Dunaway's Crossing (14 page)

Still shaken from her argument, she watched Will silently as he tended his horse. Moments ago, she’d appreciated a chance for an outing, not only for the relief of tension and change of scenery, but for the change of company as well. She’d grown to like Will more than she expected, and she’d anticipated enjoying some time alone with him. But now she wasn’t even curious about where she was going. She just wanted to go away, even for just a short while. She tugged at the waistband of her pants and wished they were a bit smaller.

When Will buckled the bridle, he turned to her. “Ready?”

“Where’s the saddle?”

“We can’t both fit in it,” Will said. “We’ll ride bareback.

“But then how will I get on him?” She perused the barn for a box or stool to stand on.

Will lunged like a fencer while still holding Buster’s reins. “Grab his mane and step on my knee.”

Bea Dot hesitated at first, but then approached Will. Placing her little boot on his thigh, she flushed at the inappropriate intimacy with him, the same way she did when he lifted her at the Pineview depot. While she liked the feeling, she couldn’t help thinking Ben would have beaten her senseless over such a gesture. However, she quickly extinguished thoughts of her husband, refusing to mar her afternoon with unpleasant memories. She pushed herself off the ground, then swung her other leg over Buster’s back. The horse huffed a quick breath, as if she weighed a ton.

Will handed her the reins. Then, in one swift movement, he jumped and swung his long leg over Buster’s hind end, situating himself behind Bea Dot, who was surprised at how he made such a maneuver seem so easy. As he reached around her and took the reins, Bea Dot’s pulse quickened slightly, an automatic reaction reminiscent of earlier times in more hostile embraces. But again she shook off the trepidation, willing herself to focus on the present instead of the past. Will sucked his teeth, signaling Buster to walk, and the horse lumbered out of the barn, into the sunlight, and around the west side of the lake.

A crisp breeze whipped through the pine needles. Bea Dot breathed in the scent of mud and wet grass as they rode along the lake front. The woodsy smell and the sun on her face helped lift the heaviness in her chest. Although she didn’t forget her spat with Netta, it seemed less severe than it had a short while before.

As she rode, Will’s breath tickled her ear and the back of her neck. Seated in front  with his arms encircling her, she relaxed, once her gut reminded her that Will was different from other men in her life. Now comfortable with their closeness, she wondered if Will liked it. Once Buster carried them into the shade of the pine woods, the temperature dropped, but Will’s body warmed her back, and she wished she could face him. They rode along a few minutes before he broke the silence.

“I’m sorry Miss Netta’s angry with you.” His voice revealed his awkward regret. “It’s my fault.”

“Don’t be.” Bea Dot sighed. “We’re in an impossible situation. You have to do what you have to do.” A pause, and then, “I’m sorry you heard our quarrel.” She reddened at the memory of her last words. Oh, if she could only take them back!

“Don’t worry. I made plenty of noise in the barn, so I didn’t hear what you said.”

Oh, please, please be telling the truth
, she prayed silently.

In a few minutes they had steered up a hill and approached a two-storey clapboard house with a front porch. To the side a garden grew greens and other fall vegetables. A boy of about fifteen chopped wood underneath a sweet gum tree in the side yard. When he saw Bea Dot and Will approach, he ran inside.

A man and woman came to the porch and waved. Bea Dot recognized the man as the giant who visited the store the day before. Like the boy, he wore a pair of bib overalls and a worn plaid shirt. The woman, about Netta’s height but rounder, wore a plain blue dress that almost reached the floor. With her dark blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun, she resembled pictures of Bea Dot’s grandmother. But the old fashioned dress and hairstyle couldn’t mask the woman’s pretty face. After dismounting and helping Bea Dot down, Will introduced Bea Dot to her neighbors.

“Bea Dot Ferguson, I’d like you to meet Thaddeus and Eliza Taylor.”

“We met yesterday,” Thaddeus said with a toothy smile.

“Yes, and I’m pleased to meet you, Mrs. Taylor,” Bea Dot said before smoothing her hands down the front of her trousers. Suddenly, she remembered she was dressed in ill-fitting clothes and that her fingernails resembled a farmer’s rather than a lady’s. She hated to shake hands with these new acquaintances.

“Bea Dot is Netta Coolidge’s cousin visiting from Savannah,” Will said to Eliza. “She’s here to help Netta until the baby comes. They’re staying at the crossing now—because of the flu in town.”

“Oh, I see.” Eliza’s face brightened with understanding. “That’s a far cry from sleeping in town, ain’t it?” Her voice had the same twang as her husband’s.

“Yes, it is,” Bea Dot replied shyly.

“But smart,” Thaddeus added. “I hear the flu’s spreading like head lice.”

“Thaddeus!” Eliza reddened at her husband’s grotesque remark. She turned to Bea Dot. “How is Netta?”

“She’s doing fine,” Bea Dot replied, her modesty relaxing a bit.

“Now you can meet our baby boy,” Thaddeus reported proudly. “Eliza, why don’t you take Miss Ferguson inside to see him?”

Eliza took Bea Dot’s arm and led her up the front steps into a modest but comfortable home. The front door opened into the parlor, and a door in the back wall opened into the kitchen. A fireplace burned on the left wall just beside the stairs, and close to the hearth was a cradle. The boy Bea Dot had seen in the yard sat in a rocking chair next to it.

“This here’s Terrence,” Eliza said, gesturing to her older son. “Terrence, say hello to Miss Ferguson.”

Bea Dot ignored Eliza’s error, and the boy stood up, skinny and gangly. He shyly said hello and seemed not to know what to do with his hands.

“Terrence, I got a pot of water boiling. Go on in the kitchen and take it off for me.”

Terrence nodded and left the room. Eliza gestured to the rocking chair Terrence had just vacated. “Come sit here. I’ll get little Troy for you.”

“How many children do you have?” Bea Dot asked.

“Well, my oldest, Tommy, he’s working up in Macon. Then Terrence out there’s fourteen. My third boy, Ted, died of scarlet fever a couple of years ago, God bless him. And this…” Eliza cradled a baby in her arms and brought him to Bea Dot “…is Troy.” She placed the baby in Bea Dot’s arms.

Bea Dot tensed at first, having never held a baby. When Eliza beamed with pride, Bea Dot smiled awkwardly, hoping her expression looked genuine. She peered into the baby’s blue eyes. What should she say to someone who couldn’t understand or reply? Awkwardly, she muttered, “Hello, Troy.”

“I’ll go make us a pot of tea,” Eliza said before leaving the room.

Troy squirmed a bit at being moved from his cradle, and Bea Dot’s pulse quickened with nervousness.
Please don’t cry
, she prayed. She rocked her chair and shook her elbow gently to soothe him. Troy relaxed, and she did with him.

“Oh, you’re a natural.” Eliza returned with a tray holding a tea pot and two cups. “You’re gone be a good helper to Netta when her baby comes.”

“I haven’t been around babies very much.” Bea Dot spoke apologetically, yet she couldn’t take her eyes off Troy, who yawned before settling into the crook of her arm. He was a cute little thing.

“Oh, babies are easy,” Eliza said. “They don’t take no special training to take care of.”

“Maybe not,” Bea Dot replied tentatively. She tucked her finger under the fat of Troy’s chin, and he squirmed again, like a snail prodded with a stick. He clinched his fist when he moved, and she couldn’t help being drawn in by him. If her own baby had lived, would she have been attached to it at all? She turned her face up to Eliza. “But what about bringing them into this world? I admit, Mrs. Taylor—”

“Please call me Eliza.”

“Eliza. I must admit I’m afraid Netta’s baby will come while we’re still at the crossing. Ralph won’t allow us to come back to town because of influenza.”

“I don’t blame him.” Eliza tilted her head and pressed her lips.

“But what if Netta goes into labor? What will we do?”

“Babies will come. They don’t care if we’re ready.” Eliza said. She had set the teapot on the hutch and was pouring two cups. “When I had Tommy, I dreamed up all kinds of problems to fret over, all for naught. All my babies come into the world just fine.” Eliza brought a cup of tea for Bea Dot, and she placed it on the table next to the rocking chair. “And being in town wouldn’t have made no difference. If I’d a had a doctor, he would of just sat there and told me to push. I figured that out all on my own.”

“You mean you delivered your children by yourself? Ralph didn’t do it?”

Eliza laughed. “Honey, Ralph ain’t been in town but a few years. Before that, Pineview didn’t have no doctor. We ain’t had a choice with our first three boys, and by the time Troy come along, well, Thaddeus and I was old hands at bringing children.”

Bea Dot tried to laugh along with Eliza, but all she could muster was a nervous chuckle.  Eliza made the task seem so simple. “And all you do is sit there and say ‘push’?”

“Oh, well,” Eliza dismissively flapped her hand in front of her. “You’ll want to have lots of hot water ready and plenty of rags. But they’s mostly for cleaning up the baby afterward. If you think about it, Netta’s the one gone be doing all the work.”

“I suppose…” Bea Dot still wasn’t so sure.

“Listen, you got any questions, you just call on me,” Eliza said. “I’m happy to help.”

Eliza’s offer would have satisfied Bea Dot if she’d  known what questions to ask. She wished Eliza had an instruction manual.

Eliza pulled an arm chair from the other side of the room and placed it next to Bea Dot’s. “I’m glad Will brought you with him today,” she said, changing the subject. “It’s good to see him take an interest in the ladies again.”

“Oh, no,” Bea Dot blushed. “Will and I aren’t…courting. I think he brought me here specifically to meet you and Troy.”

The baby awakened and uttered a tiny yap. Bea Dot rocked again and cooed at him. His blue eyes fixed on the light of the fire. Maybe babies weren’t as tricky as she’d thought. This one seemed easy enough.

Eliza smiled and nodded as if she didn’t quite believe Bea Dot. “Well, I ain’t seen that look on his face in a long time, not since he come home from France.”

“Oh,” Bea Dot said awkwardly, turning her eyes from Troy to Eliza. “I didn’t realize. He hasn’t said much about his experience over there.”

“The only good thing about it was it was so short.” Eliza leaned forward emphatically in her chair. “He wasn’t in battle but one day.”

Bea Dot nodded. “Netta told me he was injured.”

“Yes, but I think if he had his druthers, he’d a been shot through the heart than get hurt the way he did.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mmm.” Eliza took a sip of tea. “Of course he ain’t told you about it. It takes him a while to open up. You see, he got hurt taking other wounded soldiers out of the line of fire.”

Bea Dot’s heart skipped a beat at the thought of Will in death’s way. “What happened?”

“He was at Belleau Wood, and he was driving the ambulance from the front line to a bombed out farmhouse they was using as a medical shelter. Will lost control of the ambulance.”

“Oh, heavens!” Bea Dot gasped.

“I don’t know all the details, but he punctured his side and broke his arm real bad. The soldiers in the ambulance died.”

Bea Dot covered her mouth with her hand, imagining Will’s devastation from the accident. And he’d never said a word. Her heart ached in sympathy, knowing the pain of keeping horrible memories locked away.

Eliza nodded. “And you see all the work he does for us country folk. He don’t have to deliver mail or keep a phone at the crossing, but he does. He ain’t told me outright, but I think he wants to make up for what happened to them soldiers.”

“But he didn’t kill them. It was an accident.”

“You know that, and I know that, but Will ain’t never been able to forgive himself.” Eliza shook her head in pity.

“Eliza, I won’t mention our conversation to Will.” Bea Dot’s heart ached for him. “I’m sure he’ll divulge this information if he ever wants to. But I thank you for telling me this story. It helps me to understand him more.”

Eliza smiled at her new friend. “Let’s bring Troy outside so Will can see him.”

Bea Dot stood with the baby and followed Eliza out to the porch. The women found Will and Thaddeus on the front steps.

“Be on the lookout for beavers,” Will was saying. “They’ll dam up that creek, and before you know it, your field is flooded.”

“I was afraid a that,” Thaddeus said. “I’ll keep my eye on it.”

“Somebody came out to see you,” Eliza sang to Will.

Bea Dot held the crook of her arm out to offer Will a better view.

“Well, will you look at him?” Will smiled as he looked at the tiny child. “That’s a handsome boy, Thaddeus.” He looped his finger under Troy’s hand, and it dwarfed the infant’s tiny grip. “Hey, there, little fella.” He brushed his finger along Troy’s soft cheek. “You’re going to grow big and strong like your daddy, aren’t you?”