, retiring cousin who sat across from her with a gentle smile, ached secretly because her beau was not near. At least two letters a week came, begging marriage, and vowing love, from the boy she left behind in Okolona. But Julia never disclosed to Kate her heart's desire, fearing the response would be laughter. Lucius, the quick tempered, easily angered boy was also suffering from unrequited love. The sandy haired young man, with gray eyes that were always bright and electric, and whose baby face made him appear younger than his eighteen years, carried in his heart intense secret feelings for his sister's friend, Mae Ruby. But Mae Ruby hardly gave Lucius a dimpled smile, dismissing him as a well meaning fool, and favoring older gentleman, pursued the more established rising planters. Lucius was not easily discouraged and whenever the chance arose, accompanied Kate and Julia to Mae Ruby's with flowers and compliments.

         Josiah, at twenty one, was arranged to be married that September to a young woman from Aberdeen. Kate cared little for her, seeing no outstanding qualities in the girl, and reasoned that since their marriage was arranged, then Josiah must care little for Miss Whats Her Name. But she was mistaken, as usual, when it came to the matters of the heart. Mysterious, mild tempered Josiah, who was least like his other siblings, and most like his mother, with his dark hair, hazel eyes and thin, regal nose cared greatly for his fiancée. He often lay awake at night and wondered how he could become so lucky.

         And then there was her father. He had loved their mother from the very second he saw her fanning herself quietly under a shade tree in Tupelo. Though ten years separated their ages, and at that time Mathias only claimed seventy five acres and twenty slaves, he wooed and won her. She had changed dramatically from the quiet girl of fifteen he had wed, to the fiery woman of twenty nine he laid in the ground one bright August morning. Yes, Mathias knew love and the grief's that followed all too well. He could have comforted Kate instead of barely acknowledging the many times Ethan Embry had hurt her. Lucius may have prospered from his father's advice if he took the time to listen to his son's plight and dispense his knowledge of courtship. And Josiah should have been told to cherish all the time he had with his sweetheart. But instead, Mathias went into his study every evening and locked the door. He would still drink a glass of whiskey as he went over his accounts and discussed the progression of Camellia with the overseer. But he cared to shut the rest of the world out, including his children, noticing after Caroline died, how painful and cruel it could be. Mathias did not want to be hurt again and pushed his family further and further away until the bridge that once connected them widened to an unbridgeable ocean. Kate had often wished her father was more like Mae Ruby's, taking time each day to talk to her and offer advice on any question she had. Though Mathias had courted other women in the eight years his wife had been gone, he never regained the zeal for living or humor that had once made people gravitate toward him.

         So naturally Kate assumed that no one in her family had ever felt the way she had, and continued to stare at the cotton fields they passed, feeling increasingly sorry for herself at having such a rotten, apathetic family.

         When they arrived at Jackson Street, the usually unoccupied dirt road was crowded and clogged with town and country people, eagerly awaiting the firework display, and biding their time listening to a Negro band. Kate's eye was caught by brightly colored dresses, and vainly she decided her dress was far more beautiful and festive than any of the woman who fanned themselves on benches along the road, all smiling pleasantly thinking the same remark as Kate. The men in their best ruffled shirts (usually reserved for Sunday and Election Day wear) laughed and slapped each other on the back, already half drunk, and small children ran unattended on the make shift dance floor in the middle of the street. At the far end black women prepared the white folks food, and Kate watched with approval as Lucy and Nolia disappeared in the crowd as they made their way toward the smiling black faces, hunched over pots and spits. Lucy and Nolia regarded themselves far better than the lowly field hands and kitchen cooks that prepared the food, themselves being personal servants, but like their mistress they loved gossip. Benches and tables lined both sides of the street and Kate searched for Ethan among them, hoping to spot him before the dancing began and confusion set in. She had a plan in her head and she was certain if she could just follow through, then Ethan would fall in love with her again, her problems would be solved, and she would become Mrs. Ethan Embry over night, or at least within the next week.

         The Negro band, a motley bunch, were the best players the plantations had to offer, and Kate felt a burst of pride when she looked down the street and saw their stable hand, Toby, playing a ragged fiddle. She could faintly hear him teasing the beginning strains of "My Old Kentucky Home" on the fiddle and soon Mose, the banjo player from Mae Ruby's plantation, Cotton Wood, began strumming the familiar cords.

         "That is my favorite song," Kate called over her shoulder to Julia and tugged on her hand, trying to lead her quickly through the quagmire of people. But with every jilt the girls delivered to the persons around them, faces turned, and recognizing Kate and Julia all spoke and called greetings, holding the procession up even more. When at last Kate pulled Julia away from the deaf widow Kites and they were away from most of the crowd, Julia responded in a hushed tone, "Dear don't you know that song is about slavery?"

         Kate was unaware of this, and never paying attention to the meaning of the song, dismissed it as a man missing his old Kentucky home, and nothing more. Her cheeks reddened and she pinched Julia, which elicited a cry of pain from her.

         "Why didn't you tell me that before I said I like a anti-slavery song?" she demanded. Before the startled girl could respond, a young man walking backward, taking in the unfamiliar excitement and scenery bumped into Julia, causing her to spill apple cider down the front of her lilac dress. Kate, ready to reprimand the inconsiderate fool, turned sharply and caught Julia smiling at the strange man.

         "I'm so sorry," he spoke and reaching into his pinstripe pants brought forth a blue handkerchief and handed it to Julia.

         "Well you should be," Kate quickly replied and put her left hip in front of Julia, blocking her sight. Julia, ever so slightly touched Kate's shoulder, hoping to move her, and when she did not respond, gave her a swift jab in the backside with her free hand.

         "It's all right cousin," Julia smiled stepping forward. "Twas an accident I am sure," Julia finished and handed the handkerchief back to the tall gentleman before them. Kate smiled at Julia kindly and turned a weary smile to the stranger. He was a man appearing to be in his mid twenties, lanky of build and stature. His coarse dark hair had a slight wave to it, and it framed his angular face nicely, polishing his features. The man's eyes were a deep brown snapping with vigor, and his lashes created dark circles under his eyes. He had a handsome smile and faintly Kate could recall seeing that smile somewhere in time. The nose, though not aristocratic or complimenting, was broad and full. His skin was a dark brown, indigenous to overseers, and the tan added an air of mystery Julia found exciting.

         "I don't believe I've ever seen you before," Kate stated pouring Julia another glass of cider. "Be sure to hold onto to this one tight in case he nudges you again." Julia's cheeks reddened and the man cleared his throat in embarrassment.

         "You're right," he responded. "This is my first time in Cotton Gin Port, let alone Mississippi."

         "Are you a Yank?" Kate directly ask, eyeing him suspiciously at the first notice of a northern twang.

         "Half and half," he laughed. "My father was a southerner and my dear mother a northern woman."

         "And what is your business down here?" Kate coldly ask. Julia was by now frustrated with the whole ordeal, she found the Yankee to be quite handsome, and wished to speak with him herself, instead of Kate asking all the questions, and rude ones at that.

         "I am the new overseer on the Embry plantation, Dark Pines, I came just last Tuesday and was invited by the family to this picnic."

         "This, sir, is no picnic!" Kate almost yelled. "This is a very respectable gathering, honoring our nations independence. You are forgiven the slight, being from the north." Kate graciously allowed. "I was not aware the Embry's had released Mr. Gardner."

         "Yes th-"

         "I'm sorry but I did not catch your name," Julia spoke up, once again pushing her cousin out of the way.

         "Marcus James," he replied and offered a slight bow.

         "Julia Denton," she spoke and offered her hand. "And my cousin, Kate McAllister."

         "So," he smiled. "You must be the spit fire Ethan warned me about," he laughed.

         "I assure you sir, a spit fire you can't handle. Let's go Julia, we have better things to do than waste our time with a northerner and one with bad manners too," and with that flippant remark voiced, she latched onto Julia's hand and jerked her away from Mr. James. Julia shot a longing look over her shoulder and once again spilled apple cider on the dress.

         Seated at the opposite side of the street by themselves Julia jerked her hand away from Kate's grasp and spoke sharply to her for the first time.

         "Why did you do that?" she demanded, the dark eyes imploring an immediate answer.

         "I did not like his mannerisms."

         "You didn't like Ethan called you a spit fire to a stranger. And rightly so, might I add," Julia spoke crossly.

         "I saw no point standing over there talking to a Yankee when we have plenty of southern men around us who could better occupy our time," Kate defended herself.

         "I thought he was nice, and I hope he asks me to dance later, and I'll accept too Kate McAllister," Julia defiantly said. Kate gave her a quizzical look and laid a hand on her arm.

         "What has gotten into you?" she gently questioned.

         "Oh," Julia replied and began to cry. "I'm sorry dear, but it's just you have Ethan or whomever you wish to have, and I have no one. I do so desperately want a beau of my own."

         "Even if it is a Yankee?" Kate asked, shocked that her cousin would be so brazen. Julia nodded. Kate smiled and put her arm around the small shoulders. "You know he is beneath us, and daddy will shame you if you carry on with him. You should better than anyone Miss Manners that you would disgrace our family if a lowly overseer became your beau." Kate noticed her cousin's lip quivering accompanied by tears and conceded, "Well as long as you don't marry a darkie, and he treats you good, I don't care who you carry on with."


*work in progress, if you READ it REVIEW it!!!!*