Sisters

•Chapter 9•

A/N: I want to apologize for spelling mistakes, I'm getting back into the swing of writing so I'll be more attentive. And If you thought the last chapter was crazy, your in for a ride with this one lol 

I do the exact opposite Daddy told me. When I hear the carriage go off, I rush back outside to where Daphne and Wesley had split apart when they saw Daddy walking out.

I completely ignore my sister and make my way over to Wesley whose leading a horse back into the barn.

"What was that about?" I ask him.

He's still got a certain glow to him. One Daddy gets when he and Mrs. Jones come back from a date night. Wesley has never looked this way when I'm around. 

"Nothing. She was telling me about...her day and such".

I clench my jaw, "ya like her?"

He chuckles softly, "yous outta ya mind to even suggest that-"

"I see the way ya look at her, the way ya watch her out the window and blush when she come around".

He goes quiet for a minute or two, "She pretty yeah, she makes me smile yeah, but ain't nothing gonna come from it. She white and ya can't change skins last I check".

"But ya like her?" It was a question that didn't need an answer because we both knew it. And honestly I'm glad he didn't answer because it would have shattered me to pieces. I had him first, I cared about him first, I liked him first, why is he choosing her over me? Why does she once again take something from me?

I clear my throat and say what  came out here to say, "Wesley, I have to ask for your forgiveness".

He stops and looks at me in horror, "Don't tell me ya told ya pops I kissed ya".

I look down, "I didn't tell him but he just about figured it out because ya bruised my lip yesterday!"

He chuckles and swipes his thumb over my bottom bruised lip, "How could I not when they just plump and inviting like that?"

I swat his hand away and give him a serious look, "Wesley I stained your purity and you stained my own. We are unwed doing husband and wife business. It's a sin to lust".

He frowns, "I ain't Biblical D so what's it gots to do with me eh?"

"Because it matters to me".

He sighs and cups my face, "God ain't gonna send ya to hell. If anything, I'll take the blame for us both since I was the one messing with ya. You'll be fine Delilah, heck I bet yous a saint up there-"

"This means no more sexual activity".

He looks down at my lips and when his eyes go back up to my body a certain dark look covers them, "Sexual activity huh? Have you ever been touched Delilah?"

My breathing goes heavy as I shake my head no. I've never been this close with a boy than I have with Wesley. Heck, I only know about kisses and I just learned about oral pleasure. 

"Never had a man touch ya where nobody but ya Mama and midwife has seen? Not even ya breasts?"

I shake my head no as panic and a lustful feeling overcomes me.

"Let me make you my wife. Then I can teach ya what sexual activity is", he whispers in my ear.

I stubble away from him, "not when your heart belongs to another!"

"My heart belongs to two".

"No, it belongs to hers and has settled with mine".

"Delilah..."

I take a deep breath as I think it throw. Daddy said I for sure aren't a slave but he wouldn't specify if I was a free person either. My guess is that I am a free person but he just doesn't want to tell me incase I plan on leaving here. 

And if that's the case, I could marry Wesley and find a way to give him freedom. And if it comes down to it, I could even work for Daddy until I have enough money to buy him. 

I'm genuinely hurt that Wesley likes my sister but I'm trying to be smarter about this. Mrs. Jones said we are about to be married off. What if they pick a guy I don't like? Wouldn't it be better for me to marry Wesley who I like and get along with than have to suffer marriage with a man who I don't?

And Daddy and Mother were arranged but grew to love one another. I figure Wesley could learn to love me completely and forget about Daphne?

I wipe away my tears and grab onto his hand, "I'll marry you. Because you deserve to be free Wesley".

"Don't marry me to give me freedom. You'll only despise me in the future. If we are to wed I want you to carry my children with joy and not as if they are burdens".

"I shall love any child of my womb or another".

He kisses my forehead, "that's why I fell for you. A loving, intelligent, beautiful black woman. Change the world D".

What about Daphne? Is that the same reason you fell for her too? Or are her's better than mine? I think to myself.

I push away those thoughts and ask him questions pertaining our future. Like the names of our kids, my plan for getting him freedom. We talk for so long until Daddy's carriage pulls up in the driveway. 

It's about an hour since I've been gone so I know Mother and Daphne are wondering where I am. Wesley suggests we wait till Daddy gets inside so we don't cause a scene outside. Fifteen minutes pass and Wesley takes his hand in mine as I lead him up to the house. I double-check that the overseer is not looking before quickly sneaking Wesley inside and down the hallway to Daddy's library where I know he's at.

"Daphne?"

"It's me Daddy. I have something to ask you...we have something to ask you".

He slips his reading glasses off and stares at Wesley and I in confusion and shock. I also don't miss the look of disgust he has when his eyes slide to Wesley. No field slave has ever entered the house and I know Daddy has formed a bias against poor Wesley.

"Massa, I've come to ask for your blessings to marry Delilah?"

Daddy throws his head back and laughs, "Well I'll be damned, you darn poisoned her, huh n*gger?"

"Daddy!"

"I told ya to stay away from her!"

"Why?! Why must he stay away from me? What makes him any different from me?" I scream.

"He is a slave!"

"So am I!" 

"He is beneath you Delilah!"

"Then who is my equal!" I asks him.

A thick silence covers the room like a blanket.

"While I am alive or dead, you ain't ever gettin' my blessings to marry her. No slave will get my blessings to marry her. If she turns up pregnant I will skin you alive, if I just as much hear you two were seen together, I'll break ya skull".

He turns to the overseer who had come running in probably after realizing Wesley had disappeared and I'm guessing a slave had outed us.

"Fifty lashes", Daddy says after spitting on Wesley's bare dirty feet. "Strip him first".