Chapter 1
•Lila•
Growin up in Alabama especially a small town like Mobile everyone knew who you were. The Grey family owned almost all the plantations until 1865 when slavery ended. My family still had the money and then some and I grew up in one of the old plantation mansions which a lot of folks did. My daddy is the only doctor in town and it’s a family practice while my momma was your typical southern wife.
She raised us kids, made sure we had three meals on the table everyday, and took care of daddy. I am the youngest of four siblings and the only girl! The oldest brother, Jake joined the army right after high school and we haven’t seen him since, next came the brains, Mark who is attending Harvard, then there’s John who got married to his high school sweetheart and became a preacher, and lastly there is me, Lila Grey who is a freshmen at University of Alabama majoring in animal science.
Now, daddy always wanted me to go into medicine like he did, but the thought of being a nurse or doctor didn’t excite me like working with animals did. Every weekend I came back home and always had lunch with my best friend, Masie Rey. She attends the University of Auburn, but every Saturday we meet and Billy Jo’s for lunch. Now, her and I both came from a family who owned plantations in Mobile and the surrounding areas.
The Rey family plantations closed much sooner before the Grey family plantations did and so some of the Rey’s came to work for my family. Somewhere along the way a Rey married a Grey so Masie and I are kinda family. Masie was the popular one out of the two of us. She was captain of the cheerleading team while I did FFA, she’s your typical blonde hair blue eyed and I’m brunette with bright green eyes, and she always dated an athlete were I never dated anyone in high school.
Masie even started dating a freshmen at Auburn our senior year of high school, but never let anyone meet him except for me and her family, and let me tell you he was breath taking. His black hair had that look that he always ran his fingers through it, his eyes were an ice blue, and not only did he come from a wealthy family like Masie did but he was humble about it.
Ever since Masie learned about her family history she would not shut up about it and she wore the most expensive things she could get her grubby little hands on. As their relationship continued to grow and he came around more and I got to know him I never figured out what exactly he saw in her. He never bragged about coming from a wealthy family and he didn’t wear designer which was one thing that lead to my attraction to him.
