Erin's Rebel (29 page)

Where was Will? She wondered if he’d gone outside to relieve himself. Squinting through the darkness toward the back of the cave, she realized the horse was gone, too.

No way would he have left her alone here. Could something have happened to him? Sunlight flooded the cave entrance. She rose, groaning and favoring her arm. Gathering the blankets around her to ward off the chill of the late fall morning, she approached the entrance to gaze outside.

A clear blue sky greeted her. Barren trees, brown grasses, and brush predicted the change of season. They were about three weeks from the winter solstice.

Cracking brush alerted her that someone approached. She ducked back inside the cave to avoid being seen, until she could make out who was there. Two horses appeared. She breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized Will atop his brown gelding. But who was the other rider? A gray-bearded man wearing glasses and a large black hat rode alongside him.

Will dismounted, and Erin ran to him. He caught her in his arms.

“You’re supposed to be resting,” he said.

“I just woke up. I didn’t know what happened to you.” She glanced up, puzzled by the other man’s presence.

Following her gaze, Will said, “I told you I’d fetch you a doctor. This is Dr. Hoffman. He’s a Quaker from a nearby farm.”

Dr. Hoffman removed his hat and smiled down at her. “Good morning, ma’am,” he said in a German-accent. “Thy young man explained thy situation. I will be glad to help.”

“The doctor’s wife and son are just down the road with a wagon. They’ll take you back to their farm and tend to your arm.”

“All right,” Erin said. “Just let me get my things from the cave, then we’ll go.”

Will averted his gaze. “I’m not going with you.”

“What?” She grasped his arm.

“It wouldn’t be safe. I’d bring both the Confederates and the Yankees on our backs.”

“No.” Erin shook her head. “You can’t leave me now. I came back for
you
.”

Will caught her gaze, then glanced at Dr. Hoffman. “Pardon us a moment, sir.” Taking her arm, he ushered her to the cave entrance. “We’d best go inside and get your things.”

She got the message he was trying to keep her quiet. But no way would she let him abandon her in this century. If she couldn’t be with him, there was no point to her having come back.

Glancing toward the cave entrance to be sure the doctor wasn’t listening, she whispered, “You’re not leaving me. You can’t go back, anyway. They’d arrest you.”

“I refuse to risk
your
life. I can’t just go north. I have Amanda to think of.”

Picturing the sweet little girl, she knew if she had a daughter, she’d feel the same way, but she couldn’t let him do this.

“I have to tell you something important about the future,” she said.

“You’ve already told me your future stories.”

“Not this one. And this concerns
your
future.”

He frowned. “Does it concern my family? Amanda?”

She shook her head. “It’s the outcome of the war.”

He swallowed but didn’t speak.

“Come Spring, Lee will surrender,” she said. “The North will win.”

****

In the end, what Erin said hadn’t mattered. Will left her, sending her with the Quaker couple and their teenage son.

After being taken to their farm in Southern Maryland, she spent the next two weeks being treated like visiting royalty while her arm healed. She’d found the journal Jake had stolen in her pack, but now that he was dead and Will believed she’d come from the future, she didn’t think it mattered anymore. The comfort she experienced at the Quaker’s farm didn’t make up for the fear Will had left her. What if she never saw him again?

Dr. Hoffman told her Captain Montgomery had asked him to get her to Pennsylvania.

“My sister runs a boardinghouse in York,” he told her. “Greta will be only too glad to put you up.”

“But how will I get there?”

“My sons will escort you.”

The Hoffmans had two sons living with them. Karl, who’d been with them the day they’d brought Erin from Virginia, was in his late teens. Another son, Franz, was in his early twenties. Both boys were well-built with tanned skin and work-roughened hands.

“Ya, you’ll have no problems with these two strong boys at your side,” Dr. Hoffman said.

“But what will I do once I get there?” she asked. “I have no money.”

“My sister will see to your needs until you find employment.”

“Employment,” she repeated. What could she
do
in this century? She was a journalist but wondered if women did that in this time period. The only other skill she had was washing clothes, but she didn’t look forward to making a living doing that.

It
would
be best to stay out of the war zone, at least until the war ended next spring. But without Will, she didn’t want to be in this century. She still had the brooch he’d given her and thought maybe she could find a way for it to send her back. Unless it only worked one way.

The next day, she packed her few things in the carpetbag the Hoffman’s had given her as a gift. Karl and Franz brought the wagon to the front of the house, while she said her goodbyes to Dr. and Mrs. Hoffman.

She took her seat behind the young men, but all she could think was they were taking her farther away from Will.

****

After two days on the road and one night in a Maryland hotel, Erin reached the Pennsylvania border, exhausted and apprehensive about what awaited her in York.

As the wagon lurched down a rural road, a patrol of soldiers, clad in the blue of the Union Army, pulled up alongside them.

Karl explained they were escorting a friend to their aunt’s in York. Erin sat calmly. She had nothing to fear from Federal soldiers, but she still felt uneasy and hoped they didn’t question her.

While she waited for the men to allow them to pass, she noted one of the soldiers, a young chestnut-haired, clean-shaven man, kept staring at her. She didn’t look directly at him, averting her face, hoping he’d take it for modesty.

Finally, just as the soldiers were about to let them go, he approached her, dipping the brim of his cap.

“Ma’am,” he said. “I believe the colonel would like to have a word with you.”

“What about?” she asked. This was just what she needed. She wanted to slip quietly into Pennsylvania unnoticed, then try to figure out what she could do to fix the mess she was in.

“Please, if you’d come with me, ma’am,” the soldier said.

Erin glanced at the Hoffman boys. They both shrugged.

After chewing on her lower lip a moment, she let the soldier assist her in alighting from the wagon. “I’ll be right back,” she assured the two young men.

She tried to hide her alarm at being singled out by a Union colonel, sure the soldier escorting her could hear her frantic heartbeat. Why the hell had this man sent for
her
?

He led her to a group of soldiers sunning themselves on a crop of boulders on this cold November day. A man with a dark handlebar mustache, wearing a blue coat with a set of epaulets on his shoulders, a black broad-brimmed hat and knee-high boots, rose to great her.

A broad smile revealed yellowed teeth and a sprinkling of deep wrinkles on his leather-tanned face. “Well, if it isn’t Mrs. O’Connell.” He reached for her hand. “I’m pleased to see you escaped capture by the Rebs.”

Her thoughts raced. This man obviously knew Erin O’Connell. She smiled, allowing the colonel to take her hand. He bowed over it touching his lips to her fingers.

Since he knew her, she pretended to know him. She also thought it wise to affect an Irish brogue so as not to arouse suspicions.

“Ah, me dear colonel, sure and I hope ye’ve been well.”

“Quite well, ma’am. But how has it been going with you? I feared for your safety when we received no word from you for so long. Thought the Rebs had captured you and sent you to one of their godforsaken prisons.”

“Ah, no. They never caught on to me,” she said.

“Good, good.” He nodded. “My aide tells me you’ve been heading north with two lads.”

“Aye.” She inclined her head toward the Hoffman boys. “A family friend has taken ill. I’m goin’ to spend some time with her. These lads are her nephews. They’re takin’ me to her.”

“Sorry to hear about your friend. But I’m pleased to see you well. What’s your destination?”

“York.”

“I’ll have one of my men escort you there.”

Erin shook her head. “No, ’tis not necessary.”

“I insist. There is a war on, after all. You’ll be safer with a military escort.”

This guy wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Thank you, colonel. We need to be gettin’ on our way.” She wanted to end this conversation before she slipped up or someone else recognized her.

While they waited for the lieutenant who’d been assigned to escort them to saddle his horse, Erin settled back into the wagon with the Hoffman boys. She just wanted this journey to end so she could figure out her next move.

Chapter Thirty-one

Christmas had come and gone. Dr. Hoffman’s sister, Greta Wolff, had made Erin comfortable, as comfortable as possible, in a nineteenth century Pennsylvania boardinghouse in January. But she had to admit, it was infinitely better than a canvas tent in an army camp.

Greta took care of all her needs, although Erin insisted on pulling her weight. She helped with cooking and cleaning, washing bed sheets and clothes. Since she’d lost Will and didn’t know if she would ever return to the future, she wanted to find a way to earn her own money.

One morning, while helping Greta with the breakfast dishes after the borders left, Erin brought up the subject of a job. “You’ve been more than kind to me, Mrs. Wolff, but I really need to strike out on my own. I need to find employment.”

After wiping her plump hands on her apron, Greta adjusted her glasses and patted her graying bun into place. “I’d be happy to help thee find something here in town,” she replied in her guttural German accent. “What skills do thee have?”

“I’m a journalist.”

Greta blinked. A puzzled frown creased her round face. “Have thee worked for a magazine or newspaper?”

“A newspaper in Philadelphia. I was a reporter.”

“Ya,” Greta replied, nodding. “We have a local paper here in town where thee can apply.”

“Good. Just give me directions, and I’ll check it out.”

****

Erin arrived in the office of the
York Weekly Dispatch
, outfitted in clothes she’d borrowed from one of Mrs. Wolff’s daughters. The older woman insisted she must make a good impression, and Erin’s few articles of clothing hadn’t passed muster.

She felt weighed down when she entered the glass-front structure, properly attired in a plaid burgundy day-dress, brown felt bonnet, gloves, and a cloak. Under this, she wore a small hoop, two petticoats, one over and one under the hoop. For modesty, Mrs. Wolff had told her. The woman also insisted she must wear a corset.