Flight to Freedom, page 9
“Okay, we were just wondering.” Hawk scratched his chin and stared up at the porch awning. “You see …”
For Heaven’s sake, what was bothering them? “No, I don’t see,” she finally said.
Hawk looked at Dane, who looked right back at him. Hawk sighed and said, “Calder’s our friend. We’re just worried about him.”
“And not about me? Because I thought I was your friend too.” And back in the day, a whole lot more than a friend and you both know it, she thought. This conversation was starting to raise her hackles.
“You are, you are – it’s just that …” Hawk petered out and glared at Dane, which made sense. In the days of the Bauer Gang, Hawk had been the leader, the fellow who made sure the gang was united. Dane – Drake then – had been the tactician, and really didn’t care if you liked what he thought or not. If someone was going to be blunt here, it would be the would-be doctor.
Sure enough … “Look, if you’re trying to pull the wool over Calder’s eyes, we don’t appreciate it,” Dane declared. “If you’re taking advantage of him, we’ll put a stop to it. Honestly, we don’t know how much we can trust you –”
“Excuse me?” Rose set her mending aside. “Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me? Did I ever steal from you? Did I turn you in to a sheriff? I know I helped bring you back to the gang once, Hawk, but that was because I thought you still wanted to be in the gang, not here with Millie. So yeah, my mistake – and everyone else’s too. What did I ever do to you that you’d think I would act like you’re figuring?”
Dane was cornered, and knew it. “Well, we couldn’t be sure, you being … er …”
“A whore? Is that what you’re not saying? You figure a woman who sleeps with men for money is less trustworthy than a man who robs banks and shoots people?”
Hawk, the diplomat, held up his hands. “You’re right, that, that was unfair of us. We didn’t mean to offend.”
Well, maybe he didn’t. “Are you sleeping with Calder?” Dane pressed.
Rose stood up, incensed. “First of all, that is none of your goldarn business. And second of all, no.” It felt important that she say it. “Calder has been a perfect gentleman from the moment I arrived. I would’ve if he’d wanted me to, but he’s a good Christian man and he says he’s saving himself for marriage and I respect that.” So there. She understood they might think that of her, but why didn’t they think more highly of their “friend” Calder?
Hawk must have picked up on that. “You like him?” He sounded stunned.
She sat back down. “You know … I think I do a little.” She thought about it some more. “Maybe more than a little, I’m not sure.” Oh, my – that was more than she’d even told Reese.
Dane was still harder to convince. “You do? But he’s …” He cut himself off before Rose could.
“I do. And you know why?” She spoke the thought as soon as it arrived. “Because he’s kind to me.”
Now Dane was stunned – too stunned to talk, thankfully – so it was left to Hawk to continue. “Kind? That’s it?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Since I was fourteen, I’ve been with all kinds of men, rich and poor, big and small, every color of the rainbow. They’d get what they wanted and they’d go. Some of them were polite. Some were generous. But they came to see me for what they wanted to do. None of them visited my crib for my benefit. Not even you two – I may have been part of the gang, sort of, but did you ever think for one moment, ‘gosh, I wonder if I can do something nice for Rose Red without getting nothing back’? Did it ever cross your mind?”
Hawk and Dane seemed to find the toes of their boots fascinating.
“But since I arrived here and got dumped on Calder’s rug, he has been nothing but kind to me! He listens to me when I talk. He feeds me and lets me read his books and tucks me in bed at night. He’s never demanded I do anything. I had to beg him just to let me help around the house – otherwise he would’ve waited on me hand and foot! He’s treated me better than any man ever has. So yeah, that’s it. And yeah, I like him – why wouldn’t I?” She was near tears from anger at the Bauers, but she didn’t care. They wanted the truth? Let ‘em have it.
They were silent for a long, long time before Hawk spoke. “Rose … I, I’m sorry we bothered you. We should’ve known better. Um … if there’s any way we can be of help …”
“I’ll let you know,” Rose snapped. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a shirt to mend.” She picked up her mending, and didn’t look up again until after she’d heard Hawk and Dane leave the porch, remount and ride away. And good riddance, she thought.
Chapter Nine
Calder noticed that Rose was a little tense when she came in for lunch, but she insisted it was nothing she wanted to talk about, so he let it be. But he was surprised after dinner when she suggested they go down to Seamus’ Pub for a drink. He hadn’t visited the place since she’d arrived because … well, because he hadn’t needed to. He went there for the company – having a beer was just an excuse – and he’d had all the company he needed at home. But if she wanted a night on the town, why not?
So after washing and drying the dishes, they walked over to Seamus’, went in and ordered – his usual beer, an Irish whiskey and water for her. Seamus O’Connor, who’d probably heard about Rose from his sister, greeted her like a long-lost friend and gave her her drink on the house. Previously Seamus had declared the place a men-only territory – typical for an Irish public house – but that ended when he married Gloria DeVry and she put her foot down. Still, there were only a couple of other women in attendance.
“Hey, brother!” someone yelled over the din of the other drinkers. “Come on over – bring your girl!”
Calder turned to see Vespasian at a table in a far corner, a half-full bottle of bourbon and a shot glass in front of him. He also saw a lot of townsfolk looking at him and “his girl,” some not too politely. He wasn’t sure he was ready to call Rose anything other than his guest, though it was certainly an attractive idea. But he was sure some people wouldn’t approve of anyone calling a white woman his anything. He felt like Vespasian had just shoved him onto a tightrope like in a circus he once visited in Joplin.
Rose, apparently, had no such concerns. “You heard the man – let’s go visit.” She put her free arm through his and led him over, heedless of the prying eyes around them. Add “brave” to the list of her good qualities.
Vespasian laughed as they sat, clearly feeling no pain. “Wellwellwell, how’s the lady I pulled outta the ditch?”
Rose giggled, and Calder realized how much he enjoyed that sound. “Doing quite well, Mr. Grant. Thank you for rescuing me – I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t come along.”
Vespasian refilled his glass. “You sure looked awful scared when I did. Big ole black man riding up on you like that.”
“Oh, you don’t know the half. I saw you on that horse and I thought you were the angel of Death coming for my soul.”
Vespasian shrieked with laughter. “Lawwwd, that’s funny. Li’l ole me bein’ the Grim Reaper!”
Calder laughed too, more gently. The poor woman must have been terrified – no wonder she was out like a light when Vespasian brought her to his door.
“Well, I’m glad you’re all right, Miss Mahaffey. Very glad indeed.” Vespasian took a long sip of his drink.
“I’m surprised you’re still in town,” Calder mentioned. “You were so eager to get back to Texas.”
Vespasian nodded. “And every time I get ready to go, there’s another snow and I start feelin’ under the weather … heh, li’l joke there. Colds ain’t so easy to shake when you’re my age. This is the first night since I got here I’ve been out and about. And better here – Miz Lawson don’t care for her tenants medicatin’ ‘round the house, if ya get my drift.” He tapped the bottle in front of him. “This stuff do clear out the passages.” He took another sip. “But Texas’ll still be there when I get back – they ain’t movin’ it noplace.” He laughed again.
Calder wasn’t sure if the older man was using the bourbon to help his cold, or the cold as an excuse to tie one on. He also knew he had no business asking. He took a pull of his beer and tried to think of another subject.
But Vespasian beat him to it. “I been thinkin’ about somethin’. Your name, Owens – any connection to an Allen James Owens?”
Calder froze. He knew this feeling – the fear, the suspicion, the sense there was a gun pointed at your back, the knowledge of what would happen to him if anyone knew the whole story. Instinctively, he began to edge away from the table.
“Are you all right?” Rose asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Not too far from the mark, Calder thought. Maybe Vespasian Grant wasn’t what he had claimed. He glanced around, looking for the quickest way out of the building. If he moved fast, he could be riding Jones out of town in five minutes with everything he needed to take with him. Farther west – Colorado Territory, maybe – or turn south and head for Mexico. Mr. Graves would be disappointed, but surviving came first …
Vespasian waved a hand in front of Calder’s face. “Yo! You in there?”
“Keep your voice down,” Calder hissed.
Vespasian leaned back in confusion, then forward again. “What’s got ya all worked up, man?” he whispered back.
Calder decided to get it over with. “Be straight with me – are you a bounty hunter? Did you come here looking for me?”
Vespasian looked ready to laugh again, but didn’t. “You serious?”
“Serious as the Reaper himself.”
Rose was looking between the two men, eyes round as dinner plates.
Slowly Vespasian shook his head. “Man, I dunno who put that in your head. But I’m just a plain ol’ cowpuncher.”
“But you know about Allen James Owens.” Calder was still whispering.
Thankfully, Vespasian followed suit. “Course I do – he was kind of a legend. Dumbest man in the Confederate cavalry.”
Dumbest … “How do you mean?”
“I mean, he’s the only officer anyone ever heard of to get hisself killed by the Union with his own rifle!” Vespasian chuckled, Rose joining him.
But Calder didn’t laugh – he was too busy looking around to see who else might be listening. It didn’t appear that anyone was, but how could he be sure?
Soon the laughter stopped, and Rose hesitantly set her hand on his shoulder. “Calder? What’s wrong?”
The fear of people knowing was strong, but so was the urge to confess, to finally unburden himself of the poisonous memory. The tug of war between the two brought tears to his eyes and sweat on his forehead. He noticed his hands were shaking, and gripped the beer bottle to stop them.
“Whatever it is, we ain’t gonna get ya in trouble.” Vespasian glanced at Rose, who nodded. “We promise.”
Calder wasn’t sure what did it – the promise, or Rose’s touch, or just the accumulation of years. But some barrier in him cracked. “The Union didn’t kill him.”
The other two at the table were silent for a long time as other conversations went on around them. Finally Vespasian spoke. “What you sayin’, brother?”
“It was … it was February 5, 1864. I’ll remember that day as long as I live.” Calder delivered the words in a harsh whisper, as if yanking each phrase out of his gut. “Sherman’s army was trying to break out of Vicksburg to get to Meridian. Allen Owens was the master’s son – he’d volunteered with the 4th Mississippi Cavalry, and brought me along as his servant. There’d been a couple days of fighting, and the Union Army was pushing us all over the place.
“Master’s son had never been real nice to me, and he was frustrated ‘cause his unit was getting nowhere – we’d been run from pillar to post. He kept calling me names – lazy, stupid, no-account, no-good coon bastard, you name it, he was saying it – and he’d slap me for nothing. I couldn’t do no right far as he was concerned.
“That morning, we were camped outside Clinton when Sherman’s boys attacked again at dawn. We all woke up to the sound of gunfire and horses, and I was trying to get Master’s son ready fast as I could. He was calling me names and hitting me, waving his sidearm at me and saying he ought to shoot me down like a blind dog. I got him dressed and started loading his Enfield and he was cussing at me. And I was wishing I was on the Union side of the line or in the Free State of Jones instead of having this ofay treating me like mud on his shoe …”
Calder felt his throat drying out. He picked up his beer and took three long swallows before continuing.
“I don’t know what happened. I didn’t think about it. I didn’t make a decision. But some devil in me decided it for me. I’d finished loading the rifle, and I pointed it at his heart and pulled the trigger. And then I stood there, staring, just staring at him, like I was looking at something someone else had done. Outside I could hear the world going to pieces, and I just stood there. And he was lying on the ground in his tent, staring back, like he never thought I could do that. Finally he stopped breathing, stopped doing nothing.
“I came to my senses and dropped the gun and ran out of his tent and hid in some bushes. I hid there until the unit was chased out by the Union cavalry, and then until the Union boys left too. Once everyone was gone I headed north and kept heading north. I’d sleep in the day and move in the night – following the “drinking gourd” north, as they used to say. And I kept going for I don’t know how many days, until a Union patrol found me just outside Tunica.” Calder ran out of air and words, panting and staring at his beer.
Rose’s hand had never left his shoulder. She gave it a squeeze. “If you don’t mind me saying … I think he got what was coming to him, treating you that way.”
“No. No. I murdered a man.”
Rose shook her head. “He hit you. He was threatening to shoot you. You defended yourself. I’m no lawyer, but I think that counts as self-defense.”
“I’m no lawyer neither, but I think she’s right,” Vespasian added.
“They wouldn’t see it that way. I know how they’d see it.”
“Well, first of all, ain’t no one seein’ it but the three of us.” Vespasian glanced around.
So did Calder. Sure enough, no one was paying them the least bit of attention.
“And second, only the three of us know what really happened. Everyone else thinks Allen James Owens was just a thickheaded fool who got shot with his own piece. And you know what? They’re right – he was and he did. The only thing they don’t know is who pulled the trigger. And based on what I heard when I was with my master’s thickheaded fool of a son in Georgia later that year, takin’ care of his horses while he was getting’ his tail kicked by General Sherman, they don’t care. Ain’t no bounty hunters lookin’ for ya, Calder.”
Calder couldn’t speak for surprise. It was like being forced for years to keep a boulder from tumbling downhill, only to one day discover that it was light as a balloon. “So you’re saying …?”
Rose smiled. “He’s saying, Calder, you’re a free man.”
The double meaning hit Calder like a lightning bolt. He started laughing, and couldn’t stop until he started sobbing, his head on his arms on the table, crying like a baby. Rose was right – for the first time in his life, he was truly free.
Rose watched Calder with interest over the next few days. He had always been pleasant before, but cautious, afraid to put his foot in the wrong place. It was like part of him was still worrying about the master’s whip coming down on him.
Now … now he was relaxed. He smiled more easily, laughed louder, took care of stage arrivals with a little more bounce in his step. And people noticed. Even Reese commented on it over a long breakfast at the New Day Café. Well, actually she asked, “Are you and he getting up to mischief?”
“No!” Rose said in shock. “I’ve told you, he’s saving himself for marriage. Even if I wanted to, he wouldn’t.”
“Do you want to?”
Rose tried to slap Reese’s hand, but the store owner pulled it away too fast. “Reese, really!”
“That’s not an answer.”
“You’re darn right it isn’t, and you aren’t getting one either.” Mainly because Rose was afraid of what the answer might be. She’d never really wanted to – it was what she did for a living for all those years, and yes, there were times when it was enjoyable. But the men had rarely cared if she liked it, only if they did. The madams didn’t care either. It was work.
But what would it be like to be with Calder that way? He was strong and long-legged and kind, kind most of all. He would probably care if she was having a good time. He’d never committed the act, by his own admission, but that didn’t necessarily mean much – anyone could learn …
Oh, she was just being silly – he hadn’t shown he was interested in her like that. The only reason it was even on her mind was because Reese brought it up. “Why would you even think that about him?”
“It’s just that he’s seemed so happy lately – not that he wasn’t before, but now he’s more so. Something must be putting him in a good mood – naturally I thought it might be you.”
“I can’t take the credit.” Or wouldn’t. “It’s something … personal for him. He got some good news from back where he came from, and I guess it’s taken a load off his mind.”
“That’s good.” Reese sipped her coffee and made a face. “I have to get Molly to buy some beans from me. This tastes like river bottom.”
Rose didn’t think it was that bad, but she still snorted with laughter before draining her mug.
The bell over the door jingled, and Rose watched Dane stroll in. He hesitated just a moment as he walked by their table before sitting at the counter and giving Molly Higgins his order, not looking at them once.
