I adjusted my shawl about me as I walked past the cistern. My sack was heavy with things to sell in town. Pa needed to return. He was gone again several months now. I’d earned sixty pounds mostly through selling things at the Saturday market and the rest to Mr. Cells. He’d become a steady customer, and I cleaned his house while he was away, keeping mildew, the green dust, from his treasures.
I walked past the old cottonwood and Cells’s fence. I missed haggling with him and the humorous way his growing mustache twitched when he examined my bowls. His laugh when he told stories of his travels to Europe was so merry.
A carriage drove up from town. The hoofbeats sounded louder.
I ducked past the fence and hid behind the big cottonwood silk tree. Its shadow fell on the Bens’ hut.
“Dolly?”
Had I wished him back? “Mr. Cells?”
He tipped his rounded hat of beaver pelt. His face was tanned, and he looked smart in his long emerald jacket and flowing white pantaloons. That coat had deep blue embroidery from top to bottom. Very fancy. Too pretty for Montserrat.
“As you can see. Made it all the way to London then down to Demerara.”
I covered my eyes from the strong sun and stepped toward his horse. “Demerara? Where’s that?”
“Beyond Trinidad. It’s a boon. I’m building a plantation there. Hopefully one that sticks.”
“That means you’re leaving Montserrat again?”
“Expanding for now. Showed Kirwan. He thinks it quite fine.”
“You’ve seen my pa? Is he back?”
“No. He had more trading to do in Grenada, I think.” Cells’s head tipped to the side. “You must be on your way to town. Still working on your fortune? Can you buy me out and the whole of Montserrat?”
Boy, he made my dreams sound silly. “Making fun? I knew I shouldn’t have told you.”
“No. Well, a little. But you and I actually want the same. Lots of money.”
“And the world to know our names.”
He bit his lip a moment, pressing down until the pink turned red. “You are perceptive, girl. What are you selling?”
I shook my sack made of strong scraps of osnaburg fabric. “Mamaí has made another fine blanket. It should fetch a lot of shillings.”
“Have to admire a business-minded woman.” He patted the bench. “Can I give you a ride to town?”
It would be safer, but what would people think of me in Cells’s dray. I tugged on the light scarf on my shoulders. “I don’t know. You haven’t any room in the back.”
“I’m your neighbor, Dolly. You’ve nothing to fear from me.”
“You just came from town. It’s wasteful to go right back.”
He jumped down off his cart and helped me up. “No trouble.”
“Well, since you jumped down and all. Thank you.”
He hurried back to the other side and climbed into the seat. He whipped the reins. “Good, you’re not stubborn. Young Kirwan says—”
“Stop the dray. Let me out.”
“We’re not to town yet, Dolly.”
“I’ll not be anywhere with you if I have to talk about Nicholas.”
Cells lowered his hand on my arm, and I almost jumped.
“I take it you two don’t get along. Odd. He’s seems to talk about you a great deal. He’s always asking when I last spoke to you.”
I felt my eyes pop wide. “Don’t ever tell him that we talk. He’ll be mean to you.”
Cells adjusted his gloves and tugged on the reins. “He won’t hurt me. He doesn’t know how.”
“A baby viper can still strike.”
“Has he bitten you, Dolly?”
My head dropped and I looked away.
“I guess he has.” Cells’s voice was low, drowning in the rhythm of the horse’s hooves.
Mamaí didn’t like how Nicholas looked at me. She told me to stay out of sight, but to be easy with him if he teased me. With Pa not here to keep him from bossing me, I hid all the time.
“Just take me to town. I have business.”
He nodded. “If you ever want to talk, come over, cross that fence. Meet me at the Bens’. I’ll be there. I’ll pray for you, Dorothy, that you find peace with your family.”
“What’s a prayer to do to stop evil? Aren’t you running from it?”
His eyes grew wide, the hazel dot drifting. “What are you talking about?”
“I hear things at the market. You’re leaving ’cause the British set laws against the Catholics. They took your churches. You now pray to your god in the woods. You must be afraid of them taking more.”
“These are dangerous times for Catholics. Our liberty and land are at stake. If Tuite pulls out, no Irish man has a chance. British are Anglicans. They hate us. It will only get worse.”
“Why do Anglicans hate Catholics? Is their god the same or is it like the Obeah spirits and you have many?”
“That’s a long conversation about the holy sacraments, but the hate is more about the heads of the faith. For Catholics, it’s Pope Clement XIV. For Anglicans, it’s King George. British don’t trust our allegiance, not as long as we are Catholic.”
He seemed agitated, like his voice had to thread through Mrs. Ben’s needle.
“Will they keep bothering Catholics?”
“They’ll do whatever they please, whenever they please.”
“So you don’t want overseers, but you force them on us? Seems like a bad circle, Cells.”
He bit his lip then leaned in close. “Dolly, don’t go to town next week. Keep your mother and sister in your hut.”
“I have customers. St. Patrick’s Day should be a big selling day. Everyone is happy and spending money. I’ll make a fortune. A mighty fhortún.”
He shook his head something furious. “I’ll buy up everything you have, just don’t. You won’t be safe if you go.”
His eyes held a warning, something dire.
Running my hand over the bright fabric, made soft by Mamaí beating it on the rocks, I didn’t know what to do, but I believed him. “Hurry to town, Mr. Cells. I need to make enough to tide me over until you return.”
“I should ask your father about you coming to Demerara. You and your family. It may be safer for all of you in the new colony. I want to help.”
Something scared Cells, but I wasn’t looking for a new owner. I knew Mamaí wasn’t either.
“I leave by sloop, the Dolus, at week’s end. I’m going to write to your father and ask. He has to see it’s not safe here.”
I didn’t know what to react to, the unknown threat or the vague offer to buy me and Kitty and Mamaí. I lowered my face to my sack. “There are customers waiting. Please hurry.”