All Things New (39 page)

Josephine could see that Alexander’s words had moved Daniel. If only he would swallow his pride and make peace.

Mother had tears in her eyes, too. “Daniel, do it,” she whispered. “You said you wanted to end the cycle of violence, that you wanted a way out. This is your chance.”

“Why—?” Daniel had to pause to clear his throat. “Why would you show mercy? What’s the catch?”

“When God offers us grace and mercy, the only stipulation is that we repent. That we turn around and move in a new direction, living by His laws from now on to show Him our gratitude.”

“And then . . . everyone will just walk away as if none of this ever happened?”

“Yes, Mr. Weatherly. That’s right. So . . . will you agree?” He extended his hand for Daniel to shake. A long moment passed as everyone seemed to hold their breath. Jo glanced at Otis and Lizzie and saw the fear and suspense on their faces, too. Finally, Daniel reached out and accepted Alexander’s hand.

“I agree,” he said softly. He looked as broken as he had on the day he arrived home from the war. “I-I still don’t understand why you would do this, though. What’s in it for you?”

Alexander smiled the shy grin that Josephine had grown to love. “I understand why you might be suspicious,” he said. “And I admit that I do want something else in return along with an end to the violence. I believe that a person’s actions reveal their character, and so I hope that my actions will show I’m not here to hurt any of you. That I’m a God-fearing man who would like to help you rebuild your lives. If you can bring yourself to trust me,
I’ll be in a position to throw myself at
your
mercy and ask you for something in return.”

“What?” Daniel asked.

“I’m in love with Josephine.”

Her heart began to race. Alexander looked at her for the first time and the whole world could have seen his love for her shining in his eyes. “I would like to ask for her hand in marriage—if she will have me, that is.”

“Yes!” she said, but it came out in a whisper, her heart too full of hope and joy to speak.

“Your marriage will never be accepted in this town,” Daniel said. “You’ll both be despised. Shunned.”

“I know . . . I’m not coming back here to work. That’s why I’m no longer in uniform. Another bureau agent will be in charge from now on. I have accepted a job up north, where I promise to make a good home for Josephine.”

“You seem like a good man, Mr. Chandler,” Mother said. “Josephine has already told me that she loves you, too. I think we should accept his proposal, Daniel.”

“But it’s not proper to just send her away with him.”

“I don’t expect you to, Mr. Weatherly. We owe it to Josephine to give her time to consider my marriage proposal and to think about what it will mean for her and for her future. I’m working in Richmond, for the time being, and I understand you have family there. If she were to stay with them for a while, we could spend time courting properly. Then if she’s willing, the army chaplain will marry us.”

Josephine didn’t need time to think. She longed to run to Alexander and throw herself into his arms. But she could see the wisdom in waiting, for her family’s sake.

“Daniel will take her to Richmond,” Mother said. “My sister, Mrs. Charles Greeley, lives on Church Hill.” Josephine squeezed her mother’s arm, her heart brimming with joy. “And, Mr. Chandler,” Mother added, “I suggest you leave the soldiers behind when you come to court my Josephine.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, grinning broadly. “Yes, ma’am, I will.” He turned and mounted his horse. No one seemed able to move as they watched him ride away. Then they all looked around at each other—Mother and Daniel and Mary, Lizzie and Otis—and it seemed to Josephine that a miracle had just happened here today at White Oak.

37

A
UGUST
14, 1865

Lizzie folded Missy Josephine’s worn-out skirt and tucked it into a satchel. It was the skirt she always wore when she helped out in the garden, and the memory of all the things Missy had done for Lizzie and her family brought unexpected tears to her eyes. “I sure am going to miss you, Missy Josephine.”

“I know. Me too.” Missy Jo’s eyes glistened with tears. “I’m not sure if I’ll ever get back to White Oak again, Lizzie.”

“This place won’t be the same without you.”

Missy exhaled as if pulling herself together. “Thank you for taking the time to help me pack.”

“That’s okay. It didn’t take no time at all.” Missy didn’t have much in the way of belongings, but she looked all around the bedroom just to be sure. “You have everything?” Lizzie asked before closing the satchel.

“Yes, I think so.” She turned to Lizzie and took her hands in her own for a moment. “Listen, Daniel will be staying with me in Richmond for several months, working with my uncle. You’ll be safe.”

“I know, Missy Jo.”

Otis would drive them there and stay overnight, then drive the
carriage back home alone tomorrow. Lizzie remembered the long months he had been away during the war and how much she had worried, wondering if she would ever see him again.

“It’s been hard, Missy Jo, I won’t say that it hasn’t. Me and Otis have been through some bad times. But Otis always says we can trust the Almighty, and after everything that’s happened . . . well, I’m learning that he’s right.”

“I understand your school will be reopening again. I hope Roselle has a chance to become a teacher. She’ll make a good one.”

“What about you and Mr. Chandler? Will you be getting married and moving up north, far from home?”

“I expect so.” Missy smiled—a rare sight these days. If she loved Massa Chandler half as much as Lizzie loved Otis, she would be smiling a lot from now on.

“I don’t suppose I’ll ever see you again, Missy Jo . . .” Lizzie felt sure she was going to cry.

“In heaven, Lizzie. We’ll meet again in heaven.” Missy opened the drawer in the stand beside her bed and pulled out a book. “Listen, I’m so sorry for the way my family has treated you, and so I want you and Otis to have this. It’s my Bible. Someday you’ll be able to read it.”

Lizzie’s hands flew to her face. “I can’t take your Bible!”

“Of course you can. Please, I insist.” She pulled Lizzie’s hands down and forced the book into them. Lizzie stared at it, her tears dropping onto the cover.

“This . . . this is the best present anybody ever gave me. I don’t know what to say, Missy Jo . . . And I have nothing for you . . .”

“You’ve given me your friendship, and that’s enough. Keep it, Lizzie, to remember me.”

Lizzie wiped her eyes again, still gazing at the book. “I’ll never forget you or all the things you did for us.”

Missy exhaled again. “I’ve decided not to look back at the past from now on. I’m only going to look ahead. . . . Good-bye, Lizzie, and may God bless you.” She picked up her satchel and hurried from the room.

Lizzie stayed behind, clutching the Bible, unable to bear the sight of Missy Josephine riding away forever. Suddenly Lizzie felt a tiny stirring as the baby moved inside her for the very first time. She rested her hand on her middle. There! She felt it again, a gentle flutter as if the baby had a feather duster in her hand and was waving it all around. Lizzie had felt the same excitement when this happened with her other three babies, when at last she felt the touch of this tiny person growing inside her. A brand-new baby.

She’d been upset when she first learned she was having this child because everything else in her life seemed so hard. Why bring another child into this world? It would be one more person for her to worry about, someone else she would end up loving and grieving over if anything happened. But as Lizzie looked out the window at the thick green rows of Otis’s cotton plants, she knew that she and her family would be all right. There would be more hard times, to be sure. But praise God, this child dancing inside her would never know what it meant to be a slave.

Eugenia wandered through the empty rooms downstairs not knowing quite what to do with herself. After a hectic morning, Daniel and Josephine had finally left for Richmond. Mary had decided to go with them to spend time with her cousins. Eugenia was alone, and although she had insisted that she looked forward to a few days of solitude, she didn’t know how she would spend the time now that she had it.

She was resting in her morning room when she heard the sound of a carriage arriving out front. Eugenia went to the door herself, knowing how busy Lizzie was. And there was Dr. Hunter.

“Come for a ride with me,” he called as he climbed down from the driver’s seat. “Doctor’s orders.”

“I’m not up to it today, I’m sorry.”

He strode up the porch steps and took her hands in his. “I heard that your family was leaving for Richmond today. I thought
it might be hard for you. A change of scene is just what you need. Please, Eugenia.”

“Right now? But it’s nearly—”

“Lunchtime. I know. I would like to treat you to lunch, if I may. My mother taught me to always repay my social obligations, and I realized I never returned the invitation to your dance. I’m sorry for the short notice, but everything is ready. Please?”

Eugenia was trying to come up with a tactful excuse, but his smile disarmed her. He linked his arm through hers and gestured to his carriage. “Our ride is waiting.”

“Fine. You win, David. Let me get my hat and gloves. And I should tell Lizzie that I’m leaving.”

A few minutes later, they were riding down the road together toward town. “I know you must be grieving yet another loss, Eugenia. It must have been difficult to let your children go.”

“You’re right. It was hard to say good-bye. Nearly as hard as when I sent my sons off to war. But perhaps Daniel and Josephine will be able to forgive each other after spending time together in Richmond.” She swallowed a knot of emotion. “I doubt if I’ll ever see Josephine again once she marries.”

“But at least you’ll know she’s with a very fine young man. I have gotten to know Alexander Chandler and found him to be wise beyond his years. He’ll take good care of her.”

“Yes. I know he will.” Eugenia still marveled at the way Mr. Chandler had brought an end to the vicious cycle of hatred and violence and given everyone a new start.

“And who knows,” David said, “once the rail lines are running again, you may be able to travel to Pennsylvania to see her, or she may come to you.”

“Yes. And she promised to write.”

The carriage passed Priscilla Blake’s plantation and continued toward town. Eugenia would have to talk to her friend soon. Priscilla would be disappointed to hear the news about Josephine, to be sure. But there was no shortage of young women in the community
searching for a suitable husband, and the Blake plantation was one of the very few that was prospering again.

“Before Josephine left this morning, I told her that life was short—and that love was important. I said that if she had even a small measure of the love and happiness I had with Philip, then she would be blessed.”

“That’s very good advice.”

“You know what she told me?” Eugenia asked, looking up at him. He shook his head. “She said, ‘Don’t remain alone, Mother. Daddy wouldn’t want you to.’”

He gave her a warm smile. “That’s very good advice, too.”

The carriage arrived in Fairmont a short time later, and David pointed out the storefront where the Freedmen’s Bureau and the Negro school were relocating. “Will you do me a favor, David? Will you come with me next week to talk to the new agent? I would like to see about hiring more servants. Otis is in charge of my plantation, but he and Lizzie can’t do everything all alone.”

“I would be happy to.”

They turned onto the street where the doctor lived, and he drew the carriage to a halt in front of his house. David helped her climb down, and Eugenia walked through the door of his home for the first time. She was stunned to see how simple yet elegant it was, the rooms filled with beautiful antiques. “Why, it’s lovely, David!”

“Thank you. But I can’t take any of the credit. I have a housekeeper.” He led her into the dining room, to a table that was set for two with a linen tablecloth and fine china. He pulled out a chair and helped her sit down.

“Oh, David . . . I had no idea . . .”

“That I lived this well?”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s all right, Eugenia,” he said, laughing. “I have greatly enjoyed surprising you. I inherited nearly everything you see from my mother’s side of the family. The Blandfords did welcome us back in the end.” He took the seat across from her and uncorked a small bottle. “I have a tiny bit of cherry cordial left—would you care for some?”

“Yes, thank you.”

He poured a small amount into each of their glasses, then lifted his. “Shall we offer a toast, Eugenia?”

“Yes. To the future. I don’t want to live in the past any longer. My life can never be the same as it was, and I was foolish to try to retrieve it. If I’ve learned anything during these past terrible years, it’s that life is a treasured gift, not to be taken for granted. So, let’s toast to the days ahead.”

“To the future,” David said, touching his glass to hers.

“Yes. To the future.”

S
EPTEMBER
15, 1965

Josephine stood by the bedroom window in her aunt’s house, gazing at the leafy view of Richmond’s treetops below her. It seemed as though years had passed since she’d stood here watching flames and smoke churn into the sky as the city burned—and she was surprised to realize it had been only five months. Such a short time, yet so many, many changes!

In a few minutes Alexander would arrive with the chaplain. They would pronounce their vows to each other in Aunt Olivia’s parlor and begin a new life together. Josephine looked down at the ring he had given her and saw that her hands were trembling. She admitted she was scared—but not in the way she had been the last time she’d stood here. The world had seemed to be ending that terrible day, and she had feared what tomorrow would bring when the Yankees arrived. She never would have imagined it would bring Alexander Chandler—and joy.

In the street below, two men on horseback turned the corner and approached the house. One of them was Alexander. Jo turned from the window, ready to run down the stairs and throw open the door—then she stopped as she heard her mother’s voice, speaking
to her heart.
Tidy your hair, Josephine. And don’t run. Young ladies must always walk with poise and grace.

“Yes, Mother,” she whispered, smiling. She took a moment to check her hair in the mirror, then descended the stairs to begin her new life. She didn’t know what changes were in store for her, but she was certain of one thing: God would be with her and Alexander wherever they went.