The Soldier's Lady (9 page)

“All right . . .
Micah
,” said Katie with a smile and a slight reddening of her cheeks.

By now lunch was in full swing and Micah brought the conversation back around to the subject of the newspaper article about what was called the transcontinental railroad.

“Just think what it would be like to go west,” he said excitedly. “All the way to California!”

“It ain't all it's cracked up to be,” said Ward Daniels with a cynical expression.

“How do you mean?”

“It's not the land of milk and honey people make it out to be. California's just like any other place.”

“Is there really gold, Mr. Daniels?” asked Micah.

“Sure. And there was lots of it at first,” Ward replied, “though it's mostly all been found by now. But all it did was make men into greedy animals. There's a lot of things that money can't buy.”

“Your gold saved Rosewood, Uncle Ward,” said Katie.

“I suppose you're right,” nodded Ward, “and I'm thankful for that. But gold can't buy family, can it, Templeton?”

“Nope, it sure can't.”

“So you were in the gold rush, Mr. Daniels?” asked Micah.

“The tail end of it, I reckon you'd say.”

“That sounds like a story I want to hear!”

“Good luck,” laughed Ward's brother. “He won't even talk to me about it.—Tell them,” added Templeton to Micah, “what you told me about going west.”

Micah glanced at him, thought a second or two, then nodded.

“I'd like to go west,” he said, “that's my dream anyway . . . have a place of my own, raise cattle, maybe horses,” said Micah, more thoughtfully now. “It'll probably never happen, but I think about it.”

“Why couldn't it happen, Micah?” said Mayme excitedly to Micah where he sat between her and Katie. “You're well now and the war's over and now there's a train that goes all the way there.”

“Not quite yet!” laughed Micah. “Next month!”

“All right,” she said. “We don't want you to leave, anyway. But I bet you
will
go to California someday! You might be one of California's first black ranchers!—Are there coloreds in California, Uncle Ward?” she asked.

“Not too many. Lots of Mexicans and Chinese. Not many Negroes.”

“I wonder if coloreds like us will ever be able to go places like that and see faraway places of the world,” said Mayme.

“You just said that you thought I could,” said Micah.

“I meant you, not me.”

“Why not you too? What do you say, Mayme—you and me, we'll make a trip to California and show them what blacks are like!”

Mayme laughed. “I doubt that is something I will be doing anytime soon! I'm not like you, Micah. You've
already seen lots of the world. You're an adventurer.”

Micah roared with laughter. “I rode into Greens Crossing, by Josepha's account, more than half dead,” he said. “And you call me an
adventurer!”

“Well, you're still an adventurer compared to me.”

“I don't know, Mayme. You've got a lot of the adventurous spirit in you too. Unless I miss my guess, so do you, Katie,” he added, turning to Katie. “I've got the feeling the world's just begun to hear about you two!”

“We might say the same about you, Mr. Duff,” said Katie.

“Micah,
remember?”

“Oh . . . sorry. In the South we are always taught to call people
mister.
But you know what I mean . . .
Micah—
maybe the world's just begun to hear about you. I still agree with Mayme that you're the bold and daring one.”

Micah laughed again. “All right, then, we'll set the world on its ear together someday—all three of us—you and Mayme and I. We'll set
California
on its ear, how's that!”

Templeton laughed. “Listen to these young folk, Ward!” he said. “Were we that way when we were young—with all kinds of dreams?”

“I think we were, Templeton,” replied Ward, “but ours were more
schemes
than dreams.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean. These three are adventurers. We were just drifters.”

“That's all I've been for several years,” said Micah, a little more soberly.

“All that's changed now, son,” said Templeton. “Meeting these two girls does that to folks. Run into
Mayme and Katie and things change in a hurry!”

“I can see that!” laughed Micah. “I'm feeling the change already.”

When lunch was over, though the others were still talking away about the railroad and the west, Jeremiah got up and left the kitchen. He hadn't said anything for a while, for most of lunch, in fact.

He walked outside around the barn until he was out of sight from the house. Emma too had been mostly quiet during the conversation. She now slipped out of the house, leaving William splashing in the dishwater beside Josepha. She had seen Jeremiah go, more than half suspected the cause, and now followed him. Emma found him sitting on a pile of boards behind the barn, staring down at the ground. She walked over and sat down.

“Everythin' all right wiff you, Jeremiah?” she said.

He glanced toward her and forced a smile, though it didn't seem like a very happy one.

He said nothing for several minutes. The two continued to sit side by side.

“You ever wish you cud read, Emma?” said Jeremiah at length. “I mean read real good, so's you cud read a newspaper like dey wuz doin', or even a book?”

“Not till I got ter Rosewood,” answered Emma. “Dat's when everythin' changed fo me.”

“Yeah, maybe me too.”

“I never thought much 'bout nuthin' afore dat,” Emma went on. “I figgered readin' an' such-like wuzn't somethin' coloreds wuz supposed ter do. But Josepha kin read real good, an' now Miz Katie's taught Mayme ter read, though
I think Mayme cud already read a little. She has her mama's Bible, you know. You know how ter read at all, Jeremiah?”

“A little, I reckon, but not much,” he replied. “Micah tried ter teach me some during da war. But I wuz a mighty stubborn cuss back den. I kin write my name.”

“Dat Mister Duff, he's a nice man, all right, ain't he? Katie says he's good-lookin'.”

The words stung Jeremiah's ears. He was afraid Katie wasn't the only one who might think so. “Yeah, I reckon dat's so,” he said. “He's good-lookin', all right. But maybe he's
too
nice.”

“Whatchu mean, Jeremiah?”

“Nuthin'.”

“You must er meant somethin'. Dat what you come out here thinkin' 'bout, how he's bein' maybe a little too nice . . . ter Mayme?”

Jeremiah glanced over at Emma. How could she have known exactly what was on his mind? “I don't know,” he said, “. . . I guess I's jes' wonderin' ef he an' Mayme . . . aw, never mind. I don't want ter say nuthin' more 'bout it.”

“Yeah, I noticed it too,” said Emma. “It ain't dat hard ter see dat dey's . . . well, you know what I mean, cuz you seen it too. But it's gwine be all right, Jeremiah. I's sure it ain't nuthin'.”

“How can it be nuthin' when dey's lookin' at each other dat way? An' how's I ever gwine . . .”

He stopped and looked away.

“What, Jeremiah?”

“I don't know . . . I's jes' wonderin' . . . I reckon from
da very beginnin' I wondered ef I wuz good enuff fo her.”

“Good enuff fo Mayme, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Course you are, Jeremiah—you's 'bout da nicest young man I's eber known.”

“Aw, I don't know, now wiff Micah here . . . I don't know. How kin a boy like me dat ain't got nuthin' and can't do nuthin' an' can't even read—how kin I not worry 'bout what's gwine happen?”

“Mayme likes you real good, Jeremiah.”

“But sometimes you can't help wonderin' . . .”

Again Jeremiah did not finish what he had been about to say.

“Wonderin' what?”

“I don't know . . . it's jes' dat—well, you an' me, Emma, we's both jes' two coloreds dat were slaves an' dat ain't got no learnin'.”

“Mayme wuz a slave.”

“Yeah, but Mayme an' Micah—dey's different . . . dey's got learnin' an' dey knows things. Don't you see what I's talkin' 'bout. Didn't you hear dem talkin' 'bout the three of dem together doin' things an' habing adventures? We's different, Emma. You an' me's different den all dey wuz talkin' 'bout.”

“I reckon dat's so—you an' me's a lot alike, ain't we, Jeremiah?”

“Seems like it, Emma.”

“An' my William likes you real good, Jeremiah.” Jeremiah turned and smiled. “He's a good little rascal, Emma,” he said. “I like him too. If I eber hab a son er my own, I hope he's as good a boy as William. You's been a
good mother ter him, Emma.”

“Dat's right kind er you ter say, Jeremiah.”

It was quiet for two or three minutes as both pondered their future in ways neither could quite yet put into words.

“What you think 'bout all dey wuz talkin' 'bout,” said Jeremiah after a while, “'bout goin' west an' all dat?”

“I don't know, Jeremiah,” said Emma. “I reckon it soun' mighty fine fo folks like dem, fo Mister Duff an' Mayme, an' Miz Katie. Dey's da kin' er folks dat kin do things like dat. But I's jes' a dummy . . . I cudn't neber do nuthin' like dat.”

“You ain't no dummy, Emma.”

“You knows what I means . . . I mean compared wiff Mayme an' Mister Duff. Dey's smarter den most blacks—leastways, smarter den me. And you heard what Mister Templeton called dem—advenshurers. I ain't none er dat. I's jes' a poor, dumb nigger girl wiff a baby ter take care ob. Not dat habin' an advenshure wudn't be right nice, but dat's fer folks like Mayme, Mister Duff, an' Miz Katie. You want ter see da Wes', Jeremiah?”

“I don't know, not so much. I reckon I's as happy here as anywhere.”

“Sounds like Mayme sure wud like ter see it.”

Jeremiah said nothing. He was afraid Emma was right.

Emma stood up. “I gots ter be gettin' back. Dat boy er mine's gwine be raisin' Cain wonderin' where I's got ter.”

Jeremiah stood with her and slowly they walked back to the house together.

Lunch gradually broke up and people wandered away from the table. I had been so absorbed in the discussion with Micah and Katie about California and the West that I hadn't noticed Jeremiah leave the house. When I first noticed it, I realized that Emma was gone too. I was puzzled at first, wondering if they'd left together. But then, Micah and Katie and I started talking again.

As we all wandered away from the table I walked out onto the back porch.

I saw Emma and Jeremiah walking toward the house from the barn. They were talking quietly together.

All of a sudden I became aware all over again how pretty Emma was. How could any young man not notice it? I was so plain-looking alongside Emma. It had hardly ever bothered me before. But all of a sudden it did. It stung me to realize it, after all Jeremiah and I had been through together and what we had meant to each other such a short time ago. But I couldn't help thinking how good he and Emma looked together, and how content Emma seemed to be with him.

I tried to shake off what I was thinking. I went quickly back inside to help Josepha with the dishes before they saw me.

C
OWS AND
C
ONFUSION

9