The Duke's Sons

The class divide

A few days have passed since I last saw Grant. I can still feel his lips pressed against my ear. If anyone had seen us tangled together like that at the store then the town would be on fire with rumors of the two of us. I don’t think the biggest scandal of the whole thing is even two young lovebirds getting caught in each others embrace. The biggest scandal is that I am a daughter of a farmer and he is a son of a Duke! The Duke of Ellington no doubt. He was the Duke of one of the largest parcels under the king. He had more power and money than anyone I had ever met before. Maybe even the King! It made my knees weak just thinking about what a tiny bit of that power could do for my family. But also frustrated that the farms on the outskirts struggled so hard to make ends meet. I know for a fact that our crops and milk end up on his tables as the pride of the prosperity of our land. But we scrape the bottom of the barrel just to get by. It’s not necessarily his fault, it’s just the way that it works around here. But even the farmers fuss with their clothes and try to talk proper when the Duke comes around for a visit. Which was not very often. Just enough to make sure that his investments are still working for him.

I push back my hair and get back to hanging the laundry. I was so lost in my thoughts I didn’t even notice Sage making her way up the drive. Sage can read me pretty well to know that it would be no use talking to me right now anyway so she just rolls up her sleaves and starts helping me hang clothes. Once we are done we settle down on the front porch of my house and ease our boots off for a lunch break. My mom has been in the kitchen all morning making a soup for dinner. She brings Sage and I out a thick slice of bread each and some cheese left over from yesterdays batches. She has been getting into the cheese making business lately ever since my father told her he loved the first batch she tried out. My mother and my father are still very deeply in love. They have been happily married for about 20 years now and I just hope  to someday find what they have.

I sigh as I bite into my cheese thinking about what had been transpiring with Grant and I thus far.

“Are you still thinking about Grant?” Sage blurts out suddenly. Interupting my train of thought.

She startled me enough that I almost slid down the porch. I can feel my face start to blush as I right myself again back onto the step I was sitting on.

“The Duke’s son, Mariella? Are you insane?” Sage is adamant things will not workout. She loves me and wants the best for me but we both know our station in life and it would truly never be more than it is right now.

“I can’t help it Sage. I just can’t stop thinking about him. He always finds me in town and he says such nice things about me. He says I have beautiful hair and that I am the most beautiful girl he has ever seen! That has to mean something right?” I am getting excited but try to keep my voice low. I don’t want my mother to hear about my crushes.

“I mean sure right now it is something, but what about later? What about when he finds some other beautiful girl that is equal in class?” Sages eyes soften as she breaks my heart.

I know all of this but I just can’t help fantasizing. I want Grant more than anything. But I also realize he doesn’t even know that much about me. He only sees me for my beauty we have never really gotten the chance to have long conversations about anything. I don’t even know what he thinks about me being a farmer’s daughter. And let me make something clear right now. I am more proud of my father than I could be of anyone in my whole life. I could never love anyone who felt differently.

I stick up my chin proudly.

“I don’t care Sage. I am a smart hardworking woman. And any guy who can see me for what I really am is truly going to be lucky.” I push of the steps getting ready to continue my chores. Sage is laughing behind me. We both know we don’t have much to offer but we pride ourselves on our brains. Even though we can’t get fancy educations like other people out mothers made sure that we could read and write. We were assigned homework and had to learn just like anyone else. I appreciate her for that now, though I did not like it so much when I was younger. Sage heads back down the lane to her farm. She has a ton of siblings so it’s easy for her to slip away and help me out around here a  lot of the times. My family loves her like their own and I am forever grateful that she lives so close to me.