Queen (18 page)

McCullough, who came from good family and shared Sarah's appetite for

adventure. His parents gave them a pretty house on good land, and several

slaves, and Sarah's doting father provided her with a bountiful dowry. It

was a good and happy marriage, and Sarah settled contentedly to her new

life, though she and Samuel talked frequently of moving west, to the new

territories, to lead the simple, rustic life of pioneers. When Sarah

became pregnant, Samuel attended her with affection, and fussed over her,

and bought her pretty gifts.

    But a young slave girl on the property, Angel, who some said had the gift

    of second sight, told Sarah the news almost before she knew it herself.

    "You's gwine have a baby, Missy," Angel said, and Sarah was astonished

    that Angel was right, and took it to be a good omen.

    She became ill during her pregnancy, and the distraught Samuel rode to

    town, to find a physician. There had been heavy rain, and the rivers were

    swollen. Samuel urged his horse across a fast-flowing creek, but the

    animal lost its footing and master and horse were swept away.

    Sarah's grief was profound, and for weeks she blamed herself for her

    husband's death. She took to her room and her Bible, and family friends

    worried for her mental state. Her father spoke to her, sharply but

    kindly.

    "It is a tragedy," he said, "but it is not the end of the world. You must

    think of your own future, and the child."

    Sarah, raised to an understanding that death is a fact of life, took her

    father's words to heart. To waste her life grieving for Samuel was an

    insult to his memory and could prove to be a tragic misfortune for his

    baby, who would need a father. Her unborn child became her reason for

    living, proof of her husband's love and immortality. Through the child,

    Samuel would live forever. She delivered a healthy baby girl, and named

    her Elizabeth, after the mother of John the Baptist, who had been visited

    by angels, and who was friend to the mother of Jesus. Faced with the

    glory of procreation, Sarah's soul, like Elizabeth's and Mary's before

    her, magnified the Lord.

    But she could not live where she was, for the house and everything about

    her was haunted by the ghost of Samuel. She

    BLOODLINES 105

moved in with her family, but was not happy. She began to think that she

needed to move away from everything she had known, to cut all the links

with Samuel and the past, and create a new life, for herself and for

Elizabeth. Her father's good friend Thomas Polk offered Sarah and her

child the hospitality of his home in Nashville. Sarah's father was against

the idea, for he thought that Tennessee was still the wild and dangerous

frontier, but Sarah was intrigued by the challenge. She spoke to the

prescient Angel.

    "Happen you gwine meet a new man dere, Missy," Angel said.

    Sarah persuaded herself that Angel was right. The men of the settled

    states bored her-they were too conscious of her money and her position,

    and their own ambition-and, still young, she yearned for some of the

    adventures she and Samuel had planned.

    She was nineteen when she accepted the Polks' kind offer, and taking only

    Angel with her as a friend and a mammy for Elizabeth, she set off for the

    frontier.

    She settled to the life as if she had been born to it. She loved living

    so close to the edge of civilization, and endured its privations with

    grace and a sense of humor. She stayed in mourning for Samuel for the

    requisite twelve months, but toward the end of that year, she began to

    venture out into society, anxious to enjoy herself to the full. Her first

    outing was on a Saturday. She went with the Polks to the Cloverbottom

    Race Track, enjoyed the fun of the meet, was amused by the slightly

    drunken owner of the horse that had won the biggest purse, and was

    introduced to a handsome and successful Irishman, who was some ten years

    older than herself.

James, conscious of her widow's weeds, tipped his hat to the lovely young

woman and welcomed her to Nashville. He could hardly take his eyes off

her. Her grace and composure reminded him of Rachel, and the twinkle in

her eyes suggested, as with Rachel, that there was more, something wild

and capricious, beneath her calm exterior.

    He talked of her all the way home, to Cap'n Jack, and when he got home

    he talked of her to Eleanor and to Sara, and to anyone else who would

    listen. She was just like Rachel, he

106 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

told them. His family breathed a collective sigh of relief. At last, they

thought, Jamie had met his bride.

    But James, conscious of her mourning period, did not press his interest.

It made Eleanor cross.

    "For heaven's sake, Jamie," she snapped, "she is almost out of the

    mourning. And anyway, these things mean nothing here. "

    "It is not polite to 'call on her," James said, dreaming of Sarah.

    "Well, if you don't, someone else will," Eleanor said. "Or do you need

    lessons in the etiquette of the heart?"

    Eleanor's barb had struck a bull's-eye. James, who could be the most

    dazzling and charming seducer of women with whom he did not envisage any

    long-standing relationship, was naive in the face of love. He dreamed of

    Sarah by night, and mooned about her by day, but he had no idea how to

    tell her of his feelings, and was nervous in case she might reject him.

Sarah was not nearly so coy. She made inquiries about James, and learned

of his excellent character and obvious eligibility. She called at the

store on small errands, and it amused her that he, although unfailingly

charming to her, was always a little tongue-tied in her presence. She made

it her business to befriend his sisters Eleanor and Sara, who thought her

splendid. They invited her to a quilting party, and as they sat around the

frame creating the colorful comforter, they told her of James's interest,

and laughed at his shy reserve.

    Sarah took matters into her own hands. If he would not come to her, she

    would go to him.

She talked to Cap'n Jack.

    Cap'n Jack was eager to see his Massa married and with a family. The

    sooner James was settled, the sooner he might decide to fulfill his

    promise, and free his slave. He was completely sympathetic to Sarah's

    cause, because she was a sympathetic woman. Of the many that his Massa

    might choose, Cap'n Jack hoped it would be this one, for Sarah made him

    feel like an equal, despite the vast gulf between them, and he could not

    imagine her lying to him, or treating him, or any of the slaves, badly.

    Angel, Sarah's maid, agreed with this view of her Missy.

    BLOODLINES 107

    "If'n I's gotta be a wit' someone," she said, "druther be wit' her. "

It was James's habit and pleasure to ride on Sunday mornings, after

church, to inspect his property. Away from the cotton fields, it was

lovely land, with several brooks and many shady trees. It pleased James's

soul to fide through what was his, to breathe the softly scented air, and

delight in nature.

"You will never amount to anything."

    He had amounted to something, and would amount to much more yet. He had

    proved his father wrong, and if it was not yet enough, already it was

    considerable.

    It was a warrn and sunny day. Whippoorwills sang in the trees. Squirrels

    darted across the branches. Possums washed themselves at a spring, and

    flocks of tiny quail chased through the grass.

    He saw the horse first, tethered to a sapling. Nearby there was a gig,

    and a picnic basket on the seat. He heard a small cry of alarm, and a

    tiny black woman ran to her mistress and snatched a baby from her breast.

    He saw Sarah, who looked at him and stood, as if surprised. But she

    ignored, for a moment, Angel's pleas to make herself decent.

    Without any sense of urgency, Sarah adjusted her bodice and blouse to

    cover her breast, but not before she was sure James had seen her

    fullness, the rounded, alabaster flesh and the rosy nipple. James, who

    prided himself on being a gentleman, hesitated quite a long time before

    politely averting his eyes.

    He did not see Cap'n Jack crouched in a nearby bush, grinning happily at

    the success of his plot with Sarah. Nor did Cap'n Jack feel the need to

    look away from the seminakedness of the woman he hardly knew.

    I 'Why, sir, you startled me," Sally said, a provocative smile dancing

    at the comers of her lips.

    "My most humble apologies," James responded, as politely. "I shall

    withdraw."

    "There is no need," Sarah said, determined to detain him. "I think I have

    nothing to fear from you."

"Nothing at all," James agreed, not intending to go.

108 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

    "It's such a pretty spot, and such a pretty day, we came for a picnic,"

    Sarah said. "Should you care to join me?"

    James nodded that he would, and as he dismounted, he thought he saw Cap'n

    Jack in the distance, walking toward him. A tiny trace of suspicion

    tickled at his sense of humor.

    "How did you know about this place?" He came to Sarah and made himself

    comfortable on the grass beside her. "It is private land."

Sarah's eyes were sparkling, teasing him.

"Should I leave?" she wondered.

    "Oh, no," James said. "We have my permission to be here. It is my land."

    Cap'n Jack came down the path and went to the gig. He organized lunch

    from the picnic hamper and set it before them. No one made any reference

    to his being there, or expressed any surprise at his presence. James

    leaned back against the tree, at peace with the world. He knew he had

    been most exquisitely conned, and didn't mind at all.

    They passed a pleasant lunch, and found conversation easy between them.

    Cap'n Jack chatted with Angel, a small distance away, and Sarah nursed

    Elizabeth. James could not help but think of his afternoons with Rachel,

    and the better he got to know Sarah, the more she reminded him of Rachel.

    The time came when Sarah needed to go into the bushes, and Angel was

    dozing, so James took Elizabeth, and held the child while her mother was

    absent. Elizabeth gurgled and chuckled and reached up to grab James's

    whiskers, and was perfectly happy in his arms. Later, when Sarah changed

    Elizabeth's linen, James watched the simple domesticity, and yearned for

    it in his life.

    Toward sunset, when the mosquitoes came out, they realized they had

    talked too long, and made a hasty departure. It was five miles to the

    Polk residence, and Sarah should be home before dark. Cap'n Jack went

    back to the house, and James drove the gig, his horse hitched to it,

    pointing out the parameters of his land to Sarah, as if assuring her of

    his financial eligibility. They arranged to attend church together the

    following Sunday, and to picnic again, at the same spot.

They saw each other every Sunday of the summer after that, and when her

period of mourning was over, James began call-

    BLOODLINES 109

ing on her at her home. His suit received the full approval of the Polks,

who wrote to Sarah's father, informing him of their hopes for a union

between his daughter and this splendid bachelor.

    Mr. Moore came to visit his daughter, and his heart was touched by what

    he found. The dull grief that had enshrouded Sarah was cast aside with

    the black dress and veil. Now his daughter was herself again, as she had

    been in the happier days of her life. She still thought fondly of her

    late husband, but looked forward eagerly to her next.

    All of James's many friends indicated their approval of the union, and

    voiced their confidence in James. Mr. Moore questioned James most

    carefully, and if he found a certain lack of flamboyance in his

    prospective son-in-law, that only added luster to him, for Mr. Moore was

    concerned that Sarah should make a solid and reliable marriage rather

    than a spectacular one. There was enough flamboyance, enough cavalier

    behavior, in the other men of the frontier, with Andrew Jackson as the

    most grandiose of all, and while Mr. Moore was delighted by Andrew's

    company, he was pleased that Sarah had chosen a quieter man.

    Before Mr. Moore left Nashville, he had given his blessing to James, who

    then formally proposed to Sarah, and she, as gravely, accepted. They had

    a party at the new Nashville Inn, and danced until dawn, and were happy.

    Perhaps because Samuel had been the first love of Sarah's life, she had

    spent her youthful romance in that love, and what she felt for James was

    deeper, more secure, and less intense. Sarah was the first true