Tess by Margaret Tanner

Author:Margaret Tanner
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2017-07-26T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Next morning Tess washed and slipped into a pink gown with lace on the sleeves and bodice. Chloe had supplied her with several gowns, and two sets of undergarments. It was the most clothes she had ever owned.

Chloe appeared so suddenly with a breakfast tray, Tess jumped. She hadn’t heard the key turning in the lock and was unaware of the woman until she spoke.

“Good morning, Miss Tess.” Her smile showed even white teeth. In her younger days, she would have been a beauty, with smooth chocolate colored skin and huge ebony eyes. Her voluptuous breasts seemed out of place on such a tall, slim woman, although men would love them.

“Jenkins will meet you at the garden gate. He’ll accompany you to the stables so you can bring the horse back. He thought you might like to exercise him yourself, to fill in time until Nathan returns.”

“Oh yes.” Tess clapped her hands. “I’d love to.”

“Only if you eat your breakfast,” Chloe said. “No eat, no horse.”

They both burst out laughing. The more Tess saw of this woman, the more she liked her.

“Do you ever regret coming here, Chloe?”

“No, I was glad to leave New Orleans. It was an evil place with many slave masters who auctioned off men, women and children as if they were cattle. It was a dark, cruel place.”

“Sounds awful.” Tess gulped down the white mixture Chloe handed her and took a mouthful of coffee to wash away the foul taste. She helped herself to a hot biscuit almost swimming in butter.

“For years I was raped, beaten and starved, forced to work from daylight to dusk in the fields, then in the evenings I had to service the white overseers, the slave owners or their sons. If it hadn’t been for my potions I would have died. They kept me alive and made me valuable to men who wanted to keep the women in their brothels healthy.”

“What’s in this white mixture, it tastes dreadful.”

“It’s a combination of herbs. I never reveal my recipes. The fact that I alone have this knowledge, keeps me alive.”

“How many other released slaves does Nathan have working here?” Tess asked with a morbid fascination.

“There are several including Billy from the stables, plus a couple of young whores. He’s prepared to employ us and pay us decent wages, one of only a few men around here who do that.”

“I like Billy; he was kind to Fleabag and seems devoted to Grenadier.”

“He’s a good boy.

After they had eaten, Chloe collected the dishes and placed them on the tray. Before leaving she said. “It’s time for you to meet Jenkins now.”

Jenkins, wearing a battered brown Stetson, stood inside the gate holding Grenadier’s reins.

“Good morning, Miss. I thought it wiser to bring the horse over myself. There are a couple of the society members roaming around the stables. Nathan wouldn’t want you running into those perverted polecats.”

“Thank you.” She threw her arms around the horse’s neck and he swished his tail, obviously as pleased to see her as she was to see him.

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