Chapter 31: Jean
Henry came in the room as they were finishing up their breakfast. "Hello," he said to Jubilee pleasantly, nodding to Remy. "My name is Henry, I'm a doctor. I would like to check you over, my dear, just to be sure you are all right. May I?"
He was asking her? Could she say no? She looked at Remy for help.
Remy shook his head. "Chere, you a free woman now, you make de decisions for yourself. If you don' want no doctor to look at you, just say no. But I would like you to let him look at you, you been t'rough a lot de las' mont' or so."
Jubilee looked at Henry, biting her lip. "Will I have to take all my clothes off?" she whispered.
Henry shook his head. "Only your dress and shift," he said. "Your undergarments should remain on."
There was a soft tap on the edge of the doorframe, and a beautiful red haired woman walked in. "Hello," she said gently, to Jubilee, her voice soft and soothing. "My name is Jean. I found a dress that might fit. The clothes you have on and the clothes in your bundle were worn and dirty, so I checked with the housekeeper and found something that should fit. And you might want to take a bath too, after all that time on the road." She draped an armload of white and blue fabric across the end of the bed, and turned to Remy and Henry. "Well, if you two aren't just the worst! Give the girl a chance to eat and freshen up before you go and barge in on her like that!" she grabbed Remy's arm, levering him up by main force, and dragged him over to the door, then hooked Henry's arm and chased him out too. "Go on! Let her get used to the place, settled in, before you go poking and prodding her. How would you like to get poked at by a complete stranger the minute you wake up! I'll send her along once she's settled in, not before!"
Once they were gone, she closed the door and turned around. "Now that we've gotten rid of the riffraff, let's get you out of those dirty clothes and into a bath." She picked up the dress she'd put down and waited as Jubilee slowly pulled her sore, aching body out of the bed. As Jubilee leaned over and started to push her feet into her shoes, the redhead reached down and felt the bed. "I'll have that replaced," she said to Jubilee. "The feathers are all crushed. You need a new one."
"What?" Jubilee stared at her.
"The feather tick," Jean said, patting the surface of the bed. At Jubilee's uncomprehending look, she said, "Haven't you slept on a feather tick before?"
Jubilee shook her head numbly. "P-P-Papa had big feed sacks stuffed with dried grass for us to sleep on. It was a lot better than sleeping on the hard floor of the boxcar, but it still didn't feel like this."
Jean said, "You stuffed feed sacks with grass? This is kind of the same thing, except we use large linen sacks, and stuff them with raw cotton and feathers. Every so often we take the stuffing out and spread it out on the floor of the bakeroom to dry and air out. When the feathers get too broken to provide a good cushion, we discard the insides and restuff the sack." She saw Jubilee's face. "Where did you live before?"
"In Missouri," Jubilee said timidly. "P-P-Papa…had a horse ranch…we lived in a one room cabin. He put up a wall between my bed and his, but t-t-they made him take it down because I wasn't supposed to have a room of my own."
Jean nodded. "Didn't have many good things way out there in the sticks, did you?" she said sympathetically.
"We couldn't get things like this out there," Jubilee spoke up, forgetting her shyness in the sudden urge to defend Logan. "The only set of china dishes in town belonged to the mayor's wife, and she brought that from back east with her. Everybody else used tin dishes."
"Well, we have china here," Jean said cheerfully, opening the door and holding it open for her. "Come with me. Let me show you where everything is."
Jubilee followed her down the hall. She opened a door, and Jubilee saw the large white porcelain tub sitting in the middle of the room with towels on rails around it. An African woman was just pouring a last bucket of water in it. "Thank you, Mary," Jean said to the woman, and the woman smiled at Jean and Jubilee, teeth flashing white in her dark face, and left the bathing room by another door.
"This is the bathing room," Jean told Jubilee. "You wash here. When you want to take a bath, just let the housekeeper know (I'll introduce you to her later) and she'll have the servants start drawing water from the well downstairs. They'll bring it up here and pour it in the tub, and then bring up hot rocks from the fireplace downstairs. The rocks are dropped into the water to heat the water, and voila! You have a warm bath." She picked up a cake of soap and handed it to Jubilee. "Use this to wash yourself with; washing cloths are in the basket over there. When you're done, open this door here," and she pulled open a door that Jubilee had taken for a cupboard, but actually revealed a dark hole. "Just toss any soiled items, including dirty clothes, down here. The chute leads down to the laundry room. The maids there will wash it and send it back up to your room."
"I-I-I'd like to wash my own clothes," Jubilee stammered.
Jean's eyes twinkled. "Theresa will have something to say about having you going through her washroom, but if you're willing to give a hand with other things, she'll welcome your help. Now come on, get those clothes off and toss them down the chute, then take your bath. I'll be back in a half hour to see how you're doing." She gave Jubilee a friendly smile before stepping out of the bathing room and closing the door after her.
Jubilee looked around the room. This was a luxury she'd never had before; a hot bath! She was used to going to the creek behind the house for a swim to wash, and used water from the well to wash with rags in winter when the creek was frozen. A tub big enough to sit down in was something she'd heard only rich people had. The mayor had one in his house; he was the only one. She'd never thought to have a sitting bath in her life. And warm! Suddenly unable to contain her excitement, she stripped off the soiled clothes she'd been wearing and tossed them down the chute, then stepped into the bath.
The tub was so long she could actually lie down in it and submerge everything below her neck, and one end of the tub had an indentation in its lip for a person to rest the neck in. She found it was quite comfortable, and simply lay in the warm water for a long time, feeling the heat leech out the soreness and fatigue from her body. Finally, reluctantly, she reached for the cake of soap.
And here was another surprise; the soap smelled sweetly of lavender flowers and strawberries. She was surprised. How had they managed to get scent in the soap? Happily, she washed herself all over, scrubbing away every trace of dirt and grime from the long trip, then submerged her head and washed her long, heavy black hair. When she finally got out of the tub, the water was dark with dirt, and her skin shone clean. Jubilee dried herself off and reached for the clothes.
There was a pair of white underdrawers, frilly white pantaloons, stockings, a white shift, and a white petticoat. Jubilee pulled them all on, then reached for the blue dress. This was nicer than anything she'd ever had; all her dresses were plain, dark colors, suitable for a slave. This dress hugged her body, tight around her middle and loose past her hips, and the built-in corset pushed her breasts up and out. The neckline was low enough to show some of her décolletage, without being scandalously low. Jubilee ran her hands down the fine cotton weave, her work-roughened fingers unable to find a single snag in the fabric, and she wondered uncomfortably if she should give the dress back. It was surely too expensive for her.
She was debating that when the door opened again and Jean came back in. "Oh, good, you're done," Jean said. "Well, I'm glad the dress fits. Don't worry, I know it's a little shabby and faded, but we can get you some more decent clothes later when we go into town later."
This? Shabby? Jubilee looked down at the dress. "This is much better than anything I've ever had," she whispered. "I don't want anything else."
Jean laughed. "Oh, nonsense. You're not going to wear that old thing around every day!" she held up a comb. "Here. Let's get your hair done. Those braids aren't very fashionable here; let me show you…"
By the time she was done, Jubilee's hair was arranged in a series of small braids looped and wrapped around her head. Jubilee touched her hair shyly, her eyes rolling upward to see what it looked like, and Jean laughed. "Here." She pulled Jubilee over to the far wall, where a long pane of glass leaned against the wall. The back of the glass was painted black, and Jubilee, looking into the front, could see herself reflected. She stared in surprise.
Having never seen herself except in the water of the stream behind the ranch, which distorted her reflection, she didn't expect to see what she actually saw. She was pretty! No wonder Remy always laughed at her when she told him she was plain! Her wide blue eyes matched the dress, and her now clean and coiffed black hair set off the pallor of her skin nicely.
Jean giggled, and tugged her arm. "Enough. Let's give the servants some time to empty the bath. I need to show you the rest of the house." She smiled. "This is Charles Xavier's mansion. My husband Scott is Charles's son; Henry, whom you met, is a friend of Charles's. Remy was the first slave Charles liberated; he's been here the longest. We live here in the family wing. I'm sort of the woman of the house, since Scott's mother, Charles's wife, died some years back." She was leading the way down the staircase as they spoke, and Jubilee stared in awe at the splendid wooden floors, thick carpet pieces, and tasteful, obviously expensive décor of the front hall and the front rooms. Jean seemed oblivious to it all as she led Jubilee down the front hall to a long room. "This is the dining room. We eat here. Charles insists that we dress for dinner…remind me to hunt out another dress for you for tonight, if I can't pry Ororo from the kitchen." She led Jubilee through the dining hall and into a large kitchen. "Ororo!" she called into the clouds of steam. "Ororo is our cook and housekeeper," she added to Jubilee by way of explanation.
"I am right here, Jean, you need not shout," said a voice, and from out of those clouds of steam came the tallest African woman Jubilee had ever seen. She was beautiful, if exotic-looking; her braided hair was silver, but she didn't look old. She looked not much older than Jean herself. "This is our new guest?" she smiled and swept a plate off a nearby counter. "We had none of the cheese left; I sent Evan down to the market for some for tonight; but the apples are here." Jubilee looked down, wonderingly, and saw slices of pale-fleshed apple with deep crimson skin on the outside. She shyly took a piece and bit into it.
The juice of the fruit flooded her mouth, and she closed her eyes in delight, savoring the taste. Apples didn't do well in the arid soil of Missouri; the trees didn't get enough water. Jubilee had scrounged for huckleberries, blackberries, and raspberries along with the Indian children, but had never tasted apples before.
Jean grinned at her expression. "Tasty, aren't they? They do a little better here than other places. In another week we'll be doing the annual apple picking, you'll want to join us in that. We have contests to see who can pick the most, and then all we women help with the preserving, canning, and pressing. Ororo's an incomparable cook; she makes the best apple cider and apple pie for miles around, and Charles loves the sweet apple wine." She turned to Ororo. "I was wondering if you would like to accompany us to the stores for some clothes for her. She hasn't got a single stitch that's decent for standing up in. I got this old dress from Marie's stuff," (and there was a gentle silence, a pause Jubilee didn't understand, but didn't have the temerity to ask about) "but she isn't as …ahem…well-endowed…as Marie was, and they don't fit her well. She really should have something other than old clothes."
"Oh, certainly," Ororo said. "I shall be happy to. Let me just get into decent clothes, and we can go. Has she a hat?"
"Uh, no," Jean frowned. "Guess I should go get one for her, right?" She turned to Jubilee. "Let's go find you a hat, and I'll get my handbag, and we can go."
