Healing Ruby: A Novel

by Jennifer H. Westall

  Then one day as I was walking up to the Doyles’ house, and I saw their driver washing their cars, an idea finally came to me. Maybe once Matthew was well enough, he could drive me over to Good Hope and help me find Asa. I quickened my steps and hurried through my preparations for cleaning. Then I went as fast as I could up to his room without spilling the scalding hot water all over the place. I knocked on the door like I always did, but Matthew wasn’t in his room. I set the pail of water down and searched the other rooms on the floor, but I didn’t see him. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I wiped everything down as quickly as I could, pulled the sheets off the bed, and replaced them with fresh ones. Then I headed back to the kitchen to see if I could find Mrs. Doyle or Mary.

  As I dumped out the dirty water in the yard, I heard laughter from down the hill, so I followed it. I couldn’t believe it, but Matthew, Mary, and Mrs. Doyle were all walking around the grounds together. I waved and called to them, and Mary waved back.

  “Come join us!” she called.

  I hurried down the hill and met them near the edge of the woods. “Oh my goodness, look at you!” I said to Matthew. “You’re practically a normal person again.”

  His face broke into the most beautiful smile. “I even managed a shave,” he said, rubbing his chin.

  “This is wonderful.” I looked over at Mrs. Doyle who was beaming as well.

  She took my hands and squeezed them gently. “I was hesitant to get my hopes up, but God has truly answered our prayers. And Ruby, you’ve been such a blessing to our family. Thank you so much for taking care of Matthew, even when it was difficult.”

  “It was always my pleasure.” I looked over at Matthew as he leaned on his elbow against a maple tree, and my face flushed warm. I hated to admit it, even to myself, but my reasons for taking care of him had grown into something much more selfish than they’d been when I’d started.

  Mrs. Doyle put her arm over my shoulder as we all started walking again along the edge of the yard. “Listen, Ruby, I want you to know that if you ever need it, you can always count on an excellent recommendation from me.”

  My stomach dropped. So that was the reason for all the praise. It was time for me to be moving on. I wasn’t sure what to say, so I kept walking and waited for someone else to say something. It wasn’t long until Mrs. Doyle cleared her throat and continued.

  “It seems as though our regular housekeeper is able to take over Matthew’s room again, and since he’s been recovering so nicely, I think he’ll be fine without supervision. I tried to find some other duties for you around the house, but Mr. Doyle and I just couldn’t justify the salary for such little opportunity for work. I hope you understand. With times as they are, we have to save every bit we can.”

  I nodded and tried again to speak, but nothing came out.

  “Oh, you’re upset,” Mrs. Doyle said. She stopped walking and hugged me tighter. “I’m so sorry about this, Ruby.”

  “No,” I finally managed. “I’m not upset. I’m so thankful to you and Mr. Doyle for giving me this opportunity. You’ve made me feel welcome in your home, and that means the world to me.”

  Mary stepped closer and rubbed my arm up and down. “Please tell me we’ll still be friends, and that you’ll come over to visit.”

  “Of course,” I said.

  I let my eyes take a quick glance at Matthew. He had his head down, so I couldn’t read what he was thinking. I wondered if he’d even think of me much after I was gone. It didn’t seem likely.

  We started moving toward the house again, and Mary and Mrs. Doyle spent the whole time trying to console me, while I did my best to assure them I was fine. When we reached the path that led through the woods back toward my house, I stopped and thanked them again. Mary hugged me tight and said I should come back again that week so we could talk. Then she and Mrs. Doyle headed back up to the house, leaving me and Matthew alone.

  He leaned his back against a nearby tree and hung his thumbs through his belt loops, looking all around, except at me. “I don’t know how to thank you for all that you done for me, Ruby.”

  “You don’t have to thank me. I wanted to do it.”

  “Still, you put up with a lot—things most people won’t have nothing to do with. And on top of that, you made me see that I could trust God, and that there was a greater purpose to all this.” He looked down at his feet for a minute before looking back up at me. “I want you to know that if you ever need anything, I mean anything, you can count on me.”

  My heart wouldn’t stop thumping against my chest. I tried to tell myself that those feelings were completely ridiculous, that there were too many reasons to count why Matthew Doyle would never think on me in that way, but it just kept on with the pounding. I guess I should’ve said something back to him, cause he looked like he was expecting it.

  “Thank you.” I somehow squeezed that out of my throat.

  “I’m serious now. I’ve come to care for you like family, like you were my little sister, and I aim to make sure it stays that way.”

  I tried not to visibly wince, but I felt like doubling over in shame. Even though I knew it, to hear the confirmation that he’d never think of me as more than a little sister sent a sting of humiliation up into my neck and face. I wanted to run as fast as I could to my creek so I could drown my shame at the bottom of that pool. I took a few steps onto the path before he stopped me.

  “Wait. Are you all right?”

  I nodded and forced a smile. “Of course. You’re all better, and soon you’ll be as good as new. There’s nothing better in this world than seeing you up on your feet walking around, smiling and happy. God has blessed me with an answered prayer. So I’m as happy as I’ve ever been.”

  “And you’ll come back to visit? Like Mary said?”

  “Of course!” I waved and walked away as steady as I could.

  When I knew beyond all doubt I was out of sight of his house, I turned around to be certain. The path behind me was empty, and I dropped to the ground to let out the tears I’d been holding back.

  Over the next few days, I could hardly get through my chores by dinnertime. I didn’t see any point in hurrying anymore. It wasn’t like I had some place to be. I even took on some extra chores around the farm, work in the field that Daddy had never let me do before. Pulling up weeds and picking the bugs off the young plants kept my hands busy, even if it didn’t do much to take my mind off Matthew. Soon as I caught myself daydreaming about his smile, I’d scold myself good for such nonsense. Boys didn’t walk their little sisters for ice cream, or call on them at their houses, or take them to a dance. And it was clear that he was going to see me that way always, so I had to find a way to get that smile out of my head.

  Well, soon enough I got what I asked for.

  One day, about the middle of June, I came into the house for dinner with James and Henry. We’d been working hard that morning in the corn since the dirt was finally dry enough to plow. James drove the horse and plow, and Henry and I cleared out the weeds and bugs. We were filthy and starving.

  I was surprised to see a guest seated at the table, and even more surprised that Mother didn’t have any food out for us. She was standing across from the man seated at the table, one arm folded over her chest, the other hand rubbing on her forehead like she was in pain.

  “You all right, Mother?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “Y’all need to sit down.”

  “Where’s dinner?” Henry asked.

  “What?” Mother looked at him like he was crazy. “Oh, I forgot. I’ll warm something up in a minute. Just have a seat.”

  I sat around the corner from the man at the table, and James and Henry both sat across from him. He was somewhat familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I’d seen him before. He wore a dark suit, and he shuffled some papers that were on the table in front of him. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be scared or not. He didn’t look particularly menacing, but something inside me said he wasn’t here for a friendly visit
.

  “All right, Mr. Campbell,” Mother said. “We’re all here now, so you can say what’s got to be said.”

  Then it hit me where I’d seen him before. He had been seated here at the table with Mr. Allgood and Mother the day I’d come for Asa to pray over Matthew. Not only that, his daughter was in my class at school, Clarice Campbell. She was a quiet girl who kept to herself mostly. I didn’t know her too well, but she seemed nice enough. I thought I remembered her saying once that her daddy worked at the bank. I wondered why he was sitting at my table.

  Mr. Campbell cleared his throat and looked down at the papers before him. “I know what I have to tell y’all is going to be hard, but I’ll try to explain things best I know how.” He glanced up at Mother then dropped his eyes again. “First, I’m very sorry for the loss of Mr. Graves. He was a good man who tried to do right by his neighbors, and he’ll be sorely missed. Unfortunately, I have to be the one to inform y’all that Mr. Graves took out a mortgage on this house and property a couple of years back, and that mortgage hasn’t been paid in three months.”

  “Wait a minute,” James interrupted. “Why didn’t we know about this?”

  “I knew,” Mother said from behind him. James turned around to look at her. “Your father and I didn’t want you to worry. At the time, we were able to make the payments from the business at the gin and truck farming. But lately, with his surgeries and business not going so well—”

  “What are you talking about?” James pushed away from the table. “I worked at that gin, and business was just fine.”

  Mr. Campbell cleared his throat again. “Like I said, your father was a kind man who tried to help out other farmers by giving them loans against their crops. He was kind, but he wasn’t a business man. Every farmer around here is struggling.” He leaned back against his chair and sighed. “Lord, every person in this town is struggling.”

  “So what are you trying to tell us?” Henry said. “We’re losing our home?”

  “The bank is putting the house and property up for auction.”

  James slammed a fist onto the table. “No! They can’t do that!” He turned again to Mother. “I’ll get a job. We’ll pay off the mortgage.”

  “Son,” Mr. Campbell said. “If you can find a job, then you’ll be the luckiest kid in all of Alabama, all of America for that matter. Ain’t nobody getting jobs right now. You think you’re the only family losing your farm?”

  Henry spoke up with a quiet voice that surprised me by its calm. “We’re getting a good crop this year. We’ll be able to sell it and pay off what we owe.”

  “I’m afraid that’ll be too late,” Mr. Campbell answered. “Auction’s in a week.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” James said. “So we’re supposed to leave the crop out there to rot? Who benefits from that? We’ve worked hard here on this land! It’s ours, and nobody’s gonna take it from us!”

  “James,” Mother said. “There’s nothing we can do.”

  James shook his head and looked at Mr. Campbell like he might take him outside and whoop him right there. “How do you sleep knowing what you’re doing to your own neighbors?”

  Mr. Campbell gathered up his papers and pushed away from the table. “Believe me, son, I take no pleasure in it. But I got a family to feed too, and I’m one of the lucky few that still has a job. I don’t like it, but I gotta do it.” He placed his hat on his head and nodded at Mother. Then Mr. Campbell wished us luck and disappeared out the door.

  We were all frozen for a few moments in quiet shock. I had no idea what to say or what to make of all Mr. Campbell had said. I only knew it sounded like we were losing our home, but I couldn’t see how that was possible. Mother had said God would provide for us, that we’d be all right. I believed her. After all, God had just worked the most amazing miracle I could’ve ever imagined. Surely helping us hang onto our farm was an easy thing; not even big enough to call a miracle. I looked over at Henry seated nearby. He had his head in his hands, so I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

  “Is he telling the truth?” I finally asked.

  “Yes,” Mother said. Her face had gone pale, and she looked like she needed a rest. She leaned against the wall instead.

  James started pacing and huffing. “Can’t even harvest our own crops for Christ’s sake!”

  Mother didn’t scold him like she usually did when he said Jesus’ name like that. She leaned against the wall with her eyes closed, like she could shut it all out.

  “Surely he’s wrong.” I said. “Is there nothing we can do?”

  James stopped pacing and looked at me as though he’d just realized I was there. “Don’t you worry, Ruby. I’ll figure this out.”

  Then he pushed past Mother and hurried out the front door. I looked at Henry, hoping he’d have something to say that might make all this better. He put a hand over mine on the table and smiled. “Don’t worry, Rubes. I’m sure everything’ll work itself out. We’ll be fine.”

  He had to be right. God wouldn’t go through all the trouble to start working miracles in my life just to turn right around and yank the rug out from under me.

  I didn’t see James at all for the next few days, and Henry only a couple of times. They got up before dawn each morning and went out looking for jobs, and they didn’t come home before I went to bed. On Friday night they came stumbling into the bedroom—I’d moved back into my old bed after Asa left—and it startled me so much I sat straight up and screamed. Henry came at me kind of crooked with his finger over his mouth.

  “Shhh, you’ll wake the dead,” he said.

  I looked at them closer. “Are y’all drunk?”

  “Naw,” Henry said. But his goofy smile said otherwise.

  James stood in the darkness on the other side of the room. I could only make out the outline of his form. “You all right, James?”

  “Just dandy,” he said. “Found this fool stumbling outside Grady’s with his fool friends.”

  I got out of bed and took Henry by the arm, leading him toward the bed he and James had shared for as long as I could remember. Henry sat down and rolled onto his back, laughing the whole time.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked, slipping his shoes off his feet.

  “I’s thinking ’bout how James was always after me to work more around the farm, but now it looks like I’s the smart one. I didn’t waste my time on something just to pass it on to some other fool.”

  James took a few steps toward him, and I thought he was going to throw Henry right out of the bed. I threw my hands on his chest to try to slow him down. He stopped and pointed a finger over my shoulder at Henry.

  “You lazy, good-for-nothing pile of dirt! I’ve done everything I can to care for this family the way Daddy would’ve, and all you’ve done is run around like you ain’t got a care in the world! Now look at us! We’re all homeless! And what did you do to help?”

  I kept pressing on his chest, hoping he’d calm down. I could smell moonshine on his breath too, but he wasn’t acting off kilter like Henry. James looked down at me and shook his head. “Ruby, Campbell was right. There ain’t no jobs anywhere, and there’s people out of work all over. I knew things were getting kind of bad, but I had no idea it was this bad. There’s no less than ten families that’s been kicked off their farms in the past two months. There’s two more families getting their farms auctioned along with ours on Wednesday. And can’t nobody do nothing about it.”

  I stepped back and tried to understand what he was saying. “You mean, it’s true? We’re going to be homeless?”

  “Not if I can help it.” Behind me, I could hear Henry snoring. James blew out his breath in disgust. “I guess he ain’t gonna be a lick of help neither.”

  When I got up the next morning, Henry was still asleep, but James was in the field already. I didn’t see any point in caring for the garden if we weren’t going to get to enjoy the fruits of our labor, but James and I’d always seen things differently. I helped Mother with breakfast and clean
ed up the dishes afterward. She didn’t say hardly anything. In fact, she hadn’t said much at all since Mr. Campbell had left on Wednesday. She moved through the house doing all the same things she’d done before, like her body had memorized the movements and knew of nothing else to do. But I could tell her mind was far off cause she’d misplace things or miss a spot when she was cleaning. I didn’t say anything, just went along behind her and filled in her gaps.

  Right before dinner time, Henry finally made an appearance, though he wasn’t in much of a mood for talking. He looked terrible, like he had the flu or something. Mother didn’t say anything, just poured him a cup of coffee with a little bit of milk and sugar. Henry took a sip, set it down, and looked at Mother funny. He liked his coffee with lots of sugar—to kill the bitterness, he said—but never with milk. That was how Daddy had always taken his. Henry looked over at me and raised an eyebrow, but all I could do was shrug. He got up and went back to the bedroom without taking any more coffee.

  I decided I had to get out of there for a while, so I took a walk in the woods to clear my head and talk this out with God. I wondered if maybe this was some kind of test of my faith. He’d saved Matthew, so I was sure he’d save us too. Maybe I was supposed to pray with that faith that Asa had talked about, the kind that moved mountains. This sure enough felt like a mountain that needed moving.

  I stopped and looked around, and then I realized where my feet were taking me without my conscious mind knowing it. I was only about a quarter mile from the Doyle place. My stomach churned at the thought of seeing Matthew again, but I’d promised them a visit. I walked a little further, and I scolded myself for being so senseless. Maybe I’d developed a small infatuation with Matthew, but that shouldn’t get in the way of being friends with him or Mary. And I convinced myself that with time, I’d get over it and be able to look on Matthew with gladness in my heart. So I walked the rest of the way to their house in that confidence. But when I got around to the front of the house, a car I didn’t recognize was sitting in the driveway. Maybe showing up unannounced wasn’t the best idea.