Part One, Chapter Twenty-Two
Return to Tara
...
It was late in the night when they finally reached the grounds of Tara.
"Zoey!" Courtney said excitedly. "Zoey, we're home! We're at Tara!"
She began whipping the horse violently.
"Hurry!" she demanded. "Move, you brute!"
The horse fell down dead a second later.
"Miss Courtney, he's dead!" Katie gasped.
Courtney got off the carriage.
"I can't see the house!" Courtney gasped. "Is it there? I can't see the house. Have they burned it?"
Some clouds that were blocking the full moon moved and the moon illuminating Tara and the joy on Courtney's face when she saw it.
"Oh, it's all right," Courtney said happily. "It's all right! They haven't burned it. It's still there!"
She took off running towards the house.
"Mother!" she called. "Mother! Pa!"
She climbed up the front stairs.
"Mother! Mother! Pa!"
She pounded on the door.
"Mother, let me in," Courtney begged. "It's me, Courtney."
The door opened and it revealed a somewhat dishevaled Geoff O'Hara.
"Pa!" Courtney gasped. "Oh, Pa! I'm home!"
She embraced her father.
"I'm home," she said.
"Eliza," he said as he slowly started to embrace her back. "Eliza Courtney. Oh, darlin'."
Courtney saw a light and a second later, she saw Leshawna and she smiled.
"Leshawna," Courtney said happily. "Leshawna, I'm home."
Leshawna and Courtney embraced.
"Honey," said Leshawna, "honey child!"
"Oh, Leshawna, I'm so..." Courtney trailed off. "Where's Mother?"
"Why," Leshawna started, "Miss Anne Maria and Miss Beth, they was sick with typhoid. They had it bad, but they's doin' all right now. Just weak like little kittens."
"But where's Mother?" Courtney asked.
"Well," Leshawna continued, "Miss Bridgette, she went down to nurse that Jo Slattery, that white trash, and she took down with it, too. And last night she..."
"Mother!" Courtney called, running down her cheeks as she started rushing around the house. "Mother. Mother! Mother." She said the last one right in front of Leshawna's face.
Leshawna looked to a room with the door almost all the way shut. Courtney went in and saw Bridgette lying on a table. She slowly walked up to her and let out a scream before she fell to her knees, crying.
...
Courtney left the room in the early hours of the morning.
"If there's anythin' I can do, Miss Courtney," said Cameron.
"What did you do with Miss Zoey?" Courtney asked.
"Don't you worry your pretty head 'bout Miss Zoey, child," said Leshawna. "I done slapped her in bed already, along with the baby."
"You better put that cow I brough into the barn, Cameron," said Courtney as she began walking up the stairs.
"There ain't no barn no more, Miss Courtney," said Cameron.
Courntey stopped and turned around.
"The Yankees done burned it for firewood," Cameron continued. "They used the house for their headquarters. They camped all around the place."
"Yankees in Tara!" Courtney gasped.
"Yes, ma'am," said Leshawna, "and they stole most everythin' they didn't burn. All the clothes and all the rugs and even Miss Bridgette's rosaries.
"I'm starving, Cameron," said Courtney. "Get me something to eat."
"There ain't nothin' to eat, honey," said Leshawna. "They took it all."
"All the chickens, everything?" Courtney gasped.
"They took them first thing," said Cameron. "And what they didn't eat they carried across their saddles."
"Don't tell me anymore about what they did!" Courtney snapped.
She saw her father reading something in his study and she went to him. She saw a jug something on his desk.
"What's this, Pa?" she asked. "Whiskey?"
"Yes, daughter," said Geoff.
She saw a spoon next to it and took a sip. She poured some more into the spoon and she took another sip.
"Here, Eliza Courtney, that's enough," said Geoff. "You're not knowing spirits, you'll make yourself tipsy."
"I hope it makes me drunk," said Courtney coldly. "I'd like to be drunk. Oh, Pa. What are those papers?"
"Bonds," said Geoff after a moment of silence and Courtney looked confused. "They're all we've saved. All we have left. Bonds."
"What kind of bonds, Pa?" Courtney asked.
"Why Confederate bonds, of course, daughter," said Geoff.
"Confederat bonds?" Courtney asked. "What good are they to anybody?"
"I'll not have you talking like that, Eliza Courtney," Geoff scolded.
"Oh, Pa, what are we going to do with no money and nothing to eat?" Courtney asked desperately.
"We must ask your mother," said Geoff with realization coming to his eyes. "That's it! We must ask Mrs. O'Hara.
"Ask Mother?" Courtney asked.
"Yes," said Geoff.
"Mrs. O'Hara will know what's to be done," said Geoff. "Now don't be botherin' me. Go out for a ride. I'm busy."
Courtney embraced her father.
"Oh, Pa," said Courtney as Geoff started to pat her hand, "don't worry about anything, Eliza Courtney's home. You needn't worry."
She walked out of the room and was greeted by Leshawna.
"Miss Courtney," she said. "What are we gonna to do with nothin' to feed those sick folks and that child?"
"I don't know, Leshawna," said Courtney. "I don't know."
"We ain't got nothing but radishes in the garden," Leshawna said.
Katie walked down the stairs.
"Miss Courtney," she said, "Miss Anne Maria and Miss Beth, they's fussin' to be sponged off."
"Where are the other servants, Leshawna," Courtney asked.
"Miss Courtney, there's only just me and Cameron left," said Leshawna. "The others went off to the war or runned away."
"I can't take care of that baby and sick folks, too," Katie complained. "I's only got two hands."
Courtney stared walking out the door where she was greeted by Cameron.
"Who's going to milk that cow, Miss Courtney?" Cameron asked. "We's houseworkers."
Courtney ignored them and kept walking.