Page 20 of The Condemned (Echoes from the Past #6)
FOURTEEN
Virginia Colony
Mary sat next to her friend, her back against the rough wooden planks of Nell’s new home.
The walk had taken close to an hour, but Mary hadn’t minded.
It was nice to be on her own for a bit and have time to sort through her jumbled thoughts as she followed the narrow dirt road that wound through the woods.
At first, she’d been afraid and peered into the dense forest until her head ached, half expecting to see a band of naked savages come swooping down on her, but John had been correct in assuring her she had nothing to fear and no one would harass her.
Once again, he’d suggested taking Travesty along, but Mary had explained to him why she preferred to go on her own.
She had no wish to have her visit with Nell spoiled by Travesty’s sullen demeanor and obvious impatience.
John’s irritation with her had been fleeting but evident enough to prevent Mary from pressing her point.
She had no experience of John’s anger and had no way of knowing if he might forbid her to go altogether or even strike her for defying him.
He would be well within his rights, a fact that had registered with Mary only after she’d left the cabin.
However, rather than insisting, John had shrugged and said, “Do as you will,” and left the cabin without a backward glance.
Travesty, who’d come in at that moment carrying a pail of milk, was only too relieved not to have to accompany her mistress and said so.
“I’ve enough to be getting on with without playing nursemaid,” she muttered under her breath.
“Good thing I’m not asking you to, then,” Mary retorted, annoyed with Travesty’s insolence. She could at least make a pretense of treating Mary as her mistress, and not her equal. “If you’ll give me the jar of jam, I’ll be on my way.”
Travesty silently handed Mary the stone jar, which was heavier than it looked, and went back to the milk, which she was about to pour into the butter churn. Mary stowed the jar in her basket and set off.
Once she got over her initial fear, Mary began to enjoy the walk.
It was warmer than she was used to, and she was perspiring freely, but the sun shone brightly out of a cloudless blue sky and the birds sang merrily, making her feel like she wasn’t quite alone.
There wasn’t much to see, save never-ending woods and green fields, but it was still a new experience and Mary relished it.
She’d been in Virginia for nearly a week, but her impressions were limited to her first sighting of Jamestown and John’s plantation.
She hadn’t met anyone besides Simon and Travesty, who were still strangers to her, as was her husband, who seemed to hardly notice her now that she was a permanent fixture in his house.
Yet, despite the newness of it all, Mary’s life in England seemed like a distant dream from a long time ago, so her memory of it was blurred and fragmented.
As Mary walked along, she pondered how it was possible to feel so far removed from something you’d known all your life.
How long did it take to adjust to something this foreign and unexpected and come to accept it as one’s new home?
She supposed she’d find out soon enough.
Whether she liked Virginia or not, there was no going back, especially now that she was a married woman.
Mary still grappled with that notion, but she reckoned she’d become accustomed to it soon enough.
She had no choice. She did look forward to hearing Nell’s thoughts on her new life.
Nell’s comments were always brutally honest but also surprisingly uplifting.
She hoped an hour with her friend would help her see her situation in a new light.
“So, how do you find your husband?” Mary asked Nell as she took a sip of cool ale .
“I didn’t find him very pleasing at first,” Nell replied, wrinkling her nose eloquently. “He’d been on his own too long, poor man. No woman to remind him to bathe or wash his clothes. Or clean his pigsty of a dwelling.”
“But you took care of that right quick,” Mary replied, smiling at her friend. Nell wasn’t one to waste time on diplomacy.
“Oh yes. No one will ever accuse Thomas of being handsome, but he’ll be well turned out, or my name isn’t Nell Kirby. Lord, it does sound strange when I say it, doesn’t it?” Nell asked, referring to her new surname.
“I’m not much used to Forrester yet either,” Mary confessed. “Although it’s a fine name, to be sure.”
“Mistress Forrester does have a nice ring to it. Kirby sounds like a pickle,” Nell complained.
Mary giggled. “Mistress Kirby sounds just fine.”
“Where was I? Oh yes, I ordered Thomas to take a bath, lopped off half his hair—it was halfway down his back, would you believe it? He likely hadn’t bothered to cut it since getting to Virginia—shaved his face, so I could get a proper look at it, and washed and mended his clothes.
He’s a different man from the one I stood up with in church. ”
“And do you find him good company?” Mary asked.
Nell shrugged. “I didn’t sign on for stimulating company when I agreed to marry a man I’d never so much as set my eyes on. He’s not much used to talking, having been on his own for so long, but he’s coming ’round. What about your husband?”
“He’s very reticent,” Mary complained. “At first, I thought it might be just nervousness and the strangeness of it all, but he seems content with the way things are.”
“And how are things, exactly?” Nell asked .
“The only time John and I are on our own is when we go to bed, and he’s asleep before I so much as wish him good night.
At all other times, the two servants are about, and although John likes for them to treat me with the respect due to the mistress of the house, he barely takes notice of me himself. ”
“Give him time, Mary. He’s not much used to having a wife. Try to draw him out,” Nell suggested.
“And how do I do that?”
“Get him on his own for a bit. Ask about his life before he came to Virginia, his family. Surely he must miss the people he left behind. Once he gets talking, tell him something of yourself, of who you are. Every relationship needs to start somewhere.”
“That’s sound advice, Nell. Thank you. And how are the other aspects of married life?” Mary asked, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
Nell shrugged. “I wasn’t expecting much, so can’t say I was disappointed.”
“Have you and Toby ever, you know…? Did you know what to expect?”
“Enough to know that big lug wasn’t going to know his way around a woman’s body,” Nell answered, deftly avoiding Mary’s question about Toby.
“How could you tell?”
Nell looked at Mary for a long moment, her gaze searching.
“You really are an innocent, aren’t you?
With some men you can just tell. It’s the way they look at you, the way they touch you.
They know what they’re about, and once they have their way with you, you can’t wait for them to do it again.
Given that I’m explaining this to you, I take it your wedding night wasn’t one of those occasions. ”
Mary’s cheeks flamed. She hadn’t intended to discuss this with Nell, but she had no one else to ask. She had no mother or sister to guide her when it came to her wifely duty, and she could hardly confide in Travesty. “It was all right,” she answered in a small voice.
Nell’s laugh rang out over the stillness of the sun-drenched yard. “Well, I reckon that’s a start.”
“You think so?”
“Mary, your husband was the pick of the litter in this flea-infested colony, if the other louts waiting for us in that church are anything to go by. He’s handsome, clean, and mannerly.
He might not be an experienced lover, but he’s been on his own these many years, with not a woman in sight, if you don’t count Mistress Calamity, or whatever her name is.
He’s probably forgotten what goes where, if he ever knew to start with.
Unless they had coin to spare to visit a brothel before they left, these men are as innocent as babes in arms. They’ve learned how to carve a settlement from the wilderness.
They’ve mastered growing new crops. They’ll figure out where to stick their cocks,” Nell said matter-of-factly.
“He’s kind to me,” Mary supplied, suddenly feeling disloyal to John. After all, he had given her a wedding present and allowed her to visit Nell, when another husband might have forbidden her to take time away from her domestic duties.
“Ain’t that the truth of it? I asked my Tom if I can go visiting, and he said, ‘There’s too much to be getting on with, me girl.
Ye’ve had yer way with me person, now turn yer eye to the ’ouse and beasts.
I ain’t had me a proper meal since coming to this ’ere god-forsaken place.
Ye need to feed me up.’” Nell’s gruff tone and facial expressions meant to mimic her husband made Mary laugh.
“He doesn’t look like he’s been starving to me,” Mary replied, recalling Tom’s round belly straining against the buttons of his ill-fitting doublet .
“That’s because he’s been subsisting on corn mush and jugs of ale.
” A happy smile tugged at the corners of Nell’s generous mouth.
“I’m glad you came, Mary. It’s so nice to talk to a friend.
I mean to make the best of my situation here, but I can see it won’t be easy.
I’ll be most grateful for a bit of company now and again. ”
“I’ll come as often as I can,” Mary promised as she rose to take her leave. “I best be getting back though. There are chores to be seen to.”
“If I had me a servant, I’d put my feet up and pretend I’m a great lady,” Nell said, lifting her nose in the air in imitation of a lady of leisure.
“In John’s house, I think it’s Travesty who’s the great lady. She’s got the airs of one.”
“Is that her real name?” Nell asked.
“Must be. Why else would anyone call herself something that brings misfortune to mind?”
“Funny, that,” Nell said. “Well, I’m glad my mother didn’t call me something peculiar like that.”