"Yeah, I reckon we should," Mr. Logan allowed with a self-mocking grin. "If Candace doesn't have anything else for us to do…" He gave the woman an ironic look of inquiry.
"Scat, all of you, before this poor child catches pneumonia," she said, shooing them away with her apron.
They were almost out the door before Josh thought to correct his previous omission. "Oh, by the way, Felicity, this is Candace," he said, sticking his head back in the door that Candace was trying to close behind him. "She's twice as mean as she looks, but don't let her bully you," he advised with a wink.
Felicity smiled as the door slammed behind him. Candace whirled, catching the look of merriment on her small face. "What's so funny?" Candace asked indignantly.
Knowing she was being forward, Felicity still could not stop her words. "I was just thinking, you really do look like the queen of Ethiopia."
Candace's black eyes grew wide with surprise and then narrowed in speculation as she took inventory of the girl for the first time. She was a puny little thing, but she had good bone structure. With the proper hairstyle and clothes, she could be quite lovely. And she had a brain. Few people even knew that Candace was a biblical name. Not even those who were very familiar with the New Testament story of Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch recalled that the eunuch was employed by a queen named Candace.
"Well, now, let's get you into that bath," Candace decided after a long moment of speculation. She threw off the blanket covering Felicity and began to unfasten the buttons of her dress.
"Oh, please, I can do that myself," Felicity protested, blushing scarlet at the knowledge that the woman intended to undress her.
Candace raised her eyebrows. "Right now you need all the help you can get," she informed the girl. "Besides, I was helping ladies get undressed before you were even a gleam in your papa's eye. I'd think you'd want to get shed of that dress, anyways. It's nothing to brag about. I got dishrags in better shape than that." She watched with great interest as the girl's blue eyes kindled with wounded pride and her sweet little mouth thinned in an effort to hold back a sharp retort.
Good. She was proud, and she had manners, too. She wouldn't even reprimand a colored woman. And she was pretty and knew the Scriptures. "Can you cook?" Candace inquired, gently pulling Felicity to her feet so she could slip the tattered dress down her body.
"Cook?" Felicity echoed, completely puzzled. "Yes, I can cook," she replied faintly. The woman had removed her dress and was stripping the sodden undergarments from her, but Felicity was powerless to stop her. Before she even had time to feel humiliated at standing nude before a total stranger, Candace had her in the tub and was lathering her hair with soap that smelled like wildflowers. The warm water felt so wonderful against her shriveled flesh that Felicity surrendered to the comfort at last, giving herself up completely to Candace's ministrations.
Candace kept up a steady stream of conversation while she worked. "Back in Georgia, at the Fair Oaks plantation, where I was born, Miss Sarah-that's Mr. Josh's grandmother-she always called all the slaves together of a Sunday evening for Scripture reading. My mama loved that story about Phillip and the eunuch best, and when I was born, she named me after the queen. Not many people know that." Candace waited, and the girl murmured some sort of agreement. "Miss Sarah, she was a beauty. Even Miss Amelia, that's Mr. Josh's mama-couldn't hold a candle to her."
Even in her groggy state, Felicity had no trouble following the story. Candace went on to tell her how Mr. Logan's father had married Miss Amelia and_ brought her and Candace to his ranch. They had fought Indians in the early days, and Yankees and carpetbaggers later on. Things had finally started to settle down when old Mr. Logan had passed on. Felicity got the distinct impression that Candace had admired Mr. Logan's father a great deal, but she suddenly realized that Amelia Logan, Mr. Logan's mother, had not figured in the story Candace was telling at all.
"Is Mrs. Logan dead, too?" she asked.
Candace did not answer right away, causing Felicity to look up to see her face. She appeared to be considering. After a moment she said, "Well, now, it's been more'n twenty years. She might very well be, at that."
Before Felicity had time to wonder at such a peculiar remark, Candace was drawing her out of the bath. "Come on now, before that water gets cold. We don't want you catching another chill."
"Really, I can dry myself," Felicity insisted, but the bath had steeped her muscles until what little strength she had was gone, and she could not even wrestle the towel away from Candace's capable hands.
"What on earth happened to you, girl?" Candace asked, pausing in her task of drying Felicity's back. "Looks like somebody's been after you with a stick."
Felicity closed her eyes, imagining the marks that Candace was seeing, marks that would be bruises by morning. "I… Mr. Logan's horse knocked me over and-"
"Knocked you over!" Candace repeated indignantly.
"It was an accident," Felicity quickly explained. "During the flood-"
"The flood!" Candace wrapped the girl securely in several towels and set her back down in the rocking chair. "Now, what's this about a flood?"
Felicity shivered slightly at the memory. "There was a flash flood. Mr. Logan got me to high ground, but the boy-"
"Cody," Candace supplied.
"Yes, Cody, his horse fell and broke its leg. Mr. Logan went after him, but the hill was wet and his horse was having a hard time…" She shivered again. "The other man grabbed the horse's bridle to pull it up, and I tried to help, too." She smiled sheepishly. "I guess I shouldn't have gotten in the way," Felicity admitted, unwittingly impressing Candace with her modesty.
Candace made no comment but went over to the dresser to fetch a garment for the girl. Smart and pretty and proud and well-mannered and now brave, too. Why, the little thing had helped save Joshua's life, the man she loved as much as her own son. Candace was humming softly when she returned to help Felicity into the shirt.
"This is a man's dress shirt," Felicity noticed, appalled that Candace would use such a fine garment as a nightdress.
"Mr. Josh don't have much use for a dress shirt. You can see this one's hardly ever been worn. Besides, it's about the only thing I could find that might fit you," Candace explained, easily overcoming the girl's objections with her physical superiority. In another minute, she had her tucked up in the bed and had started brushing out her long blond locks.
Felicity started at the discreet knock. "Who could that be?" she asked, unable to hide her alarm at having anyone- anyone male-see her in bed.
"Probably just Cookie with your supper." Candace moved confidently to the door but stood in the breach so that whoever was outside would not be able to catch so much as a glimpse of her guest. When she turned back, she held a tray of food and wore a satisfied smile. "Just like I said."
Candace stood over Felicity, watching every bite the girl took. Cookie had prepared cornmeal mush laced with molasses, a dish of stewed apples, and tea, the soft, easily digested food that Candace had specified.
After a short time, Felicity lay down her spoon in defeat. "I'm sorry. I just can't eat any more. I was so hungry, but now…"
"Don't you worry none," Candace comforted her, whisking the tray away. "That happens when a body ain't had enough food for a while. Tomorrow you'll eat like a field hand, most likely. Right now you need rest more than anything."
Felicity did not object. In fact, before Candace even left the room, she was asleep.
In the warmth of the kitchen, Josh and Grady and Cody were bathing away the effects of the storm. Josh, now dressed in dry clothes, toweled his hair while he toasted his backside in front of the fire. Grady was still dressing, and Cody sat soaking in the tub.