"Ruin and Redemption"

Back from Berry Picking

“Derrick, don’t do that, wait!” Lizzie was running after her husband, who was trying to crutch his way down the stairs by himself. He had practically thrown himself down the first few stairs, after Scarlett, when she had run out of their bedroom in an upheaval.

Lizzie had come home from picking blackberries with Josiah’s family early, exhausted from the heat, and found Scarlett lying in Derrick’s arms, clearly in the afterglow of making love.

Lizzie had spilled some of the berries, so shocked was she to find Derrick and Scarlett together in hers and Derrick’s bed. Scarlett and she had stared at each other a long moment, before Scarlett had hurriedly dressed.

She had brought her eyes down to the floor, not daring to look up at Lizzie again.

“I told you it was a bad idea.” She murmured to Derrick. “You’re an idiot!” She said hotly, as she got out of bed and started dressing.

Lizzie stood frozen in place, feeling the anger that threatened to overwhelm her, telling herself not to move, not to breathe. Just stay where she was. How dare they use her bed for their lovemaking! Did Derrick know no boundaries? She was in total shock.

Resentfully, but cautiously, Scarlett scurried past Lizzie in her underclothes, carrying the rest of her clothes with her. She just wanted to get away before Lizzie resorted to violence. Scarlett might fight her this time, and there was no telling what the consequences of that would be! Again, Lizzie had interrupted her when she was with her man; He shouldn’t even be married to her in the first place! This should be Scarlett’s room in her house, and Derrick should be her husband. And that’s the way things would be, if only she hadn’t been born a slave.

“Scarlett, wait!” Derrick called after her as he rushed to get dressed. He had told her Lizzie wouldn’t find out, that they wouldn’t be caught. He had pleaded with her not to make him go all the way down the stairs and to her house. It was quite a painful ordeal, and by the time it was through, he doubted he’d have any energy left to make love to her.

“I’m sorry, Lizzie.” He murmured to his stone cold wife as he made his way past her to the top of the stairs and plunged down them.

Lizzie was surprised at herself, that she had even broken from her trance on hearing her husband and the crutches on the stairs. But she couldn’t let Derrick break his neck trying to navigate the difficult staircase on his own! They had been married too long. She was used to Derrick and his ways by now, and she didn’t want to lose him. Hell, she must love him, like Patsy always said!

“What, Lizzie! Are you trying to help me? I have to talk to Scarlett, Lizzie! She was right, I am an idiot! It’s all my fault.”

“Why, Derrick?” Lizzie asked, going underneath his shoulder to help him get down the stairs to Scarlett. She wasn’t going to let him fall down the stairs and possibly break his good leg, or heaven forbid, his neck.

“I-I-I…It’s the stairs, Lizzie. You know how hard it is for me going down. I’m just so tired afterwards!”

“I’m sorry you’re tired going down the stairs, but can’t Scarlett help you? I mean, isn’t being my husband worth a little tiredness Derrick?”

Oh for God’s sakes, couldn’t his wife ever take a hint? Did he have to lay everything out for her, piece by piece? He just didn’t have the energy to explain it to her now. He sighed with frustration, and groaned. Somehow hobbling down the stairs activated the phantom limb pain, and he squinted and gritted his teeth.

“I’m sorry you’re in pain, Derrick.” Lizzie empathized. “But still, don’t you think you should keep your time with Scarlett out of our bedroom, Derrick? Can’t you do that?”

“I’m just too exhausted, Lizzie! I can’t. By the time I get to Scarlett’s cabin, I just can’t.”

He admitted, defeated.

“Oh.” Lizzie said, the gears turning in her brain. “Derrick, I still don’t want you to be with her in our bed.” They had almost reached the bottom of the stairs. “I know, Derrick, I’ll have Josiah and one of his friends come over and carry you down the stairs when you want to see Scarlett. That will work, won’t it? You won’t be too tired if you don’t have to walk.”

Derrick gave her a pained look. “We’ll talk about it later, Lizzie. I’m sorry. I didn’t intend for you to have to see us.” He squeezed her arm and continued limping out toward the porch.

Patsy caught sight of him and went to open the door for him.

“I’ll get it, Patsy.” Lizzie offered. “I’ll help Derrick out.” Lizzie didn’t want to confide in Patsy yet, not now. She wanted more time to process this newest disturbance on her own.

She felt like such an idiot right now! Her husband needed her help to get down the stairs to make up with his mistress after she had discovered the two of them! It seemed that making up with her ought to be a priority, but Derrick was too much in love with Scarlett to care about Lizzie’s feelings right now. Lizzie wished right then, that Derrick was her her friend or her brother. Their relationship would make so much more sense then! She would have to talk to Derrick about that later; a change would be nice!

Once she had helped Derrick down the stairs and half way to the cabin, he insisted on traveling the rest of the way on his own.

“Wish me luck, Lizzie. Hopefully, I’ll be back soon.” He said, as he made his way to Scarlett’s cabin.

Lizzie stood and watched him crutch his way over, in awe of how much it must pain him to do this. And his determination. He must love Scarlett a great deal to not want her to suffer, to want to make things up with her as quickly as possible. Lizzie felt sorry for Derrick that he couldn’t marry Scarlett, that he was married to her instead. Just because she was white, and Scarlett was black. Lizzie sort of felt sorry for both of them. It would be a relief when emancipation came! Maybe then Derrick would grant her a divorce and marry Scarlett. Lizzie was ready to move on. But then again, who would take care of Derrick? Scarlett probably wouldn’t want the job, and Patsy would be as good as gone, wouldn’t she? Lizzie sighed, she might be stuck taking care of Derrick for the rest of her life. Scarlett might call her spoiled, but Lizzie would do what had to be done to insure that she and Derrick were taken care of. She had her moments of fear, of what would they do without the slaves, yet the more she and Patsy talked, the more convinced she became that she would and could do without them.