Read Online Fire Over Atlanta by Gilbert L. Morris - Free Book Online

curly.
    “Miss Lori’s gettin’ herself all cleaned up,” she announced. “You know Mrs. Holcomb’s got a copper bathtub?”
    “No, I didn’t know that,” Drake said as he followed Charlie, who strode with long, purposeful steps to the sitting room.
    “Yep, that’s right. I het water for it and filled it up so she could have a good all-over bath.” Charlie waved at a red plush chair and waited until Drake had lowered himself into it. Then she turned a smaller chair around and straddled it. “That’s right,” she said. “It took me about ten trips with a teakettle, but I got it all hetted up. She sure ought to be clean with all that hot water and soap and all that perfume and stuff she uses. Sure is a sight of trouble. Don’t see no need of it myself.”
    Drake studied the girl cautiously. He had not spoken with her except for a brief greeting since he had captured her, and now he asked, “Uh … how are you getting along, Charlie?”
    “Me? Oh, I’m doin’ fine. I’m helpin’ around the place here, don’t you see? Miss Grace, she ain’t feelin’ well, and Lori, she has to take lots of care of her. So I chop the wood and milk the cow and do everything that needs doin’. Not much work around here though. Back home we had forty acres. Wasn’t nothin’ for me to get up and plow from sunup to sundown.” She teetered back and forth on the chair. “I sure do miss my mules! Buddy and Bob their names were. Best set of mules in the state of Georgia.”
    Drake shifted uncomfortably. “Uh … have you made any plans … about what you’re going to do, I mean?”
    “Not yet.”
    “But you’ll have to sooner or later, won’t you?”
    “Guess so, but right now I think I’m just gonna help Miss Lori take care of Miss Grace. Tell me about your soldierin’. Have you ever been shot?”
    Drake grinned. “Not yet.”
    “That’s good. A fella that lived down the road from us went off to fight the Yankees, and he came back. He had his ear shot plumb off! Just one of ’em though. Didn’t hurt his hearin’ none.”
    Charlie carried the bulk of the conversation until Lori came in. She looked sparkling fresh, and she wore a dress that Drake had not seen before. Getting to his feet, he said, “Hello, Lori. My, you’re looking real good tonight.”
    “Good to see you, Drake. Would you come on up and meet my aunt?”
    “I’d be glad to.”
    Drake accompanied Lori upstairs where he met Mrs. Holcomb. But she seemed weak and was unable to entertain them very long. When they left her room, he said with a frown, “She doesn’t look good, Lori.”
    Lori’s face was sad. “She’s not doing very well at all. Every day it seems she’s a little weaker.”
    “Do you think she’s going to make it?”
    “I don’t know. She’s getting on, and she’s had a lot of sickness …” She seemed not to want to talk about her aunt. She said, “What do you think of your prisoner?”
    Drake grinned rather feebly. “She’s as good a fella as I’ve ever seen. Does she ever wear anything except overalls?”
    “Not that I know of. I’ve tried to get her into a dress. She won’t listen.”
    “Well, she’s resourceful enough.”
    “Oh, she’s all that. She chops the wood, milks the cow, feeds the chickens. She does all the things that have to be done outside. She’s building a new well wall for us. You ought to see her out there with a trowel, putting those rocks in place.”
    Drake said, “Well, I didn’t come to talk about her. I came to talk about us.”
    “Come on down to the kitchen, and I’ll give you some apple cake that I made,” Lori said quickly.
    The evening did not go as Drake had planned. Charlie came into the kitchen almost at once and did everything but sit between them. When they went into the parlor, Charlie was there. She did not appear at all aware that she was intruding. Her eyes went from Lori to Drake, and from time to time she would ask questions of one or the other. At other times