Never Too Late (31 page)
Authors: Michael Phillips
“You're probably right,” said Templeton. “But the way we figure it, the house is here and isn't doing anything, and if we can just recoup what we've put into it, then that ought to be enough. We're not trying to make a profit on it, Henry, we're just trying to make it available as a nice home to someone, possibly a newly married couple, who could be happy there. Do you know anyone who might be interested?”
“Well, beggin' the two of you's pardon,” said Henry, “but does you think you'd be willin' ter sell ter black folks?”
“Hmm . . . that is an idea,” nodded Templeton. “I don't see why not, since we had planned it for Mayme and Jeremiah. Why . . . you have someone else in mind?”
“Well, effen you don't mind da presumption . . . I's thinkin' dat perhaps, effen you wuz willin', dat maybe me an' da future Missus Patterson might raise dat money an' buy da house ourselves.”
“You and Josepha, why that is a fantastic idea!” said Templeton.
“But dere's jes' one thing,” said Henry. “I's afraid I gotter take exception ter dat price er yers. I know what we put inter dis place, an' I know dere's more den dat. An' I wudn't gib you less den forty dollars fo it, an' to tell you da truf, I know it's worf more den dat. But you jes' name your price an' I'll talk ter Josepha, an' we's see effen we kin do it.”
“You are a hard negotiator, Henry,” laughed Templeton. “Why don't we tentatively agree on forty dollars, then.”
“Effen you's shure dat's all you wants ter ask.”
“All agreed?” said Templeton, glancing at the other two men.
“We probably should clear it with Kathleen,” said Ward.
“Right . . . of course. Forty dollars, thenâpending Kathleen's approval.”
The three shook hands.
“I'm much obliged ter you bof,” said Henry. “Dis is gwine make my Seffie 'bout da happiest black lady in da whole worl'.”
H
ENRY AND
J
OSEPHA
39
T
he big day came
.
Just like for Emma and Micah's wedding, Reverend Hall came out to the house. We were all thinking of Emma and wishing she could be there with us. The only other cloud on the day was that Jeremiah would be leaving after the wedding. Many mixed feelings were running through my mind
.
But I determined not to be sad for myself. This was a day to be happy for Henry and Josepha
.
Katie and I helped Josepha get ready upstairs just like we had with Emma. Josepha was as excited as a girl. She had never expected to be a bride. But she was about to become Mrs. Henry Patterson!
What to do for a wedding dress had been our biggest problem right from the start. We'd thought about a trip into Charlotte to buy one, but nobody was anxious to do that, especially now with hotels not allowing blacks and whites to stay together. In the end it was Mrs. Hammond who helped us out of
the difficulty. One day Katie and I were asking her about ordering a dress for Josepha
.
“I don't know,” she said, “for a woman . . . well, you knowâso large . . . it can be difficult to get a good fit, and once the dress comes, what can you do? And a nice dress can be quite expensive.”
She thought a moment, then a smile came over her face and she began to nod
.
“Yes,” she said, “I think . . . yes, I think we could do it.”
“What, Mrs. Hammond?” asked Katie excitedly
.
“Well, what I was thinking . . . was that we could make a very nice dress ourselves.”
“Do you really think we could!”
“I used to do quite a bit of sewing when I was youngâyes, I am sure we could.”
Katie and I took some fabric samples home to Josepha from Mrs. Hammond's supply. Within the week we had several yards of a beautiful light green linen material, and Josepha had begun her fittings with Mrs. Hammond upstairs in her house above the shop
.
The four of us had such fun, laughing and talking together, while the dress slowly took shape around Josepha's frame. It turned out that Mrs. Hammond was a much better seamstress than she let on. The dress had all sorts of fancy folds and tucks, so that by the end it was better than any store-bought dress could possibly have been. By then Josepha and Mrs. Hammond had become such good friends that Josepha had asked her to stand beside
her at the wedding along with Katie and me
.
Then the day came. Mrs. Hammond was the first to arrive. She wanted to make a few last-minute alterations to the yellow bow that went around Josepha's middle. We hurried her inside the house and upstairs to Josepha's room and there the four of usâtwo young ladies barely twenty and Josepha, who I think was forty-nine, and Mrs. Hammond, who was probably about the same ageâcarried on like four giggling schoolgirls as we helped Josepha get ready
.
Once Josepha had the dress on and everything was in place, we fixed her hair while Josepha held a mirror to see what we were doing. With a few flowers and ribbons, she looked beautiful
.
Meanwhile down in what was already being called “the new house,” Papa and Uncle Ward and Jeremiah were busy getting Henry ready. Also with Mrs. Hammond's help, they had tailored one of Papa's old fancy gambling suits and ruffled shirts to fit Henry. Mrs. Hammond had let down the legs a couple of inches and taken the waist in about the same amount, since Henry was both taller and thinner than Papa. But the end result, when I finally saw it a little while later, was amazing. Henry looked like a black riverboat gambler!
Mr. Thurston and Reverend Hall and his wife arrived about eleven in the morning. Aleta and her father arrived a little while after that. Since this was the second wedding we had had at Rosewood, we did everything nearly the same as we had before for Emma's. Reverend Hall and Katie talked a bit about
arrangements, then she hurried back upstairs where the rest of us were waiting. Josepha had asked both Papa and Uncle Ward to walk her downstairs to give her away to Henry, just the same as Emma had done
.
“Everything's just about ready,” said Katie as she came in. “What about you, Josephaâare you ready?”
“I don't know, chil',” said Josepha. “I's so happy an' nervous, I don't know what ter think!”
We heard the kitchen door open downstairs
.
“That must be the men,” said Katie. “It's about time for us to leave you, Josepha.”
Katie stepped forward, gently embraced Josepha and kissed her on the cheek. “We love you, Josepha. We're so happy for you.”
“Don't do dat, chil', you's gwine make me start cryin' all over again!”
Then she looked me straight in the face with her hands on my shoulders
.
“Thank you for being such a big part of my life,” I said
.
I hugged Josepha and cried. I couldn't say anything more. Neither did she. We didn't need words
.
Finally Mrs. Hammond stepped forward, hesitated just for a moment, then put her arms around Josepha. “God bless you, Josepha. You're a sweet and lucky lady.”
“Thank you so much fo everything, Elfrida,” said Josepha. “You's a good friend.”
She stepped back. Both women had wet eyes.
The sound of men's footsteps on the stairs told us it was time to go
.
We all took Josepha's hand one last time, gave it a squeeze, and with smiles all around left the room just as Papa and Uncle Ward walked in
.
“All right, you all, get out of here!” said Papa. “We'll take over from here!”
“There's a mighty handsome man downstairs waiting for you, Josepha,” said Uncle Ward
.
“Oh, Mister Ward, don't make me cry!”
“Don't worry about a few tears. There's always more where they came fromâgood for the soul, they tell me, though I can't claim much personal knowledge.âSo,what do you think . . . you about ready to go meet your man?”
“Oh, I don't know . . . I reckon so!”
“You look ready to me,” said Papa. “You're a beautiful bride, Josepha. We're all very proud of you.”
“Thank you, Mister Templeton. You hab bof been so good ter me.”
“There's Katie at the piano!” said Uncle Ward. “Sounds like it's time!”
They opened the door and began slowly to descend the stairs, Josepha on the arms of both men. She was beaming as she came down into the room. The moment she saw Henry standing there smiling, so handsome in Papa's ruffled shirt and tie and dark blue suit, I could see that the sight of him took her breath away
.
Mrs. Hammond and I were standing on one side
of Reverend Hall. Jeremiah was standing on the other. Henry's face was so proud as he watched Josepha in her new green dress descend into the room. It was obvious he loved her so much
.
They came down and stopped in front of Reverend Hall. Katie played a little more, then reached the end of the music and stopped. She stood up from the piano and came over and stood next to me
.
“Dearly Beloved,” said Reverend Hall. “We are gathered here this day to unite this man and this woman in holy matrimony. If any man should show just cause why they should not be so united, let him speak now or forever hold his peace.”
After a brief silence, he went on
.
“Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” he asked
.
“We do,” said Papa and Uncle Ward
.
They both stood aside and went to stand with Jeremiah as Josepha stepped forward and took her place at Henry's side
.
As she did, she thought back to the day she had left the McSimmons plantation and had gone to Greens Crossing in search of Henry
.
She remembered ambling toward the livery stable, weary from her long walk in the hot sun. She had immediately recognized the man behind the fence holding a pitchfork, but wondered if he would remember her.
“You be Henry, effen I'm not mistaken,” she had said.
“Dat I is,” replied Henry.
“I'm Josepha, from da McSimmons place.”
“I knows who you is,” Henry had chuckled. “You don't think I forgot our first meetin'. Why I owe you dis job er mine. But whatchu doin' so far from home, an' on what looks ter be sech tired feet?”
“Ain't my home no mo,” she had said. “I's a free woman, so I done lef'. I ain't gotter take dat kin' er treatment no mo from nobody. An' now I'm lookin' fer Miz Mayme, an' I'm hopin' you might be familiar 'nuff wiff her ter be able ter direct me ter where I kin fin' her.”
At that, Henry had chuckled again. “I reckon I kin do dat all right,” he said. “Why, I might jes' take you dere mysef', effen you ain't in too much a hurry. Hit's a longer walk den I think you wants ter make, an' effen you kin wait till I'm dun here, I'll fetch you dere in dat nice buckboard ober dere dat I's repairin' fer Mister Thurston. I reckon hit's 'bout ready fer me ter take ter him, an' Rosewood's right on da way. I don' think he'll min' a passenger ridin' 'long wiff me.”
Henry had been so kind to her, even then.
Josepha had sought out Henry Patterson to find Lemuela's girl Mayme. How could she ever have imagined that one day she would be standing beside him like this!