by Lisa Gregory
The man nodded. "I jus' pick your mama up and carry her there."
"All right." Vance grabbed his sister's hand and the handle of the suitcase, and they set out.
The big black man walked easily, even carrying Julia like a baby in his arms, and Vance was hard-pressed to keep up. As they walked, Julia's eyelids fluttered open, then widened, and she gasped, staring at the strange dark face above hers.
"There now. You awake. You all right, ma'am?"
"I—yes. What h-happened? What are you doing?"
"I be carrying you to the house your boy told me about. You done fainted in the road."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
He smiled faintly. "Nothing to be sorry about. You feelin' sickly?"
"No." Julia shook her head. "I'm healthy as a horse. I— you can put me down now. I'm all right."
"I don't know 'bout that. But I set you down."
He put her on her feet. Julia wavered and had to grab the man's arm to keep from stumbling.
"Mama!" Still crying, Bonnie launched herself at her mother and wrapped her arms around Julia's legs.
"Mama? You all right?" Vance came to stand beside her, his small face worried.
"Yes. I'm fine now. Really. I was just a little weak. I'm tired, and I didn't have lunch."
Vance reached out and took her hand. He didn't want to act like a scared little boy, but he had to touch her, just to make sure the world was back in its normal place. "I didn't—know what to do. The man came and helped. He said you wasn't dead, and he picked you up and carried you. He carried you a long way."
Julia squeezed her son's hand and sat down on the suitcase to rest. She put an arm around each of her children and leaned her head against Bonnie's. "Let me catch my breath, and we'll go." She looked up at the man looming before her. "Thank you, uh ... I'm sorry. I don't know your name."
"Micah, ma'am. Micah Harrison."
"Micah. I'm Julia Dobson, and these are my children, Vance and Bonnie. I appreciate very much what you did. II was kind of you,"
Micah shrugged. His face was impassive, impossible to read. "Wasn't nothin'."
"Well, it was quite a bit to me." Julia stood up. "I feel like such a fool, fainting in the middle of the road. I'm glad you didn't leave me lying there." Julia felt a little guilty for having been scared of this man earlier "Well, we better be on our way."
Julia reached for the handle of the suitcase, and the world wobbled around her Micah's hand shot out and grabbed her arm. "I better help you." He picked up the suitcase as if it were light as a feather "I'll carry this thing for you. It be too heavy for a lady and two little ones."
"I ain't little!" Vance protested vigorously.
"No, guess you ain't. But you need to be lookin' after your little sis. She sure looks tired."
"Oh." Mollified, Vance turned to Bonnie and took her hand. "Come on, Bon, it ain't far."
They started down the road, Julia leaning against Micah's supporting hand. They made a slow, halting procession. Soon Bonnie sat down in the road and began to cry, so Micah swung her up to ride atop his shoulders. He picked up the suitcase, and they started off again. Julia leaned more and more heavily upon his arm.
Finally Micah said, "I better carry you."
"No. I can make it. I'm too heavy for you to carry."
A grin touched his face, dazzlingly white. "You don't weigh nothin'. It'd save us time. I have you there in nothin' flat."
"Mama! Look! There it is! Is that it?" Vance cried, pointing excitedly. He was a little in front of them, past a clump of trees. They caught up with him and looked where be pointed.
Less than fifty yards away, a narrow dirt track turned off the main road and led to a two-story frame house. Julia gazed at the house, entranced.
A porch stretched across the front of it, and bright flowers and bushes bloomed around the foundation. A chinaberry tree stood near the gate, and closer to the house were smaller, blossoming fruit trees. To one side were a barn and a corral, where two horses stood dozing in the sun. In another section of the corral were a cow and calf. Hens picked their way across the narrow road and yard, heads bobbing, feathers gleaming in the sun.
It was the picture of tranquillity and prosperity, and Julia was filled with happiness for Luke and such longing that she thought her heart must burst. "Yes. You're right, Vance. I'm sure that's it." She gave Micah a smile and started forward.
Chapter 3
Sarah opened the oven door, letting out a blast of heat, and reached in to pull out two loaves of bread. She set them on the rack to cool next to the cherry and pecan pies. She looked across the room at Emily—if she didn't check on her every few minutes, there was no telling what she would get into. Emily was on the floor, happily mixing a pasty concoction of flour and water while her rag doll leaned against the wall, watching. Emily's dress was splashed with water and decorated with white blobs. Not too bad, considering...
The baking was done for three days. All she had to do was clean up the pans and start supper. Sarah glanced out the window over the sink to see how much of the afternoon was left, and her eye was drawn to a movement by the gate. There were people standing there.
She leaned over the sink to see better. "What in the world?" Sarah washed off her hands and dried them on her apron, her eyes on the strange little group walking up the path to her house. A young boy led the group, and behind him came a large man carrying another child on his shoulders. In one hand he held a sack and a suitcase, and his other hand supported the small woman who walked beside him. The man was black, and the woman and children were white. All of them looked dusty, tired, and thoroughly bedraggled.
Sarah stepped out onto the side porch and shaded her eyes with her hand. They were almost to the house now, coming around to the side door, as almost everyone did except on Sundays. "Hello!" Sarah called.
The man set down his bags and removed his hat. "Afternoon, ma'am."
The boy's steps slowed, and he turned back to walk next to the woman. The group stopped a few feet away from the porch. Sarah gazed at them. She had never seen the man or the children before, but there was something familiar about the woman. Her hair looked to be blond, though dimmed by dust, and her eyes were light colored, blue or gray, and rather sad. She was too thin, and her triangular face was delicate. Sarah felt a wave of pity for her. She seemed so tired and careworn. Who was she?
Julia stared back at Sarah. Sarah was pregnant and blooming with health and just looking at her made Julia feel old and worn out. She didn't know what to say, or even what to call Sarah. She had called her Sarah when they were children in school together, but now it didn't seem right that she would address someone like Sarah so informally. Yet it seemed equally wrong to call her own brother's wife "Mrs. Turner."
"I'm sorry to come like this, with no warning," Julia began finally.
Sarah frowned. She knew this woman; she should recognize her. Sarah went down a step, drawn toward her. The woman offered a weak smile, and suddenly it came to her. "Julia? Are you Julia?"
Julia nodded.
Sarah hurried down the remaining steps, holding out her hands. "I can't believe it!" She took Julia's hands and squeezed them. "I'm so happy to see you. Luke will be thrilled. Oh, this is wonderful. Are these your children?"
Relief swept Julia. Sarah was still kind, as she had been when Julia knew her at school. She wouldn't turn them away. Julia nodded. "Yes. Bonnie and Vance. Children, this is your Aunt Sarah."
"I'm pleased to meet you." Sarah smiled at the children. "My little girl will be so happy she won't know what to do. Emily?" She turned her head to call Emily from the kitchen, but naturally, she was already there, watching the scene curiously. "Emily, these are your cousins. Why don't you take them inside? They might like some of those cookies we baked a while ago."
Sarah turned back to Julia, and her glance went curiously to the man beside her. "This is Micah Harrison," Julia said, answering Sarah's unspoken question. "He, uh, helped me and, uh, carried my case for me. H
e's been very kind."
"She done fainted on the road," Micah explained bluntly.
"What! Oh, my goodness! Here I am, making you stand out in the sun, talking. Come inside and sit down." Sarah took Julia's arm and propelled her up the stairs and into the house. At the door, she paused and turned to Micah. "Would you like something to eat?"
"That'd be real nice."
"Let me get Julia settled, and I'll bring you something."
The children were sitting on the floor of the kitchen, a cookie in each hand. Sarah grinned. "Well, you all look as if you're doing fine."
She steered Julia to the table and pulled out one of the chairs for her to sit in. "Now, what's the matter? Why'd you faint? Are you sick?"
"Oh, no. Please, don't worry." It warmed Julia to have Sarah express concern about her, it hadn't happened often in her life. "I didn't eat lunch, that's all, and I guess I was a little tired from walking."
"You walked out here from town?"
Julia shook her head. "From home, just the other side of Gideon."
"Gideon! You walked all that way!" Sarah stared in astonishment. "It must have taken you days."
Julia nodded. "We left Wednesday."
"My goodness." Sarah could think of nothing to say that would adequately express her dismay at the thought of this frail woman and two small children walking for three days.
"Well, what am I doing? You must be starved. I'll fetch you something to eat."
She brought the children to the table and poured them glasses of milk. She put on a pot of beans to heat while she sliced a loaf of bread and spread several slices with pale yellow butter, which melted instantly on the hot bread. Sarah laid the plate of bread and a pot of preserves on the table and set the table with plates and eating utensils. She added a platter of cold sausage and bacon left over from breakfast and a bowl of the warmed-up butter beans.
Seeing how hungrily Julia and her children gulped down the food, Sarah suspected that it had been more than just lunch today that they had missed. How had they managed on the road three days?
Sarah heaped another large plate with food and gave it to Micah. He took it gratefully and sat down on the porch steps to eat it. Sarah thought that he, too, had been awhile without food. It had been good of him to stop and help Julia. "Are you from around here?" she asked him.
"No, ma'am, sure ain't. Jus' passin' through."
"Are you looking for work?"
"I be steady lookin' for that."
"My husband will be in from the fields soon, if you'd like to talk to him about work."
Micah looked up at her, and Sarah found his face as blank and unreadable as Julia had. "Thank you. I 'predate that."
"No trouble." Sarah stepped back inside. There was something different about that man. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it was something about the way he carried himself, the way he looked at her. Even his accent was a little odd. He didn't need to say it for her to know he wasn't from around here.
Julia ate until she was stuffed, but it was all so good and plentiful that she wished she could have eaten even more. Sarah bustled about the kitchen while the others ate, preparing supper and cleaning up the pans she had used for baking. Julia knew she should get up and help Sarah, but she couldn't raise the energy. The kitchen was overly warm from using the oven all afternoon, and the air was sweet with the mingled smells of pies, bread, and cookies. Julia leaned back against her chair drowsily.
"Julia." Julia jerked out of her doze at the sound of Sarah's voice. She looked up to see Sarah standing over her.
"I'm sorry, I must have slipped off." Julia straightened, glancing around her The children were no longer there, and the table was cleared. When had Sarah done that? "You should have awakened me earlier. I should have helped you..."
"Don't be silly You're dead on your feet."
Now the questions would start, Julia thought. Sarah would want to know why Julia was here, what had happened to make her walk all the way from Gideon, and how long they would stay. It was perfectly reasonable to have questions when a sister-in-law you hardly knew dropped in on you out of the blue. But Julia dreaded revealing her whole pitiful, embarrassing story, especially to a woman like Sarah McGowan, who had never known hunger or want. Julia wet her lips and tried to prepare herself to answer Sarah's questions.
But Sarah didn't ask one. She said only. "I fixed up a room for you and another one for Vance. I'm putting Bonnie in with Emily I sent the kids upstairs to wash up and take a nap. 1 thought you might like to do the same."
Julia stared at her, surprised, then slowly a smile of breathtaking sweetness crept across her face, transforming it from careworn to almost pretty. "Thank you. Yes, I'd like that."
Julia followed Sarah up the stairs, her hand sliding over the smooth walnut banister. The wood gleamed. The whole house gleamed. Julia had never been inside a house this spacious and pleasant. They walked down the hall past a room where the girls were already curled up in a four-poster bed. White eyelet-embroidered curtains hung at the windows, matching the duster and coverlet of the bed. The door of the next room also stood open, revealing a sturdy pine bed, chest, and washstand. Vance sat on the bed, just looking around him. Julia understood how he felt. When Sarah opened the door to what was to be Julia's room, her reaction was much the same.
Julia walked into the guest room and looked around her. When Sarah quietly left, closing the door behind her, Julia moved to the windows and looked out. Her room faced the front of the house. For a long moment, she gazed at the white and pink blossoms of the fruit trees moving a little in the breeze. Then she turned back to the room. The bed was oak, and it was covered with a colorful quilt in a Texas star design. A braided rug lay on the floor beside the bed.
Julia went to the washstand. A white stoneware pitcher and bowl stood on it, with a plain white towel and washcloth hanging on the rack. Julia poured water into the bowl and washed her face and hands. It felt so good and the soap smelled so delicious that she skinned out of her clothes to wash all over. It was glorious to be rid of the dust. She only wished she could have taken down her hair and washed it, too, but there wasn't enough water in the pitcher. Besides, she was far too tired.
Sarah had laid out one of her own white cotton nightgowns on the bed. Julia put it on and slipped into bed. It was unbelievably soft after two nights of sleeping on the ground, and it smelled faintly of lavender. Julia snuggled down into the feathery comfort. How lovely it was here. How kind Sarah was. Tears gathered in her eyes and seeped out beneath her lids even as she drifted off to sleep.
❧
Downstairs, Sarah hummed softly to herself as she scrubbed the Irish potatoes and rubbed them with bacon drippings, then stuck them into the hot oven to bake. She grinned a small, secret smile, thinking of how Luke's face would look when he saw Julia. He would be so happy! Sarah knew how much Luke loved his sister and how much he had regretted her marriage to Will Dobson and the separation between them.
Sarah thought about running out to the fields to tell him immediately But then she wouldn't get to see the joy on his face when he walked in on Julia, unknowing.
She occupied herself by making supper and speculating about Julia. Sarah wouldn't have been so rude as to ask Julia point blank why she was here, but that didn't mean her curiosity wasn't aroused. Obviously Julia hadn't trudged all the way from Gideon just for a visit with her brother. She must be in some sort of trouble. Had her husband left her?
Or more likely, it was the other way around. Luke said that Will Dobson was a crude, even mean, man. Perhaps he had hit her, or worse.
Sarah put on a pot of corn and another of collard greens and took out the pieces of round steak she had tenderized earlier this afternoon and left to soak in milk and eggs. She set the big black skillet on the largest eye of the stove and plopped a huge spoonful of lard into it. When the fat was sizzling hot, Sarah dipped each piece of meat into a mixture of flour, salt, and pepper, and laid it into the pan. The grease popped and hiss
ed with each new addition. She kept a watchful eye on the frying meat, turning it with long tongs to avoid being burned by the hot grease. When it was brown and crisp, she set it out to drain and poured the old grease into an old pot kept for that purpose.
While she was working, Micah came to the back door and asked if she would like any chores done, so she had him do the evening chores of feeding the animals and bringing in a fresh supply of wood for her stove the next day. She glanced at him out the window now and then while she cooked. He seemed a hard worker.
The children soon arose from their nap and went to play outside. Sarah kept an occasional eye on them, too. It was nice knowing that Vance and Bonnie were with little Emily, so that she didn't have to watch her continuously. Preparations for supper went much more smoothly without Emily's presence in the kitchen, too.
The sun was getting low. It was almost time for Luke to come in from the fields. The food was done, Sarah set the table, continuing to look out the window for him. When she spotted Luke coming in from the fields, Sarah ran to the stairs and called up, "Julia! Luke's home."
A muffled voice answered her, and assured that Julia was awake, Sarah hurried out the kitchen door and into the side yard. Bonnie and Vance stood at the foot of the porch, looking across the yard toward Luke. Emily had run to him, and he had picked her up and was now hugging her and nuzzling her soft neck. He looked up at Sarah and waved, then started across the yard toward her.
"Bonnie. Vance. Why don't you run inside and clean up now?"
Sarah didn't want to have to introduce them to Luke and spoil the surprise. The children scurried back into the house. They had had enough experience of a man's uneven temper to be glad to get out of one's way when he returned from a hard day's work.
"Sarah." Luke kissed her lightly in greeting. "Who is that man in the barn? He said he'd take care of the mules. Did you hire somebody?" It wouldn't be like Sarah to do that.
"He asked if he could trade some chores for supper, so I said yes," Sarah replied. "I told him he'd have to talk to you about a job, though."