First Sentence

"The Lovelands were of British descent, but they had lost their British accents after settling in America. Many of their slaves were the offspring of Grady Loveland's father; Tomley Loveland. And Tomley's father, and Tomley's grandfather. While in his early twenties, Tomley purchased two young females. Because he could not pronounce their given names, he renamed them Rose and Nellie. His audacity was not appreciated initially. But when they arrived at the Loveland Plantation and learned that they were to stay in his home, their negative opinions of him soon changed. Quite often, the two women had the privilege of sharing Tomley’s bed. Just as his ancestors had done, Tomley found that mating with them, instead of buying more slaves, allowed him to save most of the profits from his seasonal crop sales. Tomley married sixteen-year-old Sarah Wilmington just before he turned thirty-nine. Together, they had a son and two daughters. Because she came from a very poor family, Sarah had readily accepted his practice of mating with his slaves. But as the years passed, Sarah became very dear to Tomley. And as a symbol of respect for his wife, he built seven little cottages behind his home for his slaves to live in…all except Rose and Nellie. Though he no longer invited them into his quarters for sexual relations, they continued to share a small room near the back of the house. Rose and Nellie had bore him twelve children between the two of them over the years. Since he had more than enough help and they had been such faithful servants, Tomley decided that he would retire them and had offered to allow them to marry. Nellie was quick to accept his offer, and married a Northern ex-slave. She greatly missed the family that she left behind, but found some comfort in knowing that they would be well cared for. Still, she never lost hope that they would one day be reunited. Rose remained with the Lovelands. Rose became sort of an adoptive parent to Nelli’s children. She had fallen in love with Tomley and had vowed never to leave. Aware of her feelings, Tomley purchased a slave named Theddo for the sole purpose of being a companion to Rose. Rose bore Theddo a daughter. Though Rose began to care for Theddo, she continued to pine for the love of her master."