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Chapter Fifty-Nine

After the epidemic had passed in Charleston, Percy rode down to what was once Middleton Acres at the end of June. He was devastated. Almost three fourths of the freed people were dead. Malcolm Little was one of the men who had died. Percy suspected that someone contaminated the freed people's water supply. Probably James Earl, but it could have been almost anyone. There were a lot of people who thought what Percy had done was wrong. James Earl had just been the most vocal of the men. Percy had heard that James Earl had died from Yellow Fever so there would be no way to prosecute him even if he had been the one to actually poison the water supply. That wasn't important right now. Percy said, "You are not safe here. How many people are left?"

Jesse replied, "Maybe fifty or sixty."

"I don't know how it works but get in touch with the underground railroad. Go North. You are not safe here. I will arrange the wagons. Butcher the livestock and prepare the meat. Can as much of the fruits and vegetables as you can. Don't drink the water from the well."

"No, Sir, we have been drinking rainwater."

"I will get some barrels for you to carry water in. I don't know what awaits you in the North, but I know it is better than what you will receive here."

Jesse looked at the white man. The man of privilege. The man who had never suffered. The man who was sacrificing so much for Jesse and his brethren. He said, "Thank you, Mr. Percy."

"Don't thank me yet. Thank me when you get to the promised land."

Jesse smiled and said, "I will the rest of my life."

Before Percy arranged the wagons, he asked his household staff if any of them wanted to move to the North. There were a few. It was mostly the young people which made sense. Young people were more willing to take chances. It was George and Isabel Jefferson. It was Charles Washington. He asked Simone to go with him and she accepted. They jumped the broom, and they were gone. There was Jimmy Parsons. All the freed people had most of the money Percy had paid them. Jesse had what was left of the money they had earned from selling the rice. He planned on dividing that up once they got to the North. He was keeping it for now because he might need to buy things on their journey.

Percy had told Beth after he had gotten back from the plantation. She was shocked at how many people had died. She said, "What did they do with the bodies?"

"They buried them."

"Will someone still be able to grow rice?"

"I don't think so. I think someone contaminated the water supply."

"Who would do that?"

"Someone who didn't think they deserved to be free. Someone who was jealous of how well they were doing on their own. Someone who was fearful of their slaves' reaction to my having freed my slaves. That is why I am sending them North. They aren't safe here in the South. There are too many men who would kill them just because they were former slaves. They have no way to protect themselves. It is illegal for a person of African descent to own a firearm here in South Carolina whether they are free or not."

"What are you going to do with the land?"

"Let it go back to seed. I can't sell it because of the water being contaminated. I am going to stop paying the taxes on it also."

"What if people decide to start living on the land?"

"I can't stop them. Maybe whatever the water was contaminated with will go away. Do you want to go see it one more time?"

"Yes."

"I will ask Rosemary and the boys."

"Alright, but let's make it just us and the children. No spouses, no grandchildren."

"Alright, I'm going to buy a ship and start hauling cargo for Rhett. Every city we go to I will check out investment opportunities."

"I can't go with you. Rosemary isn't married."

"Rosemary can stay with Rhett and Scarlett or Robert and Daphne. Robert doesn't travel for his work and if we are gone Rhett will not have anyone to leave his children with while he is traveling."

"I like this idea."

"I offered to send members of the household staff to the North with the field hands."

Beth's eyes got big, and she said, "I need all those people to run my household."

"Calm down. Only five accepted."

"Did Benson or Nancy accept your offer?"

"No, Jimmy, Simone, Isabel, Charles, and George."

"As long as I have Benson and Nancy, I will get by. Where will I get more staff?"

"You can get more staff through that company, Rhett used to hire nursemaids from."

Beth giggled. She said, "I cannot believe how silly he was. I stop bothering to find out the nursemaids' names until Agnes. And that was after she had been with us for two weeks. I will talk with him."

Percy was fairly sure that abolitionists would take the freed people in and help them create new lives. They just had to get there. He arranged the wagons within the week. They had everything they could get in the wagons including food. They had butchered all the livestock and dried the meat. Soon sixty freed people were heading to what they thought of as the promised land. It wasn't but it was better than the life they had been living in the South.

Percy would never know what had happened to those sixty freed people. Yet, he would always believe they were better off as freed people than as slaves or even as freed people living in the South. Percy knew he was better off as a human being because he had freed them, despite the financial consequence.

Percy would have been happy to know that Jesse had known how to communicate with members of the Underground Railroad. It wasn't as dangerous for the sixty refugees as it would have been for sixty slaves, but it wasn't safe either. The sooner they got out of the South the better their chances. Once the conductor got the group to Ohio, he started contacting abolitionists looking for people to take the freed people in. The abolitionists had to separate the group. There were just too many people for one person to support and get them settled. They managed to keep the families together. The families were farmed out across several states, including Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York to name a few. Some even went all the way to Canada.

After Beth's discussion with Percy, she had found out the name of the employment company and sent a note to Mara Wilson at Select Staff. Beth had just told Mara to send over two footmen, two maids, and a driver. When Mara saw the last name and the address she had sighed. She had thought, 'Here we go again.'

Mara was relieved that Beth Butler was Rhett Butler's mother and not his wife because she foolishly thought the woman would not be as difficult to deal with as her son. She soon found out she was wrong. If anything, Beth Butler was even more demanding than her son. After a month Mara had gotten a man placed as the Butlers' driver. Three months later, Mara had finally found someone to fill all the positions. Mara would have been unhappy to learn that Beth had finally decided that there weren't any competent people, and she would just have to settle for what she could get. Beth hoped they got better with training.

Scarlett was quite upset when she found out Simone was gone. The young maid had not even bother to tell Scarlett goodbye. Scarlett said to Rhett, "I thought she was my friend."

"No, Honey, first you were her master and then you were her boss. You were never friends."

Daphne and Robert had quickly sold the Moons' house. They moved back into the townhouse, but within a month everyone knew it was too full. Robert took the money he had received from selling the Moons' house and bought a townhouse down the street from Percy and Beth. It was much smaller and therefore cheaper.

Robert and Daphne came to supper every night. Alex and Kenny were allowed to eat with the family at first until finally Percy banished all the children to the nursery for supper. Robert, Daphne, and their boys ate breakfast and dinner in their townhouse. Tommy was allowed to eat breakfast and dinner in the dining room. Percy had wanted supper to be a calm relaxing meal. A meal where there could be adult conversations.

When Rhett objected, Percy said, "If you don't like it, you can move out."

Rhett smiled and said, "Now that I think about it, it sounds like a great idea."

"I thought you would see it my way."

Scarlett hosted a fourth birthday party for Tommy and invited several of her friends with children. That was when Scarlett found out that her friend Rachel Owens and her son had died from Yellow Fever. Her husband had contracted the disease, but he had survived. She found out later from Beth that her cousin Gabriella had died from Yellow Fever. Scarlett said, "I wonder why Aunt Eulalie didn't inform me."

"She didn't inform me either. They haven't spoken to me since I didn't invite them to Robert's wedding."

"No great loss."

"My feelings exactly. Almost everyone else speaks to me so I am not lonely."

One night at supper at the end of August, Percy said, "As you know I am letting Middleton Acres go back to seed. Beth and I are going to go see it one more time. We would like our children and just our children to go with us. Daphne, Scarlett, we are not trying to be rude but neither of you ladies ever lived at the plantation. Therefore, it will be just the five of us."

Scarlett turned to Daphne and said, "I guess it is because we weren't born in Charleston."

Which made Daphne giggle. Everyone else smiled. Percy continued, "We will go Sunday which is Robert's day off. We will leave at seven."

Scarlett said, "Thank God I don't have to go."

Daphne said, "Me too."

That made everyone laugh also.

Sunday was a good day for the Butlers, both sets. Percy, Beth, Rhett, Robert, and Rosemary walked around the grounds. It was so different than they remembered it. The freed people had torn the main house down except for the kitchen. The cabins looked a lot nicer and even larger. They talked about their memories. Robert talked about him and Rhett smoking their grandfather's cigars. The boys talked about going fishing. Rosemary talked about playing tag with some of the slave children. Beth talked about some of the cooks' best recipes through the years. Percy talked about his childhood memories. He mentioned his siblings and the games they had played together. Rhett said, "Mother, I just remembered something. The day you told us your new name was Beth, you mentioned someone named Junior. Who was that?"

"My wonderful older brother. He was always telling me not to be so proper and have fun while I could. He was the only person who called me Beth. That is why I changed my name to Beth because I was finally going to take my brother's advice and start having fun. And I have. He would always say, 'Life is too short not to have fun.' He was certainly right in his case. He died when he was fifteen."

Rosemary said, "That is so sad."

"Yes, it is, but we are not here to dwell on sadness. We are here to tell Middleton Acres goodbye."

Everyone knew what had happened to the freed people. All the men and Beth knew someone had killed them on purpose. Only Rosemary thought it was a tragic accident. Of course, she had reason to believe that. A lot of people had died in Charleston because of the epidemic.

It had been a hard time for Doug and his father. There wasn't anything they could do to help the people get well. They didn't even know for sure what the disease's name was or how it was transmitted. Some people thought it was Yellow Fever, but nobody knew for sure. Doug told Rosemary, "The only good thing is that if one survives it, one can't get it again."

Back at the townhouse, Daphne had brought her sons to Scarlett's for the boys to play together. They had spent the morning together and then had dinner together. Daphne, Scarlett, and the boys were at the dining room table. Grace was being fed by Faith in the nursery. The little girl was allowed to nurse then she would be fed some oatmeal.

The ladies had a wonderful time together and with their sons, but when it was time for Daphne to go home for the boys to take a nap, they both agreed the nursemaids earned their keep.