The Delivery
Page 13
To: Justin Taylor
C/O Sweetwater Texas
My train was robbed and I’ve been through a terrible trial. I’m delayed but I’m coming. I will be 2 weeks late. Please don’t give up on me.
Millicent Anders.
She paid the telegraph operator and carried her small bag towards the livery stable. She wouldn’t wait for either reply. When she arrived, she found the stable owner busy about his chores.
“What can I do for you today, missy?” he asked as she approached.
“I’d like to rent two horses with saddles for a few days.”
“I’d have to ask for the rental up front,” he said reluctantly.
“I don’t mind, I understand fully,” she replied.
“I might need a small deposit too,” he added.
“As long as it’s not more than twenty dollars, sir, I don’t mind paying.”
The livery owner, seeing her sincerity and noting how she presented herself, finally seemed to bend. He was just trying to protect his business interests, and though he thought she probably had the extra money, he finally decided he could live without the deposit. Miss Millicent’s beauty, regardless of her attire, usually had a powerful effect on a man.
It was a good thing, because that twenty dollars was all that Millicent had to spare. It was enough to buy supplies for the trip ahead, but not much more after leasing the two horses.
Once she had the horses taken care of, she went to the hotel and slipped into her riding clothes that she’d saved from her trials with Uriah. Once again, she looked more like a teenage boy than the lovely woman she was. With the extra horse in tow, she set out to travel the road that she believed Uriah had taken.
Uriah had barely made the outskirts of Atlanta on foot when he heard the horses coming up behind him. He didn’t turn at first. Many men in that part of the country would have seen that as an aggressive move by a black man to stare at them.
As the horses came closer, he finally realized they were coming right at him. He raised his eyes slowly and saw the rough moccasins in the stirrups. He began to smile before his eyes ever met hers.
“Now what brings a fine lady like you out on this old dirt road?” he asked as their eyes met.
“I’ve got a friend traveling this way and I thought he could use some company.” She responded returning his grin. She motioned to the other horse and tipped her head.
“I figured you’d rather ride than walk.”
He just stood and stared at her for a moment, and then she reached down and handed him the reins.
“I delayed my ticket for a week to go with you,” she said as she passed the reins in her hand.
“Well,” she said sarcastically, “Are you coming or not?”
Uriah held the reins for a moment and then mounted the other horse. This woman continually surprised him. She had more mettle than any man he’d ever met.
As they started down the road, she rode behind him and spoke sternly at him in a joking manner.
“Don’t get any ideas about that horse, Uriah, I have to return it to that stable in Atlanta, or I’m going to have to pay a hefty price.”
“Ha,” he said, “You should have thought about that before you offered it to any strange fellow you met on the road.”
“Why you…” she laughed, “You’d think you could at least get a little trust out of people these days.”
He laughed along with her and they set out for the town of Kerner Mills Georgia. The town was named for its founder, an old plantation owner that somehow managed to change with the times after the war.
He’d built a mill there in the community and instead of clinging to the old ways had found a way to change the destruction of his way of life into a new future for him and the people that lived there.
Uriah wasn’t raised on Kerner’s plantation, but he knew of the man, and during his early years, he was loaned out to help with Kerner’s crop harvests.
As they rode, Uriah told Millicent what he knew of the man and told her several more stories of his early days.
One of those stories was about a young woman named Molly Johnson. Molly turned Uriah’s head early in his life, and he believed for the longest time that fate would allow him to be with her. When the war came, he’d been separated from everyone he knew including Molly, and he had no idea what had become of her.
“So you think we should try to find her?” Millicent asked as they rode along.
“I sure would like to, Miss Millicent,” Uriah replied with a smile. “I think if I knew what happened to her that might answer some of the questions in my mind.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Millicent said with a confident air. “We’ll find Molly Johnson.”
They continued south towards Kerner Mills. The road was well traveled and had considerable foot traffic as well as travelers on horseback and in wagons. It was fall and the colors along the roadway were vibrant and beautiful.
It was near nightfall when they reached Kerner Mills. The small community didn’t even have a hotel. Neither of them had the money anyway, so they knew they’d have to camp once more. They camped near a stream on the north end of town.
Uriah managed to catch a large trout with a make shift pole, and after they built a fire, they shared the fresh fish and made plans for the following day.
The two of them had gotten used to camping together, so they shared some conversation about their plans by the fire before they turned in. Their talks had taken on air of trust and familiarity now.
Uriah and Millicent would enter town, and he would look for anyone he could remember that might point him towards Molly or someone from his past. The excitement of what he was about to do was all over Uriah’s face. Millicent watched a sort of boyish joy fill the face of her friend. She enjoyed seeing him this happy.
After she dropped off to sleep, Uriah watched Millicent sleep and wondered how he’d managed to find such a wonderful friend. He believed that the whole world was against him for a time. This woman had proven him wrong. Not all people were alike; she’d shown him that.
Even that marshal back in Bensonville, Ira Beckam, seemed to look past his color and treated him with respect. He wondered if maybe his attitude in the past was partly responsible for how most men treated him.
He’d heard about men born with a chip on their shoulder and wondered if maybe he’d had one on his own and never realized it. Maybe he was looking for a problem and making one with his own attitude. Oh, sure, the McGintys had proven the other side of the question, but there seemed to be more people like Miss Millicent than the McGintys.
She was beginning to melt away some of his lack of trust. If she could treat him as an equal and understand how much alike as people they were, then maybe others could too. Maybe he could change how he felt.
He knew things would never change until men like him tried to change them. Millicent gave him hope that if he made the effort, others would follow. Maybe someday, people could look past their differences to see the truth. Everyone wants the same things, a life that’s comfortable with a family and people who love them. He made a vow from that moment on that before he would judge another man, he’d give him the opportunity to do the right thing.
It seemed so simple to Millicent. Uriah marveled at the woman, she showed so much strength. Again, he wondered if Justin Taylor had any idea what kind of woman he’d sent for.
Through the past days, he’d seen her grow from the frightened confused young woman he’d first met into a confident pillar of strength. It amazed him how independent she was. Unlike most men of the time, she seemed to be willing to venture off into the unknown armed with only her convictions and her courage.
Most men weren’t as brave as she was. Uriah counted it an honor to know her, and inside he questioned whether this man Justin Taylor even deserved her. Uriah was beginning to feel more like a brother to her than the outsider he was when they first met.
After an hour or so, Uriah drifted off to sleep. He
slept light keeping his senses tuned for anything that might alert him to danger. Alone near the fire, the two of them napped as they faced the changes their journey would bring the next day.
Chapter 13
Signs of the Past
In West Texas Justin Taylor sat reading a telegram he received only a few hours before. It was hard to contain his joy.
In the past three days, he’d received several telegrams regarding Miss Anders, but none like this one.
The first telegram he received told him that she had been sent by stage from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and was on her way. It was part of his agreement with the mail order bride agency that they give him shipping confirmation on her trip. It was hardly five days later that the next telegram came, informing him that the train carrying her had met with foul play, and she was believed lost until further information was made available.
That telegram filled him with dread. He could hardly believe his eyes. The beautiful woman he was waiting for wasn’t coming. Sadness filled him and he was angry and confused. Without further news, he didn’t know where to turn. He’d contacted the local railroad office, and the clerk promised to keep him informed as soon as he got word of some information about Millicent’s train.
Justin felt helpless, he couldn’t see a thing that he could do to correct the situation and was beginning to believe that his bride might be lost, or worse, could be dead.
Two days went by before he got the first of two telegrams on the same day. One was from the railroad telling him that the train had been found, and most of the passengers were missing or dead. His heart sank, and he dropped his head as he started out of the telegraph office. He’d barely gotten to his horse when the telegraph operator came running out of the office hollering his name.
“Mister Taylor, you need to get back here.”
Justin turned around, walked back into the telegraph operator’s small shop, and found the man back at his desk jotting down letters as the “click” of the telegraph filled the office.
“Your bride is alive and in Atlanta,” the operator said gleefully.
He read the telegram to Justin and then handed him the paper where he’d jotted the message. His heart fluttered from the news. Only a few moments before, he thought she was dead, and now she was telling him she’d be delayed.
“Are you sure this is from Millicent Anders?” Justin questioned.
“Oh, yes, sir,” the operator replied ecstatically. “I even sent back for confirmation. The operator in Atlanta told me that she sent the wire herself. He said she was a real pretty woman.”
Justin patted the man on the shoulder and paid him for the telegram. He flipped a dollar at the operator to thank him for his trouble. Justin was so excited that he never thought about it.
The operator knew that when Miss Anders sent the telegram she had to pay for it, but he took Justin’s money anyway. He stuck the coin in between his teeth and gave it a little bite just to check its authenticity.
The operator watched and grinned as Justin left his office and strolled across the street towards the café. There was a little spring in Justin’s step now and the operator wondered if he might even dance a little jig while he crossed the street.
He’d watched the man’s emotions go up and down so much in the last few days that it was nice to see him happy.
Justin stepped into the café and ordered the biggest steak they served.
When the sun came up in Kerner Mills, Millicent and Uriah broke camp and slowly began their ride into town.
Uriah’s eyes were filled with wonder. It was so different from the last time he’d been there. A large mill building appeared to be the most modern structure in town. As they rode past, Uriah marveled at how busy it seemed.
“I can hardly believe my eyes, Miss Millicent,” he said as he watched the outside of the busy mill in operation.
“We never had a mill like this here before.”
Millicent looked around, and although the building impressed her, living in Philadelphia had numbed her to the novelty of large, privately owned businesses.
They continued riding while Uriah looked for some familiar landmark on which he could begin his search.
It wasn’t long before they came across the old plantation house where he’d grown up. The house was deserted, and its once massive white stone exterior and the unmistakable columns in the front now looked as though they hadn’t been kept up for years.
Seeing the remains of the once glorious southern mansion saddened him. It was such a fine house once. Although it represented his being subservient at one time, it was his home also. Uriah felt his heartstrings pulling at him. His emotions overcame him; his hatred of slavery and his longing for a family all tore at him.
Millicent watched Uriah’s facial expressions and her heart was breaking. There was nothing she could say or do to help him through his flurry of feelings.
She stood by his side as he looked around and soaked it all in.
The plantation house was vacant, gutted, now only a shell. As they walked through the stable and rest of the property, they came across several out buildings. There were still people living in the buildings and even small children playing about the place.
It was then that Uriah saw a middle-aged woman that he thought he knew. He walked towards her. She was using a washboard and doing laundry in an old tub in front of a small shanty.
As Uriah approached the woman, he noticed she was singing softly.
“I’d recognize that voice anywhere,” Uriah said as he came face to face with her.
The woman looked him over and then she seemed to become very excited.
“Uriah, is that you?”
“It sure is, Miss June,” he smiled, “I been gone a lot of years, but I sure do remember you.”
She wiped her wet hands on the apron she was wearing and outstretched her arms and motioned excitedly for him to draw closer so she could hug him.
When he got close, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in. They both seemed so happy to see one another that Millicent began to tear up slightly.
“Mercy from God, Uriah, I thought you was dead,” she told him as she pushed him back slightly and looked him over again.
“Not me, Miss June,” Uriah smiled, “I made it through the war without so much as a scratch.”
“That’s been awhile now, Uriah. Where have you been all these years?”
“I was out in the Montana Territory being a buffalo soldier,” He replied. “Other than being a slave or a crop hand, being a soldier is about the only other thing I know.”
The woman laughed and pulled him close again and gave him another big squeeze. After the second hug, she seemed a little flustered, excused herself, and apologized.
“I don’t know what happened to my manners. I should ask you if you are hungry or thirsty.”
Uriah laughed softly and then shared a warm caring smile with her.
“We don’t want to be a bother, Miss June.”
“Bother? You would never be a bother for me, Uriah.”
She turned her attention to Millicent now and looked at her curiously.
“And who is this traveling with you?”
Uriah grinned and began to introduce Millicent to Miss June.
“This is my friend, Miss Millicent Anders. We met on a train from Pittsburgh to Atlanta. God just kind of found a way for us to help one another.”
Miss June reached out and took Millicent’s hand, and although she still had that curious look on her face, she seemed to welcome Millicent anyway.
Miss June was wondering what kind of relationship these two had. The way Uriah had introduced her seemed more innocent than what was initially on her mind. She decided to take things at face value until she knew exactly how things were.
Even a century later, the sight of a white woman traveling with a black man would raise eyebrows. In the 1870s, it was totally out of place in the existing fabric of society.
Miss June told Uriah
and Millicent to wash up and pointed them towards a pump near the house. Uriah pumped the water until it ran freely from a nearby trough, and they both washed up as best they could.
After that, Miss June took them into the shanty and sat them down at a cozy table inside the structure.
She began laying out a couple of plates of food for them, and Uriah seemed more than happy to indulge in some of her cooking.
“Miss June used to be one of the best cooks on the plantation,” Uriah exclaimed.
“Used to be?” Miss June shot back.
She gave Uriah a disconcerting look, and then turned slightly and winked at Millicent.
“Why I still cook the best fried chicken in these parts,” she added.
Millicent smiled and nodded. Although she felt fairly comfortable, she held back as if she weren’t quite sure who this woman was to Uriah.
They ate until they couldn’t eat anymore. Miss June kept putting food in front of them and both Uriah and Millicent nearly begged her to stop.
Uriah told Miss June how he and Millicent had met. She listened as he told her about the train robbery and escaping from the McGinty brothers. Her eyes seemed to get larger and larger when he told her about Ira Beckam shooting two of the brothers.
Miss Junes face filled with sadness when she heard about the passengers on the train.
“That could have been you, Uriah. You and this fine woman could have been lost in those woods and given up for dead.”
“That’s a fact, Miss June. If we hadn’t lit out down those tracks, we might have been run into those woods too.”
Uriah clasped his hands together as if to indicate that the ordeal had required him to pray more than once.
“Well, it seems God’s been looking out for you.”
“Oh, he has, Miss June, he surely has,” Uriah replied.
While they sat, Uriah inched closer to the questions he wanted to ask her. He was wondering about some people from his past and more specifically Molly.
“I was wondering if you knew what ever happened to Molly?”