Box Set: The ArringtonTrilogy by Roxane Tepfer Sanford

Author:Roxane Tepfer Sanford
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: box set
Publisher: Roxane Tepfer Sanford

In the following weeks, after endlessly trying to communicate with Hamilton when he came to empty my chamber pot, I almost gave up. I knew he heard my pleas; I saw the way he would try and speak with his big, wide eyes, but he never said a word, and I couldn’t figure out what he was trying to say. Was he asking me to leave him be? I wasn’t sure until one stormy afternoon, as the wind and rain battered against the only window of my room; I tried once again, having nothing better to do.

As soon as I caught his eye, I said, “When I was on Jasper Island, I loved the rain. I used to go outside and stick my tongue out to catch the rain drops in my mouth. I would sure love to be able to do that again.”

I didn’t realize Grandmother was right behind him. She was there, bringing my meal hours early. She scowled at me then said, “He is mute, you fool. He can’t talk to you, so stop trying.” Hamilton shifted his eyes away and took the pot, then hurried past her.

“I noticed you have been an obedient child,” she said, her words taking me by surprise.“I have decided to allow you out of your room tomorrow.”

I jumped up from my bed and went to thank her, but she pointed her cane at me, and commanded, “Sit back down! You will be doing the cleaning from now on. I will come and get you. You will clean as I watch over you then return to your room.”

It was sad to be so grateful for such a small thing—being able to leave a room to be a servant, but it was all I had. It was an opportunity to see the place Momma grew up, even if I was the one cleaning it.

Grandmother saw the enthusiasm in my eyes, and she didn’t like it one bit. “You will be working from sun-up to sundown. Do you understand, girl? Maybe if your mother had lifted a finger in her life, she would have appreciated everything her father and I had done for her. After all, Sutton Hall wasn’t built out of nothing. Thomas spent years making it happen, seeing his dreams fulfilled. And they were,” she declared, “until the war. We were stripped of our wealth, but not our dignity. The war couldn’t take that away, nor could Amelia.” She spoke as if I understood how to read between the lines of her words. “Now there is a mess to clean up, and it is time. The rebuilding of Georgie has been painstakingly slow. We must do our part to help revise the great South and bring Sutton Hall back to its former glory. And let me say one thing to you, Yankee girl,” she paused, and then straightened her spine. “The South shall most certainly rise again.”

It was odd to hear her talk with such a heavy British accent and declare her southern pride.

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