Gretchen threw supplies at Elias, and he threw them into the wagon amidst Werner’s screams. Gretchen avoided looking at him, so Elias had to duck under a flying bag of flour and dive to catch a packet of bacon. He stumbled under the force of Gretchen’s carpetbag shoved into his arms. “Hey now.”
She ran to the barn and back, dodging Tante Klegg guiding the horse as she carried Elias’s haversack. She tossed it atop the carpetbag, which he had placed in the wagon. “Your things.”
Elias pulled the drawstring open with shaking hands. So much had happened since last opening the haversack. He had assumed she had burned it with his ratty prison clothes.
It was hard to believe he had left Camp Chase only a couple of weeks ago. Fresh water filled the canteen; Gretchen must have filled it. The jar of pickled onions remained unopened. He rubbed the haversack’s canvas fabric between his fingers and felt a sharp edge. He turned it inside out to find a small metal daguerreotype of a man, woman, and two boys. He ran his thumb over the face most like his.
He would never know who had saved him from the prison. He would never know why that person had decided to be his godsend. Elias looked up from the knapsack to find Gretchen watching him.
“You know,” Elias mused, “before the war, people said, ‘The United States are.’ ”
Gretchen crossed her arms.
Tante Klegg harnessed the horse to the wagon. She clucked, shaking her head at the shaking house. “The time for speaking is over. We must leave now.” She climbed onto the wagon and tied her bonnet strings.
Elias handed Gretchen the small metal square. “That’s what they were, you know. Plural. Colonies banding together because they hated the British empire.”
Gretchen held the daguerreotype with both hands, staring at it. “We joined together to fight for our freedom.”
Tante Klegg motioned that Gretchen should climb aboard the wagon. Gretchen ignored her, waiting to hear what Elias had to say.
“Don’t know a whole lot about Mr. Lincoln,” Elias said, making Gretchen stiffen. “But I can tell he was a good man by the things the people at the funeral said about him. He tried his best. He didn’t deserve to die that way.”
Gretchen shook her head. Tears gathered in her eyes and threatened to spill. “Neither did my papa.”
Elias scratched the fabric wrapped around his forehead and began to unwind it. “No one deserved it. They fought because they believed in a greater nation. A united nation.” Elias ran his fingers through his hair. “You don’t deserve to be homeless because you fought for me.”
Gretchen handed the metal photo back to Elias and waved at the house. Werner’s screams grew hoarse and curse-laden. “I would have ended up homeless anyway.”
Elias bunched the bandage in his hands. “Look, Gretchen, I meant what I said in there. You’re a good person, and you’ve been good to me. And you’re smart. And funny. You take care of your own, and not your own.”
Her cheeks started to color, and she kicked a rock.
“Could you speak faster?” Tante Klegg said. “We do not know how long that door will hold Werner.”
“Let him speak his piece!” Gretchen said.
Tante Klegg spun in her seat, grumbling.
Elias found himself blushing. “Don’t have much else to say. I’m asking if you want to have the pastor marry us, but if you say no, I won’t bother you again.”
Gretchen climbed onto the wagon and reached down for his hand to help him up beside her. “Nothing would annoy Alina more than her pa marrying us.”
The kitchen door slammed open. Bullets sprayed from the house.
Gretchen screamed, ducking behind the side of the wagon. Tante Klegg slapped the reins, making the horse jump into a healthy trot.
Elias’s mouth dropped open.
“Elias!” Gretchen shouted, arm outstretched as the wagon bounced away.
Elias had no idea if he was a good runner. A bullet whizzed past his ear. He decided any form of running was better than standing still. He sprinted, reaching for Gretchen. She grasped his hand and yanked when he jumped. Elias crashed into Gretchen, and they both fell to the wagon bed.
Gretchen froze underneath him. He rolled away, clutching the wagon walls to keep from getting too close.
“You must say yes to him now,” Tante Klegg called over her shoulder.
Gretchen made a face at her. She watched Werner chase them for a couple of yards before falling from exhaustion. Alina dropped to the ground with him, cradling his head in her lap as he sobbed.
“Tell me about this united nation,” Gretchen said to Elias. She stared as the only home she had known disappeared from view.
Elias cleared his throat. “We’ve had a reckoning with ourselves, and I guess it was due. You don’t think we’ll start to hear ‘the United States is’? Single? One nation?”
Gretchen pressed her lips together as she pondered this. She liked the sound of a single nation. She was glad to hear the hope in Elias’s voice, because her hope was lacking these days. Her own cousin had tried to kill her, even though she had prayed for him to return home for years. Her papa was gone. The woman she called her mama had disowned her.
“One nation. Forged with the blood of brothers and fathers and uncles,” Gretchen whispered.
“And sisters and wives and aunts,” Elias said.
The wagon bounced down the road. The horse slowed to a walk once Tante Klegg realized Werner had stopped chasing them.
Gretchen crawled across the wagon to sit beside Elias. She took his hand and held it in her lap as she rested her head against his shoulder. “Mr. Lincoln wanted the country to come back together.”
Elias held his breath.
“And I swore I’d do my part.” Gretchen smirked at Elias. “But don’t worry. I’m not saying yes because I’m a patriot.”
Elias’s eyebrows shot up. “Then why are you?”
“Because you…” Gretchen laughed, a little breathless. “You saw me.”
Elias nodded. “I see you.”
The sun shone in high contrast from the clouds that gathered behind them. Gretchen, holding Elias’s hand, studied Tante Klegg’s back. Tante Klegg, her mother who never was and yet always had been. That was the sort of love worth holding onto, Gretchen realized. Noble, honest, and sacrificing. It was that sort of dedication that would bring the nation back together.
Gretchen smiled at Elias. “The United States is exactly where I’ll find my home.” She kissed his cheek and paid no mind to Tante Klegg’s grunt.