“Do I get to crush the grapes?” He hoped he did not sound too excited.
“Yes. Do what they do and I will return shortly.”
He, like the others, sat on a bench and rolled up his trousers, removed his boots then stockings before he walked to a large basin where their feet and legs were washed. Caroline and a few other women came out from behind a screen. The bottom of her skirt was pulled up and tied at her waist, revealing the lower portion of her legs starting just below her knees.
His pulse increased, but he seemed to be the only man who noticed that the women were showing their legs.
He supposed that they were likely used to seeing such and in truth,he had barely glanced at the other women but he could not ignore Caroline’s shapely caves and delicate ankles and feet.
It was odd to sink into the grapes and feel them crush between his toes. It was also harder than he had anticipated, almost like stepping into thick mud, denser than he thought it would be instead of rolling away and parting.
Caroline joined Sterling and pulled him into a line that faced another and everyone locked arms.
“What now?” he asked.
“We all stomp at the same time, and keeping our arms locked.”
“Why?”
“Because it is easy to lose balance and we cannot have anyone falling into the grapes. Bare feet and legs only.”
He nodded and understood. No doubt the more grapes that were crushed, the slipperier it would become.
“Just move with me. First right and then left as we move to one side of the vat until we reach the end and come back, opposite of those across from us.”
He nodded and followed her lead stomping and crushing. The level of grapes they started with slowly decreased and by the time they were finished, all the juice had run into barrels, the skins and seeds left behind, and his thighs burned. Sterling was seriously concerned that he might not be able to step out of the vat and then down the ladder without his legs giving out.
“That is all for today,” Hallaway called as the last sealed barrel was rolled down the ramp and into the cellar.
“It will be easier tomorrow,” Caroline whispered as she stepped out ahead of him.
“I am not so certain,” he laughed.
“Work will be divided by Father. Most will cut, but some will be sent to the barn to begin the work of destemming and crushing as buckets are filled. It is only the first day that everyone cuts.”
“Where will we be?” he asked.
“That will be determined tomorrow, when my father decides who will do what after he observed everyone today. Though, he may as your preference since you are the owner.”
“That would be wherever you are,” he whispered so that nobody could hear, but he did wonder if he would even be able to move tomorrow since almost every part of his body ached. Yet he also had never felt better.
*
Caroline did notexpect Sterling to come to her chamber that night. She was certain that he would collapse from exhaustion soon after he dined with his mother, which was why she took time with her bath.
It was one thing for her five-year-old daughter to bathe in the kitchen near the stove, but Caroline did not want to do so in a room that her father or brother could walk in. They may have no objection to bathing in the lake with the other men, but she preferred far more privacy.
After she pulled the hipbath into her chamber and filled it with hot water, Caroline sank down as far as possible. She was sore, which was not unusual following the first day of harvest. She knew that her legs and arms would be stiff when she woke tomorrow morning, but they all needed to endure for the days to come in order to make wine.
She was trying to decide if she should also wash her hair or just go to bed when there was a quiet knock on her door.
Her eyes flew open as she looked across the room.
Her heartbeat increased and Caroline pulled herself from the bath then wrapped a towel around her body before walking to the door and cracking it open just a little to see who was there.
“Are you going to let me come in?” he asked.
“Why are you not asleep?”
