Bella sat with her husband, Clarance, trying to enjoy the fine spring weather. Unfortunately for her, Clarance had to ruin it with his boorish voice.
"Andrew Johnson deserved to win the election!" he boomed, cake spewing from his mouth.
Bella tried to hold back the disgust on her face. "What was that, dear?"
"Have you not been listening to me, woman?"
Of course, she hadn't. She was not here for him after all. They breakfasted together on the porch only to greet the arrival of the war hero, Thomas.
"I hope you do not plan to speak of politics when Thomas arrives. He would be very cross," she said.
"Who cares what that Negro thinks!"
"We should. He will likely come back armed. There is a Freedmen's Army waiting just inside the Georgia border, waiting to swoop down and punish any offenders to the treaty."
Her husband scoffed. "If only Lee didn't surrender. Curse him and curse General Sherman. The brute."
Her fool of a husband truly believed they could have won the War of Northern Aggression. She knew as soon as it started that the war was a lost cause. The North outnumbered them, had more money, and a decent cause to fight for: the abolition of slavery.
If others, like her husband, had realized the futility of the fight, then maybe they would not be in this situation: waiting nervously for their ex-slave soldier to come back and decide their fates. Would Thomas come for revenge? Her husband had never treated their slaves kindly. Especially not the females.
"Husband, you must not think of these things any longer. It upsets you and it will surely upset our guest," she said, trying to settle him down.
"He is not our guest. When he comes, we will show him his place. People are fighting back."
"You are referring to the rogues and villains."
"Heroes. Fighting for the South, even after the war has ended."
"Do you plan to join them?" she asked, knowing his answer. The coward contributed little to the war in the first place and yet he had the audacity to urge on others.
He spluttered, spilling his glass of wine over his pot-belly. "If only I could dear. But someone must keep the rebellious slaves in line. They think these new contracts they forced—asked us to sign mean something."
"The Freedmen's Bureau would be quite cross if they discovered you are violating it."
"The Bureau is toothless!"
She sighed, giving up. It was not her place to question her husband in such a manner. Even now, she pushed things to the line. How could she help herself? Her husband could get them sent to the hangman. It surprised her that a mob of angry slaves had not attacked them already, with him being one of the worst slaveholders in the state.
Their house slave, Lucy, scurried next to Clarance with a cloth and wiped up his mess. She dabbed at his pot belly and his crotch. Bella saw the lewd fool, glance down the cleavage of their house slave's blouse, filling his eyes with the sight of her heavy bust.
Bella coughed to get her husband's attention away from the girl, but he ignored her and continued to ogle the black beauty.
"Lucy," Bella said.
"Yes Mistress?" Lucy answered, moving away from her lecherous husband.
"I see there is no plate and food for Thomas, please get some."
"Yes Mistress," she replied, glad to be away from Clarance.
As Lucy left, her husband stared at the slave's retreating posterior, smiling like a dog. The man had the nerve to do this right in front of her. As if she did not know what he got on to at night. Yet, she could do little to stop him; a man could do as he wished with the slaves, and his wife. Her dutiful service to Clarance meant little.
It was then they noticed the approach of a tall dark man in a blue cavalry officers' uniform. A Union soldier with medals all along a thick chest. Thomas had arrived.
Thomas stepped up to the porch with confidence, taking his hat off and giving a slight bow, directed to Bella, pointedly ignoring Clarance. "Good day to you Missus," he said with a deep rolling voice, causing Bella to shudder. After another moment he added. "You too, Clarance."
"That's master to you, boy," Clarance tried to growl out, but it sounded like whining.
Bella watched her husband shake, he must have noticed the rifle on Thomas's back and a pistol at his side. Clarance was no fighting man, not like Thomas looked to be.
Bella tried to rescue the situation, not wanting to anger the armed young man. "Welcome home, Thomas. Please, have a seat with us." She gestured to the empty chair. "Lucy is coming with your food. Until then let us speak of your heroics during the war."
"Thank you Missus," Thomas said, never taking his dark eyes off her. His eyes made her uncomfortable, they always did. After taking his seat beside the both of them, he told them of the war.
"The war was horrible, yet needed, to keep the Union together. It lifted my spirits to hear this plantation was not among the traitors, staying loyal to the Union throughout the war."
Clarance straitened, realizing the opportunity to absolve himself of any guilt. "Yes, that's right. Never gave a penny to the traitors. You tell that to the Army. Not a penny!"
"Oh, I will," Thomas said darkly.
Thomas likely knew the truth: her husband was too greedy to donate to the war effort. If the war did not end, the Confederates would have likely come for them as traitors instead of the Union. Their status saved them. Or rather her status did. Bella came from good breeding stock while her husband brought money to the marriage.
"Do you have any war stories for us, Thomas?" Bella said.
"I would not want to shock you Missus," Thomas said to her.
"Oh, please do," she pleaded, before realizing she sounded too eager. Life at the plantation with nobody to talk to but Lucy and the other house slaves bored the mature mistress to no end.
"Well, I took a...different role during the war you see."
"Different you say? How so?" Clarance leaned forward, chins flopping.
"I fought behind enemy lines. Freeing slaves, escorting spies, destroying supplies. If the need arised, I would extract information from the enemy."
Torture. A chill went down her spine ; Clarance's too by the looks of him, his face turned chalk white. They'd both heard rumors of how the black Union soldiers fought.
"How valiant of you, Thomas. You were always a strong young lad," she said, fanning her face, remembering his muscles working as he plowed the fields, and the slave girls.
"The best breeding buck in the state of Georgia," Clarance foolishly said.
They all froze. Even her husband knew he had spoken wrongly. Reminding Thomas of his prior treatment was unwise and to be avoided. Did her husband still think he could cow this strong war hero?
Bella tried to salvage the situation. "Thomas, what have you been doing since the war ended? It has been nearly 3 years and we have not heard from you."
Thomas had his large fists clenched and at her question slowly relaxed them. She could see his muscles bulged even under his blue officers' jacket. She removed her gaze from him before he could notice.
"I do much of what I did during the war. Kill confederates. You've heard of the rebels and the gangs, I presume."
Oh, they had. She and Clarance had been speaking of it just before his arrival.
"We heard a few rumors," her husband lied.
"Well, the Union have tasked my men with suppressing the Klansmen in particular and we have proved successful. We wiped them out of the state entirely. No survivors."
Clarance gulped and Bella used her fan on herself. He'd defeated the entire Klan. Even whites lived in fear of those men.
"That's...quite the feat, boy," Clarance said, still shocked.
"Thomas," Thomas said.
"What?"
"Thomas. It's my name. Not boy, or son, or slave. Thomas is what you will call me. You are the one who named me after all."
White masters considered it an honor for a slave to bear a name given by them but Bella had learned that it was torture for the slaves. The other slaves believed being named by a master meant the baby was a half-breed. A child of two races. Not truly one of them. She'd often seen him as a boy, by himself as the other children played. Only the girls spent time with him, their sinful intentions obvious. Harlots, all of them.
Clarance had worked himself into a fit, spilling more food and wine. "Now you listen here—"
"Have you heard Northerners are confiscating land with the help of the Union army? Georgia has not yet reentered the Union and is under occupation. It would be a shame if Northerners siezed this plantation. On top of all the other war reparations being paid by Southerners, it would be quite a blow. Do you have somewhere to go if such a fate befalls you." Thomas spoke in a low menacing tone. The threat in his words clear.
Clarance froze, understand how much he could lose by angering Thomas. He glanced down to see Thomas playing with the holster to his pistol.
Clarance, ever the suck up, played it off as if he made no offense. "Oh, Thomas you never did understand my jests. Thomas is a wonderful name. Sometimes I see you as my own and forget how much you have grown," Clarance bellowed in laughter.
Bella held back a groan. The man had insulted Thomas even as he tried to smooth things over. At times she wondered if Thomas came from her husband's loins. Turning her eyes on him briefly, resting on his square jaw and deep dark eyes, she thought better of it. This man had little to do with her fat husband.
Lucy returned with Thomas's food at the perfect time. As she set the table for Thomas, she smiled at him, who returned her greeting. The two had always been close.
Bella frowned, for some reason, this upset her. Thomas was her guest. Bad enough her husband ignored her in favor of Lucy, and any other poor young thing he could get his greasy hands on. Must the former breeding buck ignore her as well?
"Thomas, will you stay here?" she asked, hoping her eagerness did not come through in her voice.
Clarance choked, making another mess for Lucy to clean up. It appeared as if making messes was all her husband was capable of.
Thomas returned his gaze to her. "If I am welcome."
Clarance regained his composure. "We would love to have you but don't you have other duties."
