Tenderness (26 page)

Ethan’s manner had changed so completely that Wade looked at him with a puzzled frown. Gone was the flippant, devil-may-care
look. Ethan’s face had sobered and a telling, knowledgeable light had come into his eyes as he weighed his words. He was getting
his point across without giving anything away. Wade knew instantly that there was more to this man than the image he presented.

“Then we have your word?”

“You have it.”

“Good enough,” Wade said.

A moment later Ethan’s charming facade emerged once again as he looked over the motor that sat on two blocks.

“What’s it for? A motor car?”

“Might be” Ike said.

“The Literary Digest
says motor cars won’t catch on.”

Ike snorted. “They ain’t done too bad in the six years since Ford built the first one.” His laugh was a dry cackle. “I’d a
give a penny to a been there when they found out they’d built the thing too wide to get it out the door.” He wiped his greasy
hands on a rag and dropped it on the bench beside the motor. “We might put this’n on a carriage and drive ’er up and down
in front of Harper’s bank, huh Wade?”

Wade clasped his friend on the shoulder. “Sounds good to me, Ike.” He looked toward a curtain covering a doorway and saw it
move. “You can come out, Jody. Ethan knows you’re here.”

“Yeah. He’s the smarty what works at the paper.” Jody emerged and stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “Be big news,
NIGGER FOUND IN TOWN AFTER DARK.”

“Yeah?” Ethan looked the boy up and down. “A bigger story would be SMART-MOUTHED NIGGER BEING TUTORED BY MISS PAULINE ANTHONY.”

“How’d ya know that,
toad?”

“That’s enough, Jody,” Wade said sharply and turned to Ethan. “How did you find out?”

Ethan shrugged. “Wasn’t hard. Doctor hired the boy when there were plenty of boys in town who would have been glad to have
the job. Teacher stays with the Forbeses and disappears in the barn with an armload of books every morning about ten o’clock.
Susan or Todd takes lunch basket to the barn. And you know what? Jody is nowhere in sight. It doesn’t take a ton of brains
to figure out what’s going on.”

“You’ve nosed around and found out quite a lot in the short time you’ve been here.”

“My job is hunting the news.”

“So that’s your interest in this, huh, Bredlow? A story for the paper?” The expression on Wade’s face was anything but friendly
now.

“My interest in this has nothing to do with the paper. It’s purely personal. Miss Pauline Anthony.” Ethan grinned and to his
astonishment he felt a flash of heat cover the skin of his face. “She’s something I’ve been looking for all my life.”

“That’s all?” Wade asked, not quite believing.

“It’s plenty. You of all people should understand that.” Ethan’s eyes caught Wade’s and held them. The unspoken words about
him and Jesse sparked between them.

Wade nodded. “You know she’ll lose her job if she’s caught. Harper controls the school board.”

“It won’t be me that tells. If anyone does, it’ll be the housekeeper.”

“Doctor Forbes assured me that she would keep quiet.” “Why would she keep quiet if it’s to her advantage to get in good with
the Harpers?”

“Because she doesn’t want to get in bad with the Forbes-es. She works for them after all. If we can rock along here a few
more weeks, though, Jody and I will be going down to Tuskegee to see if we can get him into a boarding school. We’ll talk
to the track and field coaches. Jody’ll need training if he’s going to try out for the Olympic team a couple years from now.”

“He’s that fast, huh? The 1904 games will be in Saint Louis. I’d like to see him run, but will he be allowed to enter the
races?”

“A few good men are working on it.”

Ethan looked at Jody and saw resentment in the eyes that stared back at him.

“You’ve nothing to fear from me, boy.”

“I ain’t a feared a you. I ain’t a feared a no man—nigger or white.”

“Good for you. I can’t say that. I’ve been scared out of my wits by colored
and white men at
some time or other.” He grinned cockily at Wade. “Well, shall we go tackle that bunch down by the creamery?”

Now Wade grinned. “Let ’em wait. I’ll cross the creek a mile back and go home by way of a deer trail up through the woods.
There’s a hungry bunch of mosquitoes down by the bridge. After they’ve chewed on those fellows for a while, they should be
ready to give it up and clear out.”

Ethan smiled broadly. “Good. I wasn’t in the mood for a fight anyhow. I’ve got on my courtin’ clothes.” He gave them a jaunty
salute. “See you at the ball game,” he said before he went out the door.

Beneath the bridge that spanned the creek four men huddled, fighting the swarms of mosquitoes that surrounded them.

“Goddamn. These sons-a-bitches is eatin’ me up. Let’s get outta here. He ain’t comin’.”

“You said he’d be here in an hour.” John Secory, a big, burly redheaded man with a hot temper stood and peered over the bank.
“I already got the wire stretched across the bridge.”

“It’s what he told me to say. Lord-a-mercy, I think my nose is busted.”

“It’s what ya get for gettin’ caught.”

“How’d I know that sissy-britches from the newspaper’d be with him?” The man tried to protect his face from the mosquitoes
with his shirt collar. “He might be a comin’ with him.”

“Let him come,” Secory growled. “Any one of us can handle that dressed-up dude with one arm tied behind.”

“Horseshit! He didn’t bust
yore
nose. I’d just as soon been kicked by a mule.”

“It would a been a sight easier if n he’d been walkin’,” Secory grumbled. “But the wire will trip up his horse. Then we’ll
be all over him like flies on a pile of fresh cowshit. That bastard’ll pay and pay good for what he done.”

“How’d you know for sure it was him that looked at yore gal?” The question came from one of the two men who stood and came
to peer down the road toward town. The man with the broken nose huddled with his head in his arms.

“I jist know, that’s all. He’s been a thumbin’ his nose at this town fer years. He’s as randy as his old pa was. The bastard
got hung fer it.”

“I thought he was hanged for killing old Harper’s brother.”

“You can bet yore boots there was a woman mixed up in it somewheres.”

“Was you around then?”

“Hell no. It was twenty years ago. The old timers is still talkin’ ’bout it.”

“He ain’t comin’. It’s been more’n a hour. I’m callin’ it quits. I gotta work tomorrow.”

“Guess he pulled a fast one,” the other man said. “Let’s roll up that wire and get the hell outta here.”

“There’ll be other times,” Secory said. “Ya can bet yore life on it.”

The next day Jesse hugged her happiness to her, having told no one but Pauline that she and Wade were in love and that they
planned to marry. When she wasn’t busy with patients in the surgery, she was preparing the vials of smallpox vaccine to be
used the next day. Just before noon Doctor Forbes was called away to tend a man who had been kicked and trampled by a mule.
With fluttering concern over the doctor’s missing a meal, Louella hurriedly prepared him a light lunch to eat on the way to
the farm south of town.

Usually when the doctor was away, the conversation at the dinner table, with Mrs. Lindstrom presiding, was limited to “pass
the butter,” bread, or whatever was being served. Today, however, Mrs. Lindstrom brought up the subject of Jesse and Wade
Simmer.

“Jesse, I feel it my duty to tell you that being seen on the arm of that man… Wade Simmer, will certainly harm your reputation
in this town.”

Jesse looked at her for a long moment. “Why do you feel that it’s your duty?”

“Why, my dear, I’ve been training young women to meet their social obligations for years. I’m speaking now on behalf of your
father. The dear man is so wrapped up in his medicine that he couldn’t possibly know what harm you are doing to yourself and
to this family.”

Susan’s eyes were as big as saucers, and Pauline was holding her breath as they waited for Jesse to explode. They were surprised
when Jesse spoke calmly.

“It’s very thoughtful of you, Louella, to be so concerned about my reputation.”

“I was sure you’d understand. Todd, dear, you have gravy on your chin.” Louella blotted her own mouth with her napkin. “This
family has a unique position in this town. The doctor is highly respected and his family should be beyond reproach.”

“And in the short time you’ve been here, you consider yourself qualified to make decisions regarding whom we should and should
not associate with?”

“Well, yes. My experience at the girls’ school has given me an insight on character.”

“Supplemented, of course, by the advice of Roberta Harper.”

Rage was boiling up in Jesse and she made no attempt to allay it.

“I bet you can hardly wait to discuss my latest indiscretion with Roberta and Edsel. I’m sure they know by now that Wade Simmer
called on me.”

“You can’t keep something like that quiet in this town,” Louella said with authority.

“I was certainly not trying to keep it quiet.” Jesse’s voice shook with anger. “And for your information, Mrs. Lindstrom,
I don’t give a tinker’s damn what the Harpers think or what anyone else in this town thinks, especially you. You are an employee
here and that is
all.
In the future you had better remember that and keep your nose out of this family’s business.”

With Jesse’s words, it was plain that open war had been declared between the two women.

Louella’s white face turned a brick red. “I can see, Jesse, that your education was sadly neglected. Your lack of refinement
appalls me. If you have no care for your reputation, think of your father.”

“My education is far broader than yours, Mrs. Lindstrom. Beside my schooling and my nurse’s training, I learned from my father
and my stepmother to have compassion for those less fortunate than I. And that all persons are indeed created equal and that
each has the right to express himself. I learned to stand up for myself, make my own decisions, choose my own friends and
honor the right of others to do the same.” Jesse scarcely paused to take a breath before continuing.

“As far as my father is concerned, ma’am, I think you do enough thinking about him for both of us. Todd, will you please pass
the pickled peaches.”

Todd couldn’t keep the grin off his face, and Susan barely supressed a giggle.

The meal was finished in total silence.

Doctor Forbes returned from his call in the middle of the afternoon. Jesse waited for her father to say something about Wade
calling on her; but the afternoon waned, suppertime came, and he had not mentioned it.

Louella was charming during the evening meal. She asked about the patient the doctor had visited and seemed to be genuinely
concerned. If the doctor noticed that the rest of the family and Pauline spoke only when spoken to. he didn’t acknowledge
it. At the end of the meal, however, he stood and beckoned to his elder daughter.

“Come to the surgery, Jesse. We have a few things to go over before tomorrow.”

Jesse glanced at Mrs. Lindstrom. She had a satisfied smile on her face. The woman was sure that Doctor Forbes was going to
give Jesse a good dressing down for her behavior. Jesse lifted her chin and followed her father.

The doctor slumped tiredly in his chair and Jesse closed the door.

“What the hell is going on between you and Mrs. Lindstrom?”

“She criticized me at the dinner table in front of Todd, Susan and Pauline because I was seen walking with Wade Simmer. “Jesse
crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the door.

To her surprise her father laughed. “That got your temper up, did it?”

“It certainly did. I reminded her that she was an employee in this house and nothing more.”

Her father was thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “Do you like Simmer?”

“I love him.”

“Does he love you?”

“He says he does.”

“You plan to marry?”

“Someday.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’ll not go off and leave Todd and Susan with Mrs. Lindstrom.”

“Good grief. I thought you’d get over being so possessive about this house and your brother and sister.”

“You see only the side she wants you to see, Papa. I relieve her to be a cold, calculating woman.”

“I enjoy her company, Jesse. Give her some credit for being able to put up with the opposition she has faced here.” The doctor
leaned back and hooked his thumbs in his vest pockets. “My fondest hope for both my girls has been that they meet strong men
who will love them and whom they will love in return.”

“You have no objection to Wade?”

“Why should I? I’m not going to marry him.”

“Oh… Papa—”

“I’m glad for you, Jesse. Wade is a good man. Better than most. He’s had a $$$ time, but it’s only made him stronger. He’ll
take good care of you.”

“You don’t care that the town hates him and calls him hill trash? Mrs. Lindstrom thinks that my seeing him puts a blight on
your reputation.”

He chuckled. “I’ve had blights on my reputation before and survived.”

“We’re going to the ball game together on Sunday. It’ll create quite a stir.”

He chuckled again. “This blasted town needs shaking up.”

“Oh, Papa. I love you.” Jesse crossed the room and put her arms around his neck. “How was I so lucky as to have a papa like
you?”

“You’ve not been a disappointment to me either, girl,” he said as if he had a frog in his throat, and patted her back.

“That’s what Wade said the day we first met.”

“He did, huh? Somehow I knew that you two would hitch together. I ran into him a couple years ago and liked him from the start.
He’s a man who stands on his own two feet and depends on no one but himself. Just like you, daughter. For choosing him you’ll
take some guff. You know that. But you’ll weather the storm.”

“Thank you, Papa.” She kissed his cheek.

After Jesse left the surgery, Doctor Forbes rocked for a while in his rolling desk chair. Things were working out just as
he had hoped. His Jesse had met a good man and fallen in love.