by: Delilah Kelly

Summer 1865

The Coltrane house was full of people now. Toby and Dulcie had come back to their house on the Evans land, where they were looking after the crops. Joe and Martha Evans’ decision to leave the cabin to Toby and Dulcie had proved to be a good one as both former slaves remained on their lands, though they were free now. They had nowhere else to go either. The Evanses were still living with their daughter. They were going to their farm everyday to work there and try to rebuild a life along with a home for themselves.

Katrina was now the real head of the house. Mrs. Coltrane had left her most of the responsibilities regarding the house and its organization and management of life inside. The old lady was tired and she only helped her for the cooking and looking after the children. Victoria and Rosco Lee were growing in good health, though the baby girl would not be as strong as her father. She was more looking like Katrina herself. Both children were constantly surrounded by family love, their grandparents, their mother, their cousin. Only their father was missing and Rosco Lee was sometimes asking for his father in a most insistent way that broke his mother’s heart.

Katrina was strong, she always kept a smiling poker face on – to her kin’s admiration. But inside her heart, she was desperate. Nobody at home dared mention Rosco’s demise. Nobody suggested to die clothes in black, in sign of mourning. Katrina knew that one day or so, she would have to do so but she postponed the moment. Next Spring… Next Summer… At Christmas… She could not admit that Rosco had died. She cried in her bed at night, but something deep inside her heart told her he was still alive somewhere.

Katrina was not the only one to feel as such. MaryAnne felt the same too. The young Deputy had resumed her duties quickly, coordinating the solidarity around. She tried to remain busy as much as possible to forget that her elder cousin was probably dead. His death would mean another Sheriff would have to be elected. MaryAnne knew she could not be elected as such – though Hazzard folks appreciated her skills and dedication to the County. Another Sheriff may not choose her as his Deputy and she would have to give up a job she liked very much. Only Rosco could admit a woman among his Sheriff’s Department staff.

In the meantime, MaryAnne was still working a lot and Katrina resumed helping her with the administrative part of the Sheriff’s Department, though there was little to do so far. Both women tried to help their folks to avoid the Carpetbaggers’ schemes who tried to get their hands on the County citizens’ lands and properties.

Katrina had also decided to start up vegetable growing on a larger scale to make up for the family’s needs, including her parents. She knew too that was a way to generate income and she needed cash to buy the basic necessities of life she could not produce herself. She was aware that she may have to make money on her own, for the whole family, if Rosco was never to come back. And above all, she knew one day or so, taxes would fall on them all, thanks to the information she could gather at the Sheriff’s Department. The Carpetbaggers had also an eye on the Coltrane property, as the house was still intact. The land promised to be good as it had not been used for years.

Combined together, MaryAnne’s wages as a Deputy Sheriff, and Katrina’s income with the farm, allowed the Coltrane family to live. But both Coltrane women had to struggle hard to prevent things from going haywire.

More and more Confederate soldiers and officers were coming back home with the end of the war. They were heading south, on their way back. Most of them were in rags and hungry. Though the Coltranes had not a lot to eat, they could not close their eyes on these soldiers’ destitution and they gave them some food. One day, MaryAnne complained as they almost had no food left for themselves. Katrina was about to cry because of her remarks, her eyes lowered to the ground. She knew better than anybody else how difficult it was to earn a living and grow the food needed to sustain the whole family.

“Oh, MaryAnne, don’t scold me, please…” she started to protest softly. “I know you’re right but… every time I see one of these men, I think… well, maybe in the North, another woman’s feeding Rosco on his way back here…”

MaryAnne could relate to her cousin’s concern. She understood the motives behind Katrina’s actions towards these poor soldiers. But their livelihood was so precarious. She was under strong pressure herself as Boss Hogg had made her understand he would have to organize elections for the position as Sheriff pretty soon. That meant she would lose her job and her income in the short term as Boss had not given her any hint as to her future. She had not dared talk to Katrina yet about that dreaded perspective.

Weeks went by and now Katrina was used to see Confederate soldiers and officers walking up to her house. She was not feeling in immediate danger anymore though Captain Dunham’s warning was still ringing in her ears, though she could see his cruel eyes in her nightmares. On a September Sunday, few days after Victoria’s first birthday, she was talking with her mother-in-law under the front porch. Mrs. Coltrane was sitting on the bench, stitching some garments for Rosco Lee. The little boy was sitting besides her, as she needed him to be around to try on the garments she was mending. Victoria was playing on the ground. MaryAnne was dozing off in a chair nearby. She looked so much exhausted that Katrina did not have the courage to ask her to look after the little girl while she was herself busy at the kitchen. She granted herself a bit of a break. She was about to sit when a remark from Mrs. Coltrane drew her attention.

“Oh, good Lord, Katrina, there’s another one coming.”

Katrina could hear exasperation in her mother-in-law’s voice. She glanced at the man walking up the drive to the house and sighed. MaryAnne’s scold was still in her ears and she reckoned both ladies were right. What am I going to give that one ? Maybe he’s gonna ask for some fresh water to drink only…

Mrs. Coltrane was back to her sewing work, her grandson standing patiently in front of her. MaryAnne was still asleep. Katrina glanced again at the man. A tear escaped her eye as it used to do every time she thought about Rosco. Maybe Rosco was hungry, thirsty, cold, even wounded, somewhere in a hostile country. She was about to enter the house when suddenly, something strange crossed her mind. Rosco’s image imposed itself more insistently than usual.

Katrina turned her gaze towards the man in rags going up the alley to the house. She could not believe it. The way he was walking, his stature, the way he was wearing his hat on his head… Rosco ? Without a warning, Katrina grasped her skirts and she ran wildly down the alley towards the man, forgetful of anything else around. Rosco !

When she was about fifteen yards from him, her gaze met his and there was no more doubts in her mind. These crystal blue eyes… the bluest eyes she had ever seen. A grin lit up the man’s face, revealing regular, white teeth.

“ROSCO !” Katrina yelled, her eyes welling up. “ROSCO !”

The man opened his arms wide and soon the young woman was engulfed between them. He made her whirl and they almost fell into the grass, so much they were lost in emotion and dizzy with joy. Then everything stopped around them, they were all alone. Katrina could not believe it. Rosco had made it home. Alive and in one piece. She stroked gently his cheek as if to make sure he was not a ghost. No, he was a man of blood and flesh. Dirty and much thinner than in her memories, but alive and well. Katrina was now crying frankly and Rosco was caressing her hair, his eyes closed. He could not believe it either that he had made it home at last. He glanced at the house and it was still up while he had seen so many houses destroyed to the ground.

Mrs. Coltrane had seen her daughter-in-law’s move down the alley, towards the man. She had watched the whole scene and she had gathered at once who the man was. My son ! My son’s alive ! she had thought then. But she had remained motionless, still stricken by the realization thereof. She also deemed she had not the right to interfere as this moment belonged only to Rosco and Katrina. But she could not prevent her grandson from running to his parents.

MaryAnne heard the commotion in her sleep and she arose from her slumber. She saw the couple made up of Katrina and a tall man she was not long to recognize either. She grinned out of joy and for the first times in months, she felt elated. Her cousin was back and he was alive ! She noticed the baby girl playing on the ground and took her in her arms, following her aunt.

Soon the whole family was reunited. Everyone wanted to have their share of Rosco. He wished he had arms big enough to hug everyone, his wife, his son, his mother, his cousin. He was all the more surprised to see MaryAnne with a baby in her arms and for few seconds, he wondered if his younger cousin had married in the meantime.

“Rosco, you left me a souvenir, last time you came back home,” Katrina whispered into his ear. “Meet Victoria, our daughter.”

He looked puzzled and his face made everybody around laugh heartily. He pulled out his arms to take the baby in his arms. He exchanged an accomplice look with his wife and he chuckled at the memories in question. Now he was holding the outcome in his arms, an adorable daughter called Victoria. “Oh, Katrina, you remembered my preferred female first name!” he said in emotion. Not only he was home, his house was still there, his kin still alive but he had had a daughter! Truly, the Georgian sky looked suddenly bluer and the countryside around brighter. “I love you, Katrina,” he whispered to her on their way to the house. “Thanks for that… souvenir. The loveliest souvenir a man can leave to the woman he loves.”

Katrina smiled and MaryAnne chuckled too when she heard her cousin’s last statement. Both ladies had commented on the ‘souvenir’ during the long months of Rosco’s absence, while Katrina was pregnant. The baby girl had been their sole source of joy while thinking about the man they both loved so much. Now angst had left place to relief and the whole family rejoiced to be united again. This time they hoped it would be for good.

“Promise me, Rosco, you won’t leave us anymore,” Katrina asked her husband once they were alone in their bedroom.

Rosco took his wife between his arms for a tender hug. “I will, sweetheart, I will.”