On to Richmond (67 page)

             
Then Frank looked up.  “The children...?  What is going to happen to the children?”

             
“I’m going to take care of them,” Opal said firmly. 

             
“But how?” Frank asked blankly.

             
Up until that moment, Opal had had no idea.  Suddenly the answer was there.  Her voice was strong as she spoke.  “I’m taking them back to the plantation.  They will be safe there.”  The plan began to take shape in her mind as she spoke.  Then she thought of something.  “Am I safe here for now?  Are they coming for me, too?”  Suddenly she was seized with a new fear.  What if they came and put her in jail, too?  Who would take care of the children?  Would she have enough time to get them out of Richmond?

             
Frank shook his head.  “I heard the men talking from where I was hiding in the shadows of some of the buildings.  They are just after the men.  Don’t think the women can do much.”

             
Any other time, Opal would have laughed.  They had no idea how much women could do.  Now she was simply grateful.  It would give her time to contact Carrie.  She looked up.  “Can you send someone to Cromwell Plantation with a message?  Can they get back into the city?”

             
Frank nodded slowly.  “It’s risky.  But, yes, there are still ways to get past the military blocks.  I’ll send someone tonight.  The rain will help them.” 

             
Opal nodded and then moved over to where she kept her paper and pen.  Quickly she wrote a letter, folded it, and handed it to Frank.  “Thank you,” she said softly.  Right now she was under control, thinking clearly.  Later she knew she would grieve.  Right now she had four children to care for. 

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

              Carrie stooped down and gathered up a handful of fresh dirt.  Slowly, she let it sift through her fingers and fall to the ground as she looked out over the freshly plowed fields.  Spring had finally returned to the South.  Birds sang gloriously and trees sported their new clothing in myriad shades of green.  Limbs swayed in response to the warm wind bathing her body.  Carrie gave a sigh of delight and knelt to gather up another handful of dirt. 

             
She had loved to do it since she was just a little girl.  She had claimed then it was like feeling God because only God could put all the magic things in dirt to make plants grow.  She still felt that way.  Dark and soft to the touch, the fertile soil was ready to do its job.  Planting would begin tomorrow.  The largest part of her father’s plantation would be replanted in tobacco and corn.  But over three hundred acres would be planted in food crops.  Carrie knew it was a tremendous undertaking.  Even with all of her father’s original slaves, it would be an incredible amount of work to maintain and harvest the crops, not to mention transporting the produce to Richmond.  The food crops were incredibly labor intensive.  She would simply do the best she could with the slaves that remained.  They had performed amazing feats so far.  But without Moses to supervise them...

             
Carrie shook her head to push away any negative thoughts.  Even if half the crops rotted from lack of care and harvest, she would have tried her best.  And there was no real loss.  Unless things changed dramatically with the war and the blockade, her crops of tobacco and corn weren’t going anywhere either.  They would simply rot in the barns or fields.  She was determined to feed as many people as she could from the fields of Cromwell Plantation.   If she could have managed it, she would have planted the whole plantation in food. 

             
Just then Carrie heard someone call her name.  She looked up expectantly. 

Jubal ran up to her, panting from his dash down the road.  “They be here, Miss Carrie!” 

She had asked Jubal to come to the fields as soon as Opal arrived with the children.  She knew they were to arrive in a day or so - she just wasn’t sure how much the rain-soaked roads would slow them down. 

             
              “Wonderful!”  Carrie exclaimed.  “Do they look well?”  She wasn’t sure why she was asking a twelve-year-old boy.

             
Jubal shrugged.  “I reckon they look all right.”  Then his face broke forth in a huge grin.  “There for sho be one that look mighty fine!”

             
Carrie laughed.  “Sadie caught your eye, did she?”

             
Jubal nodded.  “That be her name?  The one looks to be my age?”

             
Carrie nodded.  “Yes.  Her name is Sadie.  I believe she’s thirteen.”

             
Jubal continued to grin, his eyes shining brightly.

             
Carrie swung into her saddle.  “Come on, Jubal.  You can ride up here with me.”  She reached down to help him swing up behind her.

             
Jubal gasped and looked up at her, his eyes even wider than before.  “You’s gonna let me ride on Granite with you, Miss Carrie?  Why, I ain’t never been on a horse before!”

             
“It’s high time you started,” she replied.  “Put your foot in the stirrup here.”  Jubal sprang to obey.  “Now swing up behind me.”  She reached down her hand and helped hoist the boy behind her.  Then she urged Granite into an easy canter. 

             
“Great Jehosophat!” Jubal breathed from behind her.  Then he wrapped his arms around her tightly and made not another sound. 

             
Opal and the children were standing in the clearing when Carrie rode up.  Quickly she dismounted and then helped Jubal swing down.  He stared at Sadie for a moment and then ran off to brag to all his friends.  Carrie moved quickly to where Opal was standing.   “Opal!  It’s so wonderful to see you.”  They embraced warmly.  There was still sorrow pooled in her eyes, but she had a determined air about her.  “I’m so sorry about Fannie,” Carrie said sympathetically.  She knew how much Opal had loved her cousin.  She also knew Fannie had been the only blood family Opal had had left. 

             
Opal merely nodded and looked down at the children for a moment, then looked back up.  “Thank you so much for having us back on the plantation.”

             
“It will always be your home if you need it,” Carrie said simply.  “At least while I’m here.”  Then she knelt down to put herself on level with the smaller children.  “Hello,” she said quietly.  “Welcome to Cromwell Plantation.  I’m glad you’re here.  It’s good to see you all again.”  Her heart twisted at the pain locked in their eyes and on their faces.  She remembered so well their happy exuberance the last time she had seen them.  She stood and reached out her hand to Susie.  “I’m so sorry,” she said.  There were no other words. 

             
Susie took her hand and gazed into her eyes for a long moment.  She seemed to be trying to bring her emotions under control before she spoke.  “Thank you for having us here.  The children needed to get out of Richmond.”

             
Carrie nodded and smiled.  Then she looked at Opal again.  “I am letting you and the children have Rose and Moses’ cabin.”

             
Opal nodded.  “Sam told me on the way that Rose and Moses are gone.  I will miss them, but I sure am glad they’re free.”  She paused. “But putting us in their cabin… We don’t have to have a place so grand.  Any of the cabins will do.”             

             
“Good.  Rose and Moses’ will do the job just fine, then,” Carrie responded cheerfully and then looked at Susie.  “Could you please take the children into the cabin?  We will bring your things in soon.  I’d like a few minutes to talk to Opal.”  Susie nodded and took Carl by the hand.  Sadie took Amber’s hand and followed her.  Once they were inside the cabin, Carrie turned to Opal.  “Did you have any trouble leaving the city?”

             
Opal shook her head.  “I showed your letter to the guards.  They let me right by.  That is, once they saw your last name and I told them who your daddy was.  Seems like your daddy must be pretty important around there.”

             
“I believe he is.  It has helped me out several times, too.”  She allowed herself a brief thought of Matthew.  Was he still in prison?  “Have you heard any more about Eddie?”

             
Opal shook her head again.  “All I know is he’s in prison.”  Tears filled her eyes.

             
“I’m so sorry,” Carrie said again.  “I have written a letter to my father asking him to find out whatever he can.  I don’t have much confidence he can do much, though.  Nor, I’m afraid, will he be very motivated once he discovers the charges are treason.”

             
Opal nodded.  “Thank you for at least trying,” she said softly.  “Your daddy knows I am back on the plantation?”

             
Carrie nodded.  “I didn’t say anything about the children.  I didn’t see a need.  I simply told him you had been very ill and could no longer work at the Armory.  I told him you would be of great use here once I had nursed you back to health,” she said wryly.  Lying to her father seemed to have become a habit. 

             
She looked up to see Opal staring off into the distance.  “Opal?”

             
Opal continued to stare, but she slowly answered.  “All that thinking about being free.  All that work to try and help...  I’m right back where I started from.”  She paused for a long moment.  “Life seems kinda funny sometime, don’t it?”

             
Carrie didn’t know what to say.  She knew what it was like to have big plans changed by life’s circumstances in the wink of an eye.  Finally something Sarah said came back to her.  “Sarah told me once that you can’t look just on the surface of things.  She said you had to search deep underneath and inside.  She said it takes time to really see something for what it is.”  She paused for a moment, remembering. Then she finished softly.  “She said that a lot of times the things we think are horrible really turn out for the best.”  She moved forward and slipped her arm around Opal’s waist.  “I guess we’ll both have the chance to find out how the bad can turn out for the good.”

             
Opal nodded.  “Thank you, Miss Carrie.”  Then she squared her shoulders and lifted her head high.  “I’d better go look after my children,” she said as she turned away.

             
Carrie watched her go.  Opal would soon discover the food she had left in the cabin and the bunks Jupiter had built into the wall for the children.  Warm blankets were folded on each one.  It had been all she had time to do on such short notice.   She remounted Granite then trotted swiftly up the road. 

             
Sam was waiting on the porch for her.  “Your daddy sent back a letter.”

             
“You saw my father?”

             
Sam shook his head.  “I ran into the fella bringing it here.  He gave it to me to deliver.”  Then he looked down.  “Got one more here for you, too.”

             
Carrie nodded and reached for the letters, her eyes brightening in excitement when she spotted Janie’s name in the top corner.    “May I have my lunch on the porch today, Sam?”  She waited for his nod then walked over to the porch swing and sat down to read her letters.  She turned to her father’s first. 

             
Dear Carrie,

             
              It is with great anxiety that I write this letter.  I have just been informed of a massive buildup of Union troops at Fort Monroe.  There can be but one purpose for their presence.  The North is finally ready to make its assault on Richmond!  Their position will bring them in your direction unless they can be stopped.  General Johnston has moved closer to Richmond and will be sent to stop them if indeed they make a move to prove the capital is their objective.  It is time for you to come to the city.  I cannot bear to think of your life being in danger.  I will expect a letter from you soon informing me of your plans.

             
I fear what will become of my glorious plantation if indeed the Union succeeds in their plans.  I am enclosing a letter for Ike Adams.  He is to be in charge of things until the time comes when it is safe for you to return.  I have given him instructions to occupy the plantation as long as possible but to flee if Union troops actually come there.  I am sure the slaves are in no danger, though I fear I will lose all I have worked so hard to accomplish.  The North seems to treat them very well!  I have heard of whole plantations of slaves being carried behind lines and sent off to contraband camps.  The Yankees will stop at nothing to destroy us.  They will not succeed! 

             
A bit of good news.  Congressman Ely of New York, for several months a guest in our Officers’ Prison, finally arranged an exchange of prisoners for several of the officers and the remaining two civilian prisoners.  Matthew Justin is now a free man and on his way north.  I had breakfast with him this morning before he left on the train.  He is certainly a happy man, though a bit sad at having to leave his friends behind.  He sends his fondest greetings and gratitude for all you did for him.