Cerulean Found

Chapter 18 - History Lesson

We begin our tour in the great entry hall. Our tour guide's name is Celia. She is in her late 50's with tanned skin and dyed blonde hair. She is loud and energetic, which I assume is a good quality to have when one's job is to lead tours and make history seem fun and interesting.

The tour group is small. It consists of my family, a young honeymooning couple, and another family with a seventeen year old son named Adam-Miguel. They are a friendly yet overly chatty bunch. They spend every free moment talking and getting to know each other.

Within the first few minutes of meeting the Hernandez clan, we learn that Adam-Miguel's dad, Osmany, is a plastic surgeon, his mom, Lallie, is a yoga junkie, just like mom. Adam-Miguel plays football on his school's varsity team. And all the Hernandez family are of Cuban descent, just like Abbo, which instantly bonds our two families.

The plantation property is large and consists of several stone structures. There is a main house, where the owners lived, a smaller stone building off of the back porch, which was used as a kitchen. It also housed several small rooms, which I learned were the servant's quarters. There are also a dozen small work sheds and farm buildings on the property as well.

Celia leads us through the large expansive house explaining what each of the rooms was used for (there were three large bedrooms, a formal dining room, and an elaborate living room) and what each piece of furniture was made out of. All of the furnishings, paintings, and home accents were authentic and belonged to the original owners of the plantation. There is so much information and history being thrown around, it's hard to keep track of it. I silently praise Celia for keeping it straight and knowing the answer to almost every question asked.

I try my best to stay close to Justin and Cameron as I hold onto Matty's hand. Adam-Miguel keeps smiling and looking at me strangely. I have the weird suspicion that he may like me, so naturally I want to stay as far away from him as possible. I don't want to give him the chance to stand next to me. I fear he will dive into conversation and I don't feel like talking with a boy who apparently fancies me. He seems nice, but his intense stares are a bit much. I hoped that being around my older brothers would intimidate him, but naturally I was wrong. He keeps stealing glances at me every chance he gets. And I roll my eyes every opportunity that I get.

An enormous painting in one of the bedrooms catches my eye. It is of a handsome blonde male seated in a wicker chair. A beautiful brunette woman in a light blue lace dress stands beside him. There is an awful tear in the canvas that stretches across the woman's abdomen and runs up to the opposite corner.

"What is that tear from?" John, the honeymooning male asks. I am surprised that he had even noticed the rip. He seems so preoccupied with his bride.

"I'm glad you spotted that," Celia states. "This is the part of the tour where I like to talk about the owners of the plantation. Such a sad and tragic tale it is." Celia stops and stands at the painting for a few moments, for dramatic purposes I assume.

"The painting is of Mr. Ashby Minnery and his wife Agnes. It was painted in 1722 shortly after they were wed. They came to the island of Jalukka from England. She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant, and he was a drifter, so to speak. He didn't really have a profession that he stayed with. He was interested in making money and making it fast, so no sooner would he begin one job, he would quit it to start something else. Something that he thought would be more promising. I don't know how he met Miss Agnes exactly but he fell in love with her instantly. I think the fact that she came from money helped strengthen his affections toward the young girl. Agnes was sixteen and naïve. She thought that he really truly loved her, and perhaps he did, or he grew to. Her father on the other hand, did not trust Ashby. There were rumors circulating that he was no good and only looking for wealth. Because of this, no one wanted to hire him." Celia stops and takes a big gulp of water from the bottle she has been holding.