Love's Rescue (41 page)

The guard was searching her face. His own was hidden in the shadow of his forage cap, but she thought she saw a frown. He lifted his rifle and pushed her hat off her head.

Her braid tumbled free.

To her surprise, the man immediately withdrew his boot. She saw amusement on his face when his head turned to scan the area.

What was more, she recognized the pale hair and the lines of sympathy around his eyes. He was the young soldier who had first stood guard in the room in the headquarters building.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said softly. “I thought you was that big feller.”

There was a loud double click beside Jess. “Shoulder your gun.”

At the tone of Jake’s command, the soldier swiftly obeyed. In the open space beyond him, Jess saw Ambrose, Reese, and several other shadowy forms hurrying away from the prison wall. Evidently, the Yanks would be missing not one but nearly a dozen of their prisoners come morning.

The young soldier dropped his gaze to the bore of Jake’s gun. Doing his best to ignore it, he turned his attention back to Jess.

“I couldn’t help but hear what you told your brother today, ma’am. I sure am sorry for you, losing your family and all, and if you’ll allow me to say so, ma’am, I haven’t heard a voice as pretty as yours since my mama died when I was a boy. My pa’s family is from Michigan, and I’m nothing more than a farm boy, ma’am, so I don’t much know if what I’m about to do here is right or wrong. All I know is, it seems right to me.”

Jake eyed him. “What do you mean?”

He pulled off his cap. “I’m seein’ to it her brother leaves with her.” He looked again to Jess. “I sure don’t want you losin’ nobody else.”

Jess was stunned. She could see no trace of duplicity in his eyes; she heard nothing but kindness in his voice. His stance was that of a man worthy of respect.

She could hardly believe what was happening. After Yankee sympathizers had destroyed her family, another Yankee was making certain that its remnants were put back together again.

The young man nervously followed the movement of Jake’s gun. He calmed a little as it was uncocked and lowered.

Jake kept his voice quiet. “You just happen to be on duty tonight?”

“No, sir. I took another man’s post so’s I could see that you and that Kentucky feller got away safe.”

“How did you know we’d come back to get him out?”

He smiled a little. “Well, sir, I didn’t exactly figure that the lady here would be comin’ with you, but I surely saw how much she cared for her brother. She, uh, she also looked as though her mind was good and set on something, and neither of you seemed like the kind of folks who’d leave a good man here to die.”

Jake rose up on an elbow. Another guard came into view. The escaping Confederates dove to the ground. “I’m much obliged to you,” Jake said.

The soldier nodded, pulling his cap on again. He began to back away. “Ma’am, I hope I didn’t hurt you none, but I thought I was going to have to take a gun away from your gentleman there to get him to listen to what I had to say.” He gave Jake a salute. “Godspeed.”

Jess halted him with an urgent whisper. “Please, you said helping us seemed right. How can that be when my brother and I are from the South?”

He kept his back to her, his eyes on the other guard. “Like I said, ma’am, I don’t want you losin’ no one else.” He rubbed his nose with a knuckle. “And my mama was from Lexington.”

“Sergeant!”

Their rescuer casually started toward the oncoming guard.

Jess found Jake’s hand in the grass as the youth led the other guard away. “I feel like a durn fool,” she heard him telling his fellow Yankee. “I come all the way down here only to scare up a rabbit.”

Jake squeezed Jess’s hand, bringing her attention around. “Ambrose and the boys already made it to the horses. Now it’s our turn.”

Jess glanced skyward. “The clouds are gone!” she whispered anxiously. “They’ll see us from the sentry boxes!”

“We’ll go slowly,” he assured her. “Besides, we have a friend up there.”

Jess met his gaze, and Jake smiled the crooked smile she loved.

Painstakingly, they retrieved her hat and Reese’s handgun and rifle, stopping frequently to wait for a guard to pass. They moved as fast as they dared, concerned that one of the other prisoners would be seen and thereby alert the sentries to their escape.

Gradually, they made their way to the copse of trees where they’d tied their horses. Diaz, Taggart, Reese, and Ambrose were waiting for them. The moment they were relatively safe from view, Jess left Jake’s side and rushed to Ambrose, embracing him fiercely.

“I love you, Jessica.”

She hugged him tighter. Then, knowing that they were still near enough to be discovered, she pulled back, turning to thank Diaz, Taggart, and especially Reese. They had risked their lives for her, as well as for her brother, a stranger they had never met.

Jake handed Reese his hat and guns. Without a word, they walked out, careful to keep buildings and trees between them and the sentries. When they had reached a safe distance, they stepped into their saddles. Ambrose swung onto Jess’s horse and pulled her up behind him. They left at a lope, and within minutes, Camp Douglas prison had faded into the night.

They rode for several miles, keeping a cautious eye out behind them. But the road remained clear—no Federals were on their tail.

Feelings of triumph ran high, and Jess almost laughed aloud in joy. She held onto Ambrose, thinking about how much had changed since they last were together. Then she glanced heavenward, where thin wisps of clouds were floating high above. Beyond them glistened stars that a young Jake had believed were the walls of heaven. Jess searched the sky, more sure than ever that heaven existed. In the next moment, she was sending God a tearful prayer of thanks, praising Him that, after all the hard times that had fallen on her and Ambrose both, freeing Ambrose from prison had been smooth and successful.

Jess also prayed His blessing on an enemy soldier whose name she didn’t even know.

***

Two hours west of Chicago, they reined in their horses and prepared to split up.

Jake looked at the cattlemen. “You three ride north. After an hour, turn west. From what the folks said in Chicago, the Federals at Camp Douglas rarely ride the four miles to town to look for escaped prisoners, since they usually find them much closer to the camp. So, the farther away we get, the less likely we’ll have trouble. But watch your backs, just the same. Jess and Ambrose and I will go straight to my father’s farm. We’ll meet you there.”

The ranch hands murmured their agreement, but Ambrose turned to look over his shoulder at Jess, his eyes filled with regret.

“What is it?” she asked.

Ambrose glanced at the others. “I’ll be forever grateful to you for what you’ve done for Jessica and me. You’ve interrupted your lives out of kindness to Jess and traveled across the country to free me, and I look forward to the day I can repay you for that.” He looked at his sister again. “But I can’t go with you.”

The ranchmen were careful not to react, but Jess pulled her hand away from her brother. “What do you mean, you can’t go with us?”

Ambrose dismounted, then lifted her down. Jake took the reins from him.

“Walk with me a little, Jess.” Ambrose led her away from the others. Finally, he stopped and faced her.

“Please tell me you’re not leaving,” she begged. This couldn’t be happening—not again.

“I have to, Jess. I have to find my way back South. The war isn’t over.”

“It can be! The war can be over for us! Please, Ambrose—please come with us. Jake already said that his family will let us stay with them until you’re strong again. Next spring, we’re going back to the ranch. There are horses, Ambrose—more horses than Father ever owned. And there’s land just waiting to be built on—miles of it! We could be a family again!”

Lovingly, Ambrose studied her face. “You look like mother,” he murmured. He said nothing more.

Jess’s shoulders fell. She knew she had her answer. “I thought you would stay with us.”

“I can’t, Jess. Jake was kind to offer his father’s home to a Southerner, but the man’s neighbors might like nothing more than to shoot me on sight. I won’t allow trouble to come to his family on my account.” He gave her braid a brotherly tug. “You be careful, too, as long as you’re here. Stay close to Jake until you go back west. He’s a good man. He’ll keep you
from harm.”

Jess was desperate to keep him there. After discovering he was alive, she’d had only a few precious hours with him. “You can’t travel south! You’ll never get past the Federals! And if you do, the Confederacy will only think you turned traitor in the Yankee prison. They’ll hang you just as surely as the Federals will if they capture you!”

“No, Jessica, they won’t. John Morgan knows me. He knows I’d never betray him or Kentucky.” He smiled softly. “Your heart pulls you west, but me…my roots are elsewhere. The South is where I belong.”

Jess’s moan of frustration dwindled away. She knew he was right. Even when he’d moved west, his heart had remained in Lexington. “You’ve always wanted to rebuild Greenbriar.”

“Yes, I have,” he said. “I once heard Grandmother say that if ever a blessing had been spoken on a place that anyone who stood on its lands would forever remember its warmth, its belonging, and its sureness of home, then that place was Kentucky.”

“And you believe that,” she said softly.

“I believe it.”

A small smile formed on her lips. “I think that same blessing was spoken on Honey Lake Valley.”

So much had changed for them both since the beginning of the war, she mused. In many ways, they had missed a large part of each other’s lives. It pained her that, as they continued on from here in their own directions, nearly a whole continent would remain between them. But she knew they would always be close in heart.

“Send me a letter with the Bennetts’ address as soon as you settle, okay?”

She smiled past the tightness in her throat. “You write back, too, or I’ll come looking for you again.”

“I don’t doubt that,” he said. He glanced over her head, then met her gaze again.

Jess took a long breath. “You have to go, don’t you?”

“I’m afraid so. Only a couple of hours left until sunrise.”

Jess stepped closer to him. His sandy hair and mustache were just as she remembered them, his blue eyes glowing with a brother’s love. She reached up and touched the tiny wrinkles in his brow that were new to her, placed there by the war.

“Will you be able to tell me good-bye, Jess?”

“There really are no good-byes, if you think about it. Since the Lord will eventually bring us to heaven, we’ll see each other again, one way or another. I hope it will be here, and I pray that it’ll be here. I’ll pray He keeps you safe, and that He brings an end to the war, but I’ll be able to let you go.”

Ambrose took her hand, his eyes beaming. “I’ll be so glad when the war is finally over and I can come visit.” He shifted his weight restlessly. “I’d better go, Jess.”

Jess smiled up at him. He was every inch a Kentucky gentleman, so straight and tall. “Don’t let the war take you from me. I’ve seen your name on a gravestone once. I don’t want to see it again—not until you’ve lived a long, long life.”

“Nothing could take me from you, little butterfly. We’ll always have each other.”

Jess smiled through her tears.

***

Ambrose turned and approached the cattlemen to shake their hands and thank them. Finally, he walked up to Jake’s horse and reached out his hand. Jake leaned down and shook it heartily.

Ambrose glanced over at Jess, who was waiting quietly. “Take good care of her,” he said.

“You’d be surprised how many people have made that request on her behalf,” Jake said, shaking his hand once more. “You can depend on it.”

Jess smiled at Ambrose as he walked toward her, leading her horse. He was dressed in civilian clothes rather than a uniform, and he looked more like a businessman than a cavalry scout or courier. Inwardly, she agreed with him that he had every chance of making it safely home. “Send me lilac blossoms from mother’s old hedge when you return to Greenbriar.”

“I will. But it will take time to rebuild the house and grounds as they once were.”

“Maybe not as long as you think.”

“Maybe,” he said. Jess hugged him, then stepped aside.

He climbed up into the saddle.

“Ambrose,” she said, “even if you have to give up the horse, keep the saddlebags.”

He glanced back. “Why? What’s in them?”

“Something that belonged to Father. Something that now belongs to you.”

Moments later, Ambrose Hale was riding south with a thousand dollars of Hale Imports gold.

“It’s for Greenbriar,” she murmured with a smile.

***

“Are you tired?” Dawn was approaching when Jake spoke over his shoulder to Jess, who was riding behind him, arms wrapped around his chest.

The rhythm of the easy gallop lulled her, but the beauty of the sights they passed kept her awake. She pulled her gaze from waving willow branches and smiled up at him.

“I’ll sleep later. There’s too much to see now.”

“I understand that right enough,” Jake said, pressing her hand warmly. “You know, if we’re going to stay here for the winter, we might as well look for Thoroughbreds to buy to take to the ranch with us come spring.”

She smiled. “Thinking of adding on to the ranch, Jake?”

“I might be.”

Her heart taking flight, Jess rested her head against the soft flannel over his shoulder blade. Beneath it was the long crescent scar, left there when he had tried to save her father.

What a good man Jake Bennett was—a man of faith who lived according to an honor code shared only by the rarest of men. How blessed she was to have him in her life.

She thought back to the terrifying precipice her heart had hovered above just months ago. The precipice was gone. Ho Chen was right, she thought. Time and again, Jake Bennett had shown his true character—his honor, his courage, his very great worth. She reflected on the countless times when he had refused to back down in the face of hardship, when he had maintained his character and his trust in the Lord. In her mind, in her heart, and in her soul, there were no more doubts. Not about Jake, and not about the Lord’s presence in her life.