Plantation Nation (9781621352877) Read Online Free Page A

I'll have to wake up your
granddaddy, tell him what you been up to."
    Emma rolled off the hay and made a lunge for
an escape. George grabbed her around the waist and forced her back
down. He fell on top of her and pressed his weight into her while
he fiddled with the button on his trousers. Emma yelped from the
impact as the straw poked into her.
    "Yeah, go ahead 'n wrestle around. Better for
me that way."
    She smacked him, pounded him in the back to
no avail. His hat toppled off. A thin patch of his brownish-red
hair flopped in front of his face. Emma clawed his bare head.
    George cursed and snatched Emma's hands. With
one hand he clutched both wrists. His whiskey and cigar-laced
breath nauseated Emma. A weak yell escaped her. George grunted his
satisfaction. He lifted his head, a smarmy smirk across his
face.
    "I been waitin' for this a long time," he
said. "You're mine now."
    Emma's mind flashed to every inappropriate
touch and salacious stare George had helped himself to since
stepping foot onto the Cartwright property over a year ago. She had
fended off his advances — and kept
him from Sylvia — but he had
cornered her in the barn once. Drunk, as he typically was by day's
end, he had pressed himself against Emma and licked the side of her
neck. The sudden entrance of Emma's grandfather had foiled his
intentions.
    Now, Emma gasped at the sound of a whack.
    George stared blankly for an instant, then
slumped into the hay.
    Henry stood a few feet away, a piece of wood
in his hand. He reached down and pulled Emma up. "You okay, Miss
Emma?"
    She nodded. "How did you…"
    "Mamma woke me. Wanted you to get in all
safe. Never know what's in dem woods."
    "Snakes, apparently." Emma kicked George in
the gut with her bare foot. "Wish we could drag him down to the
marsh, let the gators find him."
    "I take him der myself." Henry's chest
expanded. Standing well over six feet and thick as the trunk of a
mighty oak, Henry had muscles stacked on top of each other from a
lifetime of hard labor. When it was time to thresh the rice, Henry
manned the flail for long, hot hours. His massive hands could snap
the head off a chicken before it had a chance to squawk. Born on
the Cartwright plantation more than twenty years ago, Henry had
fended off a gator in the marsh once and took pride in keeping an
eye on his younger brother. Other slaves revered Henry, though he
was also known for bad bouts of temper.
    He took a step toward George's limp body.
    "No, Henry, we can't. That's not us. We're
not like him. Besides, it won't bring Basil back."
    The hatred in Henry's eyes softened at the
mention of his brother.
    "But I have an idea." Emma grinned.
    They scrambled and dumped George at a
strategic location near the front of the house. With his trousers
still loose and drooped around his ankles, George Napier and his
glaring white rump waited to greet the rising sun.
     
    ****
     
    Much of the Cartwright household erupted in
the early morning hours, due in large part to Olivia's discovery of
George's rear end on the other side of her bedroom window. Emma's
brother Quinn did the honors of rousing George with a bucket of
water.
    "Maybe Granddad will get rid of him now,"
Sylvia said. Wearing the new lilac dress Olivia had brought in the
room yesterday, she danced and twirled around while Emma dealt with
a lack of sleep. She wished she hadn't dropped the root and leaves
Tilda had given her, as her body aches ramped up.
    "Maybe he'll leave." Emma did not believe
that. In fact, she worried that last night's incident would only
heighten his determination to trap her and have his way with her
once and for all. She understood men like George Napier, and she
knew Knox had hired him in a moment of desperation and weakness.
After the Uprising, Knox had wanted to send a firm message to the
slaves and to reestablish the lines between master and slave.
Though he had never raised a hand against a slave, Knox overlooked
George's cruel treatment.
    George would seek his