“Who could help that?” Eileen smiled. She carefully smoothed the blonde curls away from the sleeping child’s forehead. “She’s as sweet as my own child was.”
“What was your baby’s name, Eileen?”
“Juliet.”
“What a lovely name! Did you pick it out?”
“No, my husband chose it. He always said we were like Romeo and Juliet, so young when we fell in love. He named her that, and I thought it was sweet.” Eileen had never mentioned her husband to Leah before.
Leah hesitated. “You got married very early, didn’t you?”
“I was only seventeen, and he was eighteen.”
Leah’s eyes grew round. “I’m almost that old myself!”
“It doesn’t work well for everyone to get married at that early an age,” Eileen said. “Most need to wait longer.”
Leah got up and went over to look out the window. “The sun’s coming up, and the cows are coming up to the barn,” she commented. Then, turning around, she said, “Did you think about getting married when you were a girl?”
“Why, of course. Every girl thinks about that when she starts getting a little older. I expect you’ve thought about it.”
“Yes, I have, but—” Leah broke off and hurriedly left the room.
Startled by her sudden departure, Eileen thought for a moment, then carefully got up. She placed the sleeping child on the sofa, threw a coverlet over her, and went into the kitchen, where she found Leah sitting at the table. “What’s the matter, Leah?”
“Oh, nothing!” Leah twirled a lock of hair around her finger restlessly, then blurted out, “Did you ever have a fight with your husband—before you were married, I mean?”
At once Eileen knew exactly why Leah was troubled. “Of course,” she said. “I expect sweethearts always have arguments.”
“I hate them!” Leah said.
Eileen knew that Leah’s mother was far away. Perhaps the girl had been keeping her thoughts to herself for so long that she desperately longed to share them with someone.
“You see, when I came back with Tom and Esther, I saw … my friend with this other girl—Lucy Driscoll.”
Something about the way Leah pronounced the name caught Eileen’s attention. “I take it you don’t like Lucy very much?”
“Well, she’s small and pretty. Not a big cow like I am. I’m a giantess, practically.”
“Oh, I don’t think that’s true! You’re going to be tall and stately. I think that’s very attractive in a woman. I was always too short, I thought. Every time I saw a tall girl,” Eileen said, “I wished I could be like her. I actually thought about stretching myself. Tying a rope around my arms and putting weights on my legs.”
Leah stared at her, then giggled. “I used to think about trying to shrink myself, but I could never figure out how to do it.”
“Actually, I think God knew what was best for each of us,” Eileen said. “Just as He knows what’s best for everyone. Now, tell me more about Lucy and Jeff.”
Leah gaped at her. “How did you know I was talking about Jeff?”
“Oh, I saw the way you were looking at him and the way he was looking at you when he came to visit. You’ve been friends a long time, haven’t you?”
“All of our lives. We did everything together when we were kids.” She began talking with enthusiasm about how she and Jeff had grown up together. “But it’s different now,” she ended almost sullenly. “Ever since we came to Richmond, he’s been paying a lot of attention to Lucy Driscoll. Her father is rich, and she has all kinds of pretty clothes. She knows how to do all the latest dances. And look at me. Why shouldn’t Jeff go to the minstrel show with her? I don’t blame him a bit!”
Guardedly, Eileen tried to explain how difficult it is to grow up. “All of us have to do it. Boys, too. We have to learn how to stop being children and become adults. And sometimes when we’re halfway between, not quite grown, not quite a child, it’s hard to know how to behave.”
“Did you feel that way when you were growing up?”
Eileen laughed, her eyes sparkled, and she shook her head in despair. “I thought I’d go crazy for a while there when I was about your age. I couldn’t seem to do anything right.” Eileen knew she was good at giving counsel without seeming to. She went on making light of her own foolishness and finally she saw that Leah was becoming quieter. And then Eileen said, “I even feel a little bit funny about Jeff’s father.”
“About Colonel Majors? Why?”
“Well, there’s an officers’ ball coming up, and he’s asked me to go to it. I’m all confused about it.”
“Why, it would be fun!”
“I suppose, but you see, all the other ladies will have nice dresses and shoes. And I don’t have anything like that here.”
Instantly Leah got to her feet. “Well, you will have, Eileen! You’ve got to go! We’ll fix you a dress. As a matter of fact, some of my sister Sarah’s dresses are still here from when we were in Richmond before. We’ll fix you something that will make you the belle of the ball!”
Eileen Fremont sat quietly, amused at the girl’s enthusiasm. Then, “I haven’t been to a ball in I don’t know when,” she said. “The last time I went, it was with my husband, just before Shiloh. I think it might make me sad to go.”
Leah came close and put a hand on her arm. “I think you ought to go,” she said softly. “It would be good for you. Come, let’s go look. Maybe one of Sarah’s dresses can be taken up for you a little bit. You’re smaller than she is. We’ve got everything we need here.”
“But what about shoes?”
“We’ll paint your feet black!” Leah laughed. “No, come on. Shoes aren’t important. It’s going to be such fun. When is the ball?”
“On the twelfth. That’s day after tomorrow!”
“Oh, that’s plenty of time! You send word that you’ll go, and we’ll have you ready like Cinderella when Colonel Majors comes to get you.”
Jeff learned about the ball on the morning of the twelfth. He came into the tent to find the colonel getting his hair cut by the regimental barber, and Jeff stood quietly watching. After the barber had left, his father said, “I’m going out to buy a new uniform—if I can find anything.”
“You mean to wear when we leave?”
“No, I mean to wear tonight. I’m taking Eileen to the ball.”
“You’re taking Mrs. Fremont to a ball? But she’s a servant!”
Colonel Majors was studying himself in the mirror. “Oh, I hardly think that’s the case. She’s just helping us out, Jeff, and she’s been a great help. Esther’s crazy about her!”
For some reason Jeff found the idea of his father taking Eileen Fremont to the ball unpleasant. He did not know how to express this, so he said nothing. But when the colonel left to go to town to search for a new uniform, Jeff went out to Uncle Silas’s.
He found Leah very excited. The entire house seemed to be rather in a mess, and there was a lot of activity. “What’s going on?” he asked.
Actually, Leah looked happier than he had seen her in a long time. Her eyes were shining. “I’m getting Eileen ready to go to the ball! Isn’t it nice, Jeff, that she and your father are going to go together?”
Jeff bit his lip. “I don’t think he ought to do it!”
Leah blinked and asked, “Why not?”
“Well, I don’t know why not! It just doesn’t seem right to me, that’s all!”
“Not right? It’ll be good for both of them. Your father hasn’t had a lot of fun, you know, since he’s been here in Richmond. He’s been fighting, and wounded, and trying to take care of you and Tom, and worried about Esther. I think it’s fine for them to go.”
“Well, that wouldn’t be too bad, but—” Jeff broke off as Eileen came into the room, wearing a robe.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were here, Jeff.”
“I just stopped by for a minute,” Jeff said dully. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“You couldn’t
do that. Why don’t you go play with Esther?”
“Where is she?”
“In the bedroom. I’ll get her for you.” Eileen hurried off and soon returned with the little girl. “There, you two can play while I go try to do something with my hair.”
“I’ll help you with it if you need me, Eileen,” Leah called after her. She turned to Jeff and asked quietly, so that Mrs. Fremont couldn’t hear, “What is wrong with you, Jeff? Don’t you like Eileen?”
Jeff picked up Esther. “I don’t know why you call her Eileen. She’s a grown woman. You ought to call her Mrs. Fremont.”
“She told me to call her Eileen. It would be real odd calling her Mrs. Fremont when we’re together all the time. Don’t you like her, Jeff?” she repeated. “I think she’s wonderful!”
“She’s all right, I guess,” Jeff said reluctantly. There was a pouting look on his face. He took Esther and plumped down on the sofa. He’d had mixed feelings from the very beginning about Eileen Fremont, and now he wished that he had not come to the house. He half rose, saying, “I guess I better get back …”
“You sit right down there, Jeff Majors, and tell me what’s the matter with you! You’re pouting like a mule that’s been eating briars!”
Jeff glared. “You’re the one that knows how to pout. You’ve been swelled up like a dead possum ever since you saw me with Lucy at the minstrel show!”
Leah sat beside him and looked him right in the eye. “Jeff, I was wrong about that. I’m sorry that I acted so badly. Do you forgive me?”
Her apology took the wind out of Jeff’s sails. Flustered, he let Esther scoot down to the floor. “Well … well, sure I will,” he said. “But why did you get so mad anyway? It was just a trip to a minstrel show.”
“Yes, but I saw her kiss you.”
Jeff flushed to the roots of his hair. “Oh, shoot!” he said explosively. “You know how Lucy is! She’s always kissing somebody! I’d just told her I was gonna ask Pa to let her come to the Regimental Band Concert, and she got all excited about it. A kiss doesn’t mean anything with Lucy.”
“I know. That’s just her way. I’m just silly, Jeff. I don’t see how you’ve put up with me all these years.”
Jeff felt rather strange. For days now, Leah had been angry and upset with him, and now all of a sudden, just as if she had thrown a switch, she was apologetic. He saw that she really meant it too, and he quickly said, “Oh, that’s all right. I guess I’ve been pretty silly myself a time or two.”
“That’s sweet of you, Jeff. Most boys wouldn’t be so honest.”
This flustered him even more. “I don’t know if I’m all that honest,” he said. He glanced about the room. “I can’t tell you how I feel about Mrs. Fremont.” He refused to call her Eileen. “I’m worried about Pa.”
“You mean that he might get hurt in the battle?”
“There’s always that. We never quite put that out of our minds, I guess, but it’s more than that. You know, I’ve been studying people a long time, and I’ve noticed something about men.”
“What, Jeff?”
“I’ve noticed that every time a man loses his wife, sooner or later he gets anxious to get married again.”
Leah stared at him. “Well, that’s natural. Especially for a young man like your father. Why, he needs a wife. I know you miss your mother and respect her, but—”
“It’s not just that. I’ve seen some men go off and marry the wrong women. You remember when Sam Doogle’s wife died back in Pineville? She was a good woman, Heddy was. Steady and good with the kids. So what did Sam do?”
“He married Joyce Reynolds.”
“Yeah, and you know what Joyce Reynolds was. She was no good from the start. She hadn’t been married to Sam for a month before she started fluttering her eyelashes at other men. You know what a mess that was.”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with this, Jeff. Eileen’s not like that.”
“How do you know?” Jeff demanded. “You’ve only been around her a few days. You don’t know what she’s like.”
“I know she’s very sweet and gentle—”
“And she’s got a temper like a buzz saw. Pa said that his own self!” Jeff exclaimed. “Why, the first time she come into that tent, Pa said she raked him up one side and down the other! Now, what’s it going to be like if he marries a woman like that, always losing her temper?”
“I don’t know anything about that! I haven’t seen her lose her temper.”
“Well, she did! You just ask Tom! He heard it!”
“I don’t think you can judge a person that easily, Jeff. All of us lose our temper sometimes. Why, suppose a stranger had seen me the last few days, all angry and sullen. But I’m not like that all the time.”
“I reckon that’s right enough, but everything’s in a rush because of this blasted war. I just don’t think Pa ought to go to that ball with her, that’s all!”
For a long time Leah tried to talk to Jeff. She said she was amazed that he was so stubborn.
And then he blurted out, “She’s just not like Ma! That’s all there is to it!”
“Nobody is exactly like your mother, Jeff. Nobody ever could be. God made each one of us like we are. Think what a world it would be if everyone were just like you.”
“What’s wrong with me?” Jeff demanded. “Nothing!”
“Nothing, but if everybody were just like you, it would be awfully boring, for one thing. God made us all different and for a purpose. The preacher said that last Sunday. Don’t you remember?”
“Well, Mrs. Fremont is too different from Ma. Ma was quiet and real gentle, and Mrs. Fremont is redheaded and hot-tempered. She goes charging around like she’s got a full head of steam all the time.”
“I think that’s a very attractive way. It’s natural with her. And she’s very lonely, Jeff. She lost her husband and baby. She needs a husband, and she’s so in love with Esther. It makes you almost cry to see it.”
“Well, it doesn’t make me cry!” Jeff announced. He stood up, his back ramrod straight. “I’m going back to camp!” He marched to the door but turned around before going out. “I’m right glad we made up, Leah. I sure don’t like to fuss with you.”
“I’m glad too, Jeff.” If Leah wanted to say another word about Eileen, the still-stubborn look in Jeff’s eyes must have kept her from it. “Why don’t you come back and stay with Esther and me while your father is at the ball?”
Jeff hesitated, then nodded. “Well … I reckon I might do that.”
“If you don’t have to go back,” she said quickly, “you could stay right now.”
Jeff considered that. “Pa said I might want to do that, and I told him I probably wouldn’t.”
“Come on, Jeff. I’ll tell you what. We’ll make popcorn balls. You always like to do that.”
Enticed by the promise of popcorn balls, which he loved, Jeff said, “Well, I guess it’d be all right. We could take Esther down to the creek, and she can watch me catch fish again.”
“All right, Jeff.”
Leah ran at once to tell Eileen. “Jeff’s going to stay with me while you and his father go to the ball. We’re going to make popcorn balls.”
Eileen smiled. “I think I’m doing the wrong thing, but you talked me into it.”
“You’re doing the right thing! Now, you go to that ball, and you have the best time you ever had in your whole life!”
8
At the Ball
Jeff did not eat much supper, Leah noticed, at least not as much as he usually did. That is to say, he ate only two whole baked potatoes, a huge chunk of smoked ham, a medium-sized bowl of butter beans, and four biscuits.
She smiled sweetly and said, “Well, Jeff, I guess you’re too full to eat anything else.”
He leaned back and patted his stomach. “Sure am. You did a good job, Leah.”
“I guess I’ll have to save the apple pie for somebody else.”
Jeff’s eyes flew open. “You’ve got apple pie
? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I am telling you. I’ll just have a piece for me, and you could have some, couldn’t you, Eileen?”
Eileen seemed amused by the scene between the two young people. She’d mentioned to Leah that Jeff was rather stiff in his behavior toward her, and that she regretted it for she found him a very handsome and attractive young man—much like his father. “I believe I could have a small piece,” she said demurely.
When Leah got up to get the pie, Eileen reached across and gave Esther a spoonful of peas. “Chew them good,” she said.
“Chew! Peas good!” Esther crowed.
“She certainly is a beautiful child, Jeff. And Leah tells me she looks exactly like your mother with her blonde hair and blue eyes.”
“I guess so,” Jeff grunted, not looking up.
Leah noticed his behavior and slammed down his pie in front of him with more force than was necessary. She was upset with Jeff because he persisted in his mulish behavior. “Well, there it is.”
Jeff glanced at her and then quickly back down at the pie. Picking up his fork, he sliced off a healthy wedge, speared it, then put it in his mouth. “Good,” he mumbled around the huge mouthful. But when he took a sip of coffee made from acorns, he made a face. “I wish the coffee was as good as the pie!”
“If the war doesn’t end pretty soon, some people will forget what real coffee tastes like,” Leah said.
“Guess so,” Jeff muttered.
“Come along, Eileen, it’s time to get you ready,” Leah said. “Jeff, you can wash the dishes. And look after Esther.”
Jeff waited until the two women had left the room, then said under his breath, “Glad to, Leah, now that you have asked me so politely.”
He looked over at Esther, who was grinning at him. He walked around the table, sat beside her, and wiped her face with a damp cloth. “I wish everybody was as sweet and pretty as you are, Esther,” he whispered. “It would be a mighty good world.” Then he put her on the floor, where she played around his feet and generally got in the way as he washed the dishes in the sink.
Encounter at Cold Harbor Page 6
