Swan's Way (27 page)

“Did no such a thing!” Polly hissed from the doorway. “He be right as rain when he wakes up. He just getting the rest he needs that he didn’t get none of during the night.”

Virginia blushed. Did Polly know? To cover her embarrassment at that thought, and because she really meant it, she said, “Thank you both. I was so afraid he’d been found.”

“He was,” Polly said, “by me. I saw you coming out of the barn way too early for white folks to be up to anything ordinary. I was out by the woodpile fetching kindling, since that no-account Ludlow didn’t haul none in last night to fire up the cookstove for breakfast. After you went back to the big house, I figured I better go to the barn and have me a look-see. And there was Mister Channing, fast asleep, looking real feverish. I called Zebulon, and we got him moved right quick.”

“Thank the Lord!” Virginia breathed, thinking again what might have happened if Hollis had found him instead. She no longer cared that Polly knew she and Channing had been together. All that mattered was that Channing was safe and would recover under the ministering hands of the two slaves.

“You gonna marry him now, Miss Virginia?”

“I already have, Polly, at least in my heart and soul.”

“Well, it’s high time you did it in the sight of God too. First thing, when he’s strong enough, Brother Zebulon’s gonna take care of that. Might not be much more than a broomstick jumpin’, but I reckon if that’s good enough for us folks, it’s good enough for you.”

Virginia smiled at the thought of her polished and sophisticated Channing jumping a broomstick in the common slave manner of marriage. “I’m sure it will be good enough for us. Thank you both again.”

Channing was vaguely aware of voices nearby. From time to time, he could make out a word or two, but nothing seemed to fit together. He felt that Virginia was there, somewhere near. Repeatedly, he tried to speak her name. Repeatedly, he failed. Something had made his tongue thick and foul tasting. His head seemed to be three times its normal size, with his brain rattling around inside, useless. All he could do was lie still and keep breathing. He told himself that the sooner he recovered from whatever was ailing him, the sooner he could be with Virginia again. He put all his effort into focusing on that one thought.

But soon the dreams began. Terrible, horrifying nightmares about smoke and flames. He was falling, out of control. He heard people screaming and begging for God’s help. He tossed on the bed, until strong hands clamped his arms to hold him still.

“Got to save her,” he muttered. “Can’t let her die. Her husband … her kids! It’ll be all right, ma’am. Let me get Christine out, then I’ll come back for you.”

Channing’s words were plain now, all too plain.
Who was Christine?
Virginia wondered.
What could Channing be raving about?

“It’s the potion I give him,” Polly explained. “It oft times makes a body crazy in the head for a spell. He be fine soon.”

Suddenly, Channing yelled, “The airplane’s on fire!”

“What?”
All three of them said the word at once. None of them understood.

Polly nodded, knowingly. “It be them roots, all right. They just got him off his head for a time. Don’t you worry none, Miss Virginia.”

That was easy for Polly to say. Virginia was half out of her mind with worry. Channing’s whole face was twisted with anguish. He opened his eyes once and glanced wildly about, seeing nothing, only adding to Virginia’s fears. Maybe Polly had blinded him with her strong potion.

Virginia determined not to leave Channing’s side, until the crisis passed. But just then the plantation bell started ringing raucously. Used only for emergencies—fire, accident, or to announce a death—the sound of the bell went through the stuffy room like a shock wave.

“You best get up to the big house right now, Miss Virginia,” Polly urged. “We keep watch over Mister Channing. But it sound like your ma needs you.”

Virginia leaned down and kissed Channing’s burning brow before she hurried out. “Call me if there’s any change,” she told Polly and Zebulon.

Up at the house, chaos reigned. Virginia found her mother wringing her hands in the library, while Agnes writhed on the couch.

“It’s the baby!” Melora exclaimed. “Go fetch Maum Sugar, quickly!”

“But she’s not due yet.”

“Babies come in their own time. And it seems this one is demanding to be born, here and now. Move, Virginia! Get Sugar!”

“Rodney-y-y! Come back!”
Agnes’s anguished wails followed Virginia down the hall.

Virginia went flying out the back door, screaming for Sugar. Her cries roused all the slaves who weren’t in the fields. Soon, she was followed by a ragtag army of children, a pack of hounds, and most of the house and yard servants. She found the midwife in one of the cabins, cleaning up after the delivery of a small caramel-colored boy who looked amazingly like Virginia’s brother, Jed. But this was no time for speculation.

“We need you up at the house, Maum Sugar. Miss Agnes is in labor. You have to come right now!”

“Lord, lord!” Sugar groaned, hefting her ungainly weight up from the birthing stool. “It don’t rain but it pours. First, the old cat has kittens, then Xena drops her first sucker, now Miss Agnes. Must be the phase of the moon. Tell your ma, I be there directly, Miss Virginia.”

“But Miss Agnes need you
now!”

“When’d her pains commence?”

Virginia thought quickly. She hadn’t asked, but she knew how long she had been at Zebulon’s cabin. “Less than an hour-ago.”

Sugar cackled. “Miss Agnes, she got a
long
time to go yet. Ain’t no hurry. I be finished here right shortly.”

“But what do we do until you get there? She’s screaming, Maum Sugar. She sounds like she’s going to die.”

“She ain’t gone die, don’t you worry none. Tell Miz Melora to give her a sip of your daddy’s brandy. That’ll calm her some, till I get to the house.”

Virginia glanced one last time at the new little slave. Yes, he most definitely looked like Jed. Then she turned and fled the cabin. Her entourage was waiting outside, calling out questions concerning both births. Virginia brushed past them and hurried on her way.

Agnes was alternately screaming and moaning, by the time Virginia returned to the library. Several of the house servants hovered about, bringing sheets to put under Agnes on the library couch, hauling in steaming kettles of water, plumping pillows.

“Give her brandy!” Virginia gasped, as she raced through the door. “Maum Sugar says brandy will help.”

“Where
is
Sugar?” Melora Swan demanded.

“Coming! Coming soon.” Virginia was still trying to catch her breath. “She just delivered a baby down in the quarters.”

“Whose baby?” Melora asked, calculating that it had been almost nine months to the day since she caught young Jed behind the smokehouse with pretty, light-skinned Xena.

Virginia tried to think. She had been concentrating on the baby, not the mother. “I don’t know. One of Polly’s granddaughters, I think. She lives in the cabin next to Sugar’s, on the far side.”

Melora nodded. So, it was Xena. A bizarre twist of fate that two of her sons should father children born on the same day. But Agnes was screaming again, louder than ever. She put aside thoughts of her son Jed’s transgressions and went to the spirits chest for the brandy. She looked at the bottle. There wasn’t much left, and the only other bottle on the place was one she was saving to celebrate her husband’s return from the war.

“Hurry, Mother!” Virginia urged. “She’s in terrible pain.”

Melora held a small glass to Agnes’s lips. The girl coughed and sputtered when the first drops hit her throat.

“A little more,” Melora urged. “I know it tastes nasty, but it will ease your pain, dear.”

Grimacing, Agnes managed to swallow a bit more of the fiery liquid. The patient grew less agitated, but she was still experiencing regular contractions.

Just then, they heard Maum Sugar yell at the slave children loitering around the back door, “Get on outta here now! This ain’t no barbecue, it’s a birthin’.”

Moments later, old Sugar bustled into the library. “Well now, what have we here?” she said, with a jovial laugh. “A mite early, ain’t we?”

“Not
too
early, I pray,” Melora whispered to the midwife.

“Mister Rodney coming home most likely hurried things along.”

Both Virginia and her mother blushed, taking the old slave’s meaning.

“But she’ll be all right, won’t she?” Melora asked. “And the baby, too?”

Sugar stood back and stroked some wiry hairs that grew out of a mole on her chin. “She be a good eight months gone. The baby girl be big enough, I vow.”

“Girl?”
yelled Agnes. “It better not be! This is Rodney’s
son!”

Sugar chuckled. “Not if I know the birthin’ business. How come you rich folks aways wanting sons, anyways? A sweet, little ole girl-child is a heap nicer than some ole nasty boy. You get a son, you got to always worry about him be messing around down in the quarters, where he don’t belong.”

The comment was made very pointedly, and Sugar looked straight at Melora when she said it. So that settled that! Xena’s son was definitely fathered by Jedediah Swan, Jr.

Alas
, Melora thought,
it happens in the best of families
.

Sugar hunkered down at the foot of the couch and began talking soothingly, as she examined Agnes. “You gone be jest fine, ma’am now don’t you worry none. Old Maum Sugar see to that! You do like I say, and this little girl youngun’ pop right out as easy as that litter outten their mama cat this morning, about sunup.”

“Kittens?” Agnes’s voice was weak, but she was clearly interested, and distracted by the topic.

“That’s right! Four of ’em. One black-and-white, one tiger, one yellow torn—I know ’cause yellow kittens is always toms—and the prettiest little long-furred calico you ever did see. She purely looks like a rainbow, dressed in all them bright colors. She gone be a fine mouser, that one.”

“Where are they? Can I see them?” For the moment, Agnes forgot she was in labor.

“They be down to my cabin. Their ma be that trampy tiger, name of Jezabel. She plain don’t care—lift her tail for any old torn that come sniffin’ ’round, she will. But I reckon, with cats it don’t matter. It’s just when it comes to folks that it makes any difference.”

Virginia wondered if Maum Sugar was talking about Jed and Xena or her and Channing. She dared not ask. It was clear from the look of anguish on Melora Swan’s face that she realized Sugar knew that Jed had fathered Xena’s son.

Just then, the tale of the cats was forgotten, as Agnes let out another blood-curdling scream. On and on through, the day her contractions continued. Everyone in the house was on edge by evening, but still Agnes labored.

“Go on to the kitchen and get something to eat,” Melora told Virginia, sometime after sunset. “Get some fresh air, too. You’re looking almost as pale as Agnes, dear.”

Virginia gratefully accepted her mother’s offer. She didn’t feel hungry in the least, but she desperately wanted to check on Channing.

“I won’t be long,” she promised.

“Take your time, Virginia. I’ll be here with Agnes, until it’s over.” Turning to Sugar, she asked, “It won’t take much longer, will it?”

The old midwife shook her head and rolled her eyes. “They comes when they comes, Miz Melora.”

“Run along, dear,” Melora urged Virginia.

Agnes’s screams were weak with exhaustion now, but they still followed Virginia down the hallway, out of the house, and all the way to the slave quarters.

When she reached Brother Zebulon’s cabin, she was almost afraid to go in. What if Channing was worse? What if he still didn’t know her? How could she bear that?

Polly poked her head out of the door, her dark face a mask of concern. “Thank the Lord you here, Miss Virginia. You better come quick!”

Virginia’s heart sank, and her feet felt frozen to the spot.

After only a moment’s hesitation, Virginia hurried inside. Channing must have taken a turn for the worse, for Polly to look so distressed. Well, if that was the case, her mother and Maum Sugar would just have to deal with Agnes and the baby. Virginia herself didn’t mean to leave Channing’s side until he was over this crisis and back on his feet. She absolutely
refused
to let him die!

“You gots to do something with this man!” Polly exclaimed, the minute Virginia came in. “He got the brains of a billy goat, if you ask me.”

“Channing!” Virginia’s cry was half-delight, half-fear. “What are you doing up and dressed?”

“Tha’s ’xactly what I say!” hurrumphed Polly, but no one paid any attention.

“I’ve got to get back, darlin’. My unit is waiting just the other side of Winchester. They’ll think I’ve deserted. I had a pass for a few hours to ride out to see you, but that’s long since expired.”

Virginia hurried over to him and pressed her palm to his forehead. “Why, you still have a fever! You can’t go anywhere in your condition.”

He smiled. The warm look of love in his eyes touched her heart. “I don’t want to go, Virginia. You know I’d rather be here with you than anywhere else on earth. But you needn’t worry about me. I really am feeling much better now. I’ll take things easy in camp for a few days, once I get back.” He reached for her hand and kissed her fingers, his eyes never leaving hers. “I
must
go, darlin’. You understand that, don’t you?”

Channing drew her closer, wanting to hold her, to savor their last few minutes together.

Neither Channing nor Virginia noticed when Polly and old Zebulon slipped out of the cabin to give them some privacy. Virginia sank down to the bed, beside her lover.

“Channing,” she whispered, “I don’t think I can bear to say goodbye again so soon.”

“How’s Agnes?” he asked, trying to change the subject and stay the tears he saw glittering in Virginia’s eyes.

“She’s suffering terribly. But Maum Sugar says she’ll be fine. Both Mother and Sugar say that labor is always bad the first time. I’m afraid Agnes isn’t reassured by that. Poor girl, she’s been struggling for hours now. Surely, though, the baby will come soon.”

Virginia noticed a change in Channing’s features. He looked pained and uncomfortable. At first, she thought he felt a twinge from his wound. She remembered, though, that the men of her family often wore that same expression whenever they happened to overhear talk of “woman-things,” as her father called it.

Virginia forced a bright smile and even managed a little laugh. “Sugar swears it’s going to be a girl. Agnes is fit to be tied because, as Rodney told
everyone
, he had his heart set on a son.”

Looking far less distressed, Channing chuckled. “Yes, I can just imagine that he would.”

“Would you want a son, Channing?”

“Someday.” He brushed Virginia’s cheek with his lips. “I think a daughter would please me more, though. A pretty little girl who looked just like her mother.”

“Channing?” Virginia paused and looked away. “Do you think it could happen?”

“What, darlin’? That you could give me a daughter and then a son? Of course it can. And it will!”

She shook her head. “That’s not what I mean. Do you think that I might be …
now?
After last night?”

Channing hugged her close and kissed her lips tenderly. “One can only hope, darlin’,” he whispered.

When Virginia uttered a half-supressed sob, Channing asked, “You aren’t afraid, are you? I mean, because of what Agnes is going through.”

Virginia clung to him fiercely. “No. Not in the least I would gladly go through her pain ten times over to have your child to hold and cherish. Think of it Channing! A part of you, a part of me, a little miracle created from our love.”

He smiled, then kissed her again, deeply, lingering over her lips for a long time.

When they parted at last he said, “It won’t be much longer until we can be together. I promise you that Virginia. Every last man who was so eager to get into this
glorious war
has discovered already that there’s little glory involved. I truly believe that the powers that be will find a way to put an end to hostilities at their first opportunity. There is nothing to be gained by all the bloodshed and devastation.”

“Oh, Channing!” She hugged him, being careful not to press his injured arm. “I love you so! I wish I could believe you. But men are so stubborn. I’ve seen it when Father bargains over a horse he wants or a new piece of land he’d like to add to Swan’s Quarter. And this isn’t a stallion or a few acres being fought over. There’s a whole country at stake—a whole way of life.”

He had hoped Virginia would take his words at face value. He should have known better. She was too smart for that. Besides, she knew him too well. He didn’t believe the war would come to a quick conclusion any more than she did. For the South, winning meant preserving the institution of slavery and retaining their land against “invaders.” For the North, victory meant saving the nation and now, after all the battles that had been fought, paying the South back for their rebellious actions—actions which were taking such a tremendous toll in human lives.

As grim as he felt, Channing tried to make light of the moment. “If you love me so much, I assume you’d rather not see me hang for desertion, my darling. So I think I’d better get going, if the coast is clear.”

She nodded, trying desperately to be brave. “Father and the boys left some time ago.”

“Then I’d better take my leave while I have the chance, before more unannounced visitors arrive.” Still holding her, unwilling to let the moment end, Channing said, “By the way, I ran into a chap from Tennessee a few weeks ago, who was at the Academy with me, an upper classman. He’s now in the Confederate army. Captain Jacob Royal. I told him all about you and Swan’s Quarter. He promised if he was ever in this area, he would stop by to pay his respects.”

“You were actually consorting with the enemy?”

Channing laughed. “He’s no enemy of mine. Actually, he did me several good turns at the Point. And we have a lot in common. You see, he left his sweetheart back home too. Her name’s Amanda Kelly. Like us, they grew up together. Jake said he would never even consider marrying any other woman.” He paused long enough for another brief kiss and then a smile. “The same as me. You were always the one, Virginia, the
only
one. And you always will be.”

“Massa Channing, you best git, now,” Polly called from just outside the door. “They’s a scoutin’ party of Rebs coming up the lane.”

Virginia and Channing’s leisurely farewell took a more frantic turn.

“I’ll write to you, darlin’,” Channing promised.

“And I to you, my love.”

“And I’ll be back at my first opportunity.” To Polly he said, “You and Brother Zebulon have that broomstick ready.”

Polly chuckled and nodded. “Yessir, Massa Channing.”

A final kiss from his love, then Channing strode hurriedly out of the cabin and disappeared into the deep woods.

Virginia fell back on the sagging bed and let her tears erupt. She lay there for a long time, waiting for her anguish to subside. Once she had cried herself out, she too left the cabin. She must think now of Agnes and the baby. Thinking of Channing was much too painful.

Virginia heard the squall of the newborn the minute she entered the house. She hurried to the library to see for herself. Sure enough, she had a niece—all tiny and wrinkled and red. But already, the mother and grandmother were exclaiming over what a beauty she would be. How they could tell was beyond Virginia’s comprehension.

Still, when Agnes said, “Isn’t she beautiful, sister?” Virginia smiled and nodded, then reached down to stroke the infant’s beet-red cheek.

“Rodney will adore her, Agnes.”

“As will her grandfather and all her uncles,” Melora added. “You’ve done well, my dear. I told you your struggle would be rewarded.”

“That one, she probably gonna be a writer, being borned in the library like she was.” Maum Sugar nodded sagely, as she gathered up her things. “She be bright as a button, you mark my words, Miss Agnes.”

“Thank you, Sugar,” the new mother said, beaming at the old woman. “For everything.”

“Ppshaw! Ain’t nothing, Miss Agnes. I brung so many youn-guns into this world, I could do it blindfolded, with one hand tied behind me. You take good care of her, now. And iffen you needs a wet nurse, Xena’s got more than enough milk for two.”

“No!” Melora said, before Agnes could answer. Somehow the idea of Rodney’s child suckling at the dark breast of his own nephew’s mother seemed almost incestuous to her.

Virginia noticed the pained expression that crossed Agnes’s face at the thought of having to handle all the nursing duties herself, but it would have been unseemly for her to argue with her mother-in-law under her own roof.

Just then, they heard the sound of horses on the drive. Agnes sat up and broke into a huge grin. “It’s Rodney! He’s come back!”

“No,” Virginia said. “I don’t think so. I forgot to mention that Polly spotted some soldiers riding up toward the house.”

“Blue or gray?” Melora asked, sharply.

“Polly said ‘Rebs.’”

Melora let out a sigh of relief. “Well, thank the Lord. I don’t think I’m up to entertaining the enemy at the moment. I suppose we’ll have to feed them. It’s a good thing your father brought fresh supplies. Go out and greet them, Virginia, while I finish tidying up here. Tell them they’re welcome to stay the night in the barn, but that we have a new mother and her baby in the house, so I can’t offer them beds inside.”

Virginia nodded and turned to go. She knew that Agnes’s new baby had little or nothing to do with her mother’s desire to keep the soldiers out of the house. They had learned from past experience that even the officers were infested with “gray-backs,” as the men called the filthy lice.

When Virginia walked out onto the veranda, she counted two officers and about a dozen men.

“Good day, gentlemen,” she called.

One of the officers, a tall, dark-haired captain with a boy’s sweet face, dismounted and swept off his hat in a gentlemanly salute.

“And to you, ma’am,” he replied. “Captain Jacob Royal at your service.”

Virginia’s heart gave a flutter. This was the very man Channing had spoken of only a short while ago—his friend from West Point.

“We met Colonel Swan and his sons down the road. He told us there had been some trouble here last night with a Yankee spy. I promised to stop by and make sure that everything was in order hereabouts.”

“We’re all fine, Captain Royal. In fact, better than fine. My sister-in-law just gave birth to my brother’s firstborn. Should you happen to see my father and brothers again, please inform Rodney that he has a beautiful little girl, and that mother and daughter are both doing well.”

Royal beamed at her, and all the men waved their hats in a salute and gave a quiet Rebel yell, so as not to disturb mother and child.

“Our congratulations to all the family, Miss Swan.”

“Miss
Virginia
Swan.” She wondered if Channing had told Captain Royal her name. She found out immediately.

“Oh, so
you
are Miss Virginia!” His smile warmed all the more. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am to meet you.”

“And I you, sir. Perhaps after all this unpleasantness is behind us, after you and Miss Amanda are married, and my fiancé and I, as well, we can all get together somewhere for a celebration.”

“A fine idea, Miss Virginia. Might I offer my mountain house in Tennessee as the site for our reunion? Amanda would like that.”

Virginia glanced over her shoulder and saw Melora peering out of the library window. She remembered her mission at that moment “My mother said to tell you you’re welcome to stay the night if the barn will suit. There’s supper that we can share with you, as well.”

“Thank you kindly, Miss Virginia, and please thank your mother for us, but we must be on our way immediately. You’ve seen no sign of this Yankee spy?”

Virginia shook her head, not willing to put her lie into words. “It’s quite peaceful here, for the time being.”

“Well, we’ll be off then. But might we take advantage of your hospitality at some later date, if we happen to ride this way again?”

“Most certainly, Captain Royal. We will look forward to your return.”

“Our best to the new mother.”

“Thank you, sir.”

He mounted his horse. Then they turned and rode away. Virginia stood on the veranda, watching them. She thought about Amanda Kelly and how much she would have loved to see her sweetheart, even for these few brief moments. She decided to give Jacob Royal a gift for Amanda, if he ever returned to Swan’s Quarter.

For now, it was time she got back to the routine of her everyday life—a wartime life that held few joys and many fears. But there were bright spots to dwell on today—Agnes’s baby and Channing’s love. Both, Virginia knew, would grow and flourish with time.

That long winter of 1861 passed uneventfully. There were no further visits from either Swan’s Cavalry or Channing McNeal, although almost every week, soldiers arrived, begging food, shelter, or simply a moment’s respite from the horrors of the war.

“We’ve been lucky,” said Melora, as she stood on the veranda one day in May, watching a troupe of Rebs ride down the lane, leaving Swan’s Quarter in peace once again. “So many of the houses hereabouts have been torched. Only the good Lord knows what would become of us if we lost the roof over our heads.”

Virginia, dressed in her brother’s clothes, stood next to her mother. She wasn’t watching the Yankees; she was staring at the swan pond and frowning. The old cob was nowhere to be seen this morning. His mate seemed restless and anxious, flapping her wings and bobbing her long neck. Virginia knew it was foolish, but she always worried more about Channing when the male swan was missing.

“Well, I’d best go in and see how Agnes and little Roslyn are this morning. The baby has been so restless these past few nights that Agnes hasn’t been sleeping.”

“Has Agnes thought of giving Roslyn a dose of Polly’s spring tonic? You always used to make us take it this time of year, Mother.”