The Man from Shenandoah (7 page)

“Mama, Clay’s going to quit his job. Papa told him to,” Julianna reported. “Mary always looks sick, and she didn’t want to go when Papa told her about his plan.”

“I wonder what’s making that girl feel so poorly?” Julia glanced over at his husband, catching his eye. “Just how well is Rulon?”

“Well enough, and surely home enough, I reckon,” he replied, winking over Julianna’s head. “And high time, too.”

“Hush now, Rod,” Julia cautioned.

~~~

Carl took the horses to the pen and stripped off the saddles. Hearing a faint scraping sound behind him, he crouched in the brush. A short ways off he saw a young man seated on the bank of the creek, stropping a razor. At his side he had a basin of water and a pistol. After a while he laid the strop down and began to remove the curly black beard from his lanky face.

“James!” Carl called out. He rushed from the bushes and ran to the creek. The younger man threw down the razor and grabbed the pistol, then dropped it and gave a rebel yell.

Meeting on the bank like two young bulls, the brothers crashed together in a welter of arms and heads, wrestling each other to the ground.

Laughing, Carl declared, “You’re just the feller I want to see. And you got you a razor, besides.” He rubbed his red stubble while James punched him fondly in the side. “You be through shaving when I’m finished with the horses, you hear?”

“Carl, you coon-faced old lard bucket, we thought you got took prisoner or something. Pa was ready to go to Washington City to see what become of you.”

“You’re joshing me!”

“No sir, not me. He and Ma were sure worried some. I never seen them so worked up about a body. I reckon Ben going and getting himself killed there at the end of the fighting took some of the sand out of both of them.”

“You old liar, you. Pa never had more sand than now. He’s ripping us out of this valley, lock, stock, and barrel, and taking us to Colorado. Says we’re going to raise beef cattle for the miners.”

“He’s what?”

“We’re going to find Uncle Jonathan and set up a cow ranch, or somethin’ like that. Pa’s spoken to a bunch of men, and they’re goin’ with us.”

“You mean we’re leaving Ma and the young’uns here?”

“No!” Carl tapped James on the head. “You got mush for brains? We’re all going west. Ma and the girls, and everyone. Rulon, too.”

“Which men did he talk to?”

“Rand Hilbrands, Ed Morgan, um, Angus Campbell, and Chester Bates.”

“Not Joseph Bingham?”

Carl frowned at his brother. “Mr. Bingham lost his legs at Shiloh, James.”

“I know that.”

“Even though he’s Pa’s good friend, he’s not fit for a trek over the countryside. I’m sure that’s why Pa didn’t ask him.”

“Then I’ll speak to Pa. I can tend to a wagon and chores for the Binghams. I have to change Pa’s mind.”

“You’re fussing about something, James. What’s nettling you?”

“Miss Jessica. I can’t leave here without her.”

Carl nodded. “You’ve been sparking her, I take it?”

“She’s let me walk out with her. I think she’ll marry me if I ask her.”

“You’ve got yourself a lot of talking to do, brother. Good luck on changing Pa’s mind.”

“I’ll take the offer of luck. Hey, you better finish with them horses, or you’ll need the luck back with Pa after you. You know he sets great store by dumb animals.”

“That must be why he was so worried about me,” Carl quipped, rising to his feet. “Mind, as soon as you’re done shaving, it’s my turn.”

Carl returned to the horses, fed and watered them, and brushed their coats down with an old rag. Then he went back to the creek bank and picked up the basin and razor.

“James, what I need is a bath and a change of clothes.”

“Can’t wait for Saturday, huh?”

“That foolish brindle cow keeps pushing me in the mud.”

“Brindle always was a mite spooked. Well, I got a spare pair of trousers that might do. We’re near the same length, looks like. Maybe Ma has an old shirt tucked away that Ben or Peter left behind.”

“It’s going to be hard to ask that of her.”

“Yeah. But you need the clothes.”

“Well, I’m bound for that old swimming hole downstream. Thanks for the loan of the razor.”

As Carl turned away, James stopped him, holding something out. “Brother, don’t forget the soap.”

~~~

James had to wait two days before both courage and opportunity to speak to his father coincided. As they worked together reinforcing a wagon, James said, “Pa, did you forget to ask Mr. Bingham to bring his family with us?”

“You mean Joseph Bingham, son?”

“Yes. He’s your friend.”

“He is my friend. He’s a kind and gentle man.”

“Then he and his family should come with us.”

Rod put down his hammer and looked across the wagon bed at James. “He’s a cripple. He can’t go.”

“He’s getting better all the time, Pa. I can drive his wagon, do his chores.”

“What would he do in Colorado, son? He has a home and a business here, and his wife can manage the bakery. He’s not up to building again in a different place.” Rod picked up his tool and began to pound a nail into a sideboard.

“Then give me your leave to ask Miss Jessica to go with us.”

“What? Leave her family? Why?”

“I’ll be her family. I want to ask her to marry me.”

“That wouldn’t be fair to her, asking her to go across the country where she’d never see her kin again. No.”

“She’d do it, Pa. I’ve been sparking her on Sunday nights.”

“I won’t break up a family. Since Joe can’t go, no one else of his kin goes.”

“Pa—”

“No, James. They don’t have time to get ready.”

~~~

Rod turned over in bed in the middle of the night and whispered in his wife’s ear. “Julie.”

She sat up with a rustle of the tick beneath her, eyes blank and staring in the moonlight that poured into the room from the un-curtained window. Rod pulled her down beside him.

She released a rush of air. “You startled me, Rod. What do you need, this time of night?”

“Julia, I’ve been thinking.”

“In the night? Thinking?” She squirmed into the hollow of his elbow. “You’re almost too old for anything else, I reckon.” She chuckled, then yawned largely.

Rod squeezed her, then released her shoulders, slipped his arm free, and sat up. “We got to have a weddin’ before we leave.”

“What?” Julia sat up again, wide awake.

“Yes. I’ve been thinking on the matter of our journey. For one thing, it’ll take several months, and for another, it’ll take us into land that isn’t settled.”

“What does that have to do with a wedding, Rod?”

“We’ve got us a couple of young men who need good wives. We’re also takin’ several young ladies along with us, and they need men to take care of them.”

“Roderick Owen! You’re not thinking—”

“When Carl met young Ida Hilbrands, I reckon some sparks flew around her pa’s store. He’s going to drive a wagon for Randolph, and he might as well marry into the family, same as Rulon did. Since James has a hankering to marry, Chester’s girl strikes me as a strong, likely match.”

Julia sat mute.

“It’s a good plan, Julie. You know it is. We won’t have a lot of carrying on if the boys are safely wed, and it’ll make tight bonds between our families.”

“You’re meddlin’ where it isn’t wanted, Rod,” Julia finally managed to say. “You know James is heart-broke that the Binghams aren’t coming with us.”

“Nonsense, Julie. I’m sorry I can’t accommodate his yearning. He’ll get over the Bingham girl.”

“I fear you’re going to live to regret such thoughts. This will stir up more trouble than a bear putting its paw into a bee tree.”

Rod laughed softly. “I’m not wrong, dear wife. The more I think on it, the better it sounds. I know Rand is anxious to marry Ida off, and I’ll give Chester that wagon I picked up the other day in exchange for his word on his daughter’s hand.”

“Oh, I never heard the like. That’s just—I don’t know what to say about such conniving, Roderick Owen.”

“Come on, Julie. You want them boys settled into their lives now that the war’s over, and those are good girls. Well, that Ida is a mite flighty, but Carl can handle her fine. James is a tad distracted right now, but he and Ellen will get on very well, I wager. I’ll talk to their fathers later this week.” He idly rubbed the sunburned flesh below his Adam’s apple.

Julia sucked in her breath. She held it a long time, then let it go in a rush of sound, bowing her head. “I’m near speechless at your meddling, Rod, but I know you’re bound to try to work your will. I hope it don’t return to bite you like a water moccasin.”

Chapter 5

The next days sped by. Rod was here and there, at one farm or another, directing the preparations for departure. At last night fell, with only one day left to complete the work before they left the Shenandoah Valley forever.

Rod sighed deeply and settled into the tick that lay on the floor of the bedroom. “It’s all set, Julie. Tomorrow, late in the afternoon, we will gather at Hilbrands’ store to check the final details and see that everyone has their instructions. I’ve arranged for Reverend Halsey to come and speak the marriage words for Carl and James. I can trust Halsey not to say anything. The young people will have their wedding nights together before we all leave the next morning.”

Julia slowly brushed the surface of the quilt with her hand three times, then said softly, “Wouldn’t it be a good idea to tell the boys?”

“I don’t want to spook them, especially James. You know he is still half ready to stay here.”

“Rod, you’re going to have to pay the piper some day.”

He laughed and nuzzled her neck. “A man needs a wife, Julie. With good luck, they’ll have love, too. No, I’m sure of it. Love will come along for both those boys.”

Julia sighed. “I pray that will happen. I can hardly stand to look at James’s long face. I hope he don’t end up hating you, Rod.”

He chuckled. “I’m right in this. He’ll come to see it.”

~~~

Rod paced the floor of the Hilbrands’ store, then turned to glare toward the two couples standing uneasily at the counter in the back of the room. All the members of the company were present except for Clay, who Rod had dispatched to find out what had happened to the Reverend Halsey. They stood around in family groupings, talking quietly.

“Damnation! Where is the man?” Rod fumed, ignoring the furrowed brow that Julia turned toward him. “He’s late. I paid him good money, and he’s not here.”

“What time did you say—?”

“He’s two hours late, Julie. If he doesn’t come soon, the whole plan will be ruined.”

Chester Bates approached Rod. “Not ruined, surely. Just put off for a while. We can find someone farther down the road to marry the young people.”

Rod pressed his lips together, his beard bristling. He grunted.

Chester went on, his voice pitched lower. “Mayhap it’s a good thing they don’t wed yet. We’ll need to build houses and get crops in the ground. If those boys are working hard to build homes for their brides, they may not take it into their heads to go somewhere else to settle.”

Rod growled a surly reply, then looked up as Clay came through the door. “Speak up, boy.

Where’s the minister?”

“He went off into the hills to give comfort to Mother Whitwell. She’s dying.”

“Humph!” Rod snorted. “When will he be back?”

“Mrs. Halsey didn’t know for sure, but thought he wouldn’t be back until after the burying.”

Rod groaned, then gathered his wits and addressed the gathered company. “We’ll put the weddings off until later.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I suppose it’s best that the young ladies don’t have to travel with buns in the oven.”

Several shocked faces turned his way.

“Well, git on home.” He made a shooing motion with his hands. “We meet mighty early tomorrow.”

~~~

After he set fires in the house and walked to the waiting wagons, Rod did not look back. He mounted to his place on the seat, turned to look at his wife, and gathered the lines into his hands.

“Avery can’t live in your home now, Julie.”

“Oh, Rod! Did you have to burn it?”

He let out his breath. “Hard work is what’s needed, Julie. We can’t undo the war, nor bring back our dead sons, and the land belongs to Avery now, but we can begin a new life where we won’t have cruel memories.”

He started the team, and the wagons of his neighbors turned into a line behind him. Albert and Andy Campbell, driving the livestock, took up the rear, and the animals provided the only island of noise amid the silent pioneer party.

They were anxious to get on the road, and to avoid the pursuit that might come when Malcolm Avery discovered that all he had bought with his Yankee money was land.

Julia sat on the seat of the wagon, hearing the stern command of her husband not to look back, but her body turned with a will of its own, to look at her home for one last time. She watched in fascination as the flames caught on the roof of the house. The fire rose in fingers of red and orange, falsifying the dawn and lighting up the bulk of Massanutten Mountain. Then her trance was broken by Rod’s hand on her arm.