Queen (62 page)

    to know."

"Massas is Massas," Tiara shrugged.

    The new pregnancy gave Cap'n Jack a purpose again, in a life that was

    otherwise empty. New knowledge blazed inside him, but he had no one to

    share it with. He could not teach any of the other slaves what he now

    knew, or even tell them of it, for learning was a dangerous thing to

    them, and they were scared of it. Few things seemed to infuriate a Massa

    more than knowledge that a slave could read and write. There were some

    exceptions to this, such as Cap'n Jack, who had acquired his original

    ability secretly, before he was bought by Massa James, and a very few

    Massas actually taught their preferred house niggers some basic skills

    of arithmetic, the better to keep the household accounts, and the

    alphabet, to make lists. Generally though slaves could expect a whipping

    if they mouthed words from a book, or had ability with a pencil.

    Despite this, Cap'n Jack decided that the new child would have learning,

    in preparation for that better day that Cap'n

    MERGING 373

Jack was sure would come. He no longer believed that he, or his generation,

would ever be free; he was not even sure that he wanted it for himself, and

Easter was slave to something, and someone, that manumission could never

release her from, but the child was different. Cap'n Jack had seen the

future at the Pritchard home in Delaware, and he had heard the strident

voices of the Northern abolitionists and knew they were prepared to go to

extraordinary lengths to achieve their purpose. He believed that freedom

must come, someday, somehow, though when and how were unfathomable to him.

When it did come, though, he was determined the child would be ready for it.

Sweet Lord, let the chile be free!

Sally was less pleased. That Jass had a slave mistress was one thing. That

he would now have a slave child was something else. It happened everywhere;

they were called "children of the plantation," a euphemism for bastards got

by their white Massa, and you saw them running around, coffee-colored rep-

licas of their sires, who had no real place in either world. Sometimes

paternally shunned and despised or, more often, ignored, sometimes taken in

by their white families, they still had no expectation of a future other

than slavery. Often they were as despised by the black communities. Slaves

and black, they were also something else, something apart, something

separate and different. Their parentage was also the source of much

malicious gossip behind the fan, and Sally did not want her son to be the

butt of scurrilous jokes from idle, illintentioned busybodies, at least not

until Jass was married and had heirs.

    Essentially, Sally did not want her first grandchild by Jass to be black.

    No one had officially told her of Easter's first pregnancy, but she guessed

    quickly enough, for she was attuned to the slave grapevine, as far as

    domestic matters were concerned, and Easter's condition quickly became

    apparent. Sally had sighed in relief when Easter miscarried, and found

    herself praying, and hating herself for doing so, that a similar mis-

    adventure would occur again.

    If it should not, something else had to happen, but she bided her time

    until the moment seemed right.

374 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

    On a warm spring day, Sally and Jass went to Florence, and spent several

    hours with Tom Kirkman in his office. They were doing well. Tom had

    divested them of most of their holdings in other states, at good prices,

    and the fortune James had left them was intact. She could tell that Jass

    was relieved and knew that he had been worried. The relief came from his

    sense of duty to the estate, and the worry from the fact that now almost

    everything they owned was invested in cotton. Long ago, Jass had insisted

    that it was dangerous to be completely reliant on one crop, and he raised

    that same fear now. Tom handled it beautifully. In many ways, Sally

    thought, Tom was more like James than ever Jass would be. Yes, the price

    of cotton was down, but not to a point of any serious concern, and it

    would rise again. They still owned enormous amounts of land and had

    considerable sums of money on deposit in several banks. The risk is

    spread, Tom comforted Jass, when he wondered if banks were safe.

    Elizabeth came by at the end of the afternoon, with young Sam and her new

    boy, John, and Jass happily dandled the little fellow on his knee, while

    Tom and Sally wrapped up the business matters. Fatherhood is what he

    needs now, Sally thought, although she was not considering Easter's child

    as part of that paternity.

    They drove home in the open landau, enjoying the pleasant ride. Jass was

    in exactly the mood that Sally had been waiting for. He had been worried

    about the meeting with Tom because he fretted about the estate, but had

    been reassured by the figures he had seen. He had still the smell of

    infant, the baby boy John, about him, and he seemed abstracted, and

    talked about John when Sally asked him what he thought of Tom.

    Sally let his mind drift for a while and then asked about Lizzie.

"She's fine," he said. "I was with her two days ago."

    Having planted the seed, Sally gave it time to take hold, and then moved

    closer to the heart of it.

    "You've known her for a very long time," she said, casually.

"Years," Jass agreed.

    "Don't you think it would be fair to her to come to a decision? You can't

    leave her dangling like this forever."

    MERGING 375

Jass did not look at his mother. "I know," he said.

    -Of course, if you'd rather it was someone else-?" Sally doubted this

    would be the case. Jass had no interest in any potential bride other than

    Lizzie.

    The landau had turned into the drive of The Forks. Jass stared at the

    house on the hill, hopefully, Sally thought, imaging Lizzie as mistress

    of it. She was not exactly thrilled by the idea herself, but mistress

    there had to be, and if it was to be Lizzie, she would make the best of

    it. But. it had to happen soon.

    "It would be such a pity to lose all this." She waved a hand at the

    estate as she spoke. "And if anything were to happen to you-"

    Jass knew she was right, and that he had to take some action, soon.

    "Yes, it would," he agreed again. "And Lizzie's the one. It's just-"

    "Then what are you waiting for?" Sally saw little point in

    procrastinating now.

    It was a good question. Jass did not know what he was waiting for. He

    wasn't sure he was waiting for anything. Except, perhaps, some spark of

    the fire that Easter kindled in him.

    "I don't know," he muttered, and found a vague and inadequate response.

    "Love, I suppose."

    "Love can come later, dear," she said, and took his hand, without looking

    at him. "Duty must come first."

    It was what his father had said to him, years ago, on a warm night when

    they had drunk port together and first discussed the concept of matrimony

    for Jass. With Lizzie. Perhaps it is destiny, he thought, with no real

    enthusiasm for his fate.

He got out of the carriage and helped his mother down.

"You go on in," he told her. "I need some exercise."

    Sally kissed him lightly on the cheek, and went into the house. Jass

    strolled to the edge of the lawn and looked out at the newly planted

    cotton fields. The sun was setting, and the gangs wending home, the work

    song drifting to him across the balmy evening. He imagined Lizzie walking

    beside him, her arm in his, a slave nurse following them, toting a baby

    wrapped in a shawl. To his surprise, the image came easily,

376 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

and was not disagreeable to him. He turned and saw Easter, some distance

away, walking with Tiara.

Easter was full and fat now, and for a moment, and for the first time in

his life, the image of her was imperfect. That she was big-bellied with

his child was precious to him; he had fussed over her through the early

days of her pregnancy, determined she should not miscarry again. As the

child had grown and the danger receded, he had worried less but loved the

experience more. He had spent hours in the weaving house, sitting close

to Easter, his hand on her stomach, a huge grin suffusing his face when

he felt the baby move. At night he would lie with her, caressing her

fullness, and he had learned how to make love to her with greatest

convenience and satisfaction despite her swelling body. He longed to know

if it would be a boy or a girl, but as much as he wanted a son, he was

realistic enough to appreciate that a girl would present fewer probl-ems.

He wanted a son he could present to the world, while any child of Easter's

must be hidden from view. It was this thought, coupled with the image of

Easter, that brought home to him, with unshakable clarity, the truth of

his situation.

    Waddling along with Tiara, Easter looked to be exactly what she was, a

    slave who could never be more than his paramour. Much as he loved Easter,

    much as he desired her, even in this condition, as intensely as he ever

    had, she could never be mistress of his household, she could never walk

    beside him, arm in arm on the lawn, in the cool of the evening. Nor could

    she ever give him what he so dearly needed in a child. He might love the

    baby of the union, with all his heart, but he could never admit that love

    to anyone, except perhaps Easter. Ultimately, he realized, he could not

    admit the love to the child, for then the child might expect more from

    him than Jass could give.

    The proof of his fecundity, in Easter, and the understanding that he had

    signally failed to do his duty, which was to provide an heir, spurred him

    in a way that little had done since his father died.

    Easter was his to love and cherish for as long as they both should live,

    and the child was his gift of love. But the days

    MERGING 377

of his youth were over; he had sown his wild oats. Duty must be attended to

now.

He went into the house and found his mother.

    "I thought we might have a dinner next week," he said, with a briskness

    that surprised her.

"For the Perkinses."

Lizzie arrived looking lovely. Since it was too far, and too unsafe, to

drive home again at night, they would stay over. They came in the afternoon

and were shown to the rooms, and met Sally and Jass later, on the veranda,

to take tea.

    Becky Perkins was agog with anticipation. A formal invitation from Jass

    could mean only one thing. She had lectured her daughter for days on her

    proper behavior, had vetted every item in Lizzie's wardrobe, had supervised

    the packing of the chosen garments, and had lost her temper several times

    every day with each and every one of her slave retinue, which caused them

    all to shout at each other. And then her dear, longsuffering husband had

    actually raised his voice to her. She had taken to bed with a sick headache

    but got up again an hour later because she realized she had not organized

    her own wardrobe for the occasion.

    Mr. Perkins was used to domestic chaos, but his wife's present hysteria

    caused his ulcer to go wild. His adventures in the land trade had leveled

    off, he had made his fortune and now stood in awe of it, and his abiding

    obsession at present was the maintenance of that fortune, which, to his

    consternation, proved far more difficult than the making of it. An

    ill-timed sale of a few acres, resulting in a small loss, sent his stomach

    haywire, and he lived in the constant fear that he might completely lose

    his sense of timing, and with it everything he had acquired. He was not

    particularly excited about the visit to the Jacksons. While he wanted to

    see his little girl manied, young Jackson had kept her on a string for so

    long that he hardly believed this invitation signified what his wife

    insisted it did, and he was concerned at the cost to him of a suitable

    wedding for Lizzie if she did marry into such a station. On top of all

    this, he would be away from his study, from his ledgers, for two whole

    days; the price of land could collapse around him, and he would be unable

    to salvage anything from the wreck.

378 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

He was so distracted, he shouted at several of his wife's slaves, for the

first time, although their very presence infuriated him. The cost of buying

them had been a huge outlay, and the cost of maintaining them was the stuff

of his nightmares.

    "How many damn niggers do you need?" he had yelled at his wife, who had

    stared at him in astonishment, burst into tears, and gone upstairs to her