by Ginny Dye
“Yes, Charlie?” Carrie asked gently, relieved when a hand on his forehead said his fever was broken.
“I reckon Simon gonna come up here real soon.”
“Who is Simon?”
He looked at her closely. “You ain’t be knowing Simon?” His look changed to one of suspicion. “I thought you said you be good friends with Moses.”
Carrie smiled. “We haven’t seen each other in almost three years,” she said sadly. “I’m sure there are a lot of things we don’t know about each other now.”
“Simon be Moses’ brother-in-law,” Charlie revealed.
Carrie stared at him as her mind absorbed the implications and then a smile exploded on her face. “Moses found one of his sisters?” she cried.
“Yes’sum, I reckon he did,” Charlie said. “Simon be June’s husband. She be over at the Contraband Camp with Miss Rose.”
Carrie gasped and sank down in the chair next to the bed. It hadn’t dawned on her that Moses’ men might know Rose. “Rose…” she whispered, tears filling her eyes and clogging her throat. “She’s okay?”
“Oh yes’sum,” Charlie replied. “Miss Rose be a teacher at the Contraband Camp. She’s a real fine teacher.” He peered at her closer. “You be knowin’ Miss Rose, too.” This time it wasn’t a question.
Carrie nodded, full of questions until she saw Charlie wince and grit his teeth against the pain. She stood and tucked the blanket in around him more firmly. “We’ll talk later, Charlie. Right now you need to get some rest.”
Charlie nodded, closed his eyes and seconds later was asleep. Carrie smiled and went in search of Dr. Wild. She didn’t find him in the ward so she stepped outside to continue her search, slightly startled when a large black man, almost as big as Moses, stepped toward her.
“Miss Carrie?” he asked tentatively.
Carrie moved forward immediately and took one of his hands. “You must be Simon.”
Simon didn’t bother to ask how she knew. There would be time for all that later. “How is Moses?” he asked earnestly, his eyes shining with worry.
“He’s not good,” Carrie said honestly, “but he’s a fighter. We’ve done everything we can.” She explained about the shell fragment they had extracted. “I need your help with something – you and some of the men in your unit.”
“We’ll do anything you want,” Simon said instantly.
Carrie nodded gratefully. “I don’t want Moses to stay here in the hospital. I want him in my home where I can be sure he will receive around the clock care.” She frowned in the direction of the city. “That is if our house doesn’t burn,” she said crisply.
“We got the fires under control, Miss Carrie,” Simon assured her. “It did a heap of damage, but the fires are all out.”
Carrie breathed a sigh of relief and then signaled for a wagon. “How long will it take you to get enough of your men to carry Moses? I’d rather we not broadcast where we’re taking him.” Occupied or not, she knew there were many Richmonders that would resent her having a black soldier in her home. She didn’t care what they thought, but she also didn’t want to do anything that would put Moses in danger.
Simon grinned, lifted his arm, and beckoned to a group of men waiting quietly in the patch of trees along the drive. “Captain Jones said it would be okay if some of us came to check on Moses.”
Carrie smiled at him, seeing the deep love shining in Simon’s eyes. “Moses is lucky to have you,” she said softly.
“I’m the lucky one,” Simon said fervently. “Me and June.”
Carrie smiled again, the weight of the day lifting from her. “I can hardly wait to hear that story, but first we have to get Moses where I can care for him.”
Carrie had just settled Moses into the room next to hers when she heard a light knock on the door. May was in the kitchen getting water, and she had sent Miles out to dig some fresh onions from the garden, so she stifled a yawn and went to answer the door herself. When she opened the door she could only stand and stare.
“Don’t I even get an invitation inside? I’m not an escaping prisoner this time.”
Carrie found her voice. “Matthew!” She laughed happily and moved forward to give him a warm embrace. Then she stepped back to look into his face. “How…?”
“I’m in Richmond as a journalist,” he explained. “I came in with the army this morning, but I’ve been busy putting out fires in the city.”
“I see,” Carrie murmured, thinking about the horrible smoke, flames and explosions. “How bad is it?” she asked.
Matthew frowned. “It’s bad,” he admitted, and then hesitated. “We can talk about this when you’re not so tired.”
Carrie shook her head and pulled him into the house. “I’m sorry I’m being such a terrible hostess. Please come in.” She motioned to May when she moved through the parlor. “May, when you’re done upstairs will you please get us some tea?” Then she turned back to Matthew. “Please tell me the truth about the city so we can move on to more pleasant things,” she said firmly.
Matthew nodded. “Nine hundred homes and businesses were destroyed.”
Carrie stiffened and turned white, but she remained silent and let him continue.
“All the banks are burned. So are two of your hotels; all of the newspaper offices; the General Court of Virginia and the Henrico County courthouse; the arsenal and the laboratory; almost all the warehouses along the river; the Danville and Petersburg railroad bridges and depots; Mayo’s Bridge; a dozen drugstores, two dozen groceries…” Matthew frowned deeply. “All, or at least part, of fifty-four blocks are gone.”
Carrie couldn’t find her voice as she stared at him with shock. Her beloved city… burned. She began to tremble.
Matthew reached forward to grab her hand. “The fires are out, Carrie. General Weitzel has already started the cleanup. I know it seems impossible now, but Richmond will rebuild.”
“Yes,” Carrie murmured, struggling to remind herself she had wanted the city to fall. She had just never imagined it would mean such destruction. The fact they had inflicted the destruction on it themselves made it all the more difficult to bear. She took a deep breath and managed a smile. “Thank you for helping to put it out,” she said quietly.
She stood suddenly and went to stand beside the window to look out at the magnolia tree. Suddenly she very much needed to see something alive and growing. She stared out at the tight buds holding the promise of glorious white blooms and thought of Robert. “Please tell me this war is almost over,” she whispered.
Matthew rose to stand beside her. “Grant is in pursuit of Lee now. Your army can’t survive much longer.”
Carrie smiled up at him through tears. “That makes me very happy, you know. All of this madness has to stop.”
Matthew nodded and then gazed at her more closely. “You’re exhausted,” he stated, taking her arm and leading her back to a chair. “I can come back tomorrow. You need to get some sleep.”
Carrie smiled wearily and shook her head. “I won’t be going to bed right away,” she said. “I have a very important patient upstairs. Someone I know you’ll want to meet,” she said with a smile. “There are so many things I want to talk to you about I hardly know where to start.”
May appeared in the doorway, her eyes wide and a brilliant smile on her face. “He be awake now, Miss Carrie. He still be right out of it, but least ways his eyes are open.”
“Thank God!” Carrie breathed as she leaped to her feet, her exhaustion forgotten. She reached the bottom of the stairs, and then remembering she had a guest, turned back to Matthew. “Come with me,” she urged. “You’re going to want to meet this patient,” she added, enjoying the confused look on Matthew’s face.
Carrie entered the room quietly, smiling softly when Moses turned exhausted, confused eyes to her.
“Where am…?” Moses’ eyes widened with disbelief, pain etching lines on his face. “Carrie?” he asked hoarsely, staring at her as if she were a ghost. “Carrie…
Am I dreaming? Am I dead…?”
His voice trailed off as she took one of his hands gently and then laid her other hand on his face, frowning a little when she realized the fever was still burning in his body. “Shh… You’re going to be okay now.”
“How…?”
“The Union has captured Richmond,” she explained. “You were shot at the Battle of Fort Stedman. Simon got you off the field and back to a hospital, but you’ve been terribly sick with an infection. Captain Jones had you brought along with some of your men into Richmond this morning to get medical care. I found you.” She stroked his cheek. “Your Captain saved your life.”
Moses closed his eyes for a long moment.
Carrie thought he had drifted back off, but he forced them back open. “What…?
Carrie understood the frustration that he couldn’t speak. “Shh…” She laid a finger to his lips. “You’ll get all your questions answered soon. You’re going to be okay. They had missed a shell fragment in your wound.”
Moses frowned and tried to raise a hand to his chest.
Carrie held it down. “We got it out,” she assured him. “Now we just have to fight down the infection.” She made her voice stern. “You’re still very sick, Moses. For once in your life you’re going to do exactly what I tell you to do.”
Moses smiled fleetingly.
“If I were you I would just do what she says.”
Moses eyes flew to the doorway. “Matthew?” he whispered faintly, more disbelief showing on his face.
Now it was Carrie’s turn to stare at Moses. “You know each other?” She swung back to look at Matthew.
Matthew smiled easily. “We met on the battlefield last summer.”
Carrie’s eyes glistened with tears as she thought about all the events she had missed in her friend’s lives over the last four years. She felt Moses’ hand squeeze hers, and she looked down at eyes warm with understanding.
“Time…” he murmured.
“You’re right,” she forced herself to say lightly. “We’re all going to have time to catch up. But right now you just need to get some rest. Either May or myself will be with you all the time. I just want you to focus on getting well,” she said firmly.
He closed his eyes in relief and then they flew back open. “Rose…”
Carrie ached to tell him what he was asking but she knew she couldn’t. “I know she’s in the Contraband Camp, but it’s almost impossible to get communication out of the city right now. I promise we’ll let her know as soon as we can.”
Moses nodded once and then his face went slack, his breathing shallow.
Matthew frowned and moved to stand next to the bed. “Is he going to get well?” he asked, his eyes demanding the truth.
Carrie met his eyes squarely. “I don’t know. It’s a miracle he woke up, but his fever is still high.” She paused and thought of the high fever, sustained too long, that had killed her mother. “We’ll keep working to bring his fever down, and keep putting on poultices to drain the infection. Only time will tell if he’s strong enough to make it.” She took a deep breath, praying her next words were true. “I believe he is. He has so much to live for.”
Matthew stared back at her, his face full of admiration. “It’s no mistake Moses’ found his way to you,” he said quietly. “I don’t believe God is going to let him die now.”
Carrie just looked at him. “I hope you’re right, but I’ve seen way too much in this war that doesn’t make any sense. I do know, however, that the darkness will always end. This war is going to end and all of us are going to have a chance to rebuild our lives. That’s what I hang on to every single day.”
She heard the clatter of boots on the steps and looked up as Jeremy walked in the room.
He stared down at Moses, whose massive body dwarfed the bed he was in. “Carrie…what?”
Carrie smiled and rose to take his arm to lead him from the room. “I’ll explain downstairs,” she said. “Moses needs his rest.”
“Moses?” Jeremy spun around to stare at him.
Carrie gripped his arm tighter. “Downstairs,” she repeated. “The most important thing for him now is sleep.”
Jeremy nodded and then noticed Matthew. “I saw you downtown fighting the fires.”
Carrie smiled and tucked a hand in each of their arms. “I suspect we won’t get a lot of sleep tonight, either.” She smiled when she saw the plate of cornbread and biscuits May had placed beside the fireplace in the parlor. “We have a lot of talking to do.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Carrie woke to singing birds and a soft breeze the next morning. She stretched and yawned. She was still tired, but the few hours of sleep, after hours of talking, had refreshed her – or perhaps it was just having Matthew and Moses here that had breathed new life into her.
She hurried over to the window and sank down to her knees, watching the golden orb of the sun slowly rise through the mist and the smoke that had not yet dissipated. Yesterday it had been as if she was walking through a haze; today she could feel the joy of having Moses alive in the next room. Matthew, knowing Peter would be concerned, had returned to his lodging after the long hours of talking. She hoped he was still sleeping.
There was a light tap on her door. “Come in,” she called.
May stuck her head in the door. “Moses be asking for you,” she said, excitement shining in her eyes.
“His fever?”
“His fever be almost all the way down,” May said with quiet satisfaction. “Those wet wraps you put on him must have done the trick. He even ate a little bit of my soup.”
Carrie smiled with delight. “I’ll be right there.” She quickly dressed and slipped into the room, her delight increasing when he turned clear eyes on her.
“Carrie!” Moses cried. “I didn’t dream all this after all.”
Carrie laughed and grabbed his hands, thrilled to find them cool to the touch. She laid a hand on his forehead, relieved beyond words to find almost all the fever was gone. “It’s a miracle you’re alive,” she murmured.
Moses squeezed her hands. “You saved my life,” he said gratefully.
Carrie shook her head firmly. “Captain Jones and Dr. Wild saved your life,” she corrected.
Moses continued to gaze at her. “Miles just left. He was downtown yesterday. He told me how you saw the wagons and came over to help, shaming the other doctors and nurses into helping.”
Carrie just shrugged. “The important thing is that you’re going to get better,” she said happily and then let her voice grow stern. “Just in case you get any ideas of getting out of bed, I want to show you something.” She pulled the blanket back and gently peeled back the bandage that lay loosely on his chest.
Moses’ eyes widened and he looked a little sick as he stared down at the gaping wound.
Carrie nodded grimly. “It’s going to take weeks for that wound to heal. If you decide to be stupid, the infection could come back. The next time it could kill you.”
Moses continued to stare at the wound and then looked up at her. “I hear you,” he said. “I’ll do whatever you tell me.”
Carrie nodded in satisfaction. “It’s so nice when men know how to listen,” she said primly, smiling when Moses snorted a laugh. She was glad he was feeling so much better, but she knew exactly how much the fever had weakened him. It was going to take his body a long time to heal. She was glad the garden was beginning to produce. It was going to take a lot of good food to make him strong again.
“You are not to leave this bed except to go to the restroom for at least two weeks,” she said firmly. She saw his eyes widen in protest before he nodded meekly.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So she’s already pushing you around, is she?” Jeremy entered the room, a cheerful smile on his face. “You have to be careful; she can be extremely bossy.”
“You’re telling me,” Moses agreed, eyeing Jeremy with curiosity.
“Pooh,” Carrie scoffed. “If men weren�
��t so obstinate and hard-headed I wouldn’t have to treat you this way.”
Jeremy laughed and held out his hand to Moses. “My name is Jeremy. I couldn’t wait any longer to meet my twin sister’s husband.”
Carrie grinned as the words sunk into Moses’ head. His eyes were first puzzled, and then grew wide with astonishment. “A lot has happened in the last few years,” she teased.
Moses was still staring at Jeremy. He nodded slowly. “I see it,” he murmured. “I didn’t think I would be able to see Rose in a white man, but I do.”
“Yes, I hear she is as beautiful as I am handsome,” Jeremy said modestly, throwing his head back in a joyful laugh.
Suddenly Moses and Carrie both joined in the laughter – years of pain and loss beginning to fade away.
Moses suddenly grew serious. “Robert? How is he?”
Carrie grew serious with him. “I don’t know. There’s been no word since Lee left Richmond. I haven’t seen or heard from him in over a month.”
“But he recovered fully?”
Carrie looked at him with confusion. “Recovered from what?”
“He was badly wounded when I found him,” Moses answered, and then understood her confusion. “Matthew didn’t tell you?”
Carrie’s confusion was growing. “Didn’t tell me what?”
“I was the one who found Robert on the battlefield two years ago and took him to the black family.”
“You’re the one who saved Robert?” Carrie whispered, sinking down in a chair.. “And Granite?” She could barely breathe as she stared at Moses. “And after what you knew Robert did to his slaves?”
“I did it for you, Carrie,” Moses said tenderly.
Carrie rushed over to kiss his face. “You saved more than his life, Moses! What you did made him into a new man.” She settled down to tell him the story.
Abby held her face up to drink in the glorious sun, holding the rail tightly to steady herself against the rolling waves as she enjoyed the feel of the wind whipping her body. What a wonderful day to be traveling via boat.
