"You don't think they'll fly away, do you?"
"Not now that I've fed them."
"Come and see the herons."
"Did you see Brute down there? He's clearing out weeds among the cypress."
"Yes. He was tearing out waterlily pads. They are so beautiful, I told him to stop, but he just grinned at me."
"They have to come out. Rice is going in there for our own table. We could transplant some though. At the center of the maze there's to be a fountain and a pond."
"That sounds beautiful. I wanted to wade in and pick some, but I'm afraid of the 'gators."
"I hear them bellowing at night, and the odd time I've seen them sunning themselves. They look docile enough, but I know they can take a man's leg off."
As they rode side by side, Nicholas took a close look at the girl beside him. She would soon be sixteen and growing more lovely with each passing day. Her hair flew about, wild as a dark cloud caressing her shoulders, and sun-streaked at the temples. Her wide-spaced golden eyes glowed with mysterious secrets that made him long to have her whisper them in his ear. She was like a sorceress, and Nick knew himself susceptible. She had the same fascination for him as a fictional creature from some strange forbidden place. She was part illusion, part girl, part woman, with so much allure, she held him in thrall.
They skirted the marshy ground and stopped their horses on the bank of the cypress swamp. The blue herons heard them and rose up with a single cry. "Aren't they lovely? They'll come back down as soon as we leave," she assured him breathlessly.
About twenty yards out from the bank, pale pink and dark red waterlilies bloomed, floating on their round green pads. Nicholas dismounted and removed his boots. "I'll get you some," he offered, "before Brute rips them all out."
She watched him wade out, knee-deep in the black water. Suddenly the happy look left her face and was replaced by one of horror as she saw the streamlined ripples cross the water behind him. She screamed, "Nicholas!" For a sickening moment the world stood still. She couldn't breathe, or move, and then the water snake struck, sinking its fangs into his thigh.
Nicholas roared, "Brute! Brute! Help me."
Mandy jumped from her horse and splashed through the water to him as fast as she could. Only thigh-deep on Nicholas, the water reached up past her waist. Brute got to him at the same time as Mandy, and she cried, "Water-snake... got him in the leg... quick get him up on the bank. Give me your knife!"
Brutus hauled Nicholas, none too gently, out of the black water and eased him up onto the bank.
A feeling of unreality washed over Nicholas. "This can't be happening."
Mandy slit his trouser leg up to the groin and with feverish fingers examined the muscular thigh until she found the two little red dots she'd been searching for. She knew exactly what to do, and knew also that each second of delay could be fatal. She gashed an X-shaped cut across the fangs' point of entry and went on her knees to him between his legs. She squeezed the blood from the wound, and when no more would come, she put her mouth over it and sucked hard. She spat out the blood and poison, and put her mouth down again to draw out the venom.
Nicholas knew very well the danger he was in, but as he looked down at her and felt her mouth on his thigh, he was overcome with the eroticism of her actions and he began to swell and harden uncontrollably.
Mandy heard him groan. "Am I hurting you?"
He gazed at her between his legs and saw the black lashes tipped with gold sweep against the delicate cheeks. Her young breasts, so unbelievably high and round swelled from the neckline of her gown as she bent low to him. Her hands on his bare flesh brought him dreamed of pleasure, but the thing that held the center of his attention was her mouth. The mouth that he had never dared to touch with his, was upon him now in a manner that was so intimate, he feared he would lose control of himself if she didn't cease sucking him.
Desire for her flooded through his veins and he could feel the heat spreading. Perhaps it's the venom doing strange things to me. He clamped an iron will on his emotions, and his lust slowly drained away, leaving him white and shaking.
"That's just a reaction to the shock," she reassured him. "Brandon was bitten like this two years ago, and I saw Daddy draw the poison from the bite. I think you'll be all right." She got to her feet. "Brute, let's get him to his bed. I'm sure Samuel will be able to look after him. I'll send Dr. Caldwell over as soon as I get home. It's his afternoon to see Mother."
Mandy knew she had sounded very sure that all would be well, but inside she was terrified. With each heartbeat she had repeated over and over inside her head, He can't die! He can't die!
Now, in rhythm with Miss Louise's quick gallop, she whispered, "Please live! Please live!"
Mandy found Dr. Caldwell discussing Miss Caroline's failing condition with her father. She threw herself headlong between the two men, upsetting the doctor's glass of bourbon. "Nicholas has been bitten by a water moccasin. He needs you quickly Dr. Caldwell!"
"Name of God, if it was a cottonmouth, I could be too late."
"What color was it, Amanda?" her father demanded.
"It was a large olive, brown viper, but I couldn't see any dark cross bars on it."
"Damnation, someone should have sucked out the poison straight away!," Bernard shouted.
"I did. I mean... Brute was with him, and... and I told him exactly what you did to Brandon." Mandy was quite used to lying to conceal her conduct.
"Thank God," the doctor said. "I'll get right over there."
"I'll come with you." Bernard turned to his daughter. "I don't want you over there. It's not fitting." Then his voice softened a little as he saw how frantic her fears were. "Don't worry child, I'll be back directly and report on his condition."
Within the hour her father was back, leading a small cavalcade. Two slaves carried Nicholas on a makeshift stretcher, followed by Samuel and Dr. Caldwell.
Amanda couldn't get close, for as soon as they entered the Jackson house, Charles, Mammy Lou, Aunt Billie and Cleo joined the throng offering every suggestion they'd ever heard tell that cured snakebite. She waited impatiently for her father to come downstairs.
"Damned fellow practically insisted on staying in his own bed. Had to hogtie and kidnap him! That damned Samuel aiding and abetting him, saying he'd set his bed up inside the new house. Why, there are no rooms finished for civilized habitation. Practically insulted my hospitality," Bernard fumed.
Jennifer smiled at him sweetly. "Daddy, you always take on so, fussin' and fumin' when you are upset."
"What about Nicholas?" Mandy pleaded.
"That's who I'm speaking of, child. Jennifer, why do I have such difficulties communicatin' with your baby sister?"
Amanda clenched her fists and swallowed the tart retort that flew to her lips. She went off to the kitchens to find Mammy Lou. "How is he?" Mandy whispered.
"'Fore Gawd, Miz Mandy, yo' white folkses doctah, he don't know nuthin!" She rolled her eyes back until only the white showed. "Outta ma way, chile. Ol' Mammy Lou gwine boil dis horse parsley in wine. Guaranteed t'git rid of any mizry known to man. Then ah makes him a cornmeal poultice so efficacious, it draw off all dat poison."
Amanda hung about the upstairs landing. Cleo had been posted outside Nick's door with instructions to let no one enter, but when Mammy Lou fixed her with a penetrating glare, she opened the door and helped her carry in her home-brewed paraphernalia. Once again Cleo took up her post outside the bedroom door.
"Let me in, Cleo," Amanda said.
"No, ma'am. Ah dursn't do dat. Yo' daddy said ol' doc give Marse Nick somethin' t'make him sleep, so ah has t'keep everybody out."
"You let Mammy in," Amanda accused.
"Miz Mandy, yo' knows nobody tells Mammy what t'do."
"Let me in."
"No."
"If you don't get out of my way, I'm going to slap you flat!"
The black girl knew Mandy made no empty threats. She quickly stepped aside.
Mammy
Lou looked up as Mandy came in. "He sleepin' so ah can't give him de wine, but ah sure can poultice his bad leg. Now yo' turn yo' face away missy, while ah uncovers his limbs."
"Don't be daft Mammy. I sucked the poison from the wound."
"Don't never let nobody hear you say dat. Folks'll talk sumpin' scandalus!" Mammy was shocked.
When she placed the steaming cornmeal poultice over the wound, Nicholas rose up out of his drugged sleep and screamed.
"Mammy, it's too hot. It will leave a terrible scar," Mandy cried.
"Now chile, ah knows how to take away scars wid wild honey. Now dat yo' awake, Marse Nick, yo' git dis good wine down yo'." She tipped the wine toward his mouth and he drank avidly.
Bernard burst into the room, brought upstairs by Nicholas's scream. "What on earth are you doing to him, Mammy?" he demanded.
"Yo' remembers how old Mammy got Marse Brandon better when he got de snakesbite?"
"My efforts and those of the doctor count for nothing, of course," he said drily.
"Naw suh, ah ain't sayin' dat, but it was de combination of all our efforts as yo' well knows, Marse Bernard."
"I suppose you're right," he said wearily. "Mammy, I'd appreciate it if you didn't let Miss Caroline know about this. She's so frail, I'm afraid the worry might bring on another attack."
Whatever Mammy had given Nicholas in the wine, had made him fall once more into a deep sleep. "We'll know for certain sure come mornin'. If'n he got enough poison t'kill him, he be daid by mornin'."
Amanda shuddered. She knew her mother was going to die soon. All her vital life and strength had gone, leaving only a shadowy husk, and now Nicholas also might die, in spite of the vigorous manhood that coursed and pulsed through him, that made him seem immortal and godlike.
Bernard saw his daughter clearly for the first time that day. "Are you still wearing wet clothes? Out of them immediately and into your bed, or you'll be down with fever and chills tomorrow."
It was no use. No matter how many sleep-inducing games Mandy played, it danced ever farther and father away. She jumped out of bed and began to pace. Finally, she put a bedgown over her nightdress and stole down the hall. Nicholas's face was fiery with fever as he moved constantly, restlessly, about the tumbled bed. Mammy dozed in a chair beside him. In that moment, Amanda's heart went out to the faithful old servant. Lord, how I love Mammy Lou. She was a rock base, when underfoot there seemed nothing but quicksand.
Amanda poured cool water from the jug into the basin and took it to the bedside. She lifted the black curls from his forehead and began to cool it with the wet cloth. Her fear for him threatened to overwhelm her, but as her hands touched his face for the first time, some of the terror drained away and was replaced by a fine anger. She realized how useless she was to this man who needed her. Why don't they teach girls nursing skills, instead of how to curtsy or stitch useless samplers? The moment he's better, I swear I'll learn all I can about balms and herbs and their medicinal cures.
All she could do was bathe him with cool water and hope it reduced his fever. When he raved, and rolled his head from side to side, she soothed him with gentle words and tender hands. Mandy had never before seen a man without his shirt. Oh, she'd seen lots of field hands half-naked, but this was a white gentleman. To be with him while he was in a state of undress, naked beneath the sheet in fact, was a shocking, forbidden thing for her to do.
She sponged his face and neck over and over until she thought he felt a little cooler. He was not asleep, neither was he awake, but rambling in a semi-conscious, fevered state. He had twisted himself in the sheet, so she pulled it away from his arms and shoulders and resumed the sponging. She lingered over his hands lovingly. How large and strong they are. The veins stand out from all the physical work he does.
She traced a finger across the backs of his hands where the black hairs grew, and she shivered at the power contained in his fists. Mandy held her breath at her own daring as she gently pulled the sheet down farther to reveal his chest. She let out her breath slowly, as her eyes saw he was brown, hard, ridged with muscle, and covered by a crisp black pelt. As she touched him with the cooling water, his nipples stood out brown and erect. She caught her breath as the blush spread across her cheeks and she quickly re-covered him with the sheet.
Mammy slept on, oblivious to Mandy's ministrations. Suddenly Nicholas's eyes flew open wildly. When he saw Mandy, some of the madness left him. He mumbled through dry lips, "I dreamed about you."
"What did you dream?"
He flushed hotly and lied. "Can't remember," then once again he was incoherent.
By the time the hands of the bedside clock showed almost five a.m. Nicholas had settled into a more peaceful slumber. The dark red flush was beginning to subside, and his thrashing limbs had quieted. Mandy smiled down at him, enormously relieved. I can leave now and Mammy will never know I've been here. She was certain now that Nicholas would recover. Purely and absolutely.
Chapter Nine
Jennifer Joy's very best friend in Charleston, Sue Ann Winwood, had just been married, and as maid of honor Jennifer had spent two months helping the bride-to-be prepare for the nuptials. Jennifer was now in a fever to marry, even though her father had said she may not until she was twenty. She would have to get around him on this point, as she always managed to do. Though she had been entertained frequently and lavishly in Charleston, she was glad to be back home, close to all her beaus. On her first night back, at supper, she wanted to hear all the news of her friends, but Amanda had only one topic of conversation.
"Nicholas Peacock's house is almost finished. The painters are there now, and then he will be ready to furnish. It's so exciting, Jenny. It is so lovely, it takes my breath away."
"That place?" Jenny said lightly. "He's been building it for years; it will never be finished."
"That isn't true! The house has only taken just over a year. He's been working on the gardens for years though. There's a camellia maze patterned exactly on the one at Hampton Court, in England. Oh, and I forgot to mention the yews. He's been growing them for years too, and now they are mature enough to cut into shapes. It's called a topiary garden. Nicholas hasn't decided how to clip them yet, but I thought it would be unique to cut them into the shape of chess pieces."
"Mandy, how you do run on and on about Nicholas Peacock. I suppose I'll have to promise to go see everything, just to hush you up. Now, do tell me if you've heard anything of Beau Hampden's comings and goings."
Mandy did not tell her that Romeda Caldwell had jumped into the spot vacated by Jennifer during her absence, and had been seen about everywhere with Beau. "I told him you were coming home today," Mandy said truthfully.
"That's mighty strange. You'd think a gentleman would welcome me home after I've been gone two whole months. I shan't forgive him, no, not if he goes on bended knee," she declared. "Oh Daddy, I meant to tell you. I was actually ashamed of Fanny in Charleston."
"Whatever did she do, honey?" he asked in alarm.
"Do? That's just the point. In Charleston it's fashionable to have a French maid who is trained in hairdressing. I felt positively dowdy half the time. I'd like you to buy me a new maid, just for myself, Daddy."
He smiled at her, glad that he could provide whatever she desired. "I expect we can arrange that without too much difficulty."
After lunch the next day, when Beau Hampden still had not put in an appearance, Jennifer decided she had waited in too long. She had her mare saddled up and took off for points unknown. Amanda grinned. "Whatever am I to tell the spurned suitor if he arrives?"
Jennifer tossed her head. "You can tell him to go whistle up a hollow stump, you fifteen-year-old horror!"
"Sixteen-year-old horror," Mandy corrected.
In a fit of pique, Jennifer turned her horse in at the new driveway that led up to Paradise. She rode up the cathedral-like avenue of live-oak, draped with ethereal strands of moss. The sight that met her eyes stopped her in the middle of the drive. The white-pill
ared house was utterly lovely. The gardens were so magnificent, they lent an aura of splendor. Jennifer was stunned and more than a little angry at herself for not discovering all this earlier.
Nicholas saw her ride up, and went out to greet her. "What a delightful surprise, Miss Jennifer. Welcome to Paradise."
She looked at him for a moment to see if his words were ironic, but he seemed sincere. She could never quite be sure with Nicholas. Often he said things with multiple meanings, but said them so blandly, one could hardly take offense.
"Why, Nicholas Peacock, I am absolutely speechless at all you have accomplished, and I see no reason for us to be so formal. We have been neighbors and more for years."
As he looked up at her, she held out her arms to him and he lifted her from her horse. She managed to brush against his body, while at the same time making it seem as if he had initiated the intimacy. He kept his face straight. "You look very beautiful today in your Charleston finery."
"Why how observant you are to notice my new habit. When I arrived in Charleston I was mortified to see how behind our fashions are."
Her feet touched the ground and he looked down at her. "I don't believe that, Jenny. No one in Charleston could hold a candle to you."
She smiled her thanks prettily. "I have come for the grand tour."
"The paint inside is wet and it smells a bit," he said reluctantly. "Why don't you come tomorrow and I'll show you through the house. Today I'll show you the gardens."
The azaleas were brilliant and gave off a heady fragrance as Nicholas squired her about the gardens, proudly pointing out unique touches. "These yews are to be clipped into a topiary garden as soon as I decide on a theme."
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