The Land(102)

“No such thing,” I said. “And, please, no more calling me ‘Mister’ Paul-Edward, all right? Paul-Edward will do just fine. Even Nathan calls me Paul. After all, we’re like family in a way now.”

She smiled. “I know Mitchell says y’all like brothers.”

“That’s a fact.”

“Still, I feel like I’m puttin’ you outa your house.”

“Well, don’t feel that way. It won’t be a problem, really. It’ll only be for a short spell, just ’til we get your house built.”

“But I hate to think of all y’all havin’ to sleep in the shed.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve slept in a whole lot worse places.”

“Ain’t that the truth!” said Mitchell, coming up behind Caroline and slipping his arms around her. “Like Paul said, don’t worry ’bout it. We’ll get you a house built soon enough.” He kissed her cheek, and Caroline glanced back at him with a smile. They looked good together.

That next morning after the wedding, Nathan and I headed back to the forty. We left the wagon and one of the mules with Mitchell so that he could bring Caroline and her things. Nathan rode the other mule. I rode Thunder. I had decided it was time to have the palomino with me. After all, I was paying board money to Luke Sawyer I figured I could now save. Besides that, although Thunder was allowed to graze in Luke Sawyer’s pasture and was getting decent feed, he wasn’t getting the exercise he needed. No one but I, so far, could ride him. There were enough trees now cut on the forty so that there was open land and plenty of grass. I figured to graze Thunder on that grass and to race him too, at least on the forty. It felt good to be riding him again.

Mitchell stayed a week with Caroline at the Perry farm and that was fine with me. We were on schedule with the trees, and I was figuring by this time next year we’d own the forty outright and have ourselves a crop. When Mitchell came back, I knew we’d have to work hard to make up these few days missed if we were going to stay on schedule, but I figured a wedding was worth it. Most folks only got married once, and what was before Caroline and Mitchell was a lifetime. They might as well start it right.





The Promise

Caroline’s arrival changed many a thing. It wasn’t just that she now occupied the cabin with Mitchell, but more it was her presence that was felt all across the forty. One week after Mitchell brought her from her parents’ farm, Caroline had a new and much larger garden planted, and it was a garden for which she had broken ground herself. She asked no help from any of us. Right away she had taken over all the household chores too, and that in itself made a big difference, for it freed Mitchell, Nathan, and me for more chopping time. The most welcomed change, though, was in our meals. After Caroline’s arrival, there was no longer just grits with a cup of hot chicory for our breakfast, but also eggs, crusty biscuits and sausages, gravy and preserves, and fresh milk. It was that way from then on, for Caroline had brought with her a store of her mama’s preserves and canning, as well as her daddy’s meats from their smokehouse. She had also brought a rooster and two laying hens, two piglets, and a milking cow. They were all presents from her family to her and Mitchell. Dinner and suppertime were no less than the breakfast, with vegetables and corn bread, preserved beef or venison, and a pudding or a cobbler of some kind. Whatever Caroline cooked was a feast; she was as good a cook as her mother, and no matter how busy Mitchell, Nathan, and I were, Caroline insisted we come eat her good food. “How y’all ’spect t’ keep your strength, y’all don’t eat. Lots of trees up there still, and I ’spect y’all can cut a few more y’all got good fueling in ya!”

I found Caroline was a precious kind of young woman. She was strong-willed and outspoken. She was loyal. But she also had a temper, and she proved that more than once. I’d already seen her slam her knuckles into her friend’s jaw at Mount Elam. Soon after she was on the forty, she let that hand go again across another young woman’s face. The young woman, I soon found out, had made the mistake of speaking ill of Mitchell, and she’d made that mistake to Caroline’s face. The woman’s name was Minnie Scott, and it just so happened that I was coming from chopping when I witnessed Caroline’s confrontation with her. This time I didn’t hear what was said. I just saw Caroline suddenly haul off and slam Minnie Scott with the flat of her hand. When I got into hearing distance, Caroline was ordering the woman off the forty. Minnie glanced up at me, turned, and hurried away without a word. Caroline, hands on her hips, watched her go, then picked up her hoe. That’s when she saw me. She glanced back over her shoulder at the retreating Minnie, and looked at me again. “’Spect you seen that, huh?”