June 15th, 1864.

That is the date that The Union stated The Freedmen will receive equal pay, laid siege to Petersburg, and the day that Ellesandra gave birth to William Leonidas Faulkner's Son. April 3rd, 1865 Ellesandra got word from William that he was coming home, then word from Nathan Bedford Forrest that he had died of Typhoid while in a Union Prison Camp.

I've yet to forgive them from taking him from my mother and I.

I've seen his headstone, my mother saved for over a year to afford a simple granite stone which read, "William L. Faulkner. Husband, Father, Soldier." Over the years the dates of his birth were broken or weather worn away, but that day of his death was clear as a bell.

The next few years found my growing up in Burton the way any young boy would. Running barefoot through the red dirt, crawling through the grasses around our small home, and watching my mother do other people's ironing. It was the way she kept food on our table, we weren't hungry, but we weren't well fed either.

I watched the people come to our home, picking up their things, or went with Ma while she delivered them to places as far as Beaufort, which to a little boy, seemed to take days to reach. It wasn't until I was about Seven, that I remembered first laying eyes on a golden haired, amber eyed little girl...and even then I knew my life would never be the same.

I think I was about fourteen when I saw Katie in her first real dress. A golden satin, a shade lighter than her hair, white starched lace, and part near touching the floor. She looked beautiful, like those store bought porcelain dolls, I know that now, like I knew it then, but it didn't stop me from teasing her.

"You cain't climb a tree in that, Katie." I told her.

I was waiting by the big old oak that had become our place in the world. The one place that we shared our thoughts, our childish dreams, watched sunsets and it even had an old plank swing.

"I can," she said. "But climbing trees is for children, Nathan." We grew up, well, at least one of us did.

"Hell it is!" I said, and knew the look she gave me without even seeing it.

I'd started working with some of the farmers, clearing land and chopping trees. I'd come handy with the axe, and even had an old rifle that one farmer gave me as a week's pay. I used both to keep Ma and I with some extra food and money.

"Nathan William Faulkner!" She said in shock, like it was the first time she'd heard me curse. "A Gentleman doesn't speak that way!"

I gave her my best devilish grin, "He does, when no one else from his circle of friends is around, Katie Belle..."

I kicked my boots off, and grabbed the low branch, dangling in front of her, daring her to smile, hoping she would act like a kid with me again.

"If I tear this dress, Mama will tan my hide," she said with a sigh, watching me. I looped my feet in the next branch, and hung upside down, staring at her with my thumbs in my ears, my fingers spread and making the silliest face I could. Her amber eyes flicked up at me, then the tree, and she shook her head. "I'm not climbing with you, Nathan."

"It's 'cause you cain't in that get up!" I teased her again.

"Can!" she disagreed.

"I think you forgot how..." Truth was, she was always a faster climber than me. She would leap, branch to branch in that old tree, her lighter frame reaching heights that mine dare not go.

"If I tear this, your mama will have to fix it." She warned, and truth of it was, my Ma always thought of Katie as the daughter she never had. She kicked her lace up heeled boots from her feet, staring up at me, and I dropped to watch her climb in the dress. "I can't believe you talked me into this, Nathan."

I watched her climb, then noticed the higher she went, the more of her legs I could see. A few feet more, and the lace of her petticoat was visible. I felt a strange feeling come over me, and my heart picked up a pace. I was watching, confused, happy, frustrated? She snapped me from my thoughts with a gasp and four shades of red.

"NATHAN WILLIAM!" She scrambled down the tree, tugging at that long dress. "You were looking up my dress!" I had to think fast, but I couldn't, so I just shook my head in disagreement.

"I was not! I was watchin' that ol' crow, wonderin' if he was gonna peck you on the head, gather some of that straw for his nest!"

I was sitting under the shade of the porch, watching the chickens peck the ground. My arm was hurting, a dull, throbbing ache of a pain like it did every time a storm was coming, but I remember the look on my Ma's face more than anything from that day.

"Didja read today, Nathan William?" she asked me, her eyes were sad, and dark.

"Like every day, Ma. The Sentinel, The Bible, and one of them dime novels," I answered as I stood to help her from the carriage and into the house with her packages and wash.

She waved me off, not wanting the help, but gladly taking it from me when I stepped down to take the things from her. I didn't know what it was, but there was something to her demeanor that wasn't natural for her, almost the same way she got when she thought about Pa. "I've been over to the Barr's this afternoon, and the ride back was rougher than I had remembered it. Maybe I'm gettin' too old, Nathan." She smiled but it wasn't her usual, bright smile.

"I've been wanting to go see Kate, Ma. Think ol' Red can haul me up there?" I asked, even though I was a man practically, Ma still had final say.

"It's not a good idea, Nate." she said quietly. "That ol' sour horse will throw ya, and you'll be worse off than when you broke your arm."

I knew that something was bugging her, and the way she mentioned the Barr's, I knew it was something to do with them. I wasn't ready to push, but in the back of my mind, I knew it had something to do with Kate. I could feel it, and to this day, I still don't know why.

"What is it, Ma?" I asked as I followed her into the cabin.

"Nothin', Nathan. Get washed up for supper." She never met my eyes.

"What's happened at the Barr's, Ma?" I walked to the basin, washing my hands, then my face, before drying my hands on the cloth of my pants.

She sighed, and I knew there was something really bothering her, and I didn't like it.

"Katherine's got a suitor, Nathan." She finally lifted her dark green eyes toward me, and I'm sure my look was that of shock and anger. "I didn't know how to tell you, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to tell you either."

I just held up my hand, and turned to walk back outside. All these years, all the days, even in the winters we'd spent together as kids, now being washed away by some guy that doesn't know her. He doesn't know she loves the way honeysuckle smelled first thing in the morning. How no matter how hard she tried not to, there was even the slightest jump at every clap of thunder in a spring storm. He'd never see her the way I did at the last sunrise we'd spent together, that look in her eyes that made my heart jump up into my throat, and nearly caused me to choke.

"Nathan, what about supper?" Ma asked.

"Who's the fellah, Ma?"

"Adam," She just said his first name, and I knew.

The same guy that had always been glad handing Mister Barr. The same guy that watched Kate and I wander off together after church services, or when we were wandering the streets of town. Stuffed shirt, Ham hackled, fancy panted, peacock peckin' chicken pooped, Adam. The jealousy was new for me, but I knew that I wasn't letting MY Kate go off to be with him. Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, she'd see me for who I am.

The man that really loved her for who she is.

I picked up my axe, and walked to the oak in the back of the house. The one that threatened to topple to the top of the house with the next storm, and by that evening I had more than two rick of firewood set to curing. I didn't go see Kate that night, but it took everything that I am, not to go and see Adam.