All Things New by Lynn Austin Read Free Book Online

rest.”
    “That seems a shame. Especially if the plants take so long to grow.” And yet the changes in Jo’s life had seemed to come just as mercilessly, with people she loved snatched away from her. Samuel and Daddy had been alive and running the plantation one day, and quicker than carrots or beans could sprout, they were gone. Last fall, dozens of slaves had worked in the fields, but now both the cotton and the slaves were gone. “What made you decide to stay, Lizzie?”
    She paused, leaning against her hoe. “Me and Otis got three kids to think about. Can’t let them go hungry.”
    Lizzie was a mother? That was something else Josephine hadn’t known. “What are your children’s names?”
    “Roselle, Rufus, and Jack.”
    “Wait. Roselle is your daughter? But you don’t look nearly old enough to be her mother!”
    Lizzie looked away, lowering her head as if embarrassed. Jo was sorry for speaking without thinking—something Mother would chide her for doing. But Lizzie looked so young, certainly no more than thirty. Which meant that she must have been fifteen or sixteen—the same age as Mary—when Roselle had been born. Why had Lizzie chosen to marry and have children at such a young age?
    Before the war, finding a suitable husband had occupied most of Josephine’s life, dictating her activities and social engagements. She’d had to learn to make herself attractive and poised so her charms would outshine the other girls’ and catch a man’s interest. Marriage had been the prize at the end of the contest. Jo thought of the long lists of names that the minister had read in his solemn voice every Sunday throughout the war, men fallen in battle like her brother Samuel, young men she had once socialized with. Gone—all of them. How could any of their lives ever be the same?
    “I’m glad you decided to stay and work for us,” Jo finally said to break the long silence. “And I’m grateful that you’re teaching me to—”
    “Josephine!”
    She looked up, startled. Mother stood by the back door with her hands on her hips. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. What in heaven’s name are you doing?”
    “Working in the garden.”
    “Come inside this instant!” The door slammed shut behind her as she returned inside.
    Josephine saw the look of fear on Lizzie’s face and smiled to reassure her. “Don’t worry. I’m the one who’s in trouble, not you.” She removed her straw hat as she slowly walked up to the house, wiping the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve. Mother was waiting inside the door, arms crossed.
    “What in the world were you doing? We have not yet sunk so low that you are forced to work outside in the hot sun like a field hand. What will people think of us? Do you want your skin to turn brown and your hands to get all blistered like a slave’s?”
    “I’m bored, Mother. There’s nothing else to do and I thought I should learn how to put food on our table in case Lizzie decides to leave, too. Besides, it felt good to work outside. And the work isn’t hard. . . .” Jo could tell that Mother wasn’t listening.
    “There has never been a Weatherly who had to work like a Negro, and so help me God, there never will be.”
    But that’s just it , Jo wanted to say. God isn’t helping us.
    “Did you know that Otis is Lizzie’s husband?” Jo asked. Mother looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “And Roselle is Lizzie’s daughter. They have two other children, too.”
    “What in the world is wrong with you? As if it isn’t bad enough that you’re working with slaves, now you’ve decided to converse with them, too? Really, Josephine!”
    “They aren’t our slaves anymore. They’re people. We shouldn’t treat them like slaves.”
    “I believe the hot sun has addled your brain. Go splash some cold water on your face and tidy your hair.” Mother turned and strode away. Jo followed her down the hall and into the foyer.
    “But we have to change the way we do