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"We'll be fine. Please take care…" Beth cried, a tear slipping down her cheek at leaving him. "Send for me as soon as you can. Promise me."
"As soon as it's safe. Don't you fret about me. I'll be fine, and even more so knowing the two of you are safe."
She reached to kiss him once more. "I love you!"
He kissed her long and hard, "I love you too darling, and please don't worry so much."
She nodded.
But he would worry until he saw her again, he knew that.
~*~
Their journey was long and tedious. They traveled over land and camped out. Wade had sent a black man with them to see them to safety. He trusted the man.
John, was a legally freed slave who knew exactly how to guide them through the swamps of Louisiana to the safety of Texas.
"John, do you think this war is gonna be over soon?" Mother Cahill asked him a couple nights into their travel.
John looked at both women. He'd just gathered firewood for the evening and he dusted his hands and looked at them. "No ma'am. I think it's gonna be one of the bloodiest war's this country has ever seen. It will take a lot to end this one, ma'am." John said hanging his head. "You know when I first heard about there being a war to free us, I was excited. I thought how wonderful it would be. But I didn't consider the fact that many would be killed for this either. That it was mainly white folks that would be fighting, for our freedom. It puts a sort of burden on us."
"I so hope you are wrong about it not being over quickly. Surely they'll come their sense and see that it won't accomplish that much." Mother Cahill cried.
"Already brothers fight against brothers, father's against sons. It is a sad war but one that will eventually bring change for many."
"For your people?" Mother Cahill asked.
"Yes, my people. Mr. Lincoln wants t
o free us, and that is a good thing."
"How did you get your freedom, John?" Beth asked as she poured more coffee for all of them.
"Your husband ma'am. I thought you knew. When he saw how they beat me right there on the dock in front of everyone, he came and stopped it. He paid for my freedom. He said no man should be treated like that. He paid two thousand dollars for my freedom on that very day. Right there on the spot, that very day. I never seen anything like that in my life. He was a southerner and did that. In front of all those people. He's awfully brave."
Beth's mouth flew open. "He never said a word."
"He's not the kind of man to talk about his good deeds. But he sure did. And ever since I've worked for him and proud to. He treats me like anyone else and with respect. I can't ask more than that. I earn a fair wage, and even have a wife and family now. That happened about five years ago."
Mother Cahill smiled wanly, "Wade seldom does speak of these kinds of things. He always did have a heart of gold."
"Do you think we'll be bothered in Texas?" Beth asked.
"Well ma'am the war hasn't touched Texas as much as the rest of the states. It could, but I don't look for that until much later and by that time you'll be back on the boat. Texas has a lot of hard headed people. And they are the kind that will fight to the death for their land. No ma'am the problem in Texas is Indians. They seem to be taking all the advantages since a lot of the forts were abandoned when the war broke out."
"We've been fighting Indians all along in Texas." Beth smiled. "I so hope you are wrong about how long this war goes on. Surely they'll come to their sense soon."
"I don't think so ma'am. It's more than just slavery that's involved. We have a whole different kind of life here in the south than they do. I know because when I first came I had been in the north for a year. They speak a different language. They live differently too. But the south is gonna suffer, and I'll tell you why."
Beth and Mother Cahill listened to John, for a black man he was well informed.
"It's all because the south doesn't have any factories, no way of making much of anything but clothes and food. The north is full of machinery and ways to make guns, ammunitions and all the things that a war takes. We don't have that down here. You see, we made a mistake, we didn't learn to do for ourselves. We depended on the north to supply us with the goods they made. And for a while that worked, until people got too greedy. They wanted to make a lot of money off the south. And they did for a while with their taxes and tariffs. But what this whole war boils down to if you ask me is that the two, the north and the south, don't speak the same language. It's English but it ain't the same. They don't understand each other and they don't want to. You see, unfortunately, the south needs us black people to pick their crops. We do it for nothing more than a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. But in reality, if they paid us, there would be little profit for growing it. Time they paid us and the taxes and tariffs, there would be little profit at all."
"Can't we learn to manufactory things?"
"Of course, but not overnight. It's gonna take time. It takes money, time, finding places to set stuff up. No ma'am it can't be done overnight, that's for shore. Oh, we see the problem now, but it's too late to correct it, by tomorrow. That's why they will win. And despite it all, the Negroes will win this war as we will have the one thing we want…our freedom!"
Beth nodded, "All men should be free."
