We sure can’t thank you enough for givin’ us a roof over our heads,” Curtis said in the mission house dining room the next morning. The Washingtons had just finished breakfast, along with Christy, Miss Ida, and Ruby Mae. Miss Alice, Doctor MacNeill, and David were there, too.
“We were glad to help,” Christy replied. “I just wish you would stay a little longer. There’s plenty of room. Why do you have to leave so soon?”
“I got to find me some work as soon as possible, Miz Christy,” Curtis replied. “There’ll be somethin’ in Knoxville. It’s a big city.”
“So Doctor MacNeill tells me,” Christy said, sending a meaningful look at the doctor.
“Maybe we’ll run into each other, Doctor,” Curtis said. “If’n you decide to move on, too.”
“I certainly wish we could convince you and the doctor to stay put,” said Miss Alice.
“So it’s true, Doctor?” David asked. “You’re really leaving Cutter Gap?”
“I’m seriously considering the possibility. It feels like it’s time to make a change.” The doctor gave a wry grin. “Was that a note of hope I heard in your voice, Reverend?”
David grinned. “Not at all. I’ll certainly miss you . . . professionally, anyway. This Cove needs a good doctor. Miss Alice has too much to take care of as it is.”
“We’ll get by,” Miss Alice said. She sipped at her tea, then gave the doctor a sad smile. “Neil needs to do what’s best for him.”
“We’ve got plenty of work to be done around the mission, Curtis,” David said. “You could stay for a while, work off your room and board that way.”
“That wouldn’t really solve the problem, now, would it?” Curtis shoved back his chair. “Come on, children. We’ve got a long walk ahead of us, if’n we want to make El Pano today.”
“We’re hopin’ to leave before school gets started,” Margaret whispered to Christy. “It’ll be easier on the children that way.”
On the porch, Christy knelt down beside Hannah. “I want you to promise to write me, Hannah,” she said, “and let me know how you and John and Louise are doing.”
“Miz Christy,” Hannah said, her eyes full of tears, “would you tell Della May I said goodbye?”
“Of course.”
“And would you tell Creed I’m a-keepin’ my fingers crossed that Scalawag turns up?”
“Of course I—” Christy paused, shading her eyes from the morning sun. Who was that, heading down the path to the mission house?
“I have a better idea, Hannah,” Christy said. “Why don’t you tell them yourself?”
“Why, I’ll be,” Hannah cried. “It’s all them Allens!”
“Even Granny,” the doctor said.
“Probably come here to gloat,” John muttered. “See us run out, just the way they wanted.”
“Let’s get goin’,” Curtis said gravely. “Ain’t no need for us to put up with them no longer.”
But Della May was already running up the steps of the mission house, ahead of the others. “Hannah!” she cried. “Are you a-leavin’ already?”
Hannah nodded. “We’re movin’ on to the city.”
“But you can’t go, you just can’t! Leastways, not till Pa and Granny says their piece.” She tugged on Curtis’s sleeve. “Please, Mr. Washington. Please hear them out.”
“We heard all we needed to hear from your pa and his shotgun,” John snapped.
“But my granny come all this way, with her rheumatis’ and all,” Della May protested.
Christy put her hand on Curtis’s arm. “Maybe you should hear what they have to say, Curtis.”
“Please, Curtis,” Margaret said softly. “We been through this much. A few more words can’t hurt us.”
Hobbling slowly, clutching at Mary’s arm, Granny Allen made her way to the house. Bob hung behind, hands in his pockets. The other Allen children followed.
“We come to talk,” Granny announced when they’d reached the porch.
“Say what you got to say,” Curtis said sharply. “We need to be movin’ on.”
Granny motioned to Bob. “Go on, then. Be a man and speak your mind.”
Bob cleared his throat. “I been doin’ some thinkin’,” he said, choosing each word with care. “Well, mostly, Granny’s been doin’ some talkin’.” He looked up at Curtis. “Granny’s the one what saved your grandpa, turns out.”
Margaret gasped. “You? You’re Birdy?”
“That was my growin’-up name,” Granny said. “Used it with William to protect myself.” She shook her head. “Did a lot o’ protectin’ after that. Worryin’ if’n anyone found out about what I done, what might happen. Never told a soul, ’ceptin’ one friend.”
“But why?” Louise asked softly.
“People woulda turned agin me. Maybe even strung me up to die. Things are better some now . . . but not much. I was afraid, child.” Her lower lip trembled. “But Della May made me think maybe what I done weren’t so awful after all. Maybe it was even a good thing. How many of us get the chance to save a man’s life?”
“My granny’s a good woman,” Bob said. “Stubborn as a mad mule, but good. So I’ve been startin’ to think maybe I might be wrong about some things.”
“What he means is, I told this ornery, cantankerous old cuss that he better think twice about the way he was treatin’ William Washington’s kinfolk.” Granny winked. “’Cause William was a friend of mine, and I aim to do right by him.”
“Granny and Ma done yelled at Pa from sunup to sundown,” Della May confided in a loud whisper to Hannah.
Bob rolled his eyes. “That’s enough outa you, young’un.”
Curtis stepped down to Granny and took her hand. “It’s an honor to meet you, Ma’am. On behalf of all my kin, I want to thank you for what you done. None of us would be here without you.” He sighed. “But that’s all in the past. We still got to be movin’ on.”
“Not so fast, young man!” Granny cried. “My Bob ain’t done with his speechifyin’. Are you, Bob?”
Bob kicked at the ground with his toe. “The thing is . . .” he cleared his throat, “the thing of it is, seems I need some help at the mill. I get these spells, and . . . well, if’n you’d be willin’ to work, my boys and I could maybe help you build yourself a new cabin.” He shrugged. “If’n you wanted.”
“We’re already set on leavin’,” Curtis said tersely. “Why stay in a place where people burn your cabin to the ground?”
“There’s good people, too, Pa,” Hannah said. “Della May and Creed, they’s good as they come. And Miz Christy and the preacher and Doctor MacNeill. And Granny.” She smiled shyly at Granny Allen. “You said yourself Grandpa William woulda liked us settlin’ here.”
Curtis shook his head. “I just don’t think . . .”
“My, but you’re the spittin’ image of William!” Granny exclaimed. “Never could argue him outa anything. I was afeared he couldn’t make it north, but oh, he was set in his ways somethin’ fierce. ‘Birdy,’ he said, ’scares me awful to try. But it scares me worse not to.’”
Curtis smiled, just a little. “He was a brave man, that Grandpa William.”
“So are you, Pa,” Hannah whispered. “You ain’t a-scared o’ tryin’.”
For a long time, Curtis stared off at the mountaintops, reaching up to the morning sky. At last, he walked over to Bob. They faced each other, eye to eye.
“We’ll try it for a month,” Curtis said. He held out his hand.
Bob stared at it, hesitating. “I ain’t never shook hands with one of your kind,” he admitted. He gave a resigned sigh. “But I s’pose I ain’t a-scared o’ tryin’, either.”
Slowly, reluctantly, the two men grasped hands.
Before the Allens left, Granny motioned Christy and the doctor aside. “I want to thank the two of you,” she said. “I was afraid to admit what I done. But that’s who I am, and I s’pose, all things considered, I’m glad of it.”
“I wonder, Granny,” the doctor said, “who was it you told about William? My grandmother always looked up to you so. I wondered if . . .”
“Factually speakin’, I did confide in your granny, Doc. I needed someone to fetch me a saw so’s I could remove William’s leg irons. I was desperate, and I took Helen aside and told her the whole truth.”
”And she helped you?” Christy asked.
“Well, not quite.” Granny hesitated. “She said she was afraid to help me. But on the other hand, she never breathed a word of my secret to anyone else. And that was a kind of help, don’t you see?”
“So she was afraid,” the doctor said, sounding a little disappointed.
“Oh, we all get afraid from time to time, Doctor MacNeill.” Granny patted his arm gently. “She was a fine woman, your granny. You know how it is. We do what we can.”
The doctor smiled sadly. “Some of us do, anyway.”