Free Riverbreeze: Part 1 by Ellen E. Johnson Page B

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