Chasing the Texas Wind Read online

  “You’re right,” Ham sighed. “But I hate that voice of reason, Zach. Where’s that brilliant boy I know has an idea to save the day?”

  Zachary sighed and looked at the ceiling. “He got locked up in a box, Colonel, and now nothing will come out of his head but lids closing and screws tightening.”

  “Oh, Zach.” Ham pulled himself close to the bed and squeezed Zachary’s shoulder. “I wish I knew how to tell you how to stop that.”

  “Dad read to me about David having to hide in caves and run from Saul for ten years or something like that,” Zachary brightened a little. “‘David encouraged himself in the Lord his God,’ he said. I can take that to heart.”

  “That you can,” Ham smiled. “Well, let me know if you see a way around the Monterrey thing. I just don’t think it’s the right way to go.”

  “I’ll try to think on it, Colonel,” Zachary agreed. “Take care of yourself, and don’t do anything stupid with your leg. We need you.”

  “We need you too,” Ham shot back. He rolled out of Zachary’s room and encountered Jesse Costain.

  “Jesse,” He said. Was this feeling that every turn in this house would bring him face to face with something else he needed to be forgiven for ever going to go away? “I’m so sorry about Dan.”

  “In a way, you gave meaning to his death,” Jesse smiled, kneeling and resting a hand on his arm. “Ham, play father confessor for me and let me tell you something I’ve never told anyone. I had heard so much about you before our wedding, and when I saw you come in to the church, for a second I thought I must be marrying the wrong man. How could I have felt like that? If you hadn’t done what you did I’d have always felt some discontentment with Dan. After all, you both had the same brains, the same sense of humor, as far as I knew the only difference was that Dan was homely and you were unbelievably handsome. If I’d met you before I met Dan I’d’ve married you in a heartbeat because you were just what I thought I wanted. But God had other plans.

  “My family had always been Christians, as the saying goes, but Dan had bucked his family’s traditions to become a believer. He was strong, and solid, and nothing could shake his faith. I used every argument I had against submission, against family, against God, and he smiled and said, ‘The Lord knows our hearts, Jesse, and what we’re made for. He’ll get you there, and it’ll be like coming out of a storm into a peaceful harbor after you’ve fought against coming to shore with all your strength.’ How can you argue against something like that? It was too true. I submitted to God, and I submitted to Dan. One of the things Dan did to help me turn around was telling me about his friend Ham, who’d gone through some terrible things, lost a leg, and needed the Lord. He was so tender toward you, Ham, and you were so bitter toward him at our wedding, as if he was the cause of the trouble.”

  “Jesse,” Ham protested. “I know what I was like then. Everything you described in yourself plus a drunk. And I know Dan never gave up on me. I wish I’d come straight here as soon as I made things right with God and told him.”

  “When did you accept the Lord?” Jesse asked.

  Ham named the date. “You’d have been too late,” Jesse said. ‘Dan was probably already dead when you were praying the sinner’s prayer. But Ham, maybe it’s because God prepared you to take Dan’s place. We need a new leader.”

  “We?” Ham echoed. “I thought the women weren’t to get involved.”

  “I’ve been talking to your Maeve about that, and to Angelita too,” Jesse replied. “There must be something women can do that isn’t compromising or unreasonably dangerous. We want to be invited to your next meeting.”

  “Well, they haven’t named me as Dan’s successor,” Ham shrugged. “So I haven’t any authority. Right now Lemuel McElroy seems to be in charge.”

  “I think that’s going to change,” Jesse smiled. “If you are made leader, Ham, will you at least let us sit in on the meetings, hear your plans, see if we can make suggestions or help?”

  “Sure. Why not?” Ham replied. “In fact, I’ll tell you the plan right now. We’re going to go pick a fight in Monterrey. We’ll face down Chaco and Ampudia and all those guns and soldiers and beat the pants off of them. Just knowing when and where is going to give us the victory.”

  “Oh Ham mightn’t Ampudia just keep going farther away if we don’t stir him up?” Jesse gasped. “How can you provoke him?”

  “How can I?” Ham fumed. “That was McElroy’s idea. He wants an army in place that can stop Ampudia cold, maybe defeat him once and for all. They all assure me such an army can be mustered but it will take time to do it. So they don’t want to hear anything I might say about another plan.”

  “Why didn’t you make them listen?” Jesse demanded. “Dan would have hooted that down in a heartbeat. He would’ve said you need to destroy the guns before they get to Monterrey, while there are relatively few men to fight. Ambush Chaco’s hundred somewhere along the trail, or blow the guns up before they leave town.”

  Ham stared at Jesse. “How do you even know about any of this?” he asked.

  “I didn’t just stand guard at Zachary’s door, I talked to him,” Jesse replied. “Dan used to talk over his plans with me. He respected my father and Mr. McElroy and he never said anything against them but he gave me credit for a few brains too. I helped him refine his plans many times. And Zachary can’t keep a secret from me. Oh, my, how he loves you. He’s a like a big puppy adoring his master. Ham, I know you can come up with a better plan.” She smiled.

  “Call a meeting,” he said. “Tell your father we’re having it in Zach’s room and that everybody’s invited. I mean, Mammy and Beulah and James who blacks the boots can come if they have anything they want to say. If that puts Mr. Lem McElroy’s nose out of joint so be it. Fifteen minutes, everybody.”

  Zachary’s room was crowded. Ham found himself pinned in the corner by the head of the bed farthest from the door, unable to turn the wheelchair an inch. The other Duvall brothers lined up beside him like bodyguards, John at his side.

  “I’m not the leader of this group,” Ham said. “I don’t want to spend time arguing about who is. But if I have any standing at all while sitting down I need it to be veto power because this plan to raise and army and wipe out Ampudia once and for all at Monterrey can’t go forward.”

  “We’ve already put out a call for men,” Lem McElroy protested. Ham couldn’t see him over the wall of Duvall shoulders but he didn’t need to.

  “Good,” Ham said. “We’ll need men. But they aren’t going to Monterrey. They’re going to Avecita.”

  “Back into that hornet’s nest you stirred up?” McElroy cried. “It’s insane.”

  “We ran out of Avecita with our tails between our legs,” Ham said. “Chaco thinks we’re a bunch of yellow-stripe cowards. We came down there sneaking around, afraid to face him like men, one of us even getting caught and getting the tar whipped out of him, one of us a cripple who lost his timber toes, men who snuck away in a funeral procession. He thinks all we came to do was save our boy and then run and hide and not bother him anymore. There’s no hornet’s nest in Avecita. I’ll bet Chaco’ll be mad for a minute or two. Then he’ll start stroking his ego. So he lost his woman. She was a whore. She was cheating on him. Not worth thinking about.” He glanced over at Maeve when he said that, afraid of her face, but she looked at him with nothing but encouragement and love.

  “So he lost his gringo prisoner. He was busy working for Ampudia, preparing for the moment when his army can stop retreating and start winning again. The boy didn’t even speak Spanish. How could he know anything important? The others couldn’t have learned anything. He followed the one lead he had about where the spies went but it didn’t pan out. Vienta and her idiot brother and invalid father, they might even have been forced to help the gringos escape.

  “Chaco said and did things openly in front of Maeve but she was only a stupid Tejano, his woman, too afraid to say anything even when she was away from him. He’d never beli
eve she could tell as much as she can about what he was doing. By the way, did anyone debrief Maeve? Her job for the last two years was to find out stuff. Do you even know what she found out? Here’s what I found out. Chaco’s a chuckle-headed fool who couldn’t stop a woman, a cripple, a boy who couldn’t get out of bed and a sixteen year-old-girl with no English from cleaning his clock. Why can’t you try to do it again with some real men this time?”

  The room rocked with applause. Ham started and looked up and around at the faces beaming at him. “It’ll probably take at least two hundred men,” Ham went on after things quieted down. “One thing we have to remember is that Chaco lost one of his wagons when we left town. He depended on Maeve’s buckboard to get the guns from Chilida to Avecita. If he can’t replace it quickly he’ll be making more than one trip. He’ll need to leave sooner than the original plan. So we may actually be able to use both plans. We’ll waylay the first load on the road and at the same time destroy the second while it’s still in town. Those two strikes will have to happen at the same time but as far distant as possible so no warning gets out to the other party. And they have to happen very soon.”

  “We’ll have two hundred men here by noon tomorrow,” Jedediah said. “That soon enough?”

  “It’ll have to be,” Ham shrugged. “Just remember that timing is everything for this to work. The two units have to coordinate attacks or there’ll be warning and trouble.”

  “I still can’t seem to get us a room,” Maeve sighed as the meeting broke up and she found her way to Ham’s side. “Jesse’s turned warrior woman. She’s all wrapped up in the mission, preparing provisions, packing clothes and ammunition.”

  “The living room rug is comfy,” Ham grinned.

  “Ham, it’s almost noon and we haven’t slept since we got back from Chilida, and you know how much sleep that was,” Maeve almost wept. “You look feverish to me, and I want you in a bed.”

  “I want you in bed, too,” Ham said with an impish grin. Maeve blushed.

  “Colonel Jessup, sir,” James, the young black man said to Ham. He was among those he had half-jokingly included in the meeting, and he had in fact attended and stood quiet and alert through the proceedings. “Mammy, she asks could you wait on her in the nursery? She thanks you for your invite but she wasn’t able to attend the meeting on account of minding the child. She wanted a word with you, sir.”

  “Jesse took me at my word,” Ham murmured. “Okay, but you’re going to have to direct us to the nursery, James.”

  “Yes, sir,” James replied, taking over pushing the wheelchair. Maeve walked beside Ham, holding his hand. Ham could feel her drooping, feel himself drooping. James left them at the threshold of the nursery and they hesitantly entered Mammy’s sanctum.

  “Colonel Jessup,” Mammy said as she placidly rocked a golden-red haired child on her bosom, “I don’t believe you’ve met Major Costain’s boy. This is Master Zachary Daniel Costain.”

  Ham looked sharply up at Maeve. “No one told me Dan had a son,” He said weakly. He rolled over and touched the baby fluff.

  “With all that’s happened, I forgot,” Maeve said, squeezing Ham’s shoulder. “Isn’t he a beautiful baby?”

  “God make you your father’s son, little man,” Ham whispered. “Is this what you wanted me for, Mammy? Because Mrs. Jessup and I are dead tired and we’re still trying to get Mrs. Jesse to find us a bed.”

  “I’ll find you a bed myself,” Mammy stated. “James! You, James!”

  “Yes, Mammy. I’m here.” James stuck his head in the doorway.

  “Get that Beulah to care for this child and I’ll get the colonel and his wife a place to lay their heads,” she ordered. James vanished. “No, Colonel, there’s something else I wanted to say. First, I want you to know I nursed every baby this house has brought into the world since it was built. Mammy nursed them, and Mammy loved them all, but when that sweet boy you just brought home was born I said, ‘This one’s Mammy’s own.’ His mama was ailin’ bad and sure enough, in two weeks he was motherless. Miss Jesse was on her path o’ rebellion and Mammy was the only mother that boy has known. So I can’t help it if I’m partial to my Zachary. You saved his life and gave him back to me, and so Mammy is going to make sure you get taken care of right.”

  “Mammy, a lot of people got Zachary home safely,” Ham demurred.

  “My boy don’t talk about a lot of people, he talk about Colonel Jessup,” Mammy said. “Besides, nobody else needs what Mammy can do best. You need healing, Colonel Jessup. You’re feverish and hurtin’ here sittin’ in front of me, and I can fix that better and quicker than any doctor. That doctor, he come here a pile of times and tend these babies and he always say, ‘two weeks, two weeks.’ When they hurt theirselves and he know I’m standing there listening he also say, ‘Give ‘em Mammy’s salve,’ and he smile. Listen to me, Colonel, and you listen too, Mrs. Jessup.” She rose majestically, tiny as she was, and placed the sleeping child in his bed.

  “Let me see your hurt, Colonel,” Mammy said. It was a command. Ham complied. Mammy didn’t spare his modesty. She made a thorough examination.

  “How long you have this fever?” Mammy asked, feeling his head and looking into his eyes.

  “Sometime last night,” Ham shrugged. “I thought it was just lack of sleep until the doctor said--”

  “I think so too,” Mammy nodded. “You remember how bad this lady’s feet were?”

  “I ... do …” Ham trailed off, because suddenly he realized he hadn’t given Maeve’s desert-torn feet a thought in days. He looked at his wife, startled.

  “No you don’t,” Mammy snapped. “Because she have no more pain, no more trouble, little while after she use Mammy’s salve, right?”

  “It’s true,” Maeve answered. “It was like a miracle.”

  “You use Mammy’s salve,” Mammy said, “and we pray. Two days, you walk again.”

  “I – Mammy, I still – I don’t have a leg I can wear,” Ham stammered. “Mine was smashed, and the one I got to replace it was too heavy and small. It did this damage.”

  “Go see Obed while I get you a bed,” Mammy commanded. “Obed in his workshop in the kitchen yard. We pray, use the salve, and Obed do the rest.”

  Mammy dismissed them as Beulah entered the nursery. Ham and Maeve found their way to the kitchen and looked out into the yard. Obed, an older black man, sat under a small open-sided building on a stump beautifully shaped into a chair and rested something on a tree section beautifully shaped into a table. He shaped and polished an oddly-shaped piece of wood with the touch of a master craftsman.

  “Hello, Obed,” Ham called. Obed rose at once and came to them.

  “Colonel Jessup,” Obed said with great dignity. “It’s coming along nicely, sir. I apologize for having Seb take the knee joint from your things. Mammy insisted.”

  “Obed, are you making me a new leg?” Ham asked faintly.

  “Why, yes, sir,” Obed said. “Seb was able to take some measurements while you bathed, and this is a fine knee joint, hardly dented. We’ll have to take the ankle joint from the other leg, which isn’t so good, but I’ve oiled and filed it and it’s ever so much better than it was. Now, I will need to get a better idea of the exact length and the fit at the top, but Mammy said you’d have some swelling just now so we’ll take care of that after you’ve rested. And here’s Mammy, so I’ll just get back to my work, sir, with your permission.”

  Obed retreated and Mammy bustled them off to a spacious room with a grand large bed and rust and dark turquoise decorations that combined rustic and refined with remarkable taste.

  “This is Mrs. Jesse’s room, and Major Costain’s when he was alive,” Mammy explained. “She felt so badly about forgetting to give you a place she offered this. Please don’t feel uncomfortable. Rest now. Everything should be here, but if you need something just ring. Seb and Lily will be listening for your call.”

  Seb and Lily were there now, to help them undress, and Seb assisted Ham int
o bed. “My former leg does not hurt at all anymore,” Ham said as soon as they were alone. “Is Mammy some kind of witch?”

  “Mammy has faith beyond what we newborns in Christ can understand,” Maeve said. “And Jesse says she’s very knowledgeable about herbs and folk remedies. And God can work miracles.”

  “I am in bed with my wife,” Ham marveled, taking Maeve in his arms. “Finally.”

  “I am in bed with my husband,” Maeve smiled. “Finally.”

  “You are so beautiful,” Ham sighed. “God is so good.”

  “This is a miracle, never mind the rest,” Maeve breathed into his ear. “I never thought I would have any husband, much less the one God gave me.”

  “Even if he isn’t all there?” Ham grunted.

  “Don’t talk about that anymore,” Maeve said. “It doesn’t matter to me, even if you never get another wooden leg. I love you, what there is and what there isn’t. Now no more talking.”

  Day Six

  Ham and Maeve didn’t get up until the dawn of a new day had broken. Ham awoke, looked at the beautiful woman on the pillow next to him and shook his head in disbelief. Then he looked down as something bounced on the coverlet. A pebble landed next to a surprisingly large collection of pebbles. Ham grabbed a robe, levered himself into his wheelchair, and lifted the curtain on the window. Zachary’s face peeked in at him.

  “Zach!” Ham hissed. “What are you doing out of bed? Jesse’ll skin you alive.”

  “This is my fifteen minutes, Colonel,” Zachary grinned. “Only I’ve about used it up trying to rouse you. There’s a bunch of new guys here, Colonel, and they want to start making more specific plans. We’re sending a reconnaissance team out right away, and you need to tell them what to look for.”

  Ham turned to gaze longingly at Maeve, who was sitting up, wrapped in the blankets, smiling sleepily at him. “Go,” she urged. “I’ll be around.” A knock at the door announced Seb’s presence, as if he had been waiting for his cue.