Chapter 34
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
When Joseph saw his father at Vespers, he knew something was wrong. The man seized on any excuse not to attend Mass. Hélène sat beside him, and she did not look any worse than the last time Joseph had seen her. It must be their grandmother. Had another palsy struck her?
Joseph was forced to speculate until after Benediction, when his father and sister motioned him into the Biblical garden. “We’ve had another letter,” his father began.
Joseph sank onto a bench. Each time he thought the last blow had landed, his father added another.
In July, the McAllisters’ wagon had capsized in the Platte River.
Perry had not survived. Cathy made it only as far as a landmark called Independence Rock, where she gave birth to a son and decided to turn back.
One of the trappers remained with her and the children while the other wagons disappeared into the mountains.
Then childbed fever took the lives of Cathy and her newborn. At least he’d been baptized.
Before the trapper could lead Cathy’s surviving children back to Fort Laramie, his horse spooked and threw him.
Ten-year-old David and seven-year-old Sophie had been left utterly alone in the wilderness, two hundred miles from help.
They began retracing their steps toward the fort; but if they’d not crossed paths with an Indian Good Samaritan, the children would surely have perished as well.
Hélène blotted her eyes with her handkerchief. “Can you imagine?”
“It’s a miracle David and Sophie survived,” Joseph murmured. “Literally, a miracle.” Yet he struggled to praise God for this imperfect mercy.
“They’re staying with former neighbors in Missouri now,” his father explained. “I’ve a few things to arrange first—patients I need to refer to colleagues—then I’ll fetch David and Sophie.”
“You’ll be able to take them in to live with you?” Joseph asked.
His father nodded. “We’ll make space for them on the third floor, across from Hélène and Liam.”
“I don’t mind giving up my dressing chamber—truly I don’t,” Joseph’s sister asserted.
“It will force me to be less vain. But a boy who’s already proven himself a man should not have to share a bedchamber with his little sister.
And after what those children have already suffered…
it seems so cruel, to bring them into a house where two of us are dying. ”
Their father the doctor did not contradict her. He only averted his eyes.
Hélène twisted up her handkerchief. “David and Sophie need a refuge, not a cramped mausoleum.”
Their father patted her hand. “It cannot be helped.”
How Joseph wished he had a home to offer his niece and nephew.
A few days later, Joseph celebrated Mass on Sullivan’s Island for the Irish workers. He would have welcomed the solitude on the other side of the island, the chance to listen for God’s voice and find sense in Cathy and Perry’s deaths. But Joseph had made a promise to his living sister.
So he rode Prince only as far as the Stratfords’ cottage, where Hélène was staying. He found Tessa reading on the back porch, with Hannah seated beside her doing mending. At Joseph and Prince’s approach, Tessa set down her book and came to the railing.
Though her wide straw hat obscured her eyes, her lips were smiling. “You are like something from a fairy story. While you are out of my sight, I tell myself I must have imagined you. Then, you reappear, as handsome as before.”
Joseph’s mouth fell open.
Tessa added in a rush: “Hélène has been resting. I’ll see if she’s awake.” And she darted into the cottage.
Joseph glanced nervously at Hannah. She too was in shadow, but he thought he saw her smile. The question threatened to tumble from his tongue: “Mrs. Stratford was speaking to Prince, right?”
The alternative was ludicrous. To direct such flattery at a Priest would be entirely inappropriate, even sacrilegious. To question Tessa’s intentions would be not only the height of arrogance but also calumny to Tessa. He must say nothing at all.
Joseph tied Prince to the railing and climbed the porch steps. He cleared his throat and asked only: “Were Edward or Liam able to come?”
Hannah shook her head. “They’re both busy in town.” Liam had been admitted to practice in the equity courts only a week ago.
Tessa returned carrying an apple. “Hélène is rousing herself, but she still needs to dress.”
Joseph thought Hannah glanced at him before she announced: “I’ll help her, Miss Tessa.” The black woman disappeared inside.
Tessa offered Joseph the apple. “Have you broken your fast, Father?”
“With the workers.” He shook his head to refuse the fruit. “Thank you.”
“You have made Prince very happy.” Tessa held out the apple to his mount, who devoured it noisily. Tessa kept her eyes on Prince, her expression grave now. “Hélène told me about Cathy and Perry and your little nephew. I’m so sorry, Father.”
Joseph stared at his boots. “Wherever their bodies may rest, I am certain their souls are Heaven-bound.”
“Hélène also shared her worries about what it will be like for David and Sophie, to watch at such close quarters while their great-grandmother and their aunt…” Tessa trailed off.
“Unfortunately, we have no alternative. My cousin Frederic still hasn’t surrendered his bachelorhood.
David and Sophie need a mother. My Aunt Véronique and her husband have the space and the pecuniary resources to raise another family, but they say they want to travel.
” Joseph leaned against the railing and sighed.
“In truth, we were relieved. Véronique is a cold woman. She’s not what any of us want for the children. They need a true mother.”
Still Tessa did not raise her eyes. “Father…I know I am not family, but—”
“Of course you are! We are practically sister and brother, you and I.”
Tessa smiled, but it did not last long. Hélène appeared, and Tessa addressed her too. “Since I learned about David and Sophie, I’ve been pondering and praying… It has been more than a year since— I must accept that Our Lord does not wish me to bear my own children.”
Hélène came to squeeze her friend’s hand.
Tessa looked up to her and then Joseph, hope and supplication in her brown eyes. “But I should very much like to be a mother to your nephew and niece—if your family would agree to it.”
Cautiously, Hélène voiced the question before Joseph could: “Would Edward agree to it?”
“There was a time when he would have refused,” Tessa acknowledged, “when he would have been jealous. But now, Edward is married to the plantation more than to me. We are like strangers sharing the same roof. We each inhabit our own little country, and I think I can welcome David and Sophie into mine without disturbing Edward’s very much.
” Tessa lowered her eyes. “I will find a way to convince him. I cannot promise he will be a good father to the children.” She looked back to Joseph.
“But they will have you, Father, and their grandfather. I would never wish to separate David and Sophie from their true family. They would be only two streets away; they could visit you often, and you could visit them.”
To Joseph’s shame, the thought foremost in his mind was: I could visit Tessa often.
“It’s a marvelous idea, Tessa.” Hélène embraced her friend. “We will ask Papa before he leaves. But I am certain he will agree. He’s as fond of you as we are.”
Over his sister’s shoulder, Tessa’s eyes searched Joseph’s. “Do I have your blessing, Father?”
“Of course. I could not choose a better mother.”
When they’d broken their embrace, Tessa stared down at Hélène. “Are you really wearing them?”
Hélène grinned. She pulled up her skirt and a single petticoat to reveal the black trousers underneath.
Joseph smiled too. “They’re Liam’s?”
His sister nodded. Then guilt darkened her face. “I know we’ve been planning this for weeks; but we’re in mourning now. I feel disloyal, enjoying myself so soon after Cathy…”
“It was your father’s—your physician’s—idea,” Tessa reminded her.
“And it’s our last week on the island.” It was already October.
Very soon, the Stratfords’ slaves would close up the cottage.
They would not return to the island till spring.
And only their Lord knew how profoundly Hélène’s condition would change in six months’ time.
“Cathy would understand,” Joseph assured Hélène. He suspected Cathy would not have understood; but she should have.
Hélène was persuaded. Joseph led Prince, walking beside his sister and Tessa till they were out of sight of the other bathers and strollers.
Then Joseph helped Hélène onto the horse’s back.
Tessa arranged her friend’s skirts, and Joseph adjusted the stirrups.
They had no side-saddle, so his sister had settled on trousers to allow her to ride astride.
“Besides, I would confuse Prince,” she’d said, “hanging off one side of him like that!”
As it was, the grey proved himself quite amenable to his new rider. With Tessa watching and laughing, Joseph dashed along the sand, leading Prince. Hélène leaned back into the sunlight, her face awash with peace, and lifted her arms as if she were flying.