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.
