Island of a Thousand Springs

by Sarah Lark

  “Maybe there’s no difference,” Nora said, calmly. “Maybe all people are created equal, blacks and whites. The question is always just who has the whip in his hand.”

  “But there’s pride!” the queen protested. “There’s dignity. There are things that a man doesn’t do!”

  Nora laughed. “There are things that a person should not do,” she corrected her. “There are good and bad people, Queen. Not black and white.”

  Doug shifted on his pillow. In his uncomfortable seat, everything hurt and he would have liked to end the discussion, even if Nora and Nanny seemed to be enjoying their philosophical debate.

  “A contract between the Crown and the Maroons is certainly good,” he jumped in. “And you can surely think about the details again.”

  “But it can’t be that you’ll soon be sending back people like Princess!” Nora exclaimed. “Or Maalik, Khadija, Alima. You can’t do that, Queen!”

  Nanny laughed. “The white missis wants to free the slaves?” she asked. “Then who will lace your corset, Mrs. Fortnam?”

  “I didn’t run around naked in London!” Nora replied. “A servant has never run away from me. The only exception was—” She guiltily thought of Máanu. If only the girl hadn’t been so withdrawn.

  Nanny made a face. “That doesn’t count,” she said. “And anyway, she has just run away from me too.” “Máanu is gone?” Nora asked, alarmed.

  The queen nodded. “After her Akwasi. She endured two whole days without him.”

  Nora shrugged. “She loves him.”

  Doug rubbed his forehead, hoping that the women wouldn’t start a debate about that too. “A peace agreement between the Crown and the Maroons definitely is a start,” he repeated, bringing the others back to the topic in hand, thinking of his law studies from long ago. Perhaps he could now finally do something with it. “Give me the agreement, Queen, I’ll look at it myself. You can almost certainly draw it up so that issue of returning the slaves is left open. I will write it for you so that everyone is happy — but no one can oppose it if you give runaway slaves asylum nonetheless—”

  Nanny furrowed her brow. “But such a contract is something sacred. If someone establishes something … if you promise something—”

  Doug smiled. “The trick is simply not to promise too much.”

  Doug and Nora’s departure was delayed for two days, but then the contract between the Crown and the Maroons was drawn up and neatly formulated with the approval of the queen. In it, the Maroons clearly admitted that a servant owed his master loyalty. They explicitly stated that they were prepared to act, in order to ensure runaway slaves immediately take up their God-assigned places once again.

  “How they know what place God chose?” Princess asked, confused when Doug read the passage to Nora.

  Nora laughed. “That’s just it, Princess. Nanny and the governor can be quite divided over it.”

  “And to act can be anything from persuasion to tying someone up,” Doug explained. “I’m afraid Cudjoe will do the latter. But Nanny can offer as many slaves asylum as she wants.”

  Nanny listened to the modified draft of the contract with a delighted expression on her face. “You can do magic with words,” she said, approvingly.

  Doug shrugged. “An art that I have mastered. Can I submit the contract to the governor like this?”

  Nanny nodded. “Tell him that we will come to Spanish Town for him to sign it. A peace agreement requires a celebration.”

  Doug smiled. “We will fire a salute from the port of Kingston!” he promised.

  Nanny then turned to Nora. “We have to talk about the children,” she said quietly.

  Nora looked up suspiciously. “I will not go without Dede, and the governor—”

  “Didn’t we just make peace?” Nanny asked, wearily. “We’re not only talking about your daughter, white woman. We’re also talking about your son, Jefe.”

  “But Jefe is Máanu’s son!” Nora said, surprised.

  “Now that Máanu is gone, he is considered yours. You were also his father’s wife. So, what happens with the children, Missis? You know what will happen to them if you take them with you. The whites will call them niggers—”

  “Deirdre is light-skinned,” Nora muttered.

  The queen snorted. “That won’t help her. But apart from that, Jefe is as black as night. So, what do you want to do?”

  “We’ll take both with us!” Doug said. “Maybe with Jefe I can make up for what happened to Akwasi.”

  Nanny closed her eyes for a moment. “Or you will repeat the story,” she then said. “Well, it doesn’t concern me. They are your children, white woman. I hope that the gods guide you.”

  She majestically rose and gestured for them both to leave her hut, and with that, Doug understood why the Maroons had named this small, nondescript woman their queen.

  CHAPTER 10

  Nora and Doug needed four days for the trip to Kingston. Doug dragged himself there on crutches because Nora forbade him from standing on the injured leg. This meant that he took a lot of breaks and of course the children slowed down the group as well. Dede and Jefe were overjoyed about the trip together, but they also got tired quickly. Nora could certainly carry her daughter, but not the much larger and sturdier Jefe. The boy also whined more than his sister. Máanu and Akwasi had hopelessly spoiled him and he quickly became unruly if things didn’t go his way.

  “Mama Adwe will set his hard head straight,” Doug said, annoyed after the little boy had moaned and whined for hours. “She’ll be overjoyed to have children around again. But I also still remember the feeling of her wooden spoon on my backside quite well. It was not very pleasant.”

  “Didn’t we want to take the whips away from the overseers?” Nora asked, smiling.

  Doug grinned. “And replace them with wooden spoons? Excellent idea — we should add it to the blacks’ conditions in the peace treaty.”

  Nora would have liked to freshen up before meeting Trelawny, but they hadn’t found a hotel in Kingston — at least not a respectable one — and Doug didn’t want to call on the Hollisters’ town house. At most, they could ask at Barefoot’s trading house, but they weren’t sure whether there would be appropriate clothing for Nora there. Eventually, Doug dragged himself the last few miles to Spanish Town and brought his document to the governor’s house. At that point, it was all the same to him — he was dead tired, and his entire body hurt after the days of hiking over the uneven ground.

  The guards in front of the governor’s palace initially seemed indecisive about whether they should let the tattered looking young couple with two black children into the building. They sent for the governor’s clerk and eventually let them in when Doug introduced them as Mr. and Mrs. Fortnam. Trelawny received them immediately.

  “This is your missing stepmother?” the governor asked, with astonishment.

  As usual, he was dressed to the nines — and Nora, who had seen no men with wigs and makeup for five years, found his suit almost silly. Nonetheless, she allowed him to formally kiss her hand.

  “This is my fiancé,” Doug said. “We’ll get married as soon as possible. But otherwise, yes, I told you I would free Mrs. Fortnam.”

  Trelawny straightened an already perfectly sitting white curl on his wig. “And in doing so you’ve accomplished more than all of the Crown’s armies that my predecessors sent into that nest of brigands. You’ve earned my respect, Mr. Fortnam! And you’ve brought a couple of nigger children with you.” He smiled paternally at Dede and Jefe, who were awestruck at the sight of the magnificent furniture and carpets in the palace “Always thinking of the young … The girl will surely be a beauty.” The governor didn’t seem to notice Dede’s similarities to Nora. “But you,” he looked at Doug’s crutches and dirty bandages. “Do you need a doctor?”

  “I actually had a small run in with a few Maroons,” Doug said, impassively. “But don’t trouble yourself; the queen herself has already taken care of it. Furthermore, Mistress
Nanny has appointed me as the lawyer to present this treaty to you. If your lawyers would also please look it over. Mistress Nanny and Mister Cudjoe would like to accept your invitation to Spanish Town, thereafter for a contract signing and the appropriate celebrations. Incidentally, they bear the titles of Queen and King among their people, which, though it may seem a bit exaggerated to us, should be taken into account in the interest of good cooperation. Oh, and it wouldn’t be conducive to the matter if you continue to call the citizens of Nanny Town brigands or niggers. My children don’t like hearing that. May I introduce to your Excellency: my son Jeffrey and my daughter Deirdre.”

  The governor’s eyes widened when Nora gave her husband an adoring glance.

  “Well, I would very much like to bathe now,” she jumped in before Trelawny could answer. “Maybe it can really be managed? And as you can see, my husband needs rest. Perhaps you can negotiate the details of this contract later.”

  The governor sent a messenger to Cascarilla Gardens on the same day, and Kwadwo insisted on picking up his master and mistress in Spanish Town himself. Doug was so happy to see him that he hugged him on the spot.

  “Everything well at the plantation?” Doug asked. Kwadwo nodded, although the corner of his lip twitched in doing so.

  “Essentially, yes. But there are rumors …” Kwadwo looked concerned.

  “I shouldn’t tell you this, but I am certain that Mr. McCloud has heard something. And there is talk of Akwasi—”

  Doug shrugged. “Akwasi is in the mountains. He wouldn’t dare come down here. If Máanu—”

  “If Máanu wants to see her mother, we won’t stop her,” Nora stated. “We just won’t take notice of her. Doug, do you think that this can be explained to Mr. McCloud? What is he? Overseer? But the slaves tell him village gossip?”

  It had already become clear to Nora from the warm welcome between Doug and Kwadwo that she would need a bit of time to familiarize herself with the new situation at Cascarilla Gardens. However, the new house immediately delighted her. In her nightmares, she still saw the old stone block between the palm and mahogany trees, possibly blackened from smoke and full of nasty memories. She had almost feared seeing it again. However, the colorfully painted house with balconies and turrets, carvings and stucco, that Doug had built in its place made her eyes beam.

  “Does the prince live here?” Dede asked, in awe. She had been bewitched by the manor houses in Kingston and Spanish Town. But this new house on the plantation, enchanting and dreamy in the shade of the tall trees, she liked even more.

  Doug put his arm around her. “The princess will live here!” he said.

  “And the king?” Jefe asked. “Where does the king live?”

  “There is no king here,” Nora said, and held him close. “Only Princess Deirdre and Prince Jeffrey. That’s you!”

  Doug and Nora had decided to give the little boy an English name and have him baptized immediately. The new reverend was available for such things. The governor had also advised Doug to get a letter of manumission for the boy straight away.

  “Officially, the boy is your slave, Mr. Fortnam. Both parents ran away, but if they’re caught, then they still belong to you. The child as well. And as for your intentions to raise him essentially as your own son. I think it very unwise, Mr. Fortnam. Very unwise!”

  Doug just shrugged in response. “Well, that’s clearly an opinion, Your Excellency,” he said, impassively, “That you fully share with Queen Nanny.”

  “My papa will be king!” Jefe exclaimed, confidently.

  Nora and Doug exchanged glances. They could both only hope that the boy forgot about Akwasi, and the lofty goals that he had apparently shared with him, as soon as possible.

  A few months went by until the final signing of the treaty between the Crown and the Maroons. In that time, Nora slowly readjusted to her life as a largely unoccupied planter’s wife. Of course, she took on the slaves’ medical care again and renewed her friendships with the baarm maddas in the area, but she no longer understood how she could have possibly spent the years reading, writing letters, and identifying flowers. Eventually, she made herself an area for an orchid garden and turned down any help offered by the slaves, leaving them puzzled by her actions.

  However, a lot of time and energy was spent on getting the children comfortable in their new life at Cascarilla Gardens. Dede had no particular difficulty adjusting. The little girl was as adaptable and well-behaved as usual. She slid naturally into her role and only occasionally had to be reminded that she shouldn’t call a maid to help her with everything.

  “You could get dressed alone!” Nora reprimanded, for example, when three adolescent girls bustled about her vain daughter to comb her hair and tie her shoes.

  “But I didn’t have any shoes before!” Dede defended. “And no hair bow! And no lacy dress!” the little girl looked delightful in her new array.

  “And we like to do, Missis!” the girls exclaimed. Dede had the entire staff wrapped around her finger in no time at all. Nora smiled, remembering how her father had once also claimed the same about her. She wondered briefly what he would think of his granddaughter. Well, she would be able to ask him herself soon enough. Thomas Reed was so happy about the rescue of his daughter that he planned a trip to Jamaica for the next year.

  “You should only wear the lace dress on Sundays!” Nora said resolutely, holding a simpler dress out to the little girl.

  “Not to help Mama Adwe in the kitchen.” Then she turned to the girls. “And as far as you’re concerned: Dede is not a puppet! If she eventually starts acting like the niece of Backra Hollister, I will have you personally flogged!” With a hand gesture, Nora shooed the little princess and her submissive servants. All four of them scurried away laughing.

  Jefe was a substantially bigger problem — especially since he seemed unsure if he should parade around as the son of a king or of a freedom fighter. On one hand, he liked being fawned over, on the other, his father had instilled a deep contempt against slaveholders and even against subservient slaves themselves. As such, Jefe was disobedient towards everyone — from the harmless maid who wanted to help him into the still unfamiliar knickers and shirts, to Ian McCloud, who initially filled the role of tutor to the Fortnam children. The young Scot was highly educated, and he much preferred explaining a globe to the astonished little Deirdre and teaching arithmetic to Jefe, than watching over the slaves who didn’t take him seriously anyway. Jefe, unfortunately, did not either and let him feel it — which Nora always worried about.

  The boy looked like a slave child, but acted like a spoiled little backra. This had already been disturbing the peace in the household, but would really lead to complications when Nora and Doug finally dared to take on social contacts again. So far, their former friends and neighbors only viewed them with suspicion, but they were planning a big wedding at Christmas. The celebration, Doug hoped, would break the ice again. However, neither of them knew how to introduce Jefe.

  Doug rode up to Nanny Town three times before the contract was signed in order to discuss small changes the governor wanted to make. He reluctantly went on each journey, even though Nanny certainly was not a threat to him, and it was easy to get there within a day by horse. The situation seemed like a complete paradox to him — as a white man, he should have felt more insecure in the territory of the Maroons rather than that of the governor. But Doug was always glad when he reached Nanny Town on his way in and when he passed the first buildings in Kingston on his way out. Nora furrowed her brow when he spoke to her about it.

  “Do you think that Akwasi is lying in wait for you?” she asked.

  Doug shook his head, baffled. “I can’t imagine that,” he then said. “He would be mad to risk his neck like that. You can bear witness to the fact that he murdered my father — and he also personally confessed to me. Well, I won’t send a henchman after him, he had good reasons. But now, to linger around near Kingston … my God, the entire island is open to him. The Windward Maroo
ns cast him out, but there are other groups, other places. He only needs to wait a few weeks and then he can move about everywhere as a free black.”

  “Without a letter of manumission?” Nora asked.

  Doug laughed. “False letters will soon be on sale on every corner!” he predicted. “I bet my friend Barefoot is already thinking about learning to read and write. An absolute mess is ahead of us, Nora, if free Negroes are accepted.” Up until then, the planters in Jamaica had not been officially permitted to free their slaves. Whoever did it was moving in a gray area. If the blacks were not protected, another planter could question their freedom and possibly re-enslave them. To that extent, only a few long-standing and very deserving house slaves had letters of manumission, and they were not planning to leave their masters, anyway. Doug himself had recently issued such documents to Adwea and Kwadwo. Adwea had since longed for the day that the agreement was signed. She was planning on visiting Mansah in Nanny Town. The girl hadn’t joined Nora and Doug in their departure, even though Nanny probably wouldn’t have minded. But Mansah was sixteen now and in love with one of the young Maroons. Doug and Nora hadn’t heard anything more about Máanu, but they also didn’t ask.

  “But if Akwasi still wants revenge on you …” Nora worried just before Doug rode to Nanny Town a last time before the signing of the agreement.

  Doug shrugged. “If he had wanted to kill me, he would have done it long ago. Between Kingston and Nanny Town, every turn is another opportunity for an ambush. Don’t drive yourself to madness, Nora, it surely has nothing to do with Akwasi. I’m probably just imagining the danger.” He smiled. “Your daredevil has become anxious, my darling. I don’t think that I could attack a village alone again.”

  Nora kissed him. “And so you shouldn’t, either … as long as I’m not trapped inside it,” she replied.

  But all of their jokes couldn’t assuage the uneasy feeling that Doug’s confession had triggered in her. Not only for that reason, but also because she suffered from similar delusions. At least that was how she explained it to herself when she felt like she was being watched. Nora especially felt like strange eyes were resting on her at the beach at Cascarilla Gardens. Well, since secrecy was no longer necessary, she rode there almost every day. Doug had shown her the hut that he had erected for her spirit and she was moved to tears. It really seemed as if Doug had been inside her dreams — the beach now looked exactly as Nora and Simon had imagined it. So, she had to think of Simon the first time she felt a strange presence near her. With a bit of guilt, she remembered how quickly she had pushed aside even the shadow of him when Doug was finally physically standing in front of her again. Was there actually a spirit looking for her nearby?