Part One: Home
Jenna was terrified of the auction block. She had heard stories about life on other plantations, tales that kept her up at night. She didn't want to be beaten, raped, or worse- forced to pick cotton in the hot Virginia sun. Even though she was a slave, she had always lived inside her master's house. She had never had many chores, or any real work at all.
There was a good reason for that. She was a mulatto, and her master, the honorable Judge William Henry Tyler III, was also her father. He was a tall, thin man, with graying brown hair and deep-set eyes. He was always fond of the slave girls. He liked the ones with dark skin, and had plucked Jenna's mother out of the fields when she was just 18 years old.
Her mother became pregnant almost immediately and gave birth to her first child one cold December morning. It was a boy she named Will. He was extremely light skinned, with curly brown hair and dark grey eyes. He could pass for white, and often did. Jenna was born shortly after. She was even more beautiful then her mother, with long, wavy black hair and almond colored eyes. Her skin was a soft, golden brown, the same color as the walnut trees that blossomed on the plantation each autumn.
When Jenna was about 16, her mother passed away, and the judge decided to take on a legitimate wife shortly afterwards. The new wife's name was Mary, a pale Irish woman with a long bony face and steel gray eyes.
Mary hated lovely Jenna as soon as she laid eyes on her. Mary could sense that her new husband would have probably preferred to take someone like his daughter to bed then herself, and she jealously did her best to convince the judge to "throw his dark little daughter out in the fields with her own kind." As Jenna went about her daily duties, she often noticed Mary watching her intently, silently comparing her scrawny body with that of her growing stepdaughter. Her flat, tiny chest with Jenna's full and firm breasts, her pale, aging backside with Jenna's curvy bottom and thick, sleek thighs, and her nearly translucent skin, slightly yellowed with age and spotted with brown freckles against Jenna's almost perfect complexion and ebony locks. It was a contest Mary knew she couldn't win.
As the years passed, Mary's hatred of Will and Jenna grew. She was unable to have children of her own, and without a legitimate heir to secure her place in the family, she felt threatened by Will. Even though he was still legally a slave, the judge had taught Will how to read and write, and discussed arrangements for him to attend a Negro college in Pennsylvania. Mary was against any sort of special treatment for them and made her displeasure known to the judge. He largely ignored her but both Jenna and Mary knew that her father couldn't live forever, and when he died, his estate, and her and Will's lives, would be in Mary's hands.
When Jenna was about 21, the judge had a sudden bout with pneumonia. He was quickly bedridden, and shaken with cold sweats. Doctors came in and out of the plantation that winter, but it soon became obvious that the judge was going to die. On her father's last night on earth, the plantation was restless. Jenna laid on her small bed, which was nothing more then a few sacks stuffed with hay. Her mind wandered about what the future would hold.
Quietly, the door opened. A shadowy figure stepped in, and her breath caught in her throat as she recognized her father. The man walked over to where Jenna lay on the floor and knelt beside her. As her eyed adjusted, she saw that it was not her father at all, but her pale brother Will, dressed in some of the Judges finest clothes. "Father is dead." Will whispered to Jenna. "No one knows just yet. I've taken some clothes and a suitcase- my inheritance. I'm leaving tonight." Jenna shook her head, not understanding. "I'm taking a train north," He continued, "When I have enough money, I'll come back a buy your freedom." Will saw the fear and alarm in Jenna's face, but he continued quickly, before she could protest.
"Father's will stated that all of his slaves are to become property of Mistress Mary, but in his final days, I managed to convince him to give you to the pastor of his church. You won't be beaten there, and the reverend is an old man, he needs a house slave to care for him. He lives in Richmond, and it is from there I will come for you when I have the money." Will smiled to himself. Forging that part of the will and sending her to the reverend was Will's best option for keeping their stepmother away from Jenna. He leaned over a kissed his pretty brown sister on the cheek. "I promise I'll come back for you, no matter what." He whispered again. And then he was gone.
Part Two: Richmond
The reverend John Reynolds was a short, fat man of about 60. Friendly and good-natured, the pastor took an instant liking to this shy country girl from the plantation, and she took an instant liking to him. Jenna spent her days cooking, sewing, and doing housework, while the reverend read her bible verses in between seeing visitors. It was only the two of them living in his modest townhouse and Jenna quickly settled into her role as little woman of the house.
One hot summer morning, while Jenna was busy making porridge for the reverend's breakfast, she heard the sound of horses stomping on the streets outside their home. She watched from the window as a tall man with broad shoulders stepped out of a carriage, shielding his eyes from the morning sun. She could see he was handsome, with dark blond hair that fell to the middle of his neck and ears. He was slender, like her father, but maybe a little too pale for someone with such a youthful face. She realized he was looking directly at the window she stood in. He flashed her a playful smile but Jenna, embarrassed to be caught not tending to her work, closed the curtain and ran back to the kitchen and the reverend's breakfast.
