An Acquaintance with Darkness - Ann Rinaldi [15]
"I'm glad," I said.
"I know what families can do to each other. I joined the army because my mother and father were always fighting. He was a country doctor. She accused him of carrying on with his woman patients if he came home late. It got so bad he stopped coming home at all. He'd sleep in his carriage in the woods. Her mind was poisoned against him. Like your mother's was against her brother. Wars end, Emily. But families keep on fighting all the time."
Well, he had that much right, anyway.
He smiled at me. God, I thought, he reminds me so much of Johnny, I want to cry. And then he stopped reminding me of Johnny and reminded me of somebody different. And exciting.
Himself. Only, how could he be exciting? A medical student with a gimpy leg?
"I'm very glad to have met you." He stepped away from the table, ran a hand through his thick dark hair, and gave a little bow. Then he kissed my hand.
Dear God, I thought, he should have fought with the Confederacy. All that chivalry.
"I hope to meet you again, Miss Pigbush," he said.
"Did you really go to school with a fellow named Goatarm?" I asked.
"Yes. He was a childhood friend of mine."
"What happened to him? Did he ever live down the name?"
"No. He died. Killed at Gettysburg."
He went down the hall. I stood watching by the kitchen door. He made a little dragging sound with his leg. I thought, His school friend was killed at Gettysburg. He almost lost his leg at Fredericksburg. And here I am sassing him. While crowds out on the street are crowding around wounded soldiers, making them retell their battle stories.
"Don't take too many greenbacks," I called after him.
He turned and smiled, and it was better than Johnny's. Then he went out the door.
5. The Miller's Daughter
ANNIE SURRATT was counting candles. She had dozens of them on the table in front of her.
I'd gone over as soon as Robert left. I needed to see Annie. She was the only one who could ever understand what I was feeling. And explain it to me.
I felt no real grief that Mama was dead. Only relief that it was over. For weeks I had been caring for her, missing school, confining myself to the house, watching her suffer, listening to her ravings about Daddy and unable to defend him.
Annie jumped up when she saw me. She hugged me. No words. She didn't have to say any. Her hug was enough.
"I've come to say I'll accept your mama's invitation to stay here."
"Oh, I'm so happy!" She hugged me tighter. "Come on, sit down. Do you want some tea?"
"No, I've been drinking enough coffee to sink an ironclad."
We sat together on the tufted sofa in the front parlor. In the corner was her mother's piano. Mrs. Mary played all the time. Their parlor was a gathering place for guests and boarders. There was lively conversation, friendly discourse, and good food all the time in this house. How could Uncle Valentine say the Surratts were trouble? How could Mrs. Keckley say a serpent had taken up residence here?
"I was thinking I could do chores around the house and earn my keep. Your mother always needs help with the boarders." I didn't want to tell anybody about Johnny's gold pieces. Not even Annie.
"You don't worry about that," she said.
I looked around the room, to the hand-carved paneling on the doors, the astral lamps, the rich draperies. I felt close to Johnny here. "Where is your mother?"
"Gone to mass. To pray for yours. I'm furious that she didn't get over to see your mama before she died. I kept after her. 'What good are prayers now?' I asked her this morning. But you know how Mama is with her religion. If I ever get that way, will you do something for me, Emily?"
"What?"
"Shoot me."
Annie's mother had sent her to convent school, and she had hated it. Not like Johnny, who'd wanted to be a priest. For most of the time I had known her family in Maryland, she was away at school. When she came home,