The Way Home

by Eliana West

  “You can do so much better than that, sugar,” she said in a low husky voice, tipping her head toward Jo.

  Taylor’s jaw ticked. “Not interested,” he said between clenched teeth, pushing her away.

  He jerked open the passenger door for Jo, pushing her inside before moving quickly to get behind the wheel, while the woman continued to call out some rather obscene things she could do for Taylor.

  “Sorry about that,” he muttered, pulling out of the parking lot.

  Jo put her hand on his. “Don’t be sorry.”

  He blew out a long sigh. “I just really wanted this to be a nice day for you.”

  “It is—I’m having a great time. Does that happen often?”

  His jaw ticked. “Sometimes, but that was pretty…aggressive. I’m really sorry.”

  Jo saw the tension around his eyes and reached out to put her hand on his arm. “It’s okay, Taylor.”

  He exhaled and some of the tension eased from his face. “Thank you.”

  They stopped at two more shops, this time without incident. As they walked out of the last shop with a box filled with period hardware they found for the kitchen cabinets, Jo’s stomach rumbled.

  “Maybe we should stop and eat.” She patted her stomach with an embarrassed smile.

  His eyes brightened. “I know a place that serves great hot dogs.” He grinned.

  It wasn’t exactly what she had in mind but at that moment it didn’t matter what they were eating. She was having a good time with Taylor and she didn’t want to break the spell. Instead of heading toward the center of town with all of the bars and restaurants they were driving toward another part of town. When she saw the building up ahead her jaw dropped.

  Taylor gave her a mischievous smile.

  Jo’s eyebrows shot up. “Is this my surprise?”

  “I know it’s not your beloved Cubs but I thought it would be fun. I got lucky—it’s the last game of the season.”

  Taylor parked the car in the lot for the Memphis Redbirds stadium. The Redbirds were a triple-A team, affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals organization. She had actually been doing a little reading on the team since it was two hours closer to Colton than Uncle Robert’s beloved Biloxi Shuckers. They made their way to the gate. Taylor pulled up their tickets on his phone, and the usher pointed them toward the entrance along the first baseline.

  Taylor had gotten them seats right behind home plate. As soon as they were seated an usher came and took their food order and offered Jo a scorecard. A wave of homesickness overtook her, looking out over the field in verdant shades of green.

  “Hey, are you all right?”

  She gave him a watery smile. “I’m just missing my dad. I can’t remember the last time I went to a baseball game without him.”

  “How about I take your picture to send to him, or better yet why don’t you FaceTime him?”

  Jo didn’t trust herself not to cry if she heard her dad’s voice so she agreed to let Taylor take her picture. She struck a couple of poses while he snapped away with her phone.

  “I look like such a goof,” she complained. “I’ve never been good at having my picture taken.”

  Taylor hooked his finger under her chin. “You look beautiful.”

  Her eyes locked with his and her breath caught. He started to lean toward her when another man suddenly dropped down next to him, clapping him on the shoulder.

  “Making moves already?” Taylor’s brother said with a raised eyebrow.

  She turned away, trying to hide her heated cheeks. Taylor’s brother winked at her with a mischievous smile. She liked Dylan. He’d joined them for dinner a few times after his confrontation with Taylor. Without Tessa’s interference the two brothers were slowly establishing the brotherly bond they both craved.

  “Behave yourself,” Taylor growled.

  “Good to see you again.” Dylan nodded.

  Jo studied the two contrasts seeing Dylan dressed for work. They had a strong resemblance but Dylan wore his hair neatly cut and his face was clean-shaven. They shared the same piercing blue eyes and dark blond hair. Dylan always had a more serious air about him compared to Taylor. He was dressed in dark slacks, a pale blue oxford shirt, and dress shoes and Jo had yet to see him wear a single flannel shirt. Dylan rubbed his hands over his face and sighed, sitting back in his seat.

  “Tough day?” Taylor asked.

  “Some days are tougher than others.” Dylan frowned.

  “When was the last time you had a day off?” she asked, observing the dark circles under his eyes.

  “I’ve kind of lost track of the days to be honest.”

  Just then the food arrived. She thanked the server and asked if she could order the same thing again and then turned and handed her food to Dylan. “Here you need this—you look like you’ve had a long day.”

  Dylan looked from her to the food and back again and said, “Thanks,” in a rough voice.

  Taylor touched her hand and mouthed, “Thank you.”

  Just before the game was scheduled to start an usher came over to their seats. “Excuse me, Mr. Colton, if you’ll come with me I’ll take you down to the field.”

  Jo looked at Taylor in surprise.

  He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “This is the fun part of the job.” Jo and Dylan followed Taylor as he was led toward the field. They stood off to the side while he walked out to the pitcher’s mound. The crowd cheered when he was announced and then threw the first pitch. He shook the catcher’s hand and then jogged back to where Jo waited with Dylan. Someone from the front office handed him a large gift bag filled with Redbirds’s merchandise. And then turned to Jo.

  “Ms. Martin, will you please come with me?”

  Jo looked at Taylor but he just grinned and gently pushed her toward the man wearing a Redbirds polo shirt.

  She glanced up at the stands where Taylor and Dylan were taking their seats again while she was led to the dugout.

  The coach greeted her and gave her a jersey and invited her to sit through the first inning. The players took turns signing her jersey and the ones who didn’t have field positions chatted with her while the other team was at bat. At the end of the inning she returned to her seat beaming.

  “That was amazing, thank you.”

  “I’m glad you had fun.”

  When the usher returned after a few innings, asking Taylor if he would sign autographs for some of the team owners, Dylan moved into Taylor’s seat.

  “I haven’t really had a chance to say thank you for letting Taylor come back to Halcyon. I’m still angry about what Tessa did to you, but if this is what it took for my brother to finally figure out what’s been going on then I’m glad.”

  “I’m glad you and Taylor have been able to spend time together.”

  “It’s a lot easier with Tessa out of the way. I wasn’t as close to my brother as I wanted to be because of her. Some of it’s my fault. I’m not the greatest at work-life balance but when I’d try to make time to see Taylor she was always running interference, coming up with some reason why he didn’t have the time. I suggested once that she was lying to him and he didn’t speak to me for months.”

  Jo winced.

  Dylan gave her a curious look. “So…when did you two start dating?”

  Jo’s mouth formed an o, and she began to shake her head. “Oh no, it’s not like that. We started to…well we were getting close but it didn’t work out. We aren’t dating we’re just…I don’t want to rush into anything.”

  Dylan put his hand on her shoulder with a serious look. “I saw the way he was looking at you just now. Taylor’s not going anywhere. He’s a different person when he’s with you. He’s happy—the two of you are good together. I guarantee he wants something more than friendship.”

  She missed his kisses and the way he held her in his arms but she was scared to trust him again. Taylor returned and sat down next to her. She looked up at him and his eyes locked with hers for a moment and her breath caught at
the flash of desire she saw in their blue depths. The crowd roared, bringing her attention back to the game.

  Jo ignored Taylor and Dylan’s amused smiles while she sang “Take Me Out to The Ball Game” at the top of her lungs during the seventh inning stretch—she was back in a ballpark and having a blast. Taylor inched closer and closer throughout the game until he had his arm slung over the back of her seat, peering over her shoulder, watching her fill out her score card, quizzing about the game. The Redbirds had a massive rally in the ninth inning that had Jo screaming in the stands. When the fireworks went off to celebrate their victory she threw her arms around Taylor. “We won!” she exclaimed.

  “It looks like the Redbirds have a new fan.” Taylor pulled back, looking down at her with a smile.

  “I hope you’ll come back and visit us,” Jo said as the three of them made their way through the stands and out of the ballpark.

  Dylan embraced his brother. “I’ll try to make it down again as soon as I can.”

  Jo gave him a hug. “Thanks for coming out to the game. Take care of yourself, Dylan. Try to practice some of that work-life balance you were talking about, okay?”

  He nodded. “I’ll try.”

  “I’m worried about him,” Jo said as they walked back to Taylor’s truck.

  “Thanks for giving him your dinner—that was a really nice thing to do.”

  “He just looked so exhausted. I hope he’ll be okay.”

  “Hopefully he’ll take some more time off and come back to visit.”

  He reached over and took her hand in his. “Thank you for trusting me. I had a good time today.”

  Jo looked down at where their hands were linked. Her mind told her to be careful but her heart had already started to open again. The cab of the truck felt too small sitting next to Taylor in the dark, and she was keenly aware of the spark of attraction that had returned between them.

  That night when she went to bed she didn’t dream about Ada Mae. Her dreams were about Taylor and she woke up with an ache in her heart from missing him. She missed his kisses, and sharing secrets as they sat on the step leading out to the garden in the morning or at the end of the day.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The next day Callie called with the news that she had found a few pictures—one of the colonel and one of him with his wife and some from the late 1900s that might be helpful for restoring the interiors.

  The window of the library was decorated with bright-colored leaves and Halloween children’s books. Callie had laid out the pictures on the table in the center of the room when they arrived. Taylor glanced at Jo trying to gauge her reaction when she saw the pictures of the colonel with his wife.

  She looked from the picture to Taylor and back again with wide eyes. “You look just like him.”

  He looked at the image in her hand. Just like with the picture he found in the attic, he was looking at himself, thought Taylor. Even in the faded shades of dark and light gray, Taylor recognized his own blue eyes looking back at him.

  Callie pushed a pair of gloves toward Taylor and a matching pair to Jo before she picked up the first book and put it in front of him. “These are the Slave Schedules from the 1860 census—every man, woman and child in Colton and the surrounding area is listed here.”

  Taylor drew a sharp breath when Callie opened the book to a page marked with a small slip of paper. Master Absolem Madden Colton was written in the large elegant script of the time at the top of the page. He was listed under the heading “Slave Owner” in the first column. There were a series of numbers and letters in the next three columns, the ink faded brown with time.

  “These are the slave schedules for the Colton Plantation.” Callie went on to explain what each column meant. “The first column is the slave owner and the second is the number of people they owned. The next three list the age, sex, and race—B for Black or M for Mulatto.”

  “Mulatto?” Taylor asked.

  “That was the term used for slaves who were born from the overseers or the masters,” Callie said with a slight tremor in her voice.

  Taylor clenched his hands in his lap and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. When he opened them again the numbers on the page blurred before him.

  “One, Male, Black, two years old.” Jo’s voice shook as she read across the first row.

  “One, Female, Black, five years old,” Taylor read across the next line.

  They took turns reading down the columns. When they reached the bottom Callie told him to turn the page.

  He carefully lifted the yellowed paper and let it fall to the side. Unlike the first page there was a column filled out differently than the rest. His heart seized when he saw what was carefully printed out on the last row.

  Jo gasped. “Ada Mae Colton—she’s the only one who is named. He wrote her name. She was more than a number.”

  “I came here thinking everything was so straightforward.” He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. “I thought I knew…”

  Jo gently grasped his hand and linked her fingers with his.

  He took a deep shuddering breath and looked back down at the name on the page. He reached out with a gloved finger, running it over the letters that formed the name from the past that changed his future. He hadn’t really thought of Ada Mae as being real until that moment and he needed to know more.

  “Will you share what you know about Ada Mae?” he asked.

  “Let’s go home and I’ll tell you about her.”

  Taylor nodded. “That seems like the right place.”

  They walked out of the library with copies of the pictures and the pages from the Slave Schedule that Callie had prepared for them. He was quiet on the way back to the house and so was Jo. He glanced down to their joined hands while his other firmly gripped the wheel. It was as if they both needed the physical connection to ground them in the present while they faced their ancestors’ past.

  When they got back to the house he got out of the truck and leaned against the front, staring up at the house.

  “I hate it. I love the house but I hate what it represents and it all gets jumbled in my head sometimes and I get angry and sad and I feel so guilty.”

  Jo came around to the front of the truck and leaned against the hood next to him, her shoulder pressing against his. “History is complicated isn’t it?” She laughed softly, shaking her head. “You want to know something? My sister asked me if I had some kind of slave fantasy when I told her I was moving here,” she confessed.

  Taylor’s jaw dropped. “She said that to you?”

  “That, and a few other choice words.”

  “I…I don’t know what to say. That’s just…wow.” He exhaled, shaking his head. He turned to her. “You don’t think that I have…” He pressed his lips together. “You know I don’t have those kinds of…I don’t…oh hell,” he muttered. “I don’t have any kind of fetish about you. I mean Black women. I mean…I’m going to stop talking now,” he muttered dropping his head.

  Jo pressed her lips together trying not to laugh, and failed, tears streamed down her face. She laughed so hard she doubled over, holding her sides. “I’m sorry,” she gasped still chuckling. “I know it’s not funny. No, Taylor, I don’t think that about you. Some people do and that’s just…” She shook her head. “That’s a different conversation that I’m not interested in having. You may not be as charming as you think you are but one of the things I like about you is that you make me feel like you see all of me. Not just a Black woman or a computer geek but me, Josephine Martin.”

  He gave her a smile that sent her pulse racing. “You think I’m charming?” He raised his eyebrows.

  “I said you’re not as charming as you think you are.”

  “But you think I am just a little bit charming?” he asked holding up his thumb and forefinger.

  Jo’s lips twitched. “Maybe a little bit.”

  Taylor’s eyes lit up. “Challenge accepted.”

  “What challenge?”

&nb
sp; “I get to do whatever I can to convince you that I’m more than just a little bit charming.”

  They started walking toward the house when he saw a movement and what looked like the image of a woman in one of the windows. “Did you see that?” he asked, pointing to the second floor.

  She squinted at the window. “I don’t see anything.”

  “It must have been a reflection,” Taylor said, his eyes scanning the upper floor.

  “What did you see?”

  “I thought I saw a woman looking out of the window but I’m sure it was just a shadow. You often hear strange noises and see odd shadows in old houses.” He gave her a reassuring smile.

  He guided her toward the veranda but at the threshold Jo hesitated. He saw the worry on her face and offered to go upstairs and look around. Jo nodded and he told her to wait in the hall while he ran up the stairs. He did a quick tour of the upstairs bedrooms and didn’t see any sign of anyone or anything out of place. Jo was looking up at him anxiously when he came back to the top of the stairs.

  “Nothing unusual, not even a mouse,” he announced. “I haven’t thought about it but we should get an alarm system installed. I’m not really worried about trespassers but we do have a lot of expensive equipment around here.”

  “It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

  “I didn’t mean to scare you. If you don’t want to talk about Ada Mae now we can talk later.”

  She gave him a slight smile. “I still want to. Can we talk in the small parlor?”

  “How about I grab us something to eat and drink and you get a blanket and we’ll have a picnic dinner?”

  “Sounds good.”

  He quickly fixed a plate with cheese and crackers, grabbed a bottle of wine and some glasses, and headed to the parlor. Jo was spreading a quilt on the floor in front of the fireplace when he walked in.

  Taylor took a sip of wine and waited for Jo to begin. She stared at the fireplace for a little while, sipping her wine before she spoke.