Never Too Late (32 page)
Authors: Michael Phillips
“Do you, Henry Patterson,” said Reverend Hall, “take this woman to be your wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for
worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part, according to God's holy ordinance?”
“I shore do,” replied Henry
.
“Do you, Josepha Black,” Reverend Hall said, turning to Josepha, “take this man to be your wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forwardâfor better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part, according to God's holy ordinance?”
“Dat I do,” said Josepha. “An' God bless him fo lovin' da likes er me.”
A few laughs went around the room. We couldn't help it!
As the laughter quieted, Henry's mind flitted back to the day he had first seen Josepha.
He'd had no premonition at the time that the McSimmons' cook might become his future wife. But the impression she made on him was a lasting one. Yet the deeper love he now felt had blossomed slowly within him, taking him over so gradually during their time at Rosewood that he never saw its approach until suddenly one day he recognized it for what it was. By then he knew that he loved her. But he did not know when he had
begun
to love her. Yet when it comes to love, perhaps beginnings do not matter so much as endings.
And so now here he stood, as surprised as she. His happiness
was different, for it must make room for a memory.
But it was just as complete.
“Inasmuch as you, Henry, and you, Josepha,” Reverend Hall was now saying, “have declared before God and these witnesses your wish to be united in marriage, and have pledged love and fidelity each to the other, I now pronounce you man and wife.âLadies and gentlemen,” he said, turning to the rest of us, “may I have the honor to present to you Mr. and Mrs. Henry Patterson!”
Cheers and clapping broke out. Then we all rushed to hug Josepha and Henry, and the men shook hands. There were kisses and congratulations and Mrs. Hammond was right in the middle of it, happy and smiling with the rest of us. I think she had almost by then become color blind like everyone else at Rosewood
.
I looked for Jeremiah and walked over to him. As we stood side by side, he put his arm around me. I know we were both thinking the same thingâwe hoped our own day wouldn't be too far away
.
Since we had invited the Halls and Mrs. Hammond and Mr. Thurston and Aleta and her father for lunch, it didn't take long before the talk turned to food and coffee and the cake we had made
.
That was all Josepha needed to hear. Pretty soon she was in the kitchen and putting on a clean apron over her new green wedding dress and getting ready
to continue preparations for the great wedding feast we had planned. It was a kitchen, after allâthe place where she was happier than anyplace in all the world
.
P
ARTING
40
E
ven before we had all completely finished the wedding feast, Jeremiah slipped out of the house. I watched him through the window as he went into the barn. My heart sank. I knew what he was doing. The moment had finally come that I'd been dreading. I knew he was planning to leave after the wedding, though he hadn't said much to me about it recently. I suppose I had secretly been hoping that he'd changed his mind. I think we were both too sad to talk about it
.
As we ladies were cleaning up in the kitchen, Jeremiah came back into the house and said he wanted to talk to me. As we left the house I saw his horse tied to the rail beside the barn. It was saddled
.
Jeremiah took my hand and we walked out toward the woods where we had often walked together. We were quiet most of the way. Both of our hearts were heavy
.
“Jeremiah,” I finally burst out, “why do you have to go?”
He let out a long sigh. We stopped and sat down on a fallen log
.
“I jes' think it's best,” he said after a minute. “I don't like it no better'n you. But I gotta do somefin' ter make some money, an' Mister Watson done gib me a letter an' tol' me about a place in Delaware where dey likely can use a young man like me. It won't be fo long.”
“How long?” I asked
.
“I don't know, maybe a few munfsâtill I kin save some money so dat we kin pay our fair share here, an' till it's safe roun' here agin. Da way things is, it's too dangerous. Dose blame white boys hate me, an' ef dey know I's gone, dey's not gwine be thinkin' 'bout Rosewood quite so much. Especially now dat Papa ain't workin' in town no mo', I's hopin' dey forgit 'bout us altogether.”
“I still don't like it,” I said
.
“Neither do I. But da time'll go by an' den we'll be together again.”
I felt tears beginning to drip down my cheeks
.
“But why do you have to go today?”
“I reckon I don't. But my daddy's married now an' dis is da day he's makin' a new beginnin', an' it seems like it's a good day fo me to make my new beginnin' too. I talked to my daddy 'bout it. I wudn't leave if it wud make his special day sad fo him an' Josepha. But he said dat maybe it wuz fittin' dat he an' me start new on da same day. So he said I cud
go wiff his blessin' an' it'd jes' be dat much sooner I'd be gettin' back.”
It was quiet for a minute or two
.
“I got somefin' for you,” said Jeremiah, “âkind er like a present ter help us remember.”
I glanced over at him as he stuffed a hand into one of his pockets. I hadn't noticed him carrying anything. What could it be?
“I know it ain't da same or as fancy as da one you call da Tear Drop dat your mama had. But I figger it'll help you remember me an' remind us bof dat we'll be together agin soon enuff.”
He held out his hand and gave me a little silver cufflink with the letters JP on them
.
“Oh, Jeremiah, it's pretty!”
“I axed Mrs. Hammond ter order dem fo me. I ain't altogether even shore what cufflinks are for, but dey's always two ob 'em, so I figger we cud each keep one, kind er like a promise ter each other.”
“This is even more special to me,” I said. “The Tear Drop was my mama's to remind her of my papa. I treasure it because it reminds me of her and Papa. But this is my very own and will remind me . . . of the man I love.”
“An' da man dat loves you. An' I do, you know, Mayme. I do love you more den anyone in da world. You always been da only girl fo me.”
“Thank you, Jeremiah,” I said
.
I scooted closer to him on the log. He put his arm around me and we sat for a long time like that together, not saying a word
.
When we got back to the house, the men were outside talking and laughing with Henry, a few of them smoking cigars, and the women were just finishing up inside. Henry and Papa and Uncle Ward saw us walking toward them hand in hand, but they didn't call out to us. They too knew that Jeremiah was planning to leave Rosewood that same afternoon
.
Jeremiah went to get the last of his things
.
When he was ready, the rest of us gathered with Jeremiah by his horse, where the few things he was taking, and as much food as Josepha and I'd been able to pack for him, were tied behind his saddle
.
“You take care of yourself, you hear,” said my papa, shaking Jeremiah's hand
.
“Yes, sir, Mister Templeton. I will.”
Then he shook Uncle Ward's hand. Katie stepped forward and gave him a big hug. When she stepped back, she was crying. Josepha nearly swallowed him up in her embrace. She was crying too
.
When she stepped back, Jeremiah looked at his father standing beside her
.
“You two look good together,” he said. “Congratulations agin. I hope you's bof be real happy.”
He took a few steps forward, and the father and son embraced. Henry whispered something I couldn't hear. Jeremiah looked up into his eyes, wet like the rest of ours, and smiled and nodded, then stepped back
.
Finally Jeremiah turned to me. By then I was
bawling like a baby! He took me in his arms and we held each other tight
.
“I love you, Mayme,” he whispered
.
“I love you too, Jeremiah,” I said. “And you better do like Papa said and take care of yourself!”
“Don't you worry none . . . I will.”
He gave me one final squeeze. He nodded to Papa, and Papa reached his left arm over my shoulder and shook Jeremiah's hand again. Jeremiah stepped back, looked around at everyone else again with a last smile of farewell, then mounted his horse
.
We all stood watching as he rode off in the direction of Mr. Thurston's. He looked back as he came to the bend in the road, waved one more time, then disappeared from sight
.
I turned my face to Papa's chest and cried again while he held me close
.