The Land (41 page)

“She said she ain't.”

“I told her she couldn't stay, not the way things are.”

“Well, that gonna be up t' her.”

“I promised Mitchell I'd take care of Caroline.”

“Then ya 'spect t' keep that promise, ya best be forgettin' 'bout this Digger. Ya can't go keepin' promises from the grave.”

Sam Perry and Tom Bee talked to me through the rest of that night, and I began to focus on Caroline, on Caroline and her baby, and on my promise to Mitchell, instead of my own grief. They talked until there was nothing more to say. That next morning at daybreak we left the ridge and headed back to the forty.

It was nightfall by the time we reached the cabin. I didn't go in to greet Caroline or Nathan or the rest of the Perrys, but went straight to the shed, took off my boots, and lay down. Within minutes the shed door opened and Caroline stood looking down at me.

“So ya back, huh?” she said. Her hands went to her hips. “Well, next time you take off, I'd 'preciate you tellin' me face-to-face. I done lost my husband, now I gotta go worryin' 'bout you too? Don't ya do this t' me again, Paul-Edward Logan. Ya hear me? Not again.” The order given, Caroline turned and left the shed, closing the door behind her. I smiled for the first time in almost a week, and then I fell asleep.

 

I slept the night through for the first time since Mitchell had been shot. I was so tired, my sleep was a deep one and undisturbed. I slept way past the dawn until midmorning. When I woke, it was to the sound of a baby crying. The sun peeping between the logs was harsh against my eyes, and I got up. I opened the shed door and saw Sam Perry with Nathan and Hugh leading the mules who were dragging logs to the creek. I shielded my eyes from the sun with my hand as I gazed out.

“So you up!” called Sam Perry before I could speak. He laughed and gave a wave. Hugh and Nathan waved too.

“What're you doing?” I said.

“What it look like?” returned Nathan with a grin. “We gettin' these trees down t' the creek.”

Sam Perry nodded agreement. “My girl Caroline said you was gonna sleep all day, we best get t' it!” He let out another hefty laugh. “You best get on in that cabin. Womenfolks been done had breakfast for ya.”

“I see,” I said. “Well, I'll join you soon as I can.”

“No hurry on that,” said Sam Perry, moving on. “Jus' make sure you get your food first. You don't, those womenfolks gonna be mighty mad!”

I nodded absently as I looked toward the cabin. “I thought I heard a baby crying.”

“Most likely did,” Sam Perry affirmed. “My grandbaby's in there!”

“Yeah, Callie, she done brung her baby with her!” said Nathan.

“Ain't got time for jawin' now!” Sam Perry called good-naturedly. “That Tom Bee, he waitin' t' send more logs down t' the creek, so we best get movin'! But you, son, you take your time. No rush on you!” The three of them waved once more, then moved on toward the Rosa Lee. I turned back into the shed to find my boots. Before I could get the boots on, Caroline came again to the shed.

“Heard you was up,” she said, standing in the doorway as she had the night before, but this time with her hands clasped before her. “Ya wantin' breakfast?”

I adjusted my eyes to her silhouetted there. “Heard you were keeping it for me.”

“Won't be hot.”

“Doesn't matter.”

“Then ya come on in and get it.”

I nodded and she turned to go. “Caroline,” I called.

She stopped and looked back.

“I'm glad your folks are here.”

“Well, I'm glad too,” she said.

“Hope you're going back with them.”

Now those clasped hands of hers loosened and settled once again on her hips. “What give you that idea? Thought I done told you my mind 'bout stayin' here.”

“You told me. But seeing that they came for you—”

“They come to give me comfort.”

“And to take you back.”

“Well, like I done told ya, I ain't goin'.”

I hesitated, figuring already how Caroline would take my next words. “I want you to know, Caroline, I don't think it's right for you to be here, even with Nathan. I'm here a single man and you're a widow, and it doesn't look right—”

“You see me worried 'bout that?”

“Well, I promised Mitchell I'd take care of you.”

“And so how you figurin' on doin' that if I ain't here?”

“Well . . . my plan is first of all to secure this land—”

“And jus' what I'm s'pose t' do while you doin' that? Stay sharecroppin' on my daddy's place when I got twenty acres of my own right here? Now, that don't make no kind of sense to me. Mitchell might've made you promise to take care of me, but I figure the best way for you to keep that promise is for you to help me take care of myself.”

I took a moment to accept her reasoning and to gather my words for what had to come next. I fumbled with my boots and finally got them on. Then I straightened and looked directly at Caroline. “That be the case,” I said, “and you set on staying, then what I think we need to be thinking on after your mourning period is our getting married.”

“Mitchell told you t' do that too, huh?”

“He said . . . to take care of you. That's what he wanted.”

She grunted. “I know what he wanted. Told me same as you. Well, I loved Mitchell and I'm carryin' his child, but he can't tell me what t' do from the grave. Ain't nobody gotta take care of me, Paul-Edward Logan, and Mitchell can't make me marry you or nobody else.”

I heaved a sigh at her stubbornness, and I suppose at my own relief. “So you're just going to stay on here?”

“Look here, Paul-Edward, I ain't tryin' t' put you out or make you break your promise t' Mitchell. I'm jus' tryin' t' do for myself and for my child.”

“You're not going to change your mind?”

“Nope, I ain't.”

“Then what about the baby when it's time? Who's supposed to help you through that? It's best you're home with your folks.”

“You forgettin' Ma Jones jus' a few miles from here? All I gotta do is send for her.”

I sighed again.

Caroline waited, as if seeing whether or not I would say more on the matter. When I didn't, all she said was “You comin' t' get yo' breakfast?”

“I'll be in.”

She nodded and left. After a few minutes I followed her. I figured to leave the rest of my talking up to Caroline's family. I figured if anybody could persuade Caroline to leave this place, the Perrys could.

 

In the days following Mitchell's death while I was away hunting Digger, a number of people had come by offering their condolences to Caroline. Among them, I was told, were Charles Jamison and Wade. A day after my return, Filmore Granger and Harlan came to the forty, but offering condolences wasn't what was on their minds.

“Understand that boy Mitchell up and got himself killed,” said Filmore Granger as he and Harlan stood with me near the creek.

“He was killed,” I said flatly.

“Heard a tree fell on him.”

I nodded to that, and that was all. I didn't add anything about Digger.

“Well, he was a good worker.”

At least he gave him that.

Filmore Granger glanced around the clearing, then out toward the woods beyond the fields. “You still got quite a bit of cutting to do. How you expecting to get all my trees down without that boy?”

“It'll get done,” I said.

“You got seven months, no more.”

“I understand that.”

“Long as you do.”

Filmore Granger was silent a moment as he looked past me toward the cabin. “Who are all these people?”

I glanced around. Rachel Perry and Callie were hanging wash. Sam Perry and Hugh were leading the mules with a load of logs to pile them on the bank of the Rosa Lee. “Mitchell's family,” I answered, and that was all.

Filmore Granger grunted. “Where they from? Don't seem to know any of them.”

“They're not from around here.” I told him nothing more.

Filmore Granger stared curiously at the Perrys. “They planning on staying?”

“I don't know.”

“Well . . . long as my trees get cut.”

“There are logs ready now, if you'd like to run them down the creek.”

Filmore Granger gave me a hard look. “I'll come get them same time as always.”

I nodded. It was up to him. My look said it all, and I knew he didn't like it. He and Harlan mounted their horses. “Just make sure the number of logs you've got for me is the same as always,” he said. “I won't stand for a run being short, just because that friend of yours is dead.”

“It won't be,” I said.

Filmore Granger spurred his horse, and he and Harlan rode away. I stood staring after them, thinking on Digger. Sam Perry came over and joined me. “Understand from Caroline that there's the boss man own this place.”

“Not for long,” I said. “We've got seven more months, then it's ours clear.”

“You gonna be able to cut all the trees ya need?”

“Yes, sir, I'll get it done.”

“Wit' jus' you and Nathan and Tom Bee?”

“It'll be hard,” I admitted, “but it's been hard before. Mitchell and I, we can—” I stopped myself and there was a long silence between Sam Perry and me.

Finally Sam Perry said, “That's right, son. You ain't got Mitchell no more.” He laid his hand on my shoulder. “But I believes ya get it done. I believes ya will.” He took his hand away and sighed before looking out toward the cabin. “Jus' wish we could stay on here and help ya with it.”

“Your helping these last few days while my mind was off elsewhere has already helped save the place. With what Mitchell, Tom Bee, and I had already cut, we've got enough now for the creek run.”

“S'pose that boss man be happy 'bout that.”

“I don't know,” I said. “I get the feeling sometimes he'd like nothing better than for me not to live up to that contract we signed now that he's already gotten the bulk of his trees. He's getting his timber money from the lumber company. He's getting a clear field for planting too. He'd probably like nothing better than to take back the forty, but he won't, because I'm going to live up to that contract. Every tree he's marked will be down before the date we set.”

“Well, I sure believe that,” said Sam Perry. “One thing I want, though, is for ya not t' be worrin' on teachin' Nathan yo' craft right now while ya tryin' t' cut these here trees. Ya hafta keep yo' mind on one thing, and that there's on clearin' this land. Ya wait on teachin' Nathan. There ain't gonna be time right now.”

“No, sir, Mister Perry,” I said. “That's mighty generous of you, but we made ourselves a bargain. Nathan's been a great help in getting the trees cleared. I don't know how Mitchell and I could've managed without him. I intend to keep my end of the bargain.”

“And ya will! Only thing is, we needs t' wait 'til after all these trees ya done promised t' this man are down and ya got yo' land papers. Ya don't get them papers, then my Caroline got nothin' for herself and her baby. Now, Nathan and I done talked it over. He ain't wantin' t' leave from here. He wantin' t' stay on and help ya get this land and he wantin' t' put all his time int' that. He already done told me he ain't gonna do no woodworking even if you do. He gonna spend his time choppin' them trees, choppin' branches, doin' whatsoever need t' be done t' help clear this forty. 'Sides all that, in a way ya kinda like family now. We gots t' pull t'gether.”

My eyes met Sam Perry's and I knew he had faith in me. I figured to live up to it. I decided not to fight him; he was right.

I looked out at the woods still thick beyond the fields, and my mind set on the deal I had made with J. T. Hollenbeck. I could keep the forty, but without Mitchell, and without the palomino to sell, I didn't know how I was going to keep the land.

 

I had been wrong about the Perrys being able to persuade Caroline to return home with them. Sam Perry talked to Caroline, Callie talked to Caroline, and so did Hugh. The only one who didn't talk to Caroline, at least not in my hearing, was Rachel Perry. The others, however, seemed to make up for any silence on her part. But the more they talked, the more stubborn Caroline became. Finally she said to them outright: “Papa, you and Mama, y'all talked me into waitin' near a year 'fore marryin' Mitchell. But this time nobody talkin' me into nothin', not even you, Papa. I loves you, Papa, and I respects you and what you say, but my mind's made up 'bout this thing. Now, y'all take Nathan on home if you got a mind to, but that won't change my mind none 'bout stayin' here. Callie, Hugh, I'm tired of hearin' 'bout leavin' from the two of you. I know y'all loves me and wants what's best, but this here what was Mitchell's land is mine now, and I'm stayin' on it.” After that there were few words said about Caroline leaving.

The Perrys stayed on for several more days. Sam Perry and Hugh put in the long hours with Tom Bee, Nathan, and me, and we made up for the days missed when I was off looking for Digger and Tom Bee had had to come searching for me. But hard work wasn't all the Perrys gave. They brought some normalcy back to our lives and even a bit of laughter. Having the Perrys on the place lifted all our spirits. As the family consoled Caroline, and Nathan too, I took note of Callie's child. She wasn't quite a year old, but she made her presence felt in everything she did. I watched her and thought of Mitchell's child and how much life he could bring to the forty. Still, I didn't see how that could be. Caroline had to leave.