Leigh Ann's Civil War (11 page)

"Teddy, we just..."

He held up his hand. "This is not between us this time. This is between you and"—he gestured to Louis—"the mayor. This is official business. And he will handle it. And you'll do whatever he says. Now breaking and entering..." He shook his head. "A serious business."

I felt sick. I glanced at Louis, but he did not look at me. Nor did he and Teddy look at each other.
This is all planned,
I told myself.
Teddy knew about this before the summons came, or else he'd be climbing the walls by now. They have combined forces, like they did at Manassas, and they won there, didn't they?

So, what do I do now?
Carol and Viola were looking at me. Pa ... well, Pa was in his own world, enjoying his breakfast. I bit my bottom lip. Which of them to appeal to?

I got out of my chair and stood next to Teddy. "Please, can't we settle it here?"

"I'm afraid not. This involves the law. Louis has to do his job."

"What did the child do?" As he did at crucial times, Pa came out of his private world to join ours. "What must she face up to? Did she steal something?"

"She didn't steal, Pa," Teddy assured him.

"If she didn't steal, leave her be," he mumbled. "She's just a child. You and Louis got into plenty of trouble when you were children. I never whipped you. Don't you dare whip her. Indians don't whip their children."

"Nobody's going to whip her, Pa," Teddy said. "We never whip her."

Pa settled down. "Indians never whip their children," he kept mumbling. But he settled down and went back into his world again.

"Will you come with me?" I asked Teddy.

"No, I think you can handle this alone. Louis is your brother, remember."

"Suppose he sends me to jail?"

Teddy worked hard to hide a smile. "Then you go to jail."

I looked at Louis at the other end of the table. He was busy eating, perfectly becalmed. I left Teddy and summoned all my courage to go and stand next to Louis.

"Louis," I said.

"Yes, sweetie." He took a sip of coffee and set his cup down.

"What are you going to do to me?"

"Same as I do to the other girls."

"What will that be?"

"The law requires punishment. But you all are still underage, so you won't have to go to Marietta for trial."

I felt as if I were going to faint. I gripped the table.

"So, it is up to my discretion. Whatever I decide is necessary."

I looked into his eyes for the warmth of kindness that was usually there, and found it. He reached out a hand and touched the side of my face.

"You're shivering," he said. "Now listen here. This will not do when you come to my office. This is a bad state of affairs and I hate it as much as you. Still, there's nothing for it but that we get through it. We're dear friends, Leigh Ann, but I am bitterly disappointed in you. Still, that's personal, between us, and it won't affect any decision I make today."

Tears came down my face.

He wiped them with his napkin. "Now, now, we haven't time for that. What's done is done. You have distressed me, yes, but I've forgiven you. What concerns me now is this afternoon. Everyone is going to be scrutinizing my actions because my little sister is one of the offenders. And they'll be watching your behavior. I expect you to be strong and brave and respectful. You've done wrong and you're there to face up to it. Can you do that for me and make me proud?"

I drew myself up. I told him yes, I could.

He looked at Teddy. "All the other parents will be present," he said.

"All right," Teddy said. "I'll be there to give you both moral support, but I must get to sleep now." He excused himself and went upstairs, Carol with him. Louis left for work. Pa was still eating. He did eat tremendous amounts of food, my pa. And he was still mumbling.

"Indians never whip their children. I won't have anyone whipping that child."

Teddy came to Louis's office with me and stood with me through the whole session. There were a lot of arguments from the parents of the other girls, especially when Louis imposed his sentence on us.

"I hereby order that each girl serve, every Saturday for the next two months, at the home of an elderly woman who needs help. Either by reading to them, writing letters, having a midday meal with them, or being a companion to them in some way. From the hours of ten in the morning to four in the afternoon. Each girl will be assigned to her woman. By doing this we can hope they will learn compassion and consideration for others, which seem to be lacking in their present makeup."

There was a considerable uproar in the room at that pronouncement. But the parents eventually accepted it and left. After they went out, Louis looked at me.

"I've got more in mind for you," he said. "I want you to bake a cake for Mr. Roche. Then you and I are going to pay him a visit. And you are going to apologize."

"Why must I when the other girls don't have to?"

"Because I said so," he told me mildly.

I didn't protest. He didn't expect me to.

I baked the cake for Theophile Roche that evening. I made my favorite, pound cake with vanilla icing.

Louis came into the kitchen.

"Your elderly lady is Mrs. Stapleton. She lives across town. Tomorrow is Saturday, but your assignment doesn't start until next week. So we'll take the cake to Mr. Roche tomorrow morning. Be ready."

"I can ride my horse to Mrs. Stapleton's," I said.

"No. Teddy and I don't want you coming home in near dark. It's winter, remember. Jon will take and fetch you."

I made a face. "Does it have to be Jon?"

He eyed me wisely. "Teddy says you don't like him. Is there a reason?"

I couldn't lie to Louis. With his Indian powers he saw through lies.

"He touched me."

"Where?"

I blushed. "On my bottom."

Louis's eyes got red flames in them that I'd never seen before. "I'll give him a sound beating."

"No, no. It's why I never told Teddy. Please, Louis, if you love me, please listen before you beat him."

"What is there to listen to?" But he listened.

"I know Teddy would duel him. But in Florida, where Jon comes from, he's the best duelist there is."

"How do you know?"

"He told me and—"

"He
told
you?"

"Yes. He said he dueled and killed three people there. And that's how he got his bad arm. And that's why I wouldn't tell Teddy about it, because I knew Teddy would duel him and he'd kill Teddy. So I told him if he touched me again I'd get a bad root from Cannice and poison his food. And I will if I have to."

"He's lying. He isn't a gentleman. Only gentlemen of honor duel. And Teddy wouldn't stoop to duel him. And neither will I. But to protect your honor I must give him a sound whipping."

"Oh, Louis!"

He swore. My brother took the Lord's name in vain. Twice. He said, "I'm sorry, little sister mine, that you have to put up with all this. He'll never touch you again when I get through with him."

He held me to him. He kissed the top of my head and prayed right there in the kitchen that God would wash him thoroughly from his wickedness and cleanse him from his sins. He acknowledged that his sins were forever before him.

What sins does he have?
He was the most sinless person I knew.

I had never seen or heard Louis pray before. He never spoke about God. I was so touched by his reverence and humility that I was afraid to interrupt him. When he finished I looked up at him. "Those are the words Mother made me memorize when she kidnapped me."

He tweaked my nose. He kissed me. "Check the cake. It must be done. Then go to bed. I have an affair of honor to attend to."

After I iced the cake I went to bed, but before that, I peeked out the upstairs hall window in back of the house just in time to see Louis attending to his affair of honor.

He was dragging Jon by one arm out to the barn. Primus had the other arm.
Of course,
I thought. Louis could not do this without help. He walked without crutches now, but he still limped, and in a fracas he would lose his balance. I watched as they brought a struggling Jon into the barn. Then I went to bed.

Jon was not at the breakfast table serving Pa the next morning. Teddy did not ask why. Viola did.

"He's got the measles," Teddy told her. "He's recuperating in the groom's room in the barn. Stay away from him. Primus's wife, Eulah, is caring for him."

We took the cake to Mr. Roche's.

In the carriage, which was driven by Primus, Louis said that he had something to tell me.

"The truth of the matter is that Teddy has been wanting to invite Theophile Roche to dinner," he said, "but he has not found the man approachable."

"Why does he want to invite him to dinner?"

It was then that Louis told me, swearing me to secrecy. "Teddy 'imported' Theophile Roche for a special reason. Not to be a weaver at the mill. But to help out if and when the Yankees come, because Roche is a French national. Teddy has plans for him. That's all you need to know now. But what you and your friends did has made Roche less approachable. This morning you and I are supposed to help mend things."

I nodded. "Should I invite him?"

"Depends on how he receives you. I'll give you a signal if I think so."

Louis was holding the cake, but he gave it to me when we got out of the carriage. When he knocked at the front door it was answered immediately, and when it opened, Louis said, "
Enfin nous sommes arrives!
" That meant, as he told me later, "Finally we have arrived."

Louis knew French. I wished I did. Louis introduced me immediately as his sister and one of the girls who had broken into his home. And I was here now to apologize.

I curtsied. And told Mr. Roche I was sorry, that I knew I had done wrong. I handed him the cake, prettily wrapped and tied with a ribbon.

He set it down and stared at me. At first I thought he was going to send me from the house. But he took my hand and kissed it and said, "Oh, my sweet."

He took our wraps. He made us sit on the one couch in the room and offered Louis some French wine and made me a cup of tea. He sliced the cake and served it on plates that looked as if they had come from France. He gave us delicate napkins that were embroidered with his initials.

He was dressed in regular trousers, suspenders, and boots, but his shirt was of the whitest cotton, with ruffles at the wrists and the neck. I could see how broad his shoulders were. And how strong his neck muscles.

On the wall hung a sword in a scabbard. A sword for dueling. I stared. Louis nudged me.

"Do you like it here in America?" Louis was asking him.

"Ah, yes. So much land."

Then he fell silent.

"Well, I hope you'll accept my apology, too, for what my sister did," Louis said.

"Of course, of course." Mr. Roche shrugged. "I do not press charges. Children." More shrugging. "The cake." He put his fingers to his mouth and made a kissing gesture. "It is delicious. Tell your cook I send my compliments."

"She's right here," Louis told him. "Leigh Ann made it."

"Ah!" He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "That you should have such a sister! And so pretty, too. Do you take exception that I say it?"

"No, don't mind at all," Louis said.

Mr. Roche nodded wisely, all the time looking at me.

Louis nudged me and I knew it was the signal.

"Mr. Roche," I said quietly, and with dignity, "my other brother, Teddy, who is night manager of the mill, wants us to invite you to our house for dinner some Sunday in March. Would you like to come?"

"Mr. Teddy," he mused. "Yes, I know him. He hired me. A good man. A good man. I would be honored to come. What is the day and the time?"

"My brother Teddy will work that out with you. It will be at your convenience," Louis said.

When we left, with Louis's permission, Mr. Roche gave me a book, Jane Austen's
Pride and Prejudice.

And so it was that I met Mr. Theophile Roche, who was to play an important role in trying to save our mill when the Yankees came. And whom, as it turned out, I helped, trying to save it.

I did not pay much mind to what was going on with the war. But I did listen around the edges of my brothers' conversations at the table. I came away with some sense of the madness.

In Tennessee it was ten above zero when the fighting was going on and the Yankees took Fort Donelson away from us.
Ten above zero!
How could you even hold a rifle in cold like that?

Twelve-year-old Willie Lincoln died in the White House and they say Mr. Lincoln cried and it took all the joy of winning Fort Donelson away from him. I wondered,
Would he give it back to us if he could have Willie returned to him again?

The Yankees were doing things on our rivers—the Tennessee, the Cumberland, and the Mississippi—that were not nice. My brothers did not elaborate about what they were doing.

The Virginia House of Delegates wanted to enroll free negroes to fight in the Confederate army. I knew of only two free negroes, and they worked as janitors in the mill. I wagered they'd like to have Primus. Bonded or not, he could whip several Yankees with one hand tied behind his back.

***

In February, Governor Joseph Brown must have woken up at night unable to sleep. His wife must have asked him what the matter was.

"Georgia needs twelve more regiments before the fifteenth of March," he likely told her. Because that's what he told the state of Georgia.

Georgia raised thirteen regiments and three battalions by the fifteenth of March.

My brother Louis organized the Roswell Battalion. His ankle still bothered him and he could not mount a horse without help, but he trained them every day.

"I hope you're not planning on going back to the field," Teddy said.

Louis did not answer.

"Some Yankee will pick you off just trying to mount your horse." It was cruel of Teddy, but Teddy could be cruel when he had to be. He had a talent for it.

Louis
had
been planning on it. His men of the Ros-well Battalion talked him out of it. The town fathers talked him out of it. Governor Brown wrote him a letter and ordered him out of it. Pa came out of his other world and mumbled him out of it.