The Last, Long Night (#5 in the Bregdan Chronicles Historical Fiction Romance Series) (3 page)

“Hello ‘dere, Miss Carrie!  I be feelin’ a heap much better!”

“It sure looks that way, Johnny,” Carrie agreed. “Are you eating?”

“Yessum!”

“Drinking?”

“Enough dat I figur’ I gonna drown in it!”

Carrie laughed as she looked up at the nurse, one of the women who volunteered at the hospital, and got her nod of agreement.

“Well, then, I figure a boy like you would rather be out playing in such fine weather.”

Jimmy’s eyes widened.  “You mean I get to go home?  I gets to leave?”

“Don’t be so happy,” Carrie teased.  “I’ll think you don’t like me.”

“Oh, no, ma’am,” Jimmy cried, suddenly alarmed.  “I didn’t mean nothin’ like dat!”

Carrie laughed and pulled back the covers of the bed.  “I’m just teasing you.  I’m thrilled you get to go home.  One of the nurses will take you back to your parents.”  Then her voice turned stern. “You are not to overdo it.  Take it easy for at least another week, or the fever could come back.  Do you understand?”  She waited for his eyes to meet hers.

Johnny nodded his head vigorously.  “Yessum.  I be real good.  I for sho don’t want to be comin’ back here!”

Carrie laughed again, gave him a hug, and watched as he disappeared out the door.  Jimmy’s pneumonia had almost taken his life.  She would never tire of the knowledge she could help people get well. 

Janie moved over to stand beside her.  “There are no new patients.  Spring is helping everyone.”

Carrie smiled but immediately grew serious.  “Everyone but the soldiers waiting to fight,” she said somberly.  Then she forced a smile.  “Let’s go home.  We can still make it in time for dinner.”

Carrie and Janie were laughing and talking when they walked into the house with Hobbs.  “We made it in time for dinner, Father,” Carrie called, turning to head up the stairs to wash up.

Staring at their unexpected guest, she stopped dead in her tracks.

Chapter Two

Carrie recovered quickly, dismayed to see the uncomfortable flush on their guest’s cheeks because of her shocked stare.  She moved forward and took his hand.  “Jeremy Anthony!  What a pleasure to have you here,” she said warmly.  “I’m so sorry for my surprise.  I’ve just spent the afternoon with your father and was thinking about all my patients.”  She chose to ignore the disbelieving look on Janie’s face but knew she would have to dodge questions later.

“To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?” she asked, still trying to gain her balance and knowing there was not one person in the house who could know why she was struggling.

“Jeremy is my guest.”  Thomas Cromwell strode into the room and placed his hand on Jeremy’s shoulder.  “I met this fascinating young man several weeks ago when we were working on a budget for the city.  And I’ve developed profound respect for him.  I convinced him to join us for dinner tonight, but I didn’t realize you already know each other.”

Carrie smiled at her father and then turned back to Jeremy.  “I’m so glad you’re here.  I haven’t seen you since the day I met you down at the hospital.”  She answered her father’s unspoken question. “Jeremy is Pastor Anthony’s son.  We met briefly some time ago.”

“Why, I had no idea,” Thomas exclaimed.  “Your father has been here as a guest before.  He’s quite a remarkable man.  That helps explain why he has such a remarkable son.”  He waved Jeremy into the dining room.  “May almost has dinner finished.  Let’s have a drink while we wait.”

Carrie moved toward the steps. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and wash up.  It was rather a dusty carriage ride.  I’ll be back down in just a few minutes.”

She wasn’t surprised when Janie followed her up the stairs and then cornered her as soon as the door was closed.  “Why were you so shocked to see Jeremy?” she demanded.

Many possible responses ran through her head, but Carrie knew Janie would see right through all of them, so she merely shook her head.  “I’m afraid I can’t tell you,” she said simply.  She had not given Pastor Anthony her word, but she
had
told him she didn’t know what she would do with the information she had gained.  She owed it to him to go to him first once she had decided.

Janie looked at her for a long moment, then nodded her head, and turned around to wash her hands.

Carrie sprang forward and wrapped Janie in an impulsive hug.  “Thank you.”  It was so wonderful to have a friend who wouldn’t press for information.  Hardly a day passed that she didn’t feel immense gratitude for the friendship that had developed when she helped save Janie from a drunken soldier early in the war.

“You’re welcome,” Janie responded.  “If you ever need to talk about it, you know I’ll listen.”

Thomas and Jeremy were deep in conversation when Carrie and Janie joined them at the table, along with Hobbs and the five other men, all her father’s associates, who were living with them because of Richmond’s crowded condition.  There was hardly a home in Richmond that was not also operating as a boarding house.

Thomas had bought the elegant three-story brick home before the war began, thinking it would be a haven for his family if it were ever needed.  After his wife’s death it had become
his
haven from the painful memories of the plantation, and he had buried himself in Virginia politics. 

Conversation continued as Carrie and Janie took their seats and reached for the platters of simple food that was now their steady diet.  Everyone was tired of beans and cornbread, but few complained because there were many more who had nothing at all.  Thousands had died from malnutrition during the winter.

“Surely things can’t be as bad as all that,” Stiles, one of the boarders protested, his round face flushed with disbelief, his wide set eyes flashing with indignation.

Jeremy shrugged.  “Richmond’s finances are dire, as are the finances of Virginia, as well as of the entire Confederacy.  When we decided to become a nation, we were not planning on three years of war.  We also hadn’t planned on losing the income from most of our crops because of the blockade.”

“What do you know?” Stiles scoffed.  “You’re just a boy.”

Jeremy merely looked at him and smiled slightly, making it obvious he was used to being dismissed because of his age and that he had ceased to let it bother him.

“This
boy
,” Thomas said firmly, “has the fullest confidence of our government.  Governor Letcher counted on him until he left office.  Now Governor Smith does the same.”

“I’ve found that age has nothing to do with it as long as one has the skills and talents for the job.”  Carrie spoke into the quiet, well aware she and Jeremy were just weeks apart in age.  “Since Jeremy has been serving Virginia for the last three years, obviously he is well qualified.”

“But we have all the munitions plants here,” Stiles protested. Realizing he was getting no sympathy or support, he had decided to change the subject.

“That’s true,” Thomas conceded, “but right now there are too many drains on the money for that to make up for the losses.”

“People in Richmond are starving,” Janie said darkly, “but it’s mostly because of the speculators.”

Jeremy nodded.  “Sadly, that is completely true.  The speculators are greedy and ruthless.  It’s not that food isn’t available; it’s just not being
made
available.  Speculators are buying up huge quantities of flour, sugar, bacon, salt, and other supplies, but they are merely storing them in warehouses.”

“Knowing the longer they hold onto them, the higher they will go in price,” Carrie said with disgust.

“President Davis has tried to stop it.  Governor Letcher abhorred the practice, and now Governor Smith is making an attempt to stop it,” Thomas said, “but the greed is too great.”

“People are afraid there will be nothing left after the war, so they’re making all the money they can now,” Janie observed.

“Not realizing that if their greed means we lose the war, their money will have no value whatsoever,” Jeremy said wryly. 

“People like that don’t look at the long-term effects of their actions,” Thomas replied heavily.  “It’s enough for them to live the high life right now. They don’t realize that every choice they make has an impact on someone else – usually
many
others.”

Carrie remembered something she had seen coming through town.  “I thought you said a law had been passed this winter against the importation of nonessential luxuries, Father.  I’m sure I saw new gowns in some of the store windows.”

Jeremy nodded.  “Your father was right.  Unfortunately, it is very often Richmond’s leading citizens who are engaged in the importation of things like perfumes, silk stockings, dresses, and liquors.  The profit is rather enormous.  We haven’t found an effective way to stop them.”

“Perfumes and silk stockings,” Janie mused, “while our men are in agony because we can’t get medicine and drugs.”

Silence fell over the room as they absorbed the irony, and the impact, of people’s choices.

Daring to broach the subject all of them were avoiding, James Crater, another of the boarders, broke the silence.  “Dare I ask if we stand any chance against the 100,000 Union troops sitting on the other side of the river?”

Thomas scowled.  “General Lee has worked miracles before.  I have hopes he can do it again.”

“With an army that is outnumbered, underfed, and exhausted?” Crater asked.

Thomas shrugged. “Those soldiers are fighting for their homes.  I can only determine the Confederacy has lasted so long in this war because we are fighting
for
something, not against something.”

Carrie pondered that for a moment and then said, “I daresay the Union would say they are fighting
for
the continuation of our country.”

“That is true,” Thomas agreed, “but so far very few of their soldiers have had their homes and family destroyed or threatened.  That reality brings out a passion that is hard to conquer.”

“How long though,” Carrie protested, “can we afford to lose tens of thousands of men in every battle?”

Thomas settled back in his chair.  “I don’t know,” he admitted with a deep sigh.  “It can’t continue.  We are running out of men, and there is no one else to fill the troops.”

“I know General Lee proposed that slaves be recruited to fight, in exchange for their freedom when the war is over,” Janie said.

“It’s a ridiculous idea!” Crater snorted, his blue eyes shooting sparks of disdain.  “Arm the slaves?  We might as well give up the fight right now. We’re fighting for the right to keep our slaves, and now we’re going to arm them and promise them freedom.  Preposterous!”

Carrie sat back, waiting for her father to reply.  She knew it would do no good to point out to Crater that if the South lost the war, all the slaves would go free anyway, and she didn’t have the energy to defend her position that she believed all the slaves
should
be freed now.  She was quite sure Crater was aware of her beliefs, anyway.  She was used to being a topic of discussion in Richmond.  It had long ago ceased to bother her.

Thomas just shook his head.  “I know Lee believes it would be a good thing.  I also know there is far too much opposition for it to happen. At least for now…”

“It will quite simply
never
happen,” Crater stated vehemently.  When Thomas did not reply, Crater looked at him more closely.  “It will never happen.  Right?”

Thomas shrugged.  “I don’t know.  There have been so many things that have happened since the beginning of this war that I could never have imagined. I’ve given up trying to read the future.  I find that just getting through today is enough.”

Carrie gazed at her father, took his hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze.  She knew how far he had come to let go of the bitterness and anger that seemed to swallow him for the first three years of the war.  Her heart swelled with love for the man who had always supported his headstrong daughter. 

The war had exacted a heavy toll from him.  He was still tall, handsome, and distinguished, and his eyes were still a glorious blue, but his salt and pepper hair was now solid silver, and his face was heavily lined.