Dark Series, The Color of Seven and The Color of Dusk (Books We Love Special Edition) (12 page)

Someone else lived in the Devlin household, a tall, golden boy
.
Paul. The crown prince of the Devlin family. Joshua
didn’t know him well and interacted with him
even less. Paul
was fourteen years older than Joshua
. Of course he didn’t lavish much attention on a child that much younger than himself and Joshua didn’t expect it.
He just worshipped from afar.

When Joshua was four,
this
private god of his departed from home, reappearing
sporadically through the next four years.
By the time Joshua was six, he knew Paul lived at some mysterious institution called Harvard. When Joshua was eight, even Paul’s sporadic appearances ceased and he learned from conversations he overheard between Do
c and some of Doc’s friends—he
didn’t precisely eavesdrop, but after all, he wasn’t deaf—that Paul was far, far away, over that vast expanse of water called an “ocean” which Joshua
’d never seen,
in attendance at
another school, one where he was learning to be a doctor, just
like Doc.
Joshua missed him, though he couldn’t say
w
hy
. The house j
ust seemed more alive when Paul was home.

However, time passed
as it does for
all
children,
in a slowmoving pattern of endless days
,
changes marked mostly by the passage of the seasons
. Days
that revolved into endless weeks
and
moved into endless months and finally into
endless years, and one day—one
day Paul Devlin came home for good, and Joshua’s world changed forever.

Joshua didn’t
listen on purpose.
He’d approached the study door that evening as twilight came down over the streets of Macon for no other purpose
than
to tell Paul he’d finished rubbing down Cyclone, the big black stallion Doc had waiting for Paul on his return home.

Something in the tone of the voices he heard behind the door alerted him
this
wasn’t an
ordinary conversation.
He put his head down low and concentrated and
dis
tinguished Doc’s voice, Paul’s voice, Sadie’s voice.

“Didn’t expect to have you come home, take over my practice, and get married all in the course of two weeks.” Doc’s tone was jocular, but there was something else, some note of unease that ran beneath the surface humor.

Paul laughed. “I haven’t taken over your practice yet, Papa. And we’re not quite married, either, you know.”

“No, but you will be, very soon.
That Chloe—once s
he makes up her mind about something
,
it’s done. She
says she don’t want a long engagement, she won’t have one. Bet you never thought when you were twelve
and she was five
and used to run away from he
r Mammy to follow you around—”

“She drove me crazy,” admitted Paul. “And I’ve never believed in love at first sight, b
ut when I saw her again—she’s sure
not five anymore, Papa.”

“She sure isn’t. You’re well-matched, son. I’m real pleased.”

“I’m glad.” Paul’s voice carried easily through the door.

“And with Henry already having Chlo
e’s house built for her dowry—”

“Man of great foresight, my future father-in-law.”

“Yes, well. Anyway, I’d like to furnish it for you.”

“I appreciate that, Papa, but that’s not necessary.”

Joshua almost knocked to announce his presence. It was an ordinary conversation after all.
Then Doc’s next words snared his attention.

“I know it’s not necessary, but
I want to.
And as far as
your house staff goes
—
well
, Sadie
’d like to be your housekeeper
, Paul.”

“What!” Paul exclaimed.
Behind the door,
Joshua
felt a shockwave hit him.
Sadie was
the
North Star in Doc Everett’s house.
For her to leave it—
that was
about as likely as a snowstorm in the south in
August.

“Sadie! You can’t leave Papa, you run
this
house!”

“Last time I looked, Mist’ Paul, I was free,” said Sadie.

“And last time I looked, you’ve been my Mama since Mama died when I was eight! But Sadie, there’s no reason to upset your life, Chloe and I can manage just fine, we’ll set up our own house
.”

“Well, there’s something else, son. I want young Joshua to
move into your house with you, too.”

What? Doc wanted him
out of his house?
Why?
What had he done?

“Joshua? You’ve raised him!”

“Son, you can use him. He’d be a big help, lots of company, you’re going to be out at
night and working long hours—”

“He’s a fine boy, Papa, but I’m not havin’ you
dis
rupt your whole household just for me!”

Joshua moved closer, making his ear a part of the door crack. Doc sighed.

“You just ain’t goin’ to make
this
easy, are you, son? You remember when Joshua came? Well, I know you don’t remember, you were spending the summer in Cha
rleston with your grandmother.”

“Of course
I remember. I was fourteen, not four.”

“And I told you his mother was a street girl I’d found with no place to go, in no shape to survive childbirth?”

“So you took him. Of course you did.
Papa, you’ve always practiced what you preached. No son ever had a better man to watch while he was growin’ up.”

Everett Devlin was ahead of his time. His gruff exterior notwithstanding, Everett Devlin’s actions spoke of a humanity too rarely shown in the human race.
Paul
had
grown
up watching his father do what others only preached about.

Everett fir
mly believed
no living human being had a right to own another, but he saw red whenever he heard or read the word
‘e
mancipation
’
. Because of his profession, he understood firsthand the many problems faced by the newly freed slaves immediately after the Emancipation Proclamation and through the course of Reconstruction and beyond. They were children, turned suddenly loose and often just as helpless.

They hadn’t been educated to deal with the responsibilities of freedom when invited to embrace its privileges. Doc
frequently
shook his head sadly
when
he left one of the black houses.
He took a private vow to help
whenever he could, however he could.
It was a vow
far beyond the Hippocratic Oath and one he’d kept for many years. It w
as as much a part of him as his salt and pepper hair,
his round stomach, and his habit of expressing himself vigor
ously and loudly.

“I know you’ve always been your brother’s keeper,” Paul assured his father. “Raised me the same way
.
Papa,
I’ll always take care of our people.
I’m my brother’s keeper, too, couldn’t get away from it if I tried.”

“Yes, well,” said Dr. Devlin slowly. “And some of them are more your brothers than others.”

“Sir?”

“I lied.”

“Sir?”

“You weren’t in Charleston to visit your grandmother. You were in Charleston so you wouldn’t be around to ask questions.”

“About what?”

“Me, Mist’ Paul,” said Sadie softly. “’Bout why I weren’t around either. I went off visitin’ that summer, too. An’ ‘bout why yo’
d
addy was gone so much. Joshua’s my son.”

Lead settled in the pit of Joshua’s stomach.
He slumped against the wall.
All this
time and not a word to him, not a word!

“
T
hat
doesn’t make any sense, Sadie! Why the hell wouldn’t you want him to know?”

“’Cause he’d
ask who his daddy was.”

“So tell him. Sadie, you can’t tell me you don’t know who his father is. I won’t believe you.”

“Oh, I knows, alright,” she said.

“Then what—”

“
Me
,” Dr. Devlin interjected abruptly. “Joshua’s my son.”

Joshua went numb. His world as he knew it was gone.
And not a word, not in all these years. They must be so ashamed of him. Paul was, he could tell from the long
, heavy
silence. When he did speak, the
dis
gust was tangible.

“Papa, how could you?”

“Boy, don’t you take that tone with me! I
wouldn’t expect that
out of you, Paul, lookin’ at me like you think I fell to the depths of degradation
,
like I was too white to soil myself with Sadie
!
”

“
Horseshit! Just horseshit! That’s not it at all, goddamn it! Sadie’s been my mother since I was eight years old! You think I think you’re too good for her? She’s too damn good for you, for
this
! All your rantin’ and ragin’ ‘bout our responsibility to take care of our people, well you took care of her just
fine,
didn’t you, Papa? I don’t know how I could have been so damn stupid, not to see
! A
ll these years, you been using her! No chance for a
husband, a family of her own!”

Sadie got up and moved to stand between the two raging Devlins. She tugged Paul’s sleeve gently.

“Paul,” she said softly. She’d raised
this
boy, she loved him as much as she loved her own boy
. B
ecause he was Everett Devlin’s son, because of the child he’d been and the man he’d become. It was the first time in his life she’d ever addressed him without the obligatory
‘
Mist’
’
.

“Paul, don’t talk to your daddy that way. I got a family. Your daddy and Joshua and you. We did the best we could, son. Might not have been good enough, but it was the best we could do.”

Paul stood and stared at her for moment before he pulled her into his arms and hugged tightly.

“God, Sadie, how could you stand it all these years?”

“Her real name’s Sadama, son,” supplied Dr. Devlin. “Wish she’d use it, but she won’t. Sadie sounds like a damn slave to me, always has. Let’s sit down and talk about
this
, what do you say?”

Joshua remained where he was. He heard the words, but the meanings were beyond him
.

“Sorry I yelled at you, Paul. You just sayin’ everything I been thinking about myself for years now.”

“Sorry I yelled at you, Papa. Not my place to judge.”

“It’s just—your
mother’d been dead for four years and I was so l
onely, Paul. And after Sadie—”

He broke off and smiled at Sad
i
e.
“You spoiled me, woman. Knew there’d never be anybody else but you. No question of
remarriage to anyone
‘
suitable’
.” His tone put a bitter emphasis on the word. “God, I hate that word, suitable. I couldn’t have Sadie, I didn’t want anybody. Damn us all for hypocrites! You know, I’m sure some of my friends have speculations but they really don’t care. Wouldn’t even be surprised. Just how things are. But
I
wouldn’t give a damn what anybody else thought. ‘Cept for you. And Joshua. The
two of you have to live in this
town. See, P
aul, I don’t have to tell you
—”

Sadie broke in. “A mulatto, he’s neither one nor the other. Especially a boy. A girl
woulda
been easier, but a half-white boy, a half-white man, he doesn’t fit anywhere. And since there was no way Joshua could ever live as a white man, he’s had to live as a Negro.”

Paul looked at her in puzzlement. Something was different. Her speech. The familiar rhythm and cadence and slurring of Negro speech was completely absent.

“Sadie, have you alw
ays been able to talk like this
?”

“Yes,” she said, with a smile. “Been with your daddy a long time.”

“I’ve never heard you.”

“I have to live as a Negro, too, Paul. And outside of
this
room, after tonight,
you’ll never hear it again. And
you’ll be ‘Mist’ Paul’
.
Forever.”