A Secret Refuge [02] Sisters of the Confederacy by Lauraine Snelling Page A

She laid a hand on the mare’s shoulder. Sunshine shifted, turning to see if Jesselynn had the feed bucket with her. She bumped Dulcie, and the mare laid her ears back.
    “Easy.” One kick and he could be dead. God, hold the animals steady, please . With one hand on the mare’s halter, she reached under with the other and grabbed Sammy’s arm. He let out a howl, Dulcie backed up, and Jesselynn had the little boy tucked under her arm. “Sammy, I could paddle your behind till you won’t sit down for a week.” She slipped under the bar holding the horses back and plunked him down on the rock by the fire. “You know better than to go in with the horses. Shame on you!” The finger she shook in his tear-streaming face moved of its own accord. Her heart had yet to settle to a regular rhythm.
    Ophelia ran in and snatched the baby up in her arms, raining kisses on his cheeks and hair.
    “He needs a switchin’ so’s he won’t do that again.”
    “Yes, suh, Marse Jesse, I do dat.” She turned the little one end for end and walloped him three times. Sammy screamed, Ophelia sobbed, and Thaddeus came running in.
    “No, don’t hit Sammy. No.” He grabbed around Ophelia’s leg and hung on. Sammy clung around her neck.
    Jesselynn headed for the cave entrance. If she stayed she might laugh at the scene going on. Leave it to Thaddeus to protect his friend. But if she laughed, she might start crying, and if she did that, she might never stop. Once she’d walked off some of the fear and anger, she remembered what she’d done. So I prayed. That was only in an emergency, mind you. I don’t want anything to do with a God who allows war and guerrilla bands and slave traders and little boys almost getting stomped, and . . . She sniffed back the tears. So I’m sorry I said anythin’. I won’t do it again, you hear? She propped herself against a rock, thanks to knees that felt ready to give way, and sighed, the kind of sigh that takes the starch out of shoulders and neck and belly. “But thank you anyway.”
    Sammy still sniffed occasionally when she returned to the cave. Thaddeus glared at her.
    “Thank you for savin’ the little scamp.” Ophelia had a three-foot rawhide string tied around Sammy’s wrist and her ankle. “He don’ go nowhere now.”
    “Good idea. At least until Jane Ellen comes back. I’m taking the wagon to town to clear out Agatha’s cellar. Think on what you need while I harness the team.” Where I’ll store it all, I have no idea, but I know we’ll use it .

    Sometime later Jesselynn dusted off her hands after loading the wagon at Aunt Agatha’s. Keeping some apples out, she took the barrel over to the store and had Dummont credit it to her account.
    “There’s wood outside the back door of the house and in the shed. You could get that, too, and put it against her account.”
    “She ain’t used any of what you left last time. I feel strange having all this credit built up like this.”
    “Don’t worry. I need a small keg of molasses and ten sacks of oats, if you have them.”
    “I do. Anything else?”
    Jesselynn pulled out her shopping list. She’d drawn around the little boys’ feet and the big ones’ too. “We need boots in all these sizes, heavy pants for two men, and some yardage. You selling any knittin’ wool? My ma would sure like some wool for knittin’ stockings.” She breathed a sigh of relief. Almost trapped herself there.
    Mr. Dummont’s face fairly glowed as he set her order on the counter. “Now, how many yards and what kind of material?”
    Jesselynn contemplated her list as if she didn’t know what the females of the group rightly wanted. “Ah, black wool for britches and some pretty cotton for my sister.” She studied the list again, trying to look confused like a very young man might over women’s things. “Hard to read her writing. That’s three yards wool and four cotton, I guess. While you finish up getting it all in order, I’m taking some stuff