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“How do you know?”
“She said so. Said it wouldn’t do a bit of harm to admit it now, that I was dead. She got kinda choked up when we talked. I saw tears in her eyes. Made me feel like a heel for not telling her who I am. But I’m convinced it’s better this way. And she’s safer not knowing, because if I ever tell her, I might not be able to keep my hands off her any longer.”
Joe nodded.
“She’s going to give me some of my clothes too, since I look so threadbare.”
“That’s good, you do look a little shabby. I guess the war took a toll on you. I sure hope this works out for everybody.” Joe shook his head, doubting their wisdom. “But it surprises me that you call her beautiful. Her being a Negro.”
Lee stared at his old friend. “Does it? I don’t know why it should. I’ve never judged anyone according to color that I know of. And beauty is something no one can deny. In fact, it would be a little easier if she was old and ugly.”
“Is there somethin’ you ain’t tellin’ me?” Joe stared back.
“Maybe. A few things I gotta work out in my head, first. I might as well tell you, I been thinkin’ about that girl all through the war. But when I left, she was just a kid. And I felt guilty for thinkin’ the things I did. But now, she’s grown, and damn she’s a pretty thing. I never seen a woman I wanted more, or needed less. It’d be pure trouble, to even contemplate.”
“And what happens if Mr. Luke falls for her?”
“Yeah…” Lee smiled sadly. “‘Fraid it’s too late to save Luke or Lee, he’s smitten with her and always has been.”
“It pleases me greatly to hear you say that, and just like that, Miss Hattie truly is a beautiful woman, it’s just sad she don’t know it.”
“It’ll be fine, stop fussing. You worry too much about everything and everybody. But, that’s part of why I love you too. Unless you want me to march up there and tell her the truth and maybe get us all in a world of trouble.”
“It’ll work out.” Joe nodded, his expression softening.
After an hour or so of walking the property, Luke felt as though he had really come home. It was good seeing that everything really had been cared for during his absence. And what needed doing he could tend to.
He walked up to the front door again and knocked. She came to the door, her frown still in place, her gun under her arm. He wondered why. Did she always walk around with a gun in her hand? Did she have to? Maybe so.
“Come on in, I’ve laid out some clothes for you,” she said with a contrite smile. She pointed the gun down now. He was relieved.
“Did you ever tell Lee how you felt about him?” Luke asked, hoping to get more information out of her, as he followed her inside.
“He was white…what you are suggesting is…wrong….Of course I never told him how much I loved him. And you’ll not speak of it again, you hear me? I’ll run you off this place.”
Her expression took on a faraway look then.
“Maybe I’m wrong, but…love’s never wrong…” His voice trailed off.
She looked away. “He was a special person. Why, he’s the very reason these girls are with me today. He taught me that family was everything, and that I should protect children. And that’s what I been doin’. These girls aren’t mine. Their folks died and I stumbled upon them along the way and took them in. They had no family, nowhere to go, just like Sam and I didn’t years ago when Lee took us in and found us someone to take care of us. He didn’t have to do that. Gotta love a man like that. He was just too good.”
Luke watched her and smiled. It pleasured him that none of the girls were hers by birth. That there was no man in her life. His little Hattie had learned well.
“You don’t think he’d mind me wearin’ his clothes?” Luke asked with a twist of his head.
“I don’t reckon he’d mind; he’s dead,” she said quietly as though that bothered her. In fact, the fact that he was supposed to be dead seemed to really bother her. A sadness came out at him and touched him. It made him want to talk to her, but he couldn’t. Not for a while. Not ‘til he could figure out how they could ever be together, or he figured out how to stay away from her. That was gonna be harder than anything else, because he wanted her and he knew it, and he was pretty sure by the things she said that she cared for him too.
“I’m sorry, you told me that. How’d he die? How did Lee die?”
Her head hung and she turned away from him. “On the battlefield as far as I know. They told me when I enquired with the Army that many were buried on the field as they lay. No time for properness there. I thought he deserved a better burial than that.”
“I see. And Dil, did they say what happened to him?”
“Oh yes, they said. Dil was hung. He was a confederate spy and he was caught and hung. He must have been just as sweet as his brother from all I heard. Never had the pleasure of meeting him.” She stared up at him and then went to the bedroom. She opened the door and led him in.
Luke stood motionless for a long moment. Her words had sliced through his heart like a knife and he couldn’t react. He lost his breath, lost his sense of time and place as he gripped himself for control. Hung?
“You alright?” she asked a moment later as she stared at him.
