Yankee Belles in Dixie (10 page)

“Why, thank you.” Sarah smiled. “Those three large bags and those two small ones right there.” The man scurried around and, despite the missing arm, managed the baggage very well. He whistled for a carriage, using two fingers on his surviving hand. “You're going down to the hotel, I guess?”

“No, we're going to 1120 Elm Street.”

“That's over on the east side of town. Well, here you go.” The wounded soldier cheerfully piled their bags in the back of the buggy that drew up and said to the driver, “Take these two ladies to 1120 Elm Street, Harry.”

“Sure will,” the driver replied cheerfully. He was a tall, lean man with a shock of white hair, which was revealed when he pulled his hat off. He
watched while the soldier helped the two young women in and as Sarah pulled a bill from her purse.

“Will Union greenbacks do?” Sarah asked tentatively. “I don't have any Confederate money yet.”

The soldier with one arm grinned and winked at the driver. “Sure will, ma'am. I wish I had my pockets full of those Union greenbacks. You won't have any trouble spending them here in Richmond.”

Harry, the driver, said, “I'll take care of them, Perry.” He spoke to the horses. “Hup, Babe! Hup, Mame!” and the carriage moved off, the driver threading through the busy traffic.

“Perry lost that arm at Bull Run,” he said, “but I guess he's better off than those that didn't make it back at all.” He greeted several people as they made their way along the bustling street that seemed clogged with civilians and soldiers, horses, buggies, and wagons.

“Pretty busy town, Richmond. You ladies come from around here?”

“From Kentucky,” Sarah said.

That seemed safe enough, Leah thought. Kentucky was one of those border states controlled by neither the North nor the South.

“Come for a visit?” the inquisitive driver asked, his sharp eyes turning to examine them.

Leah saw no harm in saying, “Yes, our father's uncle is quite ill. My sister and I have come to see if we could help nurse him. His name is Silas Carter. I don't suppose you know him?”

“Well, no, ma'am, I don't—but with two pretty young nurses like you, I don't reckon he'll have any trouble getting well.” The driver grinned and slapped the backs of the horses with the line. “Get up there, you lazy hosses!”

They passed through the main part of town and then through what seemed to be an industrial district. “What's that big building right over there?” Leah asked. “The one with smoke coming out of the chimneys?”

“Oh, that's the Tredgar Iron Works, missy. Turns out most of the cannons for the army. Lots of folks work in there. Reckon you could get jobs if you wanted them. But I guess you will have all you can do with your nursing.”

The trip did not take long, for the house was located just on the border of Richmond. The driver drew up before a tall, two-storied house, white with gingerbread carvings across the front and a wide porch.

“Here we are, 1120 Elm Street. Let me help you ladies with your things,” the driver said. He hopped down, assisted them to the ground, then turned back for the baggage.

They paid the driver, then walked up onto the front porch and knocked.

Almost at once—so quickly that Leah suspected the woman who answered the door must have been looking out the window—the door swung open. A middle-aged woman with sharp features and a frown said, “Yes? What do you want?”

Leah was a little taken aback by the abruptness of the greeting.

“Why, I'm Sarah Carter, and this is my sister, Leah. We've come to see my father's Uncle Silas.”

“Well, he's sick. He can't see no one.”

The door started to close.

Sarah's face flushed, and she stepped forward and put her foot in the doorway. “I'm sorry, but we'll
have to see my uncle. Who are you? Are you the housekeeper?”

“I'm the nurse, Mrs. Watkins, and I tell you the doctor don't want no one seeing Mr. Carter!”

Sarah's mouth went firm, and her eyes half shut. She was a mild-mannered girl, but she recognized insolence when she saw it. “Mrs. Watkins, I'm telling you right now, we've come to take care of my uncle. Now you can either let us in, or we'll go get the authorities, who will see to it. Now which will it be?”

The sharp-faced woman hesitated. She gave them a baleful look and then said, “Well, you can come in for a little while, I suppose.” She stepped back. “He's down here in this room, and you can't stay long. He don't feel like seeing visitors.”

Sarah and Leah exchanged glances, and Sarah gave her head a warning shake. They followed the gray-haired woman down a short hall. When she opened a door, they stepped inside.

Mrs. Watkins said, “There's two women here claim to be your kin. You don't want to see them, do you?”

Sarah looked across the room to see a thinfaced man with snow-white hair lying in a bed. Two pillows propped him up. His face was pale, and his mouth was drawn tight in an invalid's look, but his eyes were bright blue and took them in carefully.

“Why, you must be Dan's girls!” he said in surprise. “Come in! Come in!”

“Yes, I'm Sarah, and this is Leah.”

They walked to the bed and shook hands with the elderly man. His hand, Leah thought, felt like a bird's bones, it was so fragile. She smiled, saying,
”Pa wanted us to come and take care of you till you're feeling better, Uncle Silas.”

“I'll do all the taking care of he needs,” Mrs. Watkins said. She stood there with an angry look on her face. “He's a sick man, and he doesn't need anybody fussing with him.”

“I think that'll be enough, Mrs. Watkins,” Sarah said firmly. “You may go now.”

The woman's mouth dropped open. Evidently she was not accustomed to being challenged.

Sarah said, “We won't be needing you for a while. I'll talk with you later to see if it will be possible for you to stay on. Shut the door on your way out.”

Mrs. Watkins gasped, and her face flushed. “Well, I never!” she muttered, then turned and left, slamming the door so that the pictures on the wall trembled.

Suddenly Silas Carter laughed aloud. It was not a hearty laugh, and his voice seemed rusty as though he had not used it much, but he was smiling, and his eyes twinkled. “Well, dog my cat! I never seed the beat of that! That woman's had me buffaloed, Sarah, but I can see you know how to handle her.”

“Who
is
she?” Sarah asked. “She doesn't seem like very good company for someone who's not well.”

“She's the awfulest pest I ever ran across,” Silas Carter said, “but she's all I could get. Her and that sister of hers, who's worse.” He looked up hopefully. “Are you girls here for just a short stay?”

“No, we're here till you get well, Uncle Silas,” Sarah said at once. Looking sharply into his face, she said, “Would you like for me to tell Mrs.
Watkins and her sister they won't be needed anymore?”

“Would I! That would be a blessing!” The old man groaned. “Here!” He fumbled in the drawer of the bedside table and brought out a purse. “I owe them for this week. Pay them and tell them thank you and never to come back again.”

Leah laughed. “It's a good thing we came, Uncle Silas. I don't think you'd have lasted long with those two.”

“Leah—that's your name, is it?” Uncle Silas said. “Well, you're right about that, girl. Hope you two can cook better than they can. They could make a tenderloin steak taste like a piece of shoe leather.”

“Oh, we can both cook real good,” Leah said. “You go fire those two women, Sarah, and I'll stay here and talk to Uncle Silas.”

Sarah took the purse, asked the amount owed the women, and then left the room. As soon as she was gone, Silas drew a deep breath and seemed to settle. “I was never so glad to see anybody in all my born days. Now, you tell me all about my nephew, Dan, and your ma and all about your family.”

Leah sat beside the bed and talked to him cheerfully, stopping once to open the window, pull back the drapes, and let sunlight flood the room.

Uncle Silas seemed fascinated by every detail, and when Leah mentioned they had two friends in the Confederate army, he looked at her quizzically.

“Well, that's something, ain't it! Tell me more about these young fellers.”

Sarah came in as Leah was still talking about Jeff and Tom. She stood at the bedside for a moment, and then, when she found a place to interrupt, she said, “Well, the Watkins sisters are not
happy, but you'll not have to see them anymore, Uncle Silas. Now, what would you like for supper?”

“Ice cream and cake”—he grinned—“but I'll take whatever I can get. Just surprise me.” He looked closely at Sarah. “What's that about this young feller Tom that's stuck on you? Tom Majors, is it?”

A flush touched Sarah's cheek, and she cast an irritated look at Leah. “We're just good friends.”

“You are not,” Leah spoke up. “He wants to marry you. That's not just good friends.”

“Hush, Leah.” Then she laughed. “I see our family will have no secrets from you, Uncle Silas. Well, I'll go fix supper. Leah, come see to our things. Where do you want us to put them, Uncle Silas?”

When the girls were outside, Leah said, “It's a good thing we came. Those two women would have driven a saint crazy.”

“Well, you go up and put our things away and then come help me with supper. We can talk about how we're going to divide our duties up later on tonight.”

   Sarah watched until her younger sister had ascended the stairs, carrying a suitcase, and then turned to the kitchen. As she began pulling groceries off the shelves to prepare the meal, she looked out the window. A soldier in a gray uniform walked by, and her heart jumped.

Then she laughed at herself.
If you're going to think every Confederate soldier you see is Tom Majors, you'll go crazy!

Still, from time to time, she'd look out the window and examine the soldiers who walked by.

* * *

   
“Look what I got! Look what I got!”

Tom Majors had been cleaning his musket, and he glanced up with a blink of surprise as Jeff came running across the field waving a sheet of paper. “Look! Read this, Tom!”

“What is it? We done won the war?” Tom asked, grinning at his younger brother. He took the paper and then stood up abruptly, dropping the musket. “Is this right? Is this true?”

“That's what it says, isn't it? Leah and Sarah are here in Richmond to take care of their pa's uncle. Look! There's the address. And what's more, we're invited to supper.”

Tom grinned broadly and could not seem to stop staring at the paper. “Well, I'll be a swaggletailed duck! I would have thought of anything but this.”

He glanced up quickly and saw Lieutenant Ormsby walking by. “Jeff, you wait here. I'm going to talk the lieutenant into letting us go into town tonight.”

“Be sure I go with you,” Jeff called after him. He stood waiting, anxiously shifting from one foot to the other.

After a short conversation, Tom came back.

“Did he say it was all right?”

“He said I'd have to stand an extra watch, but that's all right. Come on! Let's get our best clothes on and get to town.”

By the time they had their best uniforms on and had made the trip to Richmond, the shadows were beginning to lengthen. They had walked until they caught a ride with an army supply wagon, so they were dusty when they arrived at the tall white house.

“There it is,” Tom said. “See that number?” He ran up the steps, followed quickly by Jeff, and knocked on the door.

It opened almost at once, and Leah came out, her face beaming. “Tom! Jeff! Boy, I'm so glad to see you!” She threw herself at Tom and hugged him. Then when he released her, she looked at Jeff.

Jeff's face grew crimson. As glad as he was to see her, he just stuck his hand out as he would to another boy. “Well, hey, good to see you,” he mumbled.

“Oh, Jeff!” Leah cried and gripped his hand hard.

Then Sarah was at the door. She was wearing a pink and brown, oversized, checked gingham dress with puffed sleeves. There were satin ribbons fastened with a brooch to hold each sleeve tightly, and her dark blue eyes were fixed on Tom as she whispered, “Hello, Tom—so good to see you.” She put out her hand. Tom took it, and she said, “Ouch! Not so hard!”

Tom was wearing Confederate gray with a campaign cap, which he pulled off, allowing his dark hair to fall over his forehead. “Sorry, Sarah. I'm just so all-fired glad to see you, you and Leah both! What in the world are you doing here?”

Sarah explained their mission, then said, “Come on in and meet Uncle Silas.”

Their uncle was sitting in a wheelchair in the parlor. When the two tall soldiers were introduced, he put out his hand. “Glad to meet both of you. I want to tell you, these two young women have about saved my life.”

Tom grinned broadly. “I tell you what, we're glad to see them too, aren't we, Jeff?”

“Sure are,” Jeff muttered. He was happier to see Leah than he'd ever thought. She was wearing a pink dress trimmed with blue ribbons, and her hair was parted away from the center and tied back the way older women did theirs. He wanted to say how pretty she looked, but he was too bashful for that.

“Well,” Sarah said, “you men get acquainted while Leah and I finish setting the table. Supper'll be ready in a few moments.”

She left with Leah, and Silas plied the two soldiers with questions. When he had their story, he said, “So you grew up friends with my nephew, Dan.” He shook his head, “I haven't seen much of Dan lately. I sure think the world of him though.”

“So do we, sir,” Tom said. “I guess Leah and Sarah told you how their family has taken our sister to raise.”

“Why, no, I didn't hear about that.”