by Beth Bennett
Bessie crossed her arms and eyed him dubiously. She took out a small clay pipe and lit it. Jackson watched as the tobacco glowed red. She motioned toward him. “I can see you’re a right serious man. You been in the war?”
“Yes, ma’am, fought in the battle of Cedar Creek in fact.”
“I thought so, war does things to a man. You ain’t all that old, but your eyes say different. Tell me more about this here proposal and what does Alowishous have to do with it?”
“She will be housed with my family in New York and given a proper education as befits a young woman of her age. This will give her advantages she could never find here in the Shenandoah. She could even study to become a teacher and be able to provide for herself in the future. Mr. McDaggett shall be her legal representative to ensure that nothing untoward transpires with the transaction. He shall guarantee that she be properly treated and delivered safely to my family in New York forthwith. He tells me you are her only living relative.” He ran a hand through his hair and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “You have the legal power to compel her to go.” He twisted the hat in his hands through his fingers. “I do not think Olivia will go otherwise.”
Bessie sat back in the creaky ladder back chair. She slowly wiped her hands on the flour sack apron tied around her waist. “She’s my girl, Mr. Daniels, and I love her more than you know.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I knowd Alowhishous here a long time. In days gone by, we went sparking didn’t we Alowishous?””
The lawyer crossed his hands over his belly. “Bessie here was a sight for sore eyes.”
She motioned at Mr. McDaggett with her pipe. “Is this thing on the up and up? Can I be sure Olivia will be treated right if I go along with it?”
He sat forward. “You knowd me all my life. You know I want to do right by Olivia. I put in an inquiry to New York by way of wire. This man may be a Yankee and a damn one at that, but his Daddy owned a big granary business. Spoke with the Daniels’ family lawyer. He’s got a Maw and a sister, Olivia would be livin with. I think I can vouch for him. Livia will have a chance. A chance she can’t ever get stayin here in these mountains.
Jackson added an additional comment. “A widowed friend of the family, Mrs. Harriet Holland, is traveling from Charleston next week to New York. She has agreed to accompany Olivia on her journey north.”
Bessie was silent for several long minutes. The smoke from her pipe curled circles around her head. She finally let out a deep and weary sigh. “The Lord will watch over her. I can’t think of any other way. I don’t want her wasting her life away on my place. I’m old, Livia needs a future. Meybe this is God’s way of blessing her for all she has done for me and Tommy.” She turned sharp eyes on Mr. McDagget. “Alowishous, if this thing takes a bad turn, I’m coming straight for you.” She glanced up at the shot gun hanging over the stone fireplace. He nodded. Sitting back in the chair, she took a long pull on her pipe. “All right, I will make my mark on your paper.”
Chapter 7
“GO TO NEW YORK CITY!” The scream could be heard clear across the mountain. Lawyer A.P. McDaggett sat quietly while Olivia pitched a fit. “I ain’t never heard of sich a stupid thing in all my life. I would sooner take money from a monkey than take a hand-out from that damned Yankee bastard.”
Alowishous wiped the sweat from his brow. He knew she wouldn’t take to the news very well. “That’s not all.”
“What? WHAT! What else could there be? This is the dumbest scheme I ever heard of yet. I know you got all that fancy lawyering, Mr. McDaggett, but what in the blue blazes are you doing here tellin me Jackson Daniels wants to send me to New York City?”
“Olivia, calm down. He feels poorly about taking your land. He wants to give you the opportunity to go to school, to get an education, make something of your life.”
Olivia couldn’t imagine Jackson Daniels feeling bad about anything. “He kin just keep his charity to hisself. I don’t want it. I’ve got one more day. Job’s already left but Sam is going to help me load up the wagon and Penny and I are going to Auntie’s. Let the railroad have this old heap of sticks.”
She was putting on a brave front but inside, she felt like her heart was breaking. “I’m afraid that’s not the whole story, Livia. There’s more, much more. You ain’t going to like it but you’re going to have to live with it. At least for a little while.”
“I don’t see what could be worse than being sent to live in some city slicker house in a God-forsaken Yankee manure hole like New York.”
“Olivia!”
“Well, I don’t.” She pushed out her bottom lip and pouted at his reprimand.
“You’re going to have to watch that mouth. Civilized folk don’t talk like that. Now, you do not have a choice in the matter, I’m afraid. Jackson Daniels has the legal right to make you go.”
“He does not. That’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard tell of.”
“He’s been granted legal guardianship of you until you turn twenty-one. Aunt Bessie gave her permission. It’s. All. Right. Here.” He punctuated every word with a stab of his finger on the paper. Setting it on the table, he pointed to one section. “Read this paragraph.” Olivia’s eyes were as big as saucers. She dubiously poured over the spot where Alowishous indicated. Looking up at him with an incredulous expression, she grabbed the paper and tore it into shreds.
“Twill do you no good, Livia. That is a copy. I’ve known you too long to fall for that.”
Olivia shook her fist and stomped her feet. “How dare you. How dare you come here to my Paw’s house and try to turn me over to a yellow-bellied, Yankee, scallywag like Jackson Daniels. You took advantage. Aunt Bessie don’t know nothing. She can’t even write her name.” Shame burned across Olivia’s heart to hear herself speak so ugly about her aunt.
Alowishous squinted at her with a one-eyed glare. “That may be, but she has made her mark. Everything has been explained to her and she has agreed. She’s your only living relative. You ain’t of legal age and the court can force you to comply.”
Olivia was so upset, she did not notice Jackson Daniels as he entered the house. He removed his hat and stood by the door. “Miss Overton, I am here to beg your pardon.” His voice was deep and quiet with a serious edge. It stopped her mid-fit. “I have done you a wrong. Had I known the true circumstances of your situation, I would not have bought your farm out from under you. I find that my conscience will not rest if I do not make things right. I assure you that I have no wish to hurt you further. I would like to make the offer of an opportunity for an education. Indeed, to view the broader world beyond your mountain. My mother and sister abide on east Seventy-Third Street in New York City. It is my wish that you stay with them for a time. I only want to help you get on your feet. After the age of twenty-one, hopefully, you will have taken advantage of all that I am offering and can do whatever you like. Even return here should it be your desire.”
Olivia simply stood with her mouth sagging open. She had no idea what to say.
He continued, “Your Aunt is here.” To her great surprise, Aunt Bessie came inside the house. Jackson nodded at Mr. McDaggett and they quickly left.
Olivia ran to her Aunt who held her close. “Shhh, shhh, it’s gonna be all right. Now, stop making such a fuss.”
“I don’t want to go to New Yoooork,” Olivia howled. She buried her face in Bessie’s shoulder and muffled her cries. “How could you do this to meeeee!”
After several minutes of sobbing, Bessie finally pushed Olivia to sit up. “Look around you, Livia, what do you see?”
Her eyes nervously darted to and fro. “Looks like it’s always looked to me.”
“Yes, but what do you see? I knowd this is your Paw’s place, and your place too, but look past that, girl.” Bessie motioned with her arm. “Toil and trouble and hard work. Poor is what I see. Poor is about all there is to this place.”
“There ain’t nothing wrong with hard work. There ain’t nothing wrong with
being poor, neither.”
“That’s true, but this here kind of poor will put you in an early grave.” Aunt Bessie directed Olivia to sit in a chair as she leaned upon her walking stick. “Even afore the railroad bought this place, t’weren’t nothing round here but hard times. A woman alone can’t keep a farm going. I know the war brought hardship down on all of us but I’ve studied on this, Livia, and I think you ought to go. That Yankee big britches can’t make you go and I can’t either. Not really. The choice is yours, girl. Will you do it, for me?”
Olivia studied the familiar, care worn face. Bessie wasn’t even sixty years old, but she looked a hundred. By the time you were forty, hard work, having babies and raising crops had broken the back of nearly every woman she knew.
Olivia dropped her face into her hands. “I don’t want to go.”
“I know you don’t. And I don’t want you to either. But will you do it, anyways?”
Olivia thought about the mountains. She thought about Paw and all the people she would be leaving behind. New York City, she could not even imagine what it was like. No one she knew had ever gone more than a few days ride from home, except Jackson Daniels. Despite her misgivings, the idea intrigued her. What did she really have here? Not even a broken down farm anymore. She got up and crawled into the old lady’s lap like she used to do when she was a little girl. She lay her head on Bessie’s shoulder and cried. “I’ll go, but only for you Auntie. I won’t be nice to that damned Yankee, though.”
“Fair enough,” Bessie replied.
She was to leave on the morning of June fifth. Jackson had informed her that a grouchy old widow woman was going to be her traveling companion. Well, he didn’t say she was grouchy, but Olivia was sure it was so. After, all, she was an old widow woman and she was a friend of the Daniels’ family. That was enough to make her grouchy in anybody’s book.
Olivia stayed at the cabin and slowly sifted through her things. There wasn’t much to pack. Jackson had arrogantly informed her she couldn’t travel in overalls and she would have to go into town and purchase some ready-made dresses at Mr. Lacey’s. She complied with the request, but adamantly refused to buy a corset. She had never put one on before, and when she tried, she deemed it nothing but a damned torture device. Her favorite dress was a pink checked with a matching pink overlay. The sleeves were puffed at the top and fitted from just above the elbows down. It was plain without any lace just as all the dresses were that she chose. “I don’t need no fancy pants frocks,” she proclaimed. “New York or not, they can take me like I am, or not take me at all.”
Jackson had rolled his eyes. “I am thrilled this ordeal is over. Getting you to purchase a dress was like pulling hen’s teeth. I have never met a more hard-headed, obstinate girl in my life.” He pointed to a lovely leather traveling trunk behind the counter. “I’d like to purchase that for Olivia’s trip north Mr. Lacey.”
Mr. Lacey pulled it down and set it on the floor near the other items on the counter.
“Olivia, come over here and choose some hair ribbon to match each dress. I’ve had my fill of you for the day. In spite of your sour disposition, you’ve the loveliest hair I’ve ever seen on a girl. Come now, let’s be done.” He pulled out his wallet to pay.
Olivia stood stock-still. What did he just say?
“Hurry up, Ollie Overton.” Jackson frowned over at her.
She was of a mind to give a spiteful retort but his comment had caught her off-guard. He thought her hair was lovely? She self-consciously smoothed a long braid with the palm of her hand. The temptation of hair ribbons to match every dress was too much and she quickly made her choice. The pink, was of course, her favorite.
Olivia sat on her front porch thinking over all that had occurred. She was going to be leaving the very next day. This would be her last night in the only home she had ever known. A flock of wild turkeys gathered on the side of the mountain. They were funny looking birds, rangy and thin yet beautiful in their own way. They went where they pleased and made a pretty picture pecking through the grass in the pasture. Olivia leaned her chin on her arm and watched. I wouldn’t mind being a wild turkey. They can go wherever they like and they ain’t got a worry in the world. I won’t see none of them in New York, I reckon. She could not even imagine what it would be like. Gas lights, trolley cars and maybe even indoor plumbing! Jackson had given mostly non-committal grunts to her questions about it. She supposed she would just have to wait until she arrived to assuage her curiosity.
Jackson had procured a rig and hired Sam to drive them the thirty-six miles to Staunton. The widow, Mrs. Harriet Holland, was to meet them there, at which time, Olivia would be handed over to travel by train to New York. The Chesapeake and Ohio railway would bring them to Charlottesville and from there, many connections and a day later, they would be pulling into Grand Central Station.
“Olivia, you simply cannot take this quilt with you. There is not enough room. This trunk is the only thing that will be allowed. And why is it so heavy? Just what have you got in there?” She stood dressed in her favorite pink check. Her face wore a light blush from the scrubbing she had given it that morning. The only thing holding them up was Jackson Daniels and his infernal fault-finding.
He set the trunk down and reached to open it. Olivia sat upon it. “You stay out of my private things, Yankee.”
“Get up this instant, young lady! You wouldn’t want to start this trip by receiving a switching would you?”
Olivia reluctantly relented. Jackson opened up the trunk and was met with all manner of oddities.
“Flour! Cornmeal! Dried Apples! Olivia, you will not need to pack food. I’ve already packed supplies for the carriage ride and you will be provided for by Mrs. Holland, the rest of the trip.”
“How was I to know?”
“And overalls! Absolutely not!” Jackson began to pull out Olivia’s tattered shirt and overalls. She had packed every pair she owned. She had even packed her ugly, ill-fitting boots and her floppy hat.
He pulled until he came to her underthings. His face flushed red and he dropped what he was holding. For once, he couldn’t look her in the eye as he stumbled back from the trunk. He cleared his throat and spoke. “Take every single one of those britches out and those worn shirts as well. Why do you think I spent good coin for dresses?”
“I need them.”
Jackson stepped to the front door. “Sam, pick me a switch off that tree in the front yard and bring it here.”
“All right!” Olivia retorted. She turned to take out the overalls. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Jackson’s attention was still focused on Sam. She quickly stuffed one last pair of overalls and her very favorite shirt under the dresses where it could not be seen. Jackson hadn’t seen her boots or hat so she hid them as well. Laying the underthings over the top for extra good measure she stepped away from the trunk.
“There, Yankee. I’ve done what you told me. See for yourself.”
Jackson stepped over and inspected her work. He didn’t touch anything. Her ploy of placing the unmentionables on the top had worked. He closed the trunk and clicked it shut. The time had finally arrived, and Olivia’s adventure had begun.
Chapter 8
“If I’d knowed I was going to get beat to death, I wouldda packed me a pillar.”
Olivia thought she would never survive the carriage ride down the mountain toward the town of Staunton. Never in her life had she been on such a ride. The road was rough and rutted and the carriage was more like riding in a barrel down a waterfall. It tossed her to and fro and at one point, she’d ended up in Jackson’s lap.
He let out a loud “oof” as she fell into his side. His arms reached out to stop her fall and he straightened her up as she struggled to right herself.
“Are you all right? This is a rough trip, but it is better than riding single file on a horse.”
Olivia could smell tobacco with a light masculine scent mixed in. His hands held her securely and she licked her lips while
looking into his eyes. She wasn’t quite sure what to say. For some very odd reason, she didn’t want to move out of his lap.
“Besides,” Jackson continued, “I cannot imagine you riding side saddle.” He gently lifted her to the seat across from him and propped his leg by her side. “Grab onto me if you get tossed again. I don’t want you to break your neck before you even arrive.”
Olivia looked down at the huge boot propped beside her. In his usual attention to detail, the shoe was polished to a deep, black, sheen, despite the fresh dirt covering it.
She looked out the window and tried to put her mind on something else. Her thoughts flitted back to the hulking presence sitting across from her. Jackson Daniels certainly was a handsome man, in spite of the fact that he was a Yankee. This wild ride down the mountain was giving her a closed-in feeling. She’d never been in such close quarters with a man before and he filled up nearly the entire carriage. He smelled so good and clean, and brushed.
She was sure he must have used some kind of toilet water that morning. No man could smell that good naturally. Her focus shifted to his hands. They were thick and broad with clean, perfectly trimmed nails. Olivia watched as he leaned his head back against the carriage and closed his eyes. His coal black hair curled out from under his hat. The locks were rather longish, the ends just touching the top of his collar. Arched eyebrows curved over steely blue eyes. She’d never seen anyone with eyes that blue. Every time he looked at her, the intensity of his gaze made her stomach drop. His beard was rather unruly and full but perfectly suited to the style of the day. She curiously wondered what he looked like under it. It was completely impossible to imagine. It covered his whole face, chin to chest. It was a lovely beard as beards go. For a moment, she even forgot she was supposed to hate him.
“Who lives in your house in New York, Yankee?”
