Color Me Yours

By Loretta Holkmann-Reid

The pain of forbidden love and dark family secrets.

Anson is a White young man, and Mattie, a half-White girl. They grow up together playing on Anson's family manor. Negroes and Whites are curious as to why Mattie and her mother stay on White folk's property. Slavery is over. Anson and Mattie plan to attend college. Young love and lust blossom between the two. Secretly, they meet in the cotton field to be alone and think about the future. Their meetings in the shed turn into lovemaking. Mattie becomes pregnant with Anson's child.

Pressure from Anson's mother causes him to marry a White girl against his will. He leaves with his new bride, Caroline, to attend college in California, then travels to Paris to study painting with known artists.

Mattie is heartbroken. On the rebound, she marries Negro entrepreneur Levi Collins while attending college. He agrees to raise her daughter, Aimee, as his own. But he's abusive.

Mattie escapes with her daughter and takes his hidden money. He is out for revenge and wants to cut her up so no one will look at her again.

Word gets back to Anson upon returning home with his wife to have their baby born in America.

Anson's brother, Peter, gets his Klan buddies to carve Levi's face monstrously and carve KKK in his chest. Levi bleeds to death. All is not well between Anson and his wife. No one knows why, except Anson's sister, Annabelle. Could it be what she knows would shake the foundation of the Wellington family?

Many dark secrets surround Beauville Manor.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662459634

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Color Me Yours

Loretta Holkmann-Reid

Copyright © 2022 Loretta Holkmann-Reid

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-6624-5962-7 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-5963-4 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Party Surprise

I Do

Pleased to Meet You!

Bombshell

Disappointment and Courage

Memories and Survival

I dedicate this work in memory of my beloved mother, Elveter Reed-Holkmann, and my sister, Lisa Diane Holkmann. RIP!

Logline: The affection between a White boy—Anson, and a Negro girl-Mattie in the Jim Crow Era leads them down a difficult path to freely be together. Beauville Manor is where it all begins and holds dark secrets that neither can escape.

Synopsis

Anson is a young White man, and Mattie is what many Negroes in the south refer to as a high yellow Negro with long and soft curly hair—a half White girl.

Anson and Mattie are born the same year and grow up playing together on Anson’s family manor. Mattie lives in a converted former slave quarter with her mother, Sarah. Unlike many Negroes in the south, Mattie and her mother enjoy life far better than the average Coloreds in the county.

Many in the surrounding area—Negroes and Whites—whisper about Mattie and her mother living on the Wellington’s property. Why? Slavery is over.

Anson and Mattie plan to attend college. Young love and lust develop between the two. Secretly, they meet in the cotton field to be alone and think about the future.

Anson’s sister Annabelle catches Anson and Mattie embracing and holding hands several times. Annabelle has much disdain for Negroes and especially Mattie. Each time Mattie and Anson have been exposed, it increases the potential for Mattie being thrown off the property to live with some other relative. The warnings fall on deaf ears. They meet in the shed to hold hands and kiss. Soon it turns into sexual intimacy. Mattie becomes pregnant with Anson’s child.

Anson shares his lovemaking with Mattie and his love for her with his brother Peter. For the sake of Mattie’s safety and his brother bringing shame to the family, Peter arranges a vicious beating of his brother by his Klan buddies, and they warn Anson about what they will do to Mattie if he continues to see her.

Pressure from Anson’s mother, and to protect Mattie from the Klan—the girl he loves, he marries a White girl named Caroline against his will. He leaves with his new bride Caroline to attend College in California then travels to Paris to study art with renowned artists.

Mattie is heartbroken and feels the betrayal. She leaves Beauville Manor and lives with her mother’s Cousin Lottie and her husband in Daytona Beach, where Mattie will attend college.

Mattie’s mother wants Mattie to give the baby to her childless cousin. Mattie refuses that idea.

She meets and marries Negro entrepreneur Levi Collins while attending college on the rebound. He agrees to raise her daughter, Aimee, as his own. But he is physically abusive. Mattie graduates from college and escapes with her daughter. She takes Levi’s hidden money and goes to Charleston, South Carolina, to teach elementary students. Levi is out for revenge and looks for Mattie to cut her face so no one will want her.

Word gets back to Anson upon returning home with his wife to have their baby born in America. Anson’s brother Peter gets his Klan buddies after Levi when he comes to Beauville Manor looking for Mattie. The Klan loves nothing better than beating up a nigger for a friend and fun. Unfortunately, Levi’s beating results in having his face monstrously cut, and KKK carved in his chest. Levi bleeds to death.

All is not well between Anson and his wife. No one knows why except Anson’s sister, Annabelle. Could it be what she knows would shake the foundation of the Wellington family?

Anson’s discovery about his wife fuels his anger to the point of wanting a divorce. Anson finds out that he is not Anson Jr.’s biological father—who everybody calls Buddy when the boy needs blood to save his life. Buddy dies.

Anson attempts to force the truth out of Caroline about Buddy’s birth father. Caroline lies about Buddy’s biological father’s name for fear that the Wellingtons would undoubtedly kill him as he is now a family member.

Caroline threatens to expose his suspected ongoing relationship with Mattie and create a family scandal despite her dastardly deed. Anson recalls the Klan’s threat and holds off on the divorce for now.

Before coming to Beauville Manor at the invitation of Anson’s mother’s sister Mary Lynn Caroline gets involved in identity theft in Tigress Hill with Catherine Wells, who is the housekeeper for the wealthy widower Madame Weatherspoon.

Caroline Wellington’s real name is Sadie Baxter, the daughter of Jodie Ann and Cleon Baxter of Digwood, North Carolina. Two poor, uneducated Whites. The Baxter family travels from town to town, selling fake cure-all medicine and engaging in other rogue activities.

Madame Weatherspoon is the guardian of the real Caroline who lives with her. Caroline is mentally disabled. Caroline is Catherine Well’s jailbird half brother Jason Ratcliff’s child. The madame forbids him to have any contact with the child.

Years later, the madame dies, and Jodie Ann and Cleon Baxter—parents of Sadie Baxter—die in a shootout.

Many dark secrets surround the Beauville Manor family relatives, and other nefarious characters come to light throughout this sweeping tale of forbidden love, impostors, widespread deceit, blackmail, murder, death, and revelations of truth.

Chapter 1

Beauville Manor

Anson’s sister, Annabelle, loves to concoct stories about Anson and Mattie. It does not matter whether Mattie and Anson cuddle closely behind the shed, the cotton field or not. The thought of it and with some exaggeration from Annabelle is enough for Anson and Mattie to reap repercussions. The one person with the most to lose is Mattie. Beauville Manor is the only place Mattie Lane can call home. What could a Negro girl possibly have to discuss in private with the son of the manor owner? Mattie Lane—who everyone calls Mattie—is what many Negroes in the South refer to as a high yellow Negro with long and soft curly hair. Acutely pleasing to the eyes is the reaction of many toward Mattie. Even better, she is an intelligent Negro with book smarts. On the other hand, her affections are set on the wrong person. By Southern standards, when it came to Negroes mixing and being in love with someone White, it is best to let such dreams and thoughts in that direction remain a private desire. Would she or Anson listen to their better instincts? No.

Anson and Mattie embrace each other with passionate kisses and lock arms. Anson’s sister, Annabelle, gasps with fury as she watches Mattie and Anson in an embrace. How Annabelle hates Mattie. She’s hugging and kissing my brother again! Why that nigger-nothing whore! Annabelle thinks to herself. This was not the first time Annabelle had seen them together in close quarters. Somehow, Anson and Mattie always have excuses for Anson’s mother.

Whether she fully believes them or not, she knows that Annabelle hates Mattie. It is easier to believe Anson for the sake of denial and avoid potentially severe repercussions over the matter. Annabelle’s legs could not take her fast enough to the big house to tell her mother what she witnessed Anson and Mattie doing in the cotton field. With this vile act of race mixing between her brother and Mattie, Annabelle is confident that her family would get rid of Mattie this time. Oh! I caught you again, nigger! Now you will have to go live with another relative, Annabelle privately gloats. Out of breath, Annabelle dashes into the living room.

Momma, I caught her.

Caught who? What on earth are you talking about, Annabelle?

I caught Mattie kissing Anson in the cotton field. That’s not all, Momma. She pressed herself against his body and near his…his, uh—

Say no more! Miss Wellie interrupts Annabelle.

The devil nerve of that nigger gal being all over my brother.

Annabelle’s tone and facial expression filled with venom. Miss Wellie’s face immediately turned red as an apple. Her lips tightened as she stood up from the chair.

Are you sure you saw what you said, Annabelle?

Yes, Momma, I am sure.

Miss Wellie sinks back into the chair and begins to rapidly move her fingers and gather layers of frowns around her forehead. For a moment, she sits frozen with a vacantly fixed look in her eyes. Tell them to come directly to me, she demands.

Rising from the chair again, Miss Wellie begins to walk back and forth, fanning when housemaid Candy enters the living room.

Miss Wellie, I—

Get out! Miss Wellie orders Candy with a forceful vocal command that fills the room.

Startled by her aggressive tone, Candy jumps to attention and stretches her eyes. She moves backward as fast as she can, then runs out of the room in a hurry. However, it does not stop her from peeking into the living room with a bent ear to listen. Hmm, I wonder what happened to make Miss Wellie scream so loud. Lord, have mercy, Candy thinks to herself.

The sound of thumping footsteps are heard on the porch. Annabelle—the first to open the screen door, half out of breath—rushes in and assumes a stand-guard posture, smiling. Hastily entering the living room, neither Mattie nor Anson speak a word. They are out of breath from running. All three of them are breathing so heavily with heaving chest movements. Sounds of air gushing from their lungs fill the room as they try to stand still. Miss Wellie gets right to the point. She stands in the middle of the living room floor and fixes her eyes on Mattie.

I want to know. What were you doing with Anson in the cotton field?

Shaking her head from left to right with a tremor in her voice, Mattie responds, We were only talking, Miss Wellie.

Annabelle told me that You were kissing Anson and pressing your…your body against his. Is that right? Raising her voice level higher, Mattie continues to defend herself against what Annabelle said.

No! Miss Wellie! I was only standing close to Anson.

Are you telling me that Annabelle is lying?

Oh! No, ma’am! Miss Wellie! I meant that she made a mistake, ma’am. I would never try to kiss Anson.

Momma! Mattie is the one lying, Annabelle refutes. As sure as Mattie believes there is a God in heaven, she is not going to let Annabelle win these accusations.

Anson, please tell your mother the truth.

She didn’t try to kiss me! Annabelle is wrong!

While each one of them attempts to defend their position on the matter of who was lying or not lying, Miss Wellie drops her fan. She stretches out her arms, flings them backward, and shouts, Quiet! Dead silence covers the room. Miss Wellie looks straight at Mattie with a face full of disgust and a steely eyed warning. Know your place, girl, or suffer the consequences. Go to your mother. She needs help in the kitchen. Go! Now! she yells.

A portion of Mattie’s hair covers her face. With a tinge of arrogance and shaking her head to remove hair from covering her face and eyes, Mattie replies, Yes, ma’am.

She leaves the living room. Anson sharply exhales and nervously wipes his mouth. Annabelle stomps her foot, pushes out her lip, and turns her anger to Anson.

If she were a bird, her feathers would ruffle. You are a liar, Anson, she shouts.

Stop it! I don’t want to hear any more about this, demands Miss Wellie. Anson, you must stop being in close quarters with that girl.

But, Momma—

Miss Wellie interrupts Anson in a loud voice, Do I make myself clear?

Yes, Momma, he replies.

It is an argument he knows he could not win. The only thing he would be doing is spreading more flames if he keeps trying to explain away what happened.

Instead of going to the kitchen to help her mother, Mattie runs from the big house to the cotton field. With every leap, her legs receive a cut and begins to bleed from scrapping them against the twigs supporting the cotton bolls. As she continues to run through the field crying, she leaves traces of blood behind. Falling down and pounding her fist on the ground, she swears one day she would prove that she was more than a nigger gal and had the right to want the same things White folks want. For Mattie, it is loving someone White—Anson.

Mattie and Anson grew up together as children. They were even born the same year. Anson had been her childhood playmate. Attempting to get up from the ground, Mattie’s legs buckle, and she lands on her hands and knees. The height of the cotton keeps her out of view.

With her head close to the ground, the tears continue to flow down her cheeks. Hearing the sound of her name in the distance, she knows it is her mother wondering where she has gone.

Helping her mother prepare supper for the Wellingtons is the last thing on her mind. She composes herself as best she can. She gets up and slowly walks back to the big house. Running is not an option. The weight of how she is feeling at the moment, her legs would not allow it.

Where have you been? I’ve told you about galivanting around so much when you know you should be in the kitchen helping me. Sarah’s face has a stern-eyed look of disapproval toward Mattie. I hope you were not in the field with Anson.

No, Momma, I was not with Anson this time, Mattie responds. Sarah stands in the doorway of the kitchen. Frowns gather around her forehead and her lips tighten.

Short of forcefully jerking her daughter in the kitchen, she yells out, Get in here! Help me with dinner so you can go home and do your homework. Are you sure you were not with Anson?

Slow to answer, Mattie says, Yes.

You make sure you stay away from that boy as much as you can. I don’t want more trouble with the Wellingtons. Y’all ain’t kids anymore. When y’all were young, it was nice seeing both of you playing so nicely together. Now, it’s different. It ain’t right for a Negro girl and a White boy to be hanging around each other so much.

God help both Mattie and Anson if anyone knows about the numerous times they secretly met. It would set Beauville Manor on fire without lighting a match.

Mattie enters the back door to the kitchen, grabs a chair, and sits down at the table. Placing the bowl of green peas in her lap, she begins to shell them from their pods—a nice tasty combination when cooked with rice. Her hands shake, and some of the peas roll on the floor. Be careful, girl. Stop wasting those peas on the floor. What is wrong with you? her mother asks. How could she explain to her mother what she was feeling? Mattie does not say a word. However, she knows that eventually, Miss Wellie would tell her mother what happened.

The relation between Negroes and Whites in the twentieth-century centers on bald-faced Jim Crow laws, racism, and White supremacy. Still, Mattie—a sixteen-year-old Negro girl—has it better than most Colored people around town. Folks in the area—Black and White—think it was strange having a Colored cook and her daughter live on the same property with White folks. Word gets back to the Wellingtons that some of their neighbors laugh and mockingly make jokes about the Wellingtons. The gossip spreads that the Wellingtons must think they have come up with some sophisticated new day form of slavery. One neighbor says, If I had my way, all those damn niggers would still be slaves.

Living in a converted former slave quarter with her mother, Sarah—a housekeeper and cook for the Wellington family—does afford Mattie and her mother advantages. There is plenty of food. Mattie has the opportunity for schooling, wearing nice clothes, and plenty of land to roam. When questions arise about Mattie and her mother by friends of Mr. Wellington, he would say, Sarah is working off money her late husband owes him. He laughs and remarks, I wanna be sure I get every penny back through labor.

One kind gesture Mr. Wellington performs on a regular basis is dropping Mattie off at the Colored schoolhouse on his way to town most mornings. Boy, did it cast a curious eye among Negroes, students, and teachers. White passersby along the road stare, waive, and keep going. Most of the students walk to school unless someone with a horse or mule-drawn wagon brings them to the schoolhouse. In fact, neither Whites nor Negroes had ever seen this type of kindness extended to a Negro girl. Aside from school, what topped everything is being able to talk with Anson at every opportunity and sneak away with him—except for one day. Sunday is reserved for going to church and visiting other relatives in nearby towns. It is something Mattie, her mother, and the Wellingtons regularly do.

Monday morning through Saturday, Mattie hears the sound of trucks, sees straw hats on the heads of women and men, and laughter and conversation in the distance from the workers. While preparing for school, Mattie often watches from the back porch. The cotton pickers head to the field, waving and saying, Hey, Mattie. Not one of them smiles at her. She is one of the lucky ones. Mattie never had to pick cotton in the hot blazing sun all day. Helping her mother in the kitchen when needed and going to school is better than having to pick cotton.

The Colored school is almost two miles in the opposite direction of the big house. Never wanting to be late, Mattie always makes sure to stick to a daily routine. First, a quick wash up, get dressed, and eat a little breakfast. Lastly, she places the lunch her mother prepares in her knapsack alongside her books. Though Mattie is never late for school, it does not seem like a school morning if her mother does not yell out from the kitchen, Hurry up, Mattie. you’re going to be late! I have to get over to the big house! The boards of the wooden floor squeak as Mattie briskly walks to open the door, and the screen door slams shut behind her.

For the older folks, it was customary to carry a stick sometimes when walking down the road to keep stray dogs away. Seeing a zigzag trail in the road means one thing: A snake has crossed the road. That is even more unsettling. She walks faster along with the sound of the gravel and sand on the road. Sometimes she meets up with other students on the road. This particular morning, her classmate Lucinda yells out from behind.

Hey, Mattie, wait up. I haven’t seen you for a while on the road, says Lucinda in a panting tone.

No, Mr. Wellington takes me to school most mornings. But you already knew that, didn’t you? Mattie replies with a smirk.

It must be nice to have a White man who is your momma’s boss being so kind to you and all, Lucinda sneers.

Don’t talk like that, Lucinda. What are you trying to say?

Nothing. It’s just that—pause—you hear things. This town is small, and word gets around. The word around town is that Mr. Wellington has his eye on you for more than taking you to school.

That’s a big lie! Though annoyed by Lucinda’s comment, Lucinda continues to rub it in.

Hmm! We’ll see. Boy, you are something else. You have the daddy and the son after you.

Don’t mention Anson’s name, Lucinda.

You’re sweet on Anson, aren’t you?

What if I am? Mattie hurls back.

You are crazy if you think that White boy is going to take up any more time with you. Remember, you are a Negro—even if you are a high-high yellow one.

Now you are making fun of my color.

No, I’m just saying don’t forget you are still a nigger in their eyes. That is how it’s always going to be around here. I don’t care how cute these White boys look to me. No way! I wouldn’t be caught dead with one. You had better start looking at some of these Colored boys for your own good. I don’t want to see anything happen to you. Remember, two years ago, a Negro woman was found in the woods naked, beaten, and hanging from a tree. She was caught in bed with a prominent White woman’s husband. Guess what happened to the husband. Nothing!

Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine, Mattie replies.

By the way, I saw Anson the other day in town getting supplies. He was with a girl. Mattie begins to speed up her pace. I think Anson has a girlfriend, Lucinda comments.

How do you know that? Mattie asks.

I’ll tell you how I know. When he came out of the supply store, he got into the car. Anson and this girl were sitting very, very close to each other, and he kissed her on the lips. Mattie appears to be steaming, and the frowns gather quickly on her face.

And how do you know that?

I was watching, Lucinda replies.

You need to mind your own business, Lucinda, Mattie scolds.

Maybe I do need to mind my own business. The truth is you need to find yourself a boyfriend. It ain’t never gonna be that White boy. Girl, they would tie you to a tree and hang you just like they did that woman. Rather than give into Lucinda’s talk about Anson or warning, Mattie seizes an opportunity to dig into Lucinda.

"Oh!