“I do.”
“I saw the way you made Beau leave her side at dinner last night.”
Drake walked over and banked the fire in the forge. “He made his own decision.”
“His own decision, my ass. You were two seconds away from tossing him into the street. You can’t have a woman who’s already promised, Drake.”
“I know that. Have known that. She climbed trees when she was young, Rai.”
Rai dropped his head and shook it with amusement. “Just the kind of woman every Tree House King needs. How far gone are you?”
“Far enough.”
“If she leaves, then what?”
Drake shrugged. “Ride north and steal her back?”
Their grins met.
“Spoken like a true pirate.” Rai paused for a moment, taking Drake’s measure, then added, “I know you don’t need my advice.”
“Correct.”
Rai chuckled. “Never mind then. Do what’s best for her. Not you. But if you need me to ride north, let me know.”
Drake loved his brothers, but he loved Rai the most. “I will. Safe travel to Lafayette.”
Rai nodded and made his exit.
Drake blew out a long breath and went back to work.
Valinda stood in the back of the wagon and took in the miles-long line of Black and White faces and tried to keep her heart from breaking. She and Sable were among a group of volunteers distributing food, but she hadn’t expected it to be such an emotional undertaking. There were families, single men, single mothers holding infants, and elderly women with toddlers latched onto their homespun skirts. There were old people lying in the beds of listing wagons and others perched on the backs of swayback mules. All were hungry. All waited patiently. What pulled most at her emotions was the resignation in their eyes. Many took the rations of pork, yams, and beans with a nod of thanks; others simply walked away.
She dragged yet another ten-pound bag of yams to the wagon’s edge. The muscles in her arms burned in response to the unaccustomed heavy lifting. “My arms are on fire,” she told Sable.
“It’ll go away in a few days. Take a break and go help Mrs. Bentley at the stipend tables. She needs to be relieved. She’s seated at the table beneath that oak over there.”
Val took in the two long lines of people stretching from the table and back across the open field. “Why are the lines divided by race?” One held Blacks. The other Whites.
“The older White women don’t want to be in the same line as the people who once worked for them.”
Val found that sad. Everyone there was seeking assistance of one type or another, yet bigotry continued to take precedence in some minds. Wondering if the nation would ever rid itself of the divisive thinking, she left Sable and set off across the field.
Hundreds of people were milling about. On the surface, the gathering could have passed for a country fair, if it weren’t for the lack of gaiety. The majority of the people standing in the sweltering New Orleans heat were there for food, to report beatings, murders, and other incidents of violence to the Bureau agents in Union blue, and to apply for government stipends. The only people smiling were the freedmen in line to be married.
Mrs. Bentley, a thin middle-aged White woman from Ohio, was one of the hundreds of missionaries who’d come south to assist the Bureau. After a quick introduction, she had Val take a seat in the rickety cane chair beside her. “Watch me for a moment and then you’ll be on your own. I’m going to go help with the marriages. I need some joy after sitting here all morning.”
Val read over the government-issued form she had to fill out for each applicant. There were columns for the applicant’s name, age, number of children in the household under fourteen, and the reason the person wanted assistance. Her table handled the White women, and after watching Mrs. Bentley conduct a few of the interviews, she was left alone.
“May I help you?” she asked the older woman next in line. Her brown gown was stained and wrinkled, the hem tattered and dirty. Her thin gray hair was pulled back from her bony tight-lipped face and she ignored Val as if she hadn’t spoken. “Excuse me, ma’am. If you’ll step closer I can fill out your form.”
“I’ll wait until the other woman comes back,” she said firmly, not meeting Val’s eyes.
“She isn’t coming back.”
Hearing that, she immediately got out of line.
As she walked away, Val stared with surprise. A few others within earshot stared as well. Val sighed.