A Virtuous Ruby (21 page)

“Certainly, Ruby. I’m sure when Mr. Winslow returns, he will do something to help the doctor. It would be a shame for him to lose his investment in all of his education.” There was Mrs. Winslow. The aloofness was back. No need to stay to see that show, so Ruby turned on her heel to go. As she did, David stood there on the steps, having heard every word she said to his mother.

Ruby dipped her head at him. He was not the childhood friend, who, back in the distant past, she thought would be her husband. The divisions of race and class were too strong for them to overcome. She felt sorry for him, too, needing to adhere to those divisions. He didn’t look well, standing on the steps staring after her with his mouth open.

Quickly, as she walked past him, out of the back door, she did something she had not done in a long time. She prayed for him.

Bathed in sweat and completely confused, Adam bumped his head on the pine bunk above his. Breathing deep, he inhaled the stench of a dozen unwashed men in the large roughened cabin. The smell was a slap in the face, reminding him he was on the chain gang, and might as well be far away from the Bledsoes as the moon.

Touching his head, he felt no bump. He could still think and reason as a doctor. He would be okay.

Thank you, God.

The prayer of gratitude came to him, even as he had to smell unwashed men instead of the clean earthly scent of Ruby’s long silken jet black locks.

Carrying Ruby’s smile inside of his mind, and thinking of her keen, curious eyes learning some new skill, he wondered at her beauty. An unfamiliar emotion inside of him hungered to see her again. He wanted to sob like a child at being on a chain gang instead of with her. His days as a trained doctor were at an end. It was workhorse days for the rest of his life. He might as well rest up.

Soon, the sound of scraping on a washboard made a loud clanging noise to wake them up. The camp did not have proper facilities for washing. Adam looked around him with disapproval. No wonder there was so much disease in the camp. How could he get more leverage to be able to tell them the filth of the camp impacted the workers by keeping them sick?

Of course, it didn’t matter to them about what the workers needed. They would just get more workers if they died off. An endless supply of labor was the point of a chain gang. He had to laugh or he would have been sad he never got a chance to live the kind of life with Ruby he now realized he wanted.

“Are you okay, Doc?” A young man asked him.

“I’m fine. Do you know what they will have us doing today?”

“Hard to say. Might be turpentine, it could be clearing out a field. Who knows? They got breakfast for us.” The young man looked at the grits and sorghum they were dishing out in a chow line and Adam joined in too. His stomach rumbled with hunger. Grits. Better than nothing.

He ate the grits from a tin plate with more rapidity than he would have liked. They gave each of them half a biscuit. Lona’s peach jam would be perfect with this dry biscuit. The memory of the peach jam made him think of how Ruby let Solomon taste peach jam for the first time. The delight on Solomon’s young face was like a sun.

He had never known what it was to care for someone else more than himself. He had never had the opportunity. So many people, relatives, his father, all had wanted something from him and couldn’t love him the way he deserved. Something inside him warmed knowing he now belonged to someone. When he had come to Winslow, he wanted it more than anything, but he had been afraid to hope for it. All he could do was pray for Ruby and her son. Their well-being mattered more than his own health and safety.

They made him do a variety of things on the first day. They were watched over by deputy personnel of the county, armed with guns. How many citizens knew their tax money went to pay for these illegal endeavors? He chopped wood, helped to clear out a barn and dug holes. They gave them more biscuits and some sorghum molasses for lunch, not very nutritious fare, but cheap. They got to drink water from a water pump, which was fresh at least, and continued with their work.

Adam was struck by the looks of despair on their faces and he understood why. This would be their lives. This would be his life. For the rest of his life.

He began to sing. No one stopped him, but some of the men joined in, singing an old church hymn with feeling. He had to believe God would not leave him in this by himself.

They sang songs over and over as they worked until no one could remember another church song. The singing made him feel as if his existence were bearable somehow. As they worked, a car pulled up. He squinted in the hot Georgia sun to see who had come.

To his surprise, David Winslow stepped from the car. His doctor’s eye noticed David stumbled a little as he got out of the car. Adam tried to see more but the deputies were watching. “Keep working, boy.” One of the deputies gestured toward him with the gun.

He had learned enough to know not to tell the man David was his brother, so he kept chopping wood. David went into the small camp house where the sheriff was. Was the brother who he despised there to save him? Half of him wanted it to be so, but the other half did not want to be in David’s debt. He kept working, toying with the possibilities in his mind. After about a half an hour, the sheriff headed to him and gestured with a thumb. “You, you been bought out. Come on.”

“What about them?”

“Bring yourself on. It was enough for this man to buy you out. Be grateful and go with him and do what he say.”

Adam put down the ax, happy at being liberated, but guilty at leaving the men behind. “Go on, boss man,” James said. “Good to see someone getting liberty.”

“Take care of yourself, James.”

“You go on back and do right by Miss Ruby. She special.”

“Yes, she is. Thank you.”

Adam walked behind the sheriff to where David stood in the hot sun. David’s skin was covered in a thin film of sweat, his pallor was off and he did not look normal.

“Hot day,” David waved a lightweight boater in front of his face. “Thank you, Sheriff. I know my mother will be most grateful to you.”

“Tell her I say hello,” the sheriff waved off. “I hope he doesn’t give you any trouble.”

David got in the car and started it up. Adam slid in the front seat next to him, not sure what to say. “Thank you for getting me out of there.” He could start there.

“You couldn’t be there for long. You don’t belong there.”

It was a monumental effort for David to drive the car.

“Do you want me to drive?” Adam reached out to grab the wheel.

“Wait until we get down the road a way. I don’t want them seeing you drive—it wouldn’t be safe.”

Once David drove down the road a bit, he stopped the car and he and Adam switched places. David slumped over into the passenger side, clearly unwell. “I’m so tired.”

“Feel free to rest. You look as if you need it,” Adam advised. Then despite himself, he asked. “How did you know I was here?”

David gazed at him with Winslow eyes. “Ruby came to the house and asked my mother to help. I overheard. She said no, so it gave me the opportunity to do something for her.” He wrapped his arms inside of his jacket as if he were cold. “Some are luckier than others. I just wanted to do something to make it all up to her.”

“Why would you bother?” Despite what David had done for him, the anger still rose inside of him at the way Ruby felt about herself. Because of what David had done.

“Because I love her. I always have.” David slumped down even lower. “It’s unfair. You’re just as light as I am, but you’re a Negro and can live with her and love her. I’m white and it would be against the law for me to love her.”

“Is that why you raped her?”

David sighed. “I’ve lived under the thumb of Paul Winslow all of my life. You, at least, had the chance to make your own way in life and your own decisions.”

“You’ve said that before.”

“How else could I know how she was if I couldn’t marry her?”

Adam’s stomach turned. The complete picture of a spoiled child.

“You don’t do certain things to people you love. That’s not love.”

“It’s all I am ever allowed,” David whispered, and put his head back on the rest behind him. “If I were allowed more, like you, I would do it.”

“How much did it cost to buy me out?” The irritation in him came to the surface of his skin and made him hot and prickly. “I’ll pay you back, every penny.”

“You will not. I told you, I did it for Ruby, not for you. I could see the way she was when she begged Mother to help her. I always wanted her to look at me that way.”

“She had feelings for you.”

David turned over. “Crush feelings. The way she talks about you, thinks about you—she’s got a woman’s love for a man. I wish I could have her woman’s love. All I could have was the one time in the cotton field.”

“My. You just turned an attack on Ruby into being a victim.”

“There are worse things in life than what you think. Like being Paul Winslow’s only true son. Take your opportunity at liberty seriously. Take Ruby and the baby and get as far away from here as possible. Ruby told Mother she would.”

“She did?” Adam looked confused.

“Yes. She told Mother she would leave Winslow with you and never come back. Mother wouldn’t help. I think, in part because…” David stopped talking and out of the corner of his eyes, he swallowed hard. “She likes the baby. She won’t admit it, of course, but it’s like I told you. And she was angry when Ruby said she was taking the baby away. I think she didn’t want to help Ruby so she could see the baby sometimes.”

“He’s a capital little fellow.” Adam remembered how Solomon’s little face lit up with joy and he drove a little faster.

“Mother was not happy to find out about you. It was galling to her to think—just a couple of tumbles with a maid and Dad had another son.”

Adam tried, really tried to feel some sympathy for Mary Winslow, but it was too difficult. He marveled at her self-centeredness. David probably got it from her and Paul Winslow. A double-dose. He supposed he couldn’t blame her for feeling hatred for Ruby, but at the same time, didn’t countenance it. “What a shame,” was all he could muster.

“So, are you really going to take her away?”

“If she wants me to. I had several offers at graduation. I’ll send a telegram to find out if any of them stand. One offer I was most interested in was in Pittsburgh.”

“Far up in the north in the cold.” David began to cough and had a hard time stopping. “But I’m sure even as a colored doctor, you’ll have enough to buy a coat to keep her warm.”

“I’ll take care of her, however she needs me.”

David’s coughing fit slowed down and he smiled. “If you think you are going to take care of Ruby, well.” The smile left his face. “Take care of one another. Love one another.” He laid his head back on the seat. “Brother Carver, always talked about that bible verse, in Corinthians II—the greatest of these is Love. Love her.”

Adam didn’t want to know how David knew about Brother Carver. He bristled at the thought of Ruby’s rapist telling him what to do, too consumed with driving as fast as he legally could on terrible roads to get to his beloved.

“I will,” he said. He could keep such a promise.

Chapter Twenty-One

When they came close to the Bledsoe farm at the Winslow home, Adam stopped the car. “I appreciate what you’ve done, David. Thank you.”

David slumped on the front seat, napping. The motion of the car and Adam’s voice stirred him awake.

“Are you well?” Should he check him for a fever? David’s attack on Ruby staid his hand. Were his feelings reflecting a Christian attitude? Probably not, but Adam needed a bath. His need to be free of the grime of the chain gang seemed to be more of a priority now.

Still, his doctor’s training kicked in. David wiped at his face with a handkerchief. “I’ll be alright. If there is anything else I can do, please let me know. She deserves to be happy.”

With the bereft look on David’s face, something inside of him turned over. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like to want to love Ruby, and not be able to. Well, yes he could. “Yes. I’ll help her.”

David gave a faint smile and sat up, getting ready to exit the car. “I don’t see why not. You reflect everything possible for her in this life.”

“Ruby has aspirations. If she marries, she could compromise her goals. She wants to finish high school and become a nurse and help me in my practice.”

David nodded. “I could see her as a nurse. She’s very smart.”

The Bledsoe farm was down the road, and he wanted to run to it, and into Ruby’s arms, but all of a sudden, he was afraid. “She has so much potential, I don’t want to destroy it by asking her to give all of it up.”

“Then don’t ask her to,” David offered. “A wife is a helpmeet, as much as anything. Why can’t she still help you in your practice? Dr. Trywell, over in the next county has his wife help him. It’s all possible, Adam. You have to put it just like that. She’ll say yes.”

Despite his misgivings, Adam reached a hand out to David, and slowly, ever so slowly, David shook it. “Will you be all right?”

“I will. Please, take care of them.” David fixed him with a look. “Do what I can’t.”

Adam got out of David’s car and started the walk down the pathway when he heard, rather than saw David’s car pull off toward the Winslow house.

When he opened the gateway into the front yard of the Bledsoe farm, Delie’s little face was the first one to greet him. She rushed out onto the porch in her bare feet. “He’s back!” she cried and ran down the pathway to hug him. “I told them you would be back, no mean old chain gang could hold you back!”

Delie’s shouts caused everyone else to come running, everyone except Ruby. Mags came out holding Solomon and he squeezed the baby to his chest, who seemed happy to see him. Lona stood in the doorway smiling, but shouted out she was glad to see him. “Got breakfast going,” she said, “Come on in to eat.”

“Where’s Ruby?”

Everyone, all of Ruby’s sisters, her father, the Carvers and even the baby quieted on his question. His heart started to thud. Was he too late to see her? But Solomon was still here. She wouldn’t leave her son behind.

John spoke up, “She’s at her spot near the creek. She been there for some time now, trying to figure out how to get you out. She been feeling mighty bad she didn’t have no other way to get you off of the chain gang.”

“How did you do it?” Delie asked in her childish voice. “I bet you fought your way out?”

Adam handed the baby to John. “I’m going to go find her. I need to talk to her.”

John’s eyes met with Adam’s and tears stood in them. “Whatever you going to say to her, I agree and I approve.”

Adam looked squarely at him. “How did you know?”

“Anytime a man been on the gang, it makes him think about life. You want to have the same thing in your life, day in and day out. You don’t take as much risk. They won’t mess with you as much then.”

“I love her.”

“I knows,” John put Solomon’s young cheek next to his older one and they both bent to their eggs.

“Yeah, we know,” Delie said. “Go on and get her so there can be a wedding.”

Adam looked down at her and smiled. “It’s okay with you?”

Delie checked the red dirt on her feet. “Ruby’s great. I can’t wait around for you forever, so you might as well marry her. By the time I’m old enough, you might be too old anyway, so I’ll go for someone else.” Everyone laughed as he bent down and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

“And whomever he is, he’ll need to come through your big brother.”

Brother Carver raised his hand in benediction. “Go with God, good Doctor.”

Sister Jane nodded. “Go on to her. Claim it. She loves you.”

Adam nodded then went off through the woods in the direction of the pond, his heart pounding with fear, joy, excitement and trepidation all at once. How was it possible to feel so many things at once? Ruby made such a difference to him.

She had changed his life.

No luck without Adam. And no fish either. The fish were not biting this morning and since the sun was up, she should head home. However, something stopped her. She felt like a failure. She couldn’t go home to Solomon and see his grey eyes searching hers anymore, wondering where the man who held him as if he were precious and mattered had gone. For the first time in her life, she regretted all she had done.

Why did she have to be such a troublemaker? Big, fat, hot tears slid down her cheeks and landed on her overalls-covered lap. If she had been more of a lady, if she had not caused so much trouble, Mary Winslow might have been willing to help her. Goodness, Adam wouldn’t even be on the gang, and she wouldn’t have been attacked to begin with. It was all her fault.

Ruby swiped at her tears, trying to clear her field of vision. She resolved to finish her studies and become a nurse. She would seek out the chain gangs to help the men on them stay healthy and strong.

Maybe one day, she would run into Adam and let him know how sorry she was.

She pulled in her line. It looked like biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

Guilt ate at the edges of her conscience and the tears began again. She stood up to go back through the trees to go home. She didn’t even try to wipe them away.

Her sight was blurry, so when the visage of a tall man with light skin like hers, who was also dressed in tattered and rough denim overalls, appeared she couldn’t believe it. She wiped her tears away and, praise God, it was Adam, with his arms folded over his barely covered chest in a too-small shirt. “I see you didn’t catch anything. Did you ever catch anything before I came into town?”

Her mouth flew open and she gasped. She couldn’t help it. She rushed into his arms. “Oh, Adam, I mean, Doctor. How did you ever get out? No one gets off the chain gang.”

“I guess it’s pretty rare.” He leaned down to embrace her and whispered into her braids. “But I had to find a way to come back to you. You’re such a rare jewel, everyone in the camp was cheering me on.”

Despite what she wanted to do, she held him out from her, looking at his beautifully shaped pink lips and wanted to kiss them, but she had to ask the question through her tears, “Who was cheering you on in the camp?”

“Big Jim, he said his name was.”

Ruby’s eyes widened in recognition. “Big Jim Sawyer, from over Caton way? I know him.”

“You’ve done so much good for so many around here, Ruby. I had no right to judge you and to condemn your crusades. I’m sorry.”

She wrapped her arms around the long trunk of his body and a rush of warmth came over her when he reached down and embraced her in return. Tightly. “I’m the one who caused all of this trouble. If it hadn’t been for…the attack,” Ruby swallowed, “It wouldn’t have happened. You wouldn’t have felt like you had to protect me. So many things are my fault.”

He pulled back and took her chin into his big hand. Even his hand seemed better. His hands were so important to so many. “You must never, ever feel as if you deserved to be attacked. The things you do, what you fight for, are good. You bring good in this very dark world. It’s what makes you virtuous. You don’t just take things in. You do something about it. And make you special.” He ran a hand over her cheek. “It’s one reason I love you.”

“I love you, too, Adam.”

He reached down and covered her lips with his, kissing her with his wonderful, delightful juicy pink lips. If she died right there on the spot, God would take her straight to heaven and she would be glad to tell him of this happiness she had found here on earth. Then, as he lifted his lips from hers, a little cloud edged in on her happiness. She had to speak her concern—even if this was the only chance she ever had in her life. “But, Adam. You said I was virtuous.”

He smiled at her. “You are.”

“Virtuous means, virginal. It means you kept yourself pure. I’m not pure.”

He ran a thumb over her lips and Ruby wanted to pucker them, just a little, to kiss the pad of his thumb, but she stopped herself short. “You have the wrong understanding, my precious jewel. You didn’t willingly give yourself to David. He did a great wrong doing what he did to you. He knows it.”

Ruby pulled back from him a little more. “How do you know?”

He pulled her into the crook of his arm, and tightened his hold on her, just a little. “He told me. He’s the one who freed me.”

Ruby made a face and stood apart from him even more. “So I owe him?”

“You owe him nothing. He did a very terrible thing and he knows it. He said he came to help me because it would help you. I didn’t want his help, but there was no other way off of the gang without him. And I wanted, no, I needed to come back to you, Ruby. I thought about you day and night while I was away. The thought of you kept me going, despite the hard, hard work.”

“Really?” She looked up at him.

“Yes. I thought even if I died, or lost my capacity to be a doctor, I wanted to let you know I love you. And.” Adam took her hand in his and kissed it. Please say you will be my wife. I want you to finish your education, and even keep going to school to be a nurse and help me in my practice. I would never take your education from you.”

The prickle of tears at her eyes startled her. She would have never thought, mere months ago, someone like this man could come and ask her for her hand in marriage. Her breaths came shallow, as if she had been running in a race. “Your wife?”

She didn’t quite know what to say. It was as if she had been presented with a great big sumptuous banquet and she didn’t know what to eat first.

Adam’s face was almost half sad, almost yearning. “That’s all you have to say, Ruby?”

She looked up at him. He was the answer to so many things. And she said she would go away with him, but she didn’t want to cause trouble in his life. He didn’t deserve trouble. “Let me think about it.”

“You mean thinking about it like with Dodge?” She couldn’t tell if, in his response if he were being funny or if he were angry.

“No, no. No. I mean it, I don’t want to bring you any more trouble.”

“Ruby, I just said—”

And she put a finger to his lips.

“I heard what you said. It’s wonderful. It’s too wonderful for someone like me.” Ruby stared ahead, almost dazed. “I have to get used to being treated in such a fine, fancy way.”

Adam wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “There’s nothing else I can say to convince you?”

“No. Not right now. Let’s go back to the house and get breakfast.”

“With no fish.”

She smiled at him and put her arm around his waist to show him she loved him. “No fish. Just us.”

“Everyone knows I came out here to ask you to marry me.”

Ruby fixed her chin in a defiant way. “They know me. They know I would give such a wonderful proposition the serious consideration you deserve.”

“Of course. Let’s go back to the house for some biscuits and gravy. Too bad I couldn’t get here sooner, or else we could have had some trout.” She gave him a light punch on the arm.

“We can always come back tomorrow.” Ruby guided him through the trees back to her family’s farm, wishing for his sake, she was more comfortable eating at the banquet he had laid out for her.

“And many more tomorrows,” Adam said, “just as long as we are together.”

“I’ll be just a second,” Ruby stood up on tiptoe and kissed his lips then went back through the woods the other way looking for the answer to help her be free of her sins.