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path for several minutes until he saw a small bench and the small lake behind it.
    The image of the lake looked like it had been taken out of a painting. The lake was small, one might consider it more of a large pond, but the waters were crystal clear. The lake was surrounded by a multitude of different colored wildflowers and encircled by smaller trees. There was enough sunlight peering through the overgrowth of trees to cast the reflection of the surrounding foliage onto the water. Behind the lake was another large live oak tree, its long branches dipping low, almost touching the water and then curving gently up, rising, reaching for the heavens. The Spanish moss clung to the low-hanging branches making it appear angelic, as though you were watching an angel spread its wings just before flight. He could imagine children jumping off the low tree branches into the cool refreshing water. A faint rumble could be heard and he knew the noise was from the waterfall that Young Amos had told him about.
    Michael quickly undressed, laying his clothing on the stone bench beside the lake. He entered the water and sucked in his breath at the coolness of the water. As hot as the climate was in the south, he never would have imagined that the water would be this cold. After several minutes his body adjusted to the refreshing water, and he swam to the other side of the lake. Michael had been swimming back and forth across the lake for almost twenty minutes before he heard the rustle of the leaves on the live oak behind him. He turned and the sight that greeted him took his breath.
     
    * * * *
     
    Andrea spurred her horse and jumped the fence at her home unaware that there was a stranger present. As her mother yelled after her, she lowered her body to the sleek gray thoroughbred and spurred Comet to run faster. Inwardly, Andi was groaning. What was her mother still doing awake? It was well after one o’clock in the afternoon, long enough for her mother to be lying down for her nap.
    Let her be mad at me, Andi thought, as she raced her horse across the pasture of the southern part of the plantation. She was frustrated. Frustrated at Ashton for being, well—Ashton. Frustrated at Alyssa for turning eighteen and not being willing to stand up to their parents. Frustrated at her parents for forcing her to marry.
    Her thoughts became numb under the hypnotic noise of the horse’s pounding hooves on the sandy soil. The horse began to slow her pace when it sensed Andi loosening her grip on the reins. Comet slowed to a walk. Andi sat upright and followed the riverbank. She rode until she was at the edge of her father’s property adjacent to the Petersons’ land.
    The thought of marriage to her neighbor’s nephew soured her stomach. The Petersons were a strange lot in looks and actions. Most had overly large ears with small lips and beady eyes. Their noses were all long and pointy, like beaks. In Andi’s eyes, most resembled buzzards. A shiver ran down her spine as she imagined marriage to one of those atrocious men. When they walked, they waddled like ducks. They kept to themselves mostly, and when they did socialize, they were constantly watching others like they were waiting for someone to jump out and nab them. It wouldn’t surprise her to find out they held prisoners in the root cellars of their home—poor unsuspecting souls they would perform heinous experiments on.
    She turned her horse around. Leaning down, she patted the side of Comet’s neck and felt the sweat on her hand. She looked down and noticed the white foaming lather of the sweat.
    “Sorry, old girl,” she apologized, patting her horse again. “We’ll walk back so you can cool down.”
    Andi nudged her horse gently back towards the direction she had come. She could feel a trickle of sweat run down her brow and another down her spine. Maybe a swim in one of her ponds would help. What a splendid idea! Swimming always helped with her thoughts and frustrations. She turned