Rose(65)

If she stayed.

“I’ll keep you company, ma’am, if you don’t mind,” Salty said, getting to his feet at the same time. “I know a bit about the constellations.”

George felt a pang of jealousy. He’d never sat in the moonlight with Rose, or talked of the stars. It seemed hardly a day passed that he didn’t find something new he wanted to share with her. He might not have an opportunity after tonight. He pulled his mind back to what promised to be an unpleasant confrontation.

“Each of us will have a chance to say what’s on his mind,” he said. “Make sure you say it all now. No matter what we decide, I don’t want to hear it again. Nobody can interrupt or ask questions until the speaker has finished. Okay?”

“Okay with me,” Monty said.

Jeff nodded his agreement.

“I want to go first,” Zac said, bouncing in his seat with excitement.

“You’re too young,” Jeff objected.

“Rose’s presence affects him as much as anyone else,” George stated. “He gets to have his say and cast his vote.”

Zac stood up on his chair and surveyed the room like one getting ready to make a far-reaching announcement. “I think she ought to stay because I like her,” he said and sat back down.

“You birdbrain,” Tyler said. “Is that all you have to say?”

“Let’s get one thing straight right now,” George said, giving Tyler such a severe look the boy subsided. “No one is to make slighting remarks about anyone else’s opinion. Regardless of what you think of their reasoning, it’s their opinion and they have a right to it, just as you do to yours.”

“But—” objected Tyler.

“If you can’t follow the rule, you lose your right to speak. Agreed?”

Everyone nodded except Tyler and Jeff.

“Who’s next?”

“I’ll go,” Tyler said. He stood up, looking all the taller because he was so thin. “I didn’t want any female here in the first place. I can do anything she does.”

George had to frown severely at Monty to prevent an outburst.

“I certainly don’t want any Yankee woman cooking my food. I also don’t like being bossed around. She’s been telling us what to do ever since she got here, and that ain’t right.”

Tyler paused.

“Do you dislike her?” George asked.

“Whether he likes her isn’t the point,” Jeff objected.

“It will make a difference in how I vote,” George said.

“I don’t dislike her,” Tyler admitted grudgingly. “She hasn’t been so bad lately.”

“That’s not the point,” Jeff interrupted.

“You through, Tyler?” George asked.

“I guess so.”

“Okay, Jeff, you can speak.”

The words started tumbling from his mouth before he got to his feet.

“It’s not a matter of whether we like her or whether she bosses us around. It’s a matter of principle. It’s a matter of what the Yankees did to us during the war. What they’re still trying to do to us through Reconstruction. I can’t see that woman, or think of her father, without seeing thousands of brave Confederate boys lying in the torn-up earth, their bodies ripped to bits by cannon fire, their life’s blood poured out in the dirt of one battlefield after another.

“How can you think of that woman in the kitchen and not think about the families whose husbands and sons won’t come home? What about Madison? Will he come home?”

George objected. “You can’t hold Rose responsible for Madison.”

“Then what about Pa? We know Yankees killed him. Shot him to ribbons.”

Jeff paused to look at his brothers, but none of them spoke.

“I don’t see how you can even consider for one moment keeping that woman here. I would never have believed it of you, George, not in a hundred years.”

George realized Jeff’s objections had nothing to do with Rose or her father. It was the war and what it had done to him and others like him. He would never accept Rose until he learned to accept his loss.

George wondered if Jeff would ever be able to do that.

“Have you got anything else to say?” George asked.

“Yes. I don’t see how I can stay in this house if Rose stays.”

Jeff sat down.

“I think it would be better if we refrained from making threats,” George said. “It’s unfair to the rest of us. Also, who knows when any one of us might want to change our mind? Casting down the gauntlet in that manner will just make it harder to do an about-face.”

“I won’t change my mind.”

“Which of you wants to go next?” George asked the twins.