Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Gray (19 page)

We reached the path that led to the quarters. It was a warm spring night, and everybody was still outside enjoying the mild weather. Children chased lightning bugs while their mothers stood in open doorways talking. Down in the woods the menfolk stood in a tight circle, smoking their tobacco and sharing a bottle. Somewhere, ham and cabbage still simmered over a fire. The air was full of the smell of it.

I looked up at Thornton. “You still want to marry me, Thornton Gray?”

“Naw. I'm out of the mood now.”

You could have knocked me over with a single breath. I stared at him, humiliated, tears spurting out of my eyes, my
mouth opening and closing like a fish. Finally I blurted, “Oh. I . . . I was just teasing you anyway.”

He laughed. “Joke's on you, Miss Norris. Of course I want to marry you. Say the day. Tomorrow? Sunday?”

“I want to tell Missus and Miss Mary first.”

“Get their permission? You think they care what goes on down here? No, they don't. Long as we say ‘yessum' and ‘no sir' and clean up their messes so their lives run smooth.”

“I want their blessing anyway.”

“Suit yourself. It's all right with me.” Thornton nuzzled my neck. “When you gone marry me, Selina Norris?”

I smiled mysteriously. “I haven't made up my mind yet.”

A
nd how is the rheumatic pain these days, Mrs. Lee?”

Mother had summoned the doctor because of my ragged cough that had persisted for nearly a month. I sat on the edge of the bed while he tapped on my chest. The smell of frying ham wafted up the stairs. Through my open window came the shouts of my children at play on the lawn and the murmur of bees in the pink roses still blooming in the garden.

I was weary of keeping up the pretense that I was not slowly becoming an invalid. There were days when the least movement brought intense pain. Nights when the blue pills the doctor had prescribed offered no relief. But my mother was standing next to the doctor, an anxious expression on her sweet face, and I couldn't bring myself to tell him that with each month that passed, walking up and down the stairs became more difficult. Simple things such as lifting my babies and buttoning my own shoes caused such sharp pains that I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out. And there was Robert to consider. He was in Washington, awaiting new orders, and there was no point in his worrying about something he could not control.

“It's no worse than usual, Doctor.”

“The warm baths will help with the stiffness.” He took a bottle of black syrup from his bag. “This ought to help with the cough.” He pinned me with his pale eyes. “You need rest, Mrs. Lee. You've only just delivered a child.”

“It has been six months.”

“Nevertheless. A woman with your history of complications must guard against getting overly tired. Though I am certain it's easier said than done, when one is the mother of so large a brood.” He helped me lie back on the bed and then leaned down to speak so that Mother wouldn't overhear. “Perhaps you and Captain Lee ought to consider your family complete. Take appropriate measures to prevent any more children.”

Never had anyone spoken so frankly to me about such a personal subject. I was hardly the blushing bride, but I could feel heat rising to my face. I could muster no reply except to thank him for coming to see me.

He picked up his bag. “If that cough isn't better in a week's time, send for me.”

Mother walked him out, and a few moments later I heard his buggy clattering down the road.

Kitty came in and placed the baby in my arms. “Miss Mildred Childe hungry, I reckon. Pitched a fit the whole blessed morning.”

I raised my chemise to let Precious Life nurse. Kitty stood gazing out the window.

“Have the children had their breakfast?”

“Yes, Mrs. Lee. And Missus already had morning prayers too. She plans on teaching the girls they lessons this morning so you can get some rest. Rose got Mr. Rooney and Mr. Rob helping Ephraim in the garden.”

“I am not sure how much help a three-year-old will be to Ephraim, but Rob will enjoy it.”

“Yessum, little Mr. Rob sure likes digging in the dirt.”

I shifted the baby onto my shoulder and patted her back until she released a satisfying burp.

Selina came upstairs carrying a set of fresh linens and opened the door with the toe of her shoe. “Missus said you need clean sheets. I'll put them on the bed if you feel up to sitting in the chair while I do it.”

Precious Life was already asleep. I handed her back to Kitty and got out of bed. With a quick bob of her head, Kitty left the room.

Selina stripped the linens from the bed and piled them on Robert's chair. I watched her hands expertly smooth the clean linens over the mattress, thinking how quickly the years had passed. She was no longer a child, terrified over a drop of blood, but a young woman who had turned into an exceptionally fine housekeeper.

She tucked the sheets under the mattress and drew them taut. “Saw the doctor calling here this morning. You all right, Miss Mary?”

“Just a cough. He says I ought to rest more.”

“Huh.” She regarded me, one brow cocked. “The same as what I have been telling you.”

“It is. I should have listened, O wise one.”

“Yes, you should. But you never do. Wasn't I the one who told you not to go riding in the rain? Didn't I say you was liable to catch a cold?”

“You did.” I couldn't help smiling at her intensity. “But in my defense, it wasn't raining when I started out.”

“No, it was not. But your bones was aching something awful, and that's a sure sign of rain.” Selina scowled and fluffed the pillows with more force than was necessary.

“What is the matter with you this morning, Selina?”

“Nothing, Miss Mary.”

Something was afoot, but I was too tired to coax it out of her. “I ought to get up and get dressed, but that bed certainly looks inviting. Just like a fine hotel room in New York.”

Selina removed a feather duster from her apron and began dusting the chest of drawers. “What was it like in New York?”

“It was so many things all at once. Scary and exhilarating, madding and enchanting. More kinds of people on the streets of Manhattan than you can even imagine exist in the world. Bartenders sweeping glass off the sidewalk, street vendors warming their hands over braziers on the corners, ragmen with carts and horses, stylish women and their maids carrying boxes from the finest stores. Street after street of stores and tearooms and theaters. You would have found it quite an interesting place.”

“Huh.”

“I didn't venture into the city too often. Mostly I stayed at home in Brooklyn with the children. I made a few sketches of the city, but I'm afraid they aren't very good. I'm out of practice.”

“Huh.”

I watched her flick the feather duster over the headboard and the windowsill. “I haven't seen much of you lately.”

“Been busy downstairs and helping with the summer garden. The squash and corn did real well this year. Mister Custis told Lawrence this is the finest crop he ever saw at Arlington.”

“That must have made Ephraim and the other men happy.”

“I reckon so.”

“And what of Thornton Gray? I hear he has become indispensible to Daniel.”

“Daniel says Thornton knows horses as well as he does. But I don't think Daniel is about to give up his job as carriage driver. Reckon Thornton will be driving the wagons and tending the stables awhile longer.”

Selina's hands stilled.

“And?”

She whirled around, her checked skirts swirling around her ankles. “Miss Mary, he asked me to marry him.”

“I see.” Selina was a woman now, with a woman's feelings and dreams. It pleased me that she had found someone to love her. I smoothed my wrinkled gown. “I suspected as much. I have seen the way he looks at you in chapel when he thinks no one is watching. Have you given him an answer?”

“I told him I hadn't made up my mind yet.”

“Ah. Good for you.”

“I'm going to say yes, but I want a proper wedding with a preacher.”

“You know Virginia will not recognize your marriage.”

She frowned. “Why not?”

“Because only those unions between free persons have legal standing.”

The look on her face made me queasy with shame that she should be denied even this small dignity. “However, if you wish a service of Christian marriage, I will try to arrange it.”

Selina crossed the room and seized my hands. Her eyes were wet with tears. “This is the nicest thing anybody ever has done for me.”

“Well, we had better not count on it until we hear from the minister, but I will do all I can to convince him to perform the ceremony.”

Selina scooped up the dirty linens. “I got to go.”

I dressed and went down to the dining room, where my breakfast had been kept warm on a tray. I had just taken a bite of my biscuit when I heard Robert's footfalls in the entry hall. I got up and went through the parlor to the front door. “Back from the city already?”

He leaned down, smelling of soap and the garden, and pressed a rosebud into my hands. “Good morning, Mary. Mother just told me the doctor has been here. And that you are to rest. What are you doing out of bed?”

“I can't stay in bed all the time. And Papa went to some trouble to set up a desk for me. I intend to make use of it while the children are at their lessons.”

He brushed at the corner of my mouth. “You've a bit of biscuit there. Go ahead and finish your breakfast before it gets cold.”

“Will you sit with me and keep me company?”

We returned to the dining room to find Papa happily munching from my plate. He looked up and stopped chewing. “Mary Anna, was this yours?”

“It was, Papa. I was late to breakfast owing to a visit from the doctor.”

My father blushed, even to his bald pate. “I do apologize, my dear. I shall send for another plate right away.”

“No need. I'm not very hungry, and it won't be long until dinner anyway.”

He eyed the last bit of ham on the plate. “Well, if you are quite sure.”

“Mary,” Robert said, “do you feel up to a short turn in the garden?”

Leaving my rosebud on the table, I retrieved my straw hat and we went out into the peerless beauty of the late-summer day. Robert held tightly to my arm as we strolled across the gently rolling hills, listening to the noisy gossip of jays in the trees.

“I didn't expect you home from Washington so soon,” I said. “Mother said you were to be tied up with meetings all day.”

“Well, one meeting, anyway. With General Totten.”

I pressed a hand to my midsection. A meeting with his commanding officer could mean only one thing.

“I received my orders this morning,” he said. “I'm to report to General Wool at San Antonio de Bexar. In case I am needed in the field in Mexico.”

“I see. Though just why a married man with seven children would seek to put his life in peril is utterly beyond my powers of reasoning. Especially when you said yourself you are not even certain Congress ought to have declared war on Mexico.”

He sighed. “I wish I felt more justified in our cause, but it is not my place to make such judgments. General Totten feels that I can be of use to General Wool, and I am prepared to render whatever services might be required to bring this matter to a swift end.”

My chest was already aching, filling up with drops of loneliness that would become a torrent in the bleak months that lay ahead. “When do you leave?”

“In a week or so. I have been assigned an orderly, an Irish fellow by the name of Connally. He is in charge of procuring mules for the garrison. As soon as he's ready, we'll be on the way.”

The day had grown hot. The slant of sunlight flooding
through the trees burned my eyes. We took a brief turn in the gardens and started back to the house.

“How long will you be gone?”

“Hard to say. But I hope that I—”

“Papa!” Our three sons raced to greet us. Rob launched himself into Robert's arms. Rooney wrapped his arms around Robert's legs. Custis, nearly fourteen, stood apart, his eyes searching mine.

“Papa, guess what?” Rob said. “Me and Rooney helped Ephraim in the garden.”

“Did you?” Robert kissed our smallest son. “I am pleased that you find ways to be useful. And how about you, Rooney?”

“Worked like a Trojan until it got too hot.” Rooney squinted up at me. “Mama, may we ask George to make us some lemonade?”

Robert set Rob on his feet. “Ask him to make enough for everybody. I could use something cool to drink myself.”

Rooney and Rob headed for the kitchen.

Custis fell into step with his father and me. “The papers say the army is preparing for an assault on Mexico,” he said. “Papa, do you think there will be a war?”

“That depends upon whether the Mexicans will stand down from their border dispute.”

“But we can't let the killing of our soldiers last spring go unanswered, can we, even if they were fighting in disputed territory? Wouldn't that make us look weak? What is President Polk going to do about it?”

We reached the house. Robert stopped on the wooden steps and placed a hand on our son's shoulder. “For one thing, he is amassing more troops on the Texas-Mexico border. Perhaps a show of strength will be all that is needed. I hope so, since I have just this morning been ordered to proceed there.”

“You're going to fight?”

“If it comes to that.”

Ten days later, out on the porch, Robert kissed each of our children good-bye. Custis struggled to appear manly, but his eyes were wet.

Rooney stood bravely between Agnes and Annie. “Don't worry, Papa. When Custis goes back to school, me and Rob will take care of Mama.”