Shifted By The Winds by Ginny Dye Read Free Book Online Page B

you are talking about.” Her confusion made her totally forget about the fire.
    Biddy nodded. “Come on downstairs. Elizabeth, Janie, and Alice are already up. Faith is making them porridge.” She held up her hand when she saw the questions in Carrie’s eyes. “I’ll answer your questions downstairs. You need to eat something.”
    Carrie’s stomach rumbled loudly in response. Biddy and Florence laughed as they linked arms and walked down the stairs. Carrie tried to guess her host’s age, but the lively spirit and nimble body conflicted with the wrinkled face.
    Carrie managed to hold her questions in while she ate two steaming bowls of porridge and two thick slices of hearty Irish brown bread slathered with butter. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she started eating. Only when her stomach was full did she reach for the pot of steaming tea sending out its heady aroma.
    “Elizabeth told me you girls have had nothing to eat since lunch yesterday,” Biddy said.
    Carrie thought back to the day before and realized she was right. “I guess that’s why I was so hungry.”
    Janie chuckled. “I’m glad I ate before you came downstairs. The rest of us might not have gotten anything.”
    Carrie laughed, and then turned eagerly to Biddy. “Please explain what you were talking about upstairs.”
    Biddy eyed her for a long moment and then nodded. “I’m thinking there must be a right good reason you girls got dumped into my house last night.” She beckoned to Faith. “This story cannot be told without you, my friend. Come join us.”
    Faith, a slender black woman who seemed to be a few decades younger than Biddy, slipped into the remaining chair at the table.
    Carrie studied her. She had assumed Faith was Biddy’s housekeeper, but now she realized the two women were friends. She looked up to see Biddy watching her with knowing eyes.
    “Faith Jacobs has been my housemate for over thirty years,” Biddy said. “My housemate, and my best friend.”
    Carrie smiled. “Rose Samuels is my best friend. She began life as a slave on my father’s plantation.”
    “Until Carrie helped Rose and Moses escape,” Janie added.
    “Moses?” Biddy asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
    “Rose’s husband,” Carrie answered. “They left the plantation on the Underground Railroad the year the war started. I didn’t see her again until the war ended.”
    “Where is she now?” Biddy asked, keen interest shining in her eyes.
    “They are living on our plantation with my husband, Robert. Rose is a schoolteacher. Moses has become the co-owner of the plantation with my father.” Carrie decided not to go into the fact that Rose was actually her father’s half-sister. She knew Biddy had more questions — they were burning in her eyes — but Carrie was too eager to learn more about Biddy’s surprise statement. “Please, Biddy, help me understand what you were talking about earlier. What did you mean about the Irish being slaves?”
    “Just what I said,” Biddy answered, exchanging a long look with Faith. “Faith and I share that heritage in common.”
    Elizabeth gasped. “Slavery? My mother has always told me you had an extraordinary story, but she never told me any more than that.”
    Biddy nodded. “Most folks don’t like to talk about it. It’s as if they are thinking if they don’t talk about it, it will mean it never happened. Pure poppycock it is!” She settled back in her chair and looked around at the women surrounding her. “I sent Ardan to talk to the doctors who came down this morning to inspect what was to be the hospital. I didn’t want anyone to worry about you women. They sent back word to rest here until you are recovered.”
    Carrie murmured her appreciation with the others but kept her eyes fastened on Biddy. The cholera hospital had faded away into almost insignificance in her mind. She didn’t really understand her burning compulsion to know Biddy’s story, but she somehow knew it was