VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4] ]


[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 23:17:08 07/12/03 Sat
Author: Wanda
Author Host/IP: 216.51.254.249
Subject: The New World - Part #78

PART #78

By the time George and Marguerite returned to the plantation, Bow and Catherine were celebrating their good fortune. Marguerite’s father and brothers had returned; and everyone was sitting out on the porch sipping iced tea, and having some of Cook’s molasses cookies. Jean Baptiste was seated on his grandfather’s knee; and cooing at the antics of his uncles.

George and Marguerite left the carriage at the carriage house, and walked to the main house. When she saw her son on her father’s knees, she smiled; and said, “I seriously doubt you even missed your mama with all the attention you have been getting from everyone.” It was obvious the child was doting on the attention. Marguerite lifted him up; and asked, “Were you a good boy for your Auntie Catherine?” Catherine laughed; and said, “Marguerite, you know Jean Baptiste is always a good boy.”

Catherine stood up to walk back into the house, and found she was dizzy. She grabbed onto the back of Bow’s chair, and tried to steady herself. Bow had a worried look on his face. “Are you all right?” he asked. Catherine smiled; and said, “I think so, or at least I will be when the world stops moving.” Bow jumped up, and had Catherine sit down again. Soon she was feeling better. She laughed it off, stating the heat was a little too much for her English blood.

Later, Marguerite said to Catherine, “How often have you been dizzy like that?” Catherine said, “Oh, not often.” Marguerite said, “How long have you been dizzy?” Catherine was trying to be lighthearted about everything; and she smilingly said, “It just started recently.” Marguerite said, “Catherine, I have a feeling that you are pregnant.” Catherine said, “Do you suppose?” “You really should see a doctor. If you are not pregnant, then you need to be finding out the reason for your dizziness,” said Marguerite. “Perhaps you are right,” said Catherine. “Thank you for your concern and your suggestions.”

That night when Bow and Catherine were getting ready for bed, Catherine said, “Bow, Marguerite guessed I am pregnant.” “What did she have to say?” he asked. “She told me I should see a doctor. I thanked her for her concern and suggestion,” replied Catherine. “When is your next appointment?” he asked. Catherine said, “It is scheduled for next week.”

The next morning when Bow and Catherine were eating breakfast, a group of men with wagons filled with equipment pulled up outside the main house. Bow walked out on the porch, and met the men who were going to install the new equipment at the saw mill. He told them he would be along in a few minutes. They said the equipment came in on a ship from New Orleans in the afternoon, and they had put the pallets on the wagons to bring out in the morning. Soon they were on their way out to the saw mill.

The men had been working for a few hours when Bow heard a group of horses approaching. By the time he could see the horses, a group of men were in close range. When he looked up, he could see it was the group who had earlier caused trouble at the saw mill, and had promised to return. Bow saw they had brought rifles along with them. They fired shots in the air; and as they rode in, the leader of the group said, “Remember us? We told you we would be back for our money.” Bow said, “You will get your money. The man who murdered Joshua Sallier is in jail in Jennings, and the crooked lawyer who stole all of Joshua’s money is there in jail too. The sheriff of Lake Charles is working to get the money back from the lawyer. As soon as we get the money we will pay you what is owed. I will even give you bonuses to make up for the time in between that you have been without work or pay.”

The leader of the group asked, “How long is all that going to take?” Bow replied, “I really wish I knew, but I won’t know until I hear back from the sheriff. If you wish, you can contact the sheriff.” The men talked together, and the leader said, “We’ll give you one more week; if we haven’t gotten our money by then, you will hear from us again, and it won’t be pretty.”

Bow said, “I am not trying to give you excuses; there have been problems for the plantation because the money was stolen from Joshua’s accounts by the lawyer, Peter Dunkirk. He was supposed to be handling Joshua’s finances; instead he was stealing from him. He drained the plantation’s accounts of money. Our workers at the plantation have not been paid either. So, we are all looking for that money to be returned.” The leader looked around; and said, “It looks like you are getting ready to go into production soon.” Bow responded, “Yes, this new equipment is to update everything that was here; we should be able to be more proficient once we are up and running. The saw mill made money before, and it will again. We simply need to get things up and running once again so we can be productive.

The men finally left, and Bow breathed a sigh of relief. He said, “I will certainly be glad to see that money returned.”

To be continued...

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]



Replies:





[ Contact Forum Admin ]



Forum timezone: GMT+1
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.