Pearl in the Mist (Landry 2)

"Chubs asked me to steal a few pralines for her," she told us. "When either of you get a chance, shove some in my purse."

"Kate doesn't need the added calories," I said.

"If she doesn't care, why should you?"

"Good friends try to help each other, not feed each other's weaknesses," I replied.

"Who's saying I'm good friends?" She laughed wickedly. Abby and I looked at each other and shook our heads. A moment later Mrs. Penny appeared dressed in a floral cotton dress with a wide pink sash tied around her waist. She wore a corsage over her right breast and had a sun hat and a matching straw pocketbook with an embroidered rose on each side.

"Well, I declare," Gisselle said. "Scarlet O'Hara." Samantha laughed and ran off to tell the others what Gisselle had said, I was sure.

Mrs. Penny blushed. "You all look so pretty," she said. "Mrs. Clairborne will be very pleased. Right this way, girls. Buck has the station wagon out front," she said.

"Buck?" Abby said, turning to me. We started to laugh. "Who's Buck?" Gisselle demanded.

"He's the young man in charge of most everything around here," Mrs. Penny said, but Gisselle eyed Abby and me suspiciously as I pushed her out and down the ramp to the wagon.

Close up in the daylight, Buck looked even younger than he had looked at the boathouse or riding on the lawn tractor. He had hair almost as black as Abby's, but his eyes were dark brown. He had a dark complexion, being a Native American. Even in his plaid shirt, we could see how strong he was. He looked taller too, and leaner, with a narrow waist and hips and long legs. The moment he set eyes on us he smiled softly, which was something Gisselle caught.

"Hello, Mr. Mud," Abby quipped. He laughed and then registered a look of surprise and great interest when he saw that Gisselle was my twin.

"Don't tell me there are two like you," he kidded. I just smiled.

"How do you know him?" Gisselle demanded. Neither Abby nor I replied.

"Here, let me help you," he offered Gisselle. "He put his left arm around her waist and his right under her legs and lifted her so gently out of the seat, it was as if she weighed no more than ten pounds. She smiled, her face so close to his that her lips could graze his cheek. He placed her comfortably into the wagon and then folded the wheelchair with such expertise, I felt certain he had done this before.

We all got into the car, Mrs. Penny up front.

"Who's wearing all that jasmine?" Gisselle demanded as soon as we were all settled in the station wagon.

"Oh, I am, dear," Mrs. Penny said. "It's Mrs. Clairborne's favorite scent."

"Well it's not mine," Gisselle remarked. "Besides, you should wear what you like, not what some rich old lady likes."

"Gisselle!" I said, widening my eyes. Had she no discretion?

"Well, you should!"

"I like it very much myself," Mrs. Penny said. "Please don't worry. Now, let me tell you about the Clairborne mansion as we drive up. Mrs. Clairborne likes it when the girls know its history. Actually, she expects it," she said in a lower voice.

"Will we be tested later?" Gisselle quipped.

"Tested? Oh no, dear," Mrs. Penny said with a laugh, and then she stopped and thought a moment. "Just be respectful and remember, it's her generosity that keeps Greenwood going."

"And provides a job for her niece," Gisselle muttered. Even I had to smile at that one, but Mrs. Penny, as usual, ignored anything unpleasant and began her lecture.

"The mansion was a very important sugar plantation as recently as ten years ago."

"That's 'recent'?" Gisselle asked.

Mrs. Penny smiled as if Gisselle had said something very silly, something that needed no response.

"The original four-room dwelling was built in the 1790s and is now connected to the main house by an arched carriageway, which serves as a main entrance during inclement weather. At the height of its success as a sugar plantation," she continued, "the estate had four sugar houses, each with a separate planting unit and its own set of slaves."

"My father says the Civil War didn't end slavery, it just raised the cost of labor from nothing to the minimum wage," Gisselle quipped.

I saw a smile break out on Buck's lips.