father-in-law. Why don’t you invite us in, light a lamp and we can talk this out?”
Matt hesitated. If someone else were watching them, it would be better to get them all inside. And he couldn’t see any reason not to take them at face value. Four years of war had whittled down a good deal of his society manners. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to be rude.”
Matt gripped the man’s gnarled hand briefly and then gave way, leading them to the parlor off the entry hall. He lit an oil lamp on the mantel and set the glass globe around the golden point of light. Then he set a vase in front of it, making sure the light was diffused and didn’t make them easy targets. He knew what Fiddlers Grove was capable of doing to those with unpopular views.
Turning, he watched the woman sit down on the sofa. She coaxed the little girl, also dressed in black, to sit beside her. Joseph chose a comfortable rocker nearby. Matt sat down on the love seat opposite them, giving him the best view of the front parlor windows. He rested the rifle on his lap at the ready. Now that he had more light, he saw that they looked weary and travel-worn. But what was he supposed to do with them?
He was still unable to make out the woman’s face, hidden by the brim of her plain black bonnet. He glanced at her hands folded in front of her. Under her thin gloves he saw the outline of a wedding band on her right hand. Another widow, then. Every town was crowded with widows in mourning. He knew they deserved his sympathy, but he was tired of sidestepping the lures cast toward him.
He watched the woman untie and remove her bonnet. The black clothing, Quaker speech and the title of teacher had misled him. He’d expected mousy brown hair and a plain, older face. But she looked to be around his age, in her midtwenties. Vivid copper-colored hair curled around her face, refusing to stay pulled back in a severe bun. Her almost transparent skin was illuminated by large caramel-brown eyes. The look in those eyes said that, in spite of her fatigue, this widow was not a woman to dismiss. A vague feeling of disquiet wiggled through him.
Why are you here? And how can I get you to leave? Soon?
As if she’d heard his unspoken questions, she began explaining. “I was told in a letter from the Freedman’s Bureau to come to this house this week and get settled before I start my teaching duties next week. But I was not told a gentleman would be at this house also.” The cool tone of her voice told him that she would not be casting any lures in his direction. In fact, he’d been right. She sounded as disgruntled to find him here as he felt in confronting her.
Good. But what had happened? Matt frowned as he added up the facts. He should have expected something like this—everything had been running too smoothly. The Freedman’s Bureau was part of the War Department. And after serving four years in the Union Army, he didn’t trust the War Department to get anything right. “There’s been a mistake.”
“Obviously,” Joseph said dryly.
“Would thee mind telling us what thee is here for?” Mrs. Hardy asked him.
He did mind, but he thought an explanation might help resolve the problem. “In general, I’m here to help former slaves adjust to freedom in any way that I can. Specifically, I am here to form a chapter of the Union League of America and to prepare the former slaves to vote. I expect the amendment that will give them that right will be passed in Congress soon. And I’m to get a school built.”
Mrs. Hardy quivered as if somebody had just struck her. “The school isn’t built yet?”
“Did they tell you it was?” Matt asked, already guessing the answer. His gaze lingered on those caramel eyes that studied him, weighing his words.
Suddenly he realized how wild he must appear to her. He was shirtless with bare feet and uncombed hair, and his rifle still rested in his hands. Yet she sat prim and proper, appearing not the least intimidated by him. One corner of his mouth rose. The woman had grit.
But now he had to deal with this mixup. This was the second unexpected wrinkle in his plans. The first had been his sharp feeling of regret when he arrived here. To fulfill a promise, after he’d joined the Freedman’s Bureau, he’d asked to be assigned to this part of Virginia. He’d expected to feel better coming here—he was, after all, coming home in a way. But upon arrival, he’d felt quite the opposite.
“If the school isn’t built yet, what am I to do?” she asked. “I’m supposed to begin lessons for former slaves and their children as soon as feasible. But how can I do that if the school hasn’t even been built yet?” A line of worry creased the skin between her ginger eyebrows.
His mouth twisted, a sour taste on his tongue. “It’s easy to see what happened. Somebody sent you a letter too early. I’ll telegraph the War Department and get this straightened out. You’ll just have to go back to where you came from until the school’s built.”
“We can’t go back,” she objected. “I have rented out my house for a year.”
I work alone, Mrs. Hardy. That’s why I took a job where I’d be my own boss. “You can’t stay. The school isn’t even started—”
She interrupted him again. “We’ve driven all the way from Pennsylvania.”
Joseph cut in, “We’re not going to drive all the way back there unless we’re going home for good.” He’d set his dusty hat on his knee, wiping perspiration from his forehead with a white handkerchief. The little girl stared at Matt like a lost puppy.
Matt frowned at them. They frowned back. He really did not want to deal with this. He rose and walked toward the front window to peer out. Again he detected that subtle shifting in the shadows in front of the house. He stepped near the window and raised his rifle so it would be clearly seen by anyone outside.
Returning here had been a foolish, ill-considered notion. Upon arrival, he’d realized that who he was would just make all the work he had to do here more difficult, more unpleasant, more personal. He muttered too low for anyone else to hear, “I should have gone to Mississippi, where I could have been hated by strangers.”
Mrs. Hardy cleared her throat, drawing his attention back to her. She moved to the edge of her seat. “I’m certain that the Freedman’s Bureau would not expect an unrelated man and a woman to live under the same roof. Even with my father-in-law living with us…” Her voice drifted into silence.
He couldn’t agree more. He heard the nicker of their horses outside again. Did the animals sense something that shouldn’t be here? He parted the sheer curtains with his rifle and gazed outside once again.
“I would say that I could find somewhere else in town to stay.” He brushed this possibility aside. “But I doubt any of the former Confederate widows would want a Yankee boarding in their homes.” And I wouldn’t like it either. He didn’t want to live with others. He hated having to make polite conversation. He hated it now. He continued peering out the window.
“What is distracting thee?” she asked.
He held up one hand and listened, but heard nothing unusual outside. Still, he asked in a low voice, “You’re Quaker, so you didn’t come armed, right?”
Joseph spoke up. “Verity’s family is Friends. Mind isn’t. I brought a gun. Do I need it now?”
Matt watched the shifting of the shadows out in the silver moonlight, concentrating on listening.
“A gun?” she said. “Why would we need—”
Rising,
