A Virtuous Ruby (14 page)

“You’ve thought about it?”

“I’ve offered it to her. Trust me, after a brief time in your little town, I would like nothing more than to leave myself.”

“You would marry her?”

“She wouldn’t have me. I offered to send her to nursing school and to be a nurse. She has a steady way with patients.” Adam turned and stared down at the top of David’s thinning brown hair. “Why am I telling you all of this?”

“Because you know I care about her. I always will.”

“You can’t possibly care about her after what you did.”

“I can and I do. She was my only friend for a very long time and I’ll always cherish that. It was a free time, a time when I could do as I liked.”

“As if you can’t now.”

“I can’t. I can’t protect her. You can.”

“Excuse me.” Adam felt slightly sick as he thought of what David’s protection might mean.

“Mother’s in love with that baby. You’ve got to get them both away from here for their sake.”

“You don’t exist to tell her what to do. Or me either.” Adam took purposeful strides to the piney woods where Ruby had disappeared, sick of seeing or talking to Winslows.

Adam took off through the woods, where he last saw Ruby go. He had to find her and talk to her. He couldn’t explain it, but the whole exchange with Winslow and Dodge and David too, left him feeling very uneasy. Ruby had to make a decision about her life. And he would be the one to help her. They would do it…together.

Ruby didn’t like the way Paul Winslow pointed and stared at her son. She took the baby to the woods on the edge of town.

“Let’s put our feet in the creek, Solly, okay?” On the hot July day, she was relieved to take off her high button Sunday shoes and stockings and plunge her feet into the cool water.

She thrilled to hear his little laugh as the stream bubbled over his dear little toes. All of the tall Georgia pines swayed about her in a gentle breeze and she marveled at God’s creations. He had spoken to her so often in such a place. She finally felt some peace.

“You want to stay here? Let’s stay here in the woods. No one will be after us to get married. We’ll stay here and God will take care of us.”

Solomon fixed her with those Winslow eyes, laughing and happy. Were his eyes daring her to make it happen?

Whenever she left the woods, someone would be after her to make a decision about Dodge. Or Paul Winslow would fix his beady eyes on her son. Or Adam would be there.

When he came to mind, however, she wasn’t upset, but rather comforted at Adam being there for her. If he only had the sense to accept who he was, she might be willing to go with him. However, it wasn’t meant to be.

She pulled Solomon back onto the bank and they sat drying their feet in the sun. “Come on, Solly, I know you’re hungry.” Unbuttoning her blouse to feed him, she reached for Solomon but his little hand pushed her away. What happened? He wasn’t excited or happy to nurse. She put him next her and pushed her blouse back together, then started at the sound of a familiar voice.

“He wants some food. Let me help you take him back. Are you decent?”

Ruby fiddled with the buttons on her blouse, putting them together. “Yes, thank you for asking.” Adam approached with quick steps and picked Solomon up off of the ground. Ruby delighted to hear the baby giggle as Adam picked him up high in the air and brought him back down.

“I have to say, I agree with him. I want some lunch too.” Ruby stroked Solomon’s little arm.

Adam smiled at her. “Let’s go get some together. You deserve to have a happy Fourth.”

“Really?”

“Did you come last year?”

Ruby reflected on what had happened last year. People found out about her baby coming and she had begun showing. She stayed at home, the start of her long, long confinement.

All alone with her shame.

Thinking about last year, she was glad to be outside. “No. I would like to get back to the celebrations. Did they go away? I didn’t like the way they were looking at Solomon.”

A cloud came over Adam’s handsome face. “I had some words with Paul Winslow. He was asking a lot of questions about the baby, his health, and such. I guess he wants to know if he’s okay.”

“It’s none of his business,” Ruby said angrily. “He don’t care about him.”

“He seemed to care enough to ask, Ruby.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying the man is a cold-hearted monster. And I say that knowing his blood courses through my veins. But when he first laid eyes on Solomon, he cared.”

“He only cares for what he can get. He can’t get my baby.”

“I don’t think he wants Solomon.”

“Don’t be too sure.” Ruby’s heart began to thud loudly in her ears.

“He wanted to make sure he was protected and in a circumstance where he can’t get sick anymore.”

“So why was Dodge with him?”

“I don’t know. But I can’t shake the feeling Dodge is with him somehow. If so, he may have said something to Winslow about you two getting married.”

Ruby shivered and willed her heart to be still. “No. It won’t happen.”

Adam turned to her with Solomon in his arms. “Then what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to keep on with my schooling and get to be a nurse.”

“Your ambitions are wonderful, and I would be proud to help you with them. But some of those plans may not be in your hands anymore because of Solomon.”

“I put my trust in God,” Ruby said as they approached the clearing at the edge of the forest where town began. “But I can’t help but feel as if I’m in the woods, lost somehow, and I can’t get out.”

Solomon seemed too easy and secure in his arms. Her fingers itched to take him from Adam, but she didn’t because she liked the way they looked together. Then he spoke the words. “Doctors work long hard hours. I chose the profession as a single man, because I knew it would be hard to have a wife and a family of my own. I didn’t ever want my family to feel as if I were neglecting them because of the work I do.”

“How thoughtful.” Ruby stopped her steps to where a layer of trees came between them and the picnic grounds.

“I had a lonely life growing up. It would kill me to neglect someone else, knowing what I had endured. I couldn’t do that to him,” Adam stared down at the wisps of hair on Solomon’s head. “And,” his gray eyes stared at her, “I could never do that to you, Ruby.”

“I see.” Now, his Winslow eyes shifted to linger and gaze on her lips, as if he wanted to partake, as if he were hungry, but he just couldn’t eat. The longing in his eyes wasn’t helping her decide what to do.

She had to get away.

“I’ll take him now, Dr. Morson. Thank you.” Ruby reached for Solomon. “I would appreciate it if you just waited here for a few minutes. I know I’m ruined, but I still don’t want to give folks something to talk about.”

Adam’s hand stayed upon her sleeve. “Are you angry?”

Ruby stopped for a few seconds, and her muscles quivered as she held the baby. Was she angry? Other men, if she had knowledge of them, would have taken advantage of the time they were in the forest alone together. They would have at least kissed her.

David had done it, luring her with the possibility there would be more, and then taking her virtue from her. She regarded Adam’s soulful eyes and believed his admiration for her was true and genuine as was his concern for her. How could she be angry at someone who thought about her and about what was right before she ever did? “No, I’m fine. Thank you for letting me know.”

Adam relinquished the baby. Ruby shushed Solomon at his initial protests. “Let’s go and get some food, son. We’ll be fine.”

Walking out of the woods toward the picnic blankets, Ruby noticed Negro corner was much more populated than it usually was. She nodded to various folks as she made her way to the place where the Bledsoes sat.

Her family was busily eating lunch and she sat down and selected a small chicken leg, picking off shreds of meat to give to Solomon, who smacked his little lips at its tastiness. Adam came to join them a few minutes later and he sat away from them, next to John on the other side of the bench.

Good. Sit far away
.

Even so, she didn’t like the queer, hurt feeling in her heart at Adam’s thoughtfulness. No one had ever put her first before. How could she put his kind of regard aside for anything else? Suddenly, she didn’t feel hungry anymore.

Chapter Thirteen

Although he had objected to the whole idea of a “Colored Corner,” the way the Negroes enjoyed one another’s company was revealing. To be sure, he had his share of examining lumps, bumps, bruises and a headache, but he was glad to perform the service for so many who had never even seen a doctor before, let alone a Negro one.

It made him think hard about the things Ruby had said about the pride he could take in being himself, without having to resort to being something he wasn’t. She spoke a powerful truth. However, for the rest of the day, Ruby avoided him. She kept Solomon from him too, always ensuring there was some other family member around.

Despite Dodge’s best attempts, he was never left alone with Ruby either. Adam wanted to chuckle at his various frustrated attempts. Ruby paid no attention to Dodge, but instead, played games with the baby and her sisters, and made sure Solomon got his first taste of peach ice cream. At the taste, Solomon kicked his little legs back and forth, as if he wanted to run, but he could not—he was almost six months old.

Adam had to refrain from laughing at how the baby smacked his lips at the taste.
What a delightful little fellow. Such a blessing.
If he took that opportunity in Pittsburgh, what would life be like without Solomon? Or his mother? The vision of either one of them out of his life was a bleak one.

Soon, it was time for the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Paul Winslow stood up in the bandshell and, all of the town citizens quieted. Thus, the noise and laughter emitting from Negro corner became more obvious, but they quieted down as well. “Thank you,” Paul Winslow’s voice carried on the evening wind. “We’re glad to have you at the town celebration on this, our beloved country’s one hundred and twenty-ninth birthday.” Everyone clapped. “And as always, we’re delighted to have the Reverend Archibald Melvin come forward and read the Declaration of Independence. Everyone quiet now.”

From his vantage point, all Adam could see was the top of a shining pink pate with wispy white hair creeping forward. Everyone had to be still, to hear the decrepit Reverend speak in winded, low tones.

Solomon, in the ensuing cool of the evening, was not poised to be quiet. Ruby kept shushing him, but he wouldn’t hush. Lona and John, who were sitting next to her, couldn’t get him to be quiet either.

Ruby picked up the baby and came over to where Adam sat with her sisters on a blanket instead of the bench. “Keep him quiet and still,” Ruby whispered to him as she stood. “I’ma be right back.” She strode with intent over to the red clay strip of land that separated Colored Corner from the area where the rest of the town citizens were seated, listening to the Reverend read the speech in his ancient and wavering voice.

Beautiful and dignified, dressed in her white and blue, with a red tie the lone accent on her middy, Ruby faced her people, with her hands behind her back and her legs slightly akimbo. She was going to open her mouth.

What was Ruby doing?

Gently, he handed the baby off to a sister, he didn’t know which one, but someone had to hold Solomon so he could stop her.

And she spoke. She said the Declaration of Independence right along with the Reverend, word for word, and she, unlike him, did not need any paper in front of her. It was coming right from her out into the world with a strong, proud and resolute voice. Now the Negroes, shunned off into the corner, could hear the words.

Even as he tiptoed between quilts, preparing to stop her, the recitation she gave of the familiar words stirred him. She believed, wholeheartedly, in what she said and she recited it to all with everything in her.

Taller than everyone else, he noted the attention of the white side was not on the Reverend, rather, they were watching Ruby and her loud, proud, recitation of the well-known document. There were scowls on nearly every white face, including Mary Winslow, and he kept a smile to himself inside of his heart.

At the part of reciting the list of grievances against the king, Ruby would say the “He,” with special emphasis. It came across, to Adam at least, as a heartfelt condemnation of Paul Winslow and his rule in the small town.

Adam turned his head quickly to look at Lona, who was terrified. Lona stood too, as if she wanted to go and stop Ruby, but John stopped her with his hand. John’s pride in his daughter was unmistakable as they all watched Ruby speak.

Out of the corner of his eye, though, the sheriff was edging closer to Ruby. Adam tried to speed up his footsteps, but there were too many people between them.

With a beet red face, Paul Winslow had stepped off of the bandshell and directed the sheriff to where Ruby stood. Now it was time to pray.

Please protect her, God. Help me to get to her.

His heart started to beat faster—Ruby had really gotten herself into trouble this time. Nothing should happen to her. Solomon needed her. He needed her. How could he have been so casual about what had told her earlier? Had he spent so much time by himself, studying, so he didn’t know how to talk to another person, another woman?

No wonder she hated him.

“In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.” The sheriff had beaten him and stood right in front of her. Ruby did not flinch. She made her voice louder, clearer and stronger.

Please, God, let her be safe. Let her be safe.

His prayers creaked through his brain, probably because it had been a long time since he had prayed, but he needed to believe in her safety.

“A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”

She must have sensed him coming closer, because she held up a hand. Stay away, she seemed to say. Let me finish. Despite his typical good sense, Adam gave her her wish, and fell back at the edge of the crowd but his heart thudded in fear and worry for her.

As Ruby got closer to the end, the sheriff came closer but Ruby did not move, and did not appear afraid. As she ended the recitation, her voice grew stronger and more forceful.

At the end her voice almost boomed, “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” She finished and Adam leapt to her. But there were strong men on either side of him, holding him down. She finished and a crowd of officials surrounded her, and pulled her off, deep into the town square.

Colored Corner did not realize at first what was happening to Ruby, because they were applauding, but when they realized she had been taken away, they protested in loud, angry voices. Adam tried to follow the white officials, but soon, they were swallowed up by the crowd who, he could see, were clearly condemning Ruby.

Bits of her straw boater were strewn on the ground, and with horror he understood the angry crowd must have ripped the hat from her head. What else had been ripped from her? The thought scared him, and he ran back to the Bledsoes, trying to think about what to do. “Where’s Ruby?” Mags cried out as he came back.

“They’ve taken her away,” Adam said, “probably to be arrested.”

“She ain’t do nothing,” Nettie cried.

“Hush,” Lona told her daughter. “They going to take her to jail. We got to get her out of there.”

John gathered his daughters into his arms as they began to cry. The fireworks started and the loud sound made Solomon join in the crying as well. “We should get back home. I’ll take as many as I can in the car, then I’ll come out to see what is going on. Let’s go.”

Packing up baskets, he resolved to carry as many Bledsoes into the car as he could. Could he do something for Ruby to get her out of custody?

He would do anything, even trade on his associations with Paul Winslow, to keep her safe. As he balanced Solomon and picnic baskets in his arms, something struck him.

He had never been a part of anything before. And now, he was a part of something for the first time in his life. The answer, to him, shone clear and the possibilities of resolving everything for Ruby became immediately obvious. He knew what he had to do.

Her straw boater had been her only other hat besides her pink one and now it was gone. Warm hot blood rushed to her face. How could they be so mean to her?

Thank God the boater had not been secured with her usual hatpin, or they would have ripped her hair out by the roots too. She had grown up in Winslow and known these people for most of her life and they had ripped and clawed at her like animals, as if they wanted her torn apart.

In all of the times she had gotten into trouble, she had never been arrested before. Uncle Arlo had and she tried to be as brave as he must have been when they had taken him from the jail cell into the woods and…

Ruby shook her head to clear the vision of her dear uncle from her mind and ignored her racing pulse. When the sheriff had finally gotten her into the clear to a car and pushed her inside, she could see the hands of the crowd had dirtied her crisp white middy blouse. “Where are you taking me?” she asked Sheriff Baines.

“Hush up, girl.” Sheriff Baines started the car and jumped inside.

“I should know where I’m going to.”

“I said, hush. You done caused more than enough trouble today.”

“Okay,” Ruby sat back and breathed, “At least tell me what I did wrong, Sheriff Baines.”

“You up here disturbing the peace during the Declaration speech. You heard Mr. Winslow. You should have been quiet. Up here making me miss the fireworks to deal with you.”

Ruby sat in the seat of the car and was struck with a pure terror. Was Solomon okay? Would he be able to eat? Thanks to Adam, he knew how to feed him without her now. The thought made her sad, along with the alarm running in her blood at being taken to some unknown place.

Sheriff Baines pulled up to the courthouse building where Winslow’s two-celled jail pen was located. “You can’t put me in jail,” she said with more bravery than she felt. Sheriff Baines came around the side of the car and grabbed her arm. His sweaty palm print would leave more marks on her blouse.

“I can do whatever I want, gal, now you’re in my company. Come on here.”

No. No more of whatever they wanted to do to her. There was worse and her mother had endured it. Uncle Arlo had lost his life over it. Was she in for the same treatment? Tears began to run down her face.

She didn’t understand how brave her mother had been before, how strong in God’s presence she had to stand, but now, facing the unknown, she knew. She would never question or disrespect Lona again. And she would always, always fight Uncle Arlo’s good fight.

“Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” The words gave her comfort and the understanding of this particular commandment came to her for the first time in her life.

“Shut up.” Sherriff Baines jerked her hard by her arm into the empty courthouse building. As he guided her down dark corridors where the jail cells were housed in the basement, she could see, luckily for her, there was no one in the jails.

Be brave
.

“I still should know why I’m here.”

Baines pushed her into the jail cell door he opened. “Creating a public disturbance.”

“I was saying the Declaration so everyone could hear it. Have you even been in Colored Corner trying to hear?”

“I ain’t colored,” Baines snarled as he shut the door. “Praise God.”

Now that she was in the bare cell, and out of his clutches, she could say what she really wanted. “We can’t hear when you all push us away from the band shell. I was just making it so everyone could hear.”

Her words gave Baines pause, as if he might let her go, but he shook his head. “You get into too much trouble ’round here. You tell it to Mr. Winslow. He’ll be here to talk to you.” He walked away.

“Paul Winslow is not God, no matter what he thinks. He’s just a man, same as you,” Ruby shouted after him. There was only one place to sit, on a saggy cot in the jail cell and she sank down on it, weary. “He’s a person, just like me.”

She laid down on the thin cot and said the Lord’s Prayer to herself, over and over again to give her comfort. Solomon, her family, Adam—those thoughts would only make her cry.

Instead, wetness seeped through the front of her blouse in the form of two equal circles. Her breasts wept and she had no way of changing clothes. The thought of the wasted milk and what it meant for Solomon made the silent tears fall faster as she lay on the dirty cot. The boom, boom, boom of the fireworks sounded overhead, and matched the thudding fear resonating in her heart.

Ruby sat up at a slight scuffling in the hallway. She looked all around her. She was a country girl and could handle seeing most anything, but she really didn’t want the scuffling to be people.

Or rats.

She clasped her hands.
Lord, please, please protect me. Please be there for me. I am sorry I was so foolish, I was just trying to help my people to hear, really hear the words of the Declaration so they could know, just as I know, it means me too, even though so many people here don’t seem to know.

Her dry throat was full of emotion.

Then, Paul Winslow appeared in front of her. He held a tin cup in his hand. “How you?”

Pushing back at her hair, she knew she must look a sight with mussed hair, ripped clothes and large milk spots on her blouse. “I’m fine, thank you.”

She folded her arms over the milk spots, which had dried by now and tried to look brave. Paul Winslow laughed at her efforts and she stuck her chin out, determined he would not see her broken. “Thirsty?”

“No.” The shine of the tin cup sparkled in the near dark and she licked her dry crusted lips. Better not to drink. She didn’t know what was in there.