CHAPTER EIGHT
APRIL 1864
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
I never told Canning I was leaving. I gathered up the children, said farewell to our neighbors, and took off for the small towns of the Midwest, moving often so he was unlikely to find us. Even though I stayed well north of the Missouri Compromise Line that divided slave-holding states from free, the war years were tough on my children and me. Despite our humble conditions and the need to travel from town to town, following regiments and supply trains to fill our purses and our bellies, Zula prospered and was growing into a bright young girl whom all of my customers loved. Year after year, Byron remained the same, a perpetual child in the body of a growing young man. But I was able to keep him near me and manage his fits, so we never had anot
