Was he smiling?
He made a conscious effort to appear straight-faced and settled into the saddle. “I’m just glad to finally be on our way to make camp.”
Corporal Banks glanced at the woman in the window then chuckled. “Yes, sir. Setting up camp sure is something to smile about.”
Glaring at the young man’s back as he rode away, Levi kicked his horse into motion.
The smile, however, gradually crept back to his lips and remained there for some time.
CHAPTER FOUR
Despite getting very little sleep, Natalie arose before the sun. The dawn-drenched world she found out the window looked much the same as it had each morning since she’d come to Rose Hill six years ago. Yet, everything had changed. Not even the deaths of her husband and parents had left her feeling as forsaken as the events of yesterday had. Simply putting one foot in front of the other took more effort than she dreamed possible.
After the departure of the slaves and soldiers, she’d gone upstairs to Samuel’s room and never left. Harriet had brought up a light meal for both of them at some point, a worried look in her eyes when she found Natalie sitting on a child-sized chair, staring at nothing. Natalie somehow managed to keep Samuel from asking too many questions and then put him to bed early. She’d crawled onto the small goose-down mattress with her son and wrapped him in her arms despite the muggy evening air coming through the open windows. More than anything, she’d needed his nearness, inhaling his little-boy scent, whispering quiet prayers throughout the night that God would not take him from her too.
Birdsong greeted her now as she made her way to the detached kitchen wing. Absent were the voices of dozens of servants bustling about, carrying breakfast dishes, sweeping the porch, or filling lamps with kerosene. There was no blow of the ram’s horn to call workers from the quarter, no jingle from wagons carrying slaves to fields, and no laughter of children from the double row of cabins down from the manor house. Instead, a strange, unsettling stillness hung over the entire plantation.
As she’d expected, Moses, Harriet, and Carolina were seated at the long work table. Mugs of chicory root coffee sat in front of each of them, though no one seemed interested in the bitter-tasting brew they’d sunk to drinking after Union blockades prevented coffee beans from entering through the ports. The other house servants, including Clara, the young woman who cared for Samuel when Natalie was occupied, had joined the majority of field hands in their departure yesterday.
Moses stood. “Mornin’, Miz Natalie.”
Harriet, too, jumped up. “I get you some breakfast straightaway.”
“There’s no need,” Natalie said, exhaustion already in her voice even though the day had barely begun. “I couldn’t eat a thing. I need to get to Langford Manor, if it’s still standing.” She turned to Moses. “I fear what those Yankees may have done last night.” Tears threatened, but she blinked them back.
“Now, don’t go borrowin’ trouble.” Moses took his hat from the chair post and plopped it on his graying head. “That Yankee colonel seemed like a decent fellow, from what I could tell. He say they wouldn’t do nothin’ to your house, and I believe him.”
Although she appreciated his calming words, the knot in her stomach would not unwind until she knew her childhood home remained safe and intact. “I pray you’re right. It still infuriates me how that man defied my wishes, as though they were of little consequence compared to those of the great Union Army.”
Recalling Colonel Maish’s unflinching dark eyes as he’d stood his ground, Natalie shivered. Though the man had seemed sincere, she would be foolish to trust a Yankee. They cared little for Southerners. His scornful tone when he’d accused her of lying to Samuel about the slaves’ celebration was evidence. It didn’t matter to him that their entire way of life had changed in an instant. It didn’t matter that Samuel’s very future looked bleak and uncertain now. What legacy could there be in a plantation with no one to work the land? Her concern wasn’t for herself but for her son, yet did the Yankee colonel care?
“I get the wagon hitched.”
Natalie watched Moses leave the kitchen. What would she have done if the big man had heeded the call of freedom and walked off the plantation with the others? She didn’t deserve his loyalty, but she was grateful for it nonetheless.
“You want me to fix yo’ hair before you go yonder to Langford Manor, Miz Natalie?” Carolina’s scrutinizing gaze had Natalie looking down at the rumpled dress she’d slept in. She touched her head and felt matted curls. “Wouldn’t want you meetin’ with that Yankee soldier lookin’ like somethin’ ol’ Ebenezer found in the woods.”
Natalie almost smiled at the candid words. It was good to know some things never changed.
“Yes, please. I would also like you to accompany us to the plantation. I may need your help inside the house.” She looked at Harriet. “Would you see to Samuel while we’re gone? I don’t want him venturing too far from the house today.”
If something happened to Samuel …
She tamped down the fear rising inside, refusing to give it a foothold. Today of all days, she needed her wits about her.
“When he wakes up, I’ll put him an’ Isaac to work makin’ molasses cookies.” Harriet chuckled. “Them two can eat more sweets than a growed man.”
Natalie left the kitchen, knowing Samuel would be well cared for in her absence. Harriet doted on her white master’s son as much as she did on her own.
Shame pricked her. Neither she nor her family deserved the woman’s kindness.
Memories swirled, taking her back five years.
After Harriet and Moses lost their youngest children to yellow fever, George sold their two oldest sons, along with the remaining Langford slaves, for fear the disease would spread to Rose Hill. Harriet had grieved nearly unto death. Yet in those
