Elizabeth Tells Will Her Past as a Child in Georgia (Book One, Chapter Six, Section 1)

Chapter Six

“I was born in Georgia in 1852 outside of Atlanta, in the town of Gainesville.” Elizabeth sighed, remembering the sunshine and joy of that time. “We had a very happy farm, where the family worked. We grew cotton and sugar, as many people did in that area, and raised both mules and horses.” She looked up at the ranch around her and smiled. “That was where I discovered my love for horses, you see.”

Will nodded, understanding. “Then the war happened.”

Elizabeth’s mouth tightened. “Indeed. Before the war, we had worked the farm as a family. My mother, Eliza, and father, Charles, raised my sister, Amanda and me to work the land with our older brothers, Jefferson and Oscar. We learned about the animals and how to raise them, and worked in the gardens with our brothers when we needed to. Our entire family worked – my mother would sing songs of the South for us as we dug and planted, to give us rhythm and happiness. Ours was a large farm, and extremely successful. We were happy. That all changed, of course, when war broke out.

“My father and oldest brother Jefferson went to war when the South left the Union. My mother, sister, brother and I did our best to keep the farm running during that time. People from neighboring farms would come and help, but they were struggling, also. Without my father and brother, though, we could not maintain running the farm. Our crops died in the fields, and we had to cut back our livestock. Before long, we were struggling to just feed ourselves.”

Will was quiet, allowing her to relive the pains of her past.

“My father came back from the war badly wounded. He had lost a foot and part of his right arm, and couldn’t work the fields anymore. He could handle the gentler horses, but only for a short time. He would tire easily. My brother did not return to us at all. He was only nineteen at the time of his death.” Elizabeth stopped and breathed deeply. Even after all this time, with all that had happened, it was difficult for her to think about that time. Her brother had been her world, and losing him – knowing that she would never see him again – had brought an end to her happy childhood and dreams. She had become a serious, brooding girl, prone to loneliness and long bouts of silence. She had also learned to lose herself in the fantasy of the written word, to forget about the pain that the real world brought with it. That love of fantasy had never left her.

“What did you do?” Will prompted gently, putting his hand on Elizabeth’s.

Elizabeth shrugged, her mouth turning up in a wry grin. “We did what many Southern families did at the time. Our world was collapsing around us. The land had been ravaged during the war, our way of life was no longer possible, and there was no money to start over. The area was full of angry people, and would never be the South of our memories. So we picked up and moved on. My mother had a sister in San Antonio, and her husband was relatively well off. They offered us room and board while we got back on our feet. We sold our family farm, got a little money, and came to Texas, to start a new life and try to forget the nightmares of the old.