Bring the Boys Home (10 page)

Tom reached out and took her shoulders. “Sarah!” His voice was intense, and he held her for one moment, looking into her eyes. “I still love you like I always have.” He swallowed hard and said, “I haven’t got a thing to offer you, but will you marry me?”

Sarah’s lips turned up. “I’ll marry you.”

And then he kissed her.

When he lifted his head, she said archly, “I’ll marry you, but you’re going to have to come courting, just like Rosie and Royal are doing!”

“Oh, Sarah, I love you so much, I’ll even get a guitar and sing songs under your window.”

“No, don’t do that! You’d scare the chickens.”

I
can’t help worrying, Eileen.”

Nelson Majors and his wife were sitting in their almost bare living room. It had only a few scattered pieces of furniture to adorn it. They had done their best with the house, but it was still a shack. It was so weakly constructed, in fact, that Nelson and Tom and Jeff had cut saplings to brace it on the north side where it threatened to collapse. In some places, the boards had shrunk so that birds could fly through the cracks. Jeff fought a never-ending battle against the rats that were inhabiting the place when they moved in. And the attic proved to be full of bats, which frightened Eileen.

She had never made a single complaint. She had kept herself cheerful, though she was not feeling well. “It’ll be all right, Nelson,” she said now. “You’ll find work soon.”

“No work and no future.” His voice was filled with gloom.

Tom and Jeff’s father was by nature a cheerful man, but the incessant struggle to find a better place for his child to be born was weighing heavily upon him. Dan Carter had told him again and again to trust God. He knew that was what he must do. He had spent hours working on the old house but also many hours out in the woods, simply walking and praying.

As much as possible, he was on the move looking for work. He had been an engineer in the army, but there was little call for engineers in Pineville. He had thought at one time he had a good chance to work for the railroad, laying new tracks. But when this called for him to leave Kentucky and go to the far West, he had to decline.

Eileen put her hand on his. “It’s not too late for you to take that job with the railroad.”

“No, I couldn’t do that. I’ve got to be here when the baby comes.”

She squeezed his hand. “I’ll be all right. You do what you think you need to do.”

Nelson was tempted, but he knew he could not do it. He held her close, saying, “We’ll make out somehow. I’ll go hunting tomorrow. There’s some fat deer over in the bottomland by the river. We won’t starve anyway. But I didn’t have in mind bringing you to a place like this, Eileen. A man wants to do better than this for his family.”

Leah and Jeff stopped at the edge of the ravine and stood panting.

A bright sun looked through the scattered clouds, casting down its beams. Jeff removed his hat and wiped his brow with a red bandanna. “Sure is hot for May,” he said.

“It certainly is.” Leah had, at Jeff’s request, found a pair of overalls that had belonged to her brother, Royal. She had donned a light, pale green shirt and wore a straw hat that covered her blonde hair, except for tendrils that escaped from time to time. Stuffing the curls back under the hat, she said, “I know why you wanted to come here, Jeff.”

“Sure, I wanted to see the old home place.” He stood looking down into the small valley below. The house seemed to have been made to nestle inside the bend of the creek that half circled it. On the north side was lush pastureland with cows grazing placidly in the soft, green spring grass. Farther on and to the west, the mountains rose, but not before plowed fields gave back the sun’s heat to the skies.

“Sure is a pretty place,” Jeff murmured. “Pa built that house himself. I was only three years old, but I remember getting in his way trying to help.”

“It is a pretty place.”

They stood silently gazing down at the old homestead. It appeared to have been recently painted.

Then Jeff murmured, “I remember Ma made Pa fix those shutters. Then we got into a fight about what color to paint them. I wanted orange, and they laughed at me for that.”

“Who picked out the blue color?”

“Ma did. Pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.” A longing came over Leah, and she wanted to say something like, “I wish you still lived there,” but she knew that would only hurt Jeff. Instead, she said, “Look, there’s Thunder.”

“By george, you’re right!” Thunder had been one of his father’s prize horses. They had sold the animal to the Joneses, when they bought the farm. “He still looks good. Tom used to win some races on him. Good old Thunder.”

As if he had heard the boy’s voice, the bay lifted his head and pawed at the dirt, then broke into a run. Leah could hear the sound of his hoofs, like miniature thunder, even high on the hill where they stood.

Jeff said, “I’d sure like to throw a saddle on him and ride him hard and fast about as far as I could get.”

Not wanting him to become sad, Leah said, “Why don’t we go down to the creek now?”

“We didn’t bring any lines to fish with.”

“I know, but maybe we can catch a turtle or something.”

“I think it’s the funniest thing I ever saw,” Lori said, looking out the window.

Royal came up beside her. “Why? It’s only Rosie.”

“I know, but look what he’s got with him.”

Royal grinned. “I know. He’s brought Charlie’s wedding present.”

“You must call her Charlene now. She’s a grown lady.” Then she called out, “Charlene! Your fiancé is here!”

A door slammed down the hall, and Charlene quickly appeared.

“He’s out front, and he’s got something you’re going to like,” Lori said.

Rosie stood in front of the Carter house with a set of matched blue-nosed mules, tall and strong-looking. One suddenly made a wild bite at his shoulder. He leaned back, avoiding the heavy teeth, and whacked the mule across the nose. “Stop that! Do you hear me?”

Wonderingly, Charlene came close to the huge animals. She reached up and stroked the nearest one’s nose. “Oh, Rosie, they’re the most beautiful mules I ever saw. Every bit as pretty as the pair I had back in Georgia.”

“Well, they’re kind of a weddin’ present, you might say. A little bit early, but I thought we might hitch ’em up and see how they do.”

“Let’s go right now!”

“Wait a minute!” Rosie said in alarm. “You can’t plow in that pretty dress! I’ll tell you what—you let me do the plowing, and you do the watching.”

“No! Well … all right for now. Come on, Rosie!” She grabbed his arm, and the two led the mules almost at a run toward the open field.

Inside the house, Royal and Lori were laughing heartily at Charlene’s excitement.

“I never thought a woman could get so excited about a pair of ugly mules,” Royal said, sitting on the couch.

Lori sat down beside him. “They’re not ugly to her. She loves mules.”

“I think they’re going to have their farm and everything ready by the time they get married. You know, I thought Rosie was kind of a slowpoke, but when he gets going he is really something. Here he bought himself a farm, got him some blue-nosed mules, got him a bride picked out. He’s all set.”

They were interrupted then as Tom and Sarah came in. They had been in the kitchen, making lemonade, and Sarah carried four glasses on a tray. “Here, try some of this,” she said. “It’s not cold, but it’s wet.”

The two couples drank lemonade and laughed about the mules. Then Tom said, “Royal and Lori, Sarah and I’ve been talking. What would you say if we had a double wedding? We’ll all be in the family.”

“Oh, that would be wonderful!” Lori said.

“It’ll save money too.” Royal winked across the
room at Tom. “We won’t have to pay the preacher but one fee!”

“You are awful, Royal!” Sarah said.

“Well, every penny counts, but I think it’s a great idea.”

After a while Sarah said, “Why don’t we go to town right now, Lori, and see if we can find some material for our wedding dresses—if the men will take us.”

“Wonderful!”

And soon a buggy was on the way to Pineville.

“I never thought anyone could be so happy,” Sarah whispered to Tom. They were in the backseat, and he had his arm around her. “I’m the happiest girl in the world.”

“No, you’re not!” Lori turned around and grinned. “I am!”

A small argument took place over this, and finally the girls agreed that they were equally happy.

Shopping trips in Pineville did not usually take long. There were only three stores that would have anything like wedding dress material.

For a time, Tom and Royal stood looking on as the young women apparently had to examine every bolt. Once Tom made a suggestion, saying, “I kind of like that,” but he was at once shouted down.

“That ugly thing! I wouldn’t wear that to a dogfight!” Sarah said indignantly. “You two go somewhere and entertain yourselves. Come back in about an hour or two.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Royal said.

The men went to the blacksmith shop and watched the farrier shoe horses for a while, an operation that always fascinated Tom.

They had just left and started down the street when Dewitt Falor appeared out of nowhere. He saw them and headed in their direction, his head thrust forward and his eyes hot with anger.

“He’s spoiling for a fight, Tom,” Royal said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I can’t spend the rest of my life running from Dewitt Falor.”

“You can’t fight him either.”

“Why can’t I?”

“He’s a no-good, spoiled, rich brat, but he’s smart. He wouldn’t come at us this way unless he had a plan.”

As if by accident, other men began to gather round as Falor strolled toward them. Some of them Tom knew.

“There’s Buck Noland and Arlo Simms. They’re wanting to beat me up again, I guess. Maybe they’ll hold me while Falor does the job.”

There were at least a half dozen others in the crowd.

When Falor stood in front of him, Tom said, “I don’t want any trouble with you, Dewitt. I just came to town for my fiancée to do some shopping.”

At the mention of Sarah, Falor’s face flushed. He had always been able to get everything he wanted— except Sarah Carter. Tom well knew that he had been boasting around town that he might have lost Sarah but her bridegroom was going have to pay for her with blood.

A shifty-eyed man Tom had never seen before said, “Why don’t you Rebels just go back where you come from?”

A murmur of agreement ran around. Visibly encouraged by it, the man began to curse the South.
The chorus was taken up by others. Someone shoved Tom, and Royal said, “Dewitt, call these bums off!”

“Who you callin’ a bum?”

Somebody struck Royal in the face. It was a wild, wicked blow, and he flew backwards.

Tom swung from the heels, catching directly the nose of the man who had hit Royal. Blood spurted, and the man uttered a howl before he fell.

Buck Noland said, “Get ’em!” and the men surged forward.

For a brief time, Tom and Royal did well, but the weight of numbers soon wore them down. Royal managed to put another one of the attackers on his back, but then two more men joined the fray.

“We’ve got to run for it!” Royal cried.

“No.” Tom gritted his teeth. “I’m not running anymore!” He took a blow high on the temple that half spun him around. He turned back to see that it was Dewitt Falor who had struck him. “What about just you and me, Dewitt? That’s what this is all about.”

“Me fight you? Why, sure. That’s what I wanted all the time.”

“What’s going on here?”

The men all turned to see Rosie and Drake Bedford running across the street. Drake was a known fighter, and Rosie was his equal. The odds had suddenly shifted.

Rosie took the burly Noland by the shirt collar. “I’m gonna have to disconnect you, I reckon. You don’t learn no other way.”

“Wait a minute!” Tom’s heart warmed to see who had come to his side. He looked across at Drake and Rosie and said, “We fought on different sides, fellas …”

“I know that,” Drake said carelessly, “but I always had respect for you Confederates.” He glanced at Simms and Noland. “Unlike these snakes here. Nobody could respect them! I think we better begin to proceed to commence to wipe up the deck with ’em.”

“No,” Tom said quickly. “I appreciate you fellas coming to help, but this is between me and Falor.”

“That’s right,” Falor said quickly. He was a tall, thickset man with strong-looking shoulders, although he had developed a fairly large stomach. Tom had an artificial leg, and Falor outweighed him by at least thirty pounds. “Let’s us have it out right here and now! We’ll see who the best man is! I’ll put you in such shape you won’t get married for six months!”

“All right. Just you and me then, Falor.”

Tom stepped into the street, and Falor followed. Immediately a ring of men encircled them.

Falor cried, “I’m gonna bust you up! You stole my girl!” He threw a huge fist that would have ended the fight right then had it landed.

But Tom simply moved his head to one side, and as Falor went by, off balance from the force of the blow, he pivoted and struck the huge man in the small of the back.

Falor turned around, his face contorted. He took a deep breath and threw himself straight at Tom again.

Rather than being wrestled to the ground by the heavier man, Tom slipped by and struck him directly in the throat.

It was a well-aimed, hard blow. Falor suddenly seemed unable to breathe. Grasping his throat, he began to gag, and the men in the circle looked
stunned at the ease with which Tom had stopped the big man.

“That’s enough of this, Dewitt,” Tom said. “No sense fighting. We’re going to be living in this town a long time. Are you willing to shake hands and start all over again?”

Falor probably was not willing but was in pain from his beaten kidney and still could barely speak. His friends were staring at him with disbelief. Tom’s friends were staring at
him
with wide grins.

Falor suddenly reached out, pressed the hand Tom offered, and croaked, “All right, I guess.” Then he wheeled and made his way down the street, weaving slightly.