Chapter 24: Return to Saint Pierre

I should perhaps explain the reason for my sudden excitement. Yes, I managed to purloin the bottle of scented oil that I found so appealing. But that isn’t the only bounty that the overseer’s hut had to offer. Among all the notes and faded pictures pinned to the wall is ... was ... a small decades old poster offering a large reward for the recovery of one Jacqueline de Belleville. My birth-mother. The poster is now in my pocket. At last I have a name to trace. All I need to do now is find out who Jacqueline de Belleville is ... or was ... and what story lies awaiting to be discovered.

“You look ridiculously happy for someone who has literally been screwed by a slimy bastard,” says Samantha as we lead the horses along the forest track.

The overseer kept his side of the bargain, and freed both Randolph and Angel. The paperwork to release Angel took a while, but I didn’t mind the wait. It at least gave Charity time to locate some herbs for me to take in order to ensure that there’s no pregnancy. Apparently this isn’t the first time Charity has used this remedy.

With five of us and only four horses, we decide to walk rather than double up on one of the horses. It at least gives us time recover from our various experiences. I show Samantha the poster I removed from the overseer’s hut.

“Hmm ... de Belleville,” muses Samantha. “I remember papa mentioning the name in some of his bedtime stories about pirates and monsters that plagued the Caribbean. It’s probably a coincidence though. From what you’ve discovered so far, your Jacqueline would have been far too young to feature in any of those fanciful tales.”

“Hmm. Well I’m not assuming anything at the moment,” I reply.

“You do realise that we never learned either the merchant’s or the overseer’s names,” says Charity.

“Since I’ve no intention of inviting them into my social circle, I couldn’t care less what they are called,” growls Samantha.

“They deserve to be named. How about Oily and Squealer?” I say, inventing names for the two men.

“Yeah, Oily and Squealer it is,” laughs Samantha after I explain the reason for my choice.

We return to Le Lorrain and organise overnight lodgings for the five of us. If the weather remains fine, we could attempt to reach to Saint Pierre tomorrow, bypassing the Ladybird plantation. However, Randolph wants to stop at the plantation in order to let Fleur know about Angelique. He also wants to resolve his rocky relationship with Henri. I, of course, want nothing more to do with the man. After some debate we agree that we will part company near the plantation, and Randolph will approach the plantation alone. We agree that Angelique will accompany Charity, Samantha and me to Saint Pierre, and that Randolph will join is in a few days. Charity opts for travelling with us, rather than join Randolph on the plantation. The whole adventure over the last week has challenged her expectations and beliefs. I begin to wonder whether the on-again off-again relationship between Randolph and Charity is cooling once again.

Angelique is still struggling to adapt to her change in circumstances. I understand her difficulty. We are all strangers to her. For years she was Guillaume’s personal slave as he travelled up and down the east coast. She isn’t used to engaging in a conversation, and she tends to respond to questions with one word answers. I don’t push the subject, but it seems likely that Guillaume is the father of her child. She has only spent the last three months on the banana plantation, and her pregnancy is much further advanced than that.