Candle in the Darkness - Lynn N. Austin [190]
“Ain’t no one ever gonna make us be apart again,” Tessie cried. “We’re free!”
But their joyful reunion was tempered with sorrow as Eli told his son the news: “President Lincoln, the man who set us free, died today from an assassin’s bullet.”
“Dear Lord have mercy!” Esther cried, running from the house to the backyard. “Would y’all come inside and look who’s here!”
Caroline was in the backyard with the others that warm May evening, watching Eli, Josiah, and Gilbert dig up another section of the yard to plant vegetables. The air was ripe with the scent of spring and with the horse manure the men were spading into the soil. Esther had heard the front door chimes and offered to see who it was. Now she was dancing from one foot to the other in excitement.
“Come on, y’all! Hurry up!”
Caroline ran inside ahead of the others, then stopped in amazement when she reached the foyer. The two thin, bedraggled-looking men standing in her doorway were her father and her cousin Jonathan. She didn’t know which one to hug first.
“Thank God, thank God,” she wept as she hugged them both again and again. “Where have you been all this time? I thought you were dead.”
“I thought I was, too, Sugar. More than once,” her father said.
“We ran into each other at Fort Delaware—the prisoner of war camp,” Jonathan explained. “Uncle George kept me alive. I thought the least I could do was bring him home.”
“Kept you alive?”
“He used some of the gold he had with him to bribe the guards, buying us extra rations and a warm blanket. I owe him my life.”
“I still can’t believe you’re both here . . . that you’re alive!” she repeated.
“Didn’t I promise that I would be back to dance with you?” Jonathan grinned and pulled her into his arms to waltz her around the foyer. He wore the same lively, impish grin she had loved since the day they’d first met. She was so glad that at least one thing hadn’t changed. “I’ll be back to collect a second dance another day,” he said. “I want to see Sally. I want to go home to my wife.”
“She’ll be the happiest woman in the world when she sees you.”
Jonathan’s smile faded for a moment. “Where’s Charles?” he asked. “Why isn’t he here with you? Please tell me that he made it through the war all right.”
Pain knifed through Caroline at the mention of his name. Jonathan would learn the truth soon enough. She decided not to spoil his joyful homecoming. “Charles made it through, safe and sound,” she said, smiling bravely.
“You mean I made it home in time for your wedding?”
“Go now. Hurry!” she said as tears filled her eyes. “Sally’s waiting.”
Suddenly Josiah spoke up from behind her. “I be glad to drive you down there, Jonathan,” he said. “It’s awful far to walk.”
Jonathan looked stunned. “Thanks, Josiah,” he finally said. “I’d appreciate a ride.”
Caroline drew her cousin into her arms again, hugging him close for what she knew would be the last time. Sally and Charles would tell him what she had done. Like the others, Jonathan would neither understand nor forgive her. His brother Will was dead, his home at Hilltop ruined. And she had helped his enemies.
“Good-bye,” she whispered. “Thanks for bringing Daddy home.”
When they were gone, Caroline became aware, for the first time, of all the servants, standing in the hallway behind her, staring at her father as if they were seeing a ghost. She wasn’t entirely sure that they weren’t.
“Sure is good to see you, Massa Fletcher,” Gilbert said.
“Well, now. It’s good to see all of you, too. I thought for sure y’all would have run off by now, like every other servant in the state of Virginia.”
“No, Daddy. They all stayed here with me. They saved my life. I would have starved to death if it weren’t for them.”
He looked at them for a long moment. “I’m grateful to you,” he said quietly. “Now then, I don’t suppose a man could get something to drink around here?”
“Sorry,