AS TIRED AS HE WAS, Adam struggled to fall asleep his first night in the Martin house. He couldn’t tell if it was because he didn’t exactly feel at home in his more-elegant-than-usual surroundings, or if it was because Laney was sleeping in the very next room. Nevertheless, at some point he must’ve dozed off—and he must’ve slept hard—because the next thing he knew he was roused by the sound of hammering, which seemed to come from just outside his window.
It took him a second to make sense of his surroundings and remember where he was. He then quickly grabbed his pocket watch, which was on the nightstand between the two beds, and checked the time. It was eight o’clock! He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept so late. When he saw that Martin was still sleeping hard in the other bed, he was relieved to know that at least he wouldn’t be the last one downstairs for breakfast.
There was a chill in the air, and Adam hated to throw off the covers to get out of bed. He had slept in his breeches but had left his shirt draped on the chair by the window the night before. Nevertheless, he pushed back the heavy quilts and looked out the window onto the back garden as he reached over to grab his shirt and pull it over his head. It appeared that Charles Jr. was performing some kind of repair on the gate of the garden fence.
He couldn’t help but stand for a moment at the window to admire the Martin property. It was only about an acre lot, but the space was all being used efficiently. On the eastern edge of the lot was a barn and chicken coop. On the back side of the property stood Charles Jr.’s small cabin, which Adam had caught a glimpse of the night before. Between that and the main house was the kitchen garden and the detached kitchen. Smoke was coming from the chimney, and he could see the silhouette of a woman working just inside the doorway.
When he heard women’s voices outside, he looked straight down from the window and saw Laney standing there talking to Aunt Celie about something. That woke Adam up enough that it dawned on him that he’d soon be going downstairs and would see not only Will Martin and his wife but Laney would be there.
He instinctively reached up and grabbed at his face and rubbed his chin and cheeks. He realized he now had nearly three days’ growth of nearly black stubble, and at the rate his facial hair grew, that was far more than he wanted to have if he was going to be around Laney Martin or potentially conducting business in town.
Adam crossed the room to the dresser and looked in the oval mirror that was mounted on the wall above it. He tucked a piece of his dark-brown hair behind his right ear and turned his head from side to side as he observed himself.
Oh, Lord… I do look like him—especially today.
He was thinking about his father, Santiago. For eighteen years Adam never knew the identity of the man who had married his mother, then disappeared from Beaufort before he was ever born. But just four months earlier Adam had finally found the man—in Havana, Cuba of all places—and within days had to say good-bye to him, as he was suffering from the ever-worsening effects of a fatal gunshot wound. His father had begged him not to stay around to watch him die but to remember him as he was alive, so that was what Adam had done. But now that he was back in North Carolina, it was as if he saw Santiago’s face almost every time he looked in the mirror. Especially when his stubble was creating a dark shadow that drew attention to his chiseled cheekbones. Adam’s shoulder-length wavy, nearly black hair, tangled and hanging down around his face in the morning, seemed to double the effect.
Just thinking back on the short time he had with his father, Adam suddenly didn’t care who saw him like this. He would just run a comb back through his hair and put it in a ponytail. That would have to be good enough.
He washed his face and finished getting dressed, then tapped at the foot of the bed where Martin slept to let him know he would be heading downstairs. Martin just mumbled something unintelligible, so Adam left him there.
As soon as he got downstairs, he saw Will and Catherine sitting at the dining room table, having breakfast.
“Good morning,” he said to them.
Will invited him to sit down and eat, so Adam thanked him and took a seat.
“Where’s my cousin?” Will asked.
Adam gave him a half smile. “He’s still asleep. I tried to wake him. Maybe he’ll be down soon.”
Catherine offered Adam a cup of tea, then called into the adjacent room for someone named Annabelle to bring him breakfast.
A woman’s voice from the other room responded, “Yes’m. Be right there.”
After a moment or two a young servant woman of about Adam’s age came into the room carrying a tray of food. Annabelle’s light skin color and blue eyes, paired with exceedingly curly black hair, suggested she had mixed African and European heritage. She placed a plate of eggs and sausage, along with a bowl of grits, in front of Adam. She then asked Will and Catherine if they needed anything else. Catherine shook her head, so Annabelle took their dishes away.
After bowing his head to quickly say grace, Adam looked around the room as he started eating and observed, “Your home is beautiful. I was admiring your garden from the window upstairs. Seems a smart use of a small space.”
Will chuckled. “Thank you. It was… well… different getting used to living here after being raised on my father’s estate. To go from growing up on fifty sprawling acres to squeezing into less than an acre—it took some getting used to.” He waved his hand to motion proudly at his wife. “But Catherine here was raised in the city, so she was very accustomed to making efficient use of a small plot.”
“Oh really?” said Adam. He nodded and smiled as though he was finally understanding something that had been perplexing him. “I had suspected she wasn’t raised around here.” He turned his attention to Catherine. “Where did you grow up, Miss Catherine?” He continued eating.
Catherine gave a little laugh and said, “I suppose my manner of speaking must give it away.”
Adam grinned but didn’t say anything but “Mm-hmm,” since his mouth was full.
“I was born in Boston,” she said. “My father was a merchant—not unlike your master, Emmanuel Rogers, from what I hear.”
Will raised his eyebrows in surprise and leaned back in his chair and looked at his wife. “Well, dear, Emmanuel is a merchant, yes, but your father’s business was probably ten times as large as Rogers’s Shipping Company—at least!”
Adam swallowed hard, and his eyes grew large as he looked from Will to Catherine. “Are you being serious?!”
“Of course I’m being serious,” said Will. “Boston’s a big city with a great population. Beaufort is just a small, inconsequential little town that in spite of being right near the ocean can’t even attract merchant ships as easily as this town a full fifty or so miles from the sea!”
“Aw…” Adam shook his head. “Now that’s not fair. You know as well as I do that Beaufort has the best harbor along the whole coast of this colony—better than even Wilmington! We can’t help it that there are no rivers going inland from there. Beaufort would probably be as fine a port as Charleston—or Boston—if there were!”
Will chuckled and tipped his head in Adam’s direction as he looked at Catherine. “This one was born and raised in Carteret County—and is sure proud of it, if you can’t tell!”
Adam rolled his eyes.
Catherine looked like she was trying hard not to giggle. “Oh, Adam! Don’t pay him a bit of mind if he’s making jokes about your home port! He forgets that I know he was born there, too—and I’m sure Beaufort is a lovely town.” She looked teasingly at her husband. “Although Will has never seen fit to take me beyond the perimeter of his family’s estate there.”
Will shook his head. “I’ve told you, dear. There’s really nothing to see in Beaufort. Just hogs running loose in the streets mostly—and we can see those sights right here in New Bern.”
Adam stabbed one of the pieces of sausage on his plate with a fork, then held it up and grinned before taking a big bite. “How true! At least they’re tasty little beasts!”
He couldn’t help but laugh, particularly since just the night before Charles Jr.’s carriage had to stop for Charles Jr. to shoo away some hogs that were milling around in the street, eating some scraps that someone had thrown out. Will and Catherine laughed right along with him.
Just then Laney came into the dining room. “What are y’all cutting up about in here?”
“Oh, nothing really.” Adam grinned. “Your brother was just talking about how the livestock that runs wild in the streets here in New Bern reminds him of home.”
Laney made a disgusted face as she pulled out the chair next to her sister-in-law and took a seat. “You’d think things’d be more civilized here in the capital.”
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Will agreed.
“Where’s my lazy cousin?” Laney asked Adam.
Adam shrugged, then motioned upstairs. “Sleeping the day away, I reckon.”
“Of course he is,” said Laney. “Why did I even bother asking? I reckon he went on a drunk last night and he’s sleeping it off this morning.”
“Laney!” Will exclaimed, making it clear that he couldn’t believe she’d say something so coarse.
Laney looked at her brother matter-of-factly and said, “What? You know it’s the truth. Martin is happiest when he’s dipped his bill!”
“Laney! I declare! That’s enough!” Will sounded as though he was trying to chastise her, but he was too amused to come off as serious.
Catherine could barely contain herself, so as not to make the situation spiral into much silliness, she graciously excused herself from the room to go see if she could assist Annabelle.
Adam was shocked, but humorously so. He never thought he’d hear Laney use a phrase like that to describe a drunken state.
“Where in the world did you hear something like that?” he asked.
Laney leveled her eyes at him and said, “What? You think I don’t pay attention when you boys are over on my dock for Emmanuel, unloading those secret shipments, running your mouths like y’all tend to do.” She tapped her right ear with her fingertip. “I listen to y’all… Just you keep that in mind when you think you’re having private conversations.” She gave him a smile and a nod.
Adam raised his eyebrows and grinned at her. “Hmm… I’ll have to remember that then, missy, and be careful what I say around you!”