“I don’t know. You can ask Isabelle the next time you see her. All she told me was Paul likes to gamble, but he hasn’t been winning. He owes so much money that he told someone he may have to sell a slave or two.”
Lottie placed her half-eaten petit four on her plate. She felt as if her stomach had turned inside out. She was about to be violently ill at the thought of this despicable man touching her.
“And,” Justine had more, “because I knew you would want to know, I asked Ruthie if she knew who worked for him. She told me there’s a family—the son may be seventeen or eighteen, and their daughter is ten. She’s already heard he might sell them together or separately. It just depends on the offers.”
* * * * *
Gabriel and Joseph were framing the exterior walls of the café addition when Nathalie walked over and asked to talk to Gabriel.
“Go on,” said Joseph. “I can use a break.” He wiped his face and arms and went inside.
“I don’t want to talk in the café. Can we walk across the street to the park?” Nathalie ducked out of the way of a carriage.
“Yes, but what did you do with the old Nathalie when you inhabited her body? Did the voodoo curse finally work?” Gabriel dried his face, rolled down his sleeves, and picked up his vest that was hanging on a nail where he was framing.
“Not today, Gabriel,” she snapped and opened her parasol.
“When you are this serious, I feel a problem about to happen.” He helped her cross the boards laid over the foul gutters then unlatched the gate to enter the park. With the exception of a few nursemaids and an occasional reveler lost on the way home, the area was empty. The broad spans of St. Augustine grass had become squares of mostly mud sprinkled with patches of dry winter grass.
“I’m afraid it already happened. I’m here because Serafina asked me to come. She didn’t think you or your mother could stand the sight of her, much less have her in your home.”
“She told you?” It sounded like an accusation, not a question.
“Of course she told me. We’ve been friends for years. Now, before you become spitting angry, keep in mind that I am the one who gave you the information that just might get you the life you want. She said for me to tell you that Paul and Monsieur LeClerc had a meeting. Lottie’s grandfather, as you know, because you’re likely the one who told him, knows about Paul using the land for a gambling hall. He wanted Paul and his father to sign a contract stating that it wouldn’t happen or else he wouldn’t sell him the land. Paul laughed and told Monsieur LeClerc that if he didn’t go through with the agreement, he would take an ad in The Bee if necessary, but he would make sure the entire city knew that Charlotte was not white. After he told her himself.”
Gabriel’s anger could have fueled a ship. “This man is evil. He’s using a man’s granddaughter as bait to blackmail him. And that’s just part of it. You said Serafina’s your friend. Aren’t you afraid for her and her child?”
“Not anymore. This wasn’t the only news he gave her. Paul told her that if he’s going to be with a free woman of color, no matter which direction he chose, he’d rather have one who isn’t with child.”
* * * * *
After Justine left, Lottie walked outside to find Agnes. She was consoling her “student,” a young woman close to Lottie’s age. Taller than Agnes and stick-thin, everything on her seemed long—her face, her neck, her legs and arms, even her fingers. From a few feet away, she resembled a spider that suddenly found itself on two legs. When she bent to heat the iron and moved back again, she moved like she was underwater. A pile of fabric near Agnes’s feet showed scorch marks, but Agnes continued to gently pat her back, saying, “Gonna be all right, gonna be all right.”
Lottie hated to interrupt but she didn’t want to wait. The one napkin on the board was taking an extraordinarily long time. She stood back a respectful distance and waved Agnes over when she caught her eye. “How much longer will you be working with her?”
“Let’s see. ’Fore she’s good? Be a while. Couple months,” said Agnes, still watching her as she spoke.
“No, Agnes. Today. Now. When will you be finished?”
“Why? What you need?” A suspicious scowl was overtaking her face.
“I need to go to the church, just for a little while.”
Agnes shook her head. “I don’t even want to know why you needs to go to church so much lately. But if I tells you I can’t go with you and somethin’ happens, Jesus gonna be none too happy. Lemme tell Suellen she kin rest a bit. I be inside to git you.”