Free Carried Forward By Hope by Ginny Dye Page B

in her that God would allow Janie to be in this situation, but then the truth of Moses’s words sank in. Janie had chosen to leave instead of staying where she would be safe. She was an adult woman who had made her choice. Only she could live with the consequences. Carrie clenched her fists and fought to control her breathing. “You’re right,” she finally admitted.
    “At least Janie has a safe place to come back to if she’s ever ready,” Moses added. “My guess is that you tried to convince her to stay.”
    Carrie nodded.
    “And you also told her she could come back here.”
    Carrie nodded again, still silent, but his words gave her a small surge of hope. If Janie ever decided to make another choice, at least she wouldn’t be like so many women with nowhere to go — nowhere to escape.
    Moses gazed down at her. “You’ve done all you could do, Carrie. Now it’s up to Janie.”
    “You’re right,” she finally whispered, staring down the road into the darkness.
    May stepped forward then. “You come on in now, Miss Carrie. Dinner be on the table. Rose be upstairs feeding Mr. Robert. You gots to put some food in your belly, chile.” She stepped back to stare into Carrie’s face. “You ain’t eaten nothing since you left here this morning, have you?” she demanded.
    Carrie forced herself to focus on the loving woman’s concerned eyes. “No, ma’am,” she admitted sheepishly. She was suddenly aware of her stomach rumbling as a deep wave of fatigue rolled through her. “Dinner sounds good.”
    Within moments, she was sitting in front of a plate full of cornbread slathered with butter and heaps of hot vegetables picked fresh from the garden that morning. A plate of fresh lettuce topped with carrots and radishes had her almost salivating as she gave thanks for the warm days causing the garden to produce so early.
    Carrie remained silent as she dug into the delicious meal, knowing she needed the strength it would provide. Her day was not over yet. She knew Robert was waiting for her. She brightened slightly as she thought of how pleased he would be to hear she had met Alex. She had a lot to tell him — if he could stay awake.
    *****
 
    Rose joined Carrie just as she was finishing her meal. “Janie is gone?”
    Carrie nodded, feeling a fresh wave of grief and anger. “She’s gone.”
    “Janie is a strong woman, Carrie,” Rose replied, her eyes soft with knowing.
    “Not right now,” Carrie replied, her words almost a groan.
    “No,” Rose agreed, “but I’m willing to bet she will find her strength when she needs it,” she said firmly. “Right now, fear is controlling her decisions, but at some point she will get tired of the fear and reach down to grab the strength that is waiting.”
    Carrie smiled slightly. “You sound like your mama.”
    Rose smiled back at her. “You couldn’t give me more of a compliment. My mama helped me through so many of my own fears. Every time my fears would grab hold of me she would remind me of how strong I was, and that I just needed to decide to be strong.”
    Carrie sighed. “I would so love to sit down and talk with your mama right now.”
    May walked in with a huge slice of cake. “I done heard so much about Old Sarah,” she said as she put it down. “I sure wish I could have known her myself. She sounds like she done been quite a woman.”
    “That she was,” Carrie agreed. “Rose’s mama was one of the wisest women I’ve ever known. Besides helping me grow up, she taught me just about everything I know about herbal medicine.” She shuddered. “I hate to think how bad the suffering would have been in the hospital if we hadn’t had the herbal treatments I taught the women to make. Once the blockades stopped all medical supplies, it was all we had.”
    “Mama was a saint,” Rose agreed softly. “Every time I look at little John I think about her. She would have loved him so much.”
    “She sho ‘nuff would have,” May said just before she