Free Midnight Rose by Patricia Hagan Page B

reacted, Letty was astonished and cried, “But why? Why did you do that? You’ve been kissed by boys before, haven’t you?”
    “Ryan is no boy, Letty. He’s a man, and it was different. He obviously knew what he was doing. I didn’t.”
    Letty’s brows drew together as she thought about the situation. “Maybe,” she said slowly, evenly, “it’s best you don’t act like you know what you’re doing.”
    “What do you mean by that? I feel like a fool.”
    “You don’t know Sudie, do you?” Letty didn’t wait for a response but rushed on. “You probably wouldn’t. She’s in the fields all the time. Anyway, Mastah Zachary bought her last year. She comes from someplace down in North Carolina, and she was sold off by the family that owned her, ’cause her mistress had to go away, and they didn’t need her no more. And you know why her mistress had to go away?” Her eyes grew wide.
    Erin shook her head. It all sounded terribly mysterious, and she wondered what it all had to do with her own dilemma.
    Letty proceeded to oblige with the information that, according to Sudie, her mistress, Miss Coralee, was being courted by a young gentleman, and the family was already making plans for a big wedding. When he suddenly didn’t come around anymore, gossip began to circulate that he’d got what he wanted from her and no longer had a reason to marry her. “Her daddy went crazy, from what Sudie said, half beat Miss Coralee to death, sayin’ she shoulda known a man ain’t gonna buy the cow if he gets the milk for free, and no decent man would marry her after everybody knew that. So he sent her away to live with some kin in another state, where nobody would know what she done, and she’d have a chance to find her a husband.”
    Erin sighed and reached for another oatmeal cookie. She and Letty were piled into her bed. It was nearly midnight, and they’d sneaked some things out of the kitchen and up to her room for a late-night snack. “Why are you telling me all this?” she asked. “What does ithave to do with me acting like a ninny when Ryan Youngblood kissed me?”
    Letty also grabbed a cookie, stuffed it in her mouth, then talked around it. “Don’t you see? If he can’t get free milk, he’s gonna buy the cow!”
    Erin looked at her in the candle’s glow. She looked so ridiculous, trying to be serious while her mouth was full of oatmeal cookie. Then, thinking of being compared to a milk cow, Erin started to giggle. Letty joined in, and soon they were swept with gales of laughter.
    When at last they calmed down, Letty grew serious and said that she didn’t know anything about the courting ways of white folks, but it seemed to her that if Miss Coralee had lost her beau by giving him something he wasn’t supposed to have until after they were properly married, that Erin would be wise to remember that and not make the same mistake with Mr. Youngblood. “So,” she said with proud finality, “I think you’re smart to look dumb, so he won’t think you ever did give away any free milk. In fact”—she leaned closer to advise conspiratorially—“I think you oughta make him want that milk real bad!”
    “Letty, you’re terrible!” Erin laughed self-consciously. “What you’re suggesting I do is to lead him on, make him want me something fierce, and then tell him he can’t have me unless he marries me.”
    With a shrug, Letty asked, “What’s wrong with that? That’s the way it’s supposed to be, ain’t it? When are you gonna see him again?”
    “Tomorrow. He said he’d be there tomorrow waiting for me.”
    “Just remember what I told you, and the next thing you know”—she waved her arms triumphantly—“you’ll be Mrs. Ryan Youngblood, and your momma and me and my momma and Ben will all be livin’ at Jasmine Hill!”
    Erin looked at her thoughtfully and dared to wonder whether she might be right. If he did propose, and they did get married, so many lives would be made happy by their