In His Eyes(93)

“Miss Ella! I’s so sorry, Miss Ella,” Basil cried as he hauled her toward the horses.

Ella scrambled to step in front of them in an effort to stop the soldier from hauling Basil away. “Please, tell me, why are you taking this child?” The man stared down at her, clearly uncomfortable.

“Orders, ma’am.”

Tears drained down Basil’s face. “I’s sorry, Miss Ella. I’s so sorry.”

Ella’s voice began to strain. “I demand to know what is happening!”

“Orders, ma’am,” he repeated.

The soldier tugged on Basil again and attempted to step around Ella.

“I’s sorry,” Basil wailed. “I’s so sorry we done got you into trouble, Miss Ella.”

Ella’s chest tightened. “What did you do, Basil?”

The soldier grunted and pushed Basil out in front of him, making Ella step out of the way.

“What did you do?” Ella called as the soldier pulled Basil away, but she didn’t attempt to answer.

Basil sobbed as the man lifted her onto a horse and bound her hands to the pommel. Ella spun around to find Larson again. His back was to her, his head bent low as he conversed with another soldier.

Suddenly, he lifted his head and he stalked back toward the porch. Ella lifted her gaze to see Sibby step out the front door, her headscarf askew and her eyes wild. She took a small step forward, still favoring her ankle a bit.

Heat bubbled in Ella’s gut and she clenched her teeth. This was Sibby’s doing. Whatever she had been keeping secret had landed them in some kind of predicament. She tightened her arm on Lee and jogged back to the porch.

“Sibby! Why are these men here?”

Sibby seamed her lips and looked at her feet.

“Sibby!”

Larson came to stand beside her, clasping his hands behind his back. The other soldier took Sibby’s arm and gently helped her down the stairs, leading her toward where they held Basil.

“Sibby! You tell me what you did this instant!”

The other woman looked at her with remorse in her eyes, but only lowered her head as the soldier led her away.

“What will you do with her?” Ella asked the colonel.

The officer frowned. “They will all be questioned.”

Ella’s mouth went dry. All?

“And then justice will be rendered thereafter.”

Ella toyed with the brooch at her throat, her mind scrambling for footing on a slippery slope of rapidly worsening events. “Sir, that woman is a wet nurse for my son. I cannot be separated from her or else my child will starve.”

The muscles in his jaw hardened, and he looked at her through narrowed eyes.

Her heartbeat quickened. “Please, sir. I don’t know what she could have possibly gotten tangled in, but regardless of what she has done, my son will not take the goat’s milk.”

He blinked at her. “Pardon? Goat’s milk?”

“I have tried to get him to take goat’s milk so that I may have another means of feeding him, but he refuses. That woman, Sibby, who you are taking, she is my only way of feeding my son. Please, I beg of you to leave her with me.”

The officer took her elbow. “I’m afraid that is not possible. You’re just going to have to come with me.”

“You cannot expect me to mount a horse with my infant son.” Ella scoffed. “It isn’t possible.”

“We won’t be going far.”

Regardless of her protests, Ella was hoisted up on a tall roan horse, and the colonel swung into the saddle behind her.

“I hope this animal is well tempered, sir, because if it should spook and any injury befalls my son, I promise you that you will meet with personal harm.”

The man had the audacity to chuckle. “I assure you, Mrs. Remington, this animal will obey my commands. As long as you do not make a fool of yourself, there will be no need for you to worry.”

Ella huffed and smoothed the shawl around Lee, uncomfortably aware of how closely the officer sat behind her. She stiffened her back in order to keep as much distance as possible between them.

The group of soldiers and their female captives heeded Larson’s command, and they followed the drive from Belmont out onto the river road. Would he parade them through town like some kind of criminals?

They’d not gone far on the road when Larson suddenly turned the horse’s head to the left and they stepped out into one of the fields. Ella twisted and spoke over her shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

“I am taking you to the Negro camp.”

Ella wrinkled her nose. “Whatever for?”

“To see what you know.”

Ella turned back forward, speaking loud enough for not only him but the men riding just behind them to hear her as well. “I know nothing of that place. They were determined that I never go there, and I left them to their privacy.”

The officer declined to reply to her statement, and they clopped through the abandoned fields, skirting around the scraggly line of trees and avoiding the need to jump the creek by keeping near the river road.

After a time, the settlement came into view. Ella bit her lip. What could a group of recently freed slaves have possibly have done to garner the attention of the army?

Everything looked quiet. No one milled about in the gardens, and the place seemed deserted. The people must have heard them coming and fled. She wouldn’t be surprised in the least if the soldiers didn’t find a soul.