1883
Toby and Ella had not asked for help with the birth by mid-January, and Al grew more restless by the day. “It’s too early to plant. I’m only needed once-a-week for patrol duty. The spring merchandise should arrive soon.” He stopped his pacing in the middle of the kitchen and grinned at Amelia. “Let’s go to town early in the morning.”
The cold winter moon rode high, making earth objects sharp and still. The mules trotted over the hard-packed road, their jangling noise echoing across bare fields.
Al tucked the blankets tighter around her shoulders. “Smell this air. It’s full of life.”
Amelia snuggled against her romantic husband and began to sing, Du, Du Liegst Mir Im Herzen.
“You sing like a bird. What does it mean?”
“You, you are in my heart; You, you are in my mind; You, you make me much sorrow, for you know not how much I love you.” Amelia burrowed her face into Al’s wool coat, eased away from the pressure of his gun, and slipped into contented sleep.
Karina Rouff was a large-boned German girl of about fifteen with fly-away hair as golden as fresh corn. Ella had introduced her as a seamstress with fingers as nimble as a fairy. She rode into town on her papa’s old mule before daylight and did not lift her head from her work until sundown.
A few days after they met, Al said, “I know Karina talks because I’ve heard the low mumble of voices coming from Ella’s shop. You think she speaks to the ladies who come to be measured?”
“If Ella’s happy with her, we better be glad. She’s going to need help.”
The next week, it was Karina who raced up the stairs shouting, “Ella’s having the baby. Doctor Tob called to me as I came along. He wants you to come.”
When they rushed into the house, Toby called from the bedroom. His sweat-soaked face looked like a frightened boy’s. “She’s doing everything she’s supposed to.” He turned back to Ella who appeared more alert than her husband.
She reached to wipe sweat from Toby’s cheek. “I keep telling him it won’t be long.” She rolled forward, bearing down with a contraction. When it let up, she stretched her hand to Amelia. “Let me squeeze your hand. Give Tob a rest.”
“I’ll be in the parlor.” Al did not wait for anyone to reply.
“If other women can do it, I can too.” She gasped and bore down again, her face twisted in pain.
“It’s coming, Ella. Our baby’s head is coming.” Toby’s voice sounded weak; his hands shook as he reached for the tiny life spilling from his wife’s body. “A boy. We have a boy, Ella. He’s perfect, Ella.” Toby’s sweat-soaked wife gazed on him as though she saw a vision.
He wrapped the wet baby in a blanket and lay him on his mama’s breast. “I can do this now. I can take care of her, Amelia. If you’ll wash our boy, I can take care of Ella.”
Al looked as weak as Toby when he stuck his head in the door and congratulated the new parents.
Ella called out. “Come close, Grandfather. Meet Albert Gerard Waters.”
Albert, we have a baby Albert. Amelia felt her chest would explode. She felt Al’s arm pull her against him. We’ve both been blessed.
“Look at those knowing eyes. He’s staring right at me just like you did, Tob.”
At noon, Hébert came with lunch that he had picked up at McIntyre’s back door. Al didn’t mention his white shirt and pressed trousers. And he didn’t ask what brought Hébert to town.
“Cora’s so excited she can barely complete a sentence. She’ll come as soon as the customer traffic slows down.” Hébert frowned. “Wally looks peaked. He never got up from behind the counter.”
“I’ll go check on him,” Al said. “I know Cora’s dying to see Albert.”
Cora arrived breathless soon after Hébert headed home. She brushed aside Amelia’s inquiry about Wally. “He stuffed himself on too much pork sausage last night.” She cooed over Albert, stroked Ella’s cheek, and then motioned for Amelia to follow her to the parlor. “Did Hébert tell you what he wanted in town?”
Amelia shook her head and waited.
“He came for that set of sixty-two wooden blocks. That Al ordered for Christmas? The expensive set that no one bought?” Cora’s eyebrows shot up and down in rhythm with her staccato litany. “He said Austin’s the smartest little kid he’s ever known. Don’t you think that sounds suspicious?”
“Hébert loves children. He’s always been a good neighbor.”
Cora raised both eyebrows in teepee arches. “In fresh pressed pants and a starched white shirt? That is not how Hébert’s ever dressed. Even when he courted Miss Regina.”
Amelia laughed and hugged Cora. “I’ll watch what goes on at the teacherage.”
“Surely Al’s noticed how strange Hébert’s acting.” Cora let out a deep sigh and stuck her head in the bedroom for one more peek at the sleeping baby and his mama.
Al and Amelia started back to the apartment well after dark. She swung onto his arm. “I feel like singing. We both got our Albert––your namesake and my lost baby.”
“Albert’s more yours than mine. Toby even called you Mama.”
Amelia stopped, tried to see Al’s face in the shadows. “Toby never had a mama. And I never had a son. Surely, you won’t deprive us?”
“Aw, no, Amelia.” He began a plodding walk, his head down. “It’s just...they kept calling on you. Help Ella get Albert to suckling. Show Toby how to change the diaper. Toby wants nothing from me.”
Amelia slipped her fingers into his coat pocket and squeezed his hand. “Right now, they need a mama’s help.”
“And I have to stay back. Practice keeping my mouth shut.”
And the judgment off your face. She leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked back to the apartment.
Ella regained her strength quickly and asked Amelia to stay in the apartment to help with Albert. She felt her heart would burst with contentment as her days flowed with the rhythm of the baby.
Al marked time with trips between Brenham and the farm––for his turn on patrol, to help with cotton planting and again when they started hoeing.
In early May when he returned, long after Albert and his parents had gone home, he slumped on the bed. “Except for when I have my turn at patrol, I’m staying here. I miss you.”
Amelia turned from her letter to Helga, placed her pen back in the inkwell, and stretched out nest to her husband. “Albert will get to know you during the day. And I’ll get to know you at night.”
In June, Hébert came into town to tell them that he and Nancy planned to marry at the end of the month. “Since Father Wiliamowicz is the first resident priest at St. Mary’s, we decided we’d make history––a Czech priest marrying two Negroes.”
Amelia was relieved that Al pretended to be surprised.
“We’ll have a big party,” Al said.
“Mundy and his family are already organizing. They’ll set up tables at the school. All you need do is come for the event.”
Amelia thought Al looked disappointed. He seemed strained in his enthusiasm, too loud with his jokes. Could it be that he felt passed over? Even old? “We think Nancy’s wonderful,” he said. “You needed her, and she and those children need you.”
“I got attached to them. That Dolly melts me into my boots. Austin’s the best kid.” He looked pained for an instant. “I don’t mean to lessen Ezra. I loved that boy like my own. But, I’m getting to raise Dolly and Austin. It’s making me young again.”
“Did you forget Nancy? From what I’ve observed she gets an awful lot of your attention.” Al fingered his chin like a wise old man.
Hébert’s face reddened. “She’s some woman. Got more gumption and love in her than six saints.”
“That’s all we needed to hear.” Al looked at Amelia. “Did I sound like an old maid?”
Amelia laughed. “No, my darling.”
Summer 1884
Al lay on the kitchen floor enjoying the feel of eighteen-month-old Albert, asleep on his chest. “I wish you could’ve seen how he worked at fishing today. Those two kids Hébert’s raising kept reminding him they had to catch our supper.”
Amelia settled on the floor and stroked Albert’s thick curls. “He was so proud of his fish at supper. He’ll be begging to come back.”
“Maybe he can convince his father to come the next time.” Al sat up slowly, rose to his knee and powered himself to his feet without waking the sleeping child.
When he returned to the kitchen, Amelia noticed the deep lines creasing his brow. “On the way home this afternoon, we met Stephen Hackworth. He’s making the rounds, warning of troubles. Democrats are crowing about the German county treasurer who defaulted with all that money.”
“Makes me sick to hear the thief’s a German,” Amelia said.
“I’m sick he’s a Republican. Hackworth says the Democrats have convinced a lot of Germans that Republican policies are hurting small farmers. We can’t lose those German votes.”
Is this a good time to open a can of worms? “I’ve written Helga about how different it is here. Our German men struggled before the war. They didn’t believe in slavery. And they didn’t want to fight to keep it. Most of them joined the Confederacy out of loyalty to Texas. Afterward, the Republicans passed draconian laws to punish anyone who had anything to do with the Confederacy. They couldn’t vote; they couldn’t serve on a jury; they couldn’t hold elective office. The men were all furious. Including Eagle.”
While she spoke, Al cupped his hands on her shoulders and kept nodding. “I was furious too, sweetheart. Those laws were aimed at punishment for the war. I also lost my voting rights because I served in the Army for those few months.” He moved his hands to her cheeks. “But, sweetheart, I took the Oath of Amnesty. Repudiated the Confederacy and swore loyalty to the United States government.” He grinned. “And you know what? I bet Eagle and the other men in Indianola who wanted to get on with their businesses, did too.”
Amelia heaved a huge sigh. “Yes. They finally signed that thing.” Don’t drop it right here. “But Al, they stayed Democrats. Why did you become a Republican?”
“Because the Republicans made sure Negroes like Hébert and Mundy got to vote, just like any man.”
“Our men heard about the Army marching the Negroes to the polls. They manipulated those uneducated colored folks who couldn’t read or write into voting their way.”
“Did the army push the Negro men in Indianola to vote?”
Amelia shrugged. “I wasn’t aware of it. The soldiers who occupied Indianola were very courteous. Helga’s daughter even married one of the young officers who lived at Stein House. She went off with him to New York.”
“We had trouble with the Army. Some of the Yankee officers were determined to punish us. They didn’t try to keep the colored soldiers in line. And the Banner stirred so much anger that some of the soldiers set a fire that burned the paper, even destroyed our store. Things didn’t settle down until the Army left. The Union League helped the coloreds get registered and vote for people who would look out for their interests.”
“I don’t remember a Union League at home.”
“I bet you didn’t have colored men who were trying to run for office.”
“A lot of them were already free, working on the docks. I didn’t know of any who ran for office. Some of the slaves left with the occupation troops before the war ended. Our Germans just wanted to get the port back into business. Yankees were welcomed, even at Stein House.”
“Our Negroes wanted a say in government. And the Germans who moved in here to buy the land agreed with them.”
Amelia nodded. “It’s true. Germans never supported slavery. So, how will you get back the Germans vote?”
Al kissed her nose and grinned. “Hackworth’s telling the precincts to haul out the brass bands. Offer the Germans some dancing and beer, and they’ll like us a whole lot better. Mundy’s getting his sons tuned up. They’ll play at every meeting.”
Before daylight on election morning, Amelia heard the rustling of new arrivals taking over patrol on the road. Men who ordinarily remained hidden at the school and both ends of the compound stepped out into the open. No one coming to vote could miss the armed force that protected the Waters precinct.
The wagons rolled in all day, some filled with whole families. Amelia lost track of how many showed up. In addition to people she recognized, there were many she had not seen before, including a few whites from small outlying farms.
Al roamed in and out, taking his turn at patrol and then coming home to gather more of Amelia’s glazed lebkuchens to serve Hébert and the other election officials. “Hackworth just came through, and I gave him some of your cookies. It’s quiet as a graveyard, not a hint of trouble.”
At sunset, the designated time to close the polls, Al rushed in the front door. “The count looks good. We had eighty-seven Republican and four People’s Party votes.” The bulk of his gun outlined the front of his coat. “I’m going with Hébert to deliver the ballot-boxes. Since we’ve had no trouble, most of the officials want to head home. I don’t want him going alone.”
A chasm of fear made her ache all over. “Will you return tonight?”
“We’ll come back first thing tomorrow. A large patrol will stay here. Make sure the night stays as peaceful as the day.”
Amelia wanted to beg him not to go, but she didn’t have a reason except her fear. Every part of her body felt tight––a cat, claws splayed ready to leap.
She blew out the lamps and went upstairs. If she were across the road in the little house, she could watch from their bed. Instead, she listened to the wobbly screech of an owl, and the rattle of the cottonwood leaves being whipped by the wind. Not long before dawn, the temperature began dropping, and the wind picked up to howling gusts.
Finally, she got up, made coffee, and mixed dough for fresh bread. It had not finished rising in the chilly air when she heard Al’s carriage rattle to the barn. She hurried to meet him.
His eyes looked like dark holes lined with whiskers. “They had a killing at the precinct in Chappell Hill.”
She felt like her heart would thump out of her chest as she helped him unhitch the mare.
“Armed men wearing masks shot the three Negro election officials. They killed one. A man who hid under a table brought in the ballot boxes.” Al wrapped the cold arms of his coat around her. “Schutze got beat in his bid for reelection as DA. I’m lucky he was there when I went before the grand jury. We lost all the races except for county assessor.”