Guilty of Stealing His Heart

7

Nancy White / Guilty of Stealing His Heart / Historical Western Romance / Words:

Prologue

(The Columbus Female Benevolent Society, Columbus, Ohio, Summer, 1843)

Five-year-old Carrie bowed her back and kicked wildly as her Mama pushed her into the outstretched arms of a stranger. They were new to this country. Everyone was a stranger. When her mother kissed both of her hands and kept repeating, "I'm sorry my baby," her heart jumped to her throat. She gasped as uncontrollable trembling took hold of her limbs. She screamed and grabbed a lock of her mother's hair. "No, Mama, I'll be good. I'll be good."

Untangling Carrie's fingers, her mother tucked a Bible under her arm. "Baby, take good care of this. You must never lose it."

Carrie let the Bible slide to the ground. The strange woman holding her prisoner picked it up while holding her tight. Mama glanced over her shoulder toward Papa in the wagon and then back at Carrie, wiping the tears from her face,

"Come, voman. Schnell!" There were days when Carrie knew to stay away from her father. That day especially.

Cradling Carrie's face, their noses only inches apart, Mama admonished, "Carrie, keep this with you." She tapped the Bible with her knuckles. "Don't lose it." Mama's eyes dropped away and, more tears fell. She wiped at them with a handkerchief she pulled from her sleeve. "Be good for Mama," she placed her fist over her heart indicating, herself, "and grow strong." Pushing Carrie's chestnut hair away from her face, she kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry mein baby." She turned and regained her seat in the Conestoga wagon next to her husband with a whimper.

"Dumme Frau!" Her angry husband barked as he whipped the horses into action.

Confused, Carrie called out, "Mama, Stop!" No amount of wriggling resulted in freedom, so she resorted to biting the woman. Her feet hit the ground rather bluntly, but she still couldn't run. The woman said, "Ouch, that hurt. Ruth,biting please explain to her that bitting is punishable here, but I'll overlook it since it's her first day here." However, she still kept a tight hold on Carrie's hand. She had no idea what the woman said; she didn't know what anyone said in this country. Carrie stood on the threshold of the orphanage sobbing. How could they leave her here all alone? Why wouldn't they let her go with them? She reached out toward the wagon's retreating silhouette with her free hand as it headed into the setting sun. Using her sleeve, she wiped away the never-ending tears at her running nose.

She screamed as loud as she could. Her little brother's face appeared between the flaps of canvas at the back of the wagon. He waved, and she could tell he cried too. She waved back, then stuffed her fist in her mouth to steady her trembling lips. Neither of her parents looked back. If this woman didn't let go of her soon, they would be out of sight. The woman transferred her charge to an older girl.

"As long as I live, I'll never understand people like them." The woman shook her head and pulled her attention from the retreating wagon to the older girl next to her. She tucked Carrie's Bible under Ruth's arm and sh,e hugged it to her chest. "Ruth, this is Carrie; she's from Germany and doesn't speak English yet. I would like you to be her house pal since you speak German. Please make sure she gets something to eat and show her around the place until Headmistress assigns her a bed and a job." Then she bent down using her apron to wipe the tears from Carrie's face and her runny nose. "Ruth, please tell her what I'm saying."

"Yes, 'em."

"You'll be all right here, sweetheart. It won't take any time at all to fit in with us. We'll take a little getting used to, that's all. Don't fret; Ruth will watch after you." She soothed Carrie with a friendly pat on the shoulder and hurried off

Carrie cowered from the stranger she had been left with; she appeared to be a girl a little older than Carrie, but what had happened to her skin? Her skin was the same color as the swiss chocolate Mama would buy when she'd been especially good. She wondered if she licked her if she would taste sweet, but she didn't dare.

Switching to German, Ruth said, "Come away now, child," she begged , tugging Carrie's hand. "Ain't no use crying over those no-account low-lives calling themselves your ma and pa. They done gone off and left you here. Whatever you was before, you a Buckeye now."

Ruth tuggedttugged on her hand to pull her further into the building. Carrie turned for one last look, but they were gone. She whimpered, but let Ruth drag her along. She absorbed her surroundings with a sweep of her head. The worn plank floors may have lacked varnish but otherwise stood up to inspection. The walls gleamed as white as lightning striking at midnight. They must whitewash them every morning. The nearest wall tempted her to touch. Carrie ran her hand along the wall as she and Ruth progressed.

"All us'n here wish someone would come for us, but it never happen. You best set your mind on it; we your family now." Ruth draped her arm around Carrie's shoulder. "We ain't so bad."

Ruth's words bounced around inside her head as if her skull was hollow. Fear swelled in her throat until it threatened to burst from her in the form of a bone-chilling scream. It can't be true. They have to come back for me. What will happen to me if they don't?

Ruth cut into her musing, "You not lucky at all, girl, you done got here on a Monday. Wild greens and beans tonight, and if you don't like it now, I guarantee you gonna hate it later." The older girl scanned her from the gray streak at her temple to her dusty bare feet and noticed her hand on the wall. "Girl, you better not let the headmistress catch you messing with her walls."

Carrie snatched her hand back.

"Why do you have gray hair when the rest is dark brown?"

"Mama says it's a birthmark."

"Wow, it's been there since you were born? What will they think of next."

"I've got a birthmark too. Master branded me when I was born. I'll show it to you later because it's difficult to hide, but after don't you ever ask me about it again. Hear?"

Carrie nodded in fear for her life.

Ruth's tone switched back to friendly after the stern warning, "The mistress always tells us 'cleanliness is next to godliness.' Every time a mark shows up on one of them walls, we have to whitewash them again. Best you keep your hands to yourself and not create more work, or you won't find many friends around here."

Ruth placed her hand around Carrie's upper arm. Her middle finger and thumb met. "You kinda skinny. When the mistress asks what you're good at, better tell her kitchen work or, she'll have you working in the garden all day in the sun or doing laundry until your arms have gone past numb and fallen plum off. That's where I work. You don't want to go there. If you end up in the kitchen, I sure enough hope you learn to bake a decent loaf of bread. Half the time, it don't rise, and we gotta eat it anyways. Don't nothing go to waste around here. My drawers has so many patches on 'em I done forgot what color they used to was."

Mama frequently said she asked too many questions. So, she better not ask Ruth questions. She didn't want to make her mad. We got kicked off the boat early because her brother Eduard was real sick. That's when Papa turned mean to Mama and her because women are useless. I think Mama works hard. She's busy all day. And I'm not sick. He wanted boys to work the land with him when they finally reached their farm.

Ruth swung their joined hands back and forth as they walked. "At least you're a white girl. Mistress starts all us nigra girls with emptying and cleaning the chamber pots." Ruth nodded her head. "Maybe you is lucky after all."

Carrie peeked upward into Ruth's smiling face and thought lucky sure didn't feel very good. Ruth's German was different from hers. Some of what she said, she didn't understand. Maybe Ruth meant to use an other word. She had fallen into a dark hole in the ground, tumbling head over tail end reaching out fruitlessly for something to latch on to and was totally lost. Her screams fell on deaf ears. If this is luck, she hoped she was unlucky from now on. Something twisted and fell flat inside her. Something heavy. She knew nothing in her life would ever be the same again. The trembling returned. The only lifeline in sight was Ruth. She squeezed the girl's hand with the sudden knowledge that she was the only person she knew here.

"Girl! I ain't goin' nowhere. Let up on sqeezing my hand like you're drowning." Ruth paused to look Carrie over. Her face softened as she asked, "Don't you talk none?"

Ever since she could remember it had been her job to stay quiet and invisible. But while shipboard, she listened in while others learned the language of their new home. She vowed whatever Ruth was kind enough to teach her, she'd learn. She wouldn't annoy her by asking too many questions and hoped the fact that she was a girl didn't matter so much because Ruth was a girl herself. Might as well start now.

"What's a buckeye and a nigra?"

"How do you know to speak German here?"

"Do you taste like chocolate?"

"Do I taste like chocolate? No one's ever asked me that. I don't know." She held her arm out toward Carrie. "Have a lick and see."

Throwing her arms around Ruth's waist, she enquired, "I'm scared. Will you be my friend?"