NOT KNOWING THAT WE HAD MORE PEOPLE TO worry about than Katie’s uncle Burchard, Emma and I and the others were still getting ready to leave. Katie made all of us eat a big breakfast to tide us over on the road. She was mothering us all she could, it seemed, one last time.
Although Katie’s uncle had said ten o’clock, it wasn’t much past eight in the morning when we started hearing wagons rumbling in.
‘‘I reckon it’s about time the three of us were off,’’ I said in a husky voice. ‘‘It looks like your uncle’s here.’’
Katie tried to smile, but there were tears shining in her eyes.
Emma and Josepha stood and picked up their things. They’d heard the wagons too and knew it was time to say our final good-byes.
Katie’s uncle walked into the kitchen then, his face stiff. But when he saw us obviously getting ready to leave, he decided not to say whatever he had been about to and just turned around and left the house again.
Finally there was nothing else to do but just go. The moment had finally come.
I couldn’t stand it, but I went over and picked up my blanket and pillow slip.
Emma was blubbering and telling Katie how wonderful she was. ‘‘Good-bye, Miz Katie . . . I love you, Miz Katie . . . thank you, Miz Katie . . . good-bye.’’ Josepha was holding William and wiping at her eyes with the fat back of her free hand. Then Katie looked up and saw me on the other side of the room, holding my bag and waiting for the other two.
‘‘Oh, Mayme!’’ she said, her eyes flooding with tears again. Slowly she walked toward me and opened her arms. I dropped the bag and fell into her embrace.
‘‘Aren’t you going to wait for Henry and Jeremiah?’’ Katie asked. ‘‘They said they’d be back out this morning.’’
‘‘I couldn’t bear it,’’ I said. ‘‘It’ll make everything easier for everyone if we’re just gone. You’ve got enough to worry about with your uncle and all.’’
Katie nodded and we just stood a few seconds holding each other tight.
‘‘I love you so much,’’ I said softly. ‘‘I’ll never forget you.’’
‘‘Oh, Mayme, don’t talk like that! We’ll see each other again real soon. Uncle Templeton will come back, and you write me a letter to Mrs. Hammond’s store telling me where you are and when you find those people of Josepha’s. Then we’ll come and get you.’’
I just nodded.
‘‘I love you, Mayme,’’ Katie said.
We stood back from each other. Our eyes were both wet, but at last we looked each other in the eyes and smiled.
Then I took a deep breath, picked up my blanket and bag again, and slowly walked toward the parlor. Emma and Josepha followed.
‘‘You all write to me as soon as you find those people,’’ said Katie. ‘‘As soon as Uncle Templeton gets back, we’ll come!’’
Slowly the three of us, Josepha still carrying William, walked out the back door.
Suddenly we heard the sound of horses’ hooves coming fast down the road. We looked up and saw a cloud of dust rising above the trees even before we could see who was coming. I felt that old fear of discovery we always felt when anyone had approached Rosewood over the past two years. My muscles tensed, as if ready to run down to the slave cabins to light the fires that were no longer there. I looked at Katie and our eyes met, and we shared a sad smile, knowing we were both seeing those same memories in our minds. But those days were over. The only people we needed to hide from were the McSimmons. For Josepha’s sake, yes, but mostly for Emma’s and William’s. For their safety, we were planning to take the road away from Greens Crossing. But it never crossed our minds that anyone from the McSimmons plantation might be riding toward us at that moment. Looking back, it was mighty foolish for us to just stand there, out in the open like that, waiting to see who was coming. I suppose we were hoping it was Papa.
It wasn’t.