Jewel of Promise

by Marian Wells

  Beth watched him go and turned to Olivia. “Why can’t we just leave things as they are? Why must we stick our noses into this?”

  Sadie winced and rubbed her red eyes. “It is impossible to roll back time and circumstances. Dost not God expect us all to live honestly, even if it is painful?”

  Chapter 22

  Amos came into the kitchen to find Mike, Alex, and Olivia sitting at the table. As he dropped the newspaper in front of Mike he said, “Here’s more about Farragut taking New Orleans. He didn’t exactly get a hero’s welcome when he marched into the city.”

  “According to the last newspaper,” Olivia said, “it sounds as if the South isn’t too happy about Beauregard’s actions in Tennessee. Mike didn’t tell us this, but it says here Beauregard not only surrendered the field in Tennessee, but he also left Corinth, Mississippi, saying it wasn’t important enough to fight for. And the railroads junction there!”

  “The situation in the South is changing,” Mike interjected. Slaves are coming out in droves. We saw caravans of them, traveling with a few old broken-down wagons and horses in pretty sad condition. They were headed for the Union lines as fast as they could go.”

  “Why?” asked Beth.

  “They were freeing themselves by escaping into Union territory.”

  “And no one tried to stop them?” Beth cried in amazement. Mike studied her face for a moment before he answered, “Not very hard. In some parts of the South, living conditions are getting bad enough that I honestly believe the owners are glad to have them go.”

  When Beth lifted her face, she looked around the group with a bewildered smile. “Why is everyone looking at me?”

  “I suppose it’s because you didn’t say anything,” Olivia said hesitantly. “Beth, I can’t help thinking you’re very homesick.”

  “Homesick?” Beth laughed shortly as she got up and began to clear the newspapers from the table. “Sadie,” she called toward the kitchen, “I won’t be here for supper. Roald is taking some of us downriver to Stubbensville. There’s some kind of fair to honor the soldiers and raise money for them.” With a smile, she added, “I think the fellows will be honored and the girls will be worked!”

  She started to leave the room and then turned. “Mike, would you like to come?”

  He dropped the newspaper to look at her. Olivia saw his jaw tighten before he forced a smile and said, “Thanks, but I don’t care to go.”

  Late that evening as Alex and Amos carried pails of milk back to the house, Alex heard his name called softly. He stopped in the path, recalling another night when a voice had called from the shadows—the night the Golden Awl had returned with a load of slaves. The call came again.

  “Who is it?” He called, but as soon as he saw the darker shadow move out of the trees, he knew. Carefully setting the pail of milk in the path, Alex ran forward and caught his old friend in a warm hug. “Caleb! We’ve wondered about you—and worried. Come into the house.”

  Inside, Alex looked at Caleb’s tattered clothes, noted the lines on his face, and gently took him to the table. Sadie hurried into the kitchen, and Amos poured coffee for Caleb. Alex said, “I thought we’d lost track of you. We’ve been home for over a year. Mother died last December.”

  Caleb lifted his head, focused on Alex and said softly, “I’m sorry; she was a nice lady.” He paused, then the words came in a rush. “I have bad news, too. Lost Bertie and the baby—a little boy; we named him Alexander.” For a moment his face twisted. “Things seemed to be going fine that winter after he was born, and then something came along—a plague. Took out lots of the people.” Looking at the floor, he rambled, “Seems us people accustomed to the heat can’t take the cold.”

  Olivia had come into the room, and she listened as Caleb finished his story. Sitting down beside him, she whispered, “Oh, Caleb. I’m so very sorry. Please, will you stay here with us?”

  Sadie came over and said, “Thou art welcome. Just take the room next to Alex and Olivia. Now, Amos and I will be going to meeting. Make thyself at home.”

  “Thank you. I’ll tarry for a day or so, then I must be off.” He shook hands with Amos, adding, “Been seeking out our people. Now I’m hearing the Union navy is taking on black folks. I aim to join up.”

  After Amos and Sadie left, he turned to Alex, his eyes lingering on the gold earring. “Getting a taste of freedom gives me a need to work it out for the others. Alex, you think Lincoln will free the slaves? Down South that’s all they talk about—how Lincoln’s going to save the slaves and deliver them out of bondage.”

  “I think he’s going to need to win this war first,” Alex said slowly. “There’s talk of freeing the slaves, but Lincoln says he’s only trying to save the Union, and he’ll do what must be done for the Union’s sake.”

  “He doesn’t care about the slaves?”

  “Lincoln cares very much. He thinks slavery is wrong, but freeing the slaves isn’t the issue right now. It’s preserving the States as a whole, united body.”

  Caleb hesitated, picked up his fork, and asked, “What do the people in the North think would happen if the South were just let go?”

  Alex shook his head. “Most think it wouldn’t work. It’s like a married couple deciding they aren’t going to be married any more, but will live next door to each other as neighbors. There’s no way, after being married, that they’ll ever be just neighbors. Some things can’t be undone.”

  Caleb chuckled. “There’d be a heap of fighting going on.” Olivia watched the shadows in Caleb’s eyes as he picked at his food. Finally Caleb asked, “Alex, you gonna fight?”

  Olivia held her breath. “Not if I can help it,” Alex said. “Goes too much against the grain, taking a gun against another human.”

  Caleb nodded. “But you’re different. Since we were little, you’ve been different. Not like other Southern boys, always scrappin’, trying to be the hero and out-brag their buddies. Them duels and fisticuffs!” He shook his head. “Alex, against the grain or not, maybe you’ll have to get in there and help Mr. Lincoln. You’d do that for him, wouldn’t ya?” Alex drank his coffee as Caleb continued. “Might be the Lord’s sayin’, ‘Looky here, you fellows down there started this, now finish it. You wouldn’t listen to me in the first place, why come beggin’ me to take over now?’”

  “You think so?” Alex looked up. “Caleb, do you think there are some things in life which the Lord won’t change? Maybe the problems we pull down on ourselves?”

  “Alex, you told me yourself that the Lord will never force us against our will. You said that it rains on the just and the unjust. The North wouldn’t give the South what she asked for, so the South, she starts a war. Guess the North fights back or decides a United States isn’t worth keeping.”

  “But Caleb,” Olivia protested, “you’ve told us over and over that the slaves have been crying out to the Lord for deliverance. Won’t God deliver them?”

  “If He answers prayer, then He’ll deliver, one way or another. Maybe he wants people to help deliver, Missy. Why do some prayers get answered and some don’t?” She saw a deep pain in his eyes, and she could only shake her head.

  “At times,” Alex answered, “all we can guess is that God has plans and purposes we know nothing about, and His greatest desires for us are that we truly become people of God.”

  He toyed with a spoon, then finally looked up reluctantly. “It’s very likely God will ask of me something I don’t want. Life has almost been too easy. This might be that call which will enable me to become what He wants.”

  “Even so far as fighting and dying?” Olivia whispered.

  Alex opened his mouth to answer when they heard footsteps come through the hall. It was Beth. She seemed bewildered as she looked around the room. At last she focused on Olivia and cried out, “Roald is going to Washington. That means he’ll be fighting.”

  “Oh, Beth, I’m sorry. But just because he’s going to Washington doesn’t mean he’ll fight.”

  “Th
ere’s men being killed by the thousands!” she cried, pacing to the table.

  “And Lincoln’s plea for men has turned out hundreds of thousands,” Olivia countered. “Beth, can’t you see, it’s going to take this kind of army to win the war?” She stopped abruptly. Alex was watching her.

  Ashamed of her duplicity, Olivia turned, but Beth had already left the room. Olivia watched Mike coming down the hall. Without speaking, Beth hurried past him and up the stairs.

  He hesitated in the doorway and Alex called, “Come in, Mike. Here’s someone you need to meet. This is Caleb.”

  He came forward with a grin. “I’ve heard plenty about you. Good to have you here.”

  Caleb nodded. “I’m on my way to join up with the navy.”

  “Man, am I glad to hear that! I’ve been filling in because they can’t get enough pilots. I’ll let you have my job any day.”

  “You’re not going to stay with the navy?” The smile faded from his face. “You and Alex.” He shook his head. “My mother used to say to me, ‘Caleb, you started this, now you finish it. It don’t matter you didn’t give it a moment’s thought before getting in over your head, dat’s yo’ problem!’ I don’t reckon I like fighting any better than you.”

  “But you’re going, Caleb,” Mike protested. “I can’t reconcile Jesus Christ and his gentle ways with killing.”

  “Then I guess I’ll have to ask for you to know His will.”

  “What if you find out He says it isn’t my job?”

  “Then I’ll be going for you. I feel it’s what the Lord wants me to do.”

  During the night, Alex awoke sweating and shaking. He had dreamed a man had been attacking Olivia, choking the life out of her. As his racing heart slowed, he recalled his part in the dream. He hadn’t delivered just one smack to the head of the intruder; instead he had methodically pounded the man to death. The man’s blood ran boot deep around Alex.

  He took a deep, shaky breath. You can fight for anything, he thought, if it’s important enough to die for.

  Chapter 23

  “Alex,” Olivia said as she turned from the bedroom window the next morning, “how would you feel about becoming a father early next spring?”

  “Is that a promise or an enticement?” he murmured, nibbling her ear.

  “I think it’s a promise.” He looked intently into her face before pulling her close, rocking her gently in his arms. Pressing her face against his shoulder, he fought the dismay he felt. Lord, I was ready to tell her I must go to war. What do I say now?

  “So that’s why breakfast is suddenly uninteresting. Olivia, my dearest, I’ll put you to bed and personally wait on you for the whole nine months.”

  “No, you won’t, I’m perfectly healthy. And it won’t be nine months. This is the middle of August. Sadie says it will probably be in March.”

  “Olivia, God is in control of this child. I promised you we’d have a baby in His time.”

  “His time,” she whispered wonderingly. “And His time is at the worst possible time for the Union. Oh, Alex, last year the Union lost that terrible battle at Bull Run. Now it is starting to look as if they’ll be repeating it all again.”

  “It doesn’t look good,” he admitted, “but Lincoln and the army have learned plenty during the past year.” He snuggled her closer. In an article I read recently, one newspaper man said part of the North’s problems now stem from their defeat at Bull Run.”

  “What did he mean?”

  “That the North lost their confidence because they were whipped. And the South has a high level of confidence because they won. The writer didn’t feel it was going to work to the South’s favor in the end.” He paused, saw her puzzled expression, and added, “Overconfidence. Guess what we need to do for our fellows is to pray they’ll do their best—better than they think is best right now.”

  “Alex, we were in Charleston when the war began. I remember how terrible it was—the agony we felt listening to reports, hearing it called a blood bath.”

  Alex lifted her chin and kissed her. “It’s getting late. Today is the Sabbath. Will your stomach allow you to participate in breakfast and meeting or would you rather stay home this morning?”

  “Let’s try the questions one at a time, starting with breakfast. Right now I’m starved.”

  At the breakfast table, Sadie eyed Alex’s grin and said, “So thee knows. Might as well make an announcement; it’ll be easier on Olivia.”

  “Why?” Beth asked.

  “Because Olivia turns green when she smells bacon,” Sadie said with a twinkle in her eyes. “Well, Alex, if thou art just going to grin, I will say it. Olivia and Alex are going to have a wee addition to their family.” She nodded to Olivia. “Now thou can just let Beth wait on the table. I’ve made some nice cooked oats for you this morning. Oats sit lighter than cornmeal.”

  After breakfast Amos turned to Beth. “Beth, if thou goes to meeting this morning, it might be easier to face the week.”

  She lifted her chin. “You are saying you don’t think I’ll be getting a letter from Roald this week. How can meeting help that?”

  Sadie nodded, “True, it doesn’t. I know I’d like a letter from Mike, telling us what’s happening to him. But it helps to know thy kind heavenly Father cares when thy heart aches, Lass.”

  ****

  Meeting had just begun when Mike slipped into the pew beside Alex and Olivia. While Alex clasped his hand and Sadie beamed at him, Olivia examined his face. The stark, stunned look of pain he had worn home last time had vanished. She sighed with relief. As the brethren rose one by one to share with the congregation, Olivia silently thanked God for Mike’s return, and then fell to musing over the expression on Alex’s face when she told him about the baby.

  He couldn’t hide it. Joy, yes—but he still had shadows in his eyes. Did they have something to do with the cautious statements he’s been making since Caleb left to join the navy?

  The voices around her faded, and Olivia faced the solitary thought. Alex would go to war, and she must not cling to him. Carefully she bit down on her lip until the desire to cry fled under the pain.

  While they were climbing into Amos’ carriage, Mike said, “This far inland, the heat gets to you. Guess I’m going soft, spending so much time on the water.”

  “How didst thou manage to find us?” Sadie asked.

  “Where else would I look on Sabbath morn?” Mike asked with a laugh. “I took the train into Martinsville, found a ride coming this way, and knew I’d find you here.”

  “Going to be with us for a time?” Amos asked as he flipped the reins along the backs of the team.

  “No. Things are slow right now; there’s regrouping, and we’re waiting for troops to come from out East.” He took a deep breath. He threw a quick glance at Sadie and continued. “I’ve joined the navy. As long as I’m going to spend all my time piloting boats around, I might as well be part of the crowd.”

  Sadie sighed heavily. “I can’t say it surprises me, but Mike, thou art so young—”

  Words failed her, and Amos added, “And he’ll be young when he comes back from battle, too.”

  Mike looked around. “Beth isn’t here. Did she leave?”

  “No.” Sadie eyed him sharply. “After thee left, that young man, Roald Fairmont went back East with his regiment, the Pennsylvania Volunteers. He didn’t know much about where he was going. Beth’s had letters from him up until the last month. From what they’ve been saying all over, the mail just isn’t getting through. Heard Lincoln’s cut off the mail service into the South. But thou can’t believe all thee hears, especially during times like this.”

  “Where is she?”

  Sadie looked startled. “Beth? She stayed at home this morning. Didn’t seem to be willing to let the Lord bless her at meeting.”

  When Mike walked into the house, it was filled with the aroma of roasting pork, apples, and onion. Beth had the table set and the fragrance of coffee was beginning to mingle with the scent of meat
. Mike went into the kitchen, grinning at Sadie. “I’d forgotten what real food smells like.”

  He found the tray of cookies. “Hello, Beth,” he said casually. “So you’re chief cook today.”

  For a moment she stood blinking at him. “Mike…” she said slowly, “I’m surprised to see you. How do you manage to get leave so often when none of the others do?”

  “Well, thanks for making me welcome,” he said dryly. “Until this past month, I was my own boss. Now I’m part of the Union’s navy. I’ll inform them that you’d rather I didn’t pester you with my presence.”

  She flushed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I am glad to see you. It’s just that I was thinking about Roald and wondering why he can’t come home. You know he’s been gone for over two months.”

  “I understand that’s the military life. Hear it happens to most of them.”

  “Did you—” She rushed to stir the contents of the kettle. Sadie came into the kitchen. Tying on her apron, she said, “Beth, it smells like thou didst make a wonderful meal. Would thou get the milk and buttermilk from the springhouse? Olivia needs a mug of milk now. I’ll dish up the dinner.”

  “What’s the matter with Olivia?” Mike asked.

  Beth turned pink and Sadie said, “She’s in a family way. If thou goest to help Beth, thou can carry the jugs.” She gave him a stern eye. “And hurry.”

  Silently Mike followed Beth as she quickly crossed the kitchen and headed for the springhouse. In the cool earthen depths, Mike breathed deeply of the mingled odor of fresh butter, ripened cheese, and mellow apples. He dodged the side of bacon hanging from the rafters and made his way through the dimness to the far corner where the swift-moving stream dipped in and out of the building.

  Pulling out jugs of milk cooled by the water, he wiped them dry with the towel Beth handed him. “Get the tub of butter too, please.” She pointed to the crock in the water.

  “Sadie’s springhouse is another memory I’ll cherish,” he murmured.