Shades of Gray: A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia (64 page)

“Yes, come with me. I need to talk to you.”
Hunter turned and clanked noisily up the steps, his gaze falling on Carter who
lounged against the wall beside the door as if preparing to stand guard. Hunter
nodded in gratitude at the duty being performed with no orders to do so, and
Carter nodded back with a kind of contented smile on his face.

“There’s going to be a hot fight,” Hunter said
before Andrea had even closed the door.

Andrea half-nodded and half-shrugged with half a
frown on her face, showing as much concern or interest as if he’d just predicted
warm weather in the middle of July.

“You need to get away from here.”

This caused a bit more of a reaction. First, she
blinked in surprise; then her eyes, which had been glowing with satisfaction,
narrowed with a grave look of defiance. “But I—”

“After careful reflection, I’ve decided I don’t
want you involved in this.”

“You
mean you’ve decided you want me out of the way!”

Hunter closed his eyes when he heard the
rebelliousness in her voice, knowing there was more to follow when it reached
that tone. He braced himself for the fallout. “You’ve already done more than we
can repay, more than we could ask. I want you safely behind the lines.”

Although Andrea had stood before him calm and
determined before, she now bristled with hostility. “Which lines, Colonel?
North or South? For I can be felled by a Yankee bullet as easily as Rebel now.
It makes no difference to me from where the lead comes!”

He grabbed her by the arm. “I prefer that you
return to Hawthorne.”

“I’m on the wrong side of the Potomac for that,”
she spat. “As are you! Though you are apparently too determined to go down in a
blaze of glory to care!”

“We have the ford now.”

“I did not show you the location of the ford so
I could retreat to a place of safety!”

When Hunter spoke, his face was resolute, his
tone was stern, and his words were unrelenting. “If you defy me, I will have
you arrested and placed there by force.”

Andrea’s jaw dropped and she blinked in
surprise. “You would not dare!”

“Yes. I would.” The response was calm, but loud.

Carter stuck his head in the door at the noisy
exchange, and gazed worriedly at the courier and the colonel as they stood face
to face—one looking enraged, the other careworn and troubled beyond measure.
“Everything all right in here?”

“We’re fine, Carter,” the latter said, not
taking his eyes from Andrea’s defiant gaze.

Andrea picked up the conversation where it had
left off as soon as the door closed. “If you think for one moment to bend me
from my purpose by your threats or command, you will find you are in dreadful
error.” She took a step closer and pointed her finger at him defiantly. “I will
not leave but by force, and you shall not find that an easy course! Why, you do
not even have enough men to accomplish such a deed!”

“It will take but one man, Andrea,” Hunter said
in a perfectly calm voice.

“Me.”

He did not give her time to respond to that. He
cupped her face in his hands, bent down and kissed her so tenderly, so
longingly, so lovingly that it took her breath—and her anger—away.

“Is it so hard to believe that I want you to be
safe?” Hunter whispered in her ear, pulling her into his arms.

“Is it so hard to believe that I want the same
for you?” Andrea placed her head on his heart. “Retreat does not indicate
defeat when it allows you the opportunity to fight another day.”

“When Pierce gets back I will consult the
opinions of my officers. I’ll yield to their decision on whether the Command
fights or crosses into Virginia.”

“But there’s really no decision to make,” Andrea
said, making an obvious attempt to keep her voice calm. “Think how the prestige
of a victory over you would animate the enemy, Colonel Hunter. I know you
worship the sacred soil of Virginia—but would it not be better to fight another
day than sleep eternally beneath it? That is the basic premise for your
decision, is it not?”

“You make it sound easy.” Hunter pushed his hat
back off his brow and walked to a window in the back of the room to stare at
the horizon.

“It is easy.” Andrea paced back and forth, her
hands flying to accentuate her emotions. “On the one hand, your Command is
devoid of every resource for battle including provisions and men. You do not
have the choice of ground, or even knowledge of the ground on which you stand.
Nor do you have the advantage of surprise or the benefit of being the
aggressor.”

Hunter looked back over his shoulder at her, but
made no effort to bring the conversation to an end. “You have no time in which
to launch a diversion, and even if you did, you possess not the manpower or the
ammunition to sustain one. Your horses are jaded, your men are tired, and the
enemy outnumbers you five to one. Any attempt to defend this position seems
incredibly impractical, unrealistic and, frankly, unattainable due to an
uncooperative swollen river. Your only hope of success is a sudden and complete
capitulation by the enemy, which we both know is not going to happen. They are
well rested and well fed, and are no doubt incensed—nay, infuriated—with your
very presence on Northern soil. They carry the added advantage of no longer
suffering in fear of ambush or reprisal from you, trapped as you are on a
useless piece of land that you cannot afford to hold and from which you do not
have the ability to maneuver. The benefit of this to them and the consequences
of this to you are nigh impossible to estimate! Tell me Colonel, wherein lies
the difficulty of the decision?”

“Gotta couple of pretty good points there,”
Carter said.

Andrea and Hunter both whirled around at the
same time. Neither had heard Carter and Pierce enter the room—Andrea so intent
on making her plea, and Hunter intent on listening in bewilderment to her
torrent of words.

Carter leaned nonchalantly against the door,
chewing on his cigar while looking wryly amused. Pierce stood with his head
cocked to the side, looking openly shocked at the lengthy expostulation just
given by a mere boy.

Hunter cleared his throat. “Thank you for your
modest opinion. That will be all.”

Hunter watched a stream of sunlight burst into
the room and surround her as she opened the door and then disappear as if she
were taking it with her when it alternately slammed shut.

“Send in the other officers,” Hunter said to
Carter, before turning his back and concentrating once again on the map on the
table.

Chapter
64

“Yet this inconstancy is such, as you too shall adore,

I could not love thee, dear, so much, loved I not honor
more.”

– “Off to War,” Lovelace

Carter saw Andrea leaning against a tree, her
thoughts apparently so absorbed on the men spilling out of the farmhouse behind
him that she didn’t notice his approach. Her eyes flicked from face to face as
men shouted and hurried to obey orders. When her gaze finally met his, he read
in her furrowed brow that she sensed the distinctive undercurrent of
excitement. She knew without asking that a decision had been made, and it was
not hard to see that the men preparing to carry out that decision approached it
with enthusiasm.

Carter paused and looked back at the men, too.
What he saw on their faces was what he knew was in their minds. They were
already thinking of the end result of today’s contest and their greatest
reward—to see Hunter approach them after the battle, feel his hand on their
shoulder, and hear the words from his lips, “Well done.”

“Colonel wants to see you,” Carter said in a low
voice when he reached her.

Her eyes shifted to a point over Carter’s
shoulder, and the light reflected from them announced the approach of the most
dashing and indomitable soldier in the Confederacy. She smiled then, or tried
to, her trembling lips revealing the overwhelming emotions she felt at the mere
sight of him.

“Ride with me a moment,” was all Hunter said
when he reached her.

Carter watched the two mount, their legs
swinging across the backs of their horses in perfect unison, both settling into
their saddles with gentle ease—an act he suspected was more a result of the
injuries each had suffered than in deference to the backs of their mounts.

Andrea turned toward Carter a moment, obviously
trying to wear the same expression of calmness that Hunter so coolly displayed.
Before gathering her reins, she saluted in Carter’s direction, her lips showing
a smile of hopeful optimism, her eyes a look of intolerable dread.

The slender youth and the strong, bronzed
officer then swung their horses around to the right and pushed them into a
canter in perfect stride and harmony, as if there was but one mind and soul
between them. Carter watched them ride away side by side, boot to boot in
silence, two opposite forces of energy that had finally found perfect balance.

To a stranger, it might appear they were drawn
together by the mysterious relationship of opposites, but Carter knew their
affinity to one another was strong likenesses. Both were as stubborn, intrepid,
and fiercely independent as any two people could be.

He could well imagine the spirited clashes and
passion that flickered and flamed between them. On second thought, perhaps he
could not. He saw the sparks flying when they but stood in the same room. He
could not imagine the meteoric brilliance that flamed when they were in each
other’s arms—and he felt his face turn scarlet at the thought.

In any event, he was glad that a truce had been
called, fortifying a bond and creating a union that not even war, hopefully,
could separate.

* * *

Hunter rode into a small grove of trees and
watched Andrea cautiously scan each shadow and silhouette within its depths,
her mind obviously alert to any danger that might be hidden within. “You are
safe within my lines.”

Andrea focused her eyes on him for a moment.
“You forget. I am an enemy among your men and a traitor among mine.”

“You are not the enemy of this Command, I assure
you.” He urged his horse a step closer, and spoke in a serious tone. “My men
have decided the battalion shall cross into Virginia. You apparently influenced
them no little bit.”

“And yet you disagree?”

“I am of the mind it is better to have fought
and lost then never to have fought at all.”

“It is not rational or logical to gamble all and
gain nothing. And,” she said, her tone serious as she moved her horse back a
step to look at him more fully. “It should worry you, as it worries me, that I
am being forced to give you advice on being rational and logical.”

Hunter gazed in awe at the bright smile of humor
she wore on her lips despite the desperate situation. She looked perfectly
majestic sitting arrow straight, yet relaxed, on her horse, one hand on the
reins, the other on the back of her saddle as she twisted to face him. Yet, he
felt a sudden stab in his heart when he thought of how few minutes they had now
to talk.

“Miss Evans, I rely much on your judgment and
hold your opinion sacred, believe me.”

“The
ford is not easily accessible to a large number of men,” Andrea said, her tone
serious again. “There is danger in delay.”

“Yes, I understand. “I have men moving out as
vanguard to help Pierce protect the ford. I want you to go with Carter in the
main body. I will move up with the rearguard.” Andrea started to shake her
head. “That’s an order. I’ll be right behind you.”

“But the rearguard will be the most heavily
engaged!”

“So be it.” His gaze shifted to a place over her
shoulder. “The fault is mine, so must the remedy be. I will not leave until my
men are safely in Virginia.”

A gust of wind swept down upon them, causing
Andrea’s horse to rear and, almost in the same instant, buck, while hopping and
sidestepping in apparent fear. Hunter watched her bring him back under control,
never so much as blinking an eye or changing her relaxed stance in the
saddle—or apparently even taking notice that he was attempting to dislodge her.

“Easy, big boy,” Andrea said soothingly, bending
down to pat him on the neck to calm his quivering. “Nothing but the wind.”

The horse stood trembling with alarm, relying on
nothing but her voice to keep him from running straight to kingdom come for
safety. Andrea appeared surprised when she finally looked up and read the
amused amazement on Hunter’s countenance.

“The boys gave me this horse as a practical
joke” she said, patting it on the neck again as if his behavior required an
explanation. “Told me if I wanted a broke horse when I requested a mount from
government stables then I should have specified as such. They had a jolly good
laugh when I got on Buck here the first time.”

Hunter winced. “He’s not broke and you took that
fence earlier?”

“There are only two ways he could have gone—over
or through.” Andrea shrugged. “My odds were fifty-fifty.”

“And you think fifty-fifty makes good odds.”

Andrea turned in her saddle again to face him,
leaning back and resting one hand on her horse’s rump. “Lighten up, Colonel.
You said yourself you don’t bother to count odds, which is for the better, for
I fear yours today are not nearly so high.”

Hunter ignored the comment. “The boys, as you
call them, that gave you the horse … they are on the other side of the hill?”
He did not say to whom he was referring, merely nodded toward the Union line.

Andrea’s expression turned mournful, though she
looked down almost immediately to escape his gaze. She nodded, making it
perfectly clear that the soldiers in blue whom he considered dire enemies, were
friends and comrades by whose side she had shared danger and laughter, peril
and mirth. She was one of them. Or had been.