Disclaimer: I do not own TURN. Enjoy the chapter anyway!
It was a cool, crisp Autumn morning.
Bella Brewster strode out of her small but comfortable cottage with a basket of apples in one arm and a book in another, holding out a finger for an adorable bluebird who decided to stay perched on it for a few moments then fly away. The November air chill blew right through her thin emerald dress and she let out a sign at the refreshing feeling. Fall was more than halfway gone and soon winter would be well on it's way. Bella made the trip across her apple orchards down to the cabbage field that belonged to Abraham and Mary Woodhull. They were neighbors, they lived right across from each other, and Bella would without fail each morning make the trip from her land to theirs rain or shine except in the winter when the snow was too deep of course.
'Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish ladies.' Bella sang, horribly off key she knew but there was no one around to judge her as turned yet another page of her beloved book. 'Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain. For we have received orders to sail to old England. We hope in a short time to see you again.'
When she came upon Abraham's field, she had to carefully step over the covered cabbage heads, careful not to crush any. She exchanged a quick hello with Ensign Baker, the sweet soldier stationed at their home, before he rushed off to go to his post near Strong tavern.
"Oh hello Mary." Bella greeted when she finally came across her in the back of their small home hanging laundry to dry. "And how are you this fine morning?"
"Just trying to finish this laundry before I give Thomas his bath." Mary replied as she pinned an officer's uniform, Ensign Baker's no doubt, to the line, wiping the sweat from her brow. She, of course, noticed the book she was reading and a small smile came to her face. "Pride and Prejudice again? How many times have you read that book Bella?"
"Probably a million." She admitted, signing a bit as she thought of her favorite character. "I just can't get enough of Mr. Darcy and the dynamics of his relationship with Elizabeth. Oh why can't my life be like that? Why can't I have a rich, handsome gentleman just sweep me off my feet and do anything just to keep me happy?"
Mary laughed lightly at her words.
"Didn't he call her plain in their first meeting?" Mary teased, her blue eyes shining in amusement. "And then ruin the relationship of her sister before insulting her entire family?"
Before Bella could defend her beloved Mr. Darcy's actions, Abraham showed up and crushed her into a bear hug.
"You are a genius!" Abraham ecstatically told her as finally let go after a few moments, his brown eyes alit with utter joy. "A miracle worker!"
Bella laughed as she massage the sore spots on her back caused by Abraham's surprisingly strong grip.
"No Abraham." She told him as she glanced upon the row covered fields of cabbage. "I just know about planting things. A little trick us poor farmers have to pick up or else we starve. My great Aunt always told me cabbages work best in cool weather and that covering thing was a trick she picked up from an Indian long ago. I'm not so sure about the oily water trick though, it seems like a waste of good oil."
Abraham shook his head in disagreement.
"Wasn't a waste." Abraham replied, showing her some of the pests that got caught in the buckets. "Extremely worth it to me. These little monsters devoured practically all my harvest last year but I got them now! Today I can finally pay back the remainder of my debt to Selah Strong."
Bella felt a twinge of guilt as she remembered last year's terrible harvest. Truly it wasn't her fault, Bella didn't know much about cabbages, only what her great Aunt in Connecticut told her who managed to grow a healthy harvest year after year, maggot free. She told her the trick was to plant them in cool weather, away from the heat, around March or September. She told Abraham that and he decided for March, borrowing the money needed from Selah her cousin rather than his father who he was still not talking to at the time because of the terrible thing he did to Anna.
It was a disaster.
Mostly because that year had been very unusually warm, like summer weather, and the maggots feasted on practically all his crop. He had to borrow money again from her cousin Selah and decided to plant tomatoes for the summer. The harvest was good but he didn't get that much for them. It seemed tomatoes weren't in short supply unfortunately. When Autumn came along again he decided on carrots instead of cabbages, not willing to take the risk with the new baby Thomas he had to take care of. Again he didn't get much but enough to last the winter and plant his broccoli then his cucumbers. He was able to pay Selah off halfway and decided to take the gamble in September to plant his cabbages again.
A gamble that paid off apparently.
"Shouldn't you wait until the bigger ones mature?" Mary told her husband as she glanced upon his large field in worry. "It won't be until December. I don't mean to be negative but anything could happen Abraham."
"Exactly!" Abraham agreed, nodding at his wife's words. "Anything could happen and I don't want to be another year in Seleh's debt. Besides I practically already sold all my small ones. In a month when the big ones are matured, I'll have no problem selling those at double the price since winter will be right around the corner!"
Bella understood his reasoning even if Mary didn't because of the privileged upbringing she had. To be indebted to someone with absolutely no way to pay them back was the worst kind of feeling there was no matter how kind or compassionate the lender was. People had pride and being in debt was like a constant hit to it especially to a man who was considered the breadwinner of his family. Abraham wanted the blows to end and for that Bella understood. And besides Abraham was right. Crops and meat always doubled during wintertime and Bella could only imagine the money he would make now that there was a war and thousands of soldiers mouths to feed.
"Why don't we go together then?" Bella suggested, turning yet another page of her book. "I was meaning to drop off a few apples to my cousins anyway before I head off to the Tallmadges."
Bella and Abraham waved bye to Mary and Thomas as they set off for Strong Manor, walking as Abraham couldn't afford any horses of course. There was one horse provided by the Major but it was really for Ensign Baker to get to and from work although he of course allowed them to use him whenever he could. When Mary and Thomas were finally out of sight, they started talking again about very important, very illegal matters. As much as Bella loved Mary, she knew she couldn't talk to her about the importance of smuggling for their survival because she always worried about everything that could go wrong instead.
"Tomorrow early morning." Abraham told her as they walked down the beaten path, their footprints squishing along the dirt. "Selah introduced me to a great privateer looking for fresh cabbages, the same one that sells him his ale and buys off his cauliflower. He's willing to pay twenty pounds a bushel and he's willing to throw a great price for your apples too."
She let out a low whistle and her chocolate eyes widened in amazement at his words. That was a lot of money even for cabbages so near wintertime. But then again she heard the harvest had been pretty bad among a lot of cabbage fields near them so maybe it wasn't such an unreasonable price at all.
"Alright." Bella agreed, her head swarming as she thought of the money to be received for her apples and what she should demand for them. "I'll bring my apples and my pistol just in case. Even though he does good business with Selah, I still don't know him and these are mad times we're living in. We don't know who else we might bump into."
Bella nor Abraham had ever been robbed smuggling or had a deal that went south but it didn't hurt to be prepared. So many stories were told of men floating in the bay with their throat slit from a smuggling deal went wrong or women raped as they made their way back home from thieves and mercenaries. But still none of that scared her half as much as the thought of being caught by the man she would no doubt run into on her way to the tavern who had been stalking her since he first arrived in Setauket a few days ago. Lieutenant John Graves Simcoe, the famed military man of his Majesty's royal forces who was responsible for so many patriot defeats and the cousin to the King himself (Thirteenth in line to the throne exactly) with all the wealth to prove it.
Bella's own personal nightmare.
Author's Note: I know Pride and Prejudice didn't come out until nearly forty years later but here it did. Oh and I've never read the book, only saw the movie. As you can see I changed some things in the show but it's my story so I can do that. Oh and all that about growing cabbages I learned online so forgive me if some of it is false. Reviews please!