Je t’aime

From the moment he saw her, he was infatuated. Besides being beautiful, she had been taught to speak perfect English with only a slight trace of an accent. That she had only recently been captured and sold into slavery was apparent in her bearing and posture. He had heard of former queens and princesses begin captured and he was convinced she had befallen such a fate.

Margaretta too had felt that tangible thread of attraction when she saw Mathew, but quickly pushed it aside. She was no fool, a slave did not fall in love with her master and this man was her master. She had no idea that Mathew was not the normal slave holder of the time.

Mathew was opposed to slavery, he had grown up with the practice, giving it little thought. However, over the last few years his father had been introducing him to the management of the plantation, including the slaves. He discovered that he found the practice of slavery distasteful.

Like most plantations, the white children played with the slave children until the slaves took their places in the fields or house. Mathew found that many of the children he had played with as a young child had been working the fields for years. He hadn’t really noticed their move to the fields because at that same time he had gone to boarding school.

Now they were beat down, tired, and over worked.  Many of the girls were already mothers once or twice over. He was shocked at the way they lived and even more shocked to learn that his father treated his slaves better than most. With the typical passion of youth, he had promised right then and there to free all the slaves when he became master of the plantation.

Mathew managed to spend a great deal of time with his sister, who loved him and was willing to overlook his odd beliefs about the slaves. Thus it was not uncommon to find the three of them locked up in his sister’s sitting room, reading books and discussing current events. It was unheard of to include a slave in these discussions but Margaretta offered a unique point of view and Mathew was always willing to listen to what she had to say.

His sister was either unwilling or inexperienced enough to recognize the budding relationship between her ladies’ maid and her brother so it was easy for them to spend time together without anyone being the wiser. Eventually, the relationship progressed to the point that Margaretta and Mathew began sneaking off together.

When the inevitable happened and they got caught, Mathew was horrified to realize that his father was not even upset, and in fact was proud of his son’s prowess. Mathew declared his love for Margaretta, his father only laughed and told him to keep it out of the main house. He even offered to build a small house for Margaretta so when he married they would have a place to meet.

Mathew had been so wrapped up in his new found love that he hadn’t given any thought to the future. They would never be able to be together in America, not even in the North. They must go somewhere that was more open and accepting of their union.

He finally found the perfect solution when he attended a secret meeting of abolitionists in the city during one of his visits. It was said that in Europe the stigma of mixed race marriages was nothing like in America, and if you were wealthy, these marriages were even embraced.

From that day forward it became Mathew’s goal to take Margaretta and move to Paris where they could be openly married and live together and raise a family. He found it fitting that his family had come from Paris via the Caribbean several generations ago.

Sadly, his opportunity would only come a few years later when his father passed away. Becoming the heir to the plantation gave him the money he needed to make the move but he would miss his father. Finding a buyer for the plantation had proven easy, his older sister’s husband was willing to pay a fair price for the property, more than enough for a fresh start in France. 

He took what he wanted from the house, packed it up along with a few slaves, including Margaretta and sailed for France, he never looked back. When they reached France, the slaves he had brought became free and some of his best employees. Margaretta too became free once they reached France. They were married in a simple ceremony in the first church they could find and the rest was history.

Remy’s father finished the story with a two handed gesture intended to encompass the house, grounds, and family. Kendra was speechless, the reason there were so many dark faces in the crowd was due to the mixed race marriage that had founded this entire empire. It was no wonder that Barbra had been so accepting of her, the bones of this family were based on open-mindedness and tolerance.

“I know that gesture anywhere, he’s telling the story of his ancestor who founded all this, isn’t he?” Barbra asked, approaching the table with a plate of sweets in each hand.

“Mother have you eaten anything yet?” Remy asked.

“Yes dear, I ate with Auntie Fran and Uncle George. But I thought I might join you all for dessert.” She said taking a seat next to her husband.

They spent the next hour, talking about nothing of great importance, just enjoying each other’s company. As night fell, Remy and his father left to go fill in the barbeque pit, leaving Kendra alone with Remy’s mother once again.

“Thank you for inviting me. I had a wonderful time, it’s nice to spend time with family. I miss mine a lot.” Kendra said.

“I honestly didn’t know what to expect when Remy said he was bringing you today. He’s been different since he got back, and I can see his taste in women has improved dramatically.” Barbra said, giving Kendra a broad smile.

“Thank you.”

“Will you be able to go back and see your family soon?” Barbra asked.

“Well, I work a lot but my mother and brother might be able to make a visit this winter. My brother is still in college, since he’s had to work to help pay for it, but he’s got a break for the holidays, so they are going to try to come then.” Kendra explained.

“We would love to have them stay with us when they are here. This huge house has so many rooms and they are always empty. The cost of running the place used to make sense when we had guests all the time but more and more it’s just Remy’s father and myself rattling around the place. It would be nice to put all that space to good use.” Barbra said, looking a little sad.

“Oh, that’s so generous, I’m sure they would love it.” Kendra said, meaning the words.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, each lost in her own thoughts. Then Barbra asked Kendra if she had other dreams besides being a chef. Although it was a question, Kendra sensed that Barbra wasn’t really looking for an answer.

“When I was young like you, my life was full, between my family and my career I was fulfilled. But now I find myself with too much time on my hands. There’s little housework to be done, as big as this place is we still have to pay staff to care for it. I love my job but I know my limits, my hands are tied in so many ways at the agency.” She said.

Kendra could sense that Barbra was speaking of dreams and plans and just made encouraging noises to keep her talking.