In a few minutes, they had the schoolroom put to rights and the girls were munching on leftover wagon wheel cookies and drinking the last too-sweet dregs of the punch. His cup would have benefitted with a shot of something, but he didn’t want to think about what. He wasn’t that man anymore.
They sat to take a break after the girls went outside to play for a bit. He took up her soft hand in his to see if she would snatch it back from him. She didn’t. He had to keep himself from tapping out steps to a new song on the palm of her hand. Maybe he still had a chance with her after all.
“Thank you for coming back to help. I appreciate it.”
“I’m glad I did. Seems like my steps were guided here. I loved your play.”
“Thanks. I’m glad you did.” She lowered her head, then looked directly at him. “Look, I need to get a few more things and then I’ll pack up the teacher’s house. If you want, you can stay and help me carry some things out of the teacher’s house to the station. And help me eat up the last jars of things so they don’t have to get left behind.”
“They would keep. Where are you going?”
“Well, Arlo. I’ve lost my job. I have to go somewhere.”
“I understand, but where?”
“Back to Milford, I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Don’t know where else to go. I thought of staying here and getting a job in the mill.”
“No.” Arlo didn’t care how rude he was. He would throw himself bodily across her to stop her from going in there and making old man Winslow richer. “You’ll die if you have to work in the mill.”
“I need a job. Not much else for Negroes to do here in Winslow.”
“I need you to be here. As my wife.” He reached over to her, trying to get her to see his way. “I could get a job in the mill.”
She pulled her arm away, regarding him with those keen eyes of hers. “No. I wouldn’t have it.”
“Why not? I’m not cut out for farming.” Her insistence confused him.
“You would die in the mill.”
He shook his head. “I’ve been thinking. The life I been living, Missy. Kinda like dying. Thought opening up a good-time place would help me with my music, but I’ve been playing less and less these days. It needs to be shut down.”
“Are you serious about that, Arlo?”
A light shone in her eyes that was so heavenly, it gave him pure pleasure to see it. “Yeah. I’m looking to do better.”
“You’re willing to give it all up and go to the mill? To support us?”
He swallowed. “Gotta put away childish things.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes. Be my wife.”
She withdrew from his hand and stood. “I don’t want you under those circumstances.”
“What circumstances? We’ll be fine.” He picked up her hand and kissed the smooth warm brown side.
“You need to be somewhere to do your music.”
“I need to be somewhere to help my babies and you get a foothold in this world. That’s with you.” He slid to the floor in one smooth motion and got on one knee. “Missy, I want you to marry me.”
“Come on. Bring the girls to my house. I’ll give them supper. They can help out there too, and we can think about things.”
“Yeah, and you’ll accept my proposal.”
“Come on.”
He watched her keep her posture as she walked out of the schoolhouse to call to the girls. He proposed. Isn’t that what she wanted? Was she putting him off, getting ready to say no? His heart clenched up at the thought of losing her. Not again.
When they got to the teacher house, she and the girls fixed a meal with an assortment of canned goods that Missouri had been given as part of her teacher pay. A kind of crazy meal: pig feet, peaches, green beans, beets, tomatoes, potatoes and some kind of canned bread. A little strange, but fun. He brought out his guitar and played a while so they could enjoy the music, but then he saw dark was approaching. “John said to bring them when it got dark. We got to get on to see what’s going on over there.”
“Yes, you surely do.” Missouri stood, clearly ready to say good night to his nieces.
“I want you to come too.” Arlo grabbed her hand.
“I don’t want to intrude.”
“No. Just come on. Help me. I’ll bring you back home after I’ve dropped them off.”
The puzzled look on her beautiful face transformed. “I’ll accept that. Thank you.”
They all piled into the wagon, and Arlo let the mule take his time to get on back to the Bledsoe house. When they did, all was quiet. A lamp shone through the darkness. The cry of a little baby issued forth and they all smiled at one another.
Thank you, dear Lord.
He leaped down and helped Missouri down first then lifted the girls down one at a time. John greeted them at the door. Arlo had never seen his brother-in-law’s face so broken up. His heart thudded in his chest. He gripped Missouri’s hand just a bit harder.
“John, is Lona…okay?”
“She fine. The baby’s fine.”
Arlo beamed. “You get that son you been wanting?”
John angled himself to face his daughters. “You all go on in and see your beautiful sister.”
“Oh, it’s a girl again,” Mags piped up with pleasure. The little ones ran into the room too quick for Arlo to see what they thought.
“No wonder you crying, John,” Arlo said.
Missouri elbowed him.
John gave him a look. “You never seen a baby come into this world, has you?”
Arlo almost stumbled on the doorsill, knowing what his brother-in-law was saying. “No. Can’t say I was around to see.” For a reason.
“Then if you had, you would know why I was crying. She’s beautiful. I don’t care what Lona says.”
Ruby stepped out of her parents’ bedroom and came to embrace Arlo. “She’s a pretty one, for sure.”
Arlo’s heart thudded more as he peered into the bedroom, where his sister was propped up. Her face was all red, the baby in her arms. “She ain’t happy?”
“Mama got all of that foolishness going on about a boy. I love my little sister. I’ll look out for her as if she’s one of my own.”
Arlo doffed his hat and went to the doorway of the bedroom. “Hey, sissy. Looking spry there.”
“Yeah? I can’t have no boy, that’s for sure. Got another girl here.”
She moved the blanket to show a round, cream-colored face. His heart surged. Yeah, the light color showed up again. Curse of their daddy’s blood in them both.
“She kind of favors you, Lona.”
“That’s her problem, then, isn’t it?”
He felt Missouri’s light touch on her arm. She said, “We brought the girls back. Your baby is lovely, Mrs. Bledsoe.”
Her head lowered at Missy’s words. Poor Sissy seemed uncomfortable at Missy being so nice to her. He was glad to see Lona back down when she said, “Thank you. I guess. I was so sure this time. God got a plan, though. We have to see it through.”
“Surely. I don’t want to intrude. I’ll ask Arlo to get me on home.”
“You don’t have to run off. This will be you soon, Miss Baxter.”
Missy lowered her head and folded her hands, backing away from the scene. “I’ll carry her on home, and Miss Annie too. I’ll be back soon.”
John came to the doorway. “Don’t know what to call her. We just about out of jewel names.”
“Ones we like,” Lona said. “We’ll have to call her something else. Break the streak.”
“Oh, don’t do that,” Missouri said. “I have an idea. How about Cordelia? As in King Lear? It means heart of a jewel.”
“Cordelia,” Lona said. “I like how that sounds. Maybe with May for her birth month.”
“It’s June, sissy,” Arlo pointed out. Had she lost her mind?
“She supposed to come in May,” his sister said, giving Arlo a look that told him he
better get going.
“I like that fine.” John shook Missy’s hand. “How good it is to have the teacher here when my child was born. Thank you, ma’am.”
“Glad to help.”
“I’m ready to go,” Miss Annie said. “Cordelia May sound like a mighty fancy name, but you all will make it plain after a bit.”
Missy took the arm of the midwife. “No need, Miss Annie. She’s a pretty little thing. Who knows what she will be one of these days?”
“She a colored baby. And she’ll be right there in the mill or married to a mill hand one of these days.”
Arlo helped the ladies into his wagon. The truth from the old lady disturbed him. Even if he didn’t like it. That was the problem with girl babies. They couldn’t go nowhere in this world and didn’t have any kind of way of getting around life. Wasn’t going to happen to none of his. No way, no how. Even if it meant spoiling his Missouri—he would treat her so good and fine—a boy couldn’t help but make a grand entrance in this family now. He just knew it.
Chapter 8
“Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you, Away you rolling river. Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you,” Arlo sang.
Oh yes. He was gifted beyond all reason with his music. He didn’t belong in the mill with that voice, his talent. How could he even think of going there to support her and the baby? Arlo’s honey-soft voice wrapped around her, almost making her feel sleepy as the mule trotted them home in the smooth June darkness. He had many talents, part of the reason why she loved him, but they weren’t suitable for all ears to hear.
“Away, I’m bound away, ‘cross the wide Missouri.” He smiled wide at her as he wrapped up the first chorus of the song, singing it extra loud because her name was in it.
“You better watch it,” she said. “I’m getting wider and wider these days, and might not want to hear that part of the song.”
Arlo was just about to respond, she could tell, when another voice from the back of the wagon jumped in. “Whoo whee, that boy can sing the birds down from the trees. I can’t say as I blame you none, Missouri. He’s something. Still, folks want to know when you all going to go on down to the courthouse and get this all over with. I needs a new pipe for my stove and I’m hoping to win so I can get one.”
Arlo slapped the reins on the mule, just a little bit to help it on. “Miss Annie, after you brought me a beautiful new niece, you know, I would be happy to give you a little change to help you get that stovepipe now.”
“Ain’t you the sweetest thing. Naw, your sister and brother paid me for my services of bringing another girl up in there. Glad they felt thataway. Sometimes, men be awful in how they do you if you bring another girl when they want a boy.”
“It was all right by John, so, praise the Lord. It worked out as they wanted.”
Missy felt a chill cross her. “What do you mean, ma’am?”
“Oh, child. Mens just get a certain way whenever they know they have a son. That’s all.”
Missy folded her shawl over her and shrugged down into her clothes. Yes. She understood all of that. It was most unfair.
The mule pulled up into Miss Annie’s yard. The old lady announced, “I’ll be praying for you, child.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“You want me to help you on down there, Miss Annie?” Arlo asked.
“Naw, you slick-tongued devil. I have it. Go on and take this one home. She be needing her rest, and someone to take care of her while she do rest. And a kind word every now and then, you hear me?”
“Yes indeed, Miss Annie. Thank you.”
They watched the old woman cripple along into her house. They stayed silent as the mule automatically started to take them back toward the teacher house.
Missy wished she had some kind of scoping lens to be able to see inside of her to know what her child was.
Still, it didn’t matter. Tomorrow, she would begin packing everything to get herself back on to Milford and leave Winslow behind for good.
What a difference a year made. Memories shifted through her mind.
When Cousin March called her into her beautifully paneled wooden office she told her this little place needed her, needed her light. When she met Arlo for the first time and he gave her his sunny smile and played the guitar just for her. When she heard first those guitar strings weaving back and forth, he had her heart clenched firmly in his fist at the first strum. And now, she would have his baby. Whatever it was. And she would be whoever she was in raising it.
“What you thinking ‘bout, Missy?”
He didn’t really want to know. Arlo just liked to fill up the silence. He didn’t like for anyone to get too down in the dumps—the perfect personality for a good-time place owner.
“Been a full day, that’s all.”
“It is. Proud of my nieces.”
“They’re wonderful girls.” Then, because she couldn’t help it, she added, “I bet your daughters are wonderful too.”
He pushed his hat back on his head and looked around. “I’m sure. They mighty young, though, and don’t know much of anything.”
“They’re yours, Arlo. That’s what makes them special. Or maybe they have their mothers’ ways too.”
He chuckled a bit, and something in her wished she hadn’t said that, wished she hadn’t reached out to him, flattering him like that. She clutched her fists tighter on her shawl. She deserved nice words too—hadn’t Miss Annie said so?
She had always been too giving, too connected. It was one of the reasons Cousin March Lewis had hesitated in sending her here. But the principal went against her own inclination, and now look. She was right. Missy was too giving and she was too connected to this town, and look at where it got her.
His face went downcast. She wished she hadn’t brought up the mothers. They were probably colorful peacocks compared to her plain peahen self. Arlo Tucker could have any woman he wanted, and clearly, he often did. That didn’t mean Missy had to be reminded of her competition.
“They don’t have mamas.”
“What? What do you mean?”
The mule pulled up obediently into the front yard. Arlo stopped it, not seeming to be in a rush to get her inside.
“They gone to Jesus, Missy.”
“Both of them?”
He gave a wry smile and shrugged. “Yep. Both of them. Young things, just like you. I ain’t no good for any woman, Miss. That’s what I been trying to tell you ‘bout them.”
“Did they die having the babies?” [
“Katie’s mama did. And Addy’s mother, she…she took herself on away from here. Just after the baby.”
The pain he must have felt at those losses sent her into herself. Dear Lord. In all the months they had been together, he’d never put it that way before. Never sought to share the reason why he held himself from her, why the product he sold in his place brought him comfort and distance. Now she understood how he had honored her with his proposal.
He slowly nodded. “I know what you thinking. Lots of folks think thataway. Having my baby is just bad luck all around for any woman. And I wouldn’t have nothing for you, Missy. Nothing but heartache and trouble.”
He put a foot up on the wagon bar. “I tried to stay away from you. I tried so hard. I knew what had happened before, but you…you were different. I like hearing the way you talk, and the words coming from your pretty lips. You telling me things I didn’t know about before, teaching me about the world, even though I’ve seen more of it than you, just, giving to me all the time.”
Her heart warmed. “You did that for me too.”
“And you still want to touch me.”
“Why not? You’re a part of me, Arlo. Now and forever in my life, no matter what happens. We’ll always be a part of one another.”
He put his hands on her shoulders and faced her. “Like I was a part of Katie and Addy’s mamas?”
“No. That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean in our hearts.” She patted herself. “Yes, this one here will alway
s be a part of us, but here. In here. You made me a better person. You made Winslow special just being you.”
“Yeah, I agree. I feels the same. I come here with the wrong way to see things, trying to see about how I could make money fast for them girls without doing it right. Lord knows, I didn’t want to be up under no one’s thumb. So when Lona told me there wasn’t no good-time place here, I came and opened one. Nearly drank up all of the profit myself. Never thought of it as a chance to be closer to the drink.”
“And it was.”
“It was. Then you come with all of your school teaching and I started to think about what I could do, where I could go beyond my place.”
Her gaze met his. “What would that be, Arlo?”
“I’ll play my music somewhere. Somewhere on the street corner if I have to. I’ll make people listen to me.”
“They will. I’m sure they will.”
“First, I’ve got to provide for you and the baby. So I’ll get a job in the mill. We’ll see how it goes from there.”
Missouri lowered her head. “I know you would rather die than go to that mill.”
“Actually, it lets me know what’s going on in there. We got to know. And I would rather go in there than my nieces or you. I’ll do anything to keep them out of there. Or you.”
“I don’t care what other people say, Arlo. You have a good heart. You’re a good man.”
“And you. Missouri. You the best.” He leaned into her and their lips touched. She didn’t realize that she was still fully in possession of her feelings when he kissed her. All of her emotions went to her fingertips as she slid her arms around his neck and pulled in closer to him.
He didn’t taste like alcohol today, just this smooth, masculine taste of him, purely Arlo, and nothing in between them, nothing at all.
His kiss made the world slip away, and she knew nothing but this moment of wanting to be with him and stay with him, always. Yes. He surely was very talented in a lot of ways. Slowly and regretfully, she untangled her lips from his, but staying close, always, with their heads touching.
“You ain’t given me an answer to what I said at the schoolhouse, yet.”
The Brightest Day: A Juneteenth Historical Romance Anthology Page 21