The Raging Hearts: The Coltrane Saga, Book 2 (18 page)

“No, Nolie, don’t think like that,” Kitty whispered as the old woman began to cry. “You’re free now, the way God meant you to be. There’s going to be some bad times, but there will be good times, too. And try not to think harshly of Gideon. He really doesn’t know what he’s doing. He just listened to the wrong people.

“Hey,” she cried, making her voice sound happy. “I thought someone said they saw turkey tracks. I’ll bet a drumstick I can bag the first one. If we get busy, we won’t have to eat swamp roots for our supper.”

Gleeful cries went up from those anxious to forget the tense moments. They scrambled for their guns, though there were not many to be shared. They wouldn’t have had even those had they not been stolen from the bodies of fallen soldiers. Kitty followed them into the swamps, eager for fresh meat, wanting to think of anything but that disappearing group who had followed Gideon so proudly.

“Look ahead,” Kitty murmured to herself as she followed the others. “We have to keep looking ahead, because if we look back, God help us. If
I
look back, I don’t think I can keep going forward.”

Chapter Twelve

Kitty stared incredulously at the large stack of bills Sgt. Jesse Brandon had pushed across his desk. “That’s…that’s Yankee money,” she stammered, “and a lot of it. Are you sure the Union government owed my poppa that much?”

“You think we’d be paying it to you if it wasn’t owed to him?” Jesse snarled, keeping his head down. He knew he had to make this transaction fast. No telling when General Schofield would come back, and the two soldiers working under him had looked suspicious when he sent them out as soon as Kitty entered. They probably figured he was going to make a pass at her.

“Here. Sign these papers. We have to have a receipt that you collected the money.” He shoved the false documents across the desk. “And don’t take all day, please. I’ve got other things to tend to.”

Kitty reached for the quill, fingers trembling. Scrawling her name on the line he pointed to, she took a deep breath and stood back, still awed. “I just can’t believe it. Why, I expected a hundred dollars or so, but there must be much more than that…”

“Just over a thousand,” he snapped. “Like I told you, we found out your father never drew a cent of his pay. Left instructions that it be kept in trust for his daughter. You’re his daughter, so it’s your money.”

With that, she snatched the large stack of Union notes to her bosom, laughing a bit hysterically as a few fluttered to the floor and she stooped to pick them up.

“I asked you to hurry up,” Jesse said nervously, wiping at the perspiration that beaded his forehead. Damn that Corey McRae for getting him involved in this mess. If the general found out, he’d probably face a firing squad.

“I want to wait to thank the general,” Kitty said, pushing the money into the little bag the sergeant handed to her. “He was so nice to rush this through.”

“Hey, don’t do that,” Jesse said quickly—too quickly, for she gave him a puzzled look. Forcing a smile, he said, “I sort of went around regular channels, you know? Some friends owed me favors, and I put the squeeze on them to rush things up. The general might not like it. I mean, he’s real strict when it comes to following standards and procedures, you understand, Miss Kitty? I’ll tell him in a week or so that things are straightened out, but if he found out right now that I’d gotten it all taken care of so quick, he’d ask a lot of questions. Me and my friends could wind up in trouble. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“Oh, no, no, dear me, no.” She shook her head from side to side. “I’ll take this right over to the bank, and I won’t say a word to anyone. I will pay my taxes, though. Oh, thank you, Sergeant. Thank you so much.” He blushed guiltily as she ran around the desk to kiss his cheek. Then, her bag of money held tightly against her bosom, she hurried out of the office.

Jacob was outside, standing beside the old wagon. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him happily. “Jacob, do you see this bag?” She swung it under his nose.

“There’s over a thousand dollars in here. A thousand
Yankee
dollars. I’m going to go pay my taxes, and then you and I are going to go buy some lumber, and we’re going to start at once to build on Poppa’s land. We’ll buy seeds, plant a crop, build shelter for you and your people. Oh, Jacob, Jacob, I knew our prayers would be answered. We’re going to make it. I know we are.”

She swirled around and around beside him, face lifted to the hot July sun. She danced until she was dizzy, laughing as the old Negro righted her on her feet. “Oh, let’s hurry and get started, Jacob. I’m going to sleep on my own land tonight, on the ground.
My
ground. And we’re going to have food, real food. Tomorrow we plant corn and potatoes, and we’ll even buy some chickens and a cow. Jacob, Jacob, God is good! Life is good!”

Grinning, Jacob followed her to the tax collector’s office where she paid the delinquent taxes and then waved her receipt in the air happily. The collector frowned. He was a Yankee, brought in to take over the job, and Kitty could tell he hated to see a Southerner able to keep his land. She even waved the receipt under his nose, just as she had the precious Yankee money. Then, with Jacob still beside her, she danced out of the office and onto the street.

They went to a feed store and bought items to get their garden planted. Then Kitty went to buy staples—flour, sugar, coffee. She even bought material to make a few new dresses to replace the muslin once she wore in tatters. Once this was done, they went together to buy lumber, demanding it be delivered out to the Wright land that very afternoon.

As they were walking back toward the wagon, Kitty stopped suddenly and said, “Jacob, you wait for me. I want to get some more cloth. I want to start making baby things.”

“Miss Kitty, where you gonna put all this stuff?” Jacob asked worriedly, looking ahead to the loaded wagon. “You said you wants to sleep on yo’ land tonight, and what if it rains? This stuff gonna get ruint. Why don’t you wait befo’ you buys anythin’ else?”

“I want to have something for my baby,” she said stubbornly. “Now you just go ahead and wait in the wagon for me. I won’t be long.”

Kitty turned and started back to the store. She had not gone far when Corey McRae stepped out to block her path. He seemed to come from nowhere. Yet she had the feeling that he had been nearby, watching her every move. Her eyes raked over him coolly. He was dandily dressed, as usual, this time in a suit of blue, and he stood smiling down at her, tipping his flat straw hat. “Morning to you, Miss Wright. It seems you are busy today. I watched your nigra loading your wagon. Suddenly you are a lady of means.”

“It is none of your concern,” she said angrily, sidestepping to move around him, but he quickly moved to position himself directly in front of her. She sighed. “Will you please let me pass? We have nothing to say to each other.”

“Oh, yes, we do, Miss Wright. I want to apologize to you for any inconvenience or stress I may have caused you in the past. I was totally in error, and I would like to have your hand in friendship.”

She cocked her head sideways, eyeing him suspiciously. “Just what are you up to, Corey McRae? I have made it quite clear that I want nothing to do with you.”

“As I said”—he bowed graciously, sweeping his hat from his head and smiling—“I want to apologize. I understand you have paid your delinquent taxes and plan to rebuild on your land. Since we are to be neighbors, I think it would be nice if we were at least civil to each other. You are going to need help in getting a new start, and I have men, and supplies—”

“And so do I,” she snapped, cutting him off. “I do not need your help. As for being neighbors, you will live far enough from me that I doubt we will be running into each other. Now, I do have errands to tend to.”

“Ahh, Kitty, Kitty.” He rolled his eyes upward, sighing with mock exasperation. “What am I to do with you? Never have I met such an obstinate woman. I offered you marriage and respectability, which you indignantly refused. Now I offer you neighborly help and friendship, and this you refuse also. What do you want of me?”

Her eyes widened incredulously. “Are you deaf, sir? I ask merely that you leave me alone. I want nothing to do with you.”

He laughed. “Do you think I can leave such a beautiful woman alone? No, I have realized that I went about my pursuit of you in the wrong way, my lovely. I tried to force my attentions upon you, but you are obviously the sort who must be wooed and courted. This I plan to do. It causes me no distress to know that you are unwed and expecting a child. I find you extremely desirable, and I still intend to marry you one day.”

“And I find you mad! Now, sir, if you do not let me pass… She was reaching into the pocket of her skirt once again, feeling for the pistol she carried there.

He held his hands up in a helpless gesture. “Please! No guns today, milady. I give up. But only for the moment. I will still pursue you until you give me your hand.”

Kitty pushed against his chest with both her hands, catching him off guard. He stumbled backward and she was able to start by him. His hands moved quickly, however, and his fingers tightened about her wrists. Leaning very close to her upturned, angry face, he whispered harshly, “Kitty Wright, heed me well. The day will come when you will see the wisdom of the life I am offering you. I have made it my business to find out all about you, and I know that your Captain Coltrane left town very angry because you would not go with him. He does not want to live in Wayne County. He does not understand what your father’s land means to you. I
do
understand. I understand much about you and the high spirit that makes you the desirable, passionate woman you are. And I shall have you. There has never been anything in this life that I could not have once I set my mind to it. And I shall have you. On this, I swear my life.”

Kitty’s lips parted, but just then a high-pitched voice cried, “Just what do you think you are doing, Kitty Wright? Do you dare to throw yourself at men in broad daylight on a public street? I should think your kind would know your place and roam the shadows of night to sell your wares.”

Nancy Warren Stoner stood there, her face a mask of anger. She was wearing a bright yellow gingham gown. A matching parasol shaded her from the relentless sun. She tapped a foot as she looked at Corey petulantly. “You were going to take me to lunch at the hotel, remember? Must you embarrass me by conversing with this…this
slut
in public? I know how she throws herself at men, but—”

“Nancy, you are pushing me too far!” Kitty straightened as Corey’s fingers fell from her wrists. “I will not stand for you calling me names. I have no quarrel with you. I want only peace.”

“Peace!” Nancy spat out the word, eyes narrowed to evil slits. “You talk of peace? You, who are responsible for Nathan moldering in his grave. You are a traitor to the South, and you should be tarred and feathered and run out of town. You are just as sorry and no account as that no-good daddy of yours.”

That did it. Kitty grabbed Nancy by the shoulders and sent her sprawling from the boardwalk into the horse watering trough where she landed with a loud splash. As she floundered helplessly, hair and dress drenching in the sour water, screaming indignantly, Kitty leaned over and stared down at her, hands on her hips. “I told you, Nancy. You push me too far. Next time I will mash that hateful, arrogant face of yours right into the mud where it belongs. I have as much right to live in this town as anyone here. And I intend to do so, without being harassed.”

“Corey, Corey, don’t just stand there,” Nancy was screeching as people gathered to stare. They laughed, despite their feelings against Kitty. It was a sight!

“Corey, get me out of here.”

Corey, trying to keep from bursting into laughter himself, was reaching for her as Kitty turned back toward the wagon. There would be no joy now in shopping for the baby. That would have to come another time. Oh, she hated it when she lost her temper that way.

Kitty’s pace slowed as she saw the Negroes gathered around the wagon, saw Jacob’s frightened eyes, his slack jaw and quivering lips. She hitched up her skirts and broke into a run, reaching the gathering to elbow her way into the group. “What is going on?” she demanded. “Jacob, why do you look so terrified?”

Finally a stoop-shouldered man in rags, his hair the color of snow, said in a faltering voice, “Missy, there’s been a heap of trouble. A bunch of colored boys stole some horses last night…stole some other stuff, too…guns.…food…”

Now others began to talk excitedly. “The townspeople are plenty mad. They went to General Schofield this mornin’ and said they wanted them niggers hung.”

“Somebody said old Jed Wesley got shot at.”

“They say the vigilantes gonna ride.”

“Somebody gonna kill them niggers, and it’s gonna mean bad trouble for us all.”

“Yeah. White folks, they might start shooting any colored man, just out of meanness.”

Kitty bit her lip angrily. Gideon and his band had done what they set out to do. She saw the tears of fright welling in Jacob’s eyes. “Let’s go,” she whispered, touching his arm. “There’s nothing we can do now. It’s out of our hands.”

Just then two soldiers walked up, hands on their side arms, and one of them commanded, “All right, let’s break this up. There’s been enough gossip making the rounds this morning without darkies congregating.”

The other snapped, “The white people are in a rage over last night’s raids. It would be wise for you to stay off the streets.” His eyes swept over Kitty. “And what are you doing in the middle of all this, miss?”