A Perilous Proposal

by Michael Phillips

  “My, oh my,” Mr. Daniels said as Jeremiah came back down the stairs, “I don’t know if all this attention is good for me!”

  “It be good fer us, Mr. Daniels!” said Emma. “We all thought you wuz gwine ter die, an’ it’s been so quiet roun’ here I jes’ about cudn’t stan’ dat silence no mo!”

  At Emma’s words, the whole room rang with laughter. How quickly life had returned to Rosewood!

  SO MANY UNCLES!

  44

  Uncle Templeton—my papa—recovered quickly and made good on his promise to stay and take care of things with the bank. We were able to retrieve enough of the gold Katie had thrown on the ground to pay off the second loan. Papa lived at Rosewood for the better part of the next year helping to get the plantation on a firm footing again. He learned all about crops and weather and ploughing and animals and cotton and wheat. He helped with our second harvest of cotton, getting blisters on his fingers, and his face and arms growing tan. He even learned how to milk cows!

  After the harvest, we all enjoyed a quiet winter. I loved having my new family all together. Emma and William, my papa, and my cousin— cousin!— Katie. Add to that plenty of visits from a certain handsome young man, and I couldn’t remember a time I’d been so happy. Fact was, I was beginning to think things were going along a mite too smooth to last.

  I was right.

  Our new troubles began in the spring of 1867, when my papa announced that he had to leave again. The new cotton crop was in and starting to come up, and he figured it was a good time to be gone. He assured us it was only for a little while, a few weeks at most. He said he had some things to take care of from the past. He’d taken part in some less than upright business dealings and it was time to make amends. Once he took care of that, he said, he would be back. Back to stay.

  And that’s why we were alone—two years after Katie’s scheme began—when the thing we’d been most afraid of finally happened.

  Jeremiah was standing in for his papa in the livery when Mayme came riding up the street on horseback, a second horse on a lead behind her. He was so pleased to see her that he didn’t think to wonder much why she had the other horse. Maybe it had thrown a shoe. It didn’t matter. He was always glad to see Mayme. He had been out to Rosewood a few days back for a visit, so he hadn’t expected to see her again so soon. They had spent a fair amount of time together over the winter and he was just beginning to think the time might soon be coming for him to ask her a certain question. Not just yet, though. He was saving all the money he could from his job with Mr. Watson—and from helping out at the livery. Maybe by the end of the summer.

  With this happy thought, he lifted a hand toward Mayme as she rode close, a smile of welcome on his face. But his smile soon faded when he saw the expression on Mayme’s face.

  “Mayme, what is it?” asked Jeremiah as he grabbed her horse’s reins and helped her down.

  “Oh, Jeremiah! It finally happened!” she said.

  “What?”

  “He came! Katie’s uncle Burchard from Charlotte! Her pa’s brother. He’s the one Katie’s been worried about all this time! He wants to see Katie’s ma.”

  “What are you going to do?” Jeremiah asked.

  “We put him off once already and he’s madder than a hornet. He’s not like the others. He’s not going to give up.”

  “What do you think he wants?”

  “Rosewood, I’m guessing!” Mayme said. “And he can’t stand coloreds, that’s for sure! You should have seen how he looked at me, like I was a dog or something! Oh! I wish my papa was here!”

  “No word?”

  “No. And it’s been nearly two weeks!”

  “Well, my pa’s not here right now either,” Jeremiah said. “But I ’spect him back anytime.”

  “What are we going to do, Jeremiah?” asked Mayme. “There don’t seem any way around the fact that our scheme is about over now. That man is going to find out and send us away!

  “I’ll have to go look for a paying job,” Mayme continued. “Though I don’t suppose a sixteen-year-old white girl and a seventeen-year-old black girl could make enough to live on their own without a house like we’ve had these last few years. And what’ll become of Emma and William!”

  “Nothing bad’s gwine happen,” Jeremiah said, doing his best to encourage her. “My pa will be back soon and he’ll help us figure somethin’ out.”

  But Henry didn’t have any answers either. He did ride out to Rosewood that same evening on the horse Mayme had left for him and talked to the girls and prayed for them. But at the time, it didn’t seem to them that all his praying did much good. When Katie told her uncle Burchard about her mama and daddy being dead, he showed her not one bit of kindness. Instead he got the lawyer Mr. Sneed to draw up a new deed to the place—in his own name—since, according to him, Rosewood should have belonged to him all along anyway. Worse yet, he said they all had to leave, just as Mayme had feared. Katie could stay if she wanted to, since she was kin, but he didn’t want any coloreds around the place.

  None of them knew how much time they had, but Katie and Mayme started watching the road more and more closely, hoping more than ever that Templeton would come back and help them figure out what to do.

  FINAL NOTICE

  45

  Someone did arrive at Rosewood the next day, but it wasn’t my papa. It was Josepha, the former house slave from the McSimmons place where Emma and me used to live. The big woman was crying and worn out from the long walk, but relieved to find us. Katie and I didn’t want to spoil Josepha’s happiness at being away from Mrs. McSimmons, but we had to tell her how things stood with Katie’s uncle, and that none of us would likely have a home there for long.

  When Katie’s uncle Burchard came back a few weeks later, he gave Katie notice that we all had to be off the place by the end of the week. So me and Emma and little William, as well as Josepha, packed up our few belongings and got ready to head north. We didn’t know exactly where we would go, just that we had to leave the next morning. I had no idea what would become of me, or whether I’d ever see Katie or Jeremiah again.

  Henry and Jeremiah came out that evening to say their good-byes too. Ever since all this had been happening, Henry had been sorely grieved about the talk of us leaving. But he didn’t have any solution to suggest. He and Jeremiah didn’t have room to take us in. Henry just rented two small rooms behind the livery from Mr. Guiness, the man he worked for. Even if there was room for three women and a baby, Mr. Guiness would never have stood for it, not to mention the townspeople. If the whites around had seen anything like that, they’d have had a fit. Henry didn’t think Katie ought to leave, though, especially since she needed to be around when her uncle Templeton came back. So we all promised to keep in touch. It was still plain that Henry and Jeremiah didn’t like the idea of us leaving. But what else could we do?

  Jeremiah and I went for a long walk. But it wasn’t anything like the ones we’d had earlier, because we knew we were saying good-bye and might not see each other for a long time. I thought Jeremiah wanted to ask me to marry him, and might have been fixing to. But he didn’t, and I was glad. There wasn’t any way I could leave Emma, not now, not the way things were. And Josepha’d never be able to take care of her alone. I thought down inside Jeremiah knew it too, and didn’t ask ’cause he knew I’d have to say no. It wasn’t that we didn’t love each other. At least I knew I loved Jeremiah and was pretty sure he loved me too. But sometimes life gets in the way of love. And sometimes being black gets in the way of how you wish life could be.

  It was a quiet walk. There wasn’t much to say. My heart hurt, I was so full of love. The next day I was going to have to say good-bye to Katie, and tonight I was saying good-bye to Jeremiah, and the thought of that made me feel so full and so sad at the same time.

  We walked a long way hand in hand in silence.

  “I wish dere wuz sum way fer you not ter go,” said Jeremiah after a while.

  “I’d give anything
not to have to,” I sighed. “But Katie’s done everything she can. And . . . Emma and Josepha need me to go with them.”

  “Why can’t y’all stay in Greens Crossing sumplace?”

  “Where, Jeremiah? Where could we stay? And Emma can’t stay here. She’s in danger. She’s got to go somewhere else.”

  “I reckon.”

  Again it was quiet for a long while.

  “I don’t like da thought ob not seein’ you agin,” said Jeremiah. “I’m a little feared dat you won’t come back, dat you’ll forgit all ’bout me an’—”

  “Jeremiah,” I interrupted. “I will never forget you. I’ll come back, just as soon as I can.”

  “But what if you can’t? What if sumfin happens ter you an’ I ain’t dere ter help you?”

  “We’ll be all right.”

  “Dat soun’s good, but sumtimes bad things happen an’ folks can’t do what dey want ter do.”

  He let out a nervous and frustrated sigh.

  “It’s jes’ dat I thought dat sumday . . . you an’ me, you know . . . might . . .”

  I squeezed his hand. I did know! I had hoped so too. My heart was aching. I didn’t want to leave him. But Katie’s uncle would own Rosewood the next morning, and one thing he didn’t want around the place was Negroes. We still didn’t know where my papa, Templeton Daniels, was and hadn’t heard from him.

  “I will come back, Jeremiah,” I said again. “I promise. You just promise me you’ll be here and won’t go leaving looking for me or something and then neither of us ever find each other again.”

  “I reckon I dun enuff travelin’ lookin’ fo my pa,” he said. “I figger I’ll stay put roun’ here fo a spell. Don’t know where I’d go anyway.”

  We arrived back at the house and Jeremiah gently took me in his arms and kissed me softly. “I best stop now. Knowin’ my luck, effen I keep on kissin’ you, dat’s right when yer pa would come back.”

  I smiled but tears filled my eyes. “Then kiss me again,” I whispered, one teardrop spilling over and down my face.

  He leaned close and kissed my damp cheek. “Dat ain’t a kiss good-bye, hear?”

  “What is it, then?”

  “A promise to be here when you come back.”

  After all our tearful good-byes, the next day we were in for a huge surprise. One of Katie’s other uncles that she’d thought was dead suddenly turned up with the deed to the property. For someone who thought she had been left all alone in the world such a short time before, Katie sure had lots of kin that always seemed to be showing up! This Uncle Ward, Templeton Daniels’ brother, had been the rightful owner of Rosewood all along, not Katie’s uncle Burchard.

  Burchard Clairborne was madder than he could be. But with Ward Daniels standing there holding the deed to the plantation and its land, there wasn’t much for him to do but storm off.

  Katie had never seen Ward Daniels before. For all she knew he would want us to leave too. But he turned out to be nothing like her uncle Burchard. He said we could all stay and that Katie could keep running Rosewood just like she had been. He didn’t even seem to care that half of us were colored!

  The only problem was that Emma, William, Josepha, and I had already left! So Katie and her uncle Ward came after us on horseback, leaving Henry and Jeremiah waiting back at Rosewood.

  About an hour later, Mr. Daniels galloped back into the yard on Miz Katie’s horse—alone. Jeremiah, already sweating, ran a worried hand over his face.

  “Easy, son,” Henry said and stepped forward to help the man dismount.

  “You Henry?” Mr. Daniels asked.

  “I is,” Henry replied.

  “Kathleen sent me back, said you wouldn’t mind helping me. Hope that’s right.”

  “Dat’s right, all right.”

  “Good.” The man smiled. “My niece wants me to bring back a wagon.”

  “You found dem!” exclaimed Jeremiah.

  “Yep. All three, no, four,” said Mr. Daniels. “Katie said Henry would know which wagon and which horse would be best.”

  “Dat I do. Come, Jeremiah, gib me a han’.”

  Father and son made short work of hitching up the wagon, and soon Mr. Daniels was climbing up on the seat board.

  “Much obliged,” he said, then glanced at Jeremiah. “You want to come along, son?” he asked.

  “Dat I would, suh!”

  “I thought as much,” smiled Mr. Daniels.

  I sat beside Katie on the grass, near the spot where she and her uncle Ward had found us, listening as she told us about all the excitement we had missed back at Rosewood when her uncle Ward had put such a sudden end to her uncle Burchard’s plans. How quickly everything had changed!

  We talked excitedly and Katie told us all about how her uncle had ridden up right at the last minute and about how mad her uncle Burchard had been. We all laughed and asked so many questions that the time went by quickly. Before we knew it, we heard the sound of the wagon coming along the road. And there was Jeremiah sitting beside Katie’s uncle on the seat board! Now I was even happier than ever!

  I smiled and waved, and before Mr. Daniels had even reined in the horse to a full stop, Jeremiah leaped down from the wagon and caught me in his arms and swung me around. Then he seemed to notice all the others standing around and he stepped back a bit sheepishly.

  He cleared his throat. “Uh . . . good to see you agin, Miz Mayme.”

  Everyone burst out laughing, and William ran forward and jumped into his arms, saying he wanted to be swung around too.

  Katie told her uncle who we all were. Then Mr. Daniels turned the wagon around, and we all loaded up and began the ride back home. Jeremiah sat with me and the others in the back while Katie sat up front with her uncle. Jeremiah didn’t say anything, but he couldn’t seem to stop looking at me and smiling. Content, I sat back and listened as Katie and her uncle talked.

  “How did you hear about what was going on, Uncle Ward?” asked Katie.

  “I read about the two of you in a paper up north. That’s how I found out Richard and Rosalind were dead, and I figured I ought to come down and see if there was any way I could help out, you being kin and all.”

  “Did you know about Uncle Burchard’s saying Rosewood was his and having a new deed drawn up and everything?”

  “There was just a mention of a brother of Richard’s in the paper. But I didn’t know any more than that till I got to Greens Crossing. I saw a notice up on a signboard and I asked somebody about it. That’s when I figured I’d better hightail it out there so I could have a say in the matter.”

  “I’m sure glad you did!” said Katie.

  “And just in the nick of time, by all appearances,” he said.

  “I’m sorry about us using up all your gold, Uncle Ward.”

  “I didn’t come back for the gold, Kathleen. But tell me again what happened with it?”

  “We used it for Rosewood,” answered Katie. “My mama had taken out two loans when my daddy was away at the war, and after they were killed, the loans came due. Mayme and I found the gold and paid off the loans.”

  “Well, no matter. I’m glad it got put to good use. I came back to see if you were okay and to tell you how sorry I am about your ma. If my hard work in California helped save the place from some banker, well then, I figure maybe that’s worth it.”

  Suddenly, Katie’s uncle Ward turned to look at me. “And what about you, Mayme?” he asked. “I read in the story in the paper that you lost your family too, just like Kathleen. You want to stay on at Rosewood too?”

  “Yes, sir, Mr. Daniels,” I answered. “Rosewood’s my home. This is the just about the only family I’ve got left.”

  I smiled at the man, then turned to Jeremiah and whispered, “I only just thought of it—he’s my uncle too!”

  TOGETHER AGAIN

  46

  Life around Rosewood changed a lot after that, when Katie’s two uncles, Mr. Templeton Daniels and Mr. Ward Daniels, finally came to live at Rosewood for g
ood. Of course, first we had had to find my papa, who was still missing. Turns out he had run into some problems up north, when one of the men he wanted to repay had him thrown in jail instead. But after Mr. Ward and Katie made a trip up north, and with the help of a young deputy there, I finally had my papa back home with me again.

  Mr. Ward said we could all stay—me, Emma, William, and Josepha—and that Katie could keep running Rosewood just like she had been. He didn’t even seem to care that most of us were colored!

  One of the biggest changes of all was Katie and me trying to get used to the fact that we were cousins. But other things were going to take longer to sort out. Knowing that Templeton Daniels was my father made me feel like I had to figure out all over again who I really was.

  I reckoned the changes in me were similar to the kinds of changes that had come in Jeremiah’s life, finding his pa, realizing his past was different than he thought, and now suddenly having a place to call home. That was new for him too.

  Even our names were new. Jake was calling himself Jeremiah now, to please Henry. And even though I had grown up as Mary Ann Jukes, now that I knew about my real father and how he and my mother had been in love, I began calling myself Mary Ann Daniels.

  Once the two Daniels brothers were sort of in charge of Rosewood, though they let Katie and me mostly do what we thought best, there was no longer any need for Katie’s scheme. Besides, everyone around Greens Crossing knew what had happened after Burchard Clairborne shared the secret with Mrs. Hammond. And, of course, the newspaper articles and all. Mrs. Hammond at the store tried to make like she’d known it all along!

  After that our lives became a little more normal, if living on a plantation with three whites and four coloreds all together under the same roof could ever be called normal!