A Virtuous Ruby (13 page)

Then it came to her. How she could help Adam.

She could help him to see his purpose in life as a Negro, and be proud of who he is. He could provide so much help. He was a Moses, a great leader.
I could show him the way to be a proud Negro and he could show me…What?

He could be more than a mentor, teacher or a friend. A life’s partner? She warmed at the possibility.

Winslow was a small town, similar to where Adam had grown up with his Aunt Lizzie. But despite its size, it was big enough to draw big crowds from surrounding counties during celebrations.

“It’s something for folks to do, to get out and see folk they haven’t seen for a while.” Ruby explained to Adam as he pulled his car up. “I thought you said you weren’t very religious.”

“I’m not.”

“In church, you made a powerful testimony. From God.”

“I don’t have to be on some deacon board to know when I am trying to heal someone. I say a prayer to help guide my hands in the right way, to do the right thing.”

“Did you pray over Solomon?”

“I wouldn’t call it prayer. I asked for help. It’s hard for doctors to see a little one suffer.”

“Thank you.”

When he faced her, a jolt traveled up his arm at the sight of tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. She seemed so resolute, and such a pillar of strength and fortitude. How amazing that she was touched by a simple prayer. “Of course, I still pray to let him draw sweet, even breaths.”

“Me too.”

Adam looked puzzled. “No one prayed for him?”

Ruby shook her head and a hurt look crossed her face, one he would have given anything to remove. “I did. So did my sisters and my father. But my mother,” her voice sounded thick with emotion, but true to her way, she took it and kept on with the words that caused her pain. “She tried to act as if it were all for the best if he died. I guess I can understand now. So I came to the Winslows and found you there. It was God’s hand,” Ruby said, in wonder.

“Or Paul Winslow. Which amounts to the same thing in this town.” Adam slowed down the car as Ruby laid a hand on his arm.

“Thank you,” she said.

Trying to ignore the feeling rising in his arms, he pulled the car to a stop then made sure to come around and open the door for her, handing Solomon to her gently. “You are welcome.” Gathering up all of the picnic things in the small trunk, he made his way to the picnic grounds with her and Solomon in his wake.

The center part of town, away from the mill, train station and general store made up the town square, crowned with an ornate, sand-colored county building, just built about five years ago on one side and the gazebo and the bandshell on the other. The largesse of Paul Winslow had set this large building and Winslow became the county seat of Becker County because of him. Other people of a much lighter hue gathered close to the bandshell and the gazebo. The Bledsoes laid their quilts on the grass, far away from the bandshell. There had been some wooden picnic tables set up on the grassy area, and they put the food there, but everyone around them was from First Water. The separation was clear. “Why don’t you all go closer to the bandshell? Don’t you want to hear the music?”

The gathered crowd silenced and gazed up at him as if he suggested they should all take off their clothes and frolic the middle of the town square.

“This here is the Colored Corner,” Delie piped up in a happy little tone—unhappy, ugly alliterative words she made sound jovial in her little five-year-old treble.

“Will we be able to hear the music?” Adam worried.

“Not really, but who wants to anyway?” Ruby tried to laugh. “The band isn’t that good.” She laid a calming hand on his sleeve. “We have a fine time here, among our own. We don’t want to cause trouble.”

Ruby wanted to explain more to him, but she didn’t have time. She handed him the baby, even though Adam was still puzzled. He put Solomon down on a clean blanket for him to play. Ruby busied herself laying out the lunch of chicken, fruit and cold salads so everyone could help themselves after the long church service. She would have to take time to explain to Adam the white church services were shorter so they got the prime spots first. He seemed to take it personally.

Ruby gathered up a plate of food for Adam, who kept Solomon occupied. As she took it to him, two sources of trouble loomed on the horizon. Reverend Dodge had come in off to her left, and went around to various baskets, filling his belly like a grizzly bear, working his way to the Bledsoes’ area. To her right, the Winslows drove past in their open-air car. Bob, their chauffeur, stopped the car in the shade of a tree and Paul Winslow stared hard over at Adam playing on the blanket with Solomon.

Was he looking at Adam? Or Solomon?

Both of them were his flesh and blood.

And when she thought it couldn’t get worse, Dodge stepped over to the car on Paul Winslow’s side and began talking to him in animated tones. His posture was so subservient she bit her lips at the sight, and tried to steady the queasiness in her stomach. He kept pointing over towards Adam and Solomon and ice water ran in her veins. David then maneuvered himself from behind his father and looked at Solomon for himself. For the first time.

Ruby’s heart leaped in her throat as Bob came around to Paul Winslow’s side and opened the car door, letting him out. The most powerful man in town headed straight for Adam’s blanket—where, as she carried a plate full of food, her whole world froze in place, a thick fear clotting her throat at the thought of losing her child.

Chapter Twelve

Adam could see Solomon was a bright, cheerful child. He tried to trick Solomon with his little stuffed bear, but he wouldn’t be fooled. In his residency, he had seen so much poverty and sadness amongst the children in Michigan, even in homes with married parents. The children wouldn’t play games or show as much intelligence as Solomon did. So far, Ruby and her family had done an excellent job in raising this child.

What would it be like to have a child like this? With Ruby? As he played a hand clapping game with Solomon, he shifted. A certain physical act would have to take place for a child to occur. Ruby was certainly a beautiful woman, but he would not do anything to compromise her ability to get an education. As Solomon laughed at his clapping hands, Adam wished her mother would get rid of the idea Ruby had to marry him or anyone else, least of all, Charles Dodge, who was not worthy of her. Not at all.

Suddenly, Ruby came toward him with a worried look on her beautiful face. Dropping the plate of food in her hands next to him, she sank to her knees and picked up Solomon. In a swift motion, she put him over her shoulder and carried him away. His feelings were hurt. Did she hate him again? “Ruby, what’s the matter? Did I do something?”

The curve of Ruby’s retreating backside stirred him and with some pleasure he noted the womanly beauty of her shape, which was much more evident today in her plain top and skirt. He stood up to follow her, but then realized there were two shadows behind him. Dodge and Paul Winslow.

Dodge chewed on a large, smelly stogie, smoking it with fierce pleasure, as if someone would take it away from him. Adam coughed. Smoking was a detestable habit and he discouraged as many of his patients as he could from the practice. Many Negroes, though, enjoyed the diversion of tobacco in some form, whether as cigars, snuff or chew. A public health menace. “There he go.” Dodge made a big show of gesturing after Ruby and chewing on the end of the cigar. “A right fine looking boy.”

Paul Winslow had his own cigar, which looked just like the one Dodge was chewing. Clearly, he’d given Dodge one of his. Which had to be why Dodge made such a show of smoking it. It made him feel equal to Winslow.

Adam had a brief moment of sympathy for the deluded minister. “Adam,” Paul Winslow acknowledged him.

“Good day, Mr. Winslow.” Adam wished he could call him by his first name.

“Adam, is that Ruby’s baby over there?”

“It was.”

“My God.” Paul Winslow didn’t mind taking the Lord’s name in vain on a Sunday or at any other time. “He looks just like David did as a baby. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, less I saw it myself.”

Dodge just stood there, smoking on the stogie looking satisfied.

“Is she taking good care of him?” Paul Winslow asked Adam, all of a sudden.

“I’m not sure what you mean, sir.”

Paul gestured wildly with the stogie. “You know. You’re a doctor. Come on, you have all of your education. Use it. Is the boy healthy and strong? Is he recovered from the time you had to go see about him?”

Adam regarded him. “I’m not in the practice of discussing the health of my patients with people other than their immediate families.”

Paul threw down his stogie and stomped on it. “Listen here. I’m paying a lot for you to be down here to take care of these people. I paid a lot for your education. You tell me right now about her boy. You owe me some information.”

Dodge was doing all he could to keep from smirking at this heated exchange. “Well, sir. While I cannot say what happened with the child, I can say he has fully recovered from his episode.”

“Well, praise God.”

“Yes, indeed,” Dodge agreed grinning broadly.

“Charles, you got a point. The boy needs protection. He shouldn’t be living down there on that farm, Lona and John got borders coming in and out all the time. Heaven knows what’s going on down there at any hour of the day.”

Dodge opened his fat mouth, but Adam stayed him with a hand. Clearly, Dodge was not used to this type of treatment. He would have felt satisfied by his gesture, if he had time, but he had to correct Paul Winslow. “As his doctor, I can tell you he is in excellent care at the Bledsoes. He has plenty to eat, and he’s progressing on pace with his age, even ahead of his age a bit mentally.”

Paul Winslow was the picture of a satisfied cat at this news and Adam could have kicked himself as hard as Ruby had done in the woods. What had happened to his control of his emotions? Had he lost his mind when talking about Ruby and her child? He divulged far more about Solomon than he intended. “Ahead, eh? Blood will tell, won’t it?”

Adam gulped a bit. “Yes, sir.”

“Well, I’m not surprised. Not one bit. He ain’t no typical colored baby. He got good genes. Plain for anyone to see.”

“Yes, sir.” Dodge agreed, smoking like a smokestack, and looking like a fool.

Paul Winslow continued on, “I hear tell it was him being in the house what caused his sickness. Right, Doctor?”

Dodge had the nerve to look very satisfied with himself. He would have asked Paul Winslow where he got his information, but he already knew with his stooge right next to him. “The situation has been resolved. As his doctor, I find his current placement is more than satisfactory and allows for Solomon to grow and thrive. If it were not, I would have sought a different situation for him myself.”

“Solomon, eh?” Paul Winslow reflected.

Once again, Adam could have kicked himself. He didn’t know if Paul Winslow knew the child’s name, but these pieces of information were making Solomon more and more real to Paul Winslow, something he certainly did not want to contribute to. “Yes.”

Paul edged closer to Adam. “Remember who’s paying you. If I need more information about that baby, you need to provide it. Otherwise, you can go on back to Tennessee.”

Adam gave Paul Winslow a steely look. “I don’t have to stay.”

Paul Winslow clapped Adam on the shoulder, ever the benefactor. “There’s no need to get all upset on the Fourth of July. It’s a lovely day. We’re going to have a nice concert, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, lots of game playing, ice cream later on. There’s even fireworks after dark. We’re here to have a good time.” Paul projected, as if to reassure all in Negro corner who watched them, all was well.

“Good,” Adam kept his voice low. “Because I didn’t want to misunderstand why you sent for me. I graduated at the top of my class at Michigan and may I remind you of my more generous offers, sir. I don’t have to stay.”

Paul stepped back, surprised, either at this information he had divulged or that Adam had the guts to stand up to him.

“There’s lots of towns what needs colored doctors, I guess,” Dodge said smiling.

Paul Winslow was not smiling. “Shut up, Charles,” he sneered. He turned back to Adam. “I heard all that from you before. You stay and take care of the baby, understand? I’ll do what I have to do to make sure he’s protected.”

He stood back and was all smiles again. “Just like I did with you.”

“Yes.” Adam fixed him with another steely look, “I was well protected. But never loved. There’s a difference. Sir.”

Paul Winslow chuckled. “Love don’t buy warm clothes, food, shoes, and a fine Michigan education, now does it? Money does.”

He refrained from saying that a lot of that money had gone into liquor for his caretaker rather than food and clothes for him. The memory chilled him for just a second.

“The answer to everything as you see it,” Adam spread his hands in a gesture.

Paul Winslow lowered his voice again. “The boy needs a daddy.”

Dodge threw his stogie down on the ground and stomped on it in clear imitation of his puppeteer. “He sure do.”

Adam nodded his head. “From what I understand, he has as much of a daddy as I did. I turned out just fine.”

Paul Winslow locked his gaze on him.

Adam was more than ready for the challenge. As his father stared at him, he did not flinch.

Then Paul Winslow smiled again and clapped his hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Keep up the good work, Doc,” he said loud enough for all to hear. “You’re doing a fine job taking care of the colored here. I hope you’ll keep doing your job.”

Adam said nothing. He stepped back and watched as the two men went back to the Winslow car where Mrs. Winslow and David waited along with their chauffeur.

Every person in Colored Corner watched their entire exchange. No one even pretended to do something else. Dazed, he walked back to where the Bledsoes laid out lunch, and sat down.

Had he been shaken out of a dream? The entire Bledsoe clan stared after the departing Winslow and Dodge.

“What’s the matter?” He asked John Bledsoe, as he shook his head to clear him mind of the unpleasant encounter.

“He never came to Colored Corner before. Not for any picnic or any time.”

“Well, he’s gone now,” Adam said grimly. “Does anyone know where Ruby went?”

“She took Solomon and ran off somewhere, I don’t know.”

When Adam made a move to follow Ruby into the woods, a hand stopped him. The touch was light but firm. He could shake off whomever it was who had stopped him, but he wanted to be polite.

David.

The need to be polite went clean away. “What?”

“Leave her alone. She likes to go there to think.”

Adam looked at this brother of his who had been so pampered and protected all of his life, but still looked sad. A small pang touched him. He knew sad times well.

But David had cashed in any sympathy when he followed through on his father’s mandate to hurt Ruby. He shook David’s touch off of him.

In doing so, David nearly was flung back into the car. Those summers of hard labor he had to endure as he grew up made them both, fundamentally different. “That may have been the way she was before. Maybe she needs support and help.”

“And you intend to provide it?”

“Do you have a problem with that?”

David’s gray eyes darted over to his father and Reverend Dodge, talking and pointing after the piney woods where Ruby had disappeared. Mary Winslow sat in the open air car with a proper lace parasol poised over her head to block the July sun from her delicate skin and, as Adam supposed, to protect her whiteness.

“Mother and Father have talked about whether or not the baby is well cared for. When she saw him the other day, she said some things about how small he was, even though she pointed out that I tended to being small when I was little.”

Adam’s heart thudded in his chest.

For Ruby.

Clearly she had been able to see something that he had not been able to see. That was why she had run away. “Why in the world would your parents be concerned about one of the Negro children of Winslow?”

David waved him a bit away from Colored Corner and over to a stand of trees. There was a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead, and David, dressed completely in a suit as he was, pulled out a folded linen handkerchief and delicately mopped at his brow. “Mother had a hard time having me. There were a number of babies. A lot of them didn’t live. So she’s always been close to me. And now, she’s concerned for Ruby’s child given his origins.”

“You mean because he’s her grandson?”

The linen square made its way back around David’s shiny, pointed features. “Well, yes. And how Ruby’s been. You’ve got to tell her to back off of any incendiary activity. They don’t like it.”

Adam gave a short laugh, thinking of the fiery midwife who had won a place in his heart. “Are you fool enough to think anyone can control her?”

David gave a slight smile that turned Adam’s stomach. What was he remembering? Was it a fond childhood memory of Ruby’s persistence? Or did he harbor a memory of a struggling Ruby who had been firmly in his power as he compromised her virtue?

“No. But I’m just telling you that if Mother keeps harping on Father about the baby not being taken care of, he will find a way to solve the problem. He always will. And he has never resisted what Mother wants.” David put his handkerchief away in a suit pocket.

A muscle twitched in Adam’s chin.

And this was the man who had purported to love Mattie Morson. Clearly, Ruby had to be protected. “I don’t know what you mean, the problem.”

“Ruby making trouble for him. The mill. Anything. She’s got to stop.”

“She can’t stand the sight of me.” Even as he said it, things had gotten better between them, but they still weren’t good enough.

“Why not?”

“She thinks horribly of me for passing for white at Michigan.”

David shrugged her shoulders. “You would have been a fool if you hadn’t. How else would you have gotten your education? At one of those colored schools? Please.” David paused. “I often wondered why you would bother to come back here since doing so means you admit to that other side of you.”

Adam gazed at his spoiled, pompous brother. “I had to know what he wanted.”

David stared off in the distance at the trees as if he could see Ruby. And maybe he could. He had to go to her. What was he doing standing here, talking to this reprobate of a younger brother? “You’ll regret coming here. You should have gotten away from him while you could. You could have gone somewhere, married a fine white lady and disappeared. You were a fool to give all that up.”

“I wanted a family.”

David jerked his chin off to the woods. “There’s the one you want. Believe me, you want none of the Winslows. And you don’t want Ruby’s baby to have any of it either.”

“He has a loving family who cares about him. He’s healthy. I’m right there if anything were to happen to him—let your Mother know that.”

“I will. But you tell her, this is enough. Father got her message. He’s trying in his own way to make things better. Says he’s going to build some housing for the workers closer in to town.”

“A start.” Okay, some improvement. But what would that mean at half the salary and no say in the community in which they lived?

“You don’t know Daddy. That’s huge.”

And he didn’t want to know him. Not anymore, after what he had just heard. “I’ll tell her, but she doesn’t listen.”

“The thing to do is get her away from here.”

“She loves this place for some reason.” Adam’s jaw was tight.