Words Heard in Silence (74 page)

"None at all, Sir. ‘‘Twas bad enough what they did to Mrs. Adams, but when they had the chance to leave and then stayed, and hurt that nice Mrs. White, well, Sir, that was about the end of the line for most of the men, Sir. A lot of us had done chores for Mrs. White and her townsfolk and they did not deserve this. I doubt you will find a man willing to stand up for them, sir."

Charlie nodded his appreciation to young Maguire. "Well, George, you look like a man who needs some sleep. Turn your responsibilities over to one of the other companies. Then you and your men turn in. We will be handing these three over to the civilian authorities. They are no longer soldiers and they will have to be charged by the local civilian government."

"Yes, Sir, right away." The young man stood and smiled at Rebecca. "Thank you for the hot coffee, Ma’am."

With a crisp salute he left the room, which remained quiet as everyone considered the new problems that had just arisen. Finally there was a small voice.

"Papa?"

"Yes, Em?"

She put her spoon down and looked at him very seriously. "Papa get da bad man?"

"No, honey. Captain Maguire got the bad men. Papa has to go and figure out what to do to punish them."

She climbed up into his lap and placed her hands on his cheeks. "Papa spank da bad man."

"No, honey. Papa will have to do something else. These men were too bad to just spank them."

Em settled herself back on his knee and picked up her spoon, her little brows coming together as she considered it. "Bewy bad man," she mumbled around another spoon of cereal.

R
ichard and Charlie, preoccupied with the fact that Davison and his men had been captured, hurriedly finished their breakfasts and departed to interview the criminals. This left Rebecca with a very distressed little girl.

"Mama Becca, Em good. Papa fowgot pwesents." Em’s face was a portrait of confused disappointment.

"Oh, sweetheart, Papa is very busy. He will give you your present later, I promise. How about this? Shall we go see what Papa brought back for the wedding?"

"Pwesents for wedding?"

Rebecca laughed and picked up the little girl. "Yes, in a sense. These are the things Mama Becca needs to have a proper wedding to Papa." Rebecca turned to Elizabeth. "Would you care to join us?"

The little girl settled happily in Rebecca’s arms. She was growing like a weed with the good food Sarah had been feeding her. Soon she would be too heavy for Rebecca to pick up easily and carry around. "Mama Becca? What is wedding?"

"Good question. I do wish I had an answer you would understand." She gave it further thought as she continued down the hall. "It is a party, Em."

"Good. Em likes pawties."

Elizabeth chuckled as the two women proceeded to the back parlor to examine Charlie’s acquisitions. Entering the room, they were confronted by a sizable pile of bundles, bags and boxes, all heaped rather haphazardly in the middle of the room. Rebecca immediately went to the bell pull and summoned Lizbet, Tess and Reg.

"It appears absolutely everything that Charlie brought back was just piled here. I do believe I will need at least one pot of tea to get through this Herculean effort." Elizabeth’s eyes were sparkling with laughter. Rebecca was a bit overwhelmed.

"It is not funny, Elizabeth," Rebecca chastised playfully as she placed Em on the floor and continued to stare at the pile. "You would think he could have labeled things a little better."

"My dear, this is Charlie –– the man who never shops. I think he has had Jocko do all of his shopping, except for the fittings of his clothes and boots, for years. We are fortunate he managed to get everything on your list, dear." Elizabeth was poking at the pile, shifting bags and examining boxes. "It will get much better once we get the cases of wine and kegs of brandy out of here."

Rebecca looked closer at the pile. "Good Lord, is Charlie planning on getting the entire county drunk?"

"Well, there is the gentlemen’s bachelor party the night before the wedding." Elizabeth smirked.

Rebecca stood up, giving Elizabeth a very serious look. "Oh, I had forgotten about that. Do you think Charlie will have such a thing?"

"I think Richard will probably insist. That man will take any opportunity to celebrate, and if he can do it at Charlie’s expense, well, so much the better, according to him."

"As long as Charlie is in proper condition for the wedding the next day, because if he is not I will take it off Richard's hide myself."

"My dear, please leave me some of that hide." Elizabeth continued to poke among the packages. "By the way, I believe Mrs. Carter said something about being a seamstress. Perhaps we should ask her to join us?" Just then, Lizbet, Tess, and Reg appeared at the door.

"You rang for us, Miss Rebecca?" Lizbet was in the lead. Tess immediately took charge of the youngster, who had disembarked from Rebecca’s arms and was using the pile of merchandise to play a small version of king of the mountain. Reg, fully aware of how much stuff was piled in the middle of the floor and fearing that he was about to be told to put most of the heavier stuff away, was trying to make himself invisible.

"Yes, we must sort through these things and determine what needs to be put away," Rebecca looked at the man standing quietly in the corner by the door. "Reg, I am sure you will see to that right away."

"Yes’m." Reg rolled his eyes as Rebecca turned away. He had hauled most of this stuff into the parlor from the wagon last night. Now he would have to haul it again. He already hurt.

"Tess, could you go find Mrs. Carter and ask her to join us? You can leave Em here with us." She turned to Elizabeth. "Thank you for reminding me. Mrs. Carter offered to assist in preparing for the wedding, as did several of the other women."

"And Lizbet, you know I will depend on you heavily in the coming weeks. So, please, consider yourself part of the wedding party. Dr. Walker needs some tea to get through this; perhaps you will bring enough for all of us –– and Lizbet, bring cups for you, Tess, and Reg."

Elizabeth looked at her friend. "Good thing Mrs. Williams is not part of this little wedding party. She would faint if she knew you let your servants drink tea with you."

"Remind me to tell her the next time I see her."

Elizabeth snorted as she picked up a package that was clearly a bolt of cloth.

"I think you may want to look at this." She handed Rebecca the package.

Rebecca opened the package and smiled at the contents. It was beautiful ivory semi-sheer voile that would be the outer shell of her wedding gown. "It is beautiful."

"Yes, dear, it is. What are you planning, if I may ask?"

"Mrs. Cooper had a lovely picture of a dress I thought would be appropriate. Mrs. Carter agreed, and said that she could make it for me fairly quickly. It has a simple underskirt of palest blue satin with a voile overskirt that is gathered to the waist over one hip. The bodice is more of the blue satin with ivory lace, with a scooped, off the shoulder neckline. There are lace rosettes around the skirt. Simple, elegant, and I love it."

Mrs. Carter entered as Elizabeth was describing the dress. "Ah, Mrs. Gaines. I see the supplies have come. Let us get them sorted out and we can begin cutting the pattern today."

Silently, Reg trudged in and out of the room, carrying cases of wine and kegs of brandy downstairs to the cellar.

J
ocko knocked gently on the door of Esther White’s room. A soft voice bade him enter. "Good morning, Esther. Are you feeling any better, dear lady?"

"Good morning, John. Yes, I am. Thank you. Please come join me." She patted a place next to her on the small davenport.

"I, um, I wanted to check and see if Dr. Walker had taken care of you, if there were any problems." Jocko was nervous. What he really wanted to tell her was that Davison had been captured, but did not quite know how to do it.

"Yes. Dr. Walker and Mrs. Gaines have been very kind to me. I am feeling much better. I do believe I will make a full recovery." She paused, glancing down at her hands. "John, I am so sorry for the way I spoke to you when you first found me."

"Esther, dear lady, I am surprised you will talk to anyone wearing this uniform after what those monsters did to you. I am just grateful you let me help you and bring you here."

"John, I learned a very long time ago that there are good men and there are evil men. The clothes do not make the man. It is what is in your heart. You are a good man, they are evil."

"Thank you, Esther. I am honored to know you think me a good man. I fear there are more people in the world who think I am more of a rake than a saint."

"Yes, well, I would imagine that would be my rather vocal Southern cousins. Would you think me odd if I told you I never supported this war? I knew it would be a foolhardy venture. I am proud to be Southern, John, but I never believed we could win a war with the Federals. If our way of life has been destroyed, we destroyed it ourselves."

"Ah, Esther, I appreciate your perspective on this war, but I am afraid I was referring more to my own personal life. I have, um, been known to, ah, avail myself of, er, the company of ladies of less than sterling reputation in the past. I have also been told I have the Irish predilection for a bit of the jug."

"I have never known an Irishman that was not a scallywag, John Jackson. You are a perfectly charming gentleman and you know it."

"Well, ma’am, if you can stand having the support of a known scallywag, I would be honored to stand as your support. And when this whole thing is over, perhaps……"

Jocko stopped for a moment, then looked at the floor.

"You see, Esther, I think you are going to need someone to stand for you. Our troops captured Davison and two other men last night. The General said he plans to turn them over for civilian justice, but either way, you will be asked to testify."

"Will they be hanged?" she asked with very little emotion.

"If I have anything to say about it. I know that General Redmond does not have any compunction about hanging rapists. But it remains to be seen what Mayor Frazier chooses to do."

"Frazier does not have the backbone to make a decision like that. I can say that, as I have known him all my life. He and Mr. White used to go rabbit hunting together. Horace is a good hearted man, but he is not a leader."

"Well, I suspect that whatever happens, General Redmond will play a major role. And he does have the backbone."

"You are very fond of your General., very loyal to him. What has he done to deserve such fierce loyalty?"

"He saved my life and then he gave me a place in the world." The stark simplicity of Jocko’s statement spoke volumes about the relationship between the two men.

"I can tell you the people in the area are torn between calling him friend and hating him just because he is a Union officer. They realize he has done more than they ever expected but their damn foolish pride will not let them thank him." She sighed and looked to her friend. "I would be grateful for your support through this John. Thank you."

"You know, Esther, I have seen women after they had been violated, and most of them were far more emotional than you are. I am worried about you, sweet lady. Holding in the anger and the pain are not good for you."

"I am past all that, dear man. I am old enough to know it will not make anything different. What happened, happened. I did nothing to encourage it, but I most certainly cannot change it."

"Well, ma’am, I believe you can expect a visit from the General soon. If you would like, I will be here with you when he calls."

"Yes, I think I would like that very much. Thank you."

"Now, ma’am, to pass the time, would you like to play a little two handed whist, or perhaps some checkers or chess?"

"I would be careful if I were you, Sergeant. Before my husband died, when he could no longer get out of his sickbed, we played checkers all day. I am quite good." She smiled as Jocko brought the game table closer to her seat.

Jocko set the checkerboard down on the small table and pulled the box of markers out. They were setting them in place when they heard the crack of gunshots ring out. Jocko leapt up, knocking the table over, and raced through the door.

C
harlie and Richard had gone to Charlie’s office to review the reports of the arresting officers. Charlie then prepared articles of arrest, defining the formal charges and remanding the three men to the civilian authorities. Finally, he prepared copies of the documents, along with a letter to Frazier, and sent them off with a trooper to be delivered to the Mayor post haste.

He then stopped upstairs to check on Rebecca and the ladies. As he entered the small back parlor, he was confronted with most of the women in the house all sorting through the material, lace, and notions he had brought, sketching details of design, or sipping tea. The din was overwhelming and he hastily kissed Rebecca, tousled Em’s hair and started backing out of what had become a totally feminine domain. The sound of gunfire penetrated even that cacophony. He bolted from the room.

C
aptain Peter Dewees, the new commander of Company C, had accepted responsibility for the prisoners from Captain Maguire with a certain level of pride. All three men had been members of his company, all three had been special cronies of the late, and to be truthful, unlamented, Major Montgomery, and all three were an embarrassment to his company. That Colonel Polk saw fit to allow his company to mount the guard was an honor; one that he believed they had earned by winning the gymkhana.

Dewees strode into the small stone building. The three men were standing in irons, looking decidedly the worse for wear. Maguire had said they had resisted arrest; from the looks of them, the men of Company G had not been gentle in their efforts to subdue them.