Adam was more than ready for the challenge. As his father stared at him, he did not flinch.
Then Paul Winslow smiled again and clapped his hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Keep up the good work, Doc,” he said loud enough for all to hear. “You’re doing a fine job taking care of the colored here. I hope you’ll keep doing your job.”
Adam said nothing. He stepped back and watched as the two men went back to the Winslow car where Mrs. Winslow and David waited along with their chauffeur.
Every person in Colored Corner watched their entire exchange. No one even pretended to do something else. Dazed, he walked back to where the Bledsoes laid out lunch, and sat down.
Had he been shaken out of a dream? The entire Bledsoe clan stared after the departing Winslow and Dodge.
“What’s the matter?” He asked John Bledsoe, as he shook his head to clear him mind of the unpleasant encounter.
“He never came to Colored Corner before. Not for any picnic or any time.”
“Well, he’s gone now,” Adam said grimly. “Does anyone know where Ruby went?”
“She took Solomon and ran off somewhere, I don’t know.”
When Adam made a move to follow Ruby into the woods, a hand stopped him. The touch was light but firm. He could shake off whomever it was who had stopped him, but he wanted to be polite.
David.
The need to be polite went clean away. “What?”
“Leave her alone. She likes to go there to think.”
Adam looked at this brother of his who had been so pampered and protected all of his life, but still looked sad. A small pang touched him. He knew sad times well.
But David had cashed in any sympathy when he followed through on his father’s mandate to hurt Ruby. He shook David’s touch off of him.
In doing so, David nearly was flung back into the car. Those summers of hard labor he had to endure as he grew up made them both, fundamentally different. “That may have been the way she was before. Maybe she needs support and help.”
“And you intend to provide it?”
“Do you have a problem with that?”
David’s gray eyes darted over to his father and Reverend Dodge, talking and pointing after the piney woods where Ruby had disappeared. Mary Winslow sat in the open air car with a proper lace parasol poised over her head to block the July sun from her delicate skin and, as Adam supposed, to protect her whiteness.
“Mother and Father have talked about whether or not the baby is well cared for. When she saw him the other day, she said some things about how small he was, even though she pointed out that I tended to being small when I was little.”
Adam’s heart thudded in his chest.
For Ruby.
Clearly she had been able to see something that he had not been able to see. That was why she had run away. “Why in the world would your parents be concerned about one of the Negro children of Winslow?”
David waved him a bit away from Colored Corner and over to a stand of trees. There was a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead, and David, dressed completely in a suit as he was, pulled out a folded linen handkerchief and delicately mopped at his brow. “Mother had a hard time having me. There were a number of babies. A lot of them didn’t live. So she’s always been close to me. And now, she’s concerned for Ruby’s child given his origins.”
“You mean because he’s her grandson?”
The linen square made its way back around David’s shiny, pointed features. “Well, yes. And how Ruby’s been. You’ve got to tell her to back off of any incendiary activity. They don’t like it.”
Adam gave a short laugh, thinking of the fiery midwife who had won a place in his heart. “Are you fool enough to think anyone can control her?”
David gave a slight smile that turned Adam’s stomach. What was he remembering? Was it a fond childhood memory of Ruby’s persistence? Or did he harbor a memory of a struggling Ruby who had been firmly in his power as he compromised her virtue?
“No. But I’m just telling you that if Mother keeps harping on Father about the baby not being taken care of, he will find a way to solve the problem. He always will. And he has never resisted what Mother wants.” David put his handkerchief away in a suit pocket.
A muscle twitched in Adam’s chin.
And this was the man who had purported to love Mattie Morson. Clearly, Ruby had to be protected. “I don’t know what you mean, the problem.”
“Ruby making trouble for him. The mill. Anything. She’s got to stop.”
“She can’t stand the sight of me.” Even as he said it, things had gotten better between them, but they still weren’t good enough.
“Why not?”
“She thinks horribly of me for passing for white at Michigan.”
David shrugged her shoulders. “You would have been a fool if you hadn’t. How else would you have gotten your education? At one of those colored schools? Please.” David paused. “I often wondered why you would bother to come back here since doing so means you admit to that other side of you.”
Adam gazed at his spoiled, pompous brother. “I had to know what he wanted.”
David stared off in the distance at the trees as if he could see Ruby. And maybe he could. He had to go to her. What was he doing standing here, talking to this reprobate of a younger brother? “You’ll regret coming here. You should have gotten away from him while you could. You could have gone somewhere, married a fine white lady and disappeared. You were a fool to give all that up.”
“I wanted a family.”
David jerked his chin off to the woods. “There’s the one you want. Believe me, you want none of the Winslows. And you don’t want Ruby’s baby to have any of it either.”
“He has a loving family who cares about him. He’s healthy. I’m right there if anything were to happen to him—let your Mother know that.”
“I will. But you tell her, this is enough. Father got her message. He’s trying in his own way to make things better. Says he’s going to build some housing for the workers closer in to town.”
“A start.” Okay, some improvement. But what would that mean at half the salary and no say in the community in which they lived?
“You don’t know Daddy. That’s huge.”
And he didn’t want to know him. Not anymore, after what he had just heard. “I’ll tell her, but she doesn’t listen.”
“The thing to do is get her away from here.”
“She loves this place for some reason.” Adam’s jaw was tight.
“You’ve thought about it?”
“I’ve offered it to her. Trust me, after a brief time in your little town, I would like nothing more than to leave myself.”
“You would marry her?”
“She wouldn’t have me. I offered to send her to nursing school and to be a nurse. She has a steady way with patients.” Adam turned and stared down at the top of David’s thinning brown hair. “Why am I telling you all of this?”
“Because you know I care about her. I always will.”
“You can’t possibly care about her after what you did.”
“I can and I do. She was my only friend for a very long time and I’ll always cherish that. It was a free time, a time when I could do as I liked.”
“As if you can’t now.”
“I can’t. I can’t protect her. You can.”
“Excuse me.” Adam felt slightly sick as he thought of what David’s protection might mean.
“Mother’s in love with that baby. You’ve got to get them both away from here for their sake.”
“You don’t exist to tell her what to do. Or me either.” Adam took purposeful strides to the piney woods where Ruby had disappeared, sick of seeing or talking to Winslows.
Adam took off through the woods, where he last saw Ruby go. He had to find her and talk to her
. He couldn’t explain it, but the whole exchange with Winslow and Dodge and David too, left him feeling very uneasy. Ruby had to make a decision about her life. And he would be the one to help her. They would do it…together.
Ruby didn’t like the way Paul Winslow pointed and stared at her son. She took the baby to the woods on the edge of town.
“Let’s put our feet in the creek, Solly, okay?” On the hot July day, she was relieved to take off her high button Sunday shoes and stockings and plunge her feet into the cool water.
She thrilled to hear his little laugh as the stream bubbled over his dear little toes. All of the tall Georgia pines swayed about her in a gentle breeze and she marveled at God’s creations. He had spoken to her so often in such a place. She finally felt some peace.
“You want to stay here? Let’s stay here in the woods. No one will be after us to get married. We’ll stay here and God will take care of us.”
Solomon fixed her with those Winslow eyes, laughing and happy. Were his eyes daring her to make it happen?
Whenever she left the woods, someone would be after her to make a decision about Dodge. Or Paul Winslow would fix his beady eyes on her son. Or Adam would be there.
When he came to mind, however, she wasn’t upset, but rather comforted at Adam being there for her. If he only had the sense to accept who he was, she might be willing to go with him. However, it wasn’t meant to be.
She pulled Solomon back onto the bank and they sat drying their feet in the sun. “Come on, Solly, I know you’re hungry.” Unbuttoning her blouse to feed him, she reached for Solomon but his little hand pushed her away. What happened? He wasn’t excited or happy to nurse. She put him next her and pushed her blouse back together, then started at the sound of a familiar voice.
“He wants some food. Let me help you take him back. Are you decent?”
Ruby fiddled with the buttons on her blouse, putting them together. “Yes, thank you for asking.” Adam approached with quick steps and picked Solomon up off of the ground. Ruby delighted to hear the baby giggle as Adam picked him up high in the air and brought him back down.
“I have to say, I agree with him. I want some lunch too.” Ruby stroked Solomon’s little arm.
Adam smiled at her. “Let’s go get some together. You deserve to have a happy Fourth.”
“Really?”
“Did you come last year?”
Ruby reflected on what had happened last year. People found out about her baby coming and she had begun showing. She stayed at home, the start of her long, long confinement.
All alone with her shame.
Thinking about last year, she was glad to be outside. “No. I would like to get back to the celebrations. Did they go away? I didn’t like the way they were looking at Solomon.”
A cloud came over Adam’s handsome face. “I had some words with Paul Winslow. He was asking a lot of questions about the baby, his health, and such. I guess he wants to know if he’s okay.”
“It’s none of his business,” Ruby said angrily. “He don’t care about him.”
“He seemed to care enough to ask, Ruby.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying the man is a cold-hearted monster. And I say that knowing his blood courses through my veins. But when he first laid eyes on Solomon, he cared.”
“He only cares for what he can get. He can’t get my baby.”
“I don’t think he wants Solomon.”
“Don’t be too sure.” Ruby’s heart began to thud loudly in her ears.
“He wanted to make sure he was protected and in a circumstance where he can’t get sick anymore.”
“So why was Dodge with him?”
“I don’t know. But I can’t shake the feeling Dodge is with him somehow. If so, he may have said something to Winslow about you two getting married.”
Ruby shivered and willed her heart to be still. “No. It won’t happen.”
Adam turned to her with Solomon in his arms. “Then what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to keep on with my schooling and get to be a nurse.”
“Your ambitions are wonderful, and I would be proud to help you with them. But some of those plans may not be in your hands anymore because of Solomon.”
“I put my trust in God,” Ruby said as they approached the clearing at the edge of the forest where town began. “But I can’t help but feel as if I’m in the woods, lost somehow, and I can’t get out.”
Solomon seemed too easy and secure in his arms. Her fingers itched to take him from Adam, but she didn’t because she liked the way they looked together. Then he spoke the words. “Doctors work long hard hours. I chose the profession as a single man, because I knew it would be hard to have a wife and a family of my own. I didn’t ever want my family to feel as if I were neglecting them because of the work I do.”
“How thoughtful.” Ruby stopped her steps to where a layer of trees came between them and the picnic grounds.
“I had a lonely life growing up. It would kill me to neglect someone else, knowing what I had endured. I couldn’t do that to him,” Adam stared down at the wisps of hair on Solomon’s head. “And,” his gray eyes stared at her, “I could never do that to you, Ruby.”
“I see.” Now, his Winslow eyes shifted to linger and gaze on her lips, as if he wanted to partake, as if he were hungry, but he just couldn’t eat. The longing in his eyes wasn’t helping her decide what to do.
She had to get away.
“I’ll take him now, Dr. Morson. Thank you.” Ruby reached for Solomon. “I would appreciate it if you just waited here for a few minutes. I know I’m ruined, but I still don’t want to give folks something to talk about.”
Adam’s hand stayed upon her sleeve. “Are you angry?”
Ruby stopped for a few seconds, and her muscles quivered as she held the baby. Was she angry? Other men, if she had knowledge of them, would have taken advantage of the time they were in the forest alone together. They would have at least kissed her.
David had done it, luring her with the possibility there would be more, and then taking her virtue from her. She regarded Adam’s soulful eyes and believed his admiration for her was true and genuine as was his concern for her. How could she be angry at someone who thought about her and about what was right before she ever did? “No, I’m fine. Thank you for letting me know.”
Adam relinquished the baby. Ruby shushed Solomon at his initial protests. “Let’s go and get some food, son. We’ll be fine.”
Walking out of the woods toward the picnic blankets, Ruby noticed Negro corner was much more populated than it usually was. She nodded to various folks as she made her way to the place where the Bledsoes sat.
Her family was busily eating lunch and she sat down and selected a small chicken leg, picking off shreds of meat to give to Solomon, who smacked his little lips at its tastiness. Adam came to join them a few minutes later and he sat away from them, next to John on the other side of the bench.
Good. Sit far away.
Even so, she didn’t like the queer, hurt feeling in her heart at Adam’s thoughtfulness. No one had ever put her first before. How could she put his kind of regard aside for anything else? Suddenly, she didn’t feel hungry anymore.
Chapter Thirteen
Although he had objected to the whole idea of a “Colored Corner,” the way the Negroes enjoyed one another’s company was revealing. To be sure, he had his share of examining lumps, bumps, bruises and a headache, but he was glad to perform the service for so many who had never even seen a doctor before, let alone a Negro one.
It made him think hard about the things Ruby had said about the pride he could take in being himself, without having to resort to being something he wasn’t. She spoke a powerful truth. However, for the rest of the day, Ruby avoided him. She kept Solomon from him too, always ensuring there was s
ome other family member around.
Despite Dodge’s best attempts, he was never left alone with Ruby either. Adam wanted to chuckle at his various frustrated attempts. Ruby paid no attention to Dodge, but instead, played games with the baby and her sisters, and made sure Solomon got his first taste of peach ice cream. At the taste, Solomon kicked his little legs back and forth, as if he wanted to run, but he could not—he was almost six months old.
Adam had to refrain from laughing at how the baby smacked his lips at the taste. What a delightful little fellow. Such a blessing. If he took that opportunity in Pittsburgh, what would life be like without Solomon? Or his mother? The vision of either one of them out of his life was a bleak one.
Soon, it was time for the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Paul Winslow stood up in the bandshell and, all of the town citizens quieted. Thus, the noise and laughter emitting from Negro corner became more obvious, but they quieted down as well. “Thank you,” Paul Winslow’s voice carried on the evening wind. “We’re glad to have you at the town celebration on this, our beloved country’s one hundred and twenty-ninth birthday.” Everyone clapped. “And as always, we’re delighted to have the Reverend Archibald Melvin come forward and read the Declaration of Independence. Everyone quiet now.”
From his vantage point, all Adam could see was the top of a shining pink pate with wispy white hair creeping forward. Everyone had to be still, to hear the decrepit Reverend speak in winded, low tones.
Solomon, in the ensuing cool of the evening, was not poised to be quiet. Ruby kept shushing him, but he wouldn’t hush. Lona and John, who were sitting next to her, couldn’t get him to be quiet either.
Ruby picked up the baby and came over to where Adam sat with her sisters on a blanket instead of the bench. “Keep him quiet and still,” Ruby whispered to him as she stood. “I’ma be right back.” She strode with intent over to the red clay strip of land that separated Colored Corner from the area where the rest of the town citizens were seated, listening to the Reverend read the speech in his ancient and wavering voice.
Beautiful and dignified, dressed in her white and blue, with a red tie the lone accent on her middy, Ruby faced her people, with her hands behind her back and her legs slightly akimbo. She was going to open her mouth.
A Virtuous Ruby Page 14