Page 94 of In These Hills

“No, it just took a few minutes.” Josephine set the box on the floor. “Sit back down, if you would, and I’ll tend your face. The iodine will help the cuts from getting infected. This will sting a little.”

Clara didn’t even wince as Josephine dabbed the brownish liquid on her wounds.

“Did this happen this morning?” Josephine asked softly.

Clara nodded. “My fault, though. I shouldn’t’ve asked him about food money. I know better. Just forgot the day, is all.”

“Forgot the day?”

Clara looked at her askance. “This being Tuesday, the money jar’s long spent. But Henry gets paid tomorrow, then next week is the last week of the month. That always helps.”

Josephine put the cap back on the iodine bottle. “Why does that help?”

Clara’s brown eyes widened. “’Cause last Friday of the month, Uncle Jack gives everybody a free bottle. You work here and you don’t know that?”

Josephine swallowed. “I bought bread, eggs, milk, and flour. There’s a bottle of oil and some yeast. And a few other things I thought your children might enjoy.”

Clara stared at the food. “Just like that, you giving me all this?” Her eyes narrowed. “You and me working a trade I ain’t privy to?”

“No, there’s no trade, Clara. You and your children are in need, and I’m grateful I can help.” If she were at the women’s center back in Atlanta, she could have offered Clara and her children a place to stay for a few nights, could have provided clothing and medicine. But this was the best she could do.

“Why you doing all this for me, Mrs. Dunham? We ain’t kin. We don’t even know each other.”

“Because I know what it’s like to be in need. To have nothing and to be hungry and tired, not knowing where to turn.” How different her answer was now from the rehearsed response she’d given so many times before. “And also because . . .” Did she dare broach the subject? “Clara, I think it’s important you know that it’s not right for your husband to hit you. Ever. And it’s certainly not your fault. Your husband—or any man—raising a hand to you is not something you should have to expect or grow accustomed to. You deserve to be treated with respect.”

Clara’s gaze took in Josephine’s face. “Was your husband respectin’ you when he did all that?”

Seeing herself through Clara’s eyes, Josephine felt foolish. “No . . . he was not.”

“I know you left him, ma’am, which took gumption I ain’t got. But you also ain’t got no babies, no mouths to feed. And even though Henry can get good and riled, ’specially after a night of drinking . . .” She gave a shrug, tears pooling in her eyes. “I love him, and he’s pa to my younguns.”

Josephine simply nodded and handed her the box.

“And don’t you worry none, Mrs. Dunham. I got a good hidey-hole for all this. Henry won’t know.”

Josephine opened the storage room door—just as someone entered the office.

Clara gasped, but Josephine held up a hand. “Whoever it is,” she whispered, “I’ll either send them on their way or take them out front to the porch, then you leave out the back. You know where that door is?”

Clara nodded. “God bless you, ma’am,” she mouthed.

Josephine walked back into the office to find Dodge writing a note at the desk. He looked up and when their eyes met, she would’ve sworn a current of electricity shot straight through her.

37

“DODGE . . .”

“Josephine . . .” He laid aside the pen and paper, grateful to find her here. And finally alone. Even now, just standing here, he felt the pull of her. Her beauty. Her strength. And, God help him, her stubbornness. “I was leaving you a note. I’d hoped to speak with you privately about what happened the other—”

“Why don’t we step outside?” She opened the front door and motioned for him to join her, her features tense. “It’s so nice out.”

He glanced at the gray sky heavy with rain. “In all candor, I think this conversation is best held in private, considering—”

“Dodge, please,” she whispered.

Uneasy, he followed. She closed the door behind them.

“Hey Dodge!” Peterson called as his freight wagon rolled up. “Got the salt blocks and barbed wire you ordered, sir. Want it unloaded here?”