The Indomitable Lady

11. First painful lesson

In the following days, life returned to normality in that place.

Carlos was out all day again, like his father and brother, no doubt to manage the work on the coffee plantation, the cattle and the business.

The nights were filled with love and Teresa found herself, during the day, wishing for the night to come. Besides sex, she loved sleeping in her husband's arms and the tender kiss he gave her before leaving.

He spent the day with the ladies of the house. The mother-in-law made an effort to teach her how to embroider and it was with pride that she finished the simple embroidery on a dishtowel that would never know its use. However, she spent most of her time in the parlor reading Guliver's adventures aloud for them to hear while they sewed. Sometimes I had to stop because of the comments on the story and Teresa often thought about how such simple moments could be so pleasant.

Meals were already practically organized by her and Nina. She spent one of the afternoons teaching her sisters-in-law how to make her cake recipe, another slightly altered Nina's recipe and made some banana cookies that everyone admired.

In secret, at the time of D. Isabel's prayers, he began to teach Luísa to read, in the courtyard behind the house with a stick that he scratched in the dirt. Two of the young slaves delayed washing their clothes so they could watch the lessons and also began to put together the letters.

Twice, on warmer mornings, after convincing Luísa with difficulty, they went to the waterfall to take a bath, leaving Ruth to put away her clothes and the way.

Teresa realized that she appreciated that life and that world in which the colors, the smells, the sounds were authentic, and the hectic life she was used to did not exist.

Dinners were held in the family, served by one of the mucambas, and Teresa realized that slaves were treated, at least at home, with some care and respect even by the men of the house. But she continued to wonder how they allowed Raul to take care of the slaves and treat them as she had seen on the plantation.

On Sunday Father Simões celebrated mass in the chapel. The masters of the house attended at the front and the slaves at the back of the simple temple.

Alice continued to run away from home, and Teresa tried to accompany her at the end of the afternoon to see the kittens or feed the squirrels, so as not to let her forget the time and to bring her home, so that she would be there when the men arrived. She also tried to convince her to learn to read, but on the first day they realized that Alice was not very interested. However, when she explained the power she could have if she knew how to look for her own information and her own truth, the little girl agreed to try to concentrate on the lessons and memorize the sounds and rules of the letters.

One late afternoon, the Colonel came to the house and reported that the men were not present at dinner. Luísa came to tell Teresa and Nina to the kitchen

ꟷThe father came to change his clothes and says he is not coming to dinner, neither he, nor Carlos, nor Alexandre...

ꟷ Why? ꟷasked Theresa.

Luisa shrugged her shoulders

ꟷHow will I know?

ꟷ How about asking?! ꟷ Exclaimed Teresa

Luísa looked surprised as if she had never thought of such a thing

-Oh! I wasn't going to ask... They wouldn't tell me. It's a man thing!

ꟷOr is it that you don't want to hear the answer because you know that they go to the city, to Madame Carmen's house, to sleep with other women?

Luisa looked at her in shock.