Fire Over Atlanta (16 page)

She put the quill down and closed the journal.

Downstairs, she sought out Eileen. “I’ve got to do something.”

Startled, Eileen looked up. “What is it, Leah?”

“I’ve got to go find Jeff.”

“He’s at Petersburg! You can’t go to Petersburg. It’s too dangerous!”

“I’ve got to talk to him about things, Eileen.”

Eileen took the girl in her arms.

“I’ve just got to do it! I have to!”

“If you feel that strongly about it,” Eileen said quietly, “then I’ll get you there. We’ll go down and get a carriage from the quartermaster corps, and we’ll have a driver take you. What’s the use of being the wife of a colonel if we can’t get a favor now and then?”

“Do you think you could do it, Eileen?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Jeff was dozing in the trench when he felt his
shoulder shaken. He woke up, startled. “What is it?” he cried and almost jumped up.

“Stay down, Jeff! You want to get your head shot off?”

“What is it?”

“You got a visitor,” the soldier said. “Keep your head down and go back behind the lines.”

“Who?”

“Don’t know. Word just came from the lieutenant for you to get back there.”

“Thanks, Syd.”

Jeff crawled until he was away from the front line. Then he straightened up and made his way to regimental headquarters, where he saw his father standing with a woman. She was wearing a cloak, and at first he thought it was Eileen.

I wonder what she’s doing here
, he said to himself. But when he got closer and the woman turned, he stopped in surprise. “Why, Leah!”

“A visitor for you, Jeff,” Colonel Majors said. “She came all the way through the lines. My wife commandeered a wagon, and used my name, and wrote a pass and signed it. What do you think of that?”

“I guess she must’ve had a pretty good reason, then.”

“I just had to see you, Jeff,” Leah said.

The colonel said, “You two go in the tent. It’s a bit too public out here.”

“Yes, sir.”

He led Leah inside and closed the tent flap. He lit the lamp and only then turned to her. “What’s the matter?”

“Jeff, I just had to come.” Leah slipped out of her cloak and let it fall to the ground. “I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. Everything is all wrong!”

“What in the world is it?”

“It’s—it’s the way I treated Cecil.”

Relief washed over Jeff. “I thought Esther was sick or somethin’ terrible like that.”

“It
is
terrible!” Leah insisted, and her eyes seemed enormous in the lamp light. “It’s terrible for
me
, Jeff.”

He stared down at her. “Here, sit down on the cot and tell me all about it.”

And she did.

“So you see I’ve been awful, Jeff,” Leah moaned. Clasping her hands together, she squeezed them until her knuckles turned white. “I wish I could die, and I don’t know why I did it.” Tears gathered in her eyes. Her voice quivered. Her lip trembled. “Jeff, I’m such an awful person. Can you forgive me?” Then the tears spilled over, and she sobbed.

Taken off guard, he put an arm around her and stroked her hair, murmuring he did not know what.

When the sobs began to lessen, she straightened up. “I—I don’t even have a handkerchief.”

“Take this one.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. “It’s clean. You can keep it.”

Leah wiped her tears away, then looked at him and asked timidly, “Do you hate me, Jeff?”

“Hate you? Of course, I don’t hate you.”

“But Cecil does.”

“No, he doesn’t. I talked to him just yesterday. He told me all about it.”

“So you already knew. But he was so hurt, and I don’t blame him!”

“Well, he got a pretty rough bump.” Jeff suddenly smiled. “But I guess your fatal charms aren’t as powerful as you think.”

“Jeff, when I told him, he was so mad that I could see he hated me.”

“He told me he did get pretty mad at first. But then he went and talked to Lucy.”

“Lucy?
He went and told
her
what I’d done?”

“I think she helped him a little bit. They’ve always been great friends, you know.”

“I like
that!
Telling Lucy!”

“But you’re telling
me
what you did!” Jeff protested. “What’s the difference?”

“If you don’t see the difference, I can’t explain it to you!”

“Look, you wanted Cecil to feel better—well, he feels better. He likes Lucy. He always has. She’s always liked him. I wouldn’t be surprised but what they start seeing each other. What do you care? You didn’t want him. You just wanted to make me jealous!”

Leah’s face flushed, but she nodded. “That’s right. See how awful I am?”

Jeff took the handkerchief from her hand and wiped the remaining tears from her face. “I don’t think you’re awful.”

Leah looked up. “You don’t?”

“No, I don’t. I think you’re pretty special.”

“You don’t really think that. Not after what I did.”

“Aw, that can’t be the worst thing you ever did, Leah,” he teased.

“You can make light of it, but I’ll never forget it, and I’ll never do anything like that again!”

As they sat talking, Leah calmed down. Then she stood and said, “I’ve got to go back. But I feel much better.”

“I wish I could go with you.” He got up too, looking around as if he could see through the sides of the tent. “Lines are going to cave in any day.”

“What will happen then?”

“I don’t know. But it’ll all be over, I think. There’s nothing between here and Richmond to stop Grant. And when Richmond falls—and the Army of Northern Virginia—the war’s over.”

“I wish it were over right now.”

“So do I, but I’ll have to stay in uniform until it

is.”

Shyly Leah put her hand on his chest. “Jeff, I’m really sorry about what I did. But I did it because … well … I didn’t like the way you were paying attention to Lucy. But if you want to pay attention to her, that’s all right.”

“I got no intention of paying attention to Lucy.” He put a hand over hers. “You know what?” “What, Jeff?”

“You’re not a little girl anymore. You’re a young

lady.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Sure do. Now listen—if the army has to run away from the Yankees, I’ll have to leave you in Richmond. Pa will have to leave Eileen there too. I may not see you again for a while.”

Leah said, “I wish it wasn’t that way.” Suddenly she pulled his head down and firmly kissed his cheek. “There,” she said.

She turned to leave, but he caught her hand. “That was a big girl kiss,” he said. “A young lady type kiss. How old are you again?”

“You know how old I am! I’m seventeen, and you’re eighteen.”

“My, we’re gettin’ kind of old, aren’t we? The first thing you know, I’ll have a long white beard and you’ll have a cane to walk with and an ear trumpet. Won’t that be somethin’?”

Leah began to laugh. Jeff could always make her laugh. She reached up and touched his cheek. “Goodbye, Jeff. I’ll be praying that God will keep you safe.”

“Good-bye, Leah. God is going to take care of us.”

He followed her out of the tent and watched as she got into the carriage. She waved, and the carriage rolled away.

“You and Leah get something settled, son?”

Jeff turned around to see his father and Tom. “I guess we did, Pa. We settled our differences. We’re both growin’ up.”

Colonel Majors put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “You’re growing taller, Jeff, but you’re growing inside too. And that Leah, she’s going to be a fine one. Already is, as a matter of fact.”

The Majors men watched the carriage disappear into the distance, and then the colonel said, “Well, back to the lines. We’ve got to hold as long as we can.”

“We’ll do that, colonel,” Tom said. “Come on, Jeff. I’ll walk back with you.”

Colonel Majors watched his two sons walk away, and he breathed a silent prayer:
God, let it be over soon!