Free A Silent Ocean Away by DeVa Gantt Page A

whispered “bastard” as if the wind had ears.
    “What does that mean? Isn’t that the same as illegitimate?”
    “Yes, but worse! It means his father had an affair with a prostitute, and Paul was born of it. Otherwise, Frederic Duvoisin would have done the gentlemanly thing and married the woman. They say the infant came from abroad, and Frederic adopted the baby because he was certain he was the father.”
    Charmaine’s heart swelled in sadness for Paul. He was wealthy, handsome, and from all outward signs, an honorable man, and yet, he had to endure the scandalmongering and rebuke of those around him.
    Pelting rain washed her mind clean.
    “Come quickly, Charmaine! We’re going to get soaked to the bone!”
    They raced through the streets, coming to the residential section of town as swiftly as their legs would carry them. But they weren’t fast enough, for their clothes were drenched before they reached the Brownings’ front porch.
    “Goodness me!” Caroline protested as she took in her daughter’s appearance. “Just look at yourself, young lady! Your dress is ruined!”
    “I’m sorry, Mother, but Charmaine and I ran as fast as we could.”
    “ You what? ”
    “We ran from town.”
    “You ran from town? And what will my friends think?”
    “Mrs. Browning,” Charmaine placated, “everyone was running for shelter.”
    “Well, let me tell you something. Dignified young ladies do not run in public, rainstorm or not! What would Colette Duvoisin say if she saw you?”
    Loretta stepped from the sitting room. “She would say, ‘There go two intelligent young women. Unlike the dignified ladies on this island who traipse slowly about town during a rainstorm in wet, clinging clothes, these two run for cover so as not to be struck by lightning.’”
    Miffed, Caroline flounced past her sister, but Loretta smiled at the bedraggled girls. “To your room and out of those dresses before you catch cold.”
    Caroline remained in a huff until dinner, when her true anxieties were revealed. Though she loved the island, she feared her daughter would never learn the social graces necessary to obtain a respectable husband some day. By the end of the meal, Loretta empathized with her sister and, much to the dismay of Gwendolyn and Charmaine, agreed to take Gwendolyn back to Virginia when she and Joshua departed. Noting her niece’s downcast eyes, she said, “You will come to love Richmond, Gwendolyn. Think of it as an extended holiday, and if you are not happy after a week or two, you can always return home.”
    Gwendolyn brightened; however, Charmaine felt empty. She had hoped to have a friend on the island whom she could visit and in whom she could confide. It seemed she was destined to be alone.

Chapter 3
    Friday, September 16, 1836
The Duvoisin Mansion
    T HE open carriage rocked gently from side to side as it turned off the main thoroughfare and proceeded at a leisurely pace through the tree-lined passage that led directly to the Duvoisin mansion. The four occupants soon sampled the tranquility of Charmantes. Very few people traveled the isolated road, and the quiescent forest enveloped them. Heading west, their destination was the opposite side of the nine-mile-wide island, the paradise of Jean Duvoisin II preserved. Although the eastern coast was heavily populated, the western shore remained the sole dominion of one family: the Duvoisins. Not even the far-off sugarcane fields and orchards to the south, nor the lumber mill and pine forests to the north trespassed on the serenity to the west, where the island remained untamed save for the mansion they were swiftly approaching.
    “What is the matter, my dear?” Loretta whispered.
    Charmaine inhaled. “I’m very nervous. What if they don’t like me?”
    “We shall leave.”
    “Oh, Mrs. Harrington, you make everything sound so simple.”
    “That’s because it is,” she stated with a fortifying smile.
    Yesterday, they had received Colette Duvoisin’s reply,