AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Seven
Julianna’s driver, Sam Doolittle, guided the carriage through the slow-moving traffic down Canal Street, and Valinda, seated next to Julianna, wondered if they’d ever reach the convent. There were wagons, teamsters, people on horses, people riding cows—something she’d never seen back home—and crowds of people of all colors, shapes, and ages in the street and on the walks. The Sisters of the Holy Family sent a message last evening asking Valinda to stop in. She just hoped she could get there before nightfall.
“After we drop you off, I have some business to attend to,” Julianna said. “When you’re done at the convent, meet me at the Christophe for lunch. Sable will be joining us as well.”
Valinda hadn’t seen Sable since the evening of her welcome-home celebration. Thinking back on that day made the faces of her attackers rise in her memory, so she quickly focused her mind back on the present.
“Do you remember how to get to the Christophe?” Julianna asked.
“I do.”
Traffic came to a halt.
Mr. Doolittle said, “Ladies, looks like somebody lost a load of wood up ahead. We may be here a while.”
Valinda sighed. They were only a short walk away from the convent and she didn’t want to be late. “Julianna, I think it might be faster if I walk.”
“Are you sure?”
Valinda nodded. “I’ll meet you at the Christophe.”
Leaving the carriage behind, she set out and became a small fish in the sea of people moving through the Quarter. Her passage was filled with the singsong calls of vendors, and music from the saloons that never slept. She edged by women carrying piled-high laundry on theirtignon-covered heads, and soldiers in Union blue. Freedmen in homespun clothing walked beside well-dressed Creoles in expensive suits, while the cacophony of conversations in multiple languages created a music all its own. The longer she stayed in New Orleans, the more she loved its vitality and energy. As she rounded a corner, she came face-to-face with her attacker, Walter Creighton. Alarmed, she jumped.
“Well,” he sneered. “Look who we have here.” His nose was distended, his eyes bruised and almost swollen shut. “You owe me, you little bitch.”
“I owe you nothing. Now, move out of my way.” They were on a crowded walk. Not even he was stupid enough to harm her in full view of so many people.
“Next time I see you, ain’t going to be no pretty French boy around to keep me from spreading your legs.”
Fighting her revulsion, she tossed back, “I’ll let him know you send your regards.”
He flinched. She pushed by him. Heart racing, her legs shaking, she resumed her journey.
She finally reached the convent, but the meeting didn’t last long. Due to pressures from the Creole community, the convent would no longer be enrolling freedmen or their children in their schools. As a result, her services were no longer needed.
As she stood to leave, she thanked the nuns for taking the time to speak with her and did her best to hide her disappointment.
“God be with you, Valinda,” she was told as she departed.
“Thank you.”
Outside, she took to the crowded walks again to meet Julianna and Sable at the Christophe and gave her disappointment its head. According to the Sisters, the wealthy Creoles didn’t want their children taught in schools that also opened their doors to former slaves and were threatening to withdraw their patronage. Since these families were the Order’s main source of financial support, the Sisters had no choice but to comply. They assured her that a workable solution might still be found, but for now, class and wealth overrode the needs of the newly freed.
Valinda wasn’t happy. It was yet another blow to her quest to teach and she wondered if it was a sign that it wasn’t meant to be. She also learned that due to a lack of funds, the state of Louisiana was closing many of the schools established by the Freedmen’s Bureau. In Val’s mind, that made little sense because the freedmen and their families needed education for a successful future. Yes, there were those who believed working in the fields was all the formerly enslaved could be expected to achieve, but she didn’t agree. During her month-long tenure in her now-abandoned classroom, her students had been eager, focused, and grateful to be learning.
Thinking about them, she wondered if they’d all been contacted by the ones she’d spoken with already. But her own fate was of equal concern. Without a place to teach, the Bureau wouldn’t pay her, and without a stipend, she couldn’t afford to stay in New Orleans. She was thankful to Julianna for offering her a temporary job helping in her office and running errands, but it wasn’t a permanent position. All Val wanted to do was make a difference in people’s lives and teach. Even if her time in New Orleans would be ending when Cole returned to the States.
Approaching the Christophe, she saw the corner where she’d met the fortune-teller, but the old lady wasn’t there.You will lose a love, reject a love, find a love.Val shrugged off the prophecy. She had more pressing things to think about.
When she entered the hotel, she was met by Raoul, and he didn’t appear pleased to see her again. “Madam Julianna has been waiting for you,” he said in a haughty tone that seemed to suggest she was late. “This way.”
Val ignored the dig and followed him to the table where Julianna and Sable were sitting.
“Thank you,” Val said to him, but he’d already turned and walked away.
“So, how did the meeting go?” Julianna asked once Val was seated.
Val sighed and relayed the details. Both Sable and Julianna appeared disappointed, and Julianna said, “There’ve been rumors about this. I wondered if they’d bow to the pressure, but I suppose they had no other choice.”
