by: Delilah Kelly

January 1862

Months had gone by and Christmas had a special flavor this time. Rosco was not there, nor was Phil. Katrina had asked Mrs. Coltrane if she could invite her parents for Christmas. Her mother-in-law agreed heartily. She loved Katrina so much, even more since she had learnt that the young woman was carrying Rosco’s child. She had even scolded her daughter-in-law for her going out at night to help MaryAnne for the Sheriff’s Department. MaryAnne had deemed safe to explain her aunt what these evenings spent outside were all about.

“I understand, Katrina. But it won’t do you any good. Think of the baby. Besides, ‘tis not suitable for a lady to go out like yer doing while pregnant.”

Katrina exchanged a quick, amused glance with MaryAnne. The young Deputy replied in her stead. “Katrina, don’t worry. My aunt’s only trying to do with ya what she could not do with me !”

Mrs. Coltrane smiled – not so differently from Rosco. “MaryAnne’s right indeed, Katrina. I really wonder how she’s gonna get a husband for herself if she spends all her time in the saddle !”

The three women laughed heartily. “Law enforcement runs high in our family, Katrina. Look at Rosco, at MaryAnne, and now yourself… Maybe the little one’s gonna be the next Hazzard Sheriff after all.”

“I think we can leave him some time to grow old before, eh ?” Katrina said in a giggle. “In the meantime, I could carry out these Sheriff’s business here at home. What do you think of that, MaryAnne ?”

The young Coltrane woman thought for a while. “Well… why not indeed… I may bring ya all the paperwork that needs to be done so that you may do it here. No need fer ya to ride to the County courthouse at night. You may even have the whole day to carry it out.”

By the end of November, the ‘little arrangement’ was thus set up differently. MaryAnne used to bring the paperwork that needed to be done and Katrina was doing it in her bedroom. She was alone too there and could work in peace.

Her bedroom was the place she loved to be when she wanted to be alone. She could see the big double bed she had shared with Rosco for too little time and she blushed all alone at the hot memories she had had there… She also thought that their baby would be born in that bed too. And when she was feeling too much lonely, she just took out the Sheriff’s silver star she carried tucked inside her dress, between her breasts, she was holding it in her hand, over her heart, while reading the letters she had received from her husband.

These were letters filled with passion and love. Rosco wrote letters for each member of his family. One page for his mother, one for his wife, one for his sister and one for his younger cousin. When the mail brought in a letter from him, all four Coltrane women sat in the living-room to read the letters to each other. But Katrina did not read the whole page Rosco was writing to her. Some passages were filled in with things too much personal, like his longing for her, for example. She could not decently read them out loud in front of other family members.

Other details prevented Katrina from reading the whole letter to her in-laws. Rosco was also expressing his disgust for war and the butchery it had become. For the time being, he had remained unscathed. But Katrina did not want to alarm her kin uselessly. Moreover, she did not want to raise a discussion about the Cause of the Confederacy. She understood Rosco’s statements, she agreed with him, but she did not want to read what might sound like a betrayal. In fact, the only person she deemed able to know about Rosco’s views on the war, was indeed MaryAnne. Katrina had always considered MaryAnne as brave, pragmatic and resourceful a woman. Maybe one day, she would read her the whole letters… save for the passages full of sensuality that Rosco was writing to her, where he expressed his desire, his longing and his love for her.

Katrina spent whole December and January confined at the Coltrane estate. Her mother came at least once or twice a week there. Around mid-January, Mrs. Evans stayed there to assist her daughter for the birth of her firstborn. Mrs. Coltrane would give her a hand too. Mrs. Evans had left her home but she had entrusted the house and the care thereof to her female slave, Dulcie. Dulcie and her husband Toby were helping the Evans for the farm. They had been there for ages and when Phil and Katrina were born, Dulcie had even taken care of the children when Mrs. Evans was busy in the fields.

On the eve of the St-Agnes, Katrina broke her water and four or five hours later, a little boy was born. Mrs. Evans was surprised that her own daughter had given birth so quickly, above all for a firstborn.

“Think of that, Martha,” Mrs. Coltrane said. “She conceived very quickly, in about two weeks’ time. Katrina’s made to give children. Rosco’s gotta be careful when he’s back ! Otherwise the house’s gonna be full of little Coltranes pretty quickly !” she said jokingly to her in-law.

Mrs. Evans laughed. “My Dulcie would have said that ‘tis a shame the way Katrina gave birth. So quick and so little painfully, when so many women do so in pain ! And now look, she’s eating a lot ! I’d agree with her !”

Both ladies giggled. Katrina had had a good meal only two hours after giving birth. Now she was breastfeeding her baby boy, who promised to enjoy as good an appetite as his father did.

“He looks like my Rosco when he was a baby,” Mrs. Coltrane commented. “Pretty much greedy, I can tell ya, Martha.”

“Well, ‘twasn’t bad for your son, Abby, the way he looks now,” Mrs. Evans had replied and both ladies had laughed heartily once more.

The little boy was so much looking like Rosco at the same age, that Mrs. Coltrane suggested Katrina the boy should called after his father. More than two months had elapsed without no news from her husband and Katrina felt sad. She was afraid something might have happened to him. Therefore she agreed to that idea. The custom was also to add the name of a famous general. Katrina chose ‘Lee’ as Rosco was serving in his army. So the boy was soon known around as Rosco Lee.

1862 – 1863

As good news never travel alone, two weeks after Rosco Lee’s birth, the Coltrane household received a letter from the Sheriff. Rosco was giving good news about his health to his mother and his sister, while he kept the most alarming ones for MaryAnne and Katrina. Mrs. Coltrane’s bedroom was on the ground floor while MaryAnne’s was upstairs, opposite Rosco’s and Katrina’s room. So at night, it was convenient for both young women to go each other’s room to have a little chat. Rosco was indeed their favorite topic by far.

It happened that one night, Katrina heard MaryAnne sob in her own room. The young Deputy was discreet usually and to tell the truth, that was the first time since Rosco’s departure for war, that Katrina heard her cousin-in-law cry. She knocked at her door. MaryAnne allowed her to come in, she was feeling too bad to hide her tears. In fact, she was crying over the page Rosco had written to her. Katrina tried to sooth her distress a bit and they both ended up crying. But crying together had another effect on their minds than crying each one on their own. It happened so that Katrina and MaryAnne shared their letters and their views about the man they both loved – though differently. MaryAnne felt an almost filial love for her elder cousin, a kinship shared in both blood and badge, while Katrina’s love for Rosco was that of a wife, belonging to him wholly in body and mind, a love she had to reckon was at the same time deeply both romantic and sensual in nature.

Katrina had also showed MaryAnne the ‘lucky charm’ Rosco had given her : his own Sheriff’s star. MaryAnne had joked then, thinking of the Sheriff’s administrative work Katrina had carried out since then. “You could wear it, with everything yer doing for the Sheriff’s Department ! At least, Rosco would be proud of ya !”

“He would be proud of ya too,” Katrina insisted. “I’m sure he is already.”

“Well, I’m proud of ya, Katrina. Yer doing fine in this business. You’d have made a pretty slick lawman.”

Both women had laughed then. Katrina had wondered if after all Rosco would have been so happy to see his wife handling his Sheriff’s business like she did. After all, he had accepted his younger cousin as his Deputy… “Well, between the two of us, there’d be nothing left for him to do !” MaryAnne joked heartily.

Things were not that easy for two years. Letters from Rosco became less and less regular and shorter and shorter. He had explained this was due to the lack of paper and the shortcomings of the mail system within the Confederate Army. But all Southerners had become aware of that: the blockade set up on the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico prevented the Confederacy to export its cotton and other agricultural products and to import goods it could not manufacture by itself. Soon some products were missing and among them, paper. Soon, there was only one page for everyone and addressed to the Coltrane family. A page which contained very few information: MaryAnne and Katrina suspected there might have been some censorship around, lest mail fall between Yankee hands. The fact was confirmed by Boss Hogg later on: soldiers were instructed not to write any details in this regard. So Rosco explained only he was in good health though his uniform was almost in rags and his boot soles were getting thinner and thinner each passing day.

MaryAnne and Katrina suspected also Rosco was not eating like he should be – like any man normally fit should be. His situation echoed the situation of the rest of the population in the South. Fortunately, Hazzard was a rural County and most people were more or less growing food, be it on plantations, farms or vegetable gardens. People were not starving yet but they were now well aware of the precarity of their livelihood. The bigger planters could not sell their cotton anymore. They were no more the most well-off now in the County, as they relied heavily on cotton as their sole source of income. But folks like the Evanses or the Dukes managed to live on their farms production and generate income, as they still could sell their products up to Atlanta. Small and medium farmers in the County had even managed to set up a cooperative system which enabled them to send their products there, where they were much needed. When the Confederate Army was not requiring the products for their own use.

But in December 1863, a short note arrived to the County courthouse, attention to the County Commissioner. That way, Rosco was sure it would arrive on time. He was telling in this short missive he had been granted a permission and he would spend Christmas in Hazzard.

Lulu fainted when her husband Boss told her the good news. Mrs. Coltrane cried a bit, while Katrina and MaryAnne fell in each other’s arms and started a waltz together out of joy. Rosco Lee – almost two-years-old at the time – was explained he was to see his daddy. The little boy accepted the explanation his mother gave him without further questioning.