Free Love Rules by Rita Hestand Page B

with interest. It was a modest home with few furnishings and little to admire, but it was warm and suitable for a man.
    “Well, yes, he said the place was a mess and he needed a housekeeper and cook, and I was one of the best during the war.” She began her lie. “And I have to have a way to support myself and my baby. I guess he felt sorry for me. I don’t know. The captain himself sent me out here.”
    “Girl, what you trying to pull? It’s unheard of. Working for an unmarried white man. Only trash would do that. And I know what kind, too.”
    Maggie grabbed Abby closer at the threatening tone. “I’m to work for him. This really isn’t any of your business. All I wanted was directions.”
    The old man stared at her as though she didn’t deserve even the water he had given her. “I don’t see that in your eyes. I see somethin’ else.” The old man’s bushy brows nearly crossed as he frowned.
    “Look, I need a place for me and my little girl.” She adjusted Abby’s position on her hip as she stood up, and she hid her embarrassment.
    “I’d say she probably had a white daddy, didn’t she?” The old man stared at them both with interest.
    “It ain’t none of your business.” Maggie hugged her daughter close as she backed toward the door. “All I wanted was some direction, that’s all. Why you gotta go puttin’ you nose where it don’t belong, old man?”
    “She’s his, ain’t she?” the old man said, his judgmental stare traveling from her feet to the top of her hair.
    “Yes, she’s his. Okay, is that what you want to hear? I want nothing from you, but a little information, that’s all. I come a long ways and we are very tired,”
    Maggie cried, unable to deny the truth to this all-seeing black man. Abby whimpered as the old man eyed her again.
    “You done mixed yourself with a white man?” the Negro asked, his distaste in his words.
    “Why not? I’m part white, too,” she cried. “I didn’t choose a color, I chose the man. Well, stop lookin’ at me. I am part white, and so is she, and he’s gonna take care of us.”
     

    “You bringing misery on yourself and that man.” The man stood up and turned his back to her. “Where you from, girl? Don’t you know black and white ain’t supposed to mix?”
    “Well, someone should have told my folks. It was done mixed before I came along. Besides…where else can I go? Ain’t no black man gonna have me
    either…are there? You know that. I got white blood, too.”
    “Not after you done had a white man, no ma’am. There’s only one woman I know of that’s that low, that’s the Black Widow. We heard tell she hung. Or did she?” His eyes got big and wide as Maggie opened the door.
    Maggie cringed. As long as she’d heard that expression, she hadn’t been able to deal with it correctly. Black Widow? Would the name follow her everywhere? She hated it. Shame had plagued her thoughts for the remainder of the war, and guilt was a hard companion. “Thanks for your help. I gotta go.” She escaped out the door before the man said or did another thing.
    The old man came to stand on the porch. “Misery, that’s what you brought.
    Misery!” he shouted at her.
    Maggie felt hot tears spill down her cheeks. Blame and fear mixed as she tried to reason things in her head. “Where can we go in peace, baby? All I want is some peace, just to live out my life with you.” Abby sat happily in front of her, pointing to the birds that flew in a line in the sky. “Now, that old man knows we’re here.”
    Hopefully he wouldn’t stir up troubles for her, too. She certainly didn’t need any more. The memories of her killing an ex-soldier just two days before weighed on her mind, a man determined to see her dead. Why couldn’t they leave her alone? She meant no one any harm. She just wanted to find a home for herself and her baby. She hadn’t wanted to shoot him, hadn’t wanted to kill him, but he had a gun and intended to kill Abby, so she