Читать книгу Piau - Bruce Monk Murray - Страница 17

For the next month our spirits soared. The exhilaration Jeanne and I felt being in one another’s company transcended the life we were experiencing each day. She performed her daily chores, and I helped place stone after stone on the new storehouse. Jeanne and her sisters visit­­ed the work site at regular intervals to provide the workers with food and refreshments. We found excuses to stroll along the river alone, not that anyone took particular notice. Courtship was a common ritual. These stolen moments allowed us to discover one another’s innermost thoughts, relishing those unexpected brushes of our hands that sent shivers through my body. Other contact of any kind would be considered inappropriate before the courtship was formalized by a promise of marriage. Jeanne and I had to content ourselves with the intimacy that comes from deep conversation.

In the evening, I recounted stories from the Old Testament, ones seldom heard by those who did not possess a Bible. I had a captive audience. Jeanne requested that I retell the story of Ruth on several occasions. She loved the idea that a woman could be the central character in a book of the Bible. Bernard particularly enjoyed the story of Job because, as he said, patience was not one of his virtues. And I loved to glorify the story of Moses and the flight of the Israelites from Egypt. This was an important story for me, one that would inspire me throughout my life. I have always relished the strong message of hope it conveys.

Benjamin and Charles stayed at Gaudet Village for only four days. Both had to return to their lives and work at Annapolis. Charles would relay to my mother the message that I had decided to stay upriver for at least a month. At the end of that time he would return to retrieve me to help gather the harvest at Melanson Village. Benjamin had to revisit his father’s building site in Annapolis to complete the masonry. René would arrive there in the early autumn and transport him home to Grand Pré, where he would remain for the winter at the Manor House.

Poor little Isabelle was distraught when Benjamin departed. She was only seven years old, but she was still hopelessly smitten. Their paths would cross again.

The autumn winds seemed to breathe life into my growing love for Jeanne. Not even the chilly evenings could cool my ardour. And although we never spoke of our feelings, we did not doubt them. As the month’s end approached, I almost wished the tides would fail Charles in his journey to Gaudet Village. Such fancies had to be set aside and a decision had to be made if I was to capture the woman I loved. It was time to get Bernard’s permission to seek Jeanne’s hand in marriage. One day I asked to meet with him in private. We met in the garden.

“So, young Piau, what is it that requires such privacy? I suppose you are going to tell me you are leaving soon. This is not unexpected, but I must say you will be missed when you are gone. You have been more than helpful in constructing the storehouse. I would venture to say that because of your efforts it is the most magnificent one in all of Acadia. Furthermore, you have charmed many in this community. They, too, will regret your departure.”

As he spoke, my emotions began to paralyze me, leaving me momentarily speechless. When I regained my composure, I was able to get right to the point, as was my custom.

“Monsieur Bernard, I know you are aware, and have been since before I arrived at Gaudet Village, of my intention to court your daughter. In our time together I have discovered that, for me, a life without Jeanne would be unimaginable. I believe she feels the same, although she has never said so in so many words. It is time for me to marry. I request permission to ask for Jeanne’s hand. If you are so kind as to grant it, I promise I will strive to make her happy.”

There was a deep silence. I saw tears in Bernard’s eyes. After a pause, he spoke.

“Piau, you had my permission back in Annapolis, the day we met. I felt a sense of destiny in our first meeting. To unite our families by marriage is beyond anything I could hope for. God will bless both our houses with this union.”

He then embraced me wordlessly. Bernard turned and walked toward the storehouse.

Ecstasy, ecstasy! I was free to express my feelings to Jeanne. My desire now was for her to share her feelings with me. What a romantic I had become!

When Jeanne and I sat on the garden bench under the harvest moon that evening, I wasted no time in getting right to the point. “Your father has given me permission to ask for your hand in marriage. I told him you would most certainly accept my proposal. Was that presuming too much?”

She rose from where we were seated and slowly walked to the garden gate. Gazing up at the night sky, she spoke. “Do you see the Big Dipper, there?” She pointed to the constellation I knew as the Big Bear. “It is filled to the brim, much like my heart.”

Jeanne did not look at me when she uttered those words. There was a deafening silence between us, but I had said all I was able to say short of declaring my love outright. There was no need. She turned to me and smiled that extraordinary smile of hers, and our eyes met. She broke the silence and declared in a quiet voice, “Where you go, I will follow, where you lodge, I will lodge, and your home will be my home.”

“The Book of Ruth!”

“Certainement.”

She placed her arm in mine and nonchalantly suggested, “Shall we go into the house and make the announcement?”

Charles returned to Gaudet Village as planned at the end of September. His arrival filled me with mixed feelings. The news he brought did not.

Charles reported that since I had been upriver things in Annapolis had gone from bad to miserable. The Acadian members of the council were still locked up in the jail, and many in the colony had chosen to spend long periods away from the town. They had sought excuses to be out at sea fishing or hunting in the woods. Many found reasons to assist the most distant villages with their harvests, neglecting their own. Their women and children became responsible for collecting the crops and managing the farms.

Armstrong was living up to his name. He was determined to have his way on the oath, and Mangeant was always at his side to reinforce his position. As an interpreter, the royal favourite intimidated the Acadians because he shared their language. It was difficult to hold their ground when everything they said could be adversely interpreted.

The most astonishing news was that the lieutenant-governor had declared the church upriver, the Chapelle St. Laurent, henceforth closed. The parishioners there were to be refused the services of a priest, forcing all Acadians to worship at St. Jean Baptiste, the parish church in Annapolis. This required the people to hold all their baptisms and marriages, and to receive the Eucharist, under the watchful eye of the lieutenant-governor. His spy, Mangeant, attended these functions.

The impact was felt strongly in the Gaudet home. My marriage to Jeanne now had to be celebrated in Annapolis. Given the disruption in the timing of our ceremony, we would have to postpone it until after Christmas, causing problems with winter travel. As the river froze and the snow collected in the woods, the coming together of the communities to celebrate our marriage would be impossible. We would begin our life together faced with the first of many challenges we were to endure. Looking back, I now know that it was the least significant one.