The Last, Long Night (#5 in the Bregdan Chronicles Historical Fiction Romance Series) (53 page)

Eddie nodded impatiently, knowing he had to get out of there.  “How do I find Opal?  How do I find my kids?”

“All I knows is we been told if you ever come back that we was to tell you to go find Miss Carrie.  She has your answers.”

Eddie stared at them, trying to digest the new information.  “Carrie Cromwell knows where my kids are?”

“That’s what we been told to tell you,” the man repeated.  “It be all we know.  I’m sorry.”

Eddie nodded woodenly and backed out of the kitchen into the cold night.  “Thank you,” he muttered.  “If the police or guards come…”

“They’ll never know you been here,” the man promised.

“You could be in danger,” Eddie whispered.  “I’m sorry if I brung trouble on you.”

“Them guards ain’t gonna know you been here because they ain’t gonna find nobody at home.  I figures me and my family gonna go stay with family for a while till them guards stop comin’ round.”

The sun had barely crested the horizon when Carrie swung out of the house to head up to the hospital.  Wagons full of wounded soldiers had arrived the day before from the battle at Fort Stedman.  She’d gotten home just a few hours earlier, grabbed some sleep, and was headed back to her ward.  The only thing she could find to be thankful for was that Hobbs had arrived at the hospital to serve as her assistant again.  The army had decided he could be of more service in the hospital.

From him, she had learned Robert was still alive, so she was pouring all her energy and focus into helping the new rows of patients waiting for her.

“Miss Carrie!” a harsh whisper broke the morning stillness.

Carrie jolted to a stop and stared into the bushes next to the porch.  “Who’s there?” she demanded, startled, but not afraid.

She gasped when a skeleton-thin man stepped forward hesitantly.  “Eddie?”  She blinked her eyes and stared again.  “Is it really you, Eddie?”

“It’s me, Miss Carrie,” he said gruffly, shivering in the morning air.  Spring had come, but the mornings were still chilly, and he was poorly dressed.

“Where…?  How…?”  Carrie stared at him, thinking of her conversation with Spencer the day before, and then she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the house.  “You must be starving,” she said softly as she pulled him back to the kitchen, glad the rest of the house hadn’t stirred yet.  She knew May would already be cooking.

May looked up, startled, when the kitchen door swung open.  “Miss Carrie, what you…?” 

“Eddie needs food,” Carrie replied.  “Give him all he can eat.”

May looked with sympathy at the man in front of her and began scooping up a huge bowl of porridge.  “It won’t be fancy, but it’s got to be more than you been getting,” she growled, tears glistening in her eyes as she stared at him with pity.  “I be real sorry about your wife, Eddie,” she said softly.

“You know me?”  Eddie stood in the kitchen reveling in the first warmth he’d felt in months and stared at the huge bowl of porridge steaming on the table.  A sharp pang of hunger stabbed him as the warmth made him relax enough to sway with fatigue.

“We been praying for you and your family down at church ever since Fannie died and you got caught. How’d you get out?”

“I escaped.”

Carrie gasped.  “We have to find a safe place for you.”

“I gots to know about my family,” Eddie said firmly, gripping the back of the chair in front of him to keep him steady.  “I been told to come here,” he said.  “Where be my kids, Miss Carrie?  Where is Opal?” he asked desperately.  “Please say you can tell me.”

Carrie smiled and motioned for him to sit down.  “Eat,” she commanded.  “I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

The look she sent May said to keep filling the bowl for as long as Eddie could eat.  She waited for him to begin spooning the hot food into his starving body before she began to speak.  “The first thing I want you to know is that Fannie wasn’t alone when she died.  They got word to Opal after the explosion.  She arrived right before Fannie died.  Fannie asked her to tell you how much she loves you, and then she asked Opal to take care of the kids.”

Eddie blinked back tears as the swell of emotion threatened to overwhelm him, but then he went back to shoveling in food, knowing he would need strength for whatever was coming next.

“It wasn’t safe here for Opal and the kids,” Carrie continued.  “She didn’t have a way to take care of them.”

“Where they go?” Eddie demanded.

“Cromwell Plantation,” Carrie replied.  “They’re living with Opal and Sam in my father’s house.  They’re healthy, and as happy as possible after losing both parents.  I haven’t been there in more than a year, but I believe they’re safe.”  She could only hope her words were true and that the plantation was still there. 

“Cromwell ain’t been burned?”

“I don’t know,” Carrie replied honestly, “but even if the Union destroyed it, I know they are taking former slaves and other blacks to the contraband camp.  Opal is committed to your children, Eddie.”  She reached out and grasped his hand.  “They’re waiting for you to come back to them.”

She waited for him to absorb the news.  “Susie is waiting for you, too.  She and her husband, Zeke,” she finished with a smile.

Eddie sucked in a breath.  “My Susie girl be married?”

“Yes, to a wonderful man.  You’ll like Zeke when you meet him.  She met him on the plantation when Zeke escaped from North Carolina.  He had to agree to stay on at Cromwell until you got out of prison, or she wouldn’t marry him.”

Eddie’s mind spun as he absorbed all the news.  The silence and warmth in the kitchen wrapped around him like a blanket.  Only one thing was clear.  “I gots to get out to the plantation,” he stated.  “Can you help me?”

“I would,” Carrie replied, “but it’s not possible right now.  There’s not a road that could take you to Cromwell that isn’t crawling with soldiers.  You would never get through.”  She understood the stubborn look that shone instantly on his face and reached out to grasp his hand.  “Trust me,” she said softly, waiting until he gazed into her eyes.  “I’ll find you someplace safe, Eddie.  The war can’t possibly last much longer.  There’s no reason to risk getting caught again when you’ll see your children soon.”

Eddie stared at her.  “You really think it will end soon?”

Carrie nodded.  “Lee made a final attempt to break out of Grant’s stranglehold on the city yesterday.  The attempt failed miserably and resulted in thousands more wounded or captured troops.  Grant is getting reinforcements soon.”

“You don’t seem too upset,” Eddie said, staring at her intently.

“I’m not,” she said.  “Oh, I worry about what will happen to Richmond, but all I want is for this war to be over. We’ll all deal with what comes afterwards, but I want it to end.”

Carrie took a deep breath.  “I have to get up to the hospital.  I have patients who need me.”  She looked at May.  “I’m putting Eddie in my room.  It’s not safe for him to be out in the day.”  She looked back at Eddie.  “I’m assuming they are probably looking for you.”

“Probly, though I may not be real important right now since they moving all the prisoners.”

“Still, we will take no chances,” Carrie said firmly and then turned back to May.  “Give Eddie all the food he can eat today, and make sure you fill a big crate of food for him for later.  When it gets dark again, he can slip down to the black hospital.”

Thinking quickly, she outlined the rest of her plan.  “There is a room in the back of the hospital no one is using.  I can’t take you myself, but you’re probably safer sneaking back the same way you got here.  I’ll have Spencer take the food down for you today and stash it away.  No one but May, Spencer, and I will know you’re there.  You’ll find everything you need.”

Eddie stared at her.  “You gonna do all that for me?”

“You’re Opal’s family, which makes you my family,” Carrie said softly.  “I’ll make sure you have food.  You make sure you don’t get caught.  When the war is over, I’ll find a way to get you to the plantation.”  She gazed out the window in the direction of Cromwell.  “We might just all go out together,” she said with a smile.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Carrie took deep breaths as she walked slowly down the hill from the hospital, her heart heavy from the staggering casualties that had come in from the battle at Fort Stedman.  She stared at the thick gray clouds massed on the horizon and hoped for rain that would push down the smoke that had drifted over the city from the battle. 

“And so another summer begins,” Janie observed, staring at the clouds as Carrie was.  “And it’s still spring.”

“I can’t bear to think we’ll have another whole summer of this,” Carrie replied, her hands tightening into fists.  “It has to end, Janie.”  She took another breath.  “I’m praying Richmond will fall.”

Janie looked at her sharply.  “Do you mean that?”

“I do,” Carrie said softly, hoping Janie could understand.  “Too many have died.  Too much has been destroyed.  It has to stop.”

“Even if it means you lose everything?  Even if it means the people you love lose everything?”

Carrie gazed at her, knowing she could be honest.  “We lost everything the day the war started.  There was never a chance we would win this war.  The only thing the South has accomplished is to kill or maim hundreds of thousands of men who did what they were told was the right thing to do.”  She stopped and looked over at Janie.  “Do you disagree with me?”

“No,” Janie whispered, meeting her gaze levelly.  “We lost six more soldiers today in our ward.”

Carrie gazed at her, recognizing something in Janie’s eyes that sparked a quick alarm – something that went beyond concern for her patients.  “Clifford?  Is everything okay?”

Janie’s eyes fell.  She twisted her hands as she stared at the ground.  “He’s so conflicted.  Losing his arm… wondering whether he’ll ever be able to practice law again.”  She looked up.  “His parents’ plantation on St. Simons Island was completely burned and destroyed when Sherman went through.  He just found out.  They’ve lost everything.”

Carrie gasped and reached out to grab her hand while trying to block images of their own plantation burning.  She had to focus on her friend. “I’m so sorry!”

“He’s bitter,” Janie admitted.  “And every night he has such horrible nightmares.  My heart is breaking for him.” 

Her eyes held a desperation Carrie had never seen.  She knew there was nothing she could say to ease the pain, so she stepped forward, wrapped Janie in her arms, and stroked her back as her friend sobbed against her shoulder. 

Long minutes passed before Janie stepped back and gulped down a weak laugh.  “I’m usually the one to do that for you.”

“About time you fell apart,” Carrie teased gently.  “I needed to pay you back for at least one of the times you’ve done this for me.”

Tears still on her cheeks, Janie stared at her.  “I want the war to end, but I can’t imagine leaving here and not having you,” she said finally.  “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.  I don’t know that I want to go back to Raleigh,” she cried suddenly.  “I love Clifford so much, but I will miss you terribly!”

Carrie pulled her back into her arms.  “The war isn’t over yet,” she said gently.  “Not one of us knows what will happen when it finally ends.  Let’s just take one day at a time,” she said firmly.  Then tears filled her own eyes, and she gripped Janie in a tight hug.  “I’ll miss you so much, too!” she whispered fiercely.

Thomas and Jeremy were sitting down to dinner when Carrie and Janie arrived.  The other boarders had eaten earlier and retired to the parlor.  Janie settled in her seat while Carrie headed into the kitchen and called back that she would join them in a few minutes.

May stood by the stove when she swung in through the door; she nodded when she saw Carrie’s raised eyebrows.  “Spencer done took the food down already,” she said quietly, watching the door to make sure no one else walked in.  “Eddie has been waiting for dark out in the barn with Granite so that he can slip on down to the hospital.  He got some good sleep and ate more than any I ever done seen a man eat,” she finished with a smile.  “Spencer will go down tomorrow to make sure he got there okay.”