“All right, but why?”
“If we can turn public opinion against it, we might be able to put a stop to it. I can’t imagine the citizens of Richmond being all that thrilled about the notion of slaves having rifles and ammunition.”
“I see.” She then added, “The last thing I want is for Badan to be conscripted, even if it would mean he’d earn his freedom. He could be killed first.”
“Oh, I doubt they’d actually carry through with their promise of freedom. Or they might, but then they’d figure out a way to take it back.” He shook his head. “The South can’t compete with the North’s endless supply of soldiers.”
Therese agreed. Other than the slaves, all the South had left to recruit were boys who hadn’t even started shaving yet.
The door flew open, and Ruth stepped into the room. Alec’s back was to his cousin, but Therese had full view of her face, which held her usual sour expression.
Therese simply said hello and then slipped around Alec and moved to Warner’s side. As she stood looking down at her still-sleeping brother, she couldn’t help but wonder if the rest of Alec’s family was like Ruth. Therese had grown up in the South, where people were warm and friendly and put a high value on manners. Could she really make her home where folks scowled and barked and insulted without provocation? Surely this wasn’t what everyone in Maine was like. Ruth was one of a kind.
Wasn’t she?
Just as Alec requested, Therese brought up the topic of conscripting slaves with several different orderlies and nurses, and by the time she and Polly left at nine, the hospital was abuzz with the rumor. Soldiers were riled up about it, as were the staff, visitors, and volunteers. The citizens’ own prejudices were working against the goals of the Confederacy. Therese was surprised how easy it was to agree with their concerns. True, she didn’t want enslaved males to fight for the Confederacy either, but for very different reasons than the others. They feared the slaves would turn against the South. She was afraid they would be slaughtered for the South—either that or turn the tide and allow the South to win. Chances were, as Alec had voiced, freedom wouldn’t be granted to those who fought anyway. And for those who didn’t fight, such as Auntie Vera and Aggie, they would definitely remain enslaved.
Despite being a Quaker, it seemed Alec could still do plenty to influence the war. She was impressed with his presence of mind, working as both a surgeon and a spy. Her admiration of him grew throughout the evening. No one would ever expect that he was doing more than doctoring patients.
As the wagon master drove them home, Polly and Therese made plans to meet the next day at the market, late in the morning when the farmer would be done selling his produce. Therese imagined him peddling squash and apples, and possibly potatoes, all in big demand. The Galloways hadn’t been able to buy meat all week, and Mrs. Galloway spent most of her time, when she wasn’t in bed, redoing the girls’ dresses with the one needle she had left, trying to come up with warm enough and big enough clothing to get them through another winter. She’d also cut up a small rug in half and was trying to make shoes for Eleanor, who had completely outgrown her last pair. Therese decided she’d look in the trunks at River Pines to see if there were any old ones from when Mother was a girl. Therese would also patch the soles of her boots. She had income to give Mother, both from the Galloways and the hospital, but she wanted the money to go toward what was needed at River Pines, shoes for Aggie and Auntie Vera in particular, and not her own needs.
Polly went to the hospital for a few hours Saturday morning, but Therese had taken the whole day off so she could finish her grading for the girls and her lesson plans for the next week. As she worked in the parlor, she noticed Mr. Galloway had left a stack of papers next to his chair, but they didn’t seem to be anything important—a few old memorandums about acquisitions and troop movements was all.
The girls sat in the parlor with her, reading their books, but at midmorning Therese took them for a walk in the crisp, cold air. By the time they arrived home, Mrs. Galloway was sipping a cup of tea in the dining room. Therese grabbed her bag from the chilly attic and told the family farewell, saying she’d be back the next evening or at least by Monday.
Mrs. Galloway insisted that Therese take her muffler again and a wool blanket. “It will be a cold ride,” she said.
Therese thanked her and hurried out the door.
When she reached the market, Polly wasn’t there, and Therese wasn’t sure which farmer her friend had arranged the ride with. Therese asked around, but no one was headed west. Finally, she decided to wait at the entrance to the market, but she wondered if she should hurry to the hospital. Perhaps there had been some sort of catastrophe. Multiple admissions. An epidemic—they’d gotten several cases of influenza the week before. Or perhaps Warner had taken a turn for the worse.
She began to pace back and forth as vendor after vendor packed up and left. Finally, just as she’d decided to go to the hospital after all, Polly shouted her name. She was sitting on the bench of a wagon—but not a farmer’s wagon. It was a covered army wagon, driven by Michael and pulled by a team of four horses.
Relief swept over Therese as she hurried toward her friend. Michael stopped the wagon, set the brake, and jumped down. By the time Therese reached them, he was ready to help, offering her his hand. Polly scooted over, and Therese settled beside her, spreading the blanket across the two of them.
“Michael has been ordered to procure more food, so he’s giving us a ride,” Polly said. “Hopefully, our parents and your mother will be able to help.”
Therese nodded. She hoped Mother would allow it. “How was Warner when you left?” Therese asked.
“About the same. He said to tell you not to worry—to focus on sorting things out with your mother.” Polly yawned, quickly covering her mouth. It looked as if her lack of sleep was finally catching up with her.
Michael turned onto Broad Street, passing shops and then houses, until the cobblestones gave way to gravel. Thankfully, it hadn’t rained all week.
As they approached the edge of town and the checkpoint, Michael pulled his pass from his pocket. A guard studied it carefully and asked about Polly and Therese. “My sister and her friend,” Michael said. “They work as governesses and nurses in Richmond but are going home to see family. They’ll return with me tomorrow evening.”
“All right,” the guard said. “Be on your way.”
Michael drove the team forward but before they picked up speed, Polly said, “Do you mind if I sleep in the back? I’m exhausted.”
“Good idea,” Michael said. “You’ll find a couple of blankets—clean ones. I borrowed them from the hospital.” He smiled.
“Quite resourceful, aren’t you?” Polly teased.
“Aren’t we all,” he quipped.
It would be a rough ride in the army wagon, but as tired as Polly was, she could get a couple hours of sleep.
Once the wagon stopped, Polly scooted past Therese and jumped down before Michael could step around the wagon to help her. But he did help her into the back, under the cover. When he returned, he had blankets for both Therese and him to bundle up in. Therese thanked him. Another layer of warmth would help further protect her from the cold.
Soon they were back on the road, headed on the north side of the James to the Talbot estate. Then they would take the ferry across the water and continue on to River Pines.
Fog streamed along the top of the forested hills like a shroud, and an icy wind blew east. Therese wrapped one of the blankets over her head and held it up over the lower half of her face. She looked like a ragamuffin, she knew. Michael didn’t seem to mind, and she wondered if Alec would if he were with her. And what would he think of River Pines? What would his opinion be of the obvious opulence that had existed just a few years ago, along with the current poverty, and the sad state of affairs of the five slaves left by Grandfather—whom Mother didn’t have the bravery to free? With a shudder, she realized she was grateful Alec wouldn’t see tha
t part of her life.
Therese and Michael rode on in silence while Polly slept. After a while, he slowed the horses as another wagon passed them on the narrow road.
“Is this the first time you’ve been back to River Pines since you started working for the Galloways?” He encouraged his team to speed up again.
“Yes,” Therese said. “But, of course, I’ve seen Mother at the hospital.”
“I hope you can get a good rest and a few solid meals.”
“Hopefully, you can too. You need both of those things more than I do.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that…” His voice trailed off.
Therese felt awkward that they were resorting to small talk, and she couldn’t help but miss the rapport they’d shared years ago.
“How was your time in France? Polly was telling me about some big adventure you had rescuing a Jewish family heirloom or something?”
Michael flashed a humble smile. “Well, yes, it was pretty exciting, actually. How much did she tell you?”
“The basic story. How a con man tricked a rabbi so he could steal his valuable heirloom, and then the con man sold it to a merchant in New York City, who put it on a ship, and then the ship was captured by another ship, which ended up in France where you were, and so you bought it and brought it all the way back home and returned it to its rightful owner. Is that about it?”
Michael chuckled. “Well, except for the ending. Sadly, the rightful owner is currently off with the 25th Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley, so I haven’t been able to give it to him yet.”
“Oh no. Where is it now?”
Michael glanced around and spoke in a low voice. “My father put it in the safe, along with our family documents and a few other things.”
“Well, at least the rabbi can be comforted by the knowledge that it’ll be there waiting for him when he returns.”
“True.”
They rode along in companionable silence for a few minutes until Therese returned to the subject of France.
“Otherwise,” she said, “your time over there went well?”
He glanced at her and smiled a little before returning his eyes to the road. “It was lovely in many ways. Meeting cousins I’d only heard of. Learning about the method of making paper from wood pulp instead of rags, helping to develop and sell a new kind of photography paper. Traveling between properties that the family owns in Lyon and then up to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon too, high up on the Plateau. It’s a small village that some in our family have lived in for the last two hundred years, which is a relatively short time compared to how long the family has been in Lyon.”
“What are your relatives like?”
“Hard workers, all of them. And faithful. They endured years of persecution… until the French Revolution, really. The ones on the Plateau live very humbly.” He smiled. “It’s funny. They have a printing press that still runs and an old paper mill they’re dismantling because it’s not profitable up there anymore. But a new one was opened in Lyon. Up on the Plateau, they have an old warehouse too and an old, beautiful house. The buildings all date back to the 1600s.”
“Sounds like a wonderful experience for you.”
“Actually, I missed home horribly. I worried about how everyone back here was doing. Getting the letter that the twins had been killed was devastating. Knowing the heartache my parents and Polly were going through after Gerald and Victor… I felt as if I’d been a despicable person not to have protected my brothers.”
Therese couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps that was what had made him change his mind about the issue of slavery. Perhaps he blamed the abolitionist crusade for their deaths. Perhaps he wanted revenge on the North.
“I was worried about Lance and wondered if he would survive…” Michael turned his head toward her. “And then hearing about your father’s death—that was such a tragedy too. He was a good man who taught me so much.”
Tears welled in Therese’s eyes. “Why come back when you did?”
He shrugged. “I couldn’t bear the thought of not helping in some way. I expected to be an infantryman, but I was commissioned as an officer because of my family’s connections. I think I’m better at what I’m doing, procuring supplies rather than fighting. I know the area and have contacts that have helped with that. And transporting the wounded has fit in well with my duties.”
Therese nodded. It seemed he was well suited for both of his jobs, along with delaying a resolution to the war. “I know many Virginian residents have been coerced out of food by the Confederate Army and resent that. How do you handle it?”
“I buy the food,” Michael said. “And I always leave enough for the families, which means lots of trips and foraging to get what’s needed. But I believe it’s the right thing to do.”
“How do you pay for it?”
Michael must not have heard her because he didn’t answer. She asked again.
He evaded her question and instead asked, “What are you looking forward to the most when you get home?”
She couldn’t help but frown. He was hiding something, but then, weren’t they all?
“Looking forward to? At River Pines?”
He nodded.
“Nothing.” She sighed. “Either Mother is sick and that’s why she hasn’t responded, or else she’s miffed with me. I’m guessing the second. Either way, there will be some sort of conflict unless she’s deathly ill, and then I’ll regret what I just said.”
Michael smiled. “I won’t tell a soul.”
“Thank you.” Therese sighed again. “If she’s miffed with me, we’ll end up arguing about when Warner should come home. I’ll ask again about her sending Aggie to Richmond, which she most likely opposes or she would have done so already.” She wouldn’t tell Michael what Mother thought of Alec. That would broach a topic she definitely didn’t want to discuss with him, and thankfully he hadn’t brought it up.
Michael glanced toward Therese. “So there’s nothing you’re looking forward to?”
“Well, yes. Seeing Aggie. And Badan. They married not too long ago, and I’m worried about them.”
He glanced at her questioningly.
“It’s Mr. Porter.”
“The overseer?”
Therese nodded. “He’s violent toward Badan.” She paused. “And, um, too friendly toward Aggie.”
Anger flared on Michael’s face. Perhaps he hadn’t totally lost his soul.
“I’m also afraid that the Confederacy might conscript Badan and Sonny and even Old Joe to fight.”
“I heard about that at the hospital just this morning. It’s a horrible idea.”
Therese nodded again, knowing she and Michael agreed on the topic for two different reasons. “And then I also worry—although I doubt Mother would actually do this—that she might sell one of them if things get too bad.”
Michael kept his expression neutral. Yes, he truly did believe the economy of the Confederacy was at stake and that the slaves should not be set free. Michael Talbot was a son of the South as much as anyone she knew. He’d come all the way back from France to do his duty.
Thankfully, Alec was a man of honor. God willing, Therese would soon be on her way to Maine with him—and taking Aggie and Badan with her as free citizens. But to make that happen, Warner needed to survive so that Mother would have someone to take care of her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Therese
By the time they reached the Talbots’ place, Therese was stiff and sore. Polly stirred as the wagon stopped, sat up, and stretched. “Are we here already?”
Michael chuckled. His parents came out of the front door of their home, so he jumped down, helped Polly out of the back, and then hurried around to Therese. Every time he took her hand, she remembered how smitten she was by him all those years ago. A shiver shot up her spine. He let go of her quickly this time, though, and limped toward his parents, hugging his mother first and then his father. Polly hurried past and into her mother’s arms. A wave of sadness s
wept over Therese. She missed both her father and the woman her mother had been before he fell ill.
Miss Amanda let go of Polly and stepped toward Therese, pulling her in for a hug. “It’s so good to see you, dear,” she said. “How are you? How is Warner doing? And your mother?”
Therese answered that her mother was doing as well as could be expected, and Warner was managing.
They ate vegetable stew at the Talbots, and then Michael and his father loaded boxes of potatoes, squash, and apples into the wagon. When they were getting ready to leave, Therese realized Mr. Stephen was coming with them.
“Papa will help Michael find food around River Pines and then go to Richmond with him and on to Petersburg,” Polly explained. “Tonight, we’ll all stay at our cousins’ house.”
Mr. Stephen offered to drive so Michael could sleep in the back.
“You should rest,” Michael said to Therese.
“Oh, no,” she answered. “You need it more. I slept last night.” She wasn’t sure how long he’d been on the road. If he’d come from the Petersburg area, he hadn’t slept in some time.
Michael said he would try to rest for a little while and settled between the crates of produce. When they reached the end of the Talbots’ lane, Therese glanced back. It appeared he was already sound asleep.
They took the last ferry across the river, and by the time they reached River Pines, it was pitch-black. Badan came out to meet them and took the horses in hand, while Mr. Stephen jumped down.
Therese was cold, even with the layers of blankets. “You should all come in for something hot to drink before you continue,” she said.
Mr. Stephen thanked her but said they needed to be on their way.
She turned toward Badan. “Do we have any food we can spare? Michael’s collecting for the troops. Potatoes? Apples? Anything?”
“You’ll have to ask your mother,” Badan said.
Therese turned toward the house. “Is she doing all right?”
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