by Ann Rinaldi
For supper we had some kind of fowl, red potatoes, eggs, fish, grits, corn bread, and coffee. Mulholland paid the bill and we were about to leave when our waitress told him that up the road apiece they were about to whip two negroes for killing a white man.
"Likely give 'em a hundred lashes each," she said. "Whip 'em to death. I wouldn't think you'd want the young lady and the little boy to see such."
So Mulholland got two rooms for the night and feed and shelter for our horses.
I shared Carol's room. The cots were tolerable clean. The only bad part was that Mulholland got us up at five in the morning. We did have breakfast at the inn. Fish and hominy and Indian bread and fresh butter and more coffee. I gave Buster some Indian bread and a saucer of coffee.
Two miles up the road we saw the whipping posts where they had given the negroes a hundred lashes each. They had then burned the bodies, and the burned carcasses still remained. As did the smell.
We went on solemnly and I thought of Cannice and Primus and Careen and the war we were fighting. Were we in the South fighting so we could keep the right to whip to death and burn negroes if we wanted to? What was it Louis had said?
The only problem I have is that I don't know which I'm going off to do, to kill the myth or to save it.
Nobody said anything for a while as we went on.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
I could see church spires in the distance, so I knew we were about two miles from town. I waved my hand to attract Carol's attention and pointed. She saw the spires and smiled.
At this juncture, Mulholland drew his gelding to a halt, held up his hand for us to stop, and looked up and all about him.
I thought he was going to remark on the breathlessly beautiful blue sky, which reminded me of the color of one of my Sunday dresses at home. Good Lord, how long had it been since I'd worn petticoats and a dress! Two weeks? Like Dr. Ashton had said, in wartime a week seemed like six months.
Or was he looking at the jackdaws congregated on the telegraph wires overhead, probably deciding which field of corn they were going to destroy this morning?
No, he was looking at the telegraph wires.
And, while looking, he was taking a large pair of shears out of his saddlebags. He was going to cut them. Then he looked at me.
No, he was going to ask me to go up there and cut them.
He smiled his Bad Face smile. "One more thing you can do for me before you get home, Sam," he said. "I've been ordered to cut the telegraph wires when I got close to Roswell. But I thought it fitting that you should do it."
"Me?"
"Sure. Why not? You walked on the mill roof, didn't you? What's a little telegraph pole to a girl like you?"
"Please, Sergeant Mulholland," Carol said.
"You stay out of this. None of your business," he told her.
"Suppose she falls and gets hurt?" Carol reminded him. "What are you going to tell her brother? You think he'll negotiate with you if you hurt or kill his sister? You know how devoted he is to her."
Mulholland chewed on that for a moment. Then he scowled, made an annoyed sound in his throat, and spoke. "He don't negotiate, I just take you back with me."
"I don't think so, Sergeant," Carol said, not losing a bit of her poise. "What I think is that if Leigh Ann is killed in a fall, or hurt, my husband will never let you off the place alive. As a matter of fact, I know it. Don't be a fool." She said it as if she were disappointed in him.
Angrily, knowing she was right, he got off his horse and, shears in hand, climbed the metal hinges of the pole until he got up to the wires.
I felt a pang of disheartenment as I thought, Here I am sitting, doing nothing, while the people of my town are being denied wire service again. But what can I do? The insufferable brute.
I watched him reach out with the shears and cut the insulated wire. It swung out in two directions, and then back at him.
Teddy would say I was getting mean and nasty, but in my heart I hoped it would hit him in the head and knock him off the pole.
It did not. He ducked his head, avoiding it. Then he climbed down and mounted his horse, and we continued on.
As we approached the town, I still felt disheartened, and now scared, too. What would the town look like? Would it be destroyed?
On the road as we approached, we passed several people whom we did not know driving wagons filled with large pieces of iron, leaving Roswell.
"That iron must be from the mill," Carol said. "And since we don't know those men, they must be coming from other places to salvage it."
We also saw wagons filled with bricks, stacks of them, also likely from the mill. Then we sighted a whole herd of hogs being driven out of town by some Confederate soldiers.
Carol stopped one of them. "Tell me, what condition is the town in?" she asked. "Is there anything left?"
"A lot of the houses have been ransacked, ma'am, but not destroyed. The mansions and churches are in need of repair, but they still stand."
"Do you know"—Carol's voice broke, then she recommenced speaking—"do you know the Conners plantation?"
"Sure 'nuf, ma'am."
"Is it still standing?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Have they ransacked it?"
The soldier smiled. "Need the whole Yankee army to do that, ma'am. That Conners fellow, he's a regiment all on his own, not to mention his negroes."
"Thank you," Carol said.
The soldier tipped his hat. "My pleasure, ma'am. Why, that Conners fellow, he'd just as soon blow your head off as look at you, you come too close 'round his place. Good day, ma'am."
He went on, catching up with his friends and his hogs. Carol threw a superior glance at Mulholland, but he quickly looked on ahead.
***
We came upon the long drive, which was still the same as I had left it, though for some reason I did not expect it to be. And there were the trees lining each side. How could they not have withered, or fallen, or aged? Changed somehow, after all I had been through?
Hadn't it been a hundred years, at least?
At the end of the drive was the house, as always, where I'd been a child, where I'd run and played and done mischief, when running and playing and doing mischief was all that had mattered to me.
No one was about. Was it empty? Had it all been a dream, after all?
Was there no Teddy to ask, Where have you been? You've missed dinner and you know I wont tolerate that.
No Louis to say, Look, I won't have you talking that way about our mother. No matter what she does, she's still our mother.
We rode at a slow canter, and then we heard the barking of a dog.
It was the dog who did it.
Cicero.
He came running from around back of the house, onto the verandah. For a moment he stood there barking in his best tone. Then my Buster started in, and though I tried to keep him by me he went running down the long drive toward the house, and then Cicero came charging toward him and they met halfway and started circling each other and oh, I hoped they wouldn't fight. But soon tails were wagging.
The front door of the house opened and a figure appeared and whistled. Cicero went bounding back, Buster with him.
I suppose my brother Teddy saw the blue uniform on Mulholland, for he went back into the house and came out quickly with a rifle and stood there, legs spread, waiting.
We were only about a third down the drive when Mulholland halted and stopped us. "No farther," he ordered. "You stop right here, little girl."
For I had started on. I had even yelled, "Teddy, Teddy, we're home!"
He heard me. I know he did. But he didn't move. Just stood there with that rifle at the ready.
"What now?" I asked Mulholland.
He was studying on the matter. "You go on," he directed. "Up to the house. Carol stays here with me. You have a little consultation with that famous brother of yours. No fooling around. No hysterics. We've got no time for that. I'm giving you half an hour for this consul
tation. You're not back in that time, I leave with Carol. You tell him that. You hear?"
"Yes, but—"
"No buts. You tell him why I'm here, what I want. How much for his woman. And if I don't get it, I leave with his woman. He comes after me, I'll kill her right off. He kills me, it's no matter, 'cause she'll be dead already. You got that?"
"Yes."
"He says yes, he's got the money, you come right away and tell me. He gets his woman when you bring the money, not before. You got that?"
"Yes."
"Now go on. Get. Half an hour."
I got.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
I rode my tea-colored filly swiftly up to the front verandah to where Teddy was standing, drew the horse to a halt, got off, and handed her over to Primus, who had appeared out of nowhere.
"Hello, Teddy."
"Hello, sweetie."
It seemed so trite. But there were no other words made to say. I reached into my saddlebag, fetched out the letter from the doctor-captain, and stuffed it in my trouser pocket. Then I leaped up the stairs, and for a moment Teddy and I just stood looking at each other.
He took my measure. "You all right?"
"Yes."
"What's that bruise on your face? Who did that to you?"
"Can we talk inside, Teddy? We don't have much time. Only half an hour to settle things or Mulholland is going to leave with Carol."
He peered over my head down the drive. "He is, is he? Not while I live and breathe."
"Teddy, please, listen to me." Tears came into my eyes as I looked up at him. I took his free hand, the one that wasn't holding the gun. I gripped it in my own. And I used the only thing I had.
"Don't let him even try to go without listening to me," I told him. "We must do this for Carol. You want her back, don't you? She's having your baby!"
Disbelief, a mask that Teddy never wore, sat on his face. "That isn't funny," he said sternly.
Now I took his hand in both my own and pulled him to the door. "Oh, please believe me. I would never lie to you. Come into the house. There isn't time, dear Teddy. Oh, if I'm lying, you can beat me. But darling Teddy, do come."
***
We stood a few feet apart, like adversaries, which I suppose at that moment we were, in his study. The two dogs settled down near us.
"Sergeant Mulholland—he's the head of the bummers—he said he wants ransom money to give Carol back to you."
"He the one who gave you that bruise on your face?"
"Oh, Teddy, does it matter now?"
"Damned right it matters. What else did he do to you?"
I could see there was no going forward until we got around this. "He beat me. Twice."
He cussed in his best manner. "When I get my hands on him, he'll be sorry he ever drew breath."
"No, Teddy, you mustn't get your hands on him. You approach him in any way and he'll shoot Carol first. He told me to warn you of this."
"You telling me how to run my affairs now?"
I raised my chin and met his eyes. "I'm only telling you what I know, Teddy."
He nodded. Approval? I could not worry about that now. "Did he touch Carol?" he asked.
"No."
"Viola? Where the hell is she, anyway?"
Another thing we had to get around. "Back in Marietta. She's married by now. To a very nice man. A doctor-captain surgeon by the name of Ashton. He's taking care of her." I took the letter out of my trouser pocket, walked over to his desk, and set it down. "This is from him," I said. "He's really a good man, Teddy."
"You approve," he said sardonically.
I said yes, I did.
He nodded slowly. "How much money does this SOB Yankee want for my wife?"
I told him. "Five thousand dollars."
His eyes went wide. "What? He's crazier than a loony bird! I don't have that kind of cash on hand! You tell him I did?"
"I didn't tell him anything, Teddy."
"Why not? Did you lead him to think we had it?"
"I just wanted us to get home, Teddy, is all." Now I was truly frightened. Because I knew we had it. And more. Only either Teddy did not know how much we possessed, or he had forgotten about it.
So I must say it. It was imperative that I put my head on the block.
"We do have it, Teddy."
He scowled. He took a step toward me in a threatening manner and I backed away. But he kept on coming until he grabbed my shoulder and peered into my face intently. He felt my forehead for fever. "You sure that Mulholland brute didn't fracture your skull?" he asked.
I'd never thought about that.
"I don't know," I said. "I did have a lot of headaches on the ride home. The doctor gave me some powders and told me to watch out for feeling lethargic. But I'm thinking clearly, Teddy. We have it."
"So tell me then. Where?"
"Louis's silver that he and I buried that day so long ago now. It's worth more than twenty-five thousand. And he told me to use it, if it was needed. To save the family."
I saw my brother's square jaw tighten. I saw the tears come into his eyes. "Is this the only way out, then?" he asked. "I can't just go out there and blast his head off and get my wife?"
"Teddy," I told him, "he said that before you even got close, he'd shoot her. And if you shot him dead, it wouldn't matter, 'cause you'd never get her back again."
He took a deep breath. No, he heaved. And then my strong, beautiful brother started to cry. I went to him and he held me. And that was our hello hug. We held each other for less than a minute. And then it was over. His tears stopped, and what was surprising to me is that he was not ashamed of crying. He made no apology. It was just one of those moments that happened. Rarely, but a man accepted them in his life.
It only made me admire him more.
In an instant he was his old self, in command.
"I'll find Primus to come dig up the silver. You go tell that slithering noxious snake that I agree to his terms and he'll have his money in about twenty minutes. Then come back and show Primus and me where the silver is."
* * *
EPILOGUE
Teddy lost the war that day.
He lost the battle of First Manassas.
But he found himself for the first time in a long time. He forgave himself, which some men never get to do, I suppose. He looked at Carol and she looked at him as if they had just met.
I tried to stay out of their way, though both attempted to pay attention to me.
I let them have supper alone in the candlelit dining room. I did this by saying I did not feel very well. I went to my room, to bed. Because, in truth, I did not feel well at all.
Careen came to me. My friend. She brought me some soup she had made and she stayed with me while I sat up in bed and ate it.
She told me things. All the things I needed to know.
The house had not been ransacked as other mansions had been, because Teddy had given the house and field servants guns, as other owners had not. And Teddy and our house and field servants had always been at their stations, at the ready. Whereas many other owners had been away and left their places vacant.
"We take turns." Careen grinned. "Massa Teddy, he call it shifts. Even me. I have a gun."
"Did any of the servants run off when the Yankees left?" I asked her.
"Yes," she told me. And she named the several who did. "Teddy let them go," she said. "He know the day be comin' when they all go and he can't stop them."
And then, in naming them she told me, casually, "Your mama run off, too. With that Garrard fella."
My mouth fell open.
"Your mama, one day she come 'round and tell Teddy she wuz leavin' with Garrard. He tells her go. But she wants some of her things first."
"What things?"
"Old dresses. 'Cause you can't get dresses no more. Says she can't exist without them. She such a humbug, that woman! Massa Teddy, he told me to go with her to get the baggage. So I went to the garret with her. And I had to lug down an old
gilt-edged mirror she just had to have. And some cut-glass champagne glasses. And some other stuff that was as worthless as a skunk in daylight."
"Teddy let her have it all?"
"Not before he make her sign a paper saying she would make no more claim on the plantation, or the mill, ever again."
"Pa?" I asked. "What about Pa? Why haven't I seen him?"
"You scarce seen anything, Leigh Ann. Your pa, he abed. He don't get outta bed no more. Massa Teddy, he don't say, but I think your pa, he dying."
She told me about the churches, how our church, Roswell Presbyterian, and Mount Carmel Methodist had been stripped of their pews and had their hymnals and pipe organs destroyed. How cavalry troops had desecrated graves in some of the cemeteries.
"They done ruined Factory Hill," she said. "Tore it apart. And you know Reverend Pratt's house?"
"They ruined that, too?"
"No, but tore up some thirty acres of his corn and wheat and sorghum. I rode up with Massa Teddy and saw it. Massa Teddy, he madder than a wet porcupine, he sure 'nuff is, 'bout that. And you know what all else?"
I didn't know if I wanted to know what all else, but I indicated to her that I did.
"Massa Teddy, he gots a telegram from way up there in Philly-delphia, from your grandmother. She tell him that you all never got there, that her man near gets arrested and gets hisself sent back. Massa Teddy, he worry it to the bone. He gets in touch with that nice Major McCoy some way and that nice Major McCoy tell him you all still in Marietta and that all he knows. I tell you, Leigh Ann, Massa Teddy going crazier by the day and talkin' 'bout takin' off and goin' to Marietta himself. He tells Primus, 'Can you all take care of the place? Can you all keep it safe if I go?' And Primus says, 'Yes, boss, we all can.'
"So Massa Teddy thinking serious-like about goin' just before you all come home."
***
Teddy had gone to bed early with Carol, though I saw the can delight shining from under their door.
I could not sleep. I got up and went downstairs and out on the verandah in my robe and slippers and sat there with Buster and Cicero and looked at the stars in the heavens. My head was going round and round with all I'd been through. I could not quiet it. Likely I would never sleep again.