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Lee wanted more answers now that he’d been satisfied of his brother’s death. Guilt riddled him that he hadn’t stayed in touch with Dil, but war didn’t permit that much anyway. “But the kids, they aren’t yours?” Luke went on, hoping she would keep opening up.
“I guess you done suspected they weren’t mine!” She watched their reactions but found none. “I never told anyone when I got here all of this, so you two gotta be tight lipped about it. It isn’t anyone’s business anyway. But maybe I should have told someone. Maybe they would understand me better and not be trying to force me off my land. You see, although I didn’t know Mr. Lee long, he taught me in that brief time to love others, no matter what color they are. Our Pa never trusted no white men. But he didn’t know Lee. Anyway, Lee told me to take care of Sam and that we were a family and family stays together. For some reason, I believed him. And when I came to Alabama, I run into a few kids that were in the same situation as me and Sam had been. I remembered what Mr. Lee taught me, to love…”
“An’ the kids, the girls?” he asked, his eyes lighting and waiting for her answer.
“These kids I met along the way here. Their folks were killed, so I told them I’d be their Mama from now on, just like Miss Gloria was to me, like Lee did for me. I love them like they were my own, and to anyone else, they are, understood?”
“Yes ma’am. I understand.”
Daisy eyed him up and down with a suspicious glance, as Sam watched them all with a frown. “You sure are a nosy one, aren’t you?”
“I guess I am.” Luke sat down and began shucking the corn much faster. “I’m sorry, Sam.”
Violet stared long and hard at him. “How you do that so good?”
“What?”
“Shuck that corn; you’re so fast. And you only got one good arm.”
“My mama taught me how. And I’ll teach you if you wanna learn.”
“I’ll be right back.” She smiled.
Violet came back and sat beside Luke. Luke smiled and picked up the corn. He showed her that if he held it up at the base and peeled it like a banana that it came off in two or three strips. The little girl’s eyes bulged and she tried it, and smiled. “Gosh, this is fun. Wait ‘til Mama sees me.”
“Look Mama, Luke showed me how to shuck it right,” Violet cried as she demonstrated her new talent. Daisy scrambled to try it, and smiled.
“Well now, that’s fine. I guess you’ll be a great help to me, after all.” She smiled, then glanced at Luke with a smile.
When the men became quiet, she looked at them both. “I buried them over there…” she pointed. “Dil had some money on him when he died. The Marshall here gave it to me. So I bought a headstone. I should have paid the taxes with it, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that. That was Lee’s brother, so I pulled his body and the stone home in the wagon. He deserved a stone, and much more, it was the least I could give him. And Lee too. And no amount of money, nor bloodshed will get me off this land, because they died so we could have this place, me and my girls. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone just take it from me.”
“You mean you wouldn’t even consider movin’
?” Lee frowned.
“It’d have to be for a powerful reason.” She smiled at him.
Luke wanted to see the graves, but he couldn’t afford to be too anxious.
In time, he would pay his respects to his brother. In the meantime, he whispered a soft prayer for him. He so wanted to tell Hattie and Sam who he was, but the danger involved in that was too great. He’d have to make some kind of plan, though. It was unbearable hearing how much she loved him and not telling her himself how he felt.
Chapter Six
The crickets jumped about, and Daisy and Violet chased one around the house. The sun cast an orange glow over the horizon as dusk stirred the evening breeze. They were about to go inside for supper when three men road up with reckless abandon. Luke recognized them instantly; it was the Jeffries. J.B., the oldest and probably the only one with a bit of brains; Tor, the middle hot-head, ready to gun down anyone who laughed at him for being such a fool most of the time, and they laughed a lot at Tor because he was an idiot. And then there was Frank, the Romeo of the bunch. All the Jeffries boys were raised to think the world belonged to them. Pushy and arrogant, they were used to getting their way. From the way they rode up, Luke was sure they hadn’t changed a bit. Luke bowed his head and pretended to be busy. He wanted the advantage of letting them think he was a meek hired hand. Obviously it worked, for they paid little attention to him at first.
“Hattie,” Frank called as though he had every right to seek her out. He rode a roan and his demeanor spoke for him as he rushed up to her side and threw an arm around her shoulder.
She disengaged the arm.
A well-dressed man in his early thirties, Frank’s brown hair kept longer than most flapped in the evening breeze, his burrowing brown eyes stared at Hattie like a nail being driven by a hammer.
Agitated by her rebuff, he frowned then chose another tack.
Hattie’s body stiffened, her lips firmed, her jaw moved, as she half-turned. “Yes…?” she asked, her face a turmoil of expressions. Luke watched her tense, and stiffen. He also saw the Jeffries brothers look him over.
“Nice to see you again.” Frank moved closer to her, his hand going possessively to her waist to draw her near. Hattie moved away, out of his reach.
Luke bristled. Joe shook his head just enough for Luke to see. Luke watched with silent rage once more. How dare the man think he could take control of Hattie like that.
