Read Online The Bride Price by Tracey Jane Jackson - Free Book Online

Can you tell me your name?”
    He licked his lips and frowned. “James.”
    “What’s your last name?”
    “Uh…” He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
    Amelia raised her head at the sound of her father’s heavy footsteps. “Meely, run and get David and John. We’re gonna need to get him into the barn.”
    “The barn, Daddy? He’s a Union soldier. I think we should offer him refuge in the house.”
    Her father knelt beside James and studied him briefly. “All right, Meely. We’ll take him into the house. Now, go fetch David and John.”
    “Yes, sir.” Amelia picked up her skirts and ran for the fields.
    There weren’t many men left to work their dairy farm. Anyone healthy and willing was fighting, but the Powell’s had been lucky enough to gain loyalty from a few of the slaves that Amelia’s father had freed years ago.
    Many wealthy landowners had begun to free their slaves, but it took a while for her father to agree—truth be told, it took a while for her mother to agree, which in turn, influenced her father’s decision. But her brother, Samuel, had been right and her father finally saw the wisdom in his suggestion.
    Two of the men chose to stay and work the farm, even after many of the others had joined the Union. Amelia had suspected her brother may have offered them a financial incentive to stay on, but she doubted she would ever know for sure.
    She caught sight of them moving the herd from the lower pasture. David was larger than life with an easy manor and quick sense of humor. He stood at least a foot taller than Amelia and had scared her when he’d first come to the farm. That all changed after he’d risked his life to save her from a nasty run-in with an angry bull when she was nine, and now she viewed him as her own personal protector.
    John had been raised on the Powell farm, and he and Amelia had played as children. He was two years her senior and as Amelia blossomed into a beautiful young woman, her mother forced him to keep his distance. Amelia had defied her at every chance. She considered John one of her very closest friends, and she’d been his shoulder to cry on when the girl he’d loved had been forced to follow her family after they were freed. Amelia had secretly taught him to read and write, something her mother would have surely stopped if she’d ever found out.
    “David, John, come quick. There’s a wounded soldier up near the house. Daddy needs him brought inside.”
    John waved back and the two men came running. David removed his hat and gave Amelia a warm smile. “Where’s he at, missus?”
    “In the back paddock, just past the garden.”
    Amelia led them to where her father knelt over James. It appeared he was speaking to him, but Amelia couldn’t figure out if the soldier was answering.
    Mr. Powell raised his head. “Oh, good. Move him into the south guestroom upstairs, and then one of you go for the doctor.”
    “Yessuh,” David responded. He and John picked him up and did as they were instructed.
    Amelia followed them inside and heard the sputtering of her mother from behind David. “What do you think you’re doing with that man?”
    “Mama, he’s a wounded soldier. Daddy told them to take him up to the south room.”
    “Oh, for goodness sake.” Her mother waved her hands towards the stairs. “Make it quick, then.”
    “Yes’m,” they mumbled and hurried up the stairs.
    When Amelia tried to follow, her mother grabbed her arm. “You will not be alone with them.”
    “Mama, he needs help.”
    “Young lady, you’re barely sixteen. You may not go into a room alone with a man and two Negroes. What would people think?”
    Amelia wanted to scream. “That I’m a good Samaritan, and willing to help a soldier who has obviously put his life on the line for our Union.”
    Her mother huffed. “Well, you’ll wait until the doctor has seen him and then you’ll let Della tend to him. John may assist…he is her son after all.”
    Amelia lowered her head.