Darkness

Homochitto

Gregor

Towards the end of day two, building the cabin for Moses and Dalila, and I honestly can scarcely believe how fast it’s going up. This crew is good! They’ve had a lot of experience now, building a dock, a ticket office, a storage barn, and a boarding house extension, and it really shows in how efficiently we are putting together this little cabin. Over two dozen men, coordinating smoothly, are making short work of this project.

Floor complete, outer walls framed and bricked, roof up, and we are starting to fill in the interior walls. The cabin will have three main rooms, a large one with a kitchen and open area, and two bedrooms. I want for Dalila and Moses to be able to enjoy their privacy. Ayola will have her own small bedroom, but I suppose that over time, she may have siblings to join her there.

I wonder how long the family will live in this home? How many children might be born here? It’s possible that Ayola will grow up here. I smile to myself as I picture her here at age five, age ten, age fifteen. What will she be like?

As we are starting to wind down for the afternoon before it gets dark, Wolk tells me, “Harriet has continued observing Doctor Duncan and his patients throughout the day, and she has reported that there are now ten patients using beds at the Under-the-Hill infirmary.”

Goodness, I’m glad that we got it all set up. Wolk continues, “One of the patients is Ben. Samuel had gone home to collect some supplies and found Ben sleeping in their bed, and determined that his symptoms were severe enough that he shouldn’t be alone.”

Oh. This must be very hard for poor Samuel. I’ll bet he is planning to stay at the infirmary all night to keep an eye on his patients, especially now that he has such an important one there. Wolk nods his wolf head at me.

Hm. Unlike me, Samuel will need to get some sleep.

“All right, fellows,” I say, raising my voice to attract everyone’s attention. “I’m going to leave it to you to finish packing up the wagons and heading home for the night. I want to head into town to see how the infirmary patients are getting along. If I don’t see you again tonight, I’ll see you in the morning. I figure a dawn departure again, and we’ll want to leave a half dozen folks down there to help out the doctor as well.”

They casually bid me farewell, and it still brings me great joy to see how much they have re-adapted to my presence, after those awkward couple of months. Thank goodness that’s over. Mostly. For these fellows, at least.

I swing up into the saddle on Issoba’s back, and we gallop into town, arriving in just a few minutes. The distance really feels like nothing on my speedy horse. I go first to my house, and jump down, planning to leave him outside briefly. Jake comes around from behind the house to take Issoba’s reins.

“Hey Jake,” I say, “How’re things around here?” He doesn’t know that I know about Ben being ill.

“Ben’s sick,” he tells me. “Rosy and Nadine sent him home.” I nod acknowledgment. He pats Issoba’s side while the horse stands patiently in front of the house. “Want me to bring Issoba back to the stables?”

“Nah,” I say, “I’ll do it on my way down Under-the-Hill. I’m going down to see the patients. Including Ben, it seems. Just loop the reins around the post, I’ll be out shortly.”

As I’m heading in the door, he asks, “How’s the cabin?”

“Great,” I smile at him. “Moses is going to love it.”

Rosy is sitting in the parlor with Vernon and Sarah, and I smell something delicious coming from the kitchen. Hm, I hate to slight Nadine’s cooking again, but I really don’t want to wait for dinner before going down to help Samuel.

I sit on my armchair next to Rosy’s, and lean over to give her a kiss. I’d take the baby, but I’m pretty dirty from a day of construction.

“Did you get my message?” she asks me softly.

I grin. “I did!” I whisper. We can’t really talk more about it, with Sarah here. But Jake told me about Ben leaving, so I can ask, “How did Ben look when he left?”

“Terrible,” she says, “and trying to pretend that he was just fine. I sent him home to bed.”

I nod. “I’m going to head down Under-the-Hill to check on Doctor Duncan and all the patients. I expect I might be out pretty late. I hope you’ll be all right here?”

“Sure, we’ll be fine. Jake is here, and my mother and Jack will be right across the street.”

I look down at myself. “I’m going upstairs to clean up before I go,” I say. I can hardly go help tend to patients covered in grime like this.

Rosalind says, “Sarah, can you take Vernon while I go upstairs with Gregor?”

“Of course,” Sarah says softly, and reaches out for Vernon. He goes to her happily, and while she holds him under his arms, he bounces with his feet energetically on her lap, laughing. It makes me smile.

Natchez

Rosy

I follow him upstairs. I like helping him clean up, it is always fun to strip his clothes off and rub him down with a wet washcloth, even if we don’t have time for anything else. But I am also very eager to talk to him about what he may have heard from Harriet today.

When he closes the door behind us, I ask him, “Well?”

He grins and starts shedding his clothing, and I eagerly move over to help him. He laughs at me a little as he says, “It was so good, Rosalind, to be able to be kept informed about what was happening down here. I got your message that Ben had gone home ill. Then later I heard that Samuel had found him at home and taken him down to the infirmary Under-the-Hill.”

I have to laugh, while I am pulling his arms out of his shirt sleeves. “How is that fair? I’m the one down here and you know more about what is going on than I do!”

He smirks, and pulls me over to him, clasping me to his bare chest. Mmmmm. I reach up for a kiss, which he very obligingly provides. “Well,” he says, “I don’t suppose it is fair at all, but I have no idea how to fix it.” He sits on the side of the bed to take off his shoes. There’s a knock on the door, and I go to answer it, and Jake is standing there holding a pitcher of hot water.

I take it, and say, “Thank Nadine for us, Jake.” She knew what Gregor would want without even being asked. We are very lucky in our staff, who are really our friends as well. Gregor glances over at me with a nod, smiling. Wolk obviously told him what I was thinking.

I start to sponge him off with a wet cloth, but when I start getting a little too enthused about rubbing further and further down his torso, he laughs and takes the cloth away from me. “I would love to, darling, but I really don’t have time. I have to get Under-the-Hill to relieve Samuel. Wolk says he hasn’t taken a break for one minute all day, and he is exhausted and starving.”

I move over to the bureau to get out a fresh shirt for him. “What about you?” I ask.

“I’m not hungry, and if I am later I can get something from the boarding house.” He starts drying himself off. “I hope you don’t mind, darling, but I am going to offer to stay overnight with the patients. I don’t need to sleep, but Samuel does, and besides, you know that if I can get my hands on the patients, it will help them. Volunteering to take the overnight shift will give me the perfect excuse.”

I nod. He’s completely right. But, “I’ll miss you,” I tell him.

“I’ll miss you too,” he says, pausing to reach out and caress my cheek. I close my eyes and lean into his palm. I’m afraid it’s all I’m going to get from him for the rest of the night. He nods, and sighs.

Less than ten minutes after he gets home, he is already on his way again, and Sarah with him, since he offered to escort her home.

Vernon looks at me, and reaches up to grab my nose with a big baby gummy grin. “Just you and me tonight, kid,” I tell him.

Well, and Harriet, I guess. “Thanks for sticking here with me,” I tell her silently, and hope she thinks it’s funny.