Read Online East of Orleans by Renee' Irvin - Free Book Online

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    “Scared yawl, didn’t I? Bet yawl thought I had a pistol.” He waved his harmonica at the women.
    Isabella narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “You better never scare us like that again. Can you play that thing, Jesse?” Isabella noticed his long brown toes peeping through the end of his shoes.
    “The shoes, they belonged to my pa. He gave’em to me before he passed.”
     
    Jesse sat down on the curb and put the harmonica to his mouth. His eyes were squeezed shut as he threw his head back and burst into a rambunctious harmonica melody.
    Lila looked around, hoping that not a soul from the Baptist Church was watching. Isabella smiled and watched Jesse’s long fingers slide up and down the harmonica.
    Granny said, “We are a people of the Lord, but your music is so beautiful it could be played on the Sabbath.”
    “Thank you. I’d better hurry on and get to the woods,” Jesse said, scrambling to his feet.
    “Where exactly is that?” Lila asked.
    “Mr. Rollins Hartwell; he let me stay in the old house my daddy lived in. That is until he gets it sold. I work for him; plow his fields and sometimes I do some work for Mister Jules McGinnis, just like dis morning when I went to see Mrs. Scarborough ‘bout some chores her husband needed done.”
    “Mister McGinnis saw me and asked me to find Miss Isabella and take her this package.” Three sets of eyes turned to Isabella and then to the package that lay at her feet. Isabella began to untie the card on the package. Her eyes grew big and she thought, Oh my God, Jules McGinnis ! She pulled the pink string ribbon and released the package.
    Inside it was a smaller box, with inscription written in gold: Maison Virot . She ripped open the top. She found nestled around generous layers of pink tissue a familiar, magnificent rose velvet bonnet.
    Isabella scooped out the bonnet and gently turned it over for closer inspection. The lining was inscribed in the most beautiful gold cursive that she had ever seen. In the middle of the lining was a gold crown with flowers and streamers of bows.
    She placed the bonnet on her head and a white envelope fell to the ground. Jesse bent down and handed the envelope to Isabella. She tore it open and pulled out a cream colored card. It read:
     
    My Dear Isabella,
     
    After seeing this lovely French bonnet tied around your beautiful face,
    I could not bear to think of it on another.
    Till we meet again…
     
    Jules McGinnis
     
    Lila removed a handkerchief from the pocket of her dress and patted the beads of perspiration on her face. Her temper flared. “Isabella Grace, what do you have to say for yourself?”
    “Don’t rush to judgment, Mama. I’m every bit as surprised as you are.”
    “You tell me now what this is all about. A man like Jules McGinnis…” she closed her eyes for a moment, opened them and touched Isabella’s face, “I would just die…”
    “Mama, listen to me! I did not even know his name until I bumped into him at Mrs. Scarborough’s millinery shop. He asked me my name and I told him Isabella Grace; I didn’t even tell him my last name.” She ran her hand through her hair. “I reckon trouble follows me wherever I go. Maybe I have bad written all over my face.” Isabella’s eyes filled with tears and Lila kissed her daughter’s forehead.
    “No, sweetheart, that is the craziest thing that I have ever heard you say; of course, you don’t have bad written across your face. You do not have a bad bone in your body. But a man like Jules McGinnis, I am afraid to say, ain’t a thing but bad.”
    With a stern face, Lila turned to Jesse. “Son, would you take this gift back to Mister McGinnis?”
    Isabella spun around.
    “Mama, no, please! Let me keep the hat! Please, it’s from Paris .”
    Granny turned to Lila. “For heaven’s sake, Lila, let the child keep the bonnet. What has she done wrong? If old McGinnis wants to make himself look big by buying Isabella that bonnet, let him.