Moonwitch Read Online Free

Peak, the highest point of the generally flat island. Except for the slopes of Boggy Peak and the cultivated gardens of the vast plantation houses, Antigua was nearly bare of trees, for there were no major rivers and no dependable water supply, leaving the inhabitants at the mercy of the occasional drenching showers and whatever water they could collect in cisterns and catchments. The lush stands of sugarcane were nearly gone, as well, for the harvest was almost over. Even so, the island shimmered a verdant green.
    Selena’s thoughts were centered on the harvest when Avery politely inquired about the errand that had brought her to town.
    “I needed a toque bonnet of a particular shade,” she prevaricated, offering that excuse rather than mentioning her trouble with Edith. “I shall be wearing a new gown tomorrow evening.”
    “Ah, yes, the lieutenant governor’s ball. I’m sure you will look charming, my dear. But surely you could have sent a servant to fetch it.”
    “Perhaps.”
    “Well, in future it might be better if you were accompanied by a maid, or wait till I am free to escort you.”
    Selena raised her chin with a touch of defiance. Avery’s request was reasonable, perhaps—in her mother’s day, gently reared females never appeared on the streets of Antigua without being veiled—but Selena had been accorded the freedom of the island since she could first sit a horse. If Avery meant to curtail that freedom so severely before their marriage, her responsibilities as a planter would be difficult to carry out.
    “I went to see Mr. Foulkes, if you must know,” she replied. “It concerned a business matter that could not be delegated.”
    “I suppose you are referring to Edith’s extravagance. Oh, yes,” Avery added when Selena glanced at him in surprise, “I’m aware that she mortgaged the house to buy a king’s ransom in jewels. An extremely foolish venture, considering the size of her income. I hope you don’t intend to come to her aid.”
    “I don’t know that I have much choice. She could lose the house if she can’t redeem the debt.”
    “Let her lose it.”
    “Avery, it is my
home
we are speaking of.”
    “You will have no need of it when you marry me, my dear. That is another reason to avoid delaying the ceremony any longer. I should like to be in full command of the plantation before autumn planting. Not that you haven’t done an admirable job of managing, particularly for a woman. But your father never intended for you to retain control, rather, to turn it over to your husband. And I’m certain you will be relieved to have such a burden lifted from your lovely shoulders.”
    Selena bit her tongue to keep from saying something she would regret, and Avery reached over to pat her hand in an avuncular fashion. “I shall speak to Edith, my dear. I expect I can persuade her to consider your feelings about the house and to abstain from any more reckless expenditures.”
    By this time Avery’s curricle was drawing up before the house that so concerned Selena—a single-story, stone construction, cooled by a raised basement and louvered outer galleries and shaded by mango and silk-cotton trees. The arched overhangs of the galleries were supported by slim wooden columns and brightened by cascades of yellow cassia and golden logwood blossoms.
    Despite her annoyance at Avery’s lecture, Selena felt obliged to invite him in for tea. The interior was cool and elegant, decorated much like an English manor, with Aubusson carpets and Hepplewhite furnishings that her father had had shipped over from England years before.
    Her stepmother wasn’t home, Selena learned from the Negro housekeeper, and Edith still hadn’t returned by the time Avery took his leave, promising to escort her to the lieutenant governor’s ball the following evening. So Selena next saw her stepmother at dinner.
    A petite and sultry brunette, Edith Markham scarcely looked like a grieving widow. Nor was she old enough to be