The Governor's Daughter (Winds of Change Book 1) Read Free Page A

to leave. “Father, I do believe you are making too much of it. There would have been no scene at all if that insolent officer hadn’t interfered as he did. William…”
    “Cathryn, Lieutenant Pennington is a fine officer and a gentleman. In that I have to question William. Why he would ever allow you to contemplate such an action! His family is one of the oldest and most respected families in the county.”
    “It was not his fault, Father. I asked him to, for I cannot bear to be parted from you and my home!” she cried. “I tried to tell you, but you don’t listen. I don’t want to go.”
    “Are you mad, Cathryn? Or are you really telling me you are in love with William? Are you prepared to marry?”
    “I like William, Father,” she retorted. Her temper began to show. “I like him better than any other.”
    “I...” he began. He stared at his daughter. “I gave William full warning to stay out of your path last night after the first incident. Why do I feel you are using the poor fellow? Is that what you truly want for yourself, Cathryn?”
    “Honestly, Father, I know only that I can’t leave here. I can’t leave you, Sumner, or Juriah. How can you ask me to?”
    “It is not my desire for you to settle, Cathryn. I want you to be happy. My concern is you. I saw easily through your ploy last night and even though I well warned William that if he wants your hand, he can do so properly when you return from England. Especially…especially not to try to run out and elope in the middle of the Hampton Square Race dance!”
    “I have never! Knocking Miss Longridge into the reflection pool! And on top of that climbing out your window! You could have been killed! What was in your mind?” His voice rose higher and higher, cracking at the last utterance.
    “Only staying here, Father!” She leaped from her chair and hugged her father. “I can’t bear to leave you, Father.”
    He held her tight in his arms, only reluctantly breaking from her. “Cathryn, do this for me. I ask only a year.”
    * * * *
    The dew clung to leaves and grass in the early morning hours. Cathryn’s slippers were soaked as she walked down the worn path. She had eased out the back door through the kitchen.
    The house was abuzz with all the company that had stayed over. Juriah, helping with the cooking, caught her eye as Cathryn placed her hand on the back door. She nodded slightly. Cathryn realized Juriah knew where she was heading.
    Juriah had given comfort to her when she returned from her dreadful night’s adventure. In the middle of the night, Juriah silently eased into her room. She had said nothing, but understood what Cathryn was feeling.
    Taking Cathryn into her arms, she rocked her until she cried herself to sleep. Juriah had long stood in for the mother she had lost many years previous and was the heart of this strange household.
    Juriah had been part of Cathryn’s life since her mother had died. Less than a year after her mother and younger brother, John Steven, came to the South Carolina plantation, they died of the fever.
    After a time, her father had brought Juriah to Elm Bluff. Sumner had already lived among them. Cathryn had never questioned the make-up of her family. It wasn’t until Tacy had arrived as an indentured servant that Cathryn learned her home wasn’t made up as most households.
    “I have heard it is why your father settled in Charles Town and didn’t return to England,” Tacy gossiped to Cathryn. “He doesn’t want to leave Miss Juriah.”
    Comprehension of Tacy’s words settled upon her young naïve ears. Juriah Meador was the most handsome woman Cathryn had ever known. Juriah, a half-breed of Cherokee descent fitting into neither world, was a gentle, kind soul rumored by the Cherokees to have a healing hand.
    Cathryn gave no credence to the fact that her father had taken Juriah as his lover before he married her mother. Wasn’t Sumner thirteen when she first met him? A good eight years older than