Truly Yours Historical Collection December 2014

by Susan Page Davis, Paige Winship Dooly, Connie Stevens

  “I can work on the inside this winter if need be,” Zeke said after an hour’s work. “If we can get the roof fixed before another storm, we’ll be in good shape.”

  Harry stooped to examine the frame of the bed. “I think we can get this out of here now. You’ll have to mend this side rail, but the damage isn’t too bad, considering.”

  Zeke went to the doorway and called, “Miss Sadie! Miss Sadie, where you say you want this here bedstead?”

  Harry wrestled the plump featherbed off onto the floor. By the time he had the footboard separated from the side rails, she was in the room.

  She directed Zeke on where to take the featherbed then turned to Harry. “Just follow me, Mr. Cooper.”

  Harry picked up the heavy footboard and carried it carefully through the doorway and to the opposite end of the hallway. She opened a pristine white door and stepped into another bedchamber.

  He knew at once that it was her room. Even without her sidelong glance and the becoming pink of her cheeks, he’d have known. The embroidered bed hangings were embellished with decidedly feminine lilac blossoms, and a green gown was hanging on the door of the armoire. He made himself quit looking around as his curiosity seemed to raise her anxiety.

  “Just lean it against the wall there.” She nodded toward the longest stretch of bare wall.

  Harry set the footboard down and straightened. He couldn’t help noticing an old spinning wheel in one corner. “That’s a very old piece, isn’t it?” he asked, more to relieve her uneasiness than anything else. “Do you spin?”

  “No. It belonged to my great-grandmother Walsh. My grandmother used to spin wool on it, and my mother did some when she was a girl. I never learned, but I asked Papa if I could keep it.”

  He nodded and stepped over to give the wheel a spin. “It’s in good condition. My mother used to spin, too.”

  They smiled at each other, a small, tentative smile on Sadie’s part, but it sent his pulse racing. Given enough time, he was sure he could regain the ground he’d lost with her since May. But time was the one thing he wouldn’t have with Sadie.

  She ran her hand over the scarf that covered her hair. “I’d best go help Tallie.”

  “I’ll bring the rest of the bed in here.”

  He met Zeke in the hallway, awkwardly carrying the headboard. Harry grabbed one end and walked backward along to Sadie’s room. When they had set it down with the footboard, they made their way back to the scene of destruction.

  “I can get the rails and slats,” Zeke said.

  Harry nodded, surveying the room. They had sawn up the lesser limbs and thrown the wood down into the yard below. Just the main part of the big oak limb was left, and it would take a lot of energy to cut it in pieces small enough to toss out.

  The cherry armoire had been smashed by the falling tree, and a small side table and lamp were broken. The washstand seemed to be unscathed except for some scratches on the wood. The porcelain bowl and pitcher stood miraculously unharmed in the corner of the room farthest from the breach.

  “This was a beautiful room,” Harry said, shaking his head.

  “Yes, suh.” Zeke wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve then glanced up through the gaping roof toward the sun. “I’d best get down to the barn. Those animals had ought to be put out to pasture now that the weather’s cleared.”

  “Would you like me to help you, or should I stay here and keep on with this?” Harry asked.

  Zeke looked around. “It’s gonna be a big job, ain’t it, Mr. Harry? I don’t think we can fix this roof today.”

  “No, we can’t. But I can measure what we’ll need for timbers while you’re at the barn. Do you have a measuring line, Zeke?”

  “Mr. Oliver has one. I’ll ask Tallie to see if she can find it. We’ll have to get some lumber and shingles.” Zeke headed for the stairs.

  “I’d better go and see to my own horse,” Harry said.

  “My boy and I can tend him, if you want.”

  Harry hesitated. “If you don’t mind.”

  “Not a bit, Mr. Harry.”

  “All right, thank you. Could you see that he gets a drink of water then?”

  “Yes, suh, I’ll do that. If you want, I’ll have Pax put him out to grass after.”

  When Zeke returned, Harry had made a careful inspection of the damage and prepared a list of the lumber he estimated they would need to complete the restoration. Zeke sent Pax to the sawmill two miles downriver with a wagon and Harry’s list. The two men tackled the heavy log that was the last of the tree limb. When it had been sawn into manageable pieces and ousted, they began clearing away the ragged, broken boards and plaster in preparation for the repairs. By noon Harry was certain he and Zeke had become lifelong friends. They worked well together, with few words needed between them.

  Sadie appeared in the doorway. “I’ve got a basin of water at the back door so you gentlemen can wash up for dinner.”

  “I don’t know,” Harry said with a grin. “It might take the whole Shenandoah River to get us clean.”

  Zeke laughed and brushed at the plaster on his sleeve, but it was damp and mushy from his exposure to the rain-soaked room.

  “Yep, we are two filthy field hands. I expect we’d both best eat in the kitchen, Miss Sadie.”

  “We’re all eating in the kitchen, although Tallie’s a mite scandalized.” Sadie shot a sideways glance at Harry. “No offense, sir, but the time it would take us all to clean up and change—”

  “I agree,” Harry said. “Especially when we’ll be coming back to this job as soon as we’re finished eating.”

  He bowed solemnly and gestured toward the hallway. “After you, sir.”

  Zeke grinned. “No, suh, you first.”

  Sadie was not in evidence when they passed through the kitchen. Tallie looked at Zeke, her eyebrows arched high. “You done gone and turned Mr. Harry into a no-account.”

  Zeke laughed. “He’s a hardworking no-account.”

  When they reached the lean-to at the back door, Harry peeled off his shirt and shook it outside, but it was a sorry mess. If he was still there for the evening meal, he’d have to retrieve his extra clothing from his pack in the barn. He splashed water from the tin basin over his face and hands.

  “I hope Mr. McEwan wasn’t disturbed by all the racket we’ve been making this morning.” He reached for one of the towels Sadie had left on the bench beside the basin.

  Zeke tossed the water onto the row of zinnias outside the lean-to and refilled the basin for himself from a bucket. “Oh, no, suh, I can assure you, Mr. Oliver wasn’t disturbed by us.”

  “Glad to hear it. I asked Miss Sadie about her father, but she seems quite distressed about his condition. I don’t like to press her.”

  “Well, I can tell you, Mr. Oliver is no different today than he was the last few days, and the storm and all didn’t bother him a bit.”

  Harry nodded, thinking about that. It seemed to him that a man would have to be comatose not to have been disturbed by the jolt the house had taken in the night.

  His muscles ached from the morning’s labor, but sinking into the sturdy oak chair across from Sadie for lunch was worth every minute of work. She had washed her face, brushed her hair to a luster, and removed the faded apron. It was hard to decide which reward was better—Tallie’s cooking or Sadie’s shy smile.

  ❧

  They were all exhausted by suppertime. Sadie had scrubbed and swept and mopped most of the day. When Pax returned with the lumber and nails in the middle of the afternoon, the men unloaded it all. The boy ate a late luncheon then set about splitting and stacking the rest of the wood from the oak tree. Harry and Zeke made a temporary covering over the yawning hole in the roof in case more rain came in the night. Tallie did her usual kitchen chores and helped Sadie wash the curtains, blankets, and sheets from Tenley’s bedroom.

  “We ought to ask Mr. Cooper to stay.” As they folded the dry linens in the bright sunshine, Sadie looked to Tallie for
guidance, uncertain as to what course she should take.

  “Yes, you should. That man’s worked like an ox all day, for nothin’.”

  “Can we feed him again tonight?” Sadie felt the least bit timid to ask the favor, and Tallie looked over at her as if she were crazy.

  “Why, child, I’ve got fresh johnnycake in the oven, and I kept over the chicken and sweets I was planning to serve Mr. Harry last night. You know I forbade Zeke and Pax to touch those pies. Why you think I didn’t serve them this noon?”

  “I was wondering,” Sadie admitted. Those are for Mr. Cooper, Tallie had told them last night, even though at the time Sadie was sure Harry would return briefly for his horses and be gone before another meal was served at the McEwan house. Yet Tallie had served gingerbread after luncheon this noon.

  “They’re for his dinner.”

  Sadie frowned as she pulled a linen towel from the clothes-line. “Well, I can’t have him stay here in the house tonight. I mean, not if I’m alone here. And he thinks—oh, Tallie, what am I going to do? Zeke has muddled everything!”

  “Should have told him straight out,” Tallie agreed with a shake of her head.

  “I know it, but it’s too late now! How would it look? Mr. Cooper would be shocked, and who knows what he’d do? He might tell someone who could do us harm, Tallie!”

  “Mr. Harry wouldn’t do that.”

  “No, I suppose not.” Sadie stood in indecision. “But Tenley’s room is ruined, and Papa’s room is full of the extra furniture. Where would we put him, even if you slept up here for appearances?” Suddenly the tears that had hounded her for days gushed from her eyes, and Sadie sat down with a plunk on the grass and buried her face in her apron. “Tallie, I had to have Harry put the bedstead in my own room, because if he went into Papa’s room. . .” She sobbed, unable to continue.

  “There, child.” Tallie came close and hugged her. “You’ve had a lot to deal with lately. There now.”

  “Tallie, tell me what to do!” Sadie sobbed and put her arms around Tallie. “Please tell me. I’m so tired and confused.”

  “Well, we’s all tired, that’s for sure. We can’t send Mr. Harry back to town.”

  “No, no, we can’t. Oh, Tallie, you don’t think he’ll ask for his money back?”

  “Of course not.”

  “I do hope you’re right, because what with having to buy lumber and all, we’re going to need cash really soon.”

  “Your papa had nothin’ at all in the bank?”

  “I don’t think so, and even if there’s a little bit, it’s not rightfully mine.”

  The door to the lean-to opened, and Zeke strolled out with a bucket in each hand.

  “You frying that chicken tonight, sugarplum?” he asked Tallie as he headed for the well.

  “Iffen I don’t, it’ll spoil,” she replied. “I kept it in the spring house all day, but it’s going in the pan shortly.”

  “Sounds good to me. Mr. Harry and me’ll be ready to tuck into it whenever you say.”

  Tallie frowned at him. “Mr. Harry is eatin’ in the dinin’ room tonight with Miss Sadie.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I hear you.” Zeke ambled on toward the well, but Tallie’s next statement brought him to a halt.

  “You quit feedin’ Mr. Harry full of lies. You tryin’ to wreck Miss Sadie’s prospects with that gen’leman?”

  Zeke turned to face her. “I ain’t told no lies.”

  “Oh, listen to you! Surely, surely, my ears ain’t workin’ right!” Tallie looked pointedly at Sadie. “You hear him say he don’t lie?”

  “Well, Tallie, I’m not sure Zeke intended to be deceptive, but Mr. Cooper made certain assumptions, and—”

  “That’s right,” Zeke said. “He assumpted. Now what was I supposed to tell him, with Miss Sadie here worried sick over what’s to become of her? Mr. Harry, he’s a good sort, but we didn’t know that for sure yesterday. Now we know it.”

  Tallie nodded. “A man works that hard all day for you—he’s a true friend.”

  “That’s right. He’s upstairs right now workin’ on that mess. And tomorrow me and Mr. Harry is going to get that roof closed in.”

  “Tomorrow?” Sadie blinked at Zeke. “He’s coming back tomorrow?”

  “Comin’ back?” Zeke set his buckets down and slapped his thigh. “Miss Sadie, you not going to make that fine young man ride all the way to Winchester tonight when he’s bone tired!”

  “Well. . .” Sadie looked once more at Tallie and saw that Tallie was coming to a decision.

  “We was just talkin’ about that,” Tallie said. “We got no place for Mr. Harry here in the big house.”

  “Well, then, he’ll just have to bunk with me and Pax in our cabin, and you can join Miss Sadie for tonight,” Zeke said.

  “Would you?” Sadie asked, searching Tallie’s face for an indication of her feelings.

  Tallie’s teeth gleamed as she smiled. “Why, surely! That’s the answer. That is, if Mr. Harry don’t care about sleepin’ with the poor folks.”

  “Mr. Harry don’t stand on ceremony,” Zeke said.

  “But still. . .” Sadie looked doubtfully from one to the other. She was certain it wasn’t socially correct to ask a guest to sleep in the hired help’s home especially when they were a black family. Mrs. Thurber would be shocked. “I—I’m just not sure. . . .” She stood up. “Oh, Tallie, I’m so tired. I don’t know what’s right and what’s not! I suppose Zeke can ask Mr. Cooper if he’s willing, and if he’s insulted he can take his mares and leave.”

  “No worry about that,” Zeke said, smiling and reaching into the pocket of his trousers. “Mr. Harry done told me he’s stayin’ ’til the roof is tight, and he asked me to give you this.”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s the rest of the money for the horses. He said he’d like to give it to your pa direct, but since we had these unexpected expenses and all, he thought maybe he’d best give it to you, and you can give it to your papa.”

  Sadie gulped and reached for the money. “I feel like I’m taking this under false pretenses.”

  “Nonsense, child,” said Tallie. She glared at Zeke. “Mr. Harry is a fine man. He would have understood. Why did you have to muddle things up so? You ought to be sleepin’ in the barn for three nights—you’re so bad! If I wasn’t sleepin’ with Miss Sadie tonight, I surely wouldn’t sleep with you! I’d make you—”

  Sadie burst into tears, and Tallie caught her breath and drew her close in her embrace. “See what you done, Zeke? Now git your water, and git on out of here. Miss Sadie’s gone all weepy ’cause of you, and I’ve got chicken to fry!”

  Seven

  Four days later Harry and Zeke worked side by side, nailing shingles into place on the roof. Pax went up and down the ladder, bringing them supplies. Harry’s knees ached from kneeling on the staging, but he didn’t dare stop hammering.

  “I’m thinkin’ we’re in for rain before nightfall,” Zeke said, casting a worried glance toward the sky.

  Harry had several nails protruding from his mouth, but he grunted in reply.

  “Think we can finish before it hits, Mr. Harry?”

  He took the nails out and shook his head. “I doubt it. But we should be able to cover what’s left with that canvas so it won’t leak in.”

  Zeke nodded. “That’s my thinkin’, too.”

  They worked on steadily, course after course of cedar shingles.

  “Got to move the staging,” Zeke said at last.

  Harry looked out over the valley. Dark clouds were brewing. “Maybe we’d best cover it up and get off this ridgepole before the lightning commences to look for a target.”

  “You think so, suh?”

  In answer to Zeke’s question, thunder rumbled ominously.

  “Come on!” Harry stood up, flexing his back wearily. The canvas was folded back each morning and weighted down on the upper part of the roof. He and Zeke scrambled up the slant.

  “Yes, suh, we’d best start
makin’ things shipshape,” Zeke said.

  Quitting early was a blessing, Harry thought. For once he’d have time to bathe at leisure then spend a pleasant evening with Sadie. All week they’d worked until the sun set, and every night when they quit at last for supper, they were so tired they all retired as soon as the meal was finished. There was never time for a detailed conversation.

  As the first raindrops pattered on the canvas, they were scooting down the ladder with their tools. They dashed inside just as Pax came sprinting up from the barn.

  “Hosses all under cover,” Pax told his father, and Zeke clapped him on the shoulder.

  “Good boy! We’d best go wash up, or your mama won’t give us any supper.”

  Harry was pleased to find that Tallie had carried warm water to Tenley’s room for him. The chamber was still bare of furniture, and the walls needed plastering and painting, but it would do fine as a bathroom.

  “I washed all your extra clothes this morning, Mr. Harry,” she told him with a satisfied grin. “They dried out just in time. I brung your things in before the rain started.”

  “Thank you, Tallie.” He hated to cause her extra work, but his two changes of clothing had become offensive from grime and sweat.

  As he mounted the stairs, Sadie approached.

  “Harry, since you’ve been so kind and stayed on to help us, I wanted to offer you these.”

  She held out a bundle of clothes, and he took it with mixed emotions. He badly needed the extra clothing, and he didn’t want to embarrass her with his meager wardrobe. On the other hand, it must be stressful to her to offer him things that had perhaps belonged to her deceased brother.

  “Sadie, I. . .this is very thoughtful of you.”

  She shook her head and raised one hand. “Father. . .”

  “Your father suggested you give me some of Tenley’s clothes?”

  “No, actually. . .” She winced then took a deep breath. “These were my father’s things. You’re larger than Tenley. I’m afraid the cuffs of his trousers would be above your boot tops, and I don’t like to contemplate your trying to fit one of his shirts.”