She nodded, and a tear slipped down her cheek. “Where’s your family?”
“Ain’t got anything left but a brother. He went off on his own some time ago. Been a while since I seen him.”
“Well…we won’t forget you, Lee Nelson. Not as long as we live. And from now on…we’ll be your family.”
He stared into her eyes for a long moment, heat rose between them. He touched her cheek with his hand. She leaned into his hand. He stared at her long and hard, until a smile broke over her beautiful face. He smiled back.
“Please come back…to us…” she cried.
“Ah hell…” Lee rushed from the room. One more tear and he’d have been pulling her back into his arms. But that would never do either.
He squashed every emotion he had, tipped his hat to Gloria who had promised to help and left.
He heard the other girls giggling as he was leaving. “Boy, Gloria, you get all the cute ones.”
He grinned, then shook his head. The last thing he needed was a female, especially one with sad cow eyes and pillow soft lips, especially one that tasted like heaven. But damn, he wouldn’t be forgetting Hattie Tanner.
Chapter One
Birmingham, Alabama
Late 1865
Remnants, leftovers, ashes, from a time he didn’t want to remember, in a place he couldn’t forget. Lee accustomed himself to seeing familiar landmarks destroyed along the path where the ghost of war scarred the state of Alabama, like a horse gone loco. Towns burned, homes destroyed, people displaced, gloom echoed on shoulders not strong enough to bear the brunt, the blacks were freed and walked in an uncertain path to an unknown future. Others were dazed and slowly began the job of rebuilding with a pride that no longer existed.
Watching the carriages come and go, some from wealthy neighbors that managed to survive the cutthroat war, others worn and mistreated through desperate times. The cotton wagons passed like an endless sea of white. He heard the blacksmith pounding out a new horseshoe, the familiar sound harkening a brief welcome. Businesses had gone on as normal since the war ended. Merchants advertised, the saloons filled, as soft piano played in the distance. A mongrel dog ran after a wagon, barking playfully at the kids in the back hanging their bare feet over the edge of the wagon. The dog nipped at them and they laughed.
Pleasure seemed in odd places these days. Before the war he wouldn’t have paid a bit of attention to those kids.
Reconstruction resounded with loud hammers and nails.
Ex-confederates leaned against hitching posts and walls, some missing arms, legs, or even eyes, watching the day unfold, with tight lips and furrowed brows, still wearing their dingy, holey uniforms, none wearing the pride or dignity of victory.
An unremarkable day unfolded until Lee rounded the corner and saw a Negro woman with three little girls, loading a wagon with supplies. Nothing strange about her or her girls except the serious expression she wore, her shoulders sagged, her mouth turned downward, her hair was tied into a knot at her nape. She filled out her dress and then some, handsome wide hips, and ample breasts to pillow a man with. Stout and strong and beautiful as he’d ever seen. She wasn’t some scrawny little girl, this was a fully grown woman, ripe for the pickin’. Lee felt himself react. That hadn’t happened in a long time. But for some strange reason, his hand itched to hold her in his embrace. And despite the fact that he only had one arm now, she brought out the man in him.
Her helpers were a short staircase of little girls.
The youngest staircase stopped, bent over to retrieve their mutt of a puppy under the wagon, and displayed a rather wet pair of pantaloons to Lee’s curious glance. The corners of Lee’s mouth tugged. Still too little to climb up the wagon, the others helped her up and scoffed that she was wet.
They quickly pulled her pantaloons down and laid them to dry on the side of the wagon, waving like a proud flag in the gentle breeze. The puppy barked and wagged its tail, the youngest stuck her tongue out at the mutt, and he licked her right on the mouth. She giggled.
Then a boy about thirteen jumped on the back of the wagon, hanging his bare feet over the edge. He had a small sack and was pulling candy out of it. He turned and looked at the oldest girl who frowned mightily at him.
“What’s that you got?” she asked him.
“Peppermint, that’s what. Want some?” he offered her a stick of candy with a grin.
The girl looked for a long minute then huffed and sat down beside him. “Where did you get candy?”
“I polished a man’s boots, and he gave me a nickel to buy candy. So I did.” He handed some to the others now, then turned to look at the oldest.
“You worked for it?”
“Shore did.”
“Oh…well, then that’s different.” She smiled and licked the candy.
Lee couldn’t help but admire the girl’s attitude.
But he was looking at the boy. He knew him. It had to be Sam, and if that was Sam, then the woman was Hattie. He mentally figured in his head, yes, Hattie would be twenty-four by now, that was about right. Good grief, she’d grown up and into a beauty. Of course he’d never tell her that, but she was as pretty as he’d ever seen.
Lee felt a little sunshine leak into his heart, melting away the cold thoughts of war and killing. It’d been a long time since he watched children play, or noticed how a woman was built.
The woman started pulling away from the dry goods when a burly man came along side her, pulling in front of her so she could not move. With a loud crackling whip, popping it in the dirt by her horse, he startled her and her girls. The horse reared, wild eyed, and the woman grasp the reins tightly, a challenging defiance stared up at him from the wagon.
“I told you there’d be no more credit at this store for you.” The man’s craggy brows nearly touched as he stared the woman down. “We don’t sell to squatters. And Negro ladies don’t own land, you understand that? It ain’t done. Not in Alabama they don’t, even if they did come by it honestly.”
Lee’s head jerked at the statement. His jaw tightened, a frown replaced the smiles of a moment before.
She didn’t look like a squatter to him. And Hattie certainly didn’t deserve the tongue lashing the man was bent on giving her.
“And I told you I’m not a squatter. I legally own the rights to the land, as the judge has already settled that in front of witnesses. Besides, haven’t you heard? It’s a free country now. I have as much right to buy supplies as anyone, Mr. Jeffries, good day.” She tried to move the horses along, but he stopped her, again.
Lee’s head jerked up. He hadn’t recognized the woman, but he recognized her voice, and the attitude. Hattie!
“You owe back taxes on that place and it’s only a matter of time before you’re evicted. I’ve warned you. Time and time again. I even offered you a fair price, all you got to do is sign the papers over to me, and I might even consider lettin’ you stay on the property, as I have no real use of more land, only the water rights I’m interested in. It would behoove you to sell to me, why must you be so stubborn? I’m not an unfair man. I’m offering you more than you deserve and you know it. You have no means of income, how can you possibly hold onto that land, now? Taxes have to be paid.” The man’s words sputtered from his mouth like acrid spit. “You are a right good lookin’ woman, for a Negro, I’ll give you that much. A man would have to be blind not to see that. Guess you cain’t help that. Any man would notice. My son fancies you for some reason, I’m sure as a plaything, as I’d never allow him to marry a Negro. Even a lovely one. Any man marryin’ a Negro woman in Alabama is nothin’ but trash. Everybody knows that. So you’ll never be a Jeffries. He’d never consider marriage. No decent white man would. You are a plaything, Miss Tanner.”
“I’m not interested in your son…Mr. Jeffries, and I wouldn’t permit it either.” Her words rang like a lifeless church bell. “And it may interest you to know that I’m not after a man. I only want to make a home for my children.”
Lee�
�s eyes went over her in that moment, from head to toe, reassessing. There was more to her than met the eye, there always had been! Hattie was different from any woman he’d ever met: beautiful, sassy and brave. His glance lingered on the full breasts that jutted from her dress as though they needed to touch the very air. He licked his lips. Damn, how could this one woman hold his attention so? But he’d been raised to see no color in folks and the fact that she was a Negro didn’t bother him, although he knew in Alabama that was dangerous. For both of them. Not only that, but she used to be just a kid, a skinny little kid. There was nothing skinny about her now. She was shaped like a woman should be, Lee determined with great interest. It was hard enough getting used to the idea that his little Hattie had grown up, but that she was breathtakingly beautiful too was a pleasant shock. If he’d had let himself admit it, he had been quite taken with her years ago. Even a war hadn’t marred his memory of her. Maybe it should have, but it hadn’t. Many nights around a campfire he’d thought of the kisses they’d shared, and it brought a comfort to him, a comfort he couldn’t define.
Okay, so he’d helped her once when she was just a child. He didn’t need to get involved any further. Obviously she’d been married and had some children of her own. But he knew he’d had a soft spot in his heart for her all along. A spot he’d never talk about. He just hadn’t expected her to grow into such a voluptuous woman.
He leaned against the building for a long moment studying her profile. It had been a while since he indulged in ogling a lady. Deep in his heart he’d packed away a few amorous moments, but for some reason he’d never become serious about any woman. And yet he’d often thought about Hattie and Sam.
This particular woman’s beauty grew each time he looked at her. He didn’t like what looking at her did to him. Her face was round and soft looking, with full lips and slightly flaring nostrils. But he remembered the eyes more than anything about her, how they flashed with life. Her hair came down about her face in sprigs now, turning it black as night, her facial features softened in the early morning glare. She’d be twenty-four now, but could she have three children of her own? It didn’t seem likely.
Lee’s attention riveted on her. The man affronting her, a Jeffries, caught his attention too. That alone would be enough for Lee to interfere and help her, but he waited, needing to know more. Since the war he tempered his actions with reasoning, no longer the hot head he had once been. He’d learned the hard way to make sure what he was jumping into before he jumped.
“Mr. Jeffries you’ve tried to burn me out, and financially ruin me in this town, but as long as I can, I’m holding onto that land, do you understand me? The land is already mine, and I aim to hold onto it too.”
“How did you manage to buy supplies this morning, when you can’t pay your taxes?”
“Not that it’s really any of your business, but I sold my mother’s broach. Will there be any more questions, Mr. Jeffries? I’d like to get home now.”
“Perhaps you should have put that on the taxes. It’s a shame…the Sheriff will evict you next month, and then what will you and those little girls do?” the man asked, as his eyebrow raised and his lips curled. “Pretty little things, shame to see them live in such poverty.”
“Let me worry about that, Mr. Jeffries. Now, will you please get out of my way so I may do the same for others here…” the woman asked, her voice strained, her patience obviously waning and her pride very much in tact. People gathered about watching, but no one interfered. No one would, he was a Jeffries, and she was a Negro.
A breeze caught her hat and tossed it across the street, and Lee got a better look at her, so well rounded and built, with hair that caught the sun’s attention and burst into long lovely tresses of black silk.
Strange, Lee shuffled his feet and leaned against the building to watch, the woman was undoubtedly beautiful, but there was more than outward beauty to admire about her. She had spunk. He liked that. He’d seen enough painted ladies in his life to appreciate wholesome beauty. He bent and picked her hat up and strolled over to the wagon to hand it to her. That’s when he saw her eyes; black orbs stared at him for a moment, then flashed as she raised her chin a notch.
It was that flash he recognized. Her eyes were full of life. Her eyes were magnificently bold, brown, holding a softness in their depths. He held his breath as recognition hit him in the heart and other places unsuspecting. Hattie!
God, he’d recognize her anywhere, those same lovely eyes that tore into him when she looked at him. But she didn’t recognize him, of that he was certain. And she hadn’t acted as though she even noticed his missing arm.
It was no wonder Jeffries stared at her so. She put most of the white women in this town to shame.
He handed her the hat and smiled. She nodded to him, barely giving him the time of day, but under the circumstances he knew she wanted to get away from this man.
Lee liked her grit, not many women would stand up to a Jeffries in this town, not many men either, Lee decided with a grin. Yes sir, he sure liked the grown up Hattie.
Still, the fact that she’d had children and obviously a husband made him curious and envious. He hadn’t thought about the husband part. Thinking of someone else holding her, kissing her…Lee felt a stab of jealousy for the man who had held Hattie’s love and attention.
He silently scolded himself. Hattie wasn’t for him. He had to remember that. Why, he’d be run out of the state if he even thought about taking a black woman to marry. No, he had to get Hattie out of his thoughts, somehow, or he’d be fightin’ another war. He needed to get home and find out for himself what all was going on. But first he needed to go to the bank and check on the taxes, while he still had the money to pay them.
Lee watched as she urged the horses onward and the wagon pulled out from the dry goods. She handled her small team of horses well, and Lee gauged her as a hard working woman too. Her supplies looked modest enough, and he wondered why Jeffries had been so upset.
The last he’d heard Jeffries had wanted his land too, but it had clearly been deeded to Lee and his brother Dil long ago and that much had to be secure. However, back taxes could have been a problem, and he’d take care of that today.
At least he planned on going by the bank, but Jeffries began talking to some other men on the corner and he heard them saying something about watching the woman. Once more his protective instincts came forward. This was his little Hattie, and he had to take care of her, didn’t he? At least ‘til he could contact her husband, warn him of the trouble in town.
Determined not to get himself mixed up in something that definitely wasn’t his business, he decided he ought to head home first and find out what had been going on since he’d left. Old Joe would know. Surely the taxes could wait one more day, they’d waited this long.
About an hour later, he ambled onto the property, slowing, cooling his horse down. The hot sun bore down on him, as familiar landmarks reminded him he was on Nelson land once more. He smiled, wondering if Dil might be home too. He had an itch to see his brother, it had been a while. But when he heard a strange noise over the next rise he approached with caution.
Dismounting, he walked to the edge of the next hill and crouched down. Young laughter peeled the air. Three little girls were all running about the countryside, and their mother had spread a blanket and offered them food. Lee smiled.
Hattie sat on a blanket near the wagon. She was letting her hair down now and trying to keep it out of her face. Her hair was wide and full like her face and bounced about her shoulders. Her face was perfect in every way, angled, soft lips, flaring nose, and eyes wide and wondering, and lips so full and kissable.
He shouldn’t be thinking of her like this. But every time he saw her he thought of taking her into his arms and kissing her senseless. Of making love to her way into the night, of laying his head on her full breasts. Nothing had changed, he still wanted Hattie Tanner.
She was his little Hattie, wasn’t she? His...no. Little, no!
She’d grown into a lovely woman. And a white man with a black woman just after the war, in this country was asking for trouble, and Lee knew it. Even though the war was over, the hatred wasn’t. As much as he tried to tell himself it was an impossible situation, it didn’t stop the longing. Those silly little kisses they’d shared so long ago had spoiled other women for him. He only thought of her.
Intrigued, Lee watched her come to life now. Gone were the lines of trouble from her young face, replaced by smiles and happiness. This was an outstanding view as she lay on her elbows propping her head to watch the children. Her full breasts were more exposed than she knew and his libido responded in kind to every breath she took. His hand itched, wondering for only a second what it might be like to hold them there, more than two handfuls, and he’d bet pillow soft. He could imagine his head pillowed against them, his lips savoring the taste of them. He mentally scolded himself, but he couldn’t shake his own reactions. In that brief second he realized he wanted her. And his next thought doomed him: he couldn’t have her. She had children and was probably married.
Fascinated, he planted himself on the ground and watched them. The kids were playing tag, and of course the little one was it. Sam was herding the other two girls along to hide. Lee chuckled. She’d slip and fall, the others would pick her up and she’d run after them, laughing all the way. The puppy licked the little one’s face each time she bent over, and she giggled. A strange sensation ran through Lee as he watched.
He’d served the army until the war broke out, then joining the confederacy. Since he hadn’t spent his soldiering money he had a small bundle, probably enough to pay the taxes on his land. He hadn’t had the time.
He had to admit, Hattie had crossed his mind a time or two, but each time he had scolded himself telling himself she was way too young and not for him. She was a Negro, and he was a white man. Why did the hate consume so many? Why couldn’t people just live the way they wanted to? Even thinking in that direction would cause trouble. But on the other hand…it could be worth it. He’d be kicked out of the state for even thinking about her like that, but he couldn’t stop thinking along those lines. Just one look at her now told him he wanted her. Only her!
Just One Kiss (The Dream Catcher Series-Book Two) Page 3
