Amelia’s Spring

The year was 1912, and the pace of life moved like warm molasses on a plate. Though the pace might have been slow it was full to the brim with the fight for survival. Wyatt McKay was trudging through the rain, on the back of his family’s old mare, to head into town for supplies. Living out in the country, it was a hour horseback ride into town. Young Wyatt always went the long way to town though, trying to get a peek at his heart’s desire, Amelia Banner.

At 16, he was considered of age to pick a mate. He first met Amelia and her family a few years back at a local fair that came into town. With families so spread apart, no means of communication, and everyone preoccupied with preparations for the winter months, there was little time for anything other than work, family, and church.

Wyatt’s folks, Jethro and Debbie McKay, had been running their 200 acre farm from the time the family settled in America. Jethro, a proud man, spent a great deal of time teaching his boys how to be men. He said often that, “One day, all of life will hang on the decisions you make as man, so make them good ones!”  

Amelia was the only child of the Banner family, so it was up to Mr. Banner to do most of the hard labor with the help of his wife. They had moved into the area 4 years ago, and except for the occasional church visit or big event like the fair, they stayed to themselves. Hence, when Wyatt came around, he wasn’t greeted on the best of terms.

“Come on Pattie, we ain’t got all day,” Wyatt said to the mare, as they turned down the dirt path to the Banner place. It was another mile before the small, brown, rustic wood plank home came into view. Pattie’s big hooves clopped on the ground so loudly that anyone a mile away could hear them coming.

As Wyatt rode up he saw Mr. Banner in the front field getting ready to plow. The spring rains were soaking the dry, red clay of the North Carolina fields, and he was trying to get a jump on planting season.

With his typical gruff voice he greeted the young man. “Mr. McKay, what brings you back to our place again?”

Wyatt got a little green and sick on his stomach every time he did this. As he approached the view of the rustic brown peak of the Banner farm his insides broiled with excitement and fear.  Because his heart belonged to Amelia, and he couldn’t stand the days of not seeing her, he was willing to go through the pain of dealing with her father. “Oh, just headin’ into town and thought I would stop by to say hello,” he answered.

“Son,” Mr. Banner shot back, “the town is 5 miles out of your way when you come here. Don’t think I don’t know why you are here. Now my Amelia isn’t of courting age and I have told you this a dozen times, boy.” He took an uncomfortable breath. “Now you go head an mozy on outta here, ye understand son?”

“Yes, sir, didn’t mean no disrespect.” And with that, Wyatt gave Pattie a little tug to the left and she slowly turned away. However, this exchange, which occurred often enough, would give him a chance to look up on the porch and see Amelia who was ‘waiting’ for these visits. She would gaze at Wyatt through her blue eyes, while her soft auburn hair moved in the springtime breeze. They knew better than to speak, and something had stirred between them such that words didn’t need to be spoken. Presence was everything, eye contact went from heart to heart and even in the split second of connect, it was enough ‘till next time. It was as if they both knew, their time wasn’t for now but one day, some day, it would come. Until then, this would be enough. Just those few seconds. I think the parents knew as well, they just weren’t ready.

On a rainy night 3 days after his last visit, there came a pounding was on the door of the McKay farm. Wyatt was up with his dad in a split second and they yanked opened the door, shocked to see Amelia, covered in mud, cold and wet, with eyes red from crying.

“Momma!” called out McKay, “Get in here! There’s a need for some tending.” With that Mr. McKay turned and pulled young Amelia in. “Young one come in right now and tell me what is going on?”

Amelia practically fell into the front room where she started weeping again. Wyatt leaned down to reach for her when his mother flew in, swept her up and dropped her in a rocking chair by the fire. “My Lord, child you are soaked to the bone. Are ye trying to kill yourself?”

“It’s daddy,” is all she whispered out before she started crying again.

“Now, now honey, it’s gonna be okay. Tell Mr. McKay here what happened dear,” Wyatt’s mom consoled.

Through her tears Amelia told them that her father had collapsed in the field a few hours ago. She and Mrs. Banner, got him into his bed where he was barely breathing and not moving.

As it ended up, Old Banner never got off that bed, but slipped away during the night time hours. By the time Mr. McKay and Wyatt got Amelia back, her daddy was gone.

It was heartbreaking and a tearing of one’s soul see a family left in such a situation. Wyatt, his father, and a few neighbors stepped in and planted the fields, but it was up to Mrs. Banner and Amelia to run the farm and survive.

The spring of that year was a bitter one for the Banner family. As the fields and gardens were planted and life painfully moved on, as it always does in the face of tragedy, the Banners were struggling with keeping up. Through the charity of others, and in no small part due to Wyatt’s efforts, who was working for his folks and now for Banners, they made it to the summer.

“Good afternoon Mrs. Banner, how are things this afternoon?” asked Wyatt as he rode up on the mare, Pattie, weeks later. The boy was thin and it was clear that working two farms was taking its toll on the him. Mrs Banner saw him in a courage and stubbornness she rarely had seen, and had to admit, though from the start she didn’t like the boy, he was of good stock and knew how to work like few men… yes, she had started to think of him as a man.

“It’s okay young man. Come off that horse and let me feed you a mouthful.”

“Oh no, ma’am. I can’t take your food. I know you got mouths to feed and I am here just to pick up a few things that needed some work, then I am heading back to Ma and Pa’s house. Would you mind terribly if I spoke with Amelia for a few minutes before I leave?”

With the look of her husband she turned and then softened “I suppose that will be alright but not long…” and then in a very gentle voice she said, “Wyatt, my Amelia is hurting badly and right now she is very confused and vulnerable. Please take a care about what you say and do. You understand me, son?”

In the most purposeful and direct way he knew, he turned, looked at Amelia who was out near the shed, hair blowing in the wind, standing, staring off into nothing. He slowly turned back to Mrs. Banner and said, “I do.”

With that, Wyatt turned and kept his word. He kept a safe distance to protect Amelia, but was never far from her family or her side. At first she didn’t understand but as the North Carolina summer months broiled on, she began to see the kind of man he was. Untamed, uncontrollable, but also gentle and good. He was a man of his own choosing and he was choosing her, and choosing time.

When they did have time together, there weren’t too many words, but with a tender glance, a passing touch, they experienced a depth of intimacy that bonded them, and shaped them to one another. He could see the pain and confusion, plus the determination and spirit of will she had. His edges were tough, but around Amelia he softened into a tame lion.

Sometimes great love is born out of ease, like the gentle ripples on a mill pond on a summer’s eve.  Then there are other times that in a split second like a tornado, the joining is made, and the switch is hard and turbulent on everyone. Wyatt decided that his family and her family both needed the time to adjust, though he knew what was in his heart. He also knew, Amelia needed time. She knew, like he knew, this time in her life was needed to come to terms with her father’s death, and her life without him. Wyatt took many hours of council with his father, and worked very hard to not just be ‘right’, but be ‘good’ to the Banners.

One year to the date of Mr. Banner’s passing, Wyatt was at the Banner farm setting things in order for the spring planting, when Mrs. Banner and Amelia came out to greet him. The air was heavy with the memories of this day, 12 month past, and Wyatt felt he needed to speak about it. “Good morning ladies,” he said in his best, gentle but strong tone, “I am setting things up today to get the fields ready.” He then turned toward Amelia. “I just wanted to say, this is the first day of spring and I will do my best, to make every spring a beautiful one for you, Amelia. It is a new start and from this year forward, every spring will be ‘Amelia’s Spring’.”

That year he turned the Banner farm into a model of production, and had crops growing before anyone knew it. It was clear he had his dad’s work ethic as well as a talent for making things grow. He spent months working the land for them each day, and then would head back to his folks place to help them as well.

He was 18 now and war had started in Europe. It was 1914 and the drums were beating for the American soul. It was clear to all who were watching Wyatt and Amelia, what the future held, ‘till one day, a letter arrived for Wyatt from the Secretary of War informing him that he had been drafted into the United States Navy. It was a simple card with 4 items for him.

a. Date and place of medical exam

b. Payment for travel and/or how to receive such information

c. Phone contacts for deferment requests: and an address

d. Explanation of civil and criminal penalties if he didn’t show up at Fort Bragg NC within 1 week.

As you can imagine, he, along with his family were crushed. But true to his nature and word, Wyatt Banner left the only home he had known for 18 years, bound for Fort Bragg North Carolina, to do his part for his country. His parting from Amelia was the worst thing he’d ever been through. He assured them, through his tears, that his Pa would look in on them and the worst of the work was done for the season.

“You remember your promise to me Wyatt McKay, your promised me ‘Springs’,” said Amelia as the tears flowed freely.

Wyatt looked into her eyes, her heart, to her soul and said, “I keep my promises Amelia.”

Though the months continued to drag on slowly, Wyatt went from basic training to shipping out for places he’d never heard of nor dreamed. He wrote Amelia and his folks as much as he could, and though his head was on his duties, his heart was only in one place… entwined with Amelia’s heart.

As the leaves began to fall that first year Wyatt was gone, and the cold settled in with a malevolence as fierce as a grizzly, a postcard arrived from the Navy stating that Wyatt’s ship had come under fire and he was wounded in Italy. There was no word on his condition nor his whereabouts. Mr. and Mrs. McKay took the news badly, and prayed for their son as well as for wisdom on what to say, or if to say anything to the Banners.

Mr. McKay waited two days and then took Pattie down to the Banner farm to speak with Amelia and her mother. When he cantered up Amelia came running out – so glad to see him. “Little lady, I need to speak with you and your mom please, dear. Is she available?” Mr. McKay was more ‘nice’ than usual and Amelia was immediately set on alert that something was wrong. They brought him to the kitchen table where he reach for both of their hands and explained them what he knew.

Silence, then tears, reached to old McKay’s heart. He knew this girl loved his son but he had no idea how bound together they were. Then to Mr. McKay’s shock Amelia stood up. “He told me,” she said indignantly, “he told me that the spring’s were mine and he would make sure every spring was a new beginning. He can’t be dead, I will not accept it, I will not believe it. I ‘feel’ in my heart, he is with us even now. He is a man of his word and you taught him that. Don’t you fret Mr. McKay, he’s coming home one day.” With that, she excused herself and left the room.

“I am so sorry Jethro, I had no idea she was capable of such rudeness, and I am sorry for Wyatt. God knows that boy has rescued us more than once.”

“Actually Mrs. Banner,” said Jethro thoughtfully, “if my boy is alive and he comes home, I would be honored to have that young ‘woman’ stand by his side in marriage. She just reminded me of the pluck and determination of my son, Wyatt McKay.”

Wyatt did return six months later, limping from a wound to his leg. His mom and dad saw to his recovery and true to his word, he picked up where he left off. By the time he was 19 he married Amelia and took over the Banner farm. And, good as his word, every spring was a new beginning. He would wake up his wife on the first day of spring, greet her with kiss, and remind her it was ‘Amelia’s Spring’. They would tend her father’s grave, and eventually her mother’s. The years rolled by like waves from the sea. Their children grew, then the grandchildren came.

Time for Wyatt and Amelia was marked by the new green of spring, the dark humid of the summer, the explosion of color in the fall and the chilly wrap of winter. Season after season passed, ‘till early spring, 64 years later, Amelia lay down but didn’t get up again.

It was spring when old Wyatt laid his Amelia to rest. As he stood over her grave he read to the family his promise to her.

“Amelia, I promised you, since 1913, that every spring would be ‘Your Spring’. This spring is no different, for you have started a new beginning, the beginning that goes on forever and ever, where none of those stories have ever been read, till we all become a part of that story.”

Did this really happen in the humid red clay of North Carolina? Did this old house have such a love dwelling in it? When you drive by does it reach from the days past and touch you now?

You never know…