Part 39 (1/2)
”Dear Lord have mercy!” Esther cried, running from the house to the backyard. ”Would y'all come inside and look who's here!”
Caroline was in the backyard with the others that warm May evening, watching Eli, Josiah, and Gilbert dig up another section of the yard to plant vegetables. The air was ripe with the scent of spring and with the horse manure the men were spading into the soil. Esther had heard the front door chimes and offered to see who it was. Now she was dancing from one foot to the other in excitement.
”Come on, y'all! Hurry up!”
Caroline ran inside ahead of the others, then stopped in amazement when she reached the foyer. The two thin, bedraggled-looking men standing in her doorway were her father and her cousin Jonathan. She didn't know which one to hug first.
”Thank G.o.d, thank G.o.d,” she wept as she hugged them both again and again. ”Where have you been all this time? I thought you were dead.”
”I thought I was, too, Sugar. More than once,” her father said.
”We ran into each other at Fort Delaware-the prisoner of war camp,” Jonathan explained. ”Uncle George kept me alive. I thought the least I could do was bring him home.”
”Kept you alive?”
”He used some of the gold he had with him to bribe the guards, buying us extra rations and a warm blanket. I owe him my life.”
”I still can't believe you're both here . . . that you're alive!” she repeated.
”Didn't I promise that I would be back to dance with you?” Jonathan grinned and pulled her into his arms to waltz her around the foyer. He wore the same lively, impish grin she had loved since the day they'd first met. She was so glad that at least one thing hadn't changed. ”I'll be back to collect a second dance another day,” he said. ”I want to see Sally. I want to go home to my wife.”
”She'll be the happiest woman in the world when she sees you.”
Jonathan's smile faded for a moment. ”Where's Charles?” he asked. ”Why isn't he here with you? Please tell me that he made it through the war all right.”
Pain knifed through Caroline at the mention of his name. Jonathan would learn the truth soon enough. She decided not to spoil his joyful homecoming. ”Charles made it through, safe and sound,” she said, smiling bravely.
”You mean I made it home in time for your wedding?”
”Go now. Hurry!” she said as tears filled her eyes. ”Sally's waiting.”
Suddenly Josiah spoke up from behind her. ”I be glad to drive you down there, Jonathan,” he said. ”It's awful far to walk.”
Jonathan looked stunned. ”Thanks, Josiah,” he finally said. ”I'd appreciate a ride.”
Caroline drew her cousin into her arms again, hugging him close for what she knew would be the last time. Sally and Charles would tell him what she had done. Like the others, Jonathan would neither understand nor forgive her. His brother Will was dead, his home at Hilltop ruined. And she had helped his enemies.
”Good-bye,” she whispered. ”Thanks for bringing Daddy home.”
When they were gone, Caroline became aware, for the first time, of all the servants, standing in the hallway behind her, staring at her father as if they were seeing a ghost. She wasn't entirely sure that they weren't.
”Sure is good to see you, Ma.s.sa Fletcher,” Gilbert said.
”Well, now. It's good to see all of you, too. I thought for sure y'all would have run off by now, like every other servant in the state of Virginia.”
”No, Daddy. They all stayed here with me. They saved my life. I would have starved to death if it weren't for them.”
He looked at them for a long moment. ”I'm grateful to you,” he said quietly. ”Now then, I don't suppose a man could get something to drink around here?”
”Sorry, sir,” Gilbert said. ”Drink's been long gone.”
”I ran out of gold a long time ago, Daddy. It went fast, with flour costing five hundred dollars a barrel.”
”Well, here. Maybe this will help.” He removed his jacket and handed it to Caroline.
”This jacket weighs a ton.”
”I know. It's a wonder I didn't sink to the bottom of the harbor when those blasted Yankees sank my boat. I sewed my gold inside the seams so it would be safe. For goodness' sake, rip it out and buy me something to eat. I'm starved.”
”That's music to my ears,” Esther said.
”You mean . . . we're not broke?” Caroline asked.
”Heavens, no. I told you I made a fortune as a privateer. I just wasn't able to get it all home safely during the war.We have plenty of gold and even some U.S. Treasury notes hidden away down in the islands. I plan to go collect it all, first chance I get. I could use someone to go with me, but I don't suppose Jonathan or Charles will want to leave home anytime soon.”
Caroline couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face. ”I know someone who would love to go with you, Daddy.”
”Who?”
”Gilbert.”
Her father looked at Caroline, then at Gilbert, as if they were both out of their minds. ”Go ahead, Daddy,” she said. ”Ask him.”
”I'd be mighty pleased to go with you, Ma.s.sa Fletcher,” Gilbert said before her father could open his mouth. ”I been hoping you'd ask me someday.”
”Well, I'll be darned,” he said. He looked around at all of them in amazement, then noticed the walls of the foyer for the first time. ”Good heavens!” he cried as he stared at the ragged patches of bare plaster where the wallpaper had been. ”What on earth have you done to my house?”
Chapter Twenty-seven.
June 1865.
”Some of these books are going to be easier for my students to read than others,” Caroline told Ruby as she handed her another pile.
”Easy or hard, they could all use a good dusting,” Ruby grumbled.
Caroline had attended wors.h.i.+p services with Eli at his African Baptist Church, where he'd announced to his congregation that she was willing to teach cla.s.ses to anyone who wanted to learn to read and write. Hundreds of former slaves had hurried forward to sign up. Now she was working in her father's library, putting his books in order and making a list of the t.i.tles she could use with her students.
When the front door chimes suddenly rang, Ruby set her armload of books on the desk. ”Who's pestering us now?”
”If it's someone who wants to sign up for cla.s.ses, send him in,” she called after Ruby. Then she realized that all of her potential students were former slaves who would never dream of coming to her front door. She listened for a moment to see if she could recognize the person's voice. Instead, she heard Ruby shouting in anger.
”You get on out of here! Ain't no Yankees welcome in this house! Go away!”
Caroline jumped down from the chair she was standing on and ran to the foyer. Ruby was trying to close the door on a man in a Federal uniform. The officer had his foot wedged inside, preventing it from shutting.
”Wait a minute, please,” the Yankee begged. ”It's me, Robert Hoffman.”