Taboo

Keywords: 01, Revealing, Ch.,

"Comments are greatly appreciated

**Please pardon my French within the text**"

*

Marie was a sight for sore eyes indeed. Jonathon did not mean to pry into the slave woman's private moment of her bathing, but he could not help himself but to feast his eyes upon the ebony beauty. He had never seen a black woman such as her. The slave girls that he had seen on the plantation who were quite pleasant to look at were usually the mulattos with lighter skin. But this beauty had dark, milk chocolate brown skin with red undertones. Almost like the fine polished mahogany wood in his father's study.

Her back was facing him, so she did not notice him staring at her behind the trees. He was really glad that he remembered the creek that was on the property. He had taken his horse out for a ride and on his way back to the plantation, he wanted to stop and get the horse some water. It was such a hot Louisiana day and he had fancied putting his feet in the cool stream.

There was a huge rock in the water that she was sitting on while she was rinsing herself off with a rag and ringing out her long black curly hair that seemed to have some brown highlights in it. The droplets of water that were trickling down her body were glistening in the bright sun. But something was unusual.

He believed that he had seen all the slave girls on the plantation, but she did not look too familiar. He would have remembered her. The young woman turned and then stood up. He could finally see her profile. Oh my, that's Marie. She is beautiful he thought. She looked to be about 5'5" tall from where he was standing and she seemed to be in her mid twenties. She was not skinny, but had an athletic build to her and looked strong and healthy. Her breasts were full and supple, her waist small and her hips flared out of her sides that all in all made her look like an hourglass with a firm heart shaped bottom.

Jonathon was mesmerized and really wanted to speak to her, but was afraid that he would just frighten her. He had to make her be able to trust him. But how? She never speaks or looks at anyone, just the ground. The only people were close to were Maman Abby and her older brother, Avery. All three of these Negro slaves came with his new bride, Margaret. They had been her slaves on her father's plantation and then came with her after their wedding about a couple of months ago.

Jonathan had remembered that he caught her in the library thumbing through the books on the tables. She was distracted from her dusting duties by all books that seemed to intrigue her. He knew it. He knew that there was something unusual about her. She seemed to know what the pages meant. She had the books right side up and was turning the pages as if she was just skimming over every word.

"I am sure she knows how to read," he stated to himself as he continued to stare at her from behind the door to the library about a week earlier.

What slave would have any interest in books when they couldn't be able to read them? He knew that the book that she was skimming through was one of his sister's books that she had him return to the library early that day since he was on his way there. He had stepped out for a while to look for something in his father's study. On his return back to the library, he had stumbled upon the mysterious slave.

He walked in and closed the double doors behind him so that they would not be disturbed. She turned around with a start and dropped the book that she was thumbing through. Marie looked somber, but scared. She had on a beige work dress that was probably a size or two too big with an apron with a few smudges on it from her cleaning. She had a cloth wrap around her head to keep her hair out of the way and to hide it from view.

Jonathon walked towards her and when he reached her, bent down picked up the book and handed it to her. She reached out and took it from him, unable to control her shaking hand.

"Are you finding everything okay here?" Jonathon asked. "I am sorry I haven't had a chance to introduce myself. I am Jonathon Fairleigh, your mistress' new husband. You must be Marie."

"Oui Monsieur, merci. Yes, it is very nice here," said Marie.

Jonathon tilted his head to the side. She speaks French? What a surprise. Margaret can only speak a little bit of French, but he could tell that Marie spoke fluent French due to her thick accent (even though she has a soft, demure voice).

"Ah, you speak French Marie? Did Margaret teach you English?"

"No, her mother and Maman taught us English."

"Were you born on Margaret's father's plantation?"

"No, we are from Barbados. We had to learn English when we came here."

"I see," said Jonathon getting quite interested.

He loved the way she spoke, it was enchanting. She was like a fantasy creature you read about in fairy tales like a nymph or a fairy with her big light brown eyes, kissable heart shaped mouth and little nose and ears. And her skin was so smooth it looked so unreal like a thick chocolate liquid that he would love to drink.

At first, Marie was terrified of Monsieur Jonathon, especially the fact that he caught her with one of their books. If anyone new that she and her brother knew how to read, they could be punished severely. She just couldn't help herself; she loved to read just about anything. The things that these white people would write down on paper just amazed her. She could write also, but not too much. Reading and writing by slaves in the south and teaching slaves these skills were against the law and is a punishable offense. But as Monsieur Jonathon was talking to her and asking her questions she seemed to be more at ease.

He had a soothing voice that was calming and told her in uncertain terms that she was in no danger. He was taller than she was, maybe about 6'2 or '3. He was a very handsome man in his late twenties with his deep blue eyes and dirty blond curly hair that hung over his shirt collar. Marie could tell underneath his clothing that Jonathon had broad shoulders, a wide, muscular chest that came down to a narrow waist. She already had a chance to look at his legs when she had bent down to try and scoop up the book. He had long elegant legs in which his muscles were pressing against his pants.

He was asking her a few more questions about what her duties were to be on the plantation. He found out that she was to remain as Margaret's personal house servant but was to do some duties such as dusting after Margaret has had her breakfast and would eventually become a kitchen maid and help with cooking with Maman once Margaret is suitably settled in. Marie was certainly looking forward to that. She rather be working in the kitchen than be with Margaret.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Jonathon told the person to enter and Maman came rushing in asking Marie what has taken her so long, after she saw Massa Jonathon and gave him a greeting.

"You shouldn't be in here bothering Massa Jonathon. I am sure he is busy", said Maman.

"It has been no bother. We were actually having a pleasant conversation and getting to know one another."

"Well Massa Jonathon, I am sorry to cut the visit short, but we have a lot of work to do in the kitchen."

"I wouldn't want to keep you waiting. I am sure I will see you two running about. Good day."

"Goodbye," said the two women as they exited the library.

Marie was sure to remember to put the book down on one of the side tables as they left through the door. Jonathon went by to pick up the book to return it to the shelf but thought twice about it. It was a book of sonnets by Shakespeare. He wanted to give this book to his new beauty as a gift. He was sure it would make her happy.

As Jonathon reverted back to present time, he looked at the water nymph emerging from the cool spring water. He watched her as she came out and dried herself off with her drying cloth. Then Marie put on her undergarments, stockings, dress and ankle boots. She combed her hair and twirled it into a tight bun and then wrapped it in her head wrap. She put her wash cloth, soap, comb and everything else she brought out there with her in a medium sized silver pale and headed toward back to the slave quarters. It was getting close to supper time and Marie was powerfully hungry.

Jonathon was still a ways back so he went back to get his horse and started walking towards her as if he was just running into her.

"Ah, Marie, what are you doing all the way out here?" he asked innocently.

"Monsieur Fairleigh. I was just...," she started to stutter. She didn't want to tell him that she was just out taking a bath.

He seemed to see her nervousness and interrupted her by saying, "Are you on your way back to the house?"

"Oui Monsieur Fairleigh, I was heading back to the house to help with the supper. Pardon me," she said kind of hurriedly.

"Wait a minute I thought you could take a walk with me to the creek. I wanted to water my horse and I could use some company if you don't mind," asked Jonathon.

Marie hesitated a little but saw something in his eyes. A bit of loneliness, so she said alright and they started towards the creek.

"You speak English well, you had good teachers."

"Yes, I did, I suppose," smiled Marie.

She could not believe that she was speaking to Monsieur Jonathon like this. As if he was any ordinary slave that she would be able to talk too freely.

Jonathon felt quite comfortable with this female slave. It was nice to just talk to someone who really had no expectations from him, even though she was a slave and his family's responsibility. He really liked talking to her and listening to her voice. He would ask her questions that he already knew the answer to just to hear her speak. Sometimes he would have to ask her to repeat what she said since his French was a bit rusty.

He told her that he tried to make it a point to know every aspect of the plantation since his father, John Fairleigh, was getting on in years and needed more help from his eldest son to run things more smoothly.

Keywords: 01, Revealing, Ch.,