Chapter Twenty-Eight
Carrie stood on the steps watching Sam load the last few things of her father’s into the carriage. Thomas, standing rigidly at her side, seemed unaware of the biting November cold. Carrie wrapped her cloak tighter to her body to keep out the invasive wind. She kept her eyes on the carriage to avoid looking at her father. The lines of grief had only deepened in the month since his wife’s death. He had aged overnight.
Carrie had not been able to reach beyond the wall he had erected to deal with his beloved Abigail’s death. Nothing seemed to touch him. Carrie, forced to act on her father’s behalf, had shoved down her own grief. She had no choice but to remain strong.
A recent letter from Governor Letcher expressing his sympathies and inviting Thomas to Richmond had been the only thing to penetrate his lethargy. Carrie, encouraged by the small evidence of interest, had urged him to go. It had not taken long to convince her father to leave Cromwell. He seemed to want nothing more than to escape the constant memories that assaulted him at every turn. Only once had he protested the unfairness of leaving everything in Carrie’s hands before he easily acquiesced.
Carrie watched as her father’s eyes roamed over the pastures. They had once brought him great joy and satisfaction, but now they symbolized a lifetime of dreams shattered by Abigail’s death. He’d told Carrie that if he didn’t get away, he was afraid he would succumb to the whirling darkness trying to pull him into its endless depths. Maybe in Richmond he would find relief from the unending agony.
“Sam has everything ready, Father.”
Thomas started and focused his eyes on Sam, who stood next to the carriage. Charles had just climbed into the driver’s seat. Steam rose from the horse’s nostrils, only to be whisked away by the wind. Slowly, Thomas turned to look down at his daughter. “Thank you,” he murmured. “Thank you, daughter.”
Carrie’s heart caught at the anguish on his face as he lifted his eyes briefly to his bedroom window. She forced her voice to be strong. “I hope you have a wonderful trip. Everything will be fine here.”
“I...I don’t know...I don’t know when I will be back.” Thomas looked down as he spoke.
Carrie’s heart sank, but she kept her voice steady. “I know, Father. Come home when you’re ready.” There had been no talk of when her father would return. Carrie was now the mistress of Cromwell Plantation. “I love you, Father.” She kissed him gently on the cheek, took his arm, and led him down the stairs. Oh, how she hated to see her father like this. He had always been such a strong man. Now he resembled nothing more than a broken shell.
Carrie watched as the carriage rolled down the driveway. The wind whipped at her cloak, but she was unaware of the cold now. She had wanted nothing more than to leave Cromwell Plantation, but the whistling wind snatched her dreams and carried them above the treetops, far from her reach.
Rose watched Carrie from her bedroom window. She ached for her friend but didn’t know what to do for her. Since her mother’s death, Carrie’s only concern had been caring for her father. Rose knew her friend had buried her own grief in order to survive. As she watched the cold wind whipping at the slender body held in rigid defiance of life, she longed to go and wrap her arms around her.
Rose turned away from the window. Her mama had asked her to come down to the quarters this morning. She reached for her cloak and hurried out into the biting wind.
Moses looked up at the sound of the door slamming, and Rose flashed him a smile. Sam was having trouble with his back again and had asked Moses to do some work at the big house. The labor in the fields was done for the season. All the field hands were doing repair work around the plantation now.
Just to see Moses during the day was enough for Rose’s hungry eyes. Soon they would be husband and wife. They still wouldn’t be able to live together—she would have to stay in the house—but at least they would be man and wife. Time would take care of the rest.
Rose lowered her head, pressed into the wind, and strode down the dirt road. She would have sung, but the wind would have torn the words out of her mouth before they could even be formed. She felt sorry for Miss Carrie, but her own life was overflowing with love and joy. There was only a month to go before the day she and Moses had set for their wedding. She hadn’t had a chance to tell Miss Carrie yet, but she knew she would soon. The biggest change, however, had occurred in her own heart. She was a new person since the night in her mama’s cabin when she had let go of all the hate.
“Well, looky what we got here. A nigger woman!”
Rose, startled, looked up and came to an abrupt halt as Ike Adams stepped from the bushes. She could tell in a single glance that he was drunk. His eyes were red and wild, and his face hung in a loose recklessness. She glanced around quickly. No one was in sight. She fought the panic rising inside and stood quietly before him.
Adams leered and moved closer. “Well, well... A nigger woman...and a right good-looking one at that.” He reached out his hand and touched her cheek roughly.
Rose struggled to remain calm. She knew the meanness in this man. If she made him angry, there was no telling what he would do. She tried to breathe normally as she continued to look him in the eye. God, help me.
“Woman, you ever been with a real man?” Adams slurred. “I be needing me a real woman. What a coincidence that you happened along.” He reached out his other hand, grasped her hair roughly, and pulled her toward him.
Rose knew what the gleam in his eye meant. She knew Adams felt he was all powerful now that Cromwell was gone. Frantically, she tried to figure out a way to escape what was surely to come. Then Adams’ lips found their mark. Gagging, Rose pulled away. She knew immediately that she had made a mistake.
Adams cursed, grabbed her head with both hands, and claimed her lips again roughly. He let his cruel lips linger for only a moment before he wrenched away, dropped his hands to her shoulders, and pushed her further into the woods. “Think you’re too good for me, nigger? You ain’t seen the beginning of what I aim to do to your pretty body. I don’t reckon it will be fit for any man when I’m done with it.” He gave her a mighty shove that nearly sent Rose sprawling, but lost his own balance and stumbled to his knees.
That was all the chance Rose needed. She would not be raped. She knew there would be punishment, but she would not simply submit to Adams’ evil plan. Just as the drunken man reached up to grab her again, she wrenched away and began to run down the road.
Adams was up and after her. “I’ll catch you, nigger woman!”
Rose gasped as his laugh rang out behind her. Her only hope was to reach the quarters. Maybe the sight of the other slaves would bring him to his senses. She ran blindly, pumping her legs faster, her long skirt and heavy cloak hampering her with every step.
Adams caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder. He dug his fingers in cruelly and wrenched her to a stop. “I told you, you can’t get away from me, nigger woman. I always get what I want. Right now I want you!”
The venom in his voice made Rose’s blood turn to ice. There was no way to escape this monster. She controlled her desire to scream as he undid the buckle of his belt and slowly pulled it from the loops.
“I reckon you need a lesson in how to treat your overseer, nigger woman.” Adams wrenched back his arm and gripped the buckle so tightly his knuckles whitened. His face contorted with anger as he whipped the belt forward.
Rose saw it coming. She tried to brace herself for it, but nothing could have prepared her for the pain that coursed through her body as the rough leather of his belt cut into the tender flesh of her cheek. Her shrill scream pierced the air. Then she turned to flee again.
Carrie, still standing on the porch, heard a scream rise on the wind and then fade away as it whipped past her. “Rose?” she whispered. It took a moment for the scream to register in her brain. Then she whirled around and stared down the road. She could see nothing, but she knew what she had heard. “Rose!” she cried.
She picked up her skirts and began to run down the stairs. Something stopped her in her tracks, however. She dashed back up the stairs, across the porch, and into the house. A moment later, she reemerged and flew down the road.
Adams was only inches from Rose when she ran into the quarters. Blinded by the tears of fright and pain that were coursing down her face, she headed for her mama’s house. She didn’t know what else to do. She had no more than turned in that direction when she felt Adams’ fingers clutch her bruised shoulder again. Caught off balance, she pitched forward and slammed into the hard ground.
Sarah, roused by the commotion, ran toward her daughter.
“Touch her and she’ll get it worse, old nigger!” Adams reached for his horse and grabbed his whip and a piece of rope out of the saddlebag. He whirled and stalked to where Rose huddled on the ground.
Sarah stopped short when she saw the whip. She knew what it could do.
Adams, an evil leer on his face, reached down and grabbed Rose by the arm. He jerked her up and shoved her roughly toward the middle of the quarters. “Ain’t no whipping post of no use here, but that tree there should do the job. It’s good enough for a nigger like you. You’ll find there ain’t no use in not giving me what I want!” He grabbed her shoulder, pushed her up against the tree, and groped for the neckline of her dress.
Rose knew what was coming. Adams was finally going to let out all that meanness.
“No!”
Adams jerked back at the strong voice that bellowed across the clearing. Whirling around to see who was yelling at him, his evil grin spread wider. “Well if ain’t the giant nigger himself. My, my! My day just keeps getting better and better.” He fingered his whip and locked eyes with Moses.
“Let her go. She ain’t done nothing to you.” Moses’ voice was low and deadly.
“And how would you know that nigger? Besides, what does it matter to you?” Adams’ face lit up as understanding flashed into his sodden brain. “This be your woman, nigger? Well, if that don’t make things a sight more interesting.” He snarled and pulled the whip back. “Back off nigger, or I’ll whip this girl until you won’t know who she is. For sure, she won’t be the pretty thing you’re lusting after now!” He released the whip, allowing it to barely graze Rose’s shoulder. She cried out and shrank against the tree.
Moses growled and prepared to attack.
“Stop!” Everyone in the clearing spun around when the shouted command was accompanied by the sharp crack of a rifle. “Drop that whip, Adams!”
Adams’ face tightened into a mask when he saw Carrie Cromwell’s slight figure behind the barrel of her father’s gun. “What you think you doing, Miss Cromwell? You watch yourself or you gonna hurt someone with that rifle.” He gripped the handle of his whip tighter and began to walk slowly toward her.
Moses was still crouched, his eyes darting back and forth between the two.
Carrie never flinched. Calmly, she stepped toward the overseer. Then, pulling the hammer back on the gun, she took careful aim. “You can be quite certain I know enough about this gun to put a bullet through your useless heart, Adams,” she said coldly.
Adams stopped and stared at her. “Your father would tell you to leave this business to me, Miss Cromwell,” he snarled.
“My father told you from the very beginning that there was to be no abuse of Cromwell people. I also know he told you a few months ago that if you were ever to touch another one of our people, it would be the end for you.” She gripped the gun even tighter as she spat out the next words. “You’re finished, Adams. Get off this property and never come back. I want you and your family out of your house by nightfall.” She paused, then continued venomously. “I should just go ahead and put a bullet through your heart, but I feel sorry for your wife and children.” She raised the gun. “I could change my mind, though. Get going before I do!”
Adams stared at her in disbelief for only a moment. Blanching white, he rapidly coiled his whip and headed for his horse.
“Drop the whip, Adams. I’ll want it in case you ever get it in your mind to come on this property again. It might do you good to see how it feels,” Carrie snapped. Adams, his face white with rage, dropped the whip and vaulted onto his horse. “You’ll be sorry for this, Miss Carrie Cromwell!” He allowed himself one burning look of hatred before he kicked his horse into a gallop and disappeared down the road.
Sarah and Moses both sprang forward at the same time. Rose huddled against the tree, tears flowing freely as she sobbed into Moses’ shoulder.
Carrie lowered the gun and hurried to Rose’s side. It was several long minutes before Rose lifted her face from where she had buried it in Moses’ chest.
“He hurt you!” Moses cried, anguish twisting his face as he saw the long ugly welt oozing blood.
Carrie felt sick as she stared at her friend’s disfigured face. “I should have killed him,” she cried through gritted teeth. “I should have killed him while I had the chance.”
Rose shook her head. “You did the right thing, Miss Carrie. He didn’t hurt me bad. God heard my cry and saved me.” She reached up and touched Moses’ face tenderly, interpreting his look. “He didn’t rape me, Moses,” she whispered. Moses nodded his head mutely, his eyes full of rage and sorrow. He cradled Rose’s head in his hands and stared into her eyes.
It was Sarah who took charge. “We gots to take care of that cut. Carrie, go get what we need,” she commanded.
Carrie left the gun lying in the clearing and raced for the root cellar.
Carrie prepared a tray of food and carried it to her room. Rose had protested, but Carrie had insisted she recover from her experience in her room. Moses and Sarah looked up as she entered the room. “I have enough for everyone,” she smiled. Rose stared at her as she laid the tray of chicken and fresh biscuits on the table next to her bed.
“Miss Carrie, I’m feeling much better. I can go back to my room now.”
Carrie shook her head firmly. “I’m the doctor. I’ll tell you when you can leave.” She dropped her pretense of sternness and leaned forward to grab Rose’s hand. “I just want to be sure you’re all right,” she said. “It makes me sick inside to think what that horrible man almost did to you.”
Rose stared as bright tears sprang into Carrie’s eyes. “I’m all right, Miss Carrie.”
“My name is Carrie, Rose. That’s what I want you to call me.”
Rose was speechless. She looked to her mama for help.
Sarah regarded Carrie for a long moment. “You been doin’ some changin’, girl.”
Carrie smiled and nodded. “You’re right as usual, Sarah.” She lowered her eyes for a moment. “My mother’s death knocked the life out of me for a while, but I’m going to be okay now.” She didn’t know how to explain that hearing Rose’s scream had torn her out of her pity and brought her back into living.
“Your mama be in a better place, Miss Carrie.”
Carrie smiled as Sarah put a warm hand on her shoulder. “I know that, Sarah. I know she’s with God, but it’s going to take a while to get used to living without her.” She took a deep breath and looked at Rose. “Rose, it’s been so long since we’ve really talked. I’ve been lost in a world of my own. I have a feeling I’m very out of touch with your life.”
Rose smiled gently. “You’ve had a lot to distract you, Miss Carrie. You had your mama to take care of for all those long months, and then your father took her place.”
Carrie frowned. “I’m worried about my father. It’s as if there is no life left in him.”
Sarah reached forward again to take her hand. “Your mama was your father’s life. It will take him time to make a new one.”
Carrie nodded. “I don’t think I ever realized how much they loved each other. Mama and I were so different...”
“Your daddy have a big heart, Miss Carrie. He had plenty of love to give the two women in his life. Your daddy gonna be all right. It takes time for the aching to make room for livin’ again.”
Carrie fixed her eyes on Sarah as she talked, but she didn’t miss the tender look Rose shared with Moses. She nodded her head and turned back to Rose. “I have a feeling there is some love being shared in here,” she said with a smile.
Rose returned her smile. “Moses and I plan on being married next month. If that’s all right with you,” she hastened to add. “There hasn’t been a chance to talk with you until now.”
Carrie turned to stare at Moses and liked what she saw—the strong face and steady eyes that returned her gaze. She’d had no opportunity to get to know him since her father had bought him, but the soft look in Rose’s eyes when she looked at him told her he was special. “Of course. I’m happy for both of you,” she said warmly.
“I never did get a chance to thank you for saving me from the whip when I was out in the field,” Moses said.
“It never should have happened.” Carrie shook her head. “Nothing like that will ever happen again. I want to know if Ike Adams ever steps foot on this property. While my father is gone, I’m in charge of the plantation.” She tried to cover her troubled voice with a smile.
“When your daddy be comin’ back?” Sarah asked.
Carrie shook her head and frowned deeper. “I have no idea.” She turned to look at Sarah. “He may never come back, Sarah. There is so much hurt for him here. I found out just before he left that he bought a house in Richmond the last time we were there. I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to come back and face the memories,” she whispered.
“You can’t be runnin’ Cromwell Plantation on your own, Miss Carrie. ‘Specially without an overseer. There be too much here for any one person—never mind a young girl like you.”
Carrie knew Sarah was right, but she shook her head stubbornly. “I won’t hire another overseer,” she declared. A wild idea popped in her head and she fixed Moses with a steady gaze. Moses stared back, unflinching. The room was silent as her wild idea took shape and substance, and was then accompanied by the quiet voice she had learned to listen to in the clearing. “Moses, I’d like you to be my overseer.” The whole room radiated with a shocked silence.
Moses’ eyes grew wide.
Carrie smiled as her assurance grew. She turned to Sarah. “You said a few minutes ago that I had done some changing. I think I need to tell all of you what has been going on.” She paused as she gathered her thoughts. “Ever since the beginning of spring, I’ve been struggling with slavery. Everything I had ever learned was colliding with what I was seeing myself. I tried to push it away, but everywhere I turned it kept coming back.” Briefly, she told them about the slave auction. “It made me sick. I realized a whole system was treating other human beings like animals.” The three in the room just watched and listened. “My beliefs were challenged even more when I went to Philadelphia. I met a remarkable woman who didn’t condemn me, but simply gave me the opportunities to look deeper.” She paused again as she remembered. “Then I ended up at an abolitionists’ meeting. That’s where I heard Harriet Masters speak.”
Rose gasped as she heard her friend’s name. “From Blackwell?” she whispered.
Carrie nodded. “The slave hunters almost caught her again, but I managed to stall them.”
“That was you?” Rose exclaimed. She shook her head and stared wide-eyed at her friend. “I heard through the grapevine that someone had saved her.”
Carrie nodded. “I still didn’t know entirely where I stood on the whole issue of slavery. I just knew I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t help Harriet stay free.” Once again, Harriet’s shining face as she spoke of being free rose in her mind. “She was so happy to be free!”
Sarah said nothing but reached over and took Carrie’s hand.
Carrie smiled at her and plunged ahead. “When I got home from Philadelphia, I could think of nothing but Mama and her being sick. Until I went to my place...” Tears filled her eyes as she relived the experience. “I was determined to find answers. I had listened to so many voices—loud voices—that proclaimed the reasons black people were supposed to be slaves, and equally loud voices that said it was a horrible sin for anyone to be in slavery, and condemned all slave holders. The voices were pounding in my head, demanding that I believe them.” She shook her head and looked down. After several long moments, she raised shining eyes. “Then I heard God. He told me, ‘My voice is the only one that counts. The only way to know truth is to know my heart.’ ” She shook her head as if still in disbelief. “I was there for a long time. It was like God took me into a little bubble and showed me the world from his view. I saw him cry when that family was wrenched apart at the auction. I saw him weep when abolitionists I had met lashed out with hate. I saw him smile when slaves reached freedom in Canada. It’s really so simple,” she mused. “The Bible says it all in one sentence. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Sarah nodded. “Simple, but it ain’t always easy.”
“I found that out. I’ve known that Bible verse all my life, but I had also been taught slavery was right. It’s so easy for people to twist things around to fit what they want to believe.” She paused, wanting the three in the room to understand her. “The people who say slavery is right say that all people aren’t created equal. They say some people will never achieve as much as others—that they were never designed to. They say black people can’t learn and are inferior to white people.” She smiled as she looked at Rose. “I know that’s not true. You never let on, but I knew you learned how to read before I did.”
Rose smiled but said nothing. She was still trying to take it all in.
“Anyway, I asked God about that.”
“And what did God say, Miss Carrie?” Sarah asked.
“He told me that all people carry a seed of greatness in them. Not everyone will choose to let it grow, but it’s not my place to determine who those people are. All I need to do is love everyone and give them all an equal chance to be who God created them to be. So many people are never given the chance.” She paused. “God cries over that.” Her voice strengthened as she looked around the room. “I believe slavery is wrong,” she stated with renewed certainty. “I don’t believe God ever meant for people to own each other and steal the ability to be all they were created to be.” She struggled to express herself. “The South is my home—my love for it has not diminished—but I must play a part in getting rid of slavery. I have no idea how—”
Sarah broke in again. “God don’t never let a desire to do good go unused. When it’s time, He’ll show you what you is to do.”
Carrie frowned. “I wish I could give all of you your freedom. Unfortunately, only my father can do that. But I can help you reach freedom.” Suddenly it wasn’t important for Moses to be the overseer. A bigger picture was taking shape in her mind. Her voice grew excited as she looked at Moses and Rose. “I know people in the Underground Railroad. I can contact them!”
Rose laughed softly in disbelief. “You know people in the Underground Railroad, Miss Carrie?”
Carrie nodded impatiently. “Of course!” Her mind was racing. “I’ll write Aunt Abby. She’ll tell me the best way to do it.” She figured rapidly in her mind. “Why, you can probably be free before you get married!”
“We won’t be needing the Underground Railroad, Miss Carrie,” Moses stated.
“What?” Something in Moses’ voice caught Carrie’s attention and she turned to stare at him.
“I said we won’t be needing the Underground Railroad. We had our chance to go free. We chose to stay here.”
Now it was Carrie’s turn to be speechless.
Sarah answered her unspoken questions. “Rose won’t leave me, and Moses won’t leave Rose. I told them to go...” She shrugged. “I may be a slave, but I’m free inside. I’m too old to be startin’ over. The Lord done tole me I’m to stay right here for now. I aim to do what he says.”
Carrie watched as Moses and Rose exchanged deep, contented looks. She was trying to put the pieces together. “Miles and the other slaves...?”
Rose met her gaze and nodded. “Moses and I helped them escape. The Underground Railroad has already been here.”
“I prayed they wouldn’t be caught,” Carrie murmured. “Have you heard from them?”
Rose shook her head. “No. Jamison said he would contact us when he could, but Adams came back without them. That’s a good sign.”
“Jamison?” Carrie asked. “The man who was here for dinner?”
Rose gasped then breathed a sigh of relief when Carrie laughed loudly.
“I knew I liked that man!”
Sarah was the one to introduce realism into the room. “Miss Carrie, how you aimin’ to run this plantation feelin’ the way you do? Don’t you know you be setting yourself up against a lot of people, including your daddy? You’re lettin’ yourself in for a passel of hurt, gal.”
“I know, Sarah, but it would hurt worse to live a lie. If my actions don’t follow my beliefs, they aren’t worth much. I’m going to have to cross all those bridges when I get to them.” She paused as the matter of the plantation rose to the front of her mind. “Moses...?”
“Someday—I believe someday soon—we will all be free, but for now we have a job to do. I’ll help you do that job the best I can,” Moses said. “You’re a good woman, Miss Carrie.”
Rose looked at him proudly. “He’s a leader, Miss Carrie. The other slaves already respect him. He will be a good overseer.”
Carrie nodded, her brain working rapidly. “I won’t tell my father about Ike Adams. He left me in charge, and in charge I am going to be.” She turned to Moses. “I want you to let me know anytime the slaves need something. Things are going to be different around here. I may not be able to set them free, but I can make their lives different. And, if any of them want to escape,” she continued, “I will not stand in their way. They are free to go.”
Moses nodded. “Some will choose to go, Miss Carrie, but many will choose to stay for now. They love you. With Adams gone...” His face tightened with anger as he thought of the overseer.
Rose reached out and gently touched his hand. “I’m all right, Moses. The cut will heal.”
Carrie knew in her heart that things weren’t over with Adams. He was an evil man and his pride had been battered.
“You ain’t got to worry ‘bout all the slaves runnin’ away, Miss Carrie,” Sarah said. “Lots of them don’t care too much ‘bout being free. They ain’t never been nothin’ but slaves. When you don’t know nothin’ else, where you are can look pretty good. ‘Specially with Adams gone. They’s people with a seed of greatness, but there ain’t nobody ever done nothin’ but try to stamp out that seed. It’ll take a while before they believe it themselves.”
Moses spoke calmly. “We may have to scale back some, Miss Carrie, but we can make it work. We’re going into winter—the slow time of the year. We won’t have to worry about crops until next year.”
Carrie nodded. “We’ll all work hard and do the best we can. We’ll leave the results to God.”