Magnolia Landing: Book One in the Magnolia Series

By Tamara Mallimo

The Georgia plantation known as Magnolia Landing has been an ideal place to grow up for Malayna and Hattie, two girls of different races born just hours apart. They have been best friends from their first breathes due to the unusual and unpopular beliefs of Malayna’s father that all men are created equal regardless of skin color. Their idyllic youth is shattered by a Civil War that takes their fathers away from home, leaving the girls to survive on their own as they learn to navigate their new reality; working to keep their families both well-fed and safe. That is until the war and Northern soldiers come to Magnolia Landing. This is their story of love, friendship, and survival... against all odds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728326511

Tamara Mallimo

Tamara Mallimo grew up in rural NC, listening to tales of the Old South. The tales were loosely based in truth and grew over the years. It was the love of listening to these stories and of story-telling that led to a desire to create similar stories for all to enjoy. After majoring in English Literature and History at Pfeiffer College, where she met her NY born husband, she decided to pursue her dream to become a published author. Tamara now lives with her husband and two of their four daughters near the small town she grew up in.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 Tamara Mallimo. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  10/10/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-2652-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-2653-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-2651-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019913646

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by 1,000 Words Imagery are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © 1,000 Words Imagery.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Acknowledgement

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Sneak Peek into Book Two of the Magnolia Series

About the Author

Acknowledgement

I n memory of my Mama and Daddy who taught me to dream big and reach for the stars. Thank you for teaching me that we are all equal no matter what color our skin is while re-telling me stories of the Old South.

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To my Girls; Tricia, Trina, Tara, and Peyton, and my Son-in-law, Aaron; you make me proud every day and I love you all so much.

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To 1,000 Words Imagery and Trina Mallimo; Thank you for the use of your image for the cover.

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Finally, to my very own Yankee Soldier, Mike; thank you for always believing in me and supporting me on this journey. I love you more!

You are my life, my world, my everything and I love you more…

I love you more than there are stars in the sky…

I love you more than there are fish in the ocean…

I love you more than there are birds in the air…

I love you more than there are creatures on Earth…

I love you more than the heartbeats of a lifetime…

You are my life, my world, my everything and I love you more than all these things combined.

My love grows everyday so that I will also always love you more than all our yesterdays.

~ Malayna Wellington Carver

of Magnolia Landing

Bryan County, Georgia

Chapter 1

J ohn and Mary Elyse Wellington had been blessed with a good life in the small community of Bryan County, Georgia. John was a wealthy plantation owner, and his family resided quite comfortably at Magnolia Landing. He steered as far from politics as a Southern landowner possibly could, but word of civil unrest was flying through the country like a flock of wild birds. As the unrest took on the life of an out of control wildfire, the flock became larger and larger so that it was now upsetting the peace the Wellingtons had always enjoyed.

Magnolia Landing supported the Wellingtons, their daughters—Malayna, Marianna, Mischella, and Johnna—and their servants (or necessary helpers as Mama preferred to call them) quite well. No one ever went without, no matter what the color of the skin. Grandmama liked to say, No one chooses the skin they’re born into any more than they choose their family. It was this forward thinking that kept the Wellingtons on the edge of the elite social realms of Southern gentility. Daddy’s wealth placed them in the upper echelons of society, but his opinions and his views on slaves being people too did not. Grandmama raised my daddy, John, to be the kind of man who believed all people were people no matter where they came from, who they were born to, or the color God chose to dress their skin in. This way of thinking didn’t make Daddy a very popular man, so he tended to steer clear of all political conversations regarding slavery.

The Wellington helpers were legally slaves I suppose, but Daddy never forced anyone to remain on his land. He also never went to or purchased slaves at auction. To attend the auction was to demean the sanctity of life that God had granted these men, women, and children of color. The number of helpers has steadily increased over the years anyway. Of course, there was the addition brought about by the natural order of increasing family sizes through birth. More often than that though, was the addition through runaways who came to Magnolia Landing seeking safe haven from less-than-kind slave owners and overseers. Daddy would try to get to the owner of the runaway and request the right to purchase the slave before a community wide Bryan County slave hunt could begin. The offer to purchase was always contingent upon a no repercussions clause that granted Daddy and all of Magnolia Landing immunity for harboring the runaway. Due to the fact that Daddy always insisted upon paying a fair, even generous price, he still managed to maintain good relations with the neighbors in spite of his strange beliefs regarding those of darker pigment.

If a slave or helper chose to leave the protection of Magnolia Landing, all he or she needed to do was approach Mama or Daddy and present his or her case for why they wanted to leave. If they could not be dissuaded, then after a period of one year, Daddy agreed that he would send them on their way with both freedom and travelling papers, a tidy sum of fifty dollars, and a small bundle of food prepared by Mama and the kitchen helpers for the express purpose of travel. The only ones who ever presented their case were newcomers, but oddly no one ever left at the end of the year. I suppose they felt too free and the place became home to them as well. Once purchase rights were obtained, Daddy always set the other helpers to work building a new cabin for the newcomer and his or her family if they were accompanied by any loved ones. The cabins were perhaps small, but far better than the shacks many considered as adequate slave quarters. Each Magnolia Landing helper had a job on the land that they were expected to fulfill in exchange for housing, clothing, food, and freedom to move around the boundaries of the Wellington property. Freedom to move around the safety of the land and the improved living conditions were quite likely what made these folks feel at home.

There were no overseers here. Daddy had no need for overseers or whips or punishments of any kind because his rules were so relaxed and easy to live by. Many plantation owners from the surrounding area envied the peace the Wellingtons enjoyed, but generations of fear prevented them from living the same way. Still others thought John Wellington was eccentric at best, and crazy at worst, because he adamantly maintained that all people were created equally, no matter what color God made them.

The Wellingtons were quite wealthy by the world’s standards, but my sisters and I only knew that we had no worries. We did not realize that our father was one of the wealthiest men in the state — quite possibly the nation. As for Daddy, he simply viewed his wealth as proof that his leadership style was preferable to the tyrannical measures employed by most plantation and slave owners. Even so the unrest in the country over slaves’ rights upset him greatly, but only due to his concerns for where it would lead. His concerns were for more than just himself. They were for his family, his land, and all the people who depended on him and the life he provided for them on his tranquil 1,920 acres.

My best friend, Hattie’s family, was acquired when they fled a slave owner intent on separating them at a slave auction. The story was told that the growing unrest combined with the cash value of the set had cost Daddy tremendously. He had, however, gained a loyal field hand who was good with livestock, an accomplished cook, a small male child who could become any number of things in the future, and an unborn child who would become Hattie.

Hattie and I were born mere hours apart on October 8, 1845. We played together in the kitchen from the time we could crawl while Hattie’s mother, Missy, and Mama planned and prepared our meals together. Mama, of course, didn’t have to work in the kitchen but enjoyed baking and spending time with her helpers. As my sisters were born and Mama began our education, she found less and less time to indulge her favorite pastimes of cooking, baking, and generally spending time in the kitchen. She encouraged us girls to learn from Missy and the other helpers because, as she said, One never knows when hard times could come that will require the necessary skills for survivability.

Hattie and I were constantly and consistently together, learning