Star-Crossed Series

Shady Willows Plantation: Louisiana, 1947…

Donavon rushed through the house at top speed and rounding the corner. He slammed right into his nanny Olivia. The middle-aged woman reached down to stabilize the rambunctious six-year-old. “Mr. Cromwell, do we run in the house?” She asked with a bright smile.

Donavon smiled up at the dark-skinned woman that had cared for him since the cradle. “No,” he said sheepishly.

“You have far too much energy. Perhaps we should pack a lunch, and I should take you and your brother out to the park for a few hours,” she suggested. The idea of going to the park excited Donavon. He loved the park.

“Yes!” Donavon squealed.

“Yes, what?” Olivia asked, leadingly.

“Yes, please,” Donavon corrected himself.

“Good boy,” Olivia said, bending down to pick the child up and braced him on her hip as she carried him to the kitchen, “the mark of a gentleman is good manners.”

“Olivia!” Donavon heard his pregnant mother, Ellie Cromwell, bellow as she came into the hallway carrying his three-year-old brother Newton. “Olivia!” She hissed in outrage.

“Yes, Mrs. Cromwell?” She answered quickly as she put Donavon down.

“Remind me what I pay you to do?” His mother seethed.

“To cook and mind the little ones.”

“Then tell me why it is; Newton is tugging at my skirt when I am trying to rest?”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am. I was certain he was napping,” Olivia said, accepting Newton as their mother forced the toddler into her arms like holding him was somehow a burden.

“I am seven months pregnant; I cannot do your job for you. I have enough on my plate.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Olivia said. “My apologies, Ma’am, it won’t happen again,” she promised.

“It better not, or I will have to tell Otis to find someone else to fill your position.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

His mother sighed as if exasperated by the situation. “Since you are derelict in your duties, I’m docking you a day’s pay.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Olivia said with regret.

“Now, get your lazy butt back to work,” she hissed as she marched off, muttering to herself about how she had to do everything herself.

Donavon tugged on Olivia’s skirt, and his nanny looked down at him with a new smile. “Why doesn’t Mommy like us?”

Olivia frowned and knelt in front of him, bringing herself to his level. She sighed and straightened the lapels of his collar. “Oh, little one, don’t you fret, your mommy loves you. She is…” she trailed off thoughtfully, “not very good at showing it.”

“Why doesn’t Mommy ever want to play with us?”

“She is very tired; she is working very hard to make you a new sister or brother,” Olivia stood up and took Donavon by the hand. “Come now, Mr. Cromwell; you can help me decide what we are going to take to the park.”

“Can we ask Daddy to come too?” Donavon asked as they walked through the house to the servant stairs that lead down to the kitchen in the lower levels of the house.

“Your father is a very busy man. He has an entire plantation to run. One day he will teach you to run it, and you will spend so much time together, just not right now.”

“Mommy and Daddy never have time for me,” he frowned as they reached the kitchen, and Olivia placed Newton in a highchair so he wouldn’t get into trouble. She picked Donavon up and sat him on the edge of the wooden table.

“Well, I have all the time in the world for my special little man,” she smiled and tapped him playfully on the nose. “And I always will.”

Donavon smiled with glee. “I love you, Olivia,” he said as he leaned forward and hugged her.

“I love you too.”

***

Shady Willows Plantation: Louisiana, 1953…

“But I don’t want to go to New York,” Donavon said distort as he stood in the parlour with his parents.

“Rockford Boy’s Preparatory is the finest boarding school in the country. You will love it. You will make friends you will have for the rest of your life,” his father, Douglas Cromwell, assured him.

“But it is 1,200 miles away,” he was only twelve. He didn’t want to be so far from home and alone.

“Well, you will come home for the holidays and summer vacations,” his mother informed him.

“I don’t want to go. I want to stay here in Louisiana. I want to stay at the school I’m in. I have friends here.”

His father rolled his eyes and sighed. “Well, son, it is not up for discussion. The tuition is already paid. You are going to Rochester, New York. You are flight leaves in the morning, so you best come to terms with it and start packing.”

“Mom…” He pleaded for her to help him.

“Do as your father says. Run along,” she said with no feeling.

Furious Donavon stormed out of the parlour and headed straight for the kitchen. Whenever he was upset, his nanny, Olivia, always knew how to make him feel better. He desperately needed her comfort.

Donavon made his way down to the servants’ level. He wasn’t supposed to go down there, but Olivia had been taking him and his siblings down to the kitchens with her for as long as he could remember. When he walked into the room, he found Olivia was not alone. His parents were hosting a dinner party that night, so the young housekeeper Camille was helping her to prepare for the feast.

When the women noticed they weren’t alone, Camille moved as if she was hiding something. When Olivia realized it was only him, she smiled with relief. “Oh, don’t worry about him,” she assured the young housekeeper. “Donavon won’t tell anyone.”

Camille relaxed and stepped aside, and that is when Donavon noticed the small child that Camille had been hiding behind her. She was light-skinned like her mother, with her dark hair pulled back in two short ponytails that looked more like pompoms on the sides of her head. She was cute, but she wasn’t supposed to be there.

“Who’s that?” He asked.

“My daughter Alissa,” Camille told him. “Alissa, say hello to Mr. Cromwell,” she instructed the child, but the child just hid behind her mother. She was shy.

“Camille’s babysitter didn’t show up today, so she had to bring Alissa to work with her,” Olivia told him. “I trust her secret is safe with you?”

Donavon nodded; he couldn’t care less about the child. “Mother and Father are sending me away to boarding school in New York.”

Olivia looked surprised and a bit upset. “Oh,” she wiped the flour off her hands on her apron and came to him. “When?”

“I leave in the morning.”

“I see,” she said sadly.

“I don’t want to go. How can I stop this?”

Olivia sighed and placed her hands on his shoulders. “I wish I knew. My little man is going off into the world,” he could see tears in her dark eyes. “Try to look at the bright side of things. It is a whole new world up north. I hear New York is very exciting. Think of this as an adventure. You will be far from home, yes, but you are strong. You will adjust and grow stronger. Plus, you will make all new friends.

“But I don’t want to go.”

“I know, but I’m just a servant. I have no pull to sway your parents. Your parents love you, and I am sure they are only doing what they feel is best for your future,” she lovingly brushed his auburn hair out of his steel-blue eyes. “And when you come home for the holidays, I will make your favourite dessert.”

“I will miss you, Olivia,” he whimpered as he hugged her, and she hugged him back.

“I will miss you too, but you are going to go on and do great things.”