KYZER'S DESTINY

Just five miles from Kellwood, across the James River, majestically stood the Chandalar Plantation. Rising aloft from the hillside, the opulent Greek manor house was situated overlooking several hundred acres of tobacco. This plantation alone supplied one quarter of the tobacco processed at the Kelsey Tobacco Company in Hastings. Over one hundred slaves and field hands were charged with its daily maintenance and operation at Chandalar. The name for Chandalar Plantation was a derivative from the original family name of Chandler. Following the death of John Jacob Chandler, his only daughter Elise inherited the plantation. She chose to name it Chandalar in memory of her late father. The unmarried Elise at twenty-three eventually met and married a young banker, Paul Richard Braxton from Savannah, Georgia. After two unfortunate miscarriages early in the marriage, she finally had a baby boy who she named Richard. When Richard was nine years old, Paul Braxton had a fatal heart attack. Elise, still very young, had her hands full while continuing to run the plantation and in the upbringing of her young son. When Richard was twenty, his mother brought him into the family business until her death, seven years later. The year before she died, Richard Braxton gave up bachelorhood by marrying Anne Elizabeth Getty from Petersburg. In nine months, the spring of 1843, Anne gave birth to their only child, a beautiful baby girl named Dellanna. Reared in a strict but loving family, Dellanna Braxton felt she had come a long way since her school days. The days of sharing lunches with Kyzer Kelsey, even shooting slingshots with him on occasion, filled her mind with memories. She didn't see much of Ky these days. She discovered he was always working at the tobacco company or off hunting with Josiah. She remembered him as a close friend in school, and now she thought of him fondly from time to time. Of course, the one thing she always remembered was her first attraction to him. The eyes. She found his deep brown eyes the most captivating thing she had ever seen in her life. Despite all his admirable characteristics, the eyes won her over. Thinking of him, now more than ever, Dellanna just had to find a way for Kyzer to notice her. The news of war, as it spread through Chandalar, wasn't surprising to everyone. Of course, Dellanna was quite taken with the news and upset over it. She never experienced anything so dreadful as hearing about a war or even a rumor about it. Not at her age anyhow, and why couldn't folks be satisfied with everything the way it was? Richard and Anne Braxton stood on the veranda, greeting the guests upon their arrival at the barbeque. Dellanna had not yet made her appearance. She stood at an upstairs window, trying to conceal herself in the portieres, while she peered out onto the front lawn.