Daughter of Twin Oaks (17 page)
General surgeon’s office
Richmond, Virginia
Louisa felt like saluting.
“So, Miz Highwood, what is it I can do for you today?” The general in charge of the hospital folded his hands on his walnut desk top and gazed at her through eyes that seemed to have forgotten how to smile. His clipped voice made her sit straighter, wishing she had remained standing in spite of his invitation to sit. If she sat any closer to the edge of the chair, she’d be on the floor.
“Ah, well, General, sir, I …”
Oh, Lord, please give me the right words to say. I feel like a featherbrain whose feathers were blown away on the wind
. She took in a deep breath, locked her questing fingers together, and started again. “You know that I help out on Ward B.” Was that a twinkle she saw peeking out of the wintry blue?
“Ma’am, from what I hear, your
helpin’ out
is savin’ some of our men’s lives. They call you the ‘angel in aprons.’ Did you know that?”
She shook her head, the heat racing to her cheekbones and above. “I-I’m glad to be of service.”
“And to find your husband wrapped in bandages. Now that is a true miracle.”
The heat turned from flaming to full-fledged roaring.
Oh, God, I hate this deceit. How long will this have to continue? If I tell the truth, will he throw me out?
Her inner battle must have shown on her face.
“Is there something wrong, ma’am?”
“N-no, of course not. I …” She kept her eyes on his and forced a smile to lips that would rather tremble. “My … my h-husband, um, will it be possible for him to leave the hospital soon and join us at my aunt’s house? We can take good care of him there, and that will free up another bed—on the ward, that is.”
You ninny, any fool could tell you are lyin’, and this man is about as far from being a fool as…as…
She wished she could just sink through the floor.
“Why, as soon as the doctor says he can be moved, I reckon he would be much more comfortable there. So good to have a chance to see firsthand a husband and wife reunited.” He shuffled a paper in front of him, then looked right at her again. “Is there somethin’ else you needed to ask me?”
“Why, yes, sir, there is. You know of Private Rumford, one of the men on my … ah, Ward B, sir. He’s the one who seems to have lost his grip on reality.”
“Like many others, I’m afraid, but yes, I know to whom you are referrin’.” The general clasped his hands on the desk in front of him and leaned forward. “What about the private?”
“Well, I thought, I mean, the garden at my aunt’s house helped me so much when I first came to Richmond.”
He nodded, but one raised eyebrow let her know he wondered what she could be leading up to now.
She rushed full tilt into her request. “You know the gardens out behind the hospital—they’ve gone to terrible wrack and ruin, and I …”
The other eyebrow joined the first.
Oh, now I’ve offended him. Mama, you told me to always watch my tongue, and now it is giving me nothing but difficulty
. “Sorry, sir, I don’t mean to be critical but …” She took in a deep breath to try to forestall the feeling of a featherbrain bereft of feathers. “Oh, bother!” She scooted forward and leaned against her hands on the edge of his desk. “I believe workin’ in the garden would help bring Private Rumford back to reality and perhaps give some of the others who have lost so much a place to heal. Diggin’ in the dirt is good for the soul, my mama always said, and I know firsthand that she was right. Helpin’ things grow reminds us how God grows us, you see, I mean …” She shook her head. She should have stopped while she was ahead, whenever that was.
The general nodded. “I see.” He steepled his fingers and studied her over the tips. “And who will oversee this project of yours?”
Up to that point, flummoxed had been just a word in the dictionary. Now she knew how it felt. Featherbrained and flummoxed. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out, praying for any kind of inspiration to answer his question. Would he let
her
supervise? She gave an inward shake of her head. Reuben could do so very handily, but some of the soldiers might resent being governed by a black man, no matter how gentle his orders.
The sun sprang from the horizon, in her mind, that is. “Why, Lieutenant Lessling could do that. Though he can’t get down on his knees yet to dig and plant, he could supervise.” She nodded and clasped her bottom lip between her teeth. “Why, yes, that’s the perfect answer. It might help him with his moroseness too, just like the private.”
“Are you suggesting that Lieutenant Lessling is out of his mind?”
“No, sir, of course not. I just thought that …” She looked up in time to be sure there was a twinkle in his blue eyes, which were no longer frosty.
“Miz Highwood, forgive me. I couldn’t resist teasin’ you. It’s been far too long since I saw a comely young woman blush. I will give the order for the beds to be dug up this afternoon, and by tomorrow you can have your garden brigade busy out back. Do you have any seeds?”
“I’ll find some.” Louisa got to her feet. “Thank you, sir. Reuben will bring some extra tools with him in the morning.”
“Thank you, ma’am. I’m sure the men will be fightin’ over who gets to help you first.”
“Sir!” It would be a miracle if her bonnet didn’t catch fire from the heat flaming up her face.
“Let me know if there is anything else I can do to be of service. Aide, show Miz Highwood out.”
Louisa nodded once more and turned to follow the stiff-backed aide from the room. At the door she paused and looked back. “God bless you, General.”
“And you.” He cleared his throat and nodded one more time before taking his seat again. The picture she carried with her up to the ward was of a man so burdened he could barely keep his head up.
Think I’ll ask the ladies to pray for this man especially
, she thought as she mounted the steps.
Sometimes prayers mean more when there is a face attached to the prayer
.
Keeping her wonderful news to herself took more skill than she imagined. Every time she passed a window, she glanced back at the decrepit roses and the overgrown vines. An arbor sagged to one side, a victim of decay more insidious than the battle wounds suffered by her men.
Zachary lay sleeping again, but one look at the unbandaged side of his face let her know it was the sleep of healing. The man two beds over was a different matter. He flayed at the mattress with both hands and feet until one of the nurses came with strips of old sheet and tied his limbs down so that he wouldn’t reopen the wounds so recently stitched closed.
Louisa pulled a chair over beside him and, with a cloth and basin of cool water, began bathing his face. Ever present at her side when she was on the ward, Rumford stared at her hands as if fascinated. But when she turned to say something to him, he wore the same vacant stare as ever.
“Would you like to help me?” She kept her voice gentle and soft so as to let the man in the bed behind her sleep. She extended the dampened cloth to the hovering man, but he never said a word nor showed that he heard her.
But he has to be aware. Why else would he follow me around so?
This question, like many of her others, had no answer.
“W-will you read today?” one of the men asked from across the aisle.
“Yes, of course.” She flashed him a smile and caught some movement from the corner of her eye. The
shuffle-clunk
of a man on crutches let her know who it was before her eyes did. The lieutenant stopped at the foot of the bed.
“You want I should get the books?”
“Yes, please.”
What I really want you to do is read in my place
. But she kept the words inside, not wanting to embarrass him. After all, not everyone loved reading aloud as she did. She took the basin over to her brother’s bed and set it on the floor underneath, out of the way of anyone’s feet. She’d help him wash as soon as he woke up. Glancing up, she saw her stool set in place and the two books on top of it, her Bible and Shakespeare. She’d thought of bringing Dickens but knew she’d get in trouble if she didn’t finish
The Taming of the Shrew
. By sticking to the comedies, she could bring a smile to some of the men and even raise laughter from some of the others. She’d already finished
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
and
The Merchant of Venice
.
There was far too little laughter on the ward.
She smiled her thanks to the lieutenant and settled herself on the high stool. “Today we will begin with Psalm 91, for I think we all need to be reminded how closely God holds us.” She found her place and began. “ ‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.’ “ Louisa continued reading to the end of the psalm. From there she went on to Psalm 139, and then to Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians: “ ‘That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height.’
“And that is my prayer for each of you.” She kept her finger in the place and read the passage again, finishing with, “ ‘And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.’ “
“Amen.” Another man echoed the first.
“You read so purty.”
“Thank you. God’s words make me want to keep reading them over and over. We need to hear again and again how much He loves us.” She glanced around at all her men. “In spite of all this.”
The lieutenant had returned to his window vigil while she read and now kept his back to her. The urge to go to him almost made her slide off the stool, but she righted herself and set her Bible on the bed nearest her.
“Read some more—please.”
“Which, the Bible or Shakespeare?”
“Don’t matter. I jus’ like to hear the words.”
“Shakespeare.”
The men called their preferences in voices tired and hoarse and pleading.
She found her place and began again, sneaking occasional peeks to the still, lean form propped on crutches. He never turned when she finished, not even when she gathered her things to leave a while later.
“Good-bye, dear wife,” her brother whispered, holding her hand for a long moment.
“The general says we can bring you home as soon as the doctor releases you.”
“Is Aunt Sylvania in agreement?”
“Of course, dear boy.”
“You sound just like her.”
“I meant to.”
He flinched as he shifted on the bed. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”
“Yes. But I won’t wake you.” He’d already scolded her for letting him sleep so long.
“As you wish.” He paused for a moment. “Are the peaches ripe?”
“All gone, I’m afraid. I’ll bring some preserves tomorrow.” Her gaze strayed back to the form at the window.
“Well, will ya lookee that.” One of the other men who watched out a window turned to the others. “There’s someone diggin’ up the rose bed.”
“You promise.” Zachary still clutched her fingers. “Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to see better if they take some of the bandages off.”
Please, God, that he’ll be able to see out of both eyes
. She gently withdrew her fingers and stepped back. “Peach preserves, I promise. And biscuits.”
As she and Reuben walked the streets to home, she could hear a train whistle in the distance. That meant new wounded in the morning. Perhaps Zach would be released sooner than they expected.
“Louisa, it came.” Carrie Mae waved an envelope in the air when Louisa reached the front portico.
“Who is it from?”
“Jesselynn—our sister—you won’t believe it. She left Twin Oaks to go to Uncle Hiram’s in Missouri.”
Louisa snatched the letter and sank down on the wooden glider, barely able to open the envelope her fingers shook so badly. She withdrew the paper, tears burning at the sight of the dear handwriting. She read it once, glanced up at some children running by, laughing and calling as they went, and then read the letter again. Jesselynn was somewhere between Midway, Kentucky, and Springfield, Missouri, with horses, and no one was taking care of Twin Oaks.
“She had to keep her promise.”
“I know.” Carrie Mae studied the toe of her black slipper. “Daddy wasn’t in his right mind, or he would never have asked that of her.”
“But without the horses …”
“The land will always be there. Zachary can go home and plant the land.”
Louisa set the glider to moving, the squeak of it comforting in the twilight.
“At least we know God is watching out for her when we can’t.”
“Thank the Lord for that.” Carrie Mae let her head fall against the glider back. “Wait until I tell Jefferson this latest news. He won’t believe it.”
“Won’t believe what?” Louisa recognized a look of concern when she saw it.
“That a woman of our family would do such a crazy thing.”
“Then he doesn’t understand the value of Twin Oaks horseflesh and the burden of a vow.” Louisa rose and headed for the door. “I need to wash up before supper.” She opened the door and turned back to her sister. “How does Aunt Sylvania seem today?”
“Better. I think the good news helped. She worries more than she lets on—the wedding and all.”
“Really.” Mounting the stairs to her room, Louisa trailed a hand on the banister.
Glad it’s her marryin’ Jefferson and not me
.
