Shifted By The Winds (23 page)

“When she told me about the letter that might be coming,” he confessed. “Don’t ask me any more questions. She wants to tell you herself.”

Rose was content with his answer. She was happy to just stare at the sky and see millions of stars twinkling at her. She was too relaxed and peaceful to make an attempt to see more than that. She pushed aside the thought of how much she could teach her students if she learned more. Tonight she wasn’t a schoolteacher. Tonight she was just a woman in love with her husband.

When Moses tried to stifle a yawn, Rose knew it was time to go. She knew it was late because the moon was high in the sky, lighting up the night and dancing over the water and rocks. Part of her wanted to stay right there and never move. Another part of her was eager to get back to her babies. She was sure they were sleeping peacefully, but she wanted to see it for herself. “It’s time to go home,” she whispered, not willing to break the quiet of their sanctuary.

Moses pulled her close, kissed her one more time, and then lifted her to her feet. He repacked the picnic basket while she shook out the blanket and folded it. When he reached for the blanket, she handed it over willingly, and then led them toward the path.

Within moments, the thick woods had swallowed the moonlight. Rose moved forward confidently, not at all alarmed by the total blackness and the sound of scurrying feet. The woods had become her friend years ago. The fact that Moses was with her only made her more confident. It took but a few minutes for them to walk the trail and draw near to the road that led back to the house, and also down to the old quarters where the temporary workers were now living. Suddenly she stiffened and stopped.

“Rose?”

Rose held up her hand and listened intently. “There is someone on the road,” she whispered. She could feel Moses frown even though she could see nothing but a large shape that stepped up to stand beside her.

“Are you sure?”

Rose nodded her head, annoyed with how hard her heart was beating. This was the plantation. Surely the vigilantes wouldn’t come right onto the plantation with so many men around. She knew as soon as she had the thought that they might well do that. She fought to swallow her fear.

Moses took her hand and continued to move forward.

“Moses!” she hissed, hating her terror, but unable to stop it. She had heard too many stories. “Don’t go out there!”

“There is only one way to find out what’s on the road,” he said reasonably. “I refuse to be afraid.”

Rose bit back her protest and gripped his hand as they moved toward the glow of the moonlight. Whether she agreed with him or not, she would not allow her husband to walk into trouble alone.

Moses stopped before they broke out of the woods, watching the group of men carefully. He couldn’t identify faces, but their bodies were outlined in stark contrast by the moon. He was certain they were not any of his workers, but neither were there any alarm bells going off in his mind. He was content to watch the seven men clustered in the middle of the road. They were talking quietly but urgently, their arms waving as different ones made their point. “They don’t seem to be trying to hide,” Moses observed quietly. “If they were planning on trouble, I would think they would be less conspicuous. I think they are probably just men looking for work.”

“In the middle of the night?” Rose was still suspicious, but she felt her heart beat slowing as she acknowledged Moses was probably right. She was curious to find out who the men were, but something still held her in place. She felt protected by the dark embrace of the woods. Once they stepped out into the bright moonlight, it would be too late to try to hide.

One of the men’s voices carried to them on the breeze. “I told you it be too late to come here. We can’t find Moses at night.”

“They know you!” Rose whispered. “Is that a good thing?”

“It is tonight,” Moses said with a chuckle as he stepped out of the woods. “Is that you, Jeb?” he called.

The man who had been speaking whirled around. “Moses?”

“Depends on who is asking,” Moses responded as a grin broke out on his face.

The man, who stood almost as tall as Moses but not as broad, stepped forward. “It’s Jeb! From your old unit.”

“Then I reckon I’m Moses,” he said with a laugh. He pulled Rose forward. “And this is…”

“Rose!” another man yelled, breaking loose from the group. “I remember you from Fort Monroe. I was with the unit when Moses surprised you for Christmas!”

They were suddenly surrounded by men, all eager to explain why they were on Cromwell Plantation so late at night. Moses laughed as he realized every one of the group had served with him in his army unit. He called out greetings as they strode forward to shake his hand or slap his back.

Rose watched with a smile on her face, but she was still curious why they had arrived in the middle of the night.

Moses finally held up his hand to stop the talk because none of it was making any sense. “One at a time!” he called.

Rose smiled at the authoritative tone of his voice and realized how effective he must have been as a leader, because every one of the men stopped talking and stood tall.

Moses fixed his eyes on Jeb. “You do realize it’s past midnight, don’t you, Jeb?”

“We do,” Jeb said apologetically. His voice grew tight and nervous. “We’ve learned it’s best not to travel during the day. Groups of black men tend to make white people nervous.”

“They can certainly do that,” Moses replied.

“We were going to bed down outside the entrance to Cromwell tonight,” Jeb continued, “but four white men on horseback rode by. They didn’t see us, but we got the feeling they were up to no good.”

Rose stiffened, her eyes searching the horizon. She was relieved when there was no orange glow to indicate a fire at the schoolhouse. “Could you hear what they were saying?” she asked sharply. She was sure the four horsemen knew school was scheduled to start again tomorrow. They had all night to cause trouble.

“No, ma’am,” Jeb responded. He offered her a gentle smile. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about you, Mrs. Samuels. It’s real nice to meet you.”

Rose smiled warmly. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Jeb. Welcome to Cromwell Plantation.” Her mind shot back to the horsemen.  “So, you couldn’t hear what they were saying? Not any of it?” She hoped that someday the image of her school in flames would fade from her memory, but it wasn’t going to be tonight.

“No, ma’am, but they didn’t sound happy. We decided it would probably be a good idea if we just came on in to the plantation. We were planning on sleeping in the woods until morning. We didn’t expect the two of you to be out roaming around in the middle of the night.”

Rose chuckled, glad she didn’t have to explain what they had been doing, but she was startled when she heard angry muttering from someone in the group.

Moses stepped forward. “Is there a problem?” he asked evenly.

Rose could feel Moses stiffen when a small, wiry man separated himself from the group.

“Hello, Trevor.”

Rose, only because she knew her husband so well, could hear the strained tone in his voice. She waited quietly, knowing time would reveal the cause of his tension. Since her husband was more than twice Trevor’s size, and because he didn’t appear to be armed, she felt no alarm. Moses could take care of himself.

“Long time, Moses,” Trevor drawled.

Rose held back a shiver at the barely concealed anger in the little man’s voice. Was he angry with Moses, or just life in general?

“Yes, it has been. Is there a problem?” Moses repeated.

“This country is full of nothin’
but
problems,” Trevor said bitterly, his shoulders slumped with fatigue. “We’s hopin’ you can help us. We’ve come a mighty long way.”

Rose felt Moses relax marginally.

“What do you hope I can do?”

Jeb stepped forward again. Evidently he had been designated the spokesperson for the group. Trevor shot a sour look at him but stepped back.

Rose frowned when she realized Moses gave his attention to Jeb but was still carefully watching Trevor. What was going on? She couldn’t help seeing the hopeful look on the other men’s faces, but she could tell Moses was wary of Trevor.

“Trevor is right that the country is full of problems,” Jeb said, only his eyes showing his anxiety. “We got mustered out of the army about two months ago down in Texas. We were all real careful to save the money we made, figurin’ we could buy some land when the fightin’ was all done and they let us out. It ain’t worked out that way.”

Moses nodded. “You can’t find anyone who will sell you land.” It wasn’t a question.

“You know how it is?” Jeb asked.

“Unfortunately, yes. You’re not the first I’ve heard this from.” He turned and looked at the group. “All of you have money?”

“Just barely,” Jeb said, not trying to conceal his anger this time. “We got ambushed one night about a month ago. Thankfully we had been warned, so all our money was hid up in the trees above where we were sleepin’. The men threatened to rough us up some if we didn’t give them everything we had, but they figured out real quick we were ready to fight back. Those cowards hiding under them white hoods rode off pretty quick when they realized we had guns. We learned to keep hidin’ our money after that. That’s why we try to mostly travel at night. We figure we won’t draw as much attention.”

“White hoods?” Moses asked sharply. “Where were you?”

Rose held her breath, remembering what Matthew had told them.

“Coming through Tennessee,” Jeb answered. “You ever heard of a thing called the Ku Klux Klan?”

Moses frowned deeply. “I have. A journalist friend told me a group had formed that could mean trouble for our people.”

“Oh, they mean trouble all right,” Trevor snarled. “But theys ain’t the only ones. We ran into vigilante groups all through the South. They ain’t happy about black folks being treated like people.”

Jeb shot Trevor a warning look but nodded. “Trevor is right. These groups are killing black people everywhere. I figure thousands of us have been killed in Texas since the war. Louisiana and Mississippi seem to be as bad. We headed north, hoping Tennessee would be better since it was a border state, but that’s where they almost got us. We hide out during the day now.”

“That’s terrible!” Rose cried.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jeb agreed, “but it’s the way things be. We all be stickin’ together, hoping we can find a way to make our lives better. We heard through some folks how things are here on Cromwell Plantation.” He looked closely at Moses. “It be true that you own half this plantation now, and that the men who first started with you after the war all have their own places now?” His voice made it clear he didn’t think the rumors could possibly be true.

“It’s true,” Moses answered simply, giving no more information than that.

Rose understood when excited muttering broke out from the group. They had come a long way to find out if their information was correct.

Jeb straightened even more. “Moses, we was hopin’ you had room for some more of your old unit. If we can’t find nothing to buy, we’s at least hoping we can work where we can get treated fairly.” He paused. “We heard about them riots in Memphis and New Orleans. We also heard they might just cook President Johnson’s goose. We’s hoping things will get better if he ain’t got no real power.”

Moses listened closely. “I believe things are going to get better, but it’s not going to be right away,” he said carefully.

“So you got a place for us here?” Trevor broke in to ask.

Moses shook his head. “I’m sorry to say the answer is no. I have all the full-time hands I can afford right now. Our harvest workers will only be here a few more weeks and then they will have to move on.”

Rose’s heart swelled with sympathy at the despairing look that filled the men’s eyes. They had traveled so far, hoping they would find a place to settle. “One of the houses is empty down in the old quarters,” she said quickly. “You will stay there for the next few days while we see if we can figure out a way to help.”

Jeb stared at her. “I appreciate that ma’am, but if you ain’t got work, you ain’t got work. There doesn’t seem to be any sense in hanging around,” he said wearily. “We should just be moving on.”

“My wife is right,” Moses said. “We’ll take you down to the quarters and get you settled. You’ll be a little cramped, but it will be better than what you had in the old days. And you’ll have plenty of food.” Jeb still hesitated. Moses stared at the group, imagining what they had experienced as they crossed the country in the dead of night. “We fought more battles together than we care to remember. Just because I don’t have enough jobs for all of you doesn’t mean I can’t help. We can try to figure something out.”

Rose watched hope ignite in the men’s eyes again.

Jeb saw it, too. “I appreciate that, Moses.”