Riverbreeze: Part 1 (9 page)

And then they had begun to worry about
themselves. What would happen to them now? Who would take care of
them? What would they do?

Only a few minutes later they found out,
their solicitor informing them in a calm comforting voice that
there was no money left, and everything in the family home would be
seized and sold to settle as many debts as possible. All the
servants would be let go and given letters of recommendation by the
solicitor to help them find other positions. All but one servant
had left that day, the girls’ governess had stayed with them, she
having been with them since their birth and having her own money to
sustain her.

And then the most horrible news of all had
been revealed, that they would be sent to live with their father’s
brother, a man they thought to be an unworthy good-for-naught, in
Virginia. In her mind was a picture painted by her father, of a
place overrun with bad men of all kinds, all of them grubbing in
the dirt, growing tobacco right alongside the savages. To be taken
away from their comfortable lifestyle of genteel pursuits, parties
and social events was a horror to Elizabeth.

But now she had to admit it really wasn’t all
that bad. The land was certainly beautiful with lush forests and
pretty meadows; the numerous rivers were full of the most amazing
fish and fowl, the skies were full of varied and colorful birds.
Elizabeth smiled to herself as she remembered her sister’s face as
their ship had sailed up the James River, how Evelyn had tried to
look at everything all at once despite her weariness, pointing to
this tree and that bunch of cattails and that flock of swallows
overhead and that doe and her fawn over there. For those moments
there had been no apprehension, no sorrow, no grief, just pure
delight in the beauty of God’s nature and gratefulness that they
had arrived alive and well.

As they had headed for their uncle’s home,
they had been relieved to see many other seafaring vessels,
(reminding them just the teeniest bit of the Thames,) stopping at
the scattered plantations to pick up the tobacco crop and deliver
trade goods. And many of the farms had at least been
decent-looking, nothing compared to the estates in England of
course, but respectable nevertheless for such a young colony. (Of
course they had also passed numerous dilapidated places, but she
had tried to ignore those.) Her uncle had built this fine
one-and-a-half story frame and clapboard house of a moderate size
and furnished it with good, solid English furniture. It was true
the curtains in this chamber were old and worn and that the
curtains in the other chambers were made of linen and not silk, but
that didn’t mean that they couldn’t be had in the colony. Uncle
Francis’ merchant store was stocked with all the items everyone
might need for a household from iron tools and nails, iron pots,
brass kettles, linens and lengths of piece goods, along with some
luxuries like French wines and brandies, Spanish and Delft
earthenware, silver-plated and pewter wares. And she was truly
surprised to learn that he even had a small silk producing
operation and her cousin, Maureen Archer, today was wearing a
bodice woven from that silk!

Since arriving three days ago, she and Evelyn
had been introduced to all twenty of his indentured servants. One
of them was a young woman around twenty-four years old who worked
in the house, cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry and tending to
the kitchen garden. She had only six months left to her contract
and in a moment of forgetting her place, informed Elizabeth of her
plans to marry a man who had also been an indentured servant, but
who was now free. The other nineteen were field hands or worked in
the silk house, men ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-six and
all from the county of Cornwall. They had all been mannerly and
decently-kept, wearing their new sets of clothes they received once
a year. Perhaps this land wasn’t so wild and dangerous as her
father had led them to believe.

And Uncle Francis himself was not the bad man
she had been expecting. He was the perfect gentleman, gracious,
generous and kind. After their most awful ocean voyage, which they
hoped never to have to repeat, he had taken them in and seen to
their every need. And surprisingly he had reminded her a lot of her
father. He was in his middle forties, pleasant looking, if not
overly handsome, with reddish-brown hair and gentle green eyes. He
was of average height with a slight build, not frightening at all;
and in general, a very nice man.

Unfortunately, at this time, he was also very
ill, failing and weak; and that worried Elizabeth because if he
died, what would the twins do then? They could not run a plantation
on their own; they would not even be allowed to. They might be able
to stay with their cousin, Maureen, and her family, but she had
enough to do with her husband and four children. Most likely they
would be married off to whomever needed a wife, and the girls would
not even have a say in their futures.

It was true Uncle Francis had arranged this
party so they could be introduced to society, and since becoming a
young woman, Elizabeth had grown to enjoy parties immensely and had
loved entertaining her father’s friends. Together she and Evelyn
were lively and outgoing hostesses. She herself was an excellent
singer and could play the virginal with the skill of a master; and
more often than not, she willingly found herself being persuaded by
the guests to perform for them. With the loving encouragement of
her father and with her sister accompanying her on the viol, she
had always felt secure and confident.

It hadn’t always been that way though. As
little children, because they had this unusual and frightening gift
of dreaming future events, the twins had been shy, secretive and
distrustful of adults. They had lived an introverted life with
their governess as their confidante and surrogate mother. It had
taken many years for the girls to overcome their shyness and gain
confidence and courage to perform in front of people and to also
feel comfortable interacting with them. So now she didn’t
understand why she was so nervous about meeting all the citizens of
the county. She felt like she was reverting to that shy, scared
little girl of years ago.

She and Evelyn had been told all the
prominent planters and businessmen, many of whom also served as
local officials and members of the Council, and all the tradesmen
and smaller farmers as well, including their families and servants,
had been invited to meet them. She supposed she should be flattered
but she wasn’t ready to be put on display, she wasn’t ready to
smile and mingle and speak with so many unknown people. And she
wasn’t ready to be married off so quickly.

It wasn’t that she was opposed to marriage.
In fact, she knew just like every other woman knew, that her
greatest purpose in life was to marry and one day have children.
Both she and Evelyn loved children and had spent the past several
years of their lives at the urging of their governess giving of
their time, caring for orphaned children at their local parish
orphanage. So it was not marriage and children that frightened
them; what the both of them were worried about was that they would
be forced to marry men that didn’t understand their need to be
together. The bond between them was so strong that both Elizabeth
and Evelyn were worried sick they would be separated and have to
live far apart from each other. And that they could not
tolerate.

Elizabeth had been standing at the window for
over an hour already, watching the scores of guests that had been
arriving all morning. They were all in high spirits, laughing and
gossiping and greeting friends they hadn’t seen in a long time. The
people of Virginia loved to socialize and looked for any reason to
interrupt the stress and hardships of their everyday lives. They
arrived by all manner of boats, shallops, skiffs or sloops, tying
up their crafts side by side and on both sides of Francis’
impressive wharf which reached out into the river at least one
hundred feet. The ship that had brought the twins to Virginia was
also docked here for repairs and some of the mariners generously
helped the guests secure their boats.

Then they spilled out into the yard like a
throng of fair-goers. She noticed they were all dressed in their
Sunday best; the men in smart doublets, breeches and loose linen
shirts, with ribbons at their knees and wrists, short or long
cloaks, the new short cloak favored by the younger gentlemen,
beaver hats with plumes of feathers on their heads and rapiers at
their sides and pistols tucked into their belts or muskets in their
hands. The majority of them wore pointed, well-trimmed beards and
mustaches and all the men had shoulder-length hair either left
loose with a single curled or waved tress of hair longer than the
rest, or tied back with a colorful ribbon. Jewelry was also worn by
many of the men especially earrings and signet rings.

The women wore brightly colored gowns, amber
yellow and blue were very popular, with white lace collars and
long, flowing skirts. Some wore gloves and cloaks to ward off the
chill of the morning while others had shawls or mantles. The more
prosperous ladies also wore several pieces of jewelry, small
pendants, earrings and rings. The fashions ranged from three months
out of London, the length of the average ocean crossing, to several
years behind the times, depending on the prosperity or the age of
the individual, but all were clean and neat and conscious of
looking their best.

Even the children were in their best clothes,
looking like miniature adults. And several of them had already
gathered to play games of blindman’s bluff or kick ball with a
small leather ball.

Well, she knew it was inevitable; she would
have to go downstairs at some point. With her sister beside her,
she could manage almost anything, even facing the scores of Uncle
Francis’ acquaintances. Maybe she would even sing. That always made
her feel better. It was a shame there wasn’t a harpsichord for her
to play, but singing alone was just as uplifting.

She smoothed her hands down her only gown,
mourning slightly the loss of all the others. It was in a deep
Caribbean blue silk with a high-waisted bodice that had been
expertly embroidered by Evelyn and a full gathered skirt which hung
in loose folds to the floor. The neck had a low décolletage in
front, showing the lace of her chemise, but it was cut much higher
in the back. And the close-fitting elbow length sleeves ended in a
good three inches of frilled white lace. She was also wearing a
large Bertha collar which covered her shoulders, back and breasts
like a cape. Her twin sister, Evelyn, had sewn both articles of
clothing only six months ago for another one of the coming-out
balls and when they had been told they would be allowed to keep
only one gown, there had been no questions of keeping this one.

Elizabeth once again marveled at her sister’s
talent. Just yesterday Evelyn had had to alter the gown to fit her
noticeably thinner body and she had done an exquisite job. The
ocean voyage had taken a toll on them, both of them losing weight
they couldn’t afford to lose. The gown she wore now was the only
party gown she had been allowed to keep. All the others had been
sold. Each girl had been allowed to keep one of the best gowns
along with two serviceable bodices and two skirts, along with
several collars and handkerchiefs, two pairs of shoes, several
pairs of stockings, several shifts and chemises and their warm
woolen cloaks and gloves. But the rest of their finery and jewelry
had been seized, even the pieces of jewelry left to them from their
mother. That had been crushing, to know the only two pieces of
jewelry she had inherited from her mother were gone forever.

“Are you coming down, Bess?” It was Evelyn
appearing in the doorway, looking eager and flushed. She was
wearing the one party gown she had been able to keep, also sewn by
herself, but since Elizabeth was not the accomplished seamstress
Evelyn was and since Evelyn had not had time to alter her own gown,
it didn’t fit as well as it used to. It gapped at the bodice and
was loose in the waist, but it was a pretty spring green color with
beautiful embroidery covering the bodice she had done herself. And
as the color of Elizabeth’s gown complimented her coloring, the
color of this gown was chosen to also compliment Evelyn’s identical
complexion and hair color. Right now Evelyn was wearing an apron
over the gown and it was smeared with grease and drippings and baby
stains; she had been helping their cousin, Maureen, with her
children and assisting the servant with the final preparations of
the ample amount of food and drink being provided.

The two little pocket beagles that were
sleeping on the bed came awake at the sound of Evelyn’s voice and
each of them lifted their heads excitedly and let out a single bark
each. She came into the room, smiling softly at their precious pets
and immediately flopped down on the bed next to the dogs to gather
them into her arms.

“Bonjour, bonjour, mes
petits cheris
.” She cooed in French, then switched to
English. “…Ah, I am tired already.” She said with a sigh. The dogs
smelled the delicious odors of roasted boar, duck and venison on
her apron and shoved their noses into her lap, licking at the
grease and stains, causing Evelyn and Elizabeth to laugh amusedly.
Because of their voracious appetites, the dogs had not been allowed
in the kitchen or they would have been begging for scraps and
getting in everyone’s way.

“Have you been that busy?” Elizabeth asked,
concerned and feeling a little guilty. She had been up here
fretting while Evelyn had been working. “I’m sorry for not helping.
Here, you need to take that off.” She said, reaching for the dogs,
seeing how they were becoming a little too vigorous in their
licking.