No one uttered a word. Even Piglet remained silent.
Finally Catherine stood up, stared at the setting sun, the thrilling beauty of an equinox sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains. “Charles, you may have found the way. I pray to God you have.” She mused. “The changing seasons. How it marks time.” She turned to the others. “I have involved each of you in a dangerous enterprise. Please do forgive me, but when I saw Moses and Ailee, when they first sought refuge here, my heart near broke. I could not turn them in nor turn them away.” She paused for a long time. “Rachel, remember when Mother and Father would read us Bible passages?”
“I do.”
“Remember how upset we were when she read to us about Cain and Abel? And Cain says, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ ” She stared at her lovely sister, recalling their mother’s liquid voice. “I believe we are our brother’s keepers. I don’t know what it means except that I must save these two souls. I think Mother would.”
Quietly, with conviction, Rachel replied, “I think so, too. We are all in danger, Catherine, but it isn’t your doing. It started with Francisco Selisse.”
Charles ruefully added, “It started thousands of years before that. Catherine, what you’ve done has awakened us. If we are careful, if Moses keeps his wits, he will be safe with Captain Graves as a freedman worker. We can give the captain and his wife money to help feed and clothe him. In time, if Moses wants to move on, he can, just so long as he doesn’t return here.”
“He can never return,” Catherine spoke with determination. “He will never see Ailee again.”
“You two have not seen her.” John spoke to Charles and Rachel. “Her face has been broken. She is blind in her left eye.”
“Maureen Selisse wrought her revenge on a poor creature who was innocent.” John surprised them with his vehemence. “Wicked. At least Francisco deserved what he got.”
“Wicked and very female,” Rachel opined, but without rancor.
“We aren’t going to solve these foolish things,” Charles said. “Karl and I can have the steeple built in two days. I’d like to cover the top with copper, but that will slow us down. Shakes will do for now. Can you ready Moses for the day after tomorrow?”
John nodded. “Father Gabe and Bettina will have to do that.”
“Will they?” Charles asked.
“Yes.”
“The other slaves know. Are Moses and Ailee safe? And what about us? Slaves talk just as much as any other group of people.” Charles felt a creep of apprehension on his skin.
“They will keep silent,” Catherine said. “Charles, think of what they stand to lose.”
“What of Ailee?” Charles inquired.
“She doesn’t speak. She has lost the power. If anyone were to see her, they would know who she is. She is so light-skinned. Everyone knows that, too. The story of Francisco’s murder has strong legs.”
Rachel looked at her sister. “Where can she go, and is she strong enough to travel?”
Catherine shook her head. “She’s not strong enough. Father Gabe moved some bones back into place, but she will never look as she did, and she is blind in that eye. And yet the other side of her face remains so beautiful, so very beautiful. We must keep her until we can find a way. Moses can grow a beard. He’ll look like so many other young men. But Ailee will only ever look like Ailee.”
“She can’t stay in that cave forever,” Charles exclaimed. “I haven’t been there, nor should I, but caves are damp and cold, and the nights grow longer and colder.”
Rachel spoke this time. “Let’s get Moses out first. Then we can attend to Ailee.”
“There is another complication.” Catherine took a deep breath. “She is with child. Bettina believes this to be so.”
Rachel again spoke: “As I said, we will attend to Ailee later.”
Walking back to their house, arm in arm, Catherine and John admired the sunset, now in full flame.
“Change,” Catherine simply said.
“I welcome it.”
“I do, too, but now I feel as though the earth is moving under me. I thought things were clear, right and wrong. Simple. Am I changing or are the times?”
He bent down to kiss her cheek. “Both. When I fought I knew what I had to do even if I didn’t know how to do it. And I found a way. The cannonade, the whistle of bullets. War is both difficult and easy. This is not easy. Maybe, Catherine, everyone faces such moments or difficulties as we now find ourselves facing. The problem we have is certainly dangerous, but we will do the best we can.”
“And we will do it together.” She stopped, reached up, put her hand behind his neck, pulled his face to hers, and kissed him. “I love you so.”
Sunday, August 7, 2016
“She looks so young.” Harry’s eyes misted as the photograph of her mother appeared on Fair’s large computer screen. She was feeling sentimental. Her dearest friends had gathered at her house to celebrate her birthday, and now looking at these old photos was making her emotional.
“She was,” Susan said. “Her senior year at Smith. I guess all your maternal side of the family attended Smith.”
Harry nodded, then smiled as a photo of her father appeared. Standing in a vaulted doorway at Cornell, his arms were thrown over the shoulders of two fraternity buddies.
Photo after photo of Harry’s family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, then the marriage photo of her mother and father at Greenwood Episcopal Church back in 1972. Two radiant young people, the bride’s veil now off her face, the groom in a morning suit, with a large crowd of friends surrounding them.
Ned pointed to the screen.
“Hey, isn’t that Samuel Holloway?”
“I think so. They were all good friends. There’s Miranda and George Hogendober.” Harry cited her longtime work partner and her late husband.
She missed working with Miranda as she missed the old post office.
Now peering over her shoulder, Miranda lamented, “George had hair in the photograph.”
They all laughed.
The photograph that drew the biggest laugh was the one of Harry and Susan in the new sandbox, followed by another photo of the ruined sandbox.
Watching the screen from the side, Pewter called down to Tucker, “She wore a bow in her hair.”
“Little girls did that. Still do.” The corgi thought bows silly.
Sitting in Fair’s lap, Mrs. Murphy enjoyed the pictures. Included here were images of long-deceased dogs, mostly German shepherds, and other kitties.
After the show, Harry, Fair, Susan, Ned, Miranda, the Very Reverend Herbert Jones, BoomBoom Craycroft, Alicia Palmer, and Cooper repaired to the kitchen. Susan pulled a giant devil’s food cake out of the refrigerator and lit the candles, which glowed against the vanilla icing.
“How did you fit that cake in our fridge?” Harry wondered.
“Moved the shelves,” Fair informed her, quickly adding, “Don’t worry, I’ll put them back.”
“Okay. Blow out the candles and make a wish,” Susan ordered her friend.
Harry blew them out in one big, long breath. “I’m not telling my wish.”
“Can’t. Then it won’t come true,” BoomBoom affirmed.