Dark Chaos (# 4 in the Bregdan Chronicles Historical Fiction Romance Series) (41 page)

             
“Well, if it isn’t going to change...” June began.

             
“I didn’t say things couldn’t change,” Rose interrupted.  “I said it’s been happening for a long time.  It’s the people who stand up and decide to fight for themselves that see change.”  She raised her head, the light of battle shining in her eyes.  “Things have already changed so much.  More and more of us are claiming our freedom.  When this war is over, we’ll all be free!  It’s happened because people have been willing to stand up and proclaim that things won’t stay the same!” 

             
“You sound like a crusader,” June said. 

             
Rose sat back and laughed.  “I guess I do.”  Then she sobered.  “Our little boys will grow up in a different world than we did.  They won’t be slaves.  They will have a chance to make something of their lives.”  Rose gazed down at John.  “I intend to do everything I can to make sure he gets his chance.”

             
June nodded slowly.  “When you put it like that,” she murmured.  She looked down at Simon for several moments then straightened.  “I’ll keep listening at the fort.  I’ll let you know everything I hear.”  She stood, settled Simon on her hip, and then reached for his blanket.  “You be careful.  I’m going to drop off Simon at Mammy Sadie’s and get to work.”

             
Rose watched her go and then began to bounce John on her knee absent-mindedly, her thoughts racing.  A knock on the door interrupted her.  “Come in,” she called.

             
Diedre entered the cabin.  “Good morning, Rose.”

             
Rose looked at her closely.  “What’s wrong?”

             
Diedre sank into the chair June had just vacated.  “I got me something big to think about.”

             
Rose waited quietly.  She knew Diedre would talk when she was ready.  John gave an unhappy whimper, and she shifted position so that she could feed him. 

             
“They want to send me and the children north,” she announced suddenly.

             
“Who does?” Rose asked sharply.

             
“The Freedmen’s Friends Society.  They think me and the children will have a better chance of a good life if we go north.”

             
“From the sound of your voice you don’t seem too convinced,” Rose observed.  She had heard about the Society offering to ship ex-slaves north.  She had received mixed reports.  Some of the ex-slaves wrote back glowing letters describing their new lives, but other letters were full of homesickness and unhappiness. 

             
Diedre shook her head.  “They tell me the children will have the chance for a better education up there.  I reckon that’s a good thing.  Me and Wally never got none down here.”  She sighed.  “I wish I could talk to Wally about this.”

             
“How do you think he’d feel?”  Rose asked carefully.  Wally had been gone for several months now - serving as a sailor on one of the navy’s ships. 

             
“He’d want what’s best for the children,” she said slowly.  “He’d also feel real bad about leaving our farm.  I guess I would, too.”

             
“Things will be different here when the war is over,” Rose replied.  “All the ex-slaves can’t up and move to the North.  Some of us will have to make our lives down here.”

             
“You planning on staying down here?”  Diedre asked, leaning close and fixing her with a burning gaze.

             
“Moses wants to be a farmer,” Rose said.  “There is no better land than the South for farming as far as he’s concerned.  There will be just as many children here who need a teacher as there will be up north.”

             
“It ain’t gonna be easy,” Diedre said sharply.  “If the North wins this war, there gonna be a lot of mad white people around here.  They ain’t gonna take kindly to black folks trying to act like their equals.”

             
“We
are
their equals,” Rose said calmly.  “And I never said I thought it would be easy.”  She paused.  “I used to think I wanted to live in the North.  I thought it would be easier - that I would find less prejudice.”  She shook her head.  “People are people, no matter where they are.  Our race has a long battle in front of us.  Wherever we live,” she said firmly.  “The South is my home.  We’ll stay here and carve out a life for ourselves.”

             
Diedre shook her head.  “They ain’t gonna like it if I tell them we don’t want to go.  Seems like they think it would be best.”  Her voice grew fretful.  “I wish my Wally was here to tell me what to do.”

             
“Well, he isn’t,” Rose said firmly, marveling that this was the same woman who had so fearlessly delivered her baby.  “It’s your responsibility to make the decision for your family.  You have to do what you believe is best.”

             
Diedre blinked at her then straightened.  “I reckon you’re right,” she said in a stronger voice.  “You think my children can get all the learning they need down here?”

             
“I think it will take time for things to change,” Rose said.  “But I think they’ll change.  As long as there are enough of us willing to help make it happen.”

             
Diedre sat taller.  “I reckon I’ll be one of them people,” her eyes suddenly shining with pride.

             
Rose breathed an inaudible sigh of relief.  “Good.  I would have missed you terribly if you had gone.”

             
“One of these days my Wally and me will load up a wagon and take our children back to our farm.  We’ve been legally free for a while now.  One of these days we’re going to be treated like we’re free,” Diedre said firmly.  “Things are gonna change.”

             
Rose stood and handed John to her.  “Can you hold him while I bank the fire?”

             
Diedre looked down tenderly.  “He’s sound asleep.”

             
“All it takes is a good meal,” Rose agreed. “I guess it takes a lot of energy to grow as fast as he’s growing.”

             
Diedre nodded.  “I thought we was going to lose both of you the night he was born,” she said gruffly.   “Ain’t never had a baby come into the world as rough as your little John did.” 

             
“He’s a fighter,” Rose replied.  “He will have to be,” she added softly, staring at his glowing dark skin and curly black hair.  “He has no idea what he’s gotten himself into.”

The streets were thronged with people as Rose wove her way toward the school.  Even though it was the end of September, hot humidity still groped at her. 
Boisterous children raced barefoot through the dusty streets; laundry flapped on clothes lines, and people’s voices could be heard everywhere.  As Rose passed one ramshackle cabin she heard the voices of two women raised in heated argument.  She frowned.  The cloying heat and incessant overcrowding had stretched tempers to the breaking point all over the contraband camp.

             
“I told you I ain’t gonna take it no more!”

             
Rose started and turned as the door to the cabin flung open, and the voices shrieked out into the road. 

             
“You can just get yerself right out of this here cabin!”   Two women appeared on the porch as they screamed at each other.

             
Rose sighed and started forward.  Peacemaker had been added to her endless list of duties as the long summer had worn on.  She shifted John to her hip and tried to decide what to say. 

             
“I said get out!” the larger woman yelled, giving the other a mighty shove that sent her toppling into the dust outside the cabin. 

             
Within seconds a crowd surrounded the cabin and stared in fascination as the two women continued to scream at each other.  Rose understood they were hungry for any kind of entertainment they could get, but she couldn’t see the attraction of two women fighting like dogs. 

             
“Let me have that boy,” an urgent voice sounded in her ear.

             
Rose nodded and handed John to Mammy Sadie.  “Thank you,” she said gratefully; then Rose stepped up to the woman sprawled in the dust and extended a hand.

             
“Don’t you help her up, Miss Rose!” the larger woman yelled. 

             
“Now, Candice, you know I’m not just going to leave Tonya down here,” Rose said soothingly.  “What’s going on here, anyway?”  She fought to keep the exasperation from her voice.  She knew it wouldn’t help.

             
“That Tonya done stole my one good dress for my little Angel,” Candice said angrily.  “She knows I done been saving it.”

             
Tonya ignored Rose’s hand and heaved herself up from the ground.  “You a fool to be saving that dress,” she retorted.  “My little Fannie be walking around in a dress full of holes while you got that perfectly good one stuck away in a box.”

             
“It’s my Angel’s!”  Candice screamed.

             
Rose stepped between the two women before they went at each other again.  “Why are you saving the dress?” she asked calmly.  She was sure she knew, but if she could get Candice talking reasonably things might simmer down.

             
“You know why, Miss Rose,” Candice protested.  “My little Angel almost died a few months back.  If the fever takes her again, I won’t have nothing good to bury her in if Tonya steals that dress,” she said anxiously.  “My little girl might not have had much, but she ain’t gonna be put in her grave dressed like a rag doll.”  Her voice was stubborn. 

             
Rose listened quietly.  She had grown used to this feeling.  Whenever the barrels of supplies came from the North, the best clothes were snatched up quickly, never to be seen again.  Rose had finally discovered the women were hiding them away for anticipated funerals.   Nothing she had said could change how they felt about it.  She had decided to try a different approach. 

             
She turned to Tonya.  “May I see the dress, please?”  Her voice was kind but firm.  Tonya hesitated then handed it over reluctantly.  Rose looked it over carefully then glanced up at Candice.  “This isn’t really such a nice dress,” she lied casually.  “I’ve got a lot better ones put away for funerals.”

             
“What you talking about?” Candice asked sharply.

             
“Just what I said,” Rose responded.  “I got several barrels of nice clothing a few weeks back.  I took the best clothes and put them aside.   That way, whenever we have need of some for a funeral, they will be there.  I’m not so naive to believe we will get through the winter without someone dying.”  She paused, staring Candice straight in the eyes.  “I also know how important it is for our children to be dressed well and warmly if they are to survive the winter coming.  Our hiding clothes from each other will only mean more children will die.  Is that what you want?”

             
“Why, of course not!”  Candice sputtered indignantly.

             
“I didn’t think so,” Rose said kindly.  “I promise you that if something happens to your little Angel that she will have the right clothes for her funeral.”

             
Candice stared at her for a long minute then turned to Tonya.  “I reckon you can have that dress,” she muttered.  She turned to go back inside then swung back.  “And I reckon you can stay here.”

             
Rose breathed a sigh of relief as the crowd melted away.  She took John from Mammy Sadie’s arms.  “Thank you.”

             
“Don’t you get tired settlin’ all these fights?”  Mammy Sadie asked, her round face glowing with sweat, her compassionate eyes regarding Rose closely.

             
Rose shrugged.  “Teaching is easier,” she admitted.  “I dream of the day when that will be all I have to do.”  She turned away.  “I’m late.  I have to be going.”