Forgive me, Lord.
The service opened with a morning prayer and Scripture reading. Most of Virginia’s pulpits were empty, awaiting clerics to be appointed by the Bishop of London. But few men of the cloth wanted so rustic a church.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also...”
Selah’s head was bowed, but her gaze strayed to the men’s side. Though she’d heard the scriptural admonishment allher days, the words seemed to leap to new life. Xander seemed turned to stone on the front pew, though a muscle twitched in his bewhiskered cheek.
Was he ... convicted?
Was ambition not her foremost concern about him? Vainglorious pursuits? He was amassing earthly treasure like no one she knew in all Virginia. And forever emboldened to do more with Virginia’s unceasing efforts to prove its worth to the king.
She looked to her hands folded primly in her lap, her lace cuffs painstakingly made and imported. Was such finery necessary? Did she not take pride in the stares of the plainer goodwives here? Could they who were considered “the better sort” not get by with less? Less tobacco? Less indentures? Less Indian land? Yet still they toiled and spun, all of them...
If she felt even a pinprick of self-righteousness, such was swept away by Keith’s next swordlike thrust.
“Judge not, that ye be not judged ... And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”
’Twas as if heaven itself came down and smote her. She blinked, the board in her own eye a painful distraction. Who was she to know Xander’s heart, his aim? Who was she to task him with being a better father? Could she fault him for working tirelessly? Would she rather he be a sluggard?
The service came to an end, its brevity blasphemous. Worshipers began filing out into fresh air while Xander lingered, exchanging a few words with those nearest him. Clutching herBook of Common Prayerin a gloved hand, Selah made her way out of doors in no hurry. With work forbidden onthe Sabbath, their cooking done the day before, they were free to tarry.
Ustis took a seat beneath a shady elm while Shay joined other lads his age near a creek. Candace greeted the goodwives, their coiffed heads identical, Widow Brodie among them. Matrons all, few of them Selah’s age or station. She put a hand to her own coif. Her freshly washed hair had taken a sheen of beeswax to settle into braids. Even now a flyaway wisp dangled in her eye. The very one Xander had righted on Cecily’s wedding day. With a whoosh of breath, she sent it out of her line of vision.
“How is your teething babe today, Goody Phelps?”
“I vow I spied a savage in our very woods whilst gathering herbals.”
“My husband lies abed with the sweating sickness.”
“She is no good wife, selling a firkin of butter with stones in it!”
As the feminine voices rose and fell, Selah skirted their circle, intent on the fenced graveyard. She’d always regretted that graves be so near places of worship, but the powers that be enforced such, just as they’d declared an annual day of the dead to mark the occasion of the last Indian massacre.
A robin alighted on a fence’s rough railing, its repeated chirp rising above the hubbub in the churchyard. Somewhat assuaged by its sweet song, Selah counted seventeen gravestones of all sizes. Their world, though not as fragile as when first founded, was still a delicate endeavor.
Xander missed his hat. He didn’t wear it on the Sabbath but now found his hands idle and empty, his heart overfull,his thoughts distracted. Ustis was telling him about the latest tariffs, usually a riveting topic, but try as he might, Selah kept stealing his attention. He swallowed, trying to track what Ustis was saying, for he really was interested, just not as interested as he was in the man’s daughter.
Framed by the emerald green of early summer, even with the crosses beyond, Selah lent a grace and peace to the otherwise melancholy scene. Hard to fathom he’d once found her paleness uninteresting, her fine features lacking depth and character. She was as comely a lass as the Almighty ever made.
She turned around just then, her gaze meeting his across the expanse of ground that separated them. Ustis’s next question failed to take root. Xander’s gaze fell to his leather boots. Everything within him urged some decisive action, some heartfelt declaration. Yet now was not the time to ask to woo the daughter of a man soon to part with his son.
Besides, he might have misread her, been blinded by his own intentions. Selah, independent minded as she was, might tell him to go to blazes. Might even suspect him of trying to marry her to gain her land dowry.
“...I am prepared to part with my son on the morrow. Is all as it should be regarding the exchange commencing at James Towne?”
“The exchange ... aye.” Xander returned to full attention. “At first light, we’ll take the shallop that brought you upriver and return to James Towne. The formalities shouldn’t be complicated, and we’ll be home by dusk, Lord willing.”
“We’ll be ready,” Ustis replied with a wheeze, getting to his feet.
Selah crossed the grass, eyes for her father alone, worrytightening her features. Not one word to Xander had she spoken. Might Selah begrudge him separating an ailing father from his son, despite Ustis’s insistence?
Xander walked behind the stooped figure, ready to step in if he stumbled, as Selah placed her hand on her father’s arm in silent support. Candace and Shay joined them, all assuming a slower pace.
“Won’t you join us for the Sabbath meal, Xander?” Candace’s gracious invitation was tempting, but he wouldn’t intrude on their remaining time together before Shay departed even if he had no excuse.
“We’re hosting the preacher today. Another Sabbath, mayhap.”
His aunt joined them, finally extricating herself from the garrulous goodwives. “Perhaps you Hopewells can join us at Rose-n-Vale next time.”
