A single oak leaf, the briefest sign that the summer was drawing to a close, ended its fluttering descent on the pages of Lucy's open book. Despite the month, the temperature was still far too hot for a lady of privilege to be out in the heat and so she had taken shelter, as she was known to do, beneath the large oak tree on the far side of her father's plantation. She exhaled slowly through her nose and raised a small hand to bat the leaf off the page.
She wore a white cotton dress, the thin fabric offering enough comfort to match the season and yet affording her enough modesty as to not be considered scandalous. Her knees tucked up and her back against the large tree trunk, she took a moment to brush a single lock of hair from her face as the breeze disturbed her blondish brown locks. She looked out into the cotton fields, now almost bare after the hard work of the workers, and blinked in the strong sunlight. Her deep blue eyes took a moment to adjust from the white and black of the printed page, but she was quickly able to make out the dark-skinned figures toiling in the fields. In the distance she could see the imposing outline of her father's house. The large, three storey white wooden building dominated the plantation and was the abode of her step mother, father, herself and her two sisters.
Lucy was the middle child. Her older sister Corrin was the tallest of the three. With long sun kissed hair trailing almost to the small of her back, sharp blue eyes and high cheekbones that made her always seem to be smiling at a private joke. She was possessed of a ladylike figure, not being too boyish and yet not slim enough to be considered boyish, it was little wonder she had won the heart (and diamond ring) of a wealthy New York banker that had visited the plantation to petition for her father's custom a year ago.
Her younger sister Claire, the daughter of her father's second wife, was also tall but notably slimmer than Corrin to the point that should she be a few inches shorter one would consider her petite. Claire was the slimmest of the three sisters, and yet always managed to dress herself in such a way as to provoke, most definitely on purpose in Lucy's mind, the most heated reaction in the many male visitors to father's land. Her large eyes always seemed to be enticing the gentlemen visitors and on some occasions, as scandalous as the thought was, the dark skinned slaves that toiled the land. Claire was a constant source of trouble for Lucy, who felt it her duty to look after her younger sibling.
Lucy, often noted as the quiet one amongst her family for her preference of books and polite conversation, resembled her sisters in general features. Though her own eyes were notably larger and possessed of a large, watery warmth that one could not help but be lost in them at certain points. Her figure was undeniably feminine, with ample curves that, should she have ever chosen to release them from her cotton dresses, would have driven a man to instant lust. Now that Corrin was betrothed, Lucy found herself at the forefront of her father's efforts to find his daughters suitably wealthy husbands. Although there had been many a visitor to the plantation these past months, all of them seemingly hypnotised by the small glimpse she allowed them of her more than ample cleavage, she was yet to find herself with a diamond on her finger.
The heat of the day caused the thinnest layer of perspiration to form on her forehead and Lucy considered for a moment heading indoors, where the servants would tend to her needs as was their duty. She closed her book and stood slowly, the cotton of her skirt blowing gently in the slight breeze. The caress of the wind was a minor comfort to her but was no doubt a blessing from heaven to the slaves in the fields. She lifted the book to her armpit and held it there beneath her arm, one hand rested on the gnarled bark of the large oak tree.
She cast her eyes towards her father's house. She could see her step mother on the porch, sat in her usual place. She was reading also, her legs crossed and her left foot moving slightly in the air. Lucy had always appreciated and bonded with her step mother, unlike her elder sister Corrin. Her father had remarried when she was still a child and as such Lucy had always found her relationship with Claire stronger than Corrin had. Whereas Corrin treated Lucy with a certain degree of cold politeness, Lucy had always seen her younger sister as her best friend. Although Lucy didn't agree with her younger sister's promiscuous nature, she would never think to tell father and often found herself trying to pull Claire away from the fornication she knew full well her younger sibling engaged in on frequent occasion.
Lucy raised her hand and smoothed it through her brown hair. She folded her arms beneath her ample breasts and clicked her tongue. She didn't really want to go into the house and abandon her solitude but the heat of the day was beginning to have an effect on her. She walked barefoot across the arid and cracked land to where her sandals lay in the grey dirt, slipping them on slowly before she began the short walk towards the house.
Winny, the house slave, was the first to offer her a glass of water. Lucy accepted with her usual polite gentleness, the kind that had made her a favourite of the house slaves for many years, and began a slow ascent of the large, double staircase that dominated her house's hallway. It was a particular joy of her father's to have built such a grandiose house this far from the large cities of the Southern States and it was often the venue of what little social life existed her in the sticks.